Half-life Alyx reminds me why VR will never be mainstream

[Larry the Cacodemon]

So after letting my Oculus gather dust for a few years I finally decided to go through the hassle of setting it up again for Half-Life Alyx after all the hype surrounding that game to see if it was worth it. Instead, I was just reminded of why I put the Oculus away in the first place.

I simply cannot use VR for more than 30-40 min at a time. No matter how much I try to adjust the headset or fiddle around with settings, the same thing always happens: Things are fun for 20-30 min, then my eyes start becoming extremely dry to a point of literally hurting very badly (I try blinking often but it makes no difference). Then not long after I start experiencing minor headaches that quickly go away after I stop using the Rift.

This is why I gave up on using the Rift last time. It's not that there aren't any fun games, it's just that it's so uncomfortable to use that it doesn't even matter. That's not even mentioning other problems like sweating and heat.

To be fair, Alyx is a fun game. And I agree that it's the best VR game to date. But that isn't saying much. That said, while otherwise fun Half-life Alyx is a good example of how VR will always impose annoying limitations to game design that would not exist otherwise. A good example is limiting the speed of the action and slower pacing, because otherwise the game would be unplayable for most people in VR. VR games have to be slower paced to work. Period. Nobody is going to play something like Doom Eternal in VR.

Then there's all the annoying gimmicks. It appears to be an unwritten rule that every VR game must have annoying mini-games that take advantage of the motion controls. And indeed, Alyx is full of them. Want to unlock a force field? Mini-game. Want to open a computer console? Mini-game. Want to use a weapon upgrade station? Mini-game. It's just annoying and does nothing except slow down the pacing of the game.

Which brings me to the next point. As cool as I felt it was walking around inside of a Half-life level while headcrabs leaped into my face, I still feel VR is largely just a gimmick. A very, very cool and impressive gimmick. But still ultimately just a gimmick. Was it really insane and cool to have a headcrab leap into my face the first few times? Was it really cool looking at ceilings and seeing actual life-size barnacles there? Yes.

But those things were only cool the first dozen times. Then the novelty wore off.

Same with the guns. Being able to point and shoot your guns with your actual hands felt super cool at first, but after a while you realize that it's still ultimately just the same kind of point & shoot combat that you are use to having in non-VR games except your aim is worse and hitting things is harder. Which btw forces you to aim slowly and carefully, thus lowering the pacing of the game.

Truth be told, I'm already getting bored of Alyx and I'm not even half-way through the game. The initial wow factor of the VR stuff has already started to wear off, and all I'm left with is a generic half-life game with fancier graphics. Fancier graphics which I can't even properly enjoy anyway because the resolution on the rift is too low. Game easily looks 10x better on youtube playthrough than on the actual rift simply because the videos are high res and crisp compared to looking at it in-game through the actual rift.

And the best part? Despite having a very high end gaming PC (Has a 1080 and 16 GB RAM, can play Eternal at 2560 resolution at highest settings with 60+ fps) Alyx still recommends I play at the lowest settings in order to have good performance. Despite the fact I have a better gaming PC than literally 90% of people. If I bought an Index which has higher resolution than the rift my PC might not even be good enough to play it with a decent framerate...

I'm sorry but VR will never be mainstream. Even this new flagship game has not been successful in debunking the idea that VR is ultimately just about wowing you with an initial coolness factor that then quickly fades away after a while. It's still just a gimmick in the end.

Is Half-life Alyx a good game?

Yes.

Has it discredited the notion that VR is just a very technically impressive gimmick?

No.

Truth be told I hope Half-life 3 will just use conventional M+K setup.

[Jackerino]

I also want to point out that people like me played through the original Half-Life and Half-Life 2 games again in VR once HL:A was announced, and we honestly did just fine. It was the same exact game, except damage values and such were better balanced for VR play, and weapons were remade to function properly in VR (At least the Half-Life 2/Episodic ones), and it did just fine, and I honestly unfortunately had more fun with the combat in those than I did in HL:Alyx. So I really, really hope Half-Life 3 isn't like HL:A, I really hope Valve doesn't do that. I also saw people who never played Half-Life before, playing the original games in VR and having a blast, in preparation for HL:Alyx, so it's just really awful seeing HL:Alyx become a grandma VR game that's super slow.

[Amogus]

İlk olarak Caduceus tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Xee_Zomboy tarafından gönderildi:

I agree with you on one very important thing. Half Life 3, if it ever comes out, should NOT be VR.

Gordon is capable of doing some loud ♥♥♥♥. Putting him in VR would slow the game down far too much and feel very wrong, especially since it really just does not feel all that great to swing a crowbar in VR, at least not to me when I tried it in Boneworks (Though it did feel kinda good to use a knife to headbutt stab those crab helmets).

