A valve game...as an epic store exclusive...wot?

I was reading a interview about this and they were asked why it was VR only, here is their reply:

"And the answer, according to Valve's Dario Casali, is simply that VR controllers and headsets permit a degree of gameplay detail that "we couldn't possibly do with a mouse and keyboard".

One example given by Casali revolves around the sort of interactions possible with a simple door. Sure, you can open it and close it in a more intuitive, immersive fashion in VR, but, Casali suggests, it's the additional interactions around that door - opening it a fraction to peer through the gap and see what's on the other side, firing your weapon through the crack, or even slipping a grenade through onto the floor - that makes for a truly unique sort of experience."

I'm inclined to belive that its more they just couldn't be bothered though. As many games that use mouse and keyboard or even a controller you can do that stuff with the door.

Plus if games that were designed for VR, such as Paranormal Activity and Star Trek Bridge Commander can put in mouse and keyboard controls after release due to customer feedback, then Valve sure as hell can.

If by unique they meant flailing around one's home like a moron with a screen strapped to your head while holding stupid plastic pucks, then yeah...it's very unique. :|

Someone already said it, but if VR was at least at the level of HACK, I would sell a kidney for it, let alone something like SAO or Accel Saga. In 2019? You can like it all you want, I personally think it's a waste of MY money.

That said, we gotta start somewhere I suppose. Even if VR was a thing a decade ago, lol.

Are they exclusive then? It was somewhat innovative for its time. It also didn’t overly excel in enough ways to make it more than (and I am going to change my wording slightly as probably being a bit harsh) above average. Don’t get me wrong it was fun playing the first one (many times, blue shift and the other expansion I can’t recal now). Have played hl2 ep1 twice and ep2 once, was a long time back and I remember one was better than the other, but neither captured me, and personally found the gimmick gun to be more of a nuisance than anything else.

Wasn't that form of VR more involved & didn't it also implement tactile feedback(gloves/etc)? If so that would mean we likely have made step backwards(well not in terms of graphical resolution, but in other ways).

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Did you play the unofficial mods for HL1 like They Hunger, Poke646, and others?

Leaves me cold. HL1 was just OK. Never played 2 and this being a VR game basically means 0 interest from me.

Bruh, saying that HL2 is kind of a meh game isn't revisionist history, it's a fact. It's just that the people who praised it to high heaven way back when were wrong all along.

And this being VR seems to indicate that it'll continue on the same path that HL2 went: One step forward in technology, two steps backward in gameplay.

I seem to be much more positive on Half-Life and Valve than the other posters. Valve has always been really interested in VR and clearly believe it is the next big thing (after Free To Play multiplayer games which Valve has always been a big supporter of).

I think many of us predicted that they would only make a new Half-Life if they can push some new tech with it, and here we are. I am sure this will actually be a great game that will prove that VR has potential and can be used to make "real" games.

... That said, I personally HATE VR, since I love the separation there is between me and the game I am playing. It's comfy! I have never been a player who cares about "immersion", so VR has no appeal to me at all. I almost hope Half-Life Alyx fails since that would really put the nail in the coffin for VR.

EDIT: I also don't want anymore hardware to play games. The PC is enough, and I regret every single plastic console box I own.

I heard that at the end of HL Alyx there will be some answers for HL2 EP2 ending. same
HL1 was great game, even though it killed some games (i.e. their sales) in the process, like Heretic2 and SIN.
HL2 on paper was like The Shining movie - great stuff for analysis and talks but for playing - nah.
Weak gunplay, dumb AI...

"Average" or "above average" implies that there is "an average" bar set by the genre overall. Half-life was one of the first cinematic FPS and in 1998 there were three cinematic FPS in total - Half-life, Sin and Unreal. And only HL had a focus on the narrative and characters. I mean do most people even remember who were protagonists of Sin and Unreal?

So, if Half-life was innovative in being first cinematic FPS with the focus on characters and narrative - you can't really say that it was an average, as there was no "average" at all. It's like saying that GOG is an average DRM-free store.

I mean there were the Nintendo Virtual Boy and the Power Glove 25 and 30 years ago, respectively. As well as other products in development around that time. I wouldn't say those hold up very well when compared with the current crop of consumer devices from the last 7-8 years.

I still think HL2 is a great game ... and I am angry that they don't continue the story they began instead of playing with VR in the HL universe. Then again it is Valve ... just one more reason to dislike them.

Did you just say that Kubrick's The Shining is a bad movie? Wow - I guess we have to disagree here.

Nah, it was good movie but not as good enough to make it my TOP5 or even TOP10
I liked his Dr Strangelove and 2001 A Space Odyssey more.

Also - I noticed pretty common prejudice, where not liking something to the death and joining analysis team (like with The Shining example) mean you hate something, which is plain wrong.