Let me read a letter I recently received. "Dear Dr. Breen. Why has the Combine seen fit to suppress our reproductive cycle? Sincerely, A Concerned Citizen."
Thank you for writing, Concerned. Of course, your question touches on one of the most basic biological impulses, with all its associated hopes and fears for the future of the species. I also detect some unspoken questions. Do our benefactors really know what's best for us? What gives them the right to make this kind of decision for mankind? Will they ever deactivate the suppression field and let us breed again?
Allow me to address the anxieties underlying your concerns, rather than try to answer every possible question you might have left unvoiced. First, let us consider the fact that for the first time ever, as a species, immortality is in our reach. This simple fact has far-reaching implications. It requires radical rethinking and revision of our genetic imperatives. It also requires planning and forethought that run in direct opposition to our neural pre-sets.
I find it helpful at times like these to remind myself that our true enemy is Instinct. Instinct was our mother when we were an infant species. Instinct coddled us and kept us safe in those hardscrabble years when we hardened our sticks and cooked our first meals above a meager fire and started at the shadows that leapt upon the cavern's walls. But inseparable from Instinct is its dark twin, Superstition. Instinct is inextricably bound to unreasoning impulses, and today we clearly see its true nature. Instinct has just become aware of its irrelevance, and like a cornered beast, it will not go down without a bloody fight. Instinct would inflict a fatal injury on our species. Instinct creates its own oppressors, and bids us rise up against them. Instinct tells us that the unknown is a threat, rather than an opportunity. Instinct slyly and covertly compels us away from change and progress. Instinct, therefore, must be expunged. It must be fought tooth and nail, beginning with the basest of human urges: The urge to reproduce.
We should thank our benefactors for giving us respite from this overpowering force. They have thrown a switch and exorcised our demons in a single stroke. They have given us the strength we never could have summoned to overcome this compulsion. They have given us purpose. They have turned our eyes toward the stars.
Let me assure you that the suppressing field will be shut off on the day that we have mastered ourselves...the day we can prove we no longer need it. And that day of transformation, I have it on good authority, is close at hand.
Kayden Reed
I never got around to playing the HL games but Breen seems like a really, really good villain
Luke Cooper
I think he is, he's written so there's a lot of room for interpretation if he's either a sellout who turned his back on humanity, or a broker whose making the best of a doomed situation, or if he genuinely believes what the Combine tells him
Blake Cook
it's sad how they can't really continue the series after the ep2 cliffhanger there's no clear transition to hl3 and ep3 at this point just seems unfeasible
Jacob Morales
Read Epistle 3
Carson James
He is, chiefly because the 'BREEN WAS RIGHT' meme is no joke. Breen is despicable for a lot of reasons (eg. shoveling out such blatant lies as he does in the OP breencast), but it is nearly impossible not to respect that he was acting appropriately - right up to the moment Gordon Freeman (and the G-Man) re-entered the equation.
Lucas Rogers
Lazslo is here somewhere
Josiah Jenkins
Their slaves... we are their slaves... we are...
Dylan Wood
he's fantastic flawed but still definitely a genius, and still reasonably relatable
Jonathan Williams
Episode 3 was just supposed to be another cliffhanger. HL faggots are retarded.
Ryder Morris
>Two years ago It hurts less no than it did back then, but it still hurts pastebin.com/q9DMFa7c
Aaron Hughes
He could be if he had anything to actually do. You mostly just hear from him in these broadcasts. Also, in my opinion, the apparent ease of which the resistance topples the combine makes him seem like a dumbass for going along with them.
Hudson Peterson
BTW breen's VA died
Jaxson Reed
>"Tell me, Dr. Freeman, if you can: you have destroyed so much. What is it, exactly, that you have created? Can you name even one thing?" >"I thought not."
Breen was fuckin great
Ryan Baker
his bargaining i what kept humanity a)ive past the 7hr war
Brayden Baker
The Half-Life series fizzling away and dying has been great for my fear of death and the existential dread of being forgotten. Thanks Gabe.
He is a sellout who created the situation. People forget he was the administrator of Black Mesa who pushed for the experiments which resulted in the Combine invading and there is some evidence to suggest he was in contact with him before. Anyone thinking otherwise is falling for the PR. He literally sold the planet out and then keeps playing it like he saved humanity.
Chase Martinez
Yes, Black Mesa is like putting the sticky part on the wound.
It's obvious that the G-Man was behind the resonance cascade and the sourcing of the "sample" in the original game. If anything, Breen is like Freeman, forced into his position by forces outside his control.
Dylan Johnson
Basically. When Gordon liberates humanity he turns himself into a slug to escape judgement.
Christopher Perry
>Sound design is the worst thing I've ever heard after Smash 4 >Hey let's put physics puzzles everywhere guys! It's just like Half-Life 2: The Shit One! >Every scientist and guard have unique voices and no STAHP >Not even fucking finished
Robert Torres
>there is some evidence no, there's none
Anthony Harris
Breen wasn't forced into shit. Everyone told him not to do the fucking experiment but he did it anyway. Everything was due to his actions and he had the most agency of anyone and is directly responsible for the invasion.
