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Half-Life: Alyx - Valve flagship VR game

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The official gameplay videos look really scripted and fake to me. Especially the part where the headcrab latches onto the window and the player tries to shoot it a bunch of times.

 

IGN gameplay looks really tedious and slow, not my cup of tea, and certainly not worth shelling out upwards of 600$ for.

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VR has very different priorities than flat screen gaming. You can't really compare them side by side in terms of speed or feel. Anyone who has played around with VR knows that just being in a fully 3D environment and looking around, knocking over objects with their own hands is a very gripping experience on its own. Things that seem mundane on a monitor are suddenly very exciting in VR.


I've been playing a bunch of things on my rig over the course of the past months and my general impressions are that VR is mostly appropriate for slower experiences, preferably with high level of interactivity and exploration. For a skill-based action game you really want the controls to be as tight as possible and VR won't give you that. However a monitor will never provide the sensation of actually being in the virtual world. So it really depends on what you want out of the game.


For instance I have played DOOM VFR and the combat was really tiresome. It's a lot more comfortable to run around, jump and turn with a mouse and watch the action on a monitor in a game as frantic and chaotic as the nu-DOOM. So for me the fact that HL: Alyx seems that much slower is a very good thing because that's a lot more suitable for a VR game.


Personally I'm excited to jump back into Half-Life but also to see it for the first time in full 3D. Whether the gameplay is fun or just gimmicky remains to be seen. But what I'm saying is that it's important to understand the differences between VR and regular gaming. I do not find this footage boring simply because having tried VR already I can imagine how that'll look and feel with a headset.

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It looks atmospheric and interesting, but VR as it stands just cannot do good first person movement. Picking a spot and instantly teleporting there is about as immersive as someone yelling "Stop playing that bloody game, your dinner is ready!". I cannot see myself investing in VR until this is resolved and unless you are talking a giant mechanical (and expensive) rig, I cannot imagine how. A foot pedal system perhaps? To me, mouse and keyboard is instinctual, I barely think about it. Even a VR FPS where the headset essentially substitutes for mouselook would be more immersive to me I think.


Good luck to Valve though, this kind of thing will hopefully drive the industry forward and lead to better developments in the future.

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34 minutes ago, Murdoch said:

It looks atmospheric and interesting, but VR as it stands just cannot do good first person movement. Picking a spot and instantly teleporting there is about as immersive as someone yelling "Stop playing that bloody game, your dinner is ready!". I cannot see myself investing in VR until this is resolved and unless you are talking a giant mechanical (and expensive) rig, I cannot imagine how. A foot pedal system perhaps? To me, mouse and keyboard is instinctual, I barely think about it. Even a VR FPS where the headset essentially substitutes for mouselook would be more immersive to me I think.


Good luck to Valve though, this kind of thing will hopefully drive the industry forward and lead to better developments in the future.

There is continuous movement if you watch the other videos, you can use a joystick to walk around.

Edited by Egg Boy

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15 minutes ago, Egg Boy said:

There is continuous movement if you watch the other videos, you can use a joystick to watch around.

Oh good.

 

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Why are so many people thinking that Half Life Alyx it's only teleport, when infact have almost all type of movements and customization for every VR Headset and player preferences on VR-

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20 hours ago, Murdoch said:

It looks atmospheric and interesting, but VR as it stands just cannot do good first person movement. Picking a spot and instantly teleporting there is about as immersive as someone yelling "Stop playing that bloody game, your dinner is ready!". I cannot see myself investing in VR until this is resolved and unless you are talking a giant mechanical (and expensive) rig, I cannot imagine how. A foot pedal system perhaps? To me, mouse and keyboard is instinctual, I barely think about it. Even a VR FPS where the headset essentially substitutes for mouselook would be more immersive to me I think.

 

This is one of several beliefs I had before I actually got my Quest and used it for a while.

I have (and still do) always wanted a run-in-place solution e.g. the Virtuix Omni if it was actually good.

