Community MetaSteam | March 2020 - Rise and Shine, Ms. Vance, Until It Is Done!

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I really wish i had Index controllers for HL:A. Im finding the Vive ones awkward to hold for a prolonged period of play and i keep pressing buttons i dont mean to and find holding the triggers uncomfortable. Ive taken about a million screenshots because i keep hitting the two buttons at the same time.

Ive just got the grenades which are fun but a few times ive not been able to coordinate the buttons and end up dropping it at my feet and then having a mad scramble to pick it up and lob it.
 
Swenhir said:
Speaking of jank, I'm feeling a small interest for Elex. I had enjoyed Risen a fair bit, but have played none of the other games by the studios. It seems that they have been churning out sub-par games since that one, should I give it a try?
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I haven't played Elex yet, but from what I hear for fans of that type of game it's very good.

Generally, I know people who would strongly disagree with calling their other games "sub-par" ;). Personally I felt Risen 3 was pretty good.
It's just always important to go into these games with the right mindset, and realize that what you're seeing is a tiny (by AAA standards) developer trying to make what's basically one of the most budget-intensive genres imaginable, a deep open world RPG.
 
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Finished Half-Life: Alyx. Steam profile says 15 hours, so around 14 hours due to about 1 hour where I only had the game opened.

9.5/10 from, only lacking melee (not a big con as I didn't think about using melee really) and some janky physics at times.

Fantastic game, loved it. I really want some real-life gravity gloves.

The ending was great, setting up for a HL3 in VR.

Would I play a HL3 in non-VR? Of course. Will it be a step backwards after what I just experienced in Alyx? Definetly yes.

Valve shows yet again, they are pioneers in game making.

Also, lol at people thinking that Valve will do a HL3 in flatscreen, when it took them 13 years to get to Alyx which has glowing critic reviews and Overwhelmengly positive on Steam.
 
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Durante said:
I haven't played Elex yet, but from what I hear for fans of that type of game it's very good.

Generally, I know people who would strongly disagree with calling their other games "sub-par" ;). Personally I felt Risen 3 was pretty good.
It's just always important to go into these games with the right mindset, and realize that what you're seeing is a tiny (by AAA standards) developer trying to make what's basically one of the most budget-intensive genres imaginable, a deep open world RPG.
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I can appreciate their efforts and the difficulty of the task, especially now as opposed to ten years ago when it comes to things like animation fidelity and responsiveness. The fact remains that they have been reviewed pretty badly, though as you said some people find them to tick just the right boxes for them.

Would you recommend giving Risen 2 a shot first or Elex?
 
fantomena said:
Finished Half-Life: Alyx. Steam profile says 15 hours, so around 14 hours due to about 1 hour where I only had the game opened.

9.5/10 from, only lacking melee (not a big con as I didn't think about using melee really) and some janky physics at times.

Fantastic game, loved it. I really want some real-life gravity gloves.

The ending was great, setting up for a HL3 in VR.

Would I play a HL3 in non-VR? Of course. Will it be a step backwards after what I just experiences in Alyx? Definetly yes.

Valve shows yet again, they are pioneers in game making.

Also, lol at people thinking that Valve will do a HL3 in flatscreen, when it took them 13 years to get to Alyx which has glowing critic reviews and Overwhelmengly positive on Steam.
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I highly doubt Half-Life 3 will be in VR. Especially seeing all the changes they made to make Alyx work in VR.

What are they gonna do? Remove two-handed weapons, the crowbar, platforming, and strip Gordon of his HEV suit so it won't feel like garbage? Valve said in an interview that they couldn't get melee combat working as they wanted and the crowbar caused a ton of collision issues with playtesters so it was cut from Alyx. All the changes work because you're playing as Alyx, not Gordon in an HEV suit.

The same thing happened with Portal. Momentum didn't work in VR so they scrapped any Portal VR ideas they had. They're better off making a Half Life Alyx 2 for VR players and Half-Life 3 for everyone else.
 
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Nier Tomato never gets good sales.
I never buy.
Its now coming to gamepass.


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Arsene said:
I highly doubt Half-Life 3 will be in VR. Especially seeing all the changes they made to make Alyx work in VR.

What are they gonna do? Remove two-handed weapons, the crowbar, platforming, and strip Gordon of his HEV suit so it won't feel like garbage? Valve said in an interview that they couldn't get melee combat working as they wanted and the crowbar caused a ton of collision issues with playtesters so it was cut from Alyx. All the changes work because you're playing as Alyx, not Gordon in an HEV suit.