Lucas Powell
So does Eli's VA
Gabriel Garcia
The true citizen knows that duty is the greatest gift. The true citizen appreciates the comforts of City 17, but uses discretion. The true citizen's identiband is kept clean and visible at all times. The true citizen's job is the opposite of slavery. The true citizen conserves valuable oxygen.
He featured quite prominently and guess what? G-Man talks about Breen several times including how they interacted during the Black Mesa incident.
Justin Richardson
It's a remake, not a remaster.
James Rivera
Everyone knew the experiment was dangerous but not that it would bring an invading force in. By the time of the resonance cascade it was already too late to figure what was happening. He's responsible for the end of humanity but everything combine related is outside his control, it's even possible that stopping the 7HW was his attempt to stop his own mess. I think Breen have humanity interest but in his own way (that might not be good), he's clearly willing to bargain with the Combines using the resistance leaders as chips, but he doesn't hesitate to ditch them if he can uses someone else.
Scientists in HL1 often mentioned that they figured something bad would happen, one of them tried to warn the administrator, while some tried on the other hand to butter him up to finish it.
Benjamin Walker
Seething
Yeah, right when you get to the drainage shit after the Cascade, even. Normally you'd just find a valve to raise the water level but instead they though "ayo let's put barnacles and barrels and shiet"
David Morris
>those zombie hev sounds Why would they do that though I dont see a reason as to why the HEV suit would sperg out like that
Lincoln Watson
>still hear "don't leave me" line ringing in my ears >not even sure if I still have hope at this point of it's just a 12 year old habit of hoping
>"I want to do this dangerous experiment because I'm greedy for recognition and think of nothing but the prestige and wealth associated with the success of this project. But a bad thing happened as a result of that and I was forced into a position of negotiation"
isn't the same thing as
>"I intentionally doomed humanity because I'm a villain hellbent on destruction"
though. He's responsible either way but one is much more direct
Andrew Peterson
>he resistance topples the combine Those were enhanced humans. The real combine were supposed to come from the portal you destroyed.
Dylan Ramirez
>Breen wants to help humanity >Humanity successfully throws of the Yolk of the combine which he placed there >Instantly asks them to change his race and then gets the fuck out of there Yeah a real hero. Totally cares for the people and not his life and being in power. How delusional.
Zachary Jackson
Honestly HEV zombies would be cool if they were agile and powerful rather than a Zombine reskin, in the lore, headcrabs are almost capable of understanding the usage of grenades (although they suicide with it), so why not the HEV suit to be able to match Freeman?
Joseph Reed
Why do people pull the seething card when they are the one blatantly upset about meaningless shit?
Chase Wright
I mean, the people did free themselves. At that point all that was left was saving his life since he was no longer in a position of influence
Connor Lewis
The second one isn't a villain hell-bent on destruction. Its a megalomaniac who thinks he can decide humanities future and wants to be the one leading it so he hands it over to the Combine.
Josiah Barnes
>no u
Ethan Brooks
because lazy game devs Imagine zombies using power jump modules
Despite his best efforts yes humanity freed itself. How very heroic of him to do his fucking damnedest to prevent humanity from doing so and then running the fuck away when it happens so he can save his own skin despite condemning billions to death. He seems like a repentant man who only did it to save humanity and not a scumbag who just wanted to stay alive and have power.
Noah Phillips
You're right, I just got tired of typing and kinda strawmanned it to get the post out faster.
Either way, both are viable theories really and have evidence going for them.
Oliver Cox
>Instantly asks them to change his race and then gets the fuck out of there Have you played the game? When he realized he was going to require an host body to teleport, he was trying to find another solution until Freeman caught up to him where he grew desperate and accepted.
>Imagine zombies using power jump modules Scary shit right there.
Grayson Barnes
How do you guys feel about Project Borealis
Bentley Adams
Wouldn't that just be a reskin/reanimation of fast zombies?
Thomas Anderson
>How very heroic of him to do his fucking damnedest to prevent humanity from doing so The resistance was well known by the Combine, you can't just pretend it didn't exist to your overlords when they asked you what you did today.
Yeah, I also find it hard to believe that the combine took literally all of their forces with them when they left Earth and left behind only a new and untested branch to keep things in order. It makes me think the combine are dumbasses too.
Wow the guy locked in a fortress surrounded by lethal soldiers with no real influence or combat ability did what they wanted him to. That just makes him at worst a coward really.
Kayden Gomez
To be fair it has been around a decade since I last played it but the point still stands. Rather than own up to his choices he keeps siding with the combine even when humanity has decided that no they don't want to be enslaved. You can't really argue that he was tragic when he keeps siding with the combine for his own sake.
Henry Foster
>No real influence >There are Breencasts which go out to the soldiers specifically in which he tells them to get their shit together and fucking get the Freeman as sources have told him he was in a fucking magical coma for years >They were just doing what they wanted though Breen a good buy he dindu nuffin Yeah sure buddy.
Joshua James
The only reason the guy had his position at all is through combine equipment and endorsement. He was a powerless figurehead as far as HL2 is concerned.
Jack Perez
the first level was the most well done part of the game
Levi Perry
And what the fuck do you think would have happened if he sent a cast to them that said "hey let them all go please" you think they wouldn't have executed him on the spot and gave the orders themselves?