For the record I would NEVER play Doom Eternal in VR. It would thoroughly destroy the experience of having full body control with only a keyboard and mouse or controller.

I AM, however, quite open to the possibility of other prequel-esq spin-offs such as Half Life Barney or Half Life Shepard. Hell I'd love a VR game where you'd play a Vortigaunt or a Headcrab like back in Half Life 1, that would be absolutely fabulous.

At the end of the day don't give up on VR just because it causes you minor discomfort, it causes us all discomfort for awhile. You just have to build up a resistance to it. Slow burn your gameplay until you can comfortably play.

You hit my biggest concern right on the head: Game Speed.

VR tends to be much slower and through, while mouse and keyboard tends to be on the other side of the spectrum. Gotta admit though, glory kills in VR may be cool. :D

I don't really see the issue of slowing down the game speed when it ultimately results in a more rewarding feeling in combat. Comparing gameplay from HL:A to the previous titles, I can definitely say the combat was made much more deliberate and a lot less arcadey (basically). I can appreciate that the gameplay was revolutionary at its release, but nowadays it would just feel like more of the same and not as special IMO.

[Asclepius]

İlk olarak Awesome! tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Caduceus tarafından gönderildi:

You hit my biggest concern right on the head: Game Speed.

VR tends to be much slower and through, while mouse and keyboard tends to be on the other side of the spectrum. Gotta admit though, glory kills in VR may be cool. :D

Again, play Serious Sam 3 VR.

I was literally about to say to you. "I should watch that." You literally just replied to me. xD

I did look it up. I feel like that may cause motion sickness for some people, but I've never been motion sick before, so I may be safe as long as I don't do any squats or ducking.

[Jackerino]

İlk olarak Awesome! tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Caduceus tarafından gönderildi:

You hit my biggest concern right on the head: Game Speed.

VR tends to be much slower and through, while mouse and keyboard tends to be on the other side of the spectrum. Gotta admit though, glory kills in VR may be cool. :D

Again, play Serious Sam 3 VR.

Or just play any VR mod for existing games, like Doom 3, Minecraft, HL2, etc.

Or Payday 2 VR.

Or Boneworks.

Or Take and Hold in H3VR.

Or any VR PVP game, honestly.

HL: Alyx is a very slow VR game, and isn't an accurate representation of how slow VR normally is.

[Asclepius]

İlk olarak  Sir_Mossy  tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Caduceus tarafından gönderildi:

You hit my biggest concern right on the head: Game Speed.

VR tends to be much slower and through, while mouse and keyboard tends to be on the other side of the spectrum. Gotta admit though, glory kills in VR may be cool. :D

I don't really see the issue of slowing down the game speed when it ultimately results in a more rewarding feeling in combat. Comparing gameplay from HL:A to the previous titles, I can definitely say the combat was made much more deliberate and a lot less arcadey (basically). I can appreciate that the gameplay was revolutionary at its release, but nowadays it would just feel like more of the same and not as special IMO.

I only got the experience of Youtube videos to comment off of, so my criticism isn't 100% fair. I however did find that the Gman agreed with my points on Combine Ai and some of my other complaints as well. Most of them were things I take seriously in a game: Like combat AI.. It almost looked more like a highly immersive rail shooter than an FPS. I'm being dramatic btw.

Video in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtdnxvbQuzQ

[Asclepius]

İlk olarak Jackerino tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Awesome! tarafından gönderildi:

Again, play Serious Sam 3 VR.

Or just play any VR mod for existing games, like Doom 3, Minecraft, HL2, etc.

Or Payday 2 VR.

Or Boneworks.

Or Take and Hold in H3VR.

Or any VR PVP game, honestly.

HL: Alyx is a very slow VR game, and isn't an accurate representation of how slow VR normally is.

The reason why HL: A is so slow is because enemies have lots of HP and are very accurate. This turns the game into a cover shooter. Aka, duck behind cover and pop shots at the enemies from range. You also have to waste a lot of time looking for resin and easter eggs/secrets. If this game were played with a mouse and keyboard. It could be beaten easily within 5 hours without speed run tactics.

[Jackerino]

İlk olarak Caduceus tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Jackerino tarafından gönderildi:

Or just play any VR mod for existing games, like Doom 3, Minecraft, HL2, etc.

Or Payday 2 VR.

Or Boneworks.

Or Take and Hold in H3VR.

Or any VR PVP game, honestly.

HL: Alyx is a very slow VR game, and isn't an accurate representation of how slow VR normally is.

The reason why HL: A is so slow is because enemies have lots of HP and are very accurate. This turns the game into a cover shooter. Aka, duck behind cover and pop shots at the enemies from range. You also have to waste a lot of time looking for resin and easter eggs/secrets. If this game were played with a mouse and keyboard. It could be beaten easily within 5 hours without speed run tactics.

