Marek Posted November 19, 2004 This thread is just for those who have finished Half-Life 2, and want to discuss their general impressions after finishing it, and perhaps discuss what the fuck it was all about. Let's keep things inside spoiler tags, but those who have not played or finished Half-Life 2 are hereby extra warned to close this window immediately. You really don't want any spoilers. HL2 has many memorable moments that you need to see unspoiled. That said... let's discuss... Reveal hidden contents I could write a whole book on how good HL2 is. Imagine this book pasted into this post. The short version is: excellently paced, chuck-full of surprises and awesome events, brimmed with content... basically, a pure joy ride. I was not bored a single moment. Nothing felt like an errand or something that was too forced or drawn-out. HL2 is definitely one of the most engrossing, atmospheric, and downright fun games I have ever played, and easily the best first-person shooter ever made. Every moment was completely worth it. I guess I would have liked to have seen more of Dog, more of those excellent non-action moments, etc. etc. but those are the kind of things you only wish for because they were so good, not because the game is bad. My only real criticism on the game is that the story is 99,5% implied through events, and only 0,5% explained or motivated. In terms of pure story density it feels more like a season opener of a TV series rather than a much-awaited blockbuster sequel, even though the events and scenery do suggest this giant blockbuster thing. It's super dense in plot (to a degree that's almost revolutionary in gaming), but very very thin in story. I guess the approch of Half-Life in general has a certain elegance to it, by telling things through what happens to you rather than forcing the story in. It worked for Half-Life 1 because the premise was very simple: Black Mesa was overrun by aliens, and when government troops appear it's very easy to conclude that they're there to cover things up. Things made sense, even though there was some mystery surrounding the G-Man suggesting there was more than met the eye. But Half-Life 2 is much more varied, and less of a self-contained story, and so the approach of not telling you anything doesn't work quite as well. OK, so beings from another world took over Earth, installed a puppet-man, and created giant factory-like structures in which people are converted to Combine forces and where weapons, dropships and striders are made. At least, that's what I got from the events in the game. But why are they building this giant war machine? I mean, if Gordon Freeman wasn't there to kick their asses, they would have pretty much controlled the entire planet. What reason did they have for keeping the humans in the cities? Why maintain that giant army to keep the humans suppressed if the humans have no purpose other than enlisting them in your giant army? I want to know what the goal is of these aliens other than general evilness. I think I picked up somewhere that the Combine is supposed to be this intergalactic body that involves many species. What's up with that? Any theories? I also get that the technology that was first experimented with at Black Mesa can displace you in time, space or time and space. That's how the aliens arrived, and it's also probably how Gordon got dropped in the middle of HL2. (By the way, I was slightly dissapointed by the mass enslavement of humans in giant structures with little casings in which they are kept, a la Matrix / BGE / Any Sci-fi. But HL2 did it in a very epic way, so it was a forgivable cliché.) Then there's the G-Man. He does his vague X-Fileian speech, but what does it mean that Gordon Freeman fulfills this central messianic role and was seemingly inserted by the G-Man to do so? I'm so terribly confused. Oh, yeah, why did some of those aliens become allies of the humans? I wanted to know more about that. Anything, really. Some off-hand comment would probably have been enough! It's not that I wanted everything in the whole game to be explained, but I don't like having more questions now than I had at the end of HL1 and the fact that none of my old questions were answered. I did think the ending with the freezeframe and all was super epic and a satisfactory conclusion, but ... damn ... something doesn't feel right! I care deeply about this game, and I want to know what the heck I've been playing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manny_c44 Posted November 19, 2004 Reveal hidden contents Well the answer to your last question is that the friendly-aliens were enslaved by the invasion force, much as the combine are now enslaved to them, the few that are free are now fighting along side the resistance. It is implied that their planet went through basically the same ordeal as earth. As for any clear resolutions to the plot, I think cooking up theories won't actually make the story feel any more complete, we're just going to have to wait for the closure that the next game will probably provide. Valve has said the next one will be coming much faster, so maybe waiting won't be so bad this time. Here's something wierd: In the stolen build there were expositroy conversations not included in the final game. Specifically there was one with Alyx talking in detail about the invasion on earth...but I turned off the sound before I heard anything because I didn't want it to be spoiled for me (Now I don't have it so I can't go back and listen to it). So I think Valve might have made the whol story super-implied, thinking that just coming out and saying