Camden Peterson
He had absolute authority over the combine forces on Earth and pretending he was a figure-head is nothing but bullshit.
This is pointless. You are convinced Breen is some deep villain and he had to make hard choices and that he had no power. None of that is true. I don't know why I'm arguing about a dead series with a villain who was just a slimeball who was good at acting sorry.
Believe what you will its an old game and neither of our thoughts on it actually matter.
Brayden Gray
He kept siding with the Combines because humanity wanted him dead like the Combines intended, he's a puppet for the screen, he doesn't even control the Combines Overwatch forces on earth. He clearly had plans to screw a deal with the Combines, he was ready to bargain resistance leaders with the combines.
Jace Harris
>Believe what you will its an old game and neither of our thoughts on it actually matter.
At least we agree on something, I hope you have a wonderful day still
Benjamin Ortiz
Same to you.
Asher Morris
>He had absolute authority over the combine forces on Earth and pretending he was a figure-head is nothing but bullshit No he wasn't, it's literally in one of the speech he gives to Nova Prospekt overwatch troops, here's the speech >This brings me to the one note of disappointment I must echo from our Benefactors. Obviously I am not on the ground to closely command or second-guess the dedicated forces of the Overwatch, but this does not mean I can shirk responsibility for recent lapses and even outright failures on their part.
Leo Gonzalez
fuck you faggot
kill yourself gay cunt
Leo Hernandez
Am I wear nostalgia goggles or was the writing in HL2 a really fucking good mix of “hopeless struggle in dystopian future” and “hero saves the day”?
Like Breen being a mouth piece for the Combine, the way he spoke was just enough to maybe convince the gullible but not give the skeptical enough to convince anyone?
Or am I retarded because that is always a possibility
The Combine were aware of the resistance and knew Freeman was a force to be reckoned with. Why didn't they just nuke City 17 wide and end the rebellion? Instead they kept sending Overwatch armies, Choppers and Synths after Gordon even after he kept mowing them down
>Why didn't they just nuke City 17 wide and end the rebellion? Because they want to steal their teleportation technology, and you can't learn anything from dust.
William Jackson
thinking is for humans
Camden Phillips
Why didn't Germany firebomb Berlin instead of desperately attempting to fend off wave, after wave, after wave of already successful Soviets, who at that point, had pretty much won the war?
Kevin Collins
Nah, old Valve writing is legitimately great. If you ever look into Raising the Bar or the dev commentaries you can tell they put a lot of effort into everything from character dialogue to the environmental storytelling. In HL2 it really shines in the visits to City 17
Adam Clark
because they had no means to do that The combine did
Jaxson Smith
>This assignment is boring >I wish I was home having simulated sex >my feet hurts >why are we so superior to human >I bet our benefactors don't even know what feet are >tfw I'm supposed to stop anticitizen one >why did they removed my cock
Ryan Perez
>Sound design is the worst thing I've heard since Smash 4 Your opinion, but I disagree. >Hey let's put physics puzzles everywhere guys! It's just like Half-Life 2: The Shit One Did you even play the first one? >Every scientist and guard have unique voices and no STAHP They really don't, but I'll give you the no STAHP >Not even fucking finished Mildly annoying, but so long as they don't charge for Xen, I'm good.
>Someone asks a question >Rambles on about something only vaguely related in constant metaphors/simile to make people think he answered the question in a way they like when in reality he avoided answering the question completely I'm upset because either Breen is a terribly written character because he provides no good arguments, or he's an excellent character because this is exactly what politicians do all the time and it works.
The point of the pic is that it's a futile attempt to fix something by doing too little; a gash like that needs proper care and stitches, not a fucking bandaid
Bentley Gutierrez
And he's clearly putting the sticky surface onto the gash.
Jacob Parker
Every time. I got to replaying it recently, and I was just stopping to hear his comms. Half-Life 2 is so fucking great. I miss Valve.
Jayden Allen
>In the end we will be judged not for what we have destroyed, but for what we have created. Its really time to gas Sweden. That game really is a HL2 ripoff
Jeremiah Ramirez
totalitarian propaganda isn't meant to convince people, it's meant to tell them what they are supposed to think
Hudson Harris
>Let this war end in either total victory or our extinction. No further compromise shall we allow. I'm curious about the Vortigaunts, are they some sort of hivemind or simply they are all capable of sharing informations? Also >two anuses
I love what we got in the end but the leaked beta content was on a whole other level
Isaiah Bennett
So Valve is making so much money that it would be a waste to bother making a game that would definitely turn a healthy profit? I always thought Steam was cancer only because it was DLC.
Luis Rogers
Physically connected and thusly enslaved by the fetus you killed in Half Life 1, now free they cease to be hostile and are now able to have some sort of physic link with their brethren and base matter.
Sebastian Bailey
It's difficult because they would have to get a lot of people together to work on a single project for an extended period of time that wouldn't turn over nearly as much money than if they where to all work in small groups making lootboxes or dota crap
Lucas Clark
>blatant lies as he does in the OP breencast name 5
Eli Hughes
Daily reminder that their reward for killing mother fucking freeman is their family not being executed. I feel sorry for them, these guys only joined for extra rations and to help their families. They even split off at the end because their safety and benefits cant be guaranteed at the end of Half life: 2
No where did you get that idea? Metrocops are average Joes, above that is the Infantry where they their bodies start to be replaced by machines and augmented. And the Elites are pretty much memory replaced cyborgs completely loyal.
