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Half-Life 2: Episode Three speculation

O

Oreoleo

Member
firex said:
Oh yeah, I kind of have doubts about Episode 3 going to the Combine homeworld. Gordon is still human, and the reason Dr. Breen was going to be put into a host body was because he wasn't going to survive on the other side of the portal he was going to escape through.
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The big difference there is Breen didn't have an HEV suit. Any trouble surviving in the Combine world could be pretty easily explained away with that. Not that I think we'll be going there anytime soon, I'm just saying it's possible.
 
D

Death_Born

Banned
SenseiJinx said:
There's also a couple in Episode Two.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3svVfBy3t4&feature=related

I've seen the first one while playing the game, but never noticed the second. Creepy!
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So....are the "unforseen consequences" from the resonance cascade, or from the Vortigaunts' freeing of Freeman from the time warp? I think that the Vortigaunts freed Gordon because they knew that the G-Man was going to let the Earth be destroyed, and now G-Man is more like an enemy who Freeman has to stop. G-Man's original plan was to hold Freeman in stasis after destroying the Citadel, but now that Freeman closed the super-portal, he got angry that he interfered in his plans, causing "unforeseen consequences."
 
O

Oreoleo

Member
SenseiJinx said:
Heh, that makes me wonder again whether or not the HEV suit has a helmet.
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Lol good point. I didn't really consider that they haven't ever shown a helmet. Just kind of assumed it was there.. but then again Gordon and his glasses and beard are so iconic, maybe there really ISN'T a helmet..
 
J

Jaded Alyx

Member
Orellio said:
Lol good point. I didn't really consider that they haven't ever shown a helmet. Just kind of assumed it was there.. but then again Gordon and his glasses and beard are so iconic, maybe there really ISN'T a helmet..
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But for whatever reason, I keep thinking that I've seen a helmet somewhere. What about those scientists you find dead in Xen wearing HEV suits? Did any of them have helmets on?
 
O

Oreoleo

Member
Jaded Alyx said:
But for whatever reason, I keep thinking that I've seen a helmet somewhere. What about those scientists you find dead in Xen wearing HEV suits? Did any of them have helmets on?
Click to expand...

Just loaded up HL1 for a quick second to confirm my suspicion: There's a multiplayer model of an HEV suit WITH HELMET. The model is called "helmet" even, right below Gordon's MP model who is wearing the HEV suit, of course, sans helmet.
 
J

Jaded Alyx

Member
Orellio said:
Just loaded up HL1 for a quick second to confirm my suspicion: There's a multiplayer model of an HEV suit WITH HELMET. The model is called "helmet" even, right below Gordon's MP model who is wearing the HEV suit, of course, sans helmet.
Click to expand...

OK. This is where the confusion comes from I guess.
 
W

Won

Member
Jaded Alyx said:
But for whatever reason, I keep thinking that I've seen a helmet somewhere. What about those scientists you find dead in Xen wearing HEV suits? Did any of them have helmets on?
Click to expand...

Yeah they have helmets, but it was more or less proven by the Half Life add-ons that you don't need special equipment to survive in alien environments. You just need to be a badass. Breen wasn't badass enough.
 
O

Oreoleo

Member
Jaded Alyx said:
OK. This is where the confusion comes from I guess.
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And from Wikipedia:

"The suit also features an optional helmet, as seen on various HEV-enclosed corpses dotted around Xen, mainly at the ruined research camp seen in Blue Shift."
 
S

Sibylus

Banned
SenseiJinx said:
I remember them stating in the Ep.3 commentary about having those landmarks. Having the Aurora Borealis in the distance would be awesome, indeed. And works well with the fact that we'll searching for/on a ship called the Borealis. :D
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Speaking of the Borealis, I hope it explodes sometime during the episode. Chaotically. :D
 
D

Death_Born

Banned
SenseiJinx said:
Interesting video: anybody remember the original Ep.2 trailers? And how they were nothing like the actual game? Just found this video, which is an unused sound clip somebody found in the Russian version of the game. Apparently it fits in with the original scene with the G-Man and Alyx. But where exactly is "here"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJKBn7MW5QQ
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That sort of reminds me of Metroid Fusion, where you can witness a secret conversation between Samus's employers and the computer by sequence-breaking the game. Maybe they originally put something like that (except with G-Man's employers) in Episode 2 and then removed it.

mfnavtrick05.gif
mfnavtrick07.gif
mfnavtrick08.gif
 
S

Soule

Member
Botolf said:
There's a Gaffer with a Hugh Laurie as Gordon Freeman avatar, so I imagine lots of people have noticed ;)
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Yeah google image gregory freeman and you get the photoshop of him. Just on the subject of Hugh Laurie as Gordon Freeman, just how old is Gordon supposed to be? He doesn't look too young but if he's supposed to be around the same age as Hugh Laurie, well I'd probably start looking at the relationship between Alyx and Gordon a bit differently.
 
