Half-Life 3 Would Have Ended with a Cliffhanger, Says Main Writer

Megalith

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In an interview with Arcade Attack, Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw revealed that a third game in the series wouldn't have tied off any narrative loose ends anyway: in fact, every Half-Life game was expected to end in a cliffhanger. He also speaks a little bit about Episode 3 and how it would have "reset" the story, likening the transition from Half-Life to Half-Life 2. As expected, Laidlaw has no idea if Half-Life 3 will ever be released.

…I never thought as far ahead as HL3, unless you were to say that HL3 and Episode 3 were the same thing. I will say that I expected every installment would end without resolution, forever and ever…there was some rumor going around that Ep3 or HL3 would end Gordon Freeman’s story, and I don’t think that was accurate. My intention was that Ep3 would simply tie up the plot threads that were particular to HL2. But it would still end like HL1 and HL2, with Gordon in an indeterminate space, on hold, waiting for the next game to begin. So one cliffhanger after another.
 
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Sad state of games when an icon of the video game world never gets a proper send off. Valve was too focused on L4D and CS: source. I wish they would have finished at least Episode 3. Seems like Valve is sort of a shell of what it once was......
 
The ultimate HL cliffhanger...

G-Man: Gordon... I am your father!"
 
snip "I will say that I expected every installment would end without resolution, forever and ever…But it would still end like HL1 and HL2, with Gordon in an indeterminate space, on hold, waiting for the next game to begin. So one cliffhanger after another."
Looks like they succeeded.
 
snip "I will say that I expected every installment would end without resolution, forever and ever…But it would still end like HL1 and HL2, with Gordon in an indeterminate space, on hold, waiting for the next game to begin. So one cliffhanger after another."
Looks like they succeeded.
I think you are correct sir.....they just said ok the story is done and walked away.
 
Still confusing to me that such a popular franchise, with guaranteed mega sales was stopped. Half Life is like Fallout, as soon as a whisper of it hits the internet, it explodes. Most other popular genres are being bled to death trying to ride the hype and dollar train (CoD, FarCry, AC, BF, etc).
 
Sad state of games when an icon of the video game world never gets a proper send off.

Honestly, I've felt sadder that No One Lives Forever never saw a sequel/comeback. I've wept virtual crocodile tears that we never saw another X-Wing game. And as much as the internet would like me to rend my garments upon never playing / seeing HL3 or Episode 3; there are so many incomplete video game sagas out there.
 
Sad state of games when an icon of the video game world never gets a proper send off. Valve was too focused on L4D and CS: source. I wish they would have finished at least Episode 3. Seems like Valve is sort of a shell of what it once was......
Oh please, look at how companies churn out a million CoD/Battlefield/Halo games. Valve could have easily made an HL3 if they wanted to cash in. I have more respect for them having the integrity to only do it right if at all.
 
Oh please, look at how companies churn out a million CoD/Battlefield/Halo games. Valve could have easily made an HL3 if they wanted to cash in. I have more respect for them having the integrity to only do it right if at all.
Huh? This is valve.....not Activision. All of these companies made those games AFTER this.....Not sure what you are trying to compare here. Besides Valve did the opposite they cashed in on taking your money for these other games..... They should have stuck with making games.
 
Huh? This is valve.....not Activision. All of these companies made those games AFTER this.....Not sure what you are trying to compare here. Besides Valve did the opposite they cashed in on taking your money for these other games..... They should have stuck with making games.
Gabe's Mansion and harem say you're wrong.
 
Huh? This is valve.....not Activision. All of these companies made those games AFTER this.....Not sure what you are trying to compare here. Besides Valve did the opposite they cashed in on taking your money for these other games..... They should have stuck with making games.
Ok and they could have scooped another $100-$300 million off HL3 as well, but they didnt. If your argument against them making a sequel is that they are mooching money hungry bastards then that would support their decision to churn our HL sequels.
 
This is me waiting for the next game in the series.
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Ok and they could have scooped another $100-$300 million off HL3 as well, but they didnt. If your argument against them making a sequel is that they are mooching money hungry bastards then that would support their decision to churn our HL sequels.
Im not sure what you are trying to argue here....all i said was i wanted them to finish what they started and said they would do.....because they were GOOD at it. You brought up the money hungry mooching topic. I would gladly pay valve for another few quality games because they have a great rep. They decided not to and they went the way of service rather than production. That's all I said, you brought up the money topic which is not really relevant to what I originally posted..
 
Im not sure what you are trying to argue here....all i said was i wanted them to finish what they started and said they would do.....because they were GOOD at it. You brought up the money hungry mooching topic. I would gladly pay valve for another few quality games because they have a great rep. They decided not to and they went the way of service rather than production. That's all I said, you brought up the money topic which is not really relevant to what I originally posted..
Ok. The common argument against Valve is that they're "in it for the money" aka all they care about is running their Steam platform, which doesnt really add up since they could make even more money with an HL3 sequel that wouldnt even have to be good. Valve has chosen not do this which I think adds to their integrity that if/when they ever make HL3 they're gonna do it right. I'm sure they have sunk money into some kind of preliminary development costs and have written that off as "not good enough".
 
It's just poor management, that's all there is to it. When you're making billions and have no shareholders to answer to, you can do whatever you want. It's been 10 years waiting on a planned Episode 3 to Episode 2. It's obviously not a priority for them and they have more than enough money to go around to do a good job on it if they wanted to. I can see where they might be tired of Half-Life, in which case, assign some people who AREN'T or hire some new help, while they focus on another project, meanwhile Steam bankrolls everyone and everything. The fact that we don't have an Episode 3 after 10 years means that they don't really care and probably just work on something until they get bored of it, then move on to something else, whether it's finished or not.
 
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