Why didn’t the people just fuck anyway to spite the combine?
Tyler Robinson
>Daily reminder that their reward for killing mother fucking freeman is their family not being executed. No it's not. Overwatch Soldiers are reassigned offworld in case of failure (whatever it means) because they are barely humans by that point, only Civil Protection officers get separated from their families, but are rewarded with credits for successful work and quota met, allowing them plenty of other advantages (among them artificial sex). You aren't forced to join CP, it's voluntary work, many citizens will mention willingness to join CP so they can enjoy better food.
Not Civil Protection officers, they are given drugs to stay awake but they are fully aware and free of thoughts, Overwatch Soldiers have memory wipes, artificial training and propaganda up the ass to remind them that they are the best the human species have to offer.
Oh you dont know? Xen isnt even their home dimension, nothing their is native, their in exile with the giant fetus because the combine drove them away.
Chase Thomas
>they took all the super dark stuff out >no manhack arcades >no getting to see people become stalkers what a shim sham shame
I do know, that's why I said their real world, I just imagine the borderworlds are fairly similar to there homelands. Everything seems to be absolutely fine there after all.
They simply can't, not that they don't want to, they just can't get aroused. From several dialogues in the game, the combines keep specific proteins suppressed to prevent you from getting hard. Many rebels mentions the fact they can't wait to be able to fuck again.
>You got shot or turned into a stalker for literally everything. ftfy
Lincoln Long
Combines release something into the air to make certain proteins not grow that are essential to procreation. And if you try the sterilisation teams come and chop ya dick off
Joseph Peterson
It also probably doesn't read right, now that I look at it. But I don't know for sure, the antlions seem to thrive anywhere. I also don't know anything about books, if there are any.
That scrape doesn't even remotely need stitches. Well, at least not anywhere that won't use any excuse to charge you hundreds of dollars to stitch you up.
Lincoln Williams
is gordon’s VA still around?
Kayden Gutierrez
All the mods were great, my first one was half life 2, but alle sounds were made by a guys mouth.
>obsidianconflict is dead >same with sven the consequences
>The two characters that died in the game died shortly after irl. Is half life cursed?
Joshua Reed
what exactly does the suppression field do? Destroy sperm? Make it so you can't get an erection?
Jonathan Harris
>grigori died in 2017 HE'S WITH THE OTHERS NOW
>Nyeaheahaehah >aeheheheheheee >I REMEMBER YOUR TRUE FACE
Connor Myers
No, he died in a double homicide-suicide when he found out that Chell's VA was cheating on him with Shepard's VA.
Blake Evans
>Carbon stars with ancient satellites colonized by sentient fungi. Gas giants inhabited by vast meteorological intelligences. Worlds stretched thin across the membranes where the dimensions intersect... Impossible to describe with our limited vocabulary.
>destroys certain protein chains important to the process of embryonic development
Brody Thompson
A speech by Dr. Kleiner in Half-Life 2: Episode One makes reference to protein chains being unable to form under the field, implying that the field forced biological sterility.
From Kleiner quotes, it destroys specific proteins preventing embryonic development, but sevral dialogues with characters mentions that it might also prevent the urge to reproduce.
Jackson Foster
oh okay it's not all that bad then, you can still rub one out
that's why "Non-mechanical reproduction simulation" is used as an award to metrocops.
Asher Cox
What I've seen is also beyond words, Breen. Genocide... Indescribable evil... Like people not playing Artifact!
Owen Cruz
>Do your worst steam, we're not afraid of bad games >you'll find that hard to believe when you get there >hl2.exe has stopped working
Benjamin Foster
Now I wanna see a version of Half Life 2 but with constant valve advertising in the game.
Kevin Miller
Only the Metrocops, the Combine soldiers are transhuman and dont give two shits about their past life. They are physically incapable of caring about it. The Metrocops are regular humans who got sick of the shitty conditions.
Ryan Cruz
>So... again I am alone. >Although they call me crazy I care not, for thou art my helper, my strength, and my saviour. I really like that character.
dude remember that time where he said something about orgasms in 1984? we should put that into the game haha
Christopher Hall
t.blacknigger
Anthony Adams
what
Joseph Butler
Its really sad aswell, in the grave yard is screams shit like: "I STILL REMEMBER YOUR TRUE FACE." He could have moved on and left, but he stays with his congregation till the end, what a lad.
Brayden Moore
>Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing. Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. Progress in our world will be progress toward more pain. The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy--everything. Already we are breaking down the habits of thought which have survived from before the Revolution. We have cut the links between child and parent, and between man and man, and between man and woman. No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer. But in the future there will be no wives and no friends. Children will be taken from their mothers at birth, as one takes eggs from a hen. The sex instinct will be eradicated. Procreation will be an annual formality like the renewal of a ration card. We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty toward the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science. When we are omnipotent we shall have no more need of science. There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. It's literally just 1984, but less eloquently written.