The same thing happened with Portal. Momentum didn't work in VR so they scrapped any Portal VR ideas they had. They're better off making a Half Life Alyx 2 for VR players and Half-Life 3 for everyone else.
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It does not make any sense to me that HL3 will be in non-VR. VR has barely been scratched and they have stated in interviews that there are lots of things they wanna toy with in VR.

Do you really think they are gonna make HL3 non-VR after not having made Alyx or HL3 in non-VR for 13 years and after having poured million into VR technology?

"Well now that we have poured millions into VR technology, R&D, made our own headset, made SteamVR and the reception to Alyx has been fantastic. Let's make HL3 non-VR".

Their main goal according to Robin Walker was to make a game their fans are happy with. Fans seems super happy with HLA, so of course they wanna continue making HL games, but they will be in VR.

Actually, HLA is somewhat conservative in terms of VR mechanics. They do things other games have done for a long time, just really well and polished.

A HL3 will be in VR, if not, I will be suprised.

They did not make Portal VR because it would make people puke. HLA was also made with teleportation in mind because they thought it would make players puke. Now most VR players play VR games with continous locomotion because it does not make most people puke.
 
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Arsene said:
I highly doubt Half-Life 3 will be in VR. Especially seeing all the changes they made to make Alyx work in VR.

What are they gonna do? Remove two-handed weapons, the crowbar, platforming, and strip Gordon of his HEV suit so it won't feel like garbage? Valve said in an interview that they couldn't get melee combat working as they wanted and the crowbar caused a ton of collision issues with playtesters so it was cut from Alyx. All the changes work because you're playing as Alyx, not Gordon in an HEV suit.

The same thing happened with Portal. Momentum didn't work in VR so they scrapped any Portal VR ideas they had. They're better off making a Half Life Alyx 2 for VR players and Half-Life 3 for everyone else.
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Just for the record, not everything said on Interviews is the truth, there are a lot of reasons why some things were cut and why some projects switched directions (in the case of Portal VR which btw, wasn't in development at any moment)

HL next entry will be VR and rest assure that Alyx was just the beginning of their VR journey, they keep learning and adapting to this environment and technology, so, things that weren't here for this game may be in the next one.
 

I wonder how this will affect S&box, Will they scrap it/merge it and focus on Gmod 2 on Source 2 instead? Probably for the best, imo having a garry's mod successor on Unreal was a stupid idea in the first place and Source 2 was always a better idea. Interested in seeing what they do with it.
 
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Swenhir said:
Speaking of jank, I'm feeling a small interest for Elex. I had enjoyed Risen a fair bit, but have played none of the other games by the studios. It seems that they have been churning out sub-par games since that one, should I give it a try?
Click to expand...

Played Elex recently. It is excellent. But I am also one of the weird people that got enjoyment out of Risen 2 because I could sent a pet monkey into people's houses and steal stuff. Just know that the beginning will be tough as nails
 
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If anyone is in the mood for a shmup, Dezatopia is well worth a look:




Catchy music, over the top mechanics and visuals, and a wealthy amount of routes and unlockables, it's a very weird, and fun, game, that deserves the consideration of fans of the genre.

 
Arsene said:

I wonder how this will affect S&box, Will they scrap it/merge it and focus on Gmod 2 on Source 2 instead? Probably for the best, imo having a garry's mod successor on Unreal was a stupid idea in the first place and Source 2 was always a better idea. Interested in seeing what they do with it.
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Is it confirmed that it will be in Source 2 ?
 
TheTrain said:
Is it confirmed that it will be in Source 2 ?
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Don’t see what else it would be. Garry’s tweeting about Gmod 2 because of how much he loved Alyx. He even wrote a blogpost about how impressed he was by Source 2 and Alyx the other day

If it was on any other engine it wouldn’t really be a mod. Which is why S&Box wasn’t called Garry’s Mod 2. Because its a UE4 game
 
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Started Void Bastards. I've enjoyed that hour so far. I don't really like rogue-likes/lites/whatever that much, but with how you basically constantly work towards permanent unlocks and upgrades I don't mind it so far.
 
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Im trying to like Warframe, the gameplay is fun, but the missions are boring and the game seems to require more and more grind if I don't wanna use my money.
 
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fantomena said:
Im trying to like Warframe, the gameplay is fun, but the missions are boring and the game seems to require more and more grind if I don't wanna use my money.
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Yeah the randomly generated levels are super bland and its grindy. The worst part is they lock the really cool cinematic singleplayer only story missions behind a wall of boring missions that you have to spend 70+ hours doing first.

I still enjoy the game though.
 
fantomena said:
Im trying to like Warframe, the gameplay is fun, but the missions are boring and the game seems to require more and more grind if I don't wanna use my money.
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Currently the community is angry with DE because the latest event is a time gated super grindy thing.
 