S

Sibylus

Banned
Soule said:
Yeah google image gregory freeman and you get the photoshop of him. Just on the subject of Hugh Laurie as Gordon Freeman, just how old is Gordon supposed to be? He doesn't look too young but if he's supposed to be around the same age as Hugh Laurie, well I'd probably start looking at the relationship between Alyx and Gordon a bit differently.
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I was under the impression Freeman was supposed to be really young (in his mid 20s or something).
 
S

Sibylus

Banned
alistairw said:
Yep, very much to the choir. Episode 2 is a beautiful, beautiful game.
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Agreed, agreed, and agreed some more.

The strengths of Source probably lie in it's image quality, character animations/expressiveness and particle systems (exploding houses and dream-like glows), scale of scenes, and so on. But leave it to the typical graphics enthusiast to miss all of this and then call Source old.
 
A

aznpxdd

Member
Yeah, I really hate it when people call Source a 4 year old engine when it still looks great (even better with the Ep. 2 improvements). Outside of Crysis IMO, there's really not another game that's that much better looking than Episode 2.
 
D

Death_Born

Banned
It's amazing how the Source engine still looks so good even though it's so old. Textures are crystal-clear, effects are spot-on and runs like a charm. It's also great for modding.
 
A

alistairw

Just so you know, I have the best avatars ever.
It's also packed with atmosphere. I can't think of many other games that have settings as tangible as Half-Life 2. City 17, in particular, is so alive.
 
F

Foil

Member
Episode 1 & 2 still look great, I don't see how anyone could say otherwise. With that said I hope after EP3 they make a full sequel with a new engine that impresses the same way HL2 did at E3 2003. I still remember that demo they did and how amazing it looked for the time.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=II3Y-SkGSEo
 
G

GDJustin

stuck my tongue deep inside Atlus' cookies
Foil said:
Episode 1 & 2 still look great, I don't see how anyone could say otherwise. With that said I hope after EP3 they make a full sequel with a new engine that impresses the same way HL2 did at E3 2003. I still remember that demo they did and how amazing it looked for the time.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=II3Y-SkGSEo
Click to expand...

I was at E3 that year... 2003 was my first-ever E3. You have NO IDEA how amazing and revolutionary HL2 seemed when they were showing it off at the show. It was goddamn light-years ahead of anything that had previously been released, or anything any other company was showing off that year.

They showed one section in particular, where Gordan was shooting some wooden supports, and they splintered and broke off realistically and dynamically, until you had weakened the structure enough for it to collapse.

Never in my life up till that point had I seen anything like that. I don't use the phrase "jaw dropping" often, but that bit certainly fit the bill. I've been to every E3 since then (that's 6 shows total for those counting), and that initial HL2 unveiling remains one of my most memorable E3 experiences.

Edit: The wood-splintering physics demo I already mentioned, and the first strider unveiling are the two I remember most. The strider is shown off here, 7 minutes in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCc_vZd7yAY&feature=related
 
W

Won

Member
Update the graphics a bit in that E3 showing and people would probably still think it is the most amazing thing ever, if they showed it this year. (Provided that HL2 was never released and shown before of course.)
 
O

otake

Doesn't know that "You" is used in both the singular and plural
just finished half life 2 and started episode 1...... one of the best games I've ever played. thinking of starting a lttp party: half life 2.

I absolutely loved. genius story telling, genius gameplay. great game.
 
S

Sins*

Neo Member
SenseiJinx said:
Heh, that'd be interesting and that Easter Egg was awesome. If I recall, that particular sequence break was extremely hard to do.

Does anybody here have Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar? I wonder why they don't sell it in the Valve store anymore. =( It usually goes for about $50 or $60 on eBay or Amazon.

Also, somebody just pointed this out to me, I don't know how many of you have noticed this before.

http://gamernode.com/upload/Other images/gordon1191709903.jpg
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/images/gregory-house.jpg

0.0

EDIT: One other thing. In case you missed it, a hilarious video of Gordon Freeman calling Coast to Coast (that late night conspiracy theory radio show).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biqnL84l85s
Click to expand...



housefreehy4.jpg

:lol
 
F

Fallout-NL

Member
The overall package looks so much better than Crysis. How can you expect some dx10 features to compete with true vision like this?

ep2_outland_010009.jpg
 
J

Jaded Alyx

Member
SenseiJinx said:
Gordon was in his mid 20's in Half-Life 1, I believe. Half-Life 2 takes place about 20 years later, but due to the time stasis that he was in he hasn't aged at all. (Remember when Eli comments that he hasn't "changed one iota"?) So he and Alyx are, for all intents and purposes, about the same age.
Click to expand...

Gordon is 27. I imagine Alyx being about 2 to 4 years younger
 
O

otake

Doesn't know that "You" is used in both the singular and plural
SenseiJinx said:
I was thinking about using this one for a bit, but decided on the one I've got now.

Alyxvance21.jpg


You can use it if you want. Just rehost it, though, because I may take it off my photobucket.
Click to expand...
thx. I'm very grateful.
 
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