it would be bad storytelling. Maybe the sound files are still included, like those hidden conversations on the Grim Fandango CD, if there is I'm sure someone will root it up sooner or later. As for the G-Man, I got nothing. I was kind of shocked as I was playing it how little he was a part of the story, and even more shocked when he popped up at te end of the game (oh, and his voice acting is brilliant). Seeing as how the G-Man seems to be able to manipulate space and time, I would think that he would be above this particular Squabble and Freeman's role has wider implications...but at this point we have too few details that are too vague to even make interesting suppositions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manny_c44 Posted November 19, 2004 Oh and I agree 100% about the Sci-fi cliche made great by presentation. And I was just completely wowed by this specific part...i actually took this screen by accident when I quick saved. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marek Posted November 20, 2004 manny_c44 said: Reveal hidden contents As for any clear resolutions to the plot, I think cooking up theories won't actually make the story feel any more complete, we're just going to have to wait for the closure that the next game will probably provide. Valve has said the next one will be coming much faster, so maybe waiting won't be so bad this time. I guess I'm not looking for pure theories (e.g. "I think XYZ happened and have nothing to back it up"), but I sure want to know if I missed any crucial details, and if any dots can be easily connected. In other news: what the fuck is this?! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toblix Posted November 20, 2004 Marek said: In other news: what the fuck is this?! It's something you find behind some tanks on Highway 17. I don't know exactly what it's about, but I'm thinking it's some kind of evolution, like the Combine has some ideas for what the next "step" is or something. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manny_c44 Posted November 20, 2004 Yeah, the combine is the next evolutionary step in man (well, self-imposed step atleast), according to Breen. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toblix Posted November 20, 2004 It's funny, but the more I think about it, the more I'm fascinated by the game world HL2 takes place in. And the ending, too. At first I was slightly disappointed, but now I think it's really great. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
salty-horse Posted November 20, 2004 Some stuff to think about (Also, Hi. I'm new here): Reveal hidden contents The G-Man obviously sent you to city 17 to do SOMETHING. Was it to simply spoil the Combine's hold on City 17? What about Cities 1-16? What motive does he have to keep you out of the loop? During the buggy ride, you can look through some binoculars and see him talking with rebels in their base. A base you arrive at later. Were I gordon, I would have asked them what the G-Man said. A man wearing a suit walking on his own near dams and warzones is a bit suspicious. And what about Breen's position? Did he, as administrator, planned the Black Mesa incident? Did "Our Benefactors" promise him a position of power in one of their cities? Regarding the Vortigaunts, the one that installs the gauss gun on your airboat reveals some information, of which I understood the following: 1) They're the slaves from HL1. 2) They share a hive mind, akin to the Borg, Zerg, or Buggers, whatever's your Sci-Fi inclination, and so they remember you from Black Mesa, they remember you from Xen. 3) The end boss in HL1 enslaved them, but they were hurt when you destroyed it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marek Posted November 20, 2004 Hey, welcome to the forum! I just started re-playing HL2 on hard, and I'm enjoying some of the details I missed the first time around. In the train station you can see that City 17 and City 15 (which is mentioned in dialog) are not the only ones. The sign with all the arrivals show up to C 27 if I remember correctly. Nice. Reveal hidden contents I think you're right about the hive mind of the Vortigauns. It's constantly suggested in the dialog that they're the intelligence gathering element of the resistance movement. It's always the Vortigauns who know some kind of location, or relayed information back to them, and the way this is revealed suggests they have some kind of telepathic ability or shared conciousness. Also remember the dead Vortigaunt in what appeared to be a torture chamber of sorts in Nova Prospekt. The Combine might have tried to get access to their "network". The G-Man doesn't make any sense to me. He seems to have a hand in everything, and everything needs to go according to his plan. We also know he can jump in place, and maybe even in time. If he has such powers, why doesn't he just do the dirty work himself? Why plan everything in such detail that Gordon ends up being the hero of the day every time? Why this need to control the events and lives of others so much? I can't quite understand this part of the mystery, nor the G-Man's motivations. I really don't know if the Black Mesa disaster was intentional. I'm going to pay more attention during my second play through and see if there's any obscure hints on that. I heard you can get the Vortigaunts in the camp where you get the ant lion pheromones to talk about 40 lines about the story at large. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DanJW Posted November 20, 2004 WOW! Just finished the game, and... wow.. Reveal hidden contents I was expecting the implicit backstory, as it seems to be the way valve work. there is actually quite a lot of information about Xen and Black Mesa in HL1, but it is easy to miss bedcause it is jusy lying around, and most people don't notice it. So, here's my take on the HL universe. The combine are indeed a kind of inter-dimensional Borg, going from universe to universe amalgamating sentient species into their Bio-mechanical armies. Nice twist, as we all assumed that the HL1 aliens were all from a single source. I guess it's possible that Xen is a between-world, linking all the other dimensions, but I prefer to think it is just a dimension with different natural laws. I would like to have seen more of the HL1 Xen tech and aliens, like the big purple heavy troops and the big blue tanker thing (I love that guy), and I was dissapointed that the vortigorns weren't in the game more. I think you guys have hit it with the telepathic thing (a pair in the sandtraps base apologise to you for communicating in a way that you cannot percieve in your presence. Apparently this is rude ). They also seem to have powers of prophecy. I'm going to go back to Water Hazard and talk to that Vortigorn some more. It was only when I started fighting them with the rocket launcher that I realised the gunships were actually alive. That came as such a shock that love valve for it. The combine seem to be able to create custome-made life-forms. Now that they have the raw materials of earth, their creations are more earth-like, as opposed to the weird and wonderful stuiff of Xen. The G-man is puposefully mysterious. He obviously works for some higher power. He seems to me to act like Terry Pratchett's "History Monks", whose job it is to make sure history happens the way it is supposed to (not by doing it themselves, just by making sure the key people do what they must). My hea is buzzing right now, but I expect I'll have some more coherent thoughts on the game later. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marek Posted November 20, 2004 Well, you know... Reveal hidden contents It could be that the G-Man is kind of like the janitor of the universe/dimension that Earth is in. And that the other interested parties he mentions are other intergalactic time-traveling janitors, who also have a score to settle with the Combine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Erkki Posted November 20, 2004 I just finished it too, and at the moment I'm disappointed with the story and that so much was unanswered... Maybe I'll come to like it later as toblix did... I don't think Breen orchestrated the Black Mesa incident. I think he implies somewhere that Gordon created that mess. BTW. Is there a short summary of Half-Life 1's story around somewhere? I don't remember all the details, especially the end. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ysbreker Posted November 20, 2004 Reveal hidden contents what the blooody fuuuck! I want demand HL3! This game is too short, it could have gone on for hours and I still wouldn't be bored At least they creatively solved the 'run before the reactor/engine/bomb/alien device blows up' cliche by the time freeze. I think that the G-man is a requitment agent for some kind of beings who need strong fighters to acomplish certain goals they can't do themselfs. I think Freeman is put to the test in Black mese to see if he would be right for the job, and that City 17 is his first job for the G-man agency. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spaff Posted November 21, 2004 Reveal hidden contents im not going to talk about the good things there are tooooo many, but i am annoyed that the story was so poor, well not poor, the story potential there is huge, but nothing is said about so many really interesting looking elements that i feel a bit let down. so kinda what Marek said... it feels like i just whacked an action movie on and skipped to the action scenes so i kinda know wats going on but really i just wanna see amazing cgi and explosions...... having said that i really enjoyed playing every minute of the game and its darn impressivee!!"!£ r29r72 hghfd lets begin the obvious count of the films / books this ripped on: The matrix, alien, Dune, Tremors, Starship troopers, war of the worlds.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spaff Posted November 21, 2004 im thinking that if yoou poke around A LOT you will find lots of story in there etc. maybe i expect so god damn them. ;0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JimmyTheFish Posted November 21, 2004 I'm not going to use a spoiler tag, because anyone reading this forum should realize that there are spoilers. The upgraded manipulator gun at the end of the game was the greatest thing that has ever happened ever. Tossing the ragdolls around was hella fun, and the cool black electricity effect was way awesome. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DanJW Posted November 21, 2004 Found this at Halflife Fallout Quote Transcript of early script as seen on page 142 of Prima's Raising the Bar book: Eli powers up the slide projector. A white image flashes on the wall of his room, where he has hung a white sheet. ELI Let's see now. Where does this start? The following images appear as he speaks: * Aerial view of Black Mesa * Inbound train * Test Chamber ELI Black Mesa. Let's not dwell on that. Nobody's blaming you. We all have to accept some responsibility. What matters is what we do next. I'll get to that. After the disaster, well let's just say, the ripples kept spreading. The next few scenes have the feel of Norman Rockwell in Hell: * Headcrabs leaping onto shoppers from supermarket shelves * Bullsquid chasing family from a suburban house; pack of Houndeyes roaming down Elm street * Gargantua overturning a tractor as a farmer flees across a Nebraska field * Ichthyosaur materialising in a public pool, right under a kid who just jumped off the high-dive ELI The countryside, the suburbs, all those hard-to-patrol places, got pretty much uninhabitable. People started crowding into the cities for protection. * People clustered at a cyclone fence topped with razor wire, city skyline rising behind them; cops stand tensely on guard towers, blasting away at headcrab zombies outside the perimeter. ELI There was an illusion of safety, for a time. And then the Citadels appeared. It happened in a split second, all over the world. A chunk would disappear from the center of a city, to be replaced an instant later by one of those headquarters for the Combine. Invasion Central. * City-center completely cored, buildings sheared off, an enormous pit appearing out of nowhere and, people falling into it * The same view, with a Citadel now towering at the center of all ELI Say hello to your new masters. * Cremators, Striders, Combine machines pouring out of the Citadel into the city. Combine dropships tearing through the air. ELI Oh, we resisted. * Tanks, soldiers, human army advancing on the Citadel * The same troops reduced to ashes, completely obliterated. ELI Earth put up a fight that lasted all of seven hours. * A smoldering Pentagon-shaped pile of ashes. ELI And then, one man who had seized about all the power a man can seize in a crisis, used that power to arrange our surrender. * The Consul. At the foot of the Radio Tower, wearing a headset, hands raised high to the dropships as he proclaims Earth's surrender. ELI They call him the Consul now. It worked out fine for him. He speaks for the Combine, he shares in their power. As for the rest of us... * Views of City 17, citizens slouching along * Air Exchange belching black fumes * Drained seabed with beached ships, whale bones ELI Well, you've seen the state of things. They're replacing the air with something we can hardly breathe. They're draining the ocean. We don't know if they're preparing the planet for new residents, or just stripping it of every possible resources. All we do know is that we have to stop them. And that's where you come in, Mr. Freeman. It's up to you to... * The projector goes dark. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marek Posted November 21, 2004 I'm glad that slideshow exposition wasn't included in the version we played. They're all things we could easily understand from the events themselves, and from the press clippings in Black Mesa East. However, I wouldn't have mind such a storytelling device to have been used to explain, for instance, the alliance with the Vortigaunts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manny_c44 Posted November 21, 2004 Agreed. We really don't need the explicit explaiantion for something thats pretty much obvious. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
salty-horse Posted November 21, 2004 What paper clippings? I remember the resolution being too small to read anything. I'm going to look in the subtitles file of HL2.. see if there are any dialogs (monologues, more likely) I missed, or were dropped from the game altogether. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DanJW Posted November 21, 2004 The paper clippings in Ely's lab, Black Mesa East. The headlines are legible, but the actual text is not. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kolzig Posted November 21, 2004 OMG... I completed the game 1,5 hours ago and I'm still amazed. After 15 hours of active intensive gameplay in four days, I must say that Half-Life is a Great game. I started playing it with very low expectations, I hadn't really believed Gabe&co. would achieve anything out of ordinary. They totally blew me away... I loved all the movie references that they had taken advantage of. Like the Frank Herbert's Dune antlion thumpers! And the ending was spectacular. This isn't the best game ever or anything like that, but it is one hell of a Game. PS. I'm hoping the G-Man saved Alyx as well, you can't let pretty girls die who have hots for Gordon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Salka Posted November 21, 2004 Gordon is fucking UGLY and I bet there are lots of girls who would like to see HIM tortured with red hot toothpicks shoved under his FINGERNAILS for EIGHT AND A HALF HOURS. That said, I've heard that, once you actually get to play the game, it's pretty good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spaff Posted November 21, 2004 Marek said: I'm glad that slideshow exposition wasn't included in the version we played. They're all things we could easily understand from the events themselves, and from the press clippings in Black Mesa East. However, I wouldn't have mind such a storytelling device to have been used to explain, for instance, the alliance with the Vortigaunts. Yes, but at the same time I'd like to see al lthat footage now Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DanJW Posted November 22, 2004 Yufster said: Gordon is fucking UGLY and I bet there are lots of girls who would like to see HIM tortured with red hot toothpicks shoved under his FINGERNAILS for EIGHT AND A HALF HOURS. That said, I've heard that, once you actually get to play the game, it's pretty good. Good grief, are there really females who would torture a hero for not being pretty? Bunny boiler Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
