Is Valve the best game developer?

[thejunglegod]

I already considered them to be pretty top-notch, but then I finished Portal 2 last night and it blew me away. The brilliant puzzles combined with the majestic visuals and atmosphere, the playthrough was a delight. The voice acting was well above par and I found myself chuckling to some of the taunts and sarcasms meted out by GlaDOS. And what wonderful writing, WOW!!

Valve always comes up with games that are so well polished.I can still pick up my copy of HL2 and start playing without realizing that it is more than 5 years old. The graphics still stand the test of time. IMO, Valve is the best Game Developer out there currently.

 

[Northern Lawn]

Until they release a Left for Dead 3 I say they suck!

 

[Udgnim]

Bioware is just a tool for EA now

Blizzard's rep has taken a huge hit with Diablo 3

so yes Valve is the best game developer nowadays

 

[KaOTiK]

No, who is? I don't know, too late to think, might have an answer tomorrow.

 

[Dumac]

I was underwhelmed by both L4D2 and Portal 2, plus Half Life isn't delivering.

I like them as a publisher, though.

It is hard to really name a 'best' developer. I like a lot of developers, but they are all flawed differently.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Best in what way?

In their prime Black Isle, Troika, Obsidian and Bioware all made story-based RPGs that I've enjoyed more than any Valve game.

Bethesda has made open-world RPGs I've enjoyed more. iD and Gearbox made my favorite shooters

Valve doesn't make any action RPGs like Torchlight, or strategy games like Jagged Alliance or King's Bounty.

Portal 1 was great but it was a student project that Valve adopted and helped them finish, it wasn't Valve's own idea. Counter-Strike was someone else's mod.

Steam is great though. I :wub: Steam.

 

[Childs]

Maybe Crytek, especially when you consider tech. But when you just consider the end product, its hard to argue against Valve. Dice is pretty good, all things considered. If you take into account all platforms, I'd go with Naughty Dog.

 

[Grooveriding]

I think the real quantifier should be quality of delivered games across a dev's entire catalogue.

Definitely Valve.

 

[thejunglegod]

I think the real quantifier should be quality of delivered games across a dev's entire catalogue. Definitely Valve.

Exactly. They have never comoe up with games which are riddled with bugs. They easily release the most polished games.

 

[Zenoth]

I believe that Valve's best game is Half-Life 2: Episode Two (specifically, since vanilla Half-Life 2 was underwhelming to me, and E1 was too short), but Valve's ultimate achievement in my opinion isn't a game, it's Steam. I prefer other developers such as BioWare, id Software, Bethesda, Relic, Creative Assembly, etc. I can't say I have a "favorite" nor do I think there's a "best", just like Dumac said they're all flawed differently, to which I agree.

 

[Maximilian]

Exactly. They have never comoe up with games which are riddled with bugs. They easily release the most polished games.

Yeah, they dont gobble up other companies and run their IP into the ground either.

I would say value is probably the best. :thumbsup:

 

[Grooveriding]

I'd love to see Valve take a stab at an MMO or RPG. I know half life has the story elements of a good RPG, but obviously none of the character defining elements.

 

[thejunglegod]

I know half life has the story elements of a good RPG, but obviously none of the character defining elements.

Gordon Freeman is already at max level with all attributes at 10/10.

 

[Stringjam]

If anything, I like Valve's wit, characters, and voice acting.

I've never really been impressed with their games as a whole, though. They are a big disappointment visually.....all their games, even newer ones, look 10 years old, and generally have stale, robotic mechanics. I still love a lot of their games (HL2, Portal are great).

It's like they're not even trying. With all the resources ($) at their disposal, they should have an incredible engine by now.

I really don't have a favorite developer, but if I had to pick, it would probably be Crytek. If anything, because they release their SDK with the games for free, which is a blast to play around with and design levels.

If I had to form a list of my favorite games, though, the top 5 would each have a different developer. There isn't one that really sticks out to me as the best.

 

[wuliheron]

Valve definitely gets my vote for best all around developer. They're the only developer I know of that puts out such consistently high quality games I never have to think twice about pre-ordering. Instead of buying IPs and running them into the dirt, they scout around for new talent and build them up. Instead of gouging customers for every last dime and producing console exclusives they created Steam and made it cheaper and easier than ever before to buy games.