But if you try it out you probably find what's currently out there, and the ways developers work with the limitations, are still pretty great.

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I feel like a lot of the criticism comes from people who have never actually tried VR and it's based on their approximations of what it actually is in relation to monitor+m+k gaming. In reality it's a completely different way of experiencing interactive entertainment. It's not better or worse, it's just different. It has it's advantages and it has it's drawbacks.


On Wednesday Valve released two SteamVR Home environments inspired by HL: Alyx. For those of you who don't know, VR Home is basically the default environment thingy that launches when you start SteamVR and it's just a place you can walk around and look at things while having direct access to Steam with a headset on. So we've got City 17 alleys and Russell's lab to explore - as Valve states these do not use the same rendering and do not have the same level of interactivity as the full game; they are just a small preview of the areas found in the game.


Anyway, I can use the exploration of those environments as an example. At one point I picked up an empty can from the ground. Can you do the same thing in HL2? Yeah. But being able to pick it up with your own hands, rotate it, look at it up close and in full 3D... that's a completely different experience. Same thing with looking through bars of a closed gate into a street where the Civil Protection armored vehicle is - full scale and everything. On a monitor you'd just look for a split second and run off. In VR you want to take in every single detail. You find yourself bending or kneeling down to appreciate the 3D models in actual 3D, seeing the details and all.


Another thing to mention about VR is related to the graphical quality. Some people say it's not that good. And yeah, it's not DOOM Eternal. But in VR the perception is different. There are some environments in The Lab that do not have very good texture quality but it just doesn't matter - probably because the image itself is not as razor sharp as on the monitor. The Russell's lab for instance, even the VR Home version - it'd probably look ok on a monitor but in VR it's probably the highest fidelity environment I've seen and it feels really legitimate.


I hope nobody takes this as me shilling for VR. These are just my experiences with it. I'm doing my best to explain what it's like though probably trying it out yourself is the best way to understand it. VR is just something that I think everyone should experience. I would NOT recommend buying a headset unless you're super hyped for a specific game like I am for HL: Alyx. But if you have a chance then do definitely try it.

 

EDIT: In case you're wondering these are the available environments:

 

 

Edited by Touchdown

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Pre-load begins on Friday. So, is anyone else beside me playing this or are you all filthy flat-screeners? ;P

 

 

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1 minute ago, Touchdown said:

Pre-load begins on Friday. So, is anyone else beside me playing this or are you all filthy flat-screeners? ;P

 

 

i'm a filthy flatscreener, and i think i'll experience the game by watching gameplay videos.

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49 minutes ago, cambreaKer said:

i'm a filthy flatscreener, and i think i'll experience the game by watching gameplay videos.

 

Same.

 

And based on what I've seen so far, I'm only mildly interested in the game, so I'll gladly pass.

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1 hour ago, Touchdown said:

is anyone else beside me playing this or are you all filthy flat-screeners? ;P

I'm trying lol

 

 

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Filthy flatscreener here as well. I mean, to me Half-Life 2 was a major disappointment anyway, so I could care less about what they do with this story wise. And I just can't imagine VR working well for a person who wears glasses. To be fair, I haven't tried it, but it doesn't seem like something I'd enjoy. And I'd also have to upgrade my computer. So ultimately, this game is just not for my demographic, and I'll do a hard pass. I probably won't even watch any gameplay videos, because from what I've seen, it would be really fucking boring without a good commentator. 

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This Friday you say? Doom Eternal comes out on Friday so I won't have time to think about this VR selling tool.

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2 hours ago, Chezza said:

This Friday you say? Doom Eternal comes out on Friday so I won't have time to think about this VR selling tool.

actually I think its monday, you can preload on friday tho. Also calling it a "VR selling tool" is a bit disingenuous. Half Life has always been a franchise that "sells" a certain idea or aspect. HL with its continuous story telling, HL2 with its physics engine, and now Alyx is trying to show how VR can be used to immerse a player in a world. We'll see if it fulfills those promises, but you're acting as if the game is a sham, nothing but a tool, despite it being confirmed to be a fully-fledged entry into the franchise with a full story, and gameplay. I do understand that the barrier for entry is a bit more... er... expensive than previous titles, but I don't think the product was cynically produced to sell hardware and do nothing else.

