Marc Laidlaw reveals Half-Life 2 Episode 3's story synopsis

It is completely insane how people think "Valve won't make the games I demand them to make" is a legitimate criticism.
I'm normally with you on this but the fact that they reveled a Dota card game at a Dota convention and got booed for it speaks volumes to what people actually want.

Valve is so far up their ass these days. Steam needs a lot of work and they've been promising shit forever and rarely delivering.

They've been turning a blind eye to the CSGO gambling shit until they came under heavy press fire for it

Steam OS and their hardware efforts have been mostly abandoned, with the surprising exception of Vive hardware.

Valve has gone from being my favorite developer to developer I USED ago think highly of. It's fucking depressing
 
Without spoiling it, I feel almost like I felt after finishing Nier Automata. I'm happy we got closure, but at the same time sad we will never get to play this, because goddamn it sounded cool.

I think it might explain some oddities in Portal 2. While it was clear they wanted to mostly separate HL and Portal, there would still be various nods between the two, and they would be in the same universe. It might explain where the Borealis was and why it wasn't where it was labeled. It might explain why Portal 2 felt a bit more comedic than the first one: it was in a different dimension, perhaps by that technology while Chell was asleep.

Remember F-Stop, that canned Portal sequel before Portal 2 that would have some mechanic they wouldn't discuss? This was probably it.

It's sad to think of what could have been, and I honestly hope some mod team makes this a reality. Given that Black Mesa got Valve's blessing, I'm sure that would.

I really wish Valve listened to it's fans regarding just making Half-Life at all. I love Dota, but I do wish it didn't completely swallow HL, along with CS, VR, hardware, and Steam in general.

it ends on a cliffhanger

IT....IT ENDS....IT ENDS ON A CLIFFHANGER

HAHA?

HAHA

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It's Half-Life, the series has always ended on a cliffhanger, it's just a question of how much of one. Remember HL1 also ended on a cliffhanger.
 
The closure no one believed they would get. Fans should be eternally greatful the writer cared enough to reveal how it all should have turned out. Valve left it for dead but at least it we saw it in some form. Won’t be long now before someone makes a GMod or animation of all this.
 
This has me realizing that Portal is pretty much all but dead as well. Fuck man, Gabe must have never truly cared about HL or Portal. Fucking kicked 2 of his babies to the curb.
 
There is enough money in making a sequel or something new that it won't happen.

It's not a question of "enough money" but where there is "more money". And there a lot more money in GTA Online or Red Dead Online.

You'll never see another 30 hour GTA game again, that's for sure.
 
Well, if this is true, it would prove that I was right to not trust Alyx blindly.

Also, yeah, using the Borealis as a blunt weapon (come on, really?) and then bailing out on Freeman. Nice lady there.

If this is real: fuck you Alyx.
 
I'm normally with you on this but the fact that they reveled a Dota card game at a Dota convention and got booed for it speaks volumes to what people actually want.

Valve is so far up their ass these days. Steam needs a lot of work and they've been promising shit forever and rarely delivering.

They've been turning a blind eye to the CSGO gambling shit until they came under heavy press fire for it

Steam OS and their hardware efforts have been mostly abandoned, with the surprising exception of Vive hardware.

Valve has gone from being my favorite developer to developer I USED ago think highly of. It's fucking depressing
Don't forget TF2.

No communication
No Mann vs Machine updates
No matchmaking
No pyro update
No 6 v 6s
No Esport support at all
Missed events
Comic issues
 
It's not a question of "enough money" but where there is "more money". And there a lot more money in GTA Online or Red Dead Online.

You'll never see another 30 hour GTA game again, that's for sure.

I think there will be SOME level of single player simply because there is enough market share who buys these games to just dick around and blow shit up by themselves to justify it.

But I think the next GTA will be vastly more iterative than the current one, I.E. there will be map-expacs and the like rather than new games.
 
The story actually sounds pretty great, totally worthy of the Half Life name.
The ending alluding to a possible sequel with Alyx as the next protagonist makes me sad it'll never happen.

Goddamn it Valve.
 
The closure no one believed they would get. Fans should be eternally greatful the writer cared enough to reveal how it all should have turned out. Valve left it for dead but at least it we saw it in some form. Won’t be long now before someone makes a GMod or animation of all this.
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I'm normally with you on this but the fact that they reveled a Dota card game at a Dota convention and got booed for it speaks volumes to what people actually want.

Valve is so far up their ass these days. Steam needs a lot of work and they've been promising shit forever and rarely delivering.


They've been turning a blind eye to the CSGO gambling shit until they came under heavy press fire for it

Steam OS and their hardware efforts have been mostly abandoned, with the surprising exception of Vive hardware.

Valve has gone from being my favorite developer to developer I USED ago think highly of. It's fucking depressing

How many fucking years have they been promising even just something as basic as UI overhauls for the store?
 
This has me realizing that Portal is pretty much all but dead as well. Fuck man, Gabe must have never truly cared about HL or Portal. Fucking kicked 2 of his babies to the curb.

money will do that fam. the thing that frosts me is the guy still pretending to be some fedora nerd that cares about his fans, gaming, valve franchises, or gaming in general. just be honest and tell people you don't give a fuck anymore other than to add more money to your personal billions
 
This has me realizing that Portal is pretty much all but dead as well. Fuck man, Gabe must have never truly cared about HL or Portal. Fucking kicked 2 of his babies to the curb.