If you are curious about my thoughts on HL:A, I honestly don't like how much Valve has arbitrarily slowed down and just in general hindered the overall experience in the name of VR Comfort. Valve's innovative and awesome AI is very held back by Valve arbitrarily limiting the abilities of Combine Soldiers and other active enemies in the name of 'VR Comfort', as everything also has to accommodate to the fact that Valve intended for players to be standing still for most of the time. I really dislike a lot of the enemy encounters as a result. It's arbitrarily slow for no good reason, and it's trying to be an entryway for new VR players without having anything to give for players already well-versed in VR. I very very much hope that HL3/HL2:EP3 isn't like this.

[Asclepius]

İlk olarak Jackerino tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Caduceus tarafından gönderildi:

The reason why HL: A is so slow is because enemies have lots of HP and are very accurate. This turns the game into a cover shooter. Aka, duck behind cover and pop shots at the enemies from range. You also have to waste a lot of time looking for resin and easter eggs/secrets. If this game were played with a mouse and keyboard. It could be beaten easily within 5 hours without speed run tactics.

If you are curious about my thoughts on HL:A, I honestly don't like how much Valve has arbitrarily slowed down and just in general hindered the overall experience in the name of VR Comfort. Valve's innovative and awesome AI is very held back by Valve arbitrarily limiting the abilities of Combine Soldiers and other active enemies in the name of 'VR Comfort', as everything also has to accommodate to the fact that Valve intended for players to be standing still for most of the time. I really dislike a lot of the enemy encounters as a result. It's arbitrarily slow for no good reason, and it's trying to be an entryway for new VR players without having anything to give for players already well-versed in VR. I very very much hope that HL3/HL2:EP3 isn't like this.

And this is my biggest reason for not wanting to play HL:A. I do want the first few encounters to be easy. All video games shouldn't just drop you in on the boss when you first load it up, but should slowly build up and up. Some of the fire fights were so anticlimactic that it hurt. The music so intense, but the battle ends within a minute. It's the worst I say!

[TG2333]

I thought it was super cool to use a mouse to shoot a gun, but then the novelty wore off.

[FrenchieBong]

Let me debunk your points for VR not coming to mainstream:
1. Resolution
ans: The OG Rift is not the best platform to showcase the shear beauty of this game. Try something like the Rift S or Index for even better resolution.

2. Interactivity
ans: Using the guns by holding them will always feel better than just MandK. However, I do agree it gets old after awhile but then it's still more immersive than just point and click. I tried going back to MandK and it really didn't click with me anymore.

3. Comfort and Sickness
ans: This is the most prominent issue I think most people are having with VR. Best solution is to get a pair of anti nausea wristband. If that doesn't work 100%, plug in one of your ear. If your left handed, plug in right ear and vice versa. This will have a tremendous effect on how you feel, also try using it 15min before booting up the headset.

[The Maddog]

Oh look. Exactly the same post you made on reddit/r/pcgaming.

Agenda much?

[Keychain]

İlk olarak Karl The Butcher ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ tarafından gönderildi:

So after letting my Oculus gather dust for a few years I finally decided to go through the hassle of setting it up again for Half-Life Alyx after all the hype surrounding that game to see if it was worth it. Instead, I was just reminded of why I put the Oculus away in the first place.

I simply cannot use VR for more than 30-40 min at a time. No matter how much I try to adjust the headset or fiddle around with settings, the same thing always happens: Things are fun for 20-30 min, then my eyes start becoming extremely dry to a point of literally hurting very badly (I try blinking often but it makes no difference). Then not long after I start experiencing minor headaches that quickly go away after I stop using the Rift.

This is why I gave up on using the Rift last time. It's not that there aren't any fun games, it's just that it's so uncomfortable to use that it doesn't even matter. That's not even mentioning other problems like sweating and heat.

To be fair, Alyx is a fun game. And I agree that it's the best VR game to date. But that isn't saying much. That said, while otherwise fun Half-life Alyx is a good example of how VR will always impose annoying limitations to game design that would not exist otherwise. A good example is limiting the speed of the action and slower pacing, because otherwise the game would be unplayable for most people in VR. VR games have to be slower paced to work. Period. Nobody is going to play something like Doom Eternal in VR.

Then there's all the annoying gimmicks. It appears to be an unwritten rule that every VR game must have annoying mini-games that take advantage of the motion controls. And indeed, Alyx is full of them. Want to unlock a force field? Mini-game. Want to open a computer console? Mini-game. Want to use a weapon upgrade station? Mini-game. It's just annoying and does nothing except slow down the pacing of the game.