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Really interested to see how this goes. I don't have a VR setup to play it with, but given that modern shooters (other than DLC, microtransactions, upgrades) feel to me like little more than refinements of what made Half-Life 2 so good, I'd love it if Valve could push things somewhere new once again.

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Well, I guess it's up to me to carry the glorious VR torch of enlightenment into these dark ages on DW. ;P Seriously though, I will be sure to share my thoughts on it after I get a chance to try it out.

 

19 hours ago, Jello said:

Filthy flatscreener here as well. I mean, to me Half-Life 2 was a major disappointment anyway, so I could care less about what they do with this story wise. And I just can't imagine VR working well for a person who wears glasses. To be fair, I haven't tried it, but it doesn't seem like something I'd enjoy. And I'd also have to upgrade my computer. So ultimately, this game is just not for my demographic, and I'll do a hard pass. I probably won't even watch any gameplay videos, because from what I've seen, it would be really fucking boring without a good commentator. 

 

I cannot comment on other headsets but I can say that Index works perfectly fine with glasses. Sure, I have to kind of push them into the "face gasket" but once that's done it's all good. There are actually companies that make prescription lenses that can be inserted into the headset so that you can avoid wearing glasses in VR altogether.

 

16 hours ago, Egg Boy said:

actually I think its monday, you can preload on friday tho. Also calling it a "VR selling tool" is a bit disingenuous. Half Life has always been a franchise that "sells" a certain idea or aspect. HL with its continuous story telling, HL2 with its physics engine, and now Alyx is trying to show how VR can be used to immerse a player in a world. We'll see if it fulfills those promises, but you're acting as if the game is a sham, nothing but a tool, despite it being confirmed to be a fully-fledged entry into the franchise with a full story, and gameplay. I do understand that the barrier for entry is a bit more... er... expensive than previous titles, but I don't think the product was cynically produced to sell hardware and do nothing else.

 

Yep. We have to keep in mind that Valve really didn't have to make this game. They are in a unique position of being a massive company with pretty much unlimited funds that is still privately owned. A lot of people probably don't realize that they have been developing dozens of projects over the years, millions of dollars worth of projects that all got cancelled. Valve is just this one of a kind company that can afford wasting millions on projects that never get released. So I think that when they finally DO release something then it's not because they need a product to sell. It's because they really believe it's something worth experiencing. Like you say, we'll see how it turns out.

 

Also the Index going out of stock is a good indication that Valve didn't really expect to sell their hardware with this game. They were not prepared at all because I guess they didn't think people would be willing to pay that much to try out a new HL game.

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Wait, how many people on steam own a VR set? I thought by ownership of VR alone would render beating any records impossible.

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According to the article

Quote

VR owners account for only 1% of Steam users according to the Steam Hardware Survey, making this sales performance quite an impressive achievement.

 

The 300K figure includes all owners of the game on Steam, including those that got the game alongside a Valve Index purchase or a different special promotion (like the Valve Friends and Family Complimentary package). Going by the Steam Hardware Survey, Valve Index owners account for only ~7% of all VR owners of Steam which by PlayTracker Insight estimates is ~119.000 players. The game can be played on any SteamVR supported headset.

 

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1 hour ago, sluggard said:

I'm just a bit above the required specs, but I'm just too friggin' broke for VR 😂

 

You're doing much better than me though, with my 950 and 8 gigs :v .

 

Ugh, f- okay no, I won't rage against PC gaming again, I promise.

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I like how it looks, won't be playing it but I'd like to, I feel like VR is a logical step for the Source engine but also a narrowing one.

