Half-Life: Alyx (VR)

Already got a Vive and yes the headset specs are better than rift s (and Vive). Can reuse my controllers and base stations

Also free game

 

The demos certainly look nice, but does not increase my desire to invest in VR. The only thought I have while watching them is how amazing it would be as a standard FPS *sigh*

To the VR crowd, hope you enjoy it

 

It's the internet. So.... reasons.

And, it's Half-Life, so there will be a crapload of moaning, complaining and such.

 

Hope my Rift S arrives in time for launch. Moving to a new place that has a room, perfect for VR shenanigans.

 

I understand some want more standard Half-Life fare, but I'm excited to see the VR platform starting to get good, AAA titles. Titles that make people want to buy a headset so they can play too. (and then more good games get made) As a gamer, I want to see the VR platform move forward. If this game is being designed from the ground up to be played in VR, why are people so antsy to play it crippled?

VR isn't going away and it isn't just about gaming. I don't have a headset yet either but I've used the one I bought for my son. It's pretty fantastic, even in it's infancy, as I believe we are still crawling here. When VR works well, it's quite immersive and no monitor setup exists that could ever come close to the experience. Personally, I would only play this game as it was designed to be played rather than shoehorned to run VR free, if that ever were possible.

 

Possibly... because someone people don't like VR.
Some see it as a gimmick. And that FPS games play great as they already are, and don't need VR to be fun or immersive.

 

I have been ho humming on upgrading from my CV1 since xmas, now i also have a vive and a deluxe headstrap but to be honest the cable for the vive is a pain and the wands are fine for some games, but most really do need a thumbstick for max immersion, and i was going to grab the knuckles but not only have they been out of stock for ages, but the reviews of them breaking have put me right off, and moreso because they are £280 for a pair and at that price they should really be of better quality, plus the index and Rift S being lcd based hmd is also not something i want because i can't step back from the colour vibrancy and deep black levels of a OLED i take a standard now with the vive, CV1 and PSVR, to a grey washed out lcd based HMD, i also have a WMR LCD and it is just horrible looking in that reguard, plus the Quest is also out of stock but FB can take a hike with their mandatory FB account requirement now, so i just don't don't know what i am going to do VR upgrade wise, so many options with so many issues. lol

 

Again, an FPS in VR is completely different to an FPS outside of VR. It's not replacing your traditional games as you can still go and play those, it's a whole new platform and a whole new way to experience games which are made specifically to take advantage of this platform. If you're not going to buy the hardware, you don't get to play it. It's like complaining about the new Mario game only being on Nintendo's new console.

Some people don't like VR, but they're the vocal minority and all they do is say they don't like VR repeatedly. I could understand if people could give good reasons (don't have the space, motion sickness, can't afford, disabled etc.), but they just default to calling it a gimmick/moaning about games being on VR with no actual argument.

Have you tried VR? Outside of a game that you want to play being on a platform you refuse to buy, what is inherently bad about VR?

 

Vive cable outright partially broke for me, have to actually have a second hdmi cable running alongside the main cable, surprised your Vive hasn't had that yet.

The issues with LCD are vastly outweighed by the increase in pixel density, the vives screen door effect is pretty awful

 

@scatman839 Have you looked into the lens mod(s?) for the Vive? My friend did it and said it made it way better clarity wise, I guess it's just all the tinkering you gotta do beforehand.

 

Yes, I've tried VR. And I don't like it.
It's not how I want to play games, I play games to relax. And nothing about VR felt comfortable, relaxing...

Yes, I do think it's overpriced when compared to the amount of actual "good" titles available. But, it's the same reason I didn't like "3D"... it's a gimmick in my eyes.
It doesn't add anything to the experience, in fact strapping the damn thing to my face instantly, and constantly takes me out of the experience.


And at this point, I've long since stopped caring about Half-Life... Valve kind of burnt that bridge in my opinion, and nothing is going to make me drop several hundred dollars to play one game, and hope other good games will come out soon.

