Will we even get a massive open world with HalfLife-like realism?

[fuzzybabybunny]

I remember when Half-Life 3 came out and the facial expressions and animations on the face of Alyx and every other NPC really brought the entire world to life. Bioshock re-kindled this with the animations of Elizabeth.

The HUGE worlds of Elder Scrolls are amazing, but get tiresome since all the characters are so wooden and it's hard to invest in the storyline and especially side-quests when the characters are so obviously robotic. Fallout is even worse in this regard - I've quit New Vegas because a quarter of the way through I simply stopped caring about its world.

Do you think we'll even get a massive, open-world game with the same fantastic characters and animations as Half-Life 3 or Bioshock Infinite?

Or maybe even have an open-world game where you can have companion(s) and they're mated to an "AI" like Siri.

 

[Jodell88]

Play Witcher 3.

 

[Grooveriding]

Yup. Witcher 3 is the best open world game yet.

 

[justoh]

Guild wars 3 was close, if I remember correctly. Been so long.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Is Witcher 3 ok if I've never played the previous games?

 

[BoberFett]

Half Life had realism? In what way? There are plenty of games with great facial animation.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I remember when Half-Life 3 came out...

Say what?

I know what you meant but that errant 3 caught my attention. There are plenty of large open world games with good animation, expression of feeling from the characters etc.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

Either play one and two OR watch them on You Tube. All three games are quite different from each other, though the story begins in the W1 and ends(maybe) in W3. I enjoyed the first two games and love TW3.

The Wife

 

[futurefields]

umm OP have you played GTA 5? Want to talk about realism, it is the closest thing to a real city in a video game

 

[mizzou]

I remember when Half-Life 3 came out and the facial expressions and animations on the face of Alyx and every other NPC really brought the entire world to life. Bioshock re-kindled this with the animations of Elizabeth.

The HUGE worlds of Elder Scrolls are amazing, but get tiresome since all the characters are so wooden and it's hard to invest in the storyline and especially side-quests when the characters are so obviously robotic. Fallout is even worse in this regard - I've quit New Vegas because a quarter of the way through I simply stopped caring about its world.

Do you think we'll even get a massive, open-world game with the same fantastic characters and animations as Half-Life 3 or Bioshock Infinite?

Or maybe even have an open-world game where you can have companion(s) and they're mated to an "AI" like Siri.

You mention 2 different problems. AI and Graphics.

Honestly, I think half life graphics are below everything Skyrim brought to the table. Skyrim also destroyed Half Life with it's AI system....so to talk about the real issues, about WHY the characters are wooden, you have to look at AI.

The big issue is that most games developed with "Radiant AI" in mind have failed miserably. The games were good, but the radiant features were basically all neutered away. Ultima Online, Oblivion, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Nobody has figured it out yet.

So until someone figures a way to code it out, we are left with scripted events.

If all you want is nice looking/smooth animations, then you have hope. Valve was slick with their ability to develop graphics, at the time they were at the top of their game. Bethesda has their own achievements, but they've clearly recycled the same engine over the last few games.

 

[jana519]

This thread has me intrigued. Is it possible to play The Witcher 3 and enjoy it on a low-end GPU like a 7790? I heard the graphical requirements are demanding.

 

[Sulaco]

I remember when Half-Life 3 came out and the facial expressions and animations on the face of Alyx and every other NPC really brought the entire world to life. Bioshock re-kindled this with the animations of Elizabeth.

The HUGE worlds of Elder Scrolls are amazing, but get tiresome since all the characters are so wooden and it's hard to invest in the storyline and especially side-quests when the characters are so obviously robotic. Fallout is even worse in this regard - I've quit New Vegas because a quarter of the way through I simply stopped caring about its world.

Do you think we'll even get a massive, open-world game with the same fantastic characters and animations as Half-Life 3 or Bioshock Infinite?

Or maybe even have an open-world game where you can have companion(s) and they're mated to an "AI" like Siri.

Half-Life 2. We know what you meant, but jeez ..

And I'm not sure what you mean about Bioshock Infinite and HL2 with "fantastic characters". For the record I loved HL2 (and far more the original Half Life) and enjoyed Bioshock Infinite, but "great characters"? if we're just talking about animations, there are MANY, MANY games that have stellar animations surpassing either of those. As for uniqueness and character development, each of those games only feature a mere handful of characters uniquely voiced and given any kind of narrative depth, so obviously more time is/must be spent in fleshing them out.
Skyrim and Fallout try and cram in hundreds and hundreds of NPCs, all of whom you can converse with, with like 20 different voice actors to go around
And of course, pretty much all of whom have to have their own little side quest and fetch mission to send you on, so the character development pretty much ends there.

 

[escrow4]

No because that sort of game would need to be AAA which would need millions which means consoles to make $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and consoles HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.

Witcher 3 was OK but just like Dragon Age its not completely open. The game has fat sections but sections nonetheless. If you want a game where you spend three hours driving from one city the size of Los Santos to another city the size of Liberty City it ain't happening. Its called real life actually. D:

 

[StinkyPinky]

CAn't really agree. There are plenty of modern games that are superior for "realism". As mentioned GTA 5 blows HL2 out the water. Witcher 3 is great too, that world not only looks great but feels lived in.

 

[StinkyPinky]

This thread has me intrigued. Is it possible to play The Witcher 3 and enjoy it on a low-end GPU like a 7790? I heard the graphical requirements are demanding.

Not that demanding. A 7790 can probably run it at medium at 1080p.

 

[Seba]

I remember when Half-Life 3 came out

Half-Life 3 confirmed.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Is Witcher 3 ok if I've never played the previous games?

I can't be the only one who just reads the plot synopsis on wikipedia of old games when they look too dated to get through and I want to play a sequel. Am I?

 

[raasco]

https://mobile.twitter.com/IsHL3OutYet/status/623662920992317440

 

[Stuka87]

Half Life and realism... the made me chuckle.

The Witcher 3 and GTA5 both have good facial expressions.

The first game I played that impressed me with facial expressions was LA Noire. Great facial expressions in that game.

 

[TechBoyJK]

I took a friend's advice, and started playing Witcher 2 before I get into Witcher 3. He said it would help with the story, and it would actually make Witcher 3 feel that much better since I'd have the previous game to reference it to.

Damn, W2 is a nice game. It's not without it's flaws, but damn it's nice. Nice environment. Nice characters. nice nice nice.

 

[Fingolfin269]

I can't be the only one who just reads the plot synopsis on wikipedia of old games when they look too dated to get through and I want to play a sequel. Am I?

This is exactly what I did before starting Witcher 3. You do miss out on some of the deeper parts from the first 2 though I assume. Because there are characters you run into that Geralt obviously knows, and I assume anyone who played the first 2 would know, but I have no clue about that. It doesn't really interfere with the game play but kind of makes me want to go back and play the older ones when I finish 3.

 

[TechBoyJK]

This is exactly what I did before starting Witcher 3. You do miss out on some of the deeper parts from the first 2 though I assume. Because there are characters you run into that Geralt obviously knows, and I assume anyone who played the first 2 would know, but I have no clue about that. It doesn't really interfere with the game play but kind of makes me want to go back and play the older ones when I finish 3.

I did this for Witcher 1, but W2 still looked to good to pass up. I'm hoping I finish it over the next month because I'm excited for W3.

 

[Franz316]

Half Life 3 CONFIRMED!! This has to a be viral marketing campaign by valve!!

But seriously, Witcher 3 is your best bet. Witcher 2 was fun also.