Christian Davis
OH SHIT FREEMAN IS IN MY ASS
Nolan Bell
Whats the best HL2 beta mod? There's like 3 on moddb
Jeremiah Morgan
Dark Interval
Logan Richardson
What about the viagra black market?
Jose Rogers
Singleplayer: >Underhell (RIP Chapter 2) >Research and Development >Nightmare House 2 >Minerva Metastasis Multiplayer (although many of them are dead or on the brink of death) >Zombie Master >Zombie Panic Source >Fistful of Frags >Dystopia >Obisidian Conflict
Logan Morales
You all do realize the main reason the "Suppression Field" is even a thing is to give Valve an excuse to not have children in their game, since child killing = Adults Only rating.
fug I followed up the story of one of these sound effects being an editing recording of a female cosmonaut burning up in re-entry. FUG I was not ready for this
Valve fucked up by making the Combine too powerful. They knew they couldn’t finish the story in just one game so they added the first two parts and had at least two more parts planned for just the combine storyline
>underhell NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO >literally one of the scarier mods i've played and probably only because the sequence was short and sweet >had the smod kick OH F U C K
The fact the lobby house was prompt to random events was great too, turning around and suddenly having every windows shattering or fucking around at night and suddenly getting chased was great.
Elijah Thompson
most fan-made maps in Garry's Mod
Daniel Reed
Eh. It's pretty hit or miss.
Luke Rivera
Mods and fan made maps that use CS:S textures/models, people don't always pay attention to what they are using.
Oliver Edwards
>the nostalgia is it still playable? i'm going to look
I like that this shit is designed specifically to deal with rebels in a really horrible way >small enough to go through crawlspaces and ventilation shafts >most of its body is a large rotating sawblade meaning it's impossible to handle one without a weapon >not designed to kill you by direct cut but rather by creating deep wounds that are difficult to heal and most likely get infected
>>Someone asks a question >>Rambles on about something only vaguely related in constant metaphors/simile to make people think he answered the question in a way they like when in reality he avoided answering the question completely Oh shit, it's like listening to any modern american politician on TV.
Connor Thompson
It's the shark alien from Half-Life 1.
Luke Perez
why was the hl2 beta more interesting than what we got?
Connor Sanchez
This one? The Ichthyosaur, it's in HL1, it's a cut enemy in HL2 (it has a death animation and attack animations)
The Ichthyosaur. Those are interesting, as the Black Mesa scientists remark that the creature was hauled in from the Pacific Ocean, and not the Renaissance cascade. So, it's anyone's guess as to how the fuck it got there, or how long it's been swimming around, or if Black Mesa kept these things around in captivity, then let some loose. But, make no mistake - it is an alien.
>as the Black Mesa scientists remark that the creature was hauled in from the Pacific Ocean Actually the scientist have doubt about that claim saying he's pretty sure that this thing was only swimming there "not even a week ago"
Elijah Foster
>the apparent ease of which the resistance topples the combine That's very relative, its Gordon Freeman... not some nameless mook.
Julian Thomas
>All the people who have never checked out Opposing Force's multiplayer with with grapple >No other game has done this in 20 years despite all the potential it has
It's extremely reliant on visual and somewhat uncanny alien design, which are missing in HL2. I mean we never got the chance to get a look at City 17, since by the time you are high enough to see it, it's night and obstructed (HL2) or completly obliterated (Ep1). And Combines expansion into the city is fairly limited visually, you just see a bunch of walls once in a while going forward really slowly.
Father Grigori is Christpilled. He realizes that literally everyone and anyone who is a headcrab zombie cannot truly die and have their soul released from the world until they’re killed either via separation from the headcrab or otherwise.
read that in the distortion of civil protection officers, also underhell works fine, all the triggers and shit are working, and the map/shading loaded correctly
>pls select all bridges >makes me select a fuckign rooftop because it has a lip wow
then i crashed, thats what i get for alt tabbing he's in a lot of places, i remember playing synergy and just keeping a look out to see if i could find them all
>only survivor of a head crab attack >likely watched all the people he swore to protect due to church duties likely die agonizing deaths if they were lucky to get bitten by fast or poison headcrabs (regular headcrabs keep you alive in a agonizing existence) >throughout level you can see he made attempts to remove said crabs and try to save his friends but it ended in failure >Guy spends rest of his days building more complex traps to relieve those still left of their suffering >Despite all that still maintains faith and helps anybody he can to the point he gives freeman a shotgun What an absolute madlad
Joseph Barnes
Hes not wrong
Jason Clark
yes but at the same time it was pretty well incorporated along with helping to set the tone of how hopeless it was to live under combine rule until freeman arrived
Jason Garcia
>find two vorts having a discussion in vort language >"The Freeman must excuse us. It is rude of us to commune by flux shifting in front of those whose vortal inputs are impaired." >"Yes, we will vocalize in your auditory language as a matter of courtesy. Unless we wish to say unflattering things about you." >proceed to talk to each other in their vort language again
Ryder Fisher
Well there goes any chance for a sequel...