 

What bothers me the most about Alyx is how Valve is trying to use the Half Life brand to boost VR, instead of creating a game that is naturally geared towards VR (like Beat Saber). I watched the demos and nothing about them indicated that VR is essential to the experience - like most FPS games, the VR looks gimmicky and shoehorned. It annoys me to know that Valve could have created quality Half Life games all along but chose not to, and is now trying to use it to push their pet project.

 

Well, on that front the Vive does wins because on the Oculus CV1 you cannot use any other HDMI cable as Oculus saw fit to make a proprietary CV1 cable then quietly without telling consumers proceeded to stop making the cable, hence now making your CV1 a £400 paper weight if and when the cable fails, which was nice of them. lol

 

I don´t believe VR is going to become mainstream for gaming. The problem with VR is the same problem MS had with Kinect, they can be amazing for something tailored specifically for them but pretty much useless for everything else. In the case of VR, 80% of games simply can´t benefit from it, making it an expensive "gadget" to have only to play some games, games that don´t seem to be that great and are very short.
My bet is that many will buy a VR setup to play this game and regret the purchase once they finish the game and realise there´s very little else to make advantage of it...

 

There, so you personally don't like it because you have to strap something to your face. But what downside is there to this game, or any game really, being VR only if you take your personal comfort preference out of the picture? You and others in this thread said gimmick repeatedly, but how so?

Of course they're going to make software to sell their hardware lmao, it's literally been like this for every company in the console market. If there isn't software, people don't want to buy hardware. People have seen this software, and suddenly they want to buy hardware. Do people also complain at Sony for making the new God of War games only for their newest consoles? This game IS naturally geared for VR because it is literally made from the ground up for VR. It's as geared towards VR as much as Beat Saber, as much as any game made specifically for VR funnily enough. They're still clearly creating a quality HL game, just for a new platform.

Dunno why people keep making the comparison to Wii/Kinect, because you move around? It's not the same.
80% of games can't take advantage of VR? I don't really see how, if it doesn't have motion controls you can at least use the headset to see things in full 3D, but I'm sure someone will try and spin that into a negative too.



I heard Valve are considering renaming the game to "Half-Life: Complaining About VR" so it looks like we're talking about the game instead of just repeating what was said pages ago ad nauseam.

 

Yup, you hit the nail on the head. People talk about the lack of a "killer app" (and how Alyx could be it) but that's not the issue at all. The issue is much more fundamental - the interface. Just like certain games are ideal for a touchscreen (tower defense, puzzle) and others are ideal for a wheel or fight stick (racing and fighting games, respectively), VR is only ideal for certain types of games. Trying to shoehorn a genre that doesn't fit never works out - e.g., trying to play a FPS on a smartphone is an exercise in frustration.

Nothing that I've seen in the demo indicates that it was designed for VR from the ground up. This isn't some radical new game with an interface that is only workable by VR - it looks just like a standard FPS with a VR add-on. Like I said, Valve should be making games that are ideal for a VR experience (like Beat Saber), not trying to shoehorn a FPS game into VR.

 

That'll help with the Fresnel lens flare, but not with the dot pitch/SDE, it's honestly really glaring.

Not that VR isn't fun even with it.

 

I mean, literally nothing I've seen indicates this specific game was ever going to not be VR, so I think we're done here. Tetris on a touchscreen sucks ass btw.

Ah I see, I never bothered personally but yeah, SDE on the OG Vive impacted my enjoyment quite often. I personally don't notice any on the Index, but I know some people do so it seem to be very much a "your mileage may vary" situation. Do miss the colours on the OLEDs tho.

 

I think you misunderstood me. I know VR doesn´t have anything to do with motion controls, i´m only comparing them because they both have limited uses in gaming. For example, what´s the point of VR for games like Football Manager, Civilization, X-Com, Witcher, Dark Souls and all other similar games??? Games that don´t use a first person view don´t make sense for VR meaning that most games don´t need a VR headseat! That makes VR gaming a niche product.

Personally i don´t fancy the idea of having a screen glued to my eyes but i won´t critice those who like it. But in the end i don´t see a great future for VR, at least for gaming.