I can't really comment on the gameplay, as I haven't actually been able to play it hands-on, but I've just finished watching the full stream so I can at least talk about that story.
It was decently fine for the whole thing... until that ending. It's uh, a really bullshit plot point that's going to need some explaining, so spoilers …
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I can't really comment on the gameplay, as I haven't actually been able to play it hands-on, but I've just finished watching the full stream so I can at least talk about that story.
It was decently fine for the whole thing... until that ending. It's uh, a really bullshit plot point that's going to need some explaining, so spoilers ahead.
Alyx makes a deal with G-man, basically a favor for rescuing him at the end. He can't do the combine request, since it's too big (which makes sense), but he rewrites Eli's death, which doesn't. Now what doesn't make sense isn't that he could fulfill that request, that's 100% fine. What's stupid is that that whole death at the end of Episode 2 is completely cheapened and replaced with a gotcha. It's a bullshit plot point that retcons Eli back into the narrative of the series (while causing a paradox at the same time, since G-man is saved before the events of HL2). Loss is written straight out of the narrative, and Alyx becomes the new servant of G-man rather than Gordon. It gives me another sour feeling because this strictly takes a massive dump on Epistle 3, by immediately writing itself off of the ending that could even refer to it. It's a yikes.
Other than this, I'm sure the gameplay is pretty damn fine, but that's certainly a moniker that almost pushes me off from buying it at all eventually.
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