Moz

There's one mandatory conversation in the whole game. It tells you to go to the Attlerock. It happens right before the loop starts, so you can't die or trigger the loop without seeing this: But you don't need to go there first, you can just fly straight to the end of the game and finish it if you want. I didn't resolve half of the story content on the Attlerock until much later on because I was in a hurry to explore and find all the musical signals. The joy of stumbling across things by accident and not knowing what they are yet is something games have become terrified of, and it's maddening. There were a couple of moments later on where I couldn't figure out where to go, but at the start you can literally go anywhere and make progress.

Yep I don't really class it as motion controls either, though I suppose that's technically true. They feel fairly natural - Alyx moreso than other vr games as the hands are physical objects which can rummage through things.

It’s more like that Kickstarter video for that blokes cancelled swordfighting game where Gabe appeared hammering a crowbar and said “these things take time“

Aye, watching videos of it really doesn’t do it justice. It’s frustrating as a VR user, as there’s no easy way to convey a lot of what’s great about it moment to moment. You can still get the story beats etc of course.

Ah I wasn't replying to you when I was talking about being disappointed by the ending - I was agreeing with Fry, though he may have been talking to you. Gordon has a mythical status among the resistance and even moreso among the Vortigaunts, due to the events of Hl1. Probably also due to his unexplained disappearance and many embellished resistance stories - he's a campfire legend. Whether the reality holds up is a matter of perspective, but it didn't seem unusual. Those decade-old emotional stakes aren't the same thing though - relying on nostalgic recreations in the way RE2, FF7R etc does would be a kiss of death after fans waited so long for HL3. Throughout the game the unspoken tension (at least for me) was edging closer to learning something new and concrete about HL3, resolving the immediate events occurring was a secondary concern. If it ended without feeding into the wider franchise with no new path forward or a renewed mission statement it would be extremely disappointing - like a slot-in sidequel which can't have any implications for the numbered sequels. HL: Alyx never feels like the future of Half Life or comforting nostalgia, and doesn't pretend to be. It's a side story designed to showcase VR, but it does have big implications for the next Half Life. You could be right about the ending being changed, who knows. It was reportedly about 15 hours long when playtesters got to play it last year. It might simply be that the gathering pace of Alyx's development got them geared up to finally make a HL3 and they parachuted the reveal in. But, while I appreciate everyone's thoughts I was really hoping to talk more about the next game (and HOW we talk about it without ruining the ending of Alyx). Can we just say that it more-or-less without giving any specifics, and go from there?

This is a good assessment. I still get triggered just thinking about how incredibly wrong he was about outer wilds. He spent more time complaining about it than he spent playing it.

I’d argue pursuing decade old stakes personal to the player (something virtually no games have in the first place) is a worthy pivot from pursuing stakes for the player character. I figured out what was in the box really early on, but wasn’t disappointed by the ending at all. It resolves the narrative short circuit and lets them go anywhere while giving HL3 a narrative thrust beyond revenge. Best of all it gave them a safe space to experiment and fall in love with the world again without misstepping. They’re also a completely different team for the most part, so I’m glad they kept the scope smallish and actually brought something to release while making the mission statement to deliver HL3. Half life feels fresh, exciting and unpredictable again. That’s quite a feat. Broker, RJ, did you play it or just watch vids? The reason I ask is so much of the power and novelty of the game is lost in video form. Which actually makes me worried about a non-VR HL3 or Alyx port. The small environments and simple puzzles won’t be half as interesting on a screen a few feet away. None of this is fanboyism either - I was completely done with the series (look upthread).

Mods please do merge if you can find it. All the Amnesia threads end with me talking to myself years ago. It occurred to me these guys haven't done anything since Soma, that this is technically the followup to Soma, which is REALLY exciting. Soma was breathtaking.

Nope, I'm going to make a 20 part video series about how ND ruined Last of Us by putting goblin politics in muh games

Somehow I completely missed this, I can't find a thread for it and the old Amnesia threads haven't been updated for years. There's a new Amnesia game on the way from Frictional. Forum vets will remember the fun we had playing through the original back in 2010. For me it's still the best Lovecraftian game. They've been dropping some weird videos on their channel to tease it too. https://www.youtube.com/user/frictionalgames/videos You guys in?

Aye I recently saw a twitter GIF of Ellie shagging a goblin which looked like it was made in SFM, I don't THINK that's canon.

I thought I should resurrect this thread on the basis that something pretty big happened recently and this thread didn't get the update it deserved. Unfortunately, it rather spoils the ending of HL: Alyx. I recommend that if you're not likely to play it, you go watch someone play through the whole game. Maybe the excellent Danny O'Dwyer. If you just want to watch the ending, here it is: If you just want to know, click away: So basically,

I've never actually been "spoiled" by a spoiler to be fair. I often find I prefer games the second time around as the tension of sticking the landing and getting the pacing right evaporates. E.g. I didn't love TLOU until my second playthrough. It's nice to find things out as the creators intended but a good story doesn't live or die by spoilers.

Second spoiler delivered courtesy of a Youtube suggestion (thanks Youtube). 25 days to go. Sigh.

This sounds silly but I think you're both right. You've both nailed the two interpretations of the ending that I regularly switch between as I think about it years later. This is why I love the ending so, so much. Does she suspect? Does she believe him? Does she know (e.g. was she awake for parts of the escape?). Is she secretly thankful or feeling betrayed? Does she feel complicit? What does her relationship with Joel mean to her now? Is she scared of the responsibility of meaning so much to someone that they'll cast the world aside to protect her? Does she know he lied but trust him anyway in a "better the devil you know" complex adult relationship sort of way? Does she love him enough to look past his limitations? Endless questions from both of their perspectives. It's a phenomenal ending. One of the best bits of writing I've ever had the joy of absorbing, games or otherwise. It's an ending of questions, not answers.