Now that Im done with Alyx until workshop get's added, my list of games I wanna finish that I have installed are:

PC: Ori 2, Blands 3, Doom Eternal, maybe Dawn of War 2, and Anno 1404.

Console: Luigis Mansion 2, Cadence of Hyrule, Sushi Striker, FE Three Houses.

Arsene said:
Yeah the randomly generated levels are super bland and its grindy. The worst part is they lock the really cool cinematic singleplayer only story missions behind a wall of boring missions that you have to spend 70+ hours doing first.

I still enjoy the game though.
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Im only on Venus and I feel every mission is the same map just different objections. I quit the extraction mission because it became too boring and tedious. Uninstalled it for now, not sure when I will be back for more.
 
fantomena said:
Im trying to like Warframe, the gameplay is fun, but the missions are boring and the game seems to require more and more grind if I don't wanna use my money.
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This was technically the first game I tried on my rig and I thought it was crazy boring. The gameplay seemed OK, the graphics were wild--like low def environs and ultra HD/high resolution characters. Thought the mission structure was the worst bit about it.

Never really saw a reason to go back, has there been a big update?
 
fantomena said:
Also, lol at people thinking that Valve will do a HL3 in flatscreen, when it took them 13 years to get to Alyx which has glowing critic reviews and Overwhelmengly positive on Steam.
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Half Life 3 won't be VR only

Alyx Is a Prequel Because Half-Life 3 Couldn't Have Targeted a Small Audience, Says Valve

There was a reason we decided to make it a prequel. We recognised that the VR platform was limited in audience – and we also recognised that this was not Half-Life 3. We didn’t want to put out a product not every Half-Life fan could play that would advance the storyline beyond where HL2 was, and leave all these people without VR headsets saying, ‘Hey, why can’t we participate in this?’
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Stevey said:
Half Life 3 won't be VR only

Alyx Is a Prequel Because Half-Life 3 Couldn't Have Targeted a Small Audience, Says Valve
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I think it will. I mean, I will play it regardless if it's VR only or not, but I think it will be VR only.

The ending set it up as a VR only game. If HL3 is both VR and non-VR they would have to design 2 different games.

In the end of Alyx, you take the role as Gordon and Eli gives you the crowbar, so you take the crowbar and the game ends.
 
Swenhir said:
I can appreciate their efforts and the difficulty of the task, especially now as opposed to ten years ago when it comes to things like animation fidelity and responsiveness. The fact remains that they have been reviewed pretty badly, though as you said some people find them to tick just the right boxes for them.

Would you recommend giving Risen 2 a shot first or Elex?
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Not by the players though. To be blunt no one should care about professional reviews for Piranha Bytes games at this point, no matter what they do, no matter how much effort they put in some outlets, especially US-based ones, hate their games, it's kinda a tradition. If you like one of them you'll enjoy 'em all to some degree but Elex is certainly the most polished and up to date. Give R2 a go if you love pirates, it leans heavily into that which I know some didn't like.
 
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fantomena said:
I think it will. I mean, I will play it regardless if it's VR only or not, but I think it will be VR only.

The ending set it up as a VR only game.

In the end of Alyx, you take the role as Gordon and Eli gives you the crowbar, so you take the crowbar and the game ends.
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Yeah I've seen the ending.
I guess time will tell.
 
Stevey said:
Yeah I've seen the ending.
I guess time will tell.
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I think the critical reception and fan reception of Alyx will be a major role in the decision of HL3 will be VR only or not.

Of course, they would like to sell as many copies as they want, but Alyx would also have sold gangbusters, millions of copies, if it was in flatscreen. Which means that Valve doesn't care about sold copies of Alyx that much, I mean, they gave the game away with multiple methods, like giving it away with the Index.
 
texhnolyze said:
The Dwarves is surprisingly good.

The story is interesting, conversations are all voiced and there are some decent cutscenes too. The characters are mostly interesting too. RPG elements are not that deep, but the choices are are and they're very important (from dialogues to routes on the world map). The combat is rtwp and you can switch between the characters, but it's kind of messy and very challenging even at normal difficulty.
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It's a good game, I've completed it and enjoyed it a lot. The combat is messy indeed, but you'll get used to it after a while.
 
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I haven't played Alyx but based on what I've seen, a pancake HL3 would feel like a regression in every way. I don't think Valve wants that.
 
Stevey said:
Half Life 3 won't be VR only

Alyx Is a Prequel Because Half-Life 3 Couldn't Have Targeted a Small Audience, Says Valve
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This quote does not prove that HL3 won't be VR only. It is just an explanation why HL3 could not be released in VR right now.
We might get HL3 when every PC player has a VR headset and the quote would be correct.

