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Half-Life: Alyx

half-life.com

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Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#421

Post by sirn »

OnlineGladiator wrote: post #202
skyyler wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

24 year old here. I played video games in my teens, including the HL series. I stopped playing video games roughly five years ago. I will be building a computer to play this game. Peers my age are also very excited for this. Not just because it's a new Half Life game, but because it's the VR game we have been waiting for since the VR craze started.

But how many people are going to spend $2000+ to play this? You're building a new gaming PC and possibly buying a new VR headset just for this game?

Anecdotal, but I'm in my thirties and the first thing I did after watching the trailer was pre-ordering the Valve Index at where I live (Japan).

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#422

Post by the_af »

hoffs wrote: post #419
the_af wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No idea, but my guess would be the previous games are a requirement, or at least HL2. The Half-Life series is "story heavy" single player. These are characters we know.

This is a prequel so it should stand on its own just as well.

Isn't the original required when watching/reading/playing prequels?

I mean, I know people who watched the Phantom Menace without having watched the Original Trilogy, but they lost the significance of who was that little boy or why he mattered...

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#423

Post by Armisael16 »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #360
reificator wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As for FOV, which seems to be the cause, I found a reference that says the fov is 75 until you meet Alyx. (Wait, what?) Agreed: What? Can someone please shed some light on whether this is true and why that would be?

I don't know if it's true, but maybe they want you to look around City 17 and admire the scenery in the earlier part of the game (larger FoV) and later want you to focus on action once you meet Alyx (smaller FoV)? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs8yldyeoZg

75 is a rather low FoV, so that seems unlikely.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#424

Post by mikl »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #384
mikl wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt it. VRcades will have to compete with people being able to play regular video games from their homes. Not only will playing from home be a lot cheaper, it’s also a lot more convenient. Unless VR becomes a lot more compelling, I don’t see a significant chunk of gamers being willing to go down to the local VRcade to do their gaming on a regular basis. And imagine the cost. A VRcade would have to have a lot of s…

You know VRcades actually exist, right? These aren't theoretical. There are several VR arcades near me in the Portland, OR metro area. And as the other commenter said, people don't play games that have long storylines at them. They aren't playing Skyrim VR. Instead, they're playing games like Beat Saber or racing games. In other words, they play the type of game you'd play in a normal arcade. Games that you can easil…

Not denying they exist. Just doubting that they’ll be a common, widespread phenomenon. The competition from home gaming systems is hard to overcome.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#425

Post by mikl »

cwkoss wrote: post #371
mikl wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt it. VRcades will have to compete with people being able to play regular video games from their homes. Not only will playing from home be a lot cheaper, it’s also a lot more convenient. Unless VR becomes a lot more compelling, I don’t see a significant chunk of gamers being willing to go down to the local VRcade to do their gaming on a regular basis. And imagine the cost. A VRcade would have to have a lot of s…

> A good game these days takes at least 40 hours to play through. I think you are speaking to a very specific segment of the gaming market that will probably not be captured by VR. There are plenty of games (roguelikes, casual, shooters, racing) that have more emphasis on semi-episodic 'rounds' of gameplay vs long form narrative RPGs that would adapt to this model easily.

True, but Half-Life Alyx is not one such game.

I do see a niche for simulator-type games, like a driving/flying sims where you get put in a simulation-rig to make it feel like you’re driving/flying.

Like the four-player Daytona game that was everywhere, even far into the 90s, that’ll provide some serious added value over just playing at home.

But I don’t see the huge appeal for first-person games, since most players don’t actually want the real physical experience of running around on a battlefield, getting shot at. Just half an hour of that would be exhausting to most people.

Maybe some hybrid fitness-studio/VR experience would be viable, give people an entertaining experience while grinding away on the stairmaster.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#426

Post by mdrachuk »

Talking about managing expectations: starting the trailer narration with a phrase “what we’re doing here could change things forever” puts a lot of pressure on the game.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#427

Post by cptskippy »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #334
cptskippy wrote: post #265

Does this feel like an attempt by Valve to flog VR by appealing to player's desire for a new Half-Life game?

By that logic Half-Life 2 was an attempt to flog Steam... And we all know how that turned out.

Yes and I feel like Half-Life 2 was a game they were going to make regardless of Steam. They just leveraged it to promote Steam. This just feels like they had no intention of making a HL game but VR hasn't taken off as much as they expected so they decided to create a game to promote it.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#428

Post by phaus »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #329
ben7799 wrote: post #38

This has got to be the most narrowly targeted game ever. I played through all of HL/HL2/Ep1/Ep2 IIRC, but I can barely even remember the story clearly it was so long ago. And it's such a blur maybe I never finished Ep2. I was 21 when HL1 came out but I didn't get to play it till I was like 24 maybe when I had gotten out of school and got a nice computer & some money. HL2 came out when I was 27.. still playing games b…

> Just seems like a small target of players who are old enough to fondly remember the original Why oh why would you need to play prequels to enjoy a game? Half-Life is a series where you have guns and you kill shit in an inherently interesting setting: earth invasion. Getting dropped in medias res without knowing 100% of what is going on is just an ancient trope of story-telling. Look how much people enjoy the latest…

I agree that its probably not going to impact the experience much if you haven't played the previous games, but your comparison to Doom makes no sense.

The original Doom games intentionally had almost no story. The new Doom was a complete reboot so even if the old ones had a story it wouldn't matter at all. HL:Alyx is a continuation of the story that falls between 1 and 2.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#429

Post by q5jwB6bD »

ben7799 wrote: post #38

This has got to be the most narrowly targeted game ever. I played through all of HL/HL2/Ep1/Ep2 IIRC, but I can barely even remember the story clearly it was so long ago. And it's such a blur maybe I never finished Ep2. I was 21 when HL1 came out but I didn't get to play it till I was like 24 maybe when I had gotten out of school and got a nice computer & some money. HL2 came out when I was 27.. still playing games b…

I completely agree with all your points. Plus, the voice actors are different and I think the HL2 writer has moved on to other projects.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#430

Post by de_watcher »

skyyler wrote: post #308
OnlineGladiator wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But how many people are going to spend $2000+ to play this? You're building a new gaming PC and possibly buying a new VR headset just for this game?

Yep. I'm planning on spending around $2500 just to play this game. I don't even care if it's the only game I play on it. With the VR tools they're releasing, I (and everyone I've talked to about this) expect Garry's Mod 2: VR to come out of this.

Actually the "Garry's Mod 2: VR" will be that game-changing VR game.
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