Which brings me to the next point. As cool as I felt it was walking around inside of a Half-life level while headcrabs leaped into my face, I still feel VR is largely just a gimmick. A very, very cool and impressive gimmick. But still ultimately just a gimmick. Was it really insane and cool to have a headcrab leap into my face the first few times? Was it really cool looking at ceilings and seeing actual life-size barnacles there? Yes.

But those things were only cool the first dozen times. Then the novelty wore off.

Same with the guns. Being able to point and shoot your guns with your actual hands felt super cool at first, but after a while you realize that it's still ultimately just the same kind of point & shoot combat that you are use to having in non-VR games except your aim is worse and hitting things is harder. Which btw forces you to aim slowly and carefully, thus lowering the pacing of the game.

Truth be told, I'm already getting bored of Alyx and I'm not even half-way through the game. The initial wow factor of the VR stuff has already started to wear off, and all I'm left with is a generic half-life game with fancier graphics. Fancier graphics which I can't even properly enjoy anyway because the resolution on the rift is too low. Game easily looks 10x better on youtube playthrough than on the actual rift simply because the videos are high res and crisp compared to looking at it in-game through the actual rift.

And the best part? Despite having a very high end gaming PC (Has a 1080 and 16 GB RAM, can play Eternal at 2560 resolution at highest settings with 60+ fps) Alyx still recommends I play at the lowest settings in order to have good performance. Despite the fact I have a better gaming PC than literally 90% of people. If I bought an Index which has higher resolution than the rift my PC might not even be good enough to play it with a decent framerate...

I'm sorry but VR will never be mainstream. Even this new flagship game has not been successful in debunking the idea that VR is ultimately just about wowing you with an initial coolness factor that then quickly fades away after a while. It's still just a gimmick in the end.

Is Half-life Alyx a good game?

Yes.

Has it discredited the notion that VR is just a very technically impressive gimmick?

No.

Truth be told I hope Half-life 3 will just use conventional M+K setup.

after the ending of Half-Life Alyx... you can bet your ass Half-Life 3 will be VR.....

[Jackerino]

İlk olarak Caduceus tarafından gönderildi:

And this is my biggest reason for not wanting to play HL:A. I do want the first few encounters to be easy. All video games shouldn't just drop you in on the boss when you first load it up, but should slowly build up and up. Some of the fire fights were so anticlimactic that it hurt. The music so intense, but the battle ends within a minute. It's the worst I say!

The thing is, it doesn't even need to be this slow. There's so many VR games out there that are much more quicker than HL:Alyx, and that's what makes me so bothered by HL: Alyx the most. I see reviewers praising the Russels's gravity pull feature as innovative and new, when in reality it's just the force grab ability that many VR titles have nowadays, but nerfed in some ways. I seriously hope HL3 isn't in VR because I feel like Valve's approach to making VR games is going to make the Half-Life formula suffer.

[Amogus]

İlk olarak Jackerino tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Caduceus tarafından gönderildi:

And this is my biggest reason for not wanting to play HL:A. I do want the first few encounters to be easy. All video games shouldn't just drop you in on the boss when you first load it up, but should slowly build up and up. Some of the fire fights were so anticlimactic that it hurt. The music so intense, but the battle ends within a minute. It's the worst I say!

The thing is, it doesn't even need to be this slow. There's so many VR games out there that are much more quicker than HL:Alyx, and that's what makes me so bothered by HL: Alyx the most. I see reviewers praising the Russels's gravity pull feature as innovative and new, when in reality it's just the force grab ability that many VR titles have nowadays, but nerfed in some ways. I seriously hope HL3 isn't in VR because I feel like Valve's approach to making VR games is going to make the Half-Life formula suffer.

The formula that would crash and burn in today's age? You seriously think that reselling a HL2 reskin wouldn't purely be bought for the HL title? Action shooters are a dime a dozen nowadays, so anything non-innovative would be a failure in Valve's eyes.

Gravity gloves were a way to incorporate gravity gun style gameplay in a way that didn't require the gravity gun itself. Of course it's not the same as the original gravity gun, but it does do a good job of being the next best thing. Making the next HL game a flat game would be a bad choice in Valve's eyes since it would be no better than every other typical FPS out there.

[Bottle of Acid]

I find that a lot of people are purposely picking on issues that are not even VR issues. The issue about puzzles being overused is a problem in non-VR games as well. You don't solve it by switching the game into non-VR, VR is an enabler, and how a dev uses it is the tangent.

About OP's motion sickness, I get that its still a barrier, yet its unfair to judge an experience off it. There are people who get motion sick playing flatscreen non-VR FPS titles. Are we to judge the titles based off these people?

I understand that OP hates VR shooting however I think its still a lot more engaging than non-VR point and click since you have more axis of rotation to play with here. A lot of OPs post sounds more like a problem from OP himself/herself than actual VR issues, which I'd admit there are a number.