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On 3/19/2020 at 9:52 AM, Egg Boy said:

actually I think its monday, you can preload on friday tho. Also calling it a "VR selling tool" is a bit disingenuous. Half Life has always been a franchise that "sells" a certain idea or aspect. HL with its continuous story telling, HL2 with its physics engine, and now Alyx is trying to show how VR can be used to immerse a player in a world. We'll see if it fulfills those promises, but you're acting as if the game is a sham, nothing but a tool, despite it being confirmed to be a fully-fledged entry into the franchise with a full story, and gameplay. I do understand that the barrier for entry is a bit more... er... expensive than previous titles, but I don't think the product was cynically produced to sell hardware and do nothing else.

 

I was being facetious but I do see it bit of a selling tool for VR.

 

The reason being, the whole gaming community has been dying for another Half Life and it's one of the best PC FPS series ever made. I think it goes without saying majority of people want another installment however after so much time of hearing nothing... VR game.

 

It reminds of me of the Diablo releasing on mobile sort of scenario.

 

But if the game is made with love then that's good. But seriously, did we really ask for a VR game after all this time? I would love to play it honestly, but never will consider a VR set for it.

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Guess I'll wait a bit untill a GPU with more tha 4GB of VRAM goes on sale. Oh and guess I need to by VR as well :(

 

At least theres finally a new half life game.

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The looks of the game make me think my GTX1080 would lag on my original Vive.  Plus I can hardly afford to eat, due to supermarket price-gouging from all the panic buying.

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On 3/24/2020 at 1:13 PM, Chezza said:

But if the game is made with love then that's good. But seriously, did we really ask for a VR game after all this time? I would love to play it honestly, but never will consider a VR set for it.

 

Same, after a decade of silence... we're getting a new game - which is VR exclusive and also a prequel...

 

Understandable they took this approach, by literally making the safest game in the series, but it is very disappointing after so much time. Wanna bet we're got getting another HL game before 2035 or so, if at all?

 

I'm currently watching a let's play, and it does seem pretty cool, but I am not so sure about the tone compared to HL2, too many jokes from Russell so far (and seriously, that first Vortigaunt with the brain damage joke... ffs). His design also seems a bit more in line with some beta NPCs than retail (thinking of cpt. Vance and Conscripts in particular), which I like. The visual design of the Vorts seems to be somewhere between the OG HL2 and the Orange Box/Episode 2 version.

 

But I am fucking GLAD(OS :v) they went for the Episode 2 voice actor, I've never liked the choice they made in the OG HL2 and the EP2 version is infinitely superior in my book - not just MUCH better acted, but way more badass in action! Just looked over the credits and holy shit, they got Mike Shapiro as G-Man and Tony Todd as the Vorts back, NOICE. Now THIS is *speaks in MKII Shao Kahn voice* f*cking excellent.

 

But what a waste they couldn't get Merle back as Alyx though. Well, at least Ozioma does a good imitation. I'm not going to talk about some of the others because there's no point - I mean, some of them are dead, such as Breen's and Eli's, so those are obviously not coming back unless recordings from HL2 get reused at some point :( . Also, they kinda got Marc involved in Alyx too, IMDB says he was a "story consultant". GROOVY. Ellen is also credited as Overwatch, but the voice so far seems identical to HL2, which makes me wonder whether the voice files are re-used or it's actually new acting - if it's new, it floats my boat for sure.

 

I will have to listen closely to the soundtrack later though, because they didn't get Kelly back after all, and to have him gone after he composed the soundtrack of the entire series is something I'm not sure I'll handle too well. The new guy has some expectations to meet, one could say.

 

But uh... Kleiner is missing?? Okay, now this is rather interesting, for a game set 5 years before HL2. I wonder how they fit this in, I'm only one hour into the let's play so far, but this is getting me hooked. Finally some hype... I also like how they gave the Combine more personality in this game, which is something I thought was both lacking but also expected in HL2 since after the game changed direction sometime after 2002 they wanted to make the Combine more mysterious. Yet, I still don't get what the Combine I've seen so far are meant to be, it's still only those seen in the pre-release footage who look like Soldiers but use... Metrocop death sounds >_> .

Edited by seed

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