So, when do you guys believe VR will be in most homes? Because that is the earliest time that HL3 could be released in VR only and most HL fans could play it. I believe it is plausible that we get to that point in 3 to 5 years, which would be the time required to develop the game anyway.

The only issue is that HL3VR cannot be a remake of HLA. Especially with 3 or 5 additional years of development. There has to be another breakthrough.
 
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Sorry, but by any chance does anyone have an extra key for Fight'N Rage from a previous humble bundle, and is willing to trade for something?
I would like to gift a copy to a friend. :)
 
A non-VR HL3 would have to be a completely amazing pancake game to raise the bar for gaming as it seems Valve like to do. Im not near the end of HL:A so cant comment on the story side of things but i would say that so far it feels like a leap forward for a gaming experience (for me) the same way that Mario 64 and HL1+2 were.

And XCOM2. I love XCOM2.
 
AHA-Lambda said:
I've not finished HL Alyx yet and I'm highly enjoying it, but I'll be amazed if HL3 is VR exclusive
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When you do finish it, I'll be curious what you think!

Me? I'd bet on HL3 VR (but maybe it'll have a vanilla mode too)

FWIW, Valve IS hung up on innovation, and basically all the innovation in HL Alyx is VR. So a Half Life 3 without VR would be like... Half Life 2 again, kinda? I'm dead certain Valve has no interest in making that.
 
derExperte said:
Not by the players though. To be blunt no one should care about professional reviews for Piranha Bytes games at this point, no matter what they do, no matter how much effort they put in some outlets, especially US-based ones, hate their games, it's kinda a tradition. If you like one of them you'll enjoy 'em all to some degree but Elex is certainly the most polished and up to date. Give R2 a go if you love pirates, it leans heavily into that which I know some didn't like.
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Well, that's true but even based on Steam reviews both games are sitting at about 7/10 which hints at flaws in general. I don't mean to belittle or criticize games I haven't played - and am interested in! - but they do seem to have issues. I just wonder what these are, which will inform whether they are for me or not :).
 
Kinda weird that they wouldn't include both versions in a Nier rerelease but whatever, I'm there for it. Daddy Nier kinda sucked and apparently the bro is the intended canon protagonist or whatever? So it doesn't really bother me all that much outside of not being a truly definitive version of the game.

I dropped Nier after like 20h back in the day because, frankly, it bored the shit out of me despite doing some cool experimental things. But I've been wanting to give it another shot ever since Automata because oh my god, that game was a fucking masterpiece!
 
Swenhir said:
Well, that's true but even based on Steam reviews both games are sitting at about 7/10 which hints at flaws in general. I don't mean to belittle or criticize games I haven't played - and am interested in! - but they do seem to have issues. I just wonder what these are, which will inform whether they are for me or not :).
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If you played Risen you should be good to go, imo the follow-ups aren't worse in any way, the issues are just as usual a lack of polish, small bugs here and there and the tech not being up to date. There's also one important aspect that literally gets lost in translation and that's the awesome German voice acting and funny dialogues, PB's games have their own sense of humor using lots of different local accents and idiosyncrasies to counteract the usual fantasy and scifi tropes. It's not the most sophisticated humor to put it mildly but something that's close to impossible to translate and us Germans appreciate doubly since there aren't a lot of games around with that kind of style. But anyway, if you're unsure just go with Elex, its reception was generally positive even from those who aren't fans.
 
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I should check my email more often these days. I received a Switch download code for Totally Reliable Delivery Service or whatever it's called 2 days ago, didn't even ask for it (I think). Downloading the game now. Not bad since it's an Epic exclusive.
 
Ugh, I hate when games don't have a borderless windowed option.
 
I finished Half-Life: Alyx. It took me 30 hours according to Steam.

It was incredible. The first two Half-Life games are my favorite examples of the genre, and after 15 years they still managed to pull it off again, while continuing to push boundaries.

I love the feel of the weapons, and the physicality of the upgrades. The UI/UX design is just perfect for VR. The grabbity gloves is such a smart mechanic for VR. While room-scale movement and interactions is amazing, you don't always want to reach down to pick something up, get on your toes to reach a crate up top, or get on your knees. Being able to fling something towards you and catch it is a very smart solution to keep the experience flowing.

Personally I like to use teleportation with room-scale movement, despite not getting sick at all from continuous movement, and the attention to detail here is great. Enemies are aware of your movement throughout the teleport. The end of the teleport is accompanied with contextualized audio effects (clothing sounds, a thump when you land on metal, etc.) that really aid in mentally filling in the gaps of the (abstracted) movement you just performed.

I'm not going to spoil anything, but there are several really good chapters that I'm looking forward to revisiting.

That ending!

I can't wait to play it again.
 
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