Dylan Myers
>He's probably the one who put all the explosive barrels down in the pit hoping to destroy the source, AKA the Gonarch. >Realises we're about to screw up his plans as we leave to the cave as we'll have to use them to get past the crabs >Wishes us luck Absolute lad
>always bugs out and walks right beside the propane tank instead of into the above ground grave
literally shocked me when he did that, he's literally invincible in there, like they can't get to him because it's too small of a door and he shoots/reloads to quickly and just shuts them down
>even on hard god blessed his hand, and the cinderblocks
It still pisses me off that the "translated" version(Swapping Half-Life characters and locations into the original Pastebin doc that used alternate names for legal reasons) changes "Epistle" to "Episode" at the end. That's the one thing you weren't supposed to change and it sounds stupid now!
"This is my final episode" just sounds fucking dumb and makes zero sense. Do they not know what an epistle is?
Isaac Martin
who is ampharos man? i don't lurk all day and night like a true neet, does he literally only just post an image from 1-7 saying ampharos?
>please select the chimneys >literally a fucking highway with a flat 1 story store off to the right with nothing sticking out of it what the fuck?
Benefactors that genocide the human race aren't very beneficial. Also it would imply that humanity has embarked on this path willingly and knowingly. Is Breen up for a referendum?
Benjamin Roberts
Guy deserves to be leader of whichever sect of Christianity he was in or even have his own considering how likely theological beliefs might have been altered
Dylan Kelly
>epistle >pronounced it right when i went to look it up fuck english man, i shouldn't be making wild guesses that don't even look the same
>Also, in my opinion, the apparent ease of which the resistance topples the combine makes him seem like a dumbass for going along with them. The Combine were cheapening out hard on Earth containment, they're dealing with a ton of shit at the moment and as long as they keep getting the natural resources they don't really care about humans at all. If a rebellion starts to become remotely successful or a nuisance they will bring real forces over and jackboot it instantly.
William Campbell
you can't quote anything else and sound BIBLICAL AS FUK tho youtube.com/watch?v=PBrfXgdeWgM he delivers well too, helped it a lot
>cumm >COOOME! >COOOOOOME!! >yes closer brother Did you even listen to your video?
Carter Cruz
>Everyone knew the experiment was dangerous but not that it would bring an invading force in. Didn't scientists already know about Xen and ayys and all that shit way before the resonance cascade?
Luis Parker
So does Gabe actually hate Half-Life? The way he talked about it in the AMA didn't seem very positive.
Jaxon Watson
you can't hurt my fee fee's! I draw for the sword, and sheath it in those who afflict me, say to my soul, I am thy salvation!
Matthew Cruz
yeah, and then some government magic man gives you this clear ass crystal when all you've gotten before is shitty rotten chunks full of imperfections
Yes, the entire chapter "Questionable Ethics" is about how BM knew about Xen for a long time and were testing weapons and chemicals on Xen wildlifes.
Parker Hall
>3:21 He was alone for too long
Aiden Lewis
I don't think he hates so much he hates talking about it due to the fact he knows its likely never happening but doesn't want to outright say it
Elijah Mitchell
Is no one else pissed by this? This is the last thing we EVER hear from Gordon Freeman and most likely the ending of the franchise as a whole and it's been mistranslated into some cheesy bullshit "This is my final episode"(get it because HL2 had episodes???) that ruins the entire tone.
if people asked you the same question every couple of days for the last 12 years, you'd think you'd get a little peeved too, right?
Isaac Cruz
but he's completely right?
James Brooks
I think by the last 12 years I would either have told them the game is dead or released it already.
Robert Kelly
Yeah, of course the scientists knew about Xen and the aliens before the incident. Not all of them, but some absolutely did. It is shown to the player several times throughout the game if you're actually paying attention.
The crystal sample that caused the incident is implied to come from Xen in the first place, with the scientist line, "I gather they went to some length to get it.". The HEV suit bodies that you see dead at the end of the game in Xen are implied to have been from previous research expedition teams, meaning Black Mesa higher ups were well-aware of the dangers.
Do you want more evidence? The entire chapter called 'questionable ethics' is based around captured subjects from Xen who are being tested on. Meaning that the research team had also been napping living creatures, besides just minerals.
I'll leave you with this speech exert from Lambda Complex (teleportation labs) >"I apologize, Mr Freeman, but I couldn't risk opening that door until I was sure you'd scoured the area. This is the last entrance to the Lambda complex. Every other has been sealed off to contain the invasion. When we realized that you might actually make it here, we drew straws to see who should stay behind to let you through. Obviously, I drew the short one. My colleagues are waiting at the tip of the Lambda reactor. Waiting for you, I mean. The reactor is shut down right now, but you can activate it on your way up. You'll have to flood the core anyway to get into the teleportation labs. You're not authorized to know about those, but I can see you already know a great deal more than any one man is supposed to." At the start of the game Gordon is stated to have a clearance level of 3, which apparently isn't enough to know about the more classified parts of the facility.
Fuck you, he didn't die. He turned on a fire trap to burn like 5 zombies while he was safe behind it. He will continue the fight.
Jack Young
"SUCC SUCC SUCC" - 'grappling hook'
i love fisting aliens
Christopher Diaz
I want chapter 2. Shame the dev went after money instead of a work of art.