Left for Dead as well. A new Orange box with these 3 would've sold gangbusters. Even if you just want to focus on hats and controllers and shit like that, couldn't they have just hired more people for that and let the talent make games? They would've easily covered the cost of additional personnel with 3 huge games.
 
money will do that fam. the thing that frosts me is the guy still pretending to be some fedora nerd that cares about his fans, gaming, valve franchises, or gaming in general. just be honest and tell people you don't give a fuck anymore other than to add more money to your personal billions

Remember when they trotted him out for an AMA on reddit during the paid mods fiasco and he...actually got a pretty hostile response

I don't think they see themselves as infallible in the eyes of fans.
 
Thank you Marc. Now I will finally know peace as my thoughts of Half-Life 2 Episode 3 aka Half-Life 3 are laid to rest.

God bless you, if you unlike me believe in such a divine power.
 
How many fucking years have they been promising even just something as basic as UI overhauls for the store?

If their mythical organisational structure is true, you can understand why? It's like having a million worker ants and a fat Combine Grub at the top. No middle management

If I get run for this post, I'll take it.
 
I have to say, after reading everyone's outrage I wouldn't have made the game either lol. Seriously, fat jokes? No need to make fun of the guy.

HL3 would've never lived up to your expectations.
 
It is completely insane how people think "Valve won't make the games I demand them to make" is a legitimate criticism.

What about "They won't make the games I like, that they used to make"?

I mean some people take it too far, for sure, but I don't get what's hard to understand about people being sad that their some of their favorite creators have ditched them.

Especially when they've been ditched for e-sports and lootboxes...
 
Haha the end of the video is great "go read the ending... yeah go read the ending to the Half-Life episode trilogy..... you can do that now"

You can sadly hear his soul die a little. The defeat and denial in his voice, and I'm sure many fans are feeling like that right now. I really look forward to the media landscape for the next few days. I want to hear so many people's thoughts and feelings about this on YouTube, and the Steam Community for Half-Life 2 and Episode 2 already has posts about it. Whatever twitter accounts people can find of Valve employees will probably have tons of questions given to them.

I am preparing myself for similar fuckery from Rockstar. Everybody knows its coming.

Yeah, this incident is, sadly, good preparation for this.
 
Don't forget TF2.

No communication
No Mann vs Machine updates
No matchmaking
No pyro update
No 6 v 6s
No Esport support at all
Missed events
Comic issues

Now now, be fair to Valve. They've recently managed to release a buggy update to mannpower, a game mode very few in the community give a shit about to hold us over for the update that would supposedly improve & fix the mess they've created themselves with Meet Your Match. That Pyro update is coming any day now!
 
It's hard to not sound dramatic but it really does paint the future of this industry in a terrible light when even Valve will abandon Half Life in the pursuit of the profit motive, one that involves microtransactions and loot gambling no less.
 
So, the Borealis was sent back in time and hit Combine central command before the invasion. That means Earth were the aggressors all along, and the Combine invasion was simply a response to an seemingly unprovoked attack.

Alyx Vance, history's greatest monster, doomed mankind forever.
 
I have to say, after reading everyone's outrage I wouldn't have made the game either lol. Seriously, fat jokes? No need to make fun of the guy.

HL3 would've never lived up to your expectations.

We would have needed Episode 3 before we got that.
 
I have to say, after reading everyone's outrage I wouldn't have made the game either lol. Seriously, fat jokes? No need to make fun of the guy.

HL3 would've never lived up to your expectations.

you summoning a Pity Gabe +4 spell in this thread dude? really now? you gonna defend a billionaire against a couple of immature fat jokes in here

after he's given the finger to fans that made him wealthy?

we here now?
 
That would require hiring people.

Which they probably should have done for quality control and customer support.

If their mythical organisational structure is true, you can understand why? It's like have a million worker ants and a fat Combine Grub at the top.

If I get run for this post, I'll take it.

LIS a few pages back I legitimately do not understand how they function as a company with how they are organized. Having an effective monopoly on the digital storefront and licensing out these gigantic games in DOTA and TF2 are the only reason they are.

Like good lord even just reading about their purported structure gives me a migraine.

And yeah, come on, their support system is a fucking joke, no Q/A testing department OR dedicated support staff on call? That's indefensible.
 
I'm normally with you on this but the fact that they reveled a Dota card game at a Dota convention and got booed for it speaks volumes to what people actually want.

Valve is so far up their ass these days. Steam needs a lot of work and they've been promising shit forever and rarely delivering.

They've been turning a blind eye to the CSGO gambling shit until they came under heavy press fire for it

Steam OS and their hardware efforts have been mostly abandoned, with the surprising exception of Vive hardware.

Valve has gone from being my favorite developer to developer I USED ago think highly of. It's fucking depressing

I think it's pretty clear that the company has been a mess for quite a few years. Tons of cancelled or unfinished software/hardware products, Source 2 crawling to completion, various information leaked about management and culture issues, lack of key Steam improvements, long time staffers leaving, etc.. I'm sure part of the problem has to do with the company only having some 300-400 employees, which is absurd when you consider their worth, but who knows.
 
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