Half-Life: Alyx launches March 2020

[Peh]

SvennoJ said:

Peh said:

https://youtu.be/w8a1BAolFIk?t=205

VR just offers gameplay mechanics that are simply not possible on flatscreen games. 

That looks more like what I expect. Very cool yet also pretty clumsy and messy. I'm still on the fence on how this will go in a serious game environment. It's good for a laugh anyway. His wrists bending so uncomfortably all the time (in game) makes me feel kinda nauseous lol.

Video games have also been about feeling like a super hero that can do everything well. This is more like playing Inspector Gadget or Clouseau. Amazing tech but do the masses actually want this?

I also wonder what Valve will do to support room scale, standing and sitting all at the same time. The conversion of Fantastic contraption to be played sitting on psvr hampered it a lot. Then with the various movement schemes and different controllers they would basically have to make 18 different combinations work in the game. The Solus Project simply let you skip certain puzzles that weren't compatible with the current movement scheme plus I still needed to switch back to teleportation now and then to be able to reach certain places.

I really hope it doesn't become a jack of all trades, master of none type situation. I just don't want to get all hyped and then be disappointed. Doom VFR was really disappointing and didn't work well with any of the 3 control schemes. I tried them all and ended up switching between them all to get through the game. So far RE7 is still my fondest memory of playing a 'realistic' full game in VR and that used the controller. I did 5 play throughs of that and survive the night mini game was so good in VR :) I'm hoping HL Alyx can finally dethrone RE7.

I'm personally not a fan of having everything physics based like they did in this game. Same is being done in Blade & Sorcery. The body in VR ends up in weird position because of that and it looks arkward when holding a gun. Thus I prefer the flying hands option.

I personally don't follow that "super hero that can do everything well" statement. Everything that I got from PSVR is that it's a neat introduction to VR, but you reach your limits very fast on what VR can actually do. Therefor PSVR and PC VR is a night and day difference. PSVR just lack the gameplay mechanics that are possible on PC due to the limitation of controller inputs. One thing on PC VR FPS is the possibility to reload your gun on your own by doing each single step. And this alone is very satisfying to have the feeling of being in control. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl-857Fl7po

As I am aware of, the PC VR controllers have all the same amount of buttons and inputs. The only exception are the Index controllers, which got finger track and pressure detection as well as a few more buttons, how that is being actually implemented into the game, I don't know. Room scale and standing are pretty much identical, since you usually stand in both, but standing is limited by the circle beneath your feet, yet you can still ignore it and walk around with the risk of running into you own furniture or wall. Room scale is just a bigger space you can freely walk around. Only a tiny fraction of PC VR games actually do use this feature for playing their games. I personally use standing with locomotion my preferred way of playing all VR games. Meaning, walking with the controller by using the trackpad for up, down and strafe, and turning myself in real. Teleportation is good for people getting motion sick, but I don't have that issue and it takes me out of the immersion. I just want to walk around and enjoy the environment like that. 

I guess that PSVR is the only way you've experienced VR as of now? Sadly there is no RE7 for PC VR :( But checking some videos on Youtube, there is no real motion controls for RE7, right?

Nevertheless, the reloading animation on HL:A is a bit too smooth from my experience with reloading guns on your own in other games. 

If you ever go into PC VR. Get Pavlov VR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5zy5Cex0DU (Viewer discretion is advised) I imagine that the gunplay in HL:A will be very similar to this game.