Levi Howard
>synergy >obsidian conflict >oc_paysan >realize i met most of my online friends through synergy and stuck with them for literally 10-12 years i'll never have those feels again broes
>climbing the citadel while breen frantically tries to convince you to stop >slinging around combine with the gravity gun welp time to play hl2 again
Adrian Hall
Say what you want about the core mechanics of HL2, the campaign has such a great feel of journey through the world and the art direction haven't aged a bit.
Kevin Rogers
svens not dead, wat
Blake Cruz
That's entirely his fault though. If Gabe wanted HL3 to happen then he could have easily made it so at any point over the last 12 years.
Carter Martinez
earth is pissant to them, with most of its resources already harvested it appears they don't really give a fuck about it
Connor Johnson
yet the altrnative was death. he did as much as he could to ensure our survival when the combine cared not
Noah Baker
It wouldn't work because the protein chains are still repressed. You'd just end up with a huge floppy flaccid dong from all the blood.
Oliver Jones
Shoulda had them be like they were in beta
Chase Hall
i mean you can still cum with a limp dick
Grayson Phillips
I'd say Breen was like the General Manager at your local grocery store. He's running shit yes but as soon as shit gets out of hand corporate (in this case the Universal Union,) gets involved.
Breen was probably totally running shit on earth but as soon as there was a loose patient #0 running around wrecking everything and leading an open insurrection the combine evaluated that he was no longer to operate the forces.
Wyatt Martin
Replaying HL2 and other mods, I'm realizing one of the big thing I didn't liked about the game was the lack of interaction between the player and important characters. If you interact with a citizen they'll usually give a comment (and if you have multiple rebels following you, one of them will respond to that) and usually they say things at all time (picking up a new weapon, killing something, idling, etc...) , but if you interact to Alyx, Barney, Grigori or people during scenes, they usually give you a blank stare and it feels like the story and the world are separated from each other. Shit, there are better interaction in Kleiner's lab when you trash his place because whatever character isn't talking at the time scold you, and that's as far as it goes.
not really, with the way valve works anybody can go to and from any project they want at any time, Gabe at best can try to convince them to continue working on a certain project but overall he can't make them
Brayden King
Shitting on HL2 is a good litmus test for how much of a fucking zoomer fag pleb one is. You must be 18 years or older to post on this board.
The music, characters, atmosphere, story, sound design, visual design, pacing, and level design are all fucking amazing and cohesive. Not every game has to be enjoyable for the exact same fucking reasons.
Name a game that's more holistic and has a better flow. You can't. Just because there are one or two things about it that aren't as impressive as they were at release doesn't make it any less of a game. HL2 doesn't just have soul, it *is* soul.
the one thing that always gets me about HL2 now is the absolutely perfect facial animations. games for a long time after and even still today haven't gone that overboard on that kind of shit. the textures and models are dated now but the main characters still look human because of it
Landon Davis
>Shitting on HL2 >valid criticism about something means you are shitting on it >call someone else underage because of this Which one of us is underaged here, you one-dimentional retard?
Brandon Myers
It sucks that Valve has that corporate structure, because at this point Half-Life 3 will need to be literally perfect to satisfy everyone and yet the way Valve operates lets people go >No, fuck that, way too daunting, time to work on CSGO/DotA2
Cameron Jenkins
Yeah it is pretty incredible. calm down it is a pasta. It was a valid complaint
John King
>calm down it is a pasta. It was a valid complaint I'm sorry then, didn't know it was a pasta.
Samuel Parker
Hl feels like autumn Lonely and cold enough to make even the smallest moments deserving to be cherished Hope sprinkled over the vast oceans of dreadful reality And the whole world is the antagonist But this beaten up hut looks promising, itll be my home For a little while
David Sullivan
>its Gordon Freeman... not some nameless mook. Remember that an entire week passed between the end of Entanglement and the beginning of Anticitizen One. That's an entire week without Gordon or Alyx helping out during which time not only was the resistance not pounded into dust, they apparently made good progress against the combine. So yes, it is actually some nameless mook, and I'd wager most of those nameless mooks had never even held a weapon before the start of the uprising.
Jayden Jackson
pretty much, I think gabe himself stated that he regretted giving the employees that much freedom due to the fact that in the long run it lead to the current mess they are in
Jose Jenkins
>when in reality he avoided answering the question completely But he actually did answer the question, maybe not in a pointed way, but he did. "Why suppress our reproduction?" "We will likely soon be immortal, ergo we as a species need to focus on things other than reproduction."
True or not is irrelevant here, he did answer the question.
Henry Young
WHO AM I WHAT AM I
Jace James
any mod where you play as a combine and oppress people?
Adrian Wood
It wasn't delayed though. They released it unfinished.
Julian Peterson
>Concerned Name a better webcomic, pro-tip you can't.
Christopher Lewis
Where do you even find out about this artificial sex lore? I never noticed it in game
James Ross
The source was combine pods, not a gonarch
Ryan Anderson
Not the user who posted But as far as I knew, some personnel of Black Mesa knew about Xen and stuff, but I never saw anything mentioned about the Combine in the first game. I thought that they knew about Xen and aliens, but only that they existed, not that there was a intergalactic space empire as well who could use the portal to attack and enslave Earth. Doesn't make Breen any less guilty of course. Having the possibility of an alien invasion, regardless of the Combine existing or not, was already bad enough.