The Steam hardware survey also shows an increase in the number of people using integrated graphics to play their games. Valve's games like Half Life 2 and the Portal series incorporate physics that can run on something as wimpy as a dual core processor which is no small accomplishment. I wish more developers would focus on things like physics and making games fun to play than marketing the latest and greatest improvements in graphics for games that just plain suck.

 

[darkewaffle]

Exactly. They have never comoe up with games which are riddled with bugs. They easily release the most polished games.

You clearly never played HL2 Ep1.

There's nothing wrong with Valve, but I wouldn't put them on a pedestal either. Steam works ok but to this day lacks a number of extremely basic no-brainer features, and for what's a glorified game shop and gallery can take up a whole goddamn lot of memory.

HL2 is definitely one of the best games I've ever played though, absolutely loved it. I do think they do ambience, environment and mood extremely well and it wraps well around their strong characters.

 

[terry107]

Given the quality of the games, the support after release, and their feelings on DRM, I would go with CD Projekt Red.

 

[CottonRabbit]

Nope, IMO they are the most overrated developer. I do give them props for turning DRM into the darling of PC gaming though.

 

[EDUSAN]

i love Valve as well... everything they touch becomes gold to me, somehow.

First game they ever did... half life 1... from nothing to number 1 company...
the expansions were good, the community support for modding was great
they had A GREAT help from Counter Strike mod though, they did good to make the game their own later.
They nailed it with TFC and TF2

HL2 was not as good, but it was great nevertheless. It failed a bit to live up to the hype that hl1 made.
Ep1 and Ep2 were good
Portal was WOW, and Portal 2 was WOW x2.
They joined the Zombie fashion and made L4D and L4D2, probably the best zombie game out there for a long time.

Maybe the graphics are not that good, but they SURE KNOW how to make a game addicting, fun and good

they definetely know what players enjoy to play... they have the gold making machine...

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

How many games of late have they actually developed in-house though? A lot of their IP is stuff they've acquired. Portal was a project by digipen students. DOTA was a map for Warcraft 3, L4D was a project of some studio that they bought. Alien Swarm was a UT2K mod. They hired the team and got them to make it a standalone as a one off project. Even TF2 was a mod and they hired robin walker and john cook. That was developed while they were in house though and it shows the Valve polish. Portal 2 is definitely a valve game. But something like CS:GO. I think it's outsourced to hidden path.

 

[rivethead]

I've only played one Valve game....Portal. I lost interest, got frustated, and quit about 1/3 of the way through. It just didn't keep me engaged.

They didn't exactly make a great first impression.

But I love Steam!

 

[wuliheron]

How many games of late have they actually developed in-house though? A lot of their IP is stuff they've acquired. Portal was a project by digipen students. DOTA was a map for Warcraft 3, L4D was a project of some studio that they bought. Alien Swarm was a UT2K mod. They hired the team and got them to make it a standalone as a one off project. Even TF2 was a mod and they hired robin walker and john cook. That was developed while they were in house though and it shows the Valve polish. Portal 2 is definitely a valve game. But something like CS:GO. I think it's outsourced to hidden path.

That's the whole point, they find great talent and bring them into the fold. They don't just buy IPs, they hire the people that develop them in the first place. They're a company and if they don't find new people and grow they are dead, dead, dead.

 

[Kristijonas]

Ubisoft is not mentioned in this thread, so I meantion it as a candidate.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

That's the whole point, they find great talent and bring them into the fold. They don't just buy IPs, they hire the people that develop them in the first place. They're a company and if they don't find new people and grow they are dead, dead, dead.

You definitely want to grow but l4d was mostly done by the time valve acquired turtle rock studios. They probably added their own personal touch to the project but they didn't do any of the heavy lifting.

Blizzard is probably going to be up there for developing projects from the ground up and supporting them for the life of the game. Diablo 3 is kind of sketchy but the president of the company said he wants to fix the game up and I can see that happening.

Like it or not but there's a lot of casual gamers out there now. You have put a site like big fish games up there also. Or PopCap. Big Fish consistently runs sales and they support their products. They're huge in the mobile scene but I don't know if you'd really consider tablets pc gaming.

 

[PowerYoga]

Valve doesn't really make many games anymore, they're more of a publisher than anything else.