Yes, Entropy Zero The end fight is absolute bullshit be warned I tuned on cheats to see the ending I was so tired of its bullshit
Cameron King
Overwatch dispatch speaking to CP units (like the apartment raid, and inside their outposts) >50 percent reproduction credits >Rank leader: reminder: 100 sterilized credits qualifies non-mechanical reproduction simulation There's plenty of small details in the game.
Carter Turner
well shit, neato, guess I wasn't paying attention
Alexander Phillips
They could have just let overwatch say nonsense since you never hear it between the music and the shooting but they went the extra mile
Justin Lewis
HL2 was unironically redpilling people on porn before it was cool. Combine=Jews
Daniel Edwards
If jews are trying to make people less promiscuous then they're failing spectacularly
Nolan Nguyen
first game was way better in terms of replay ability and gameplay all in all, it also had a actual hard mode with the assassins being able to fucking cloak along with the marines being smarter and so on
James Rivera
>what is anal sex >what is gay sex >what are facials
Nearly all of porn is centered around blowing your load in places where it wont get anyone pregnant. Wonder why? Also because people talk more about sex doesnt mean they have more.
Carter Russell
Aren't jews truing to get white women pregnant by niggers?
Michael Fisher
maybe because it got leaked
Jack Jones
Daily reminder to read the Concerned comics.
Mason Lewis
huh?
Daniel Young
Watch Kleiner's speech from Episode 1.
Xavier Murphy
breen was the administrator at black mesa, g-man handed it to him
the nihilith says some shit but its all slow and noisy so i don't really remember what he says, something about being enslaved and such but never specifically mentioning the combine
Nicholas Martinez
>downgraded gameplay >shotgun was nerfed to shit >marines have the combine ai >jumping with always run on is off >you can barely even strafe with always run on like in the original hl1 to make combat more intense >the bullsquids can not run at you the list goes further on
Caleb Cox
This game is too fucking hard, how do I beat the biozeminades
Benjamin Parker
>non-mechanical reproduction simulation The backstory is so fucking kino, I really hate how Valve toned down the game's atmosphere though, why couldn't the game bring those bits front and center like the beta did? It would certainly be much more well regarded nowadays than what we got.
Gavin James
Use spray paint
Jonathan Perez
>marines being smarter They weren't smarter tho, just a lot more aggressive so they would just spam grenades more often.
Aiden Campbell
Hello. I've come to you today to make crucial announcement that all of you should hear, it involves your "Hero" that has not even a Iota of Intelligence in his skull.
Dr.Freeman, took it upon himself to urinate all over my wife. Yes...I am serious. I have not exaggerated my statement. The So called "Free Man" decided to reveal himself from that orange shell that masks his fragile persona as hero and proceeded to spread himself all over my wife, coating her in waste, and....Disgrace.
As if this felony wasn't enough for him, Dr. Freeman proclaimed out loud that his genitalia was "__________"
So...Which brings us back to why I decided to bring this matter to your attention by broadcasting this to all of you to City 17
Gordon Freeman, your a below average, spineless, primitive mollusk whose length and girth couldn't even hope to rival the length of a Parrot-Fish, and is relegated to the size of a harmless puny, pony tail that you had back in your Black Mesa days.
And...to add insult to injury, heres what MY genitalia looks like
Yes...Beyond compression, futile to fight,...our limited vocabulary impossible to describe...
You Dr.Freeman took it upon yourself to humiliate me in front of our Benefactors so I'm going to go higher. And Im going to dedicate all over Eli. How does that sound? Dr.Freeman? Is what I have layed at your feet caused you any fear?
You have approximately 24 hours before any hazards from my release hit the citizens down below UNLESS, you turn yourself in Gordon. To the people of City 17,do not co-operate with such indoors, choose not side with IGNORANCE, stay safe.
Yeah, thats allowed oddly enough. Only good creampie porn you find is black on White. What a (((coincidence)))
Carter Rivera
Who fucking cares, that letter has a really short answer:
Yes motherfucker you should be concerned you literally cannot have kids. Having kids is supposed to be a conscientious choice you make based on your resources and ability to maintain a household. It's up to other people, this is part of why the Low T results many men are having and dropping sperm counts should be concerning people. You don't know if its evolution or external pressure. Hint, there's something in the water, its called Flouride, and its damaging your brain.
The issue is that this kind of shit work, if you keep getting told the same thing every day, every hours, every minutes, you eventually believe it as truth.
Wasn't Been right insofar as resistance being futile? Combine's got Dyson spheres n shit
Kevin Jackson
deepest lore
Leo Kelly
Yes and no. Resistance is most likely going to bring the entire planet down once it's not longer useful but on the other hand it's also the only way to keep teleportation technologies just outside Combine reach and giving humanity a bargaining chip for survival.
Jacob Johnson
which was what
Julian Sanders
Or rather, it's to throw in their face the fact that the propaganda is obviously bullshit but yet they're forced to pretend it's the truth, further demoralizing them.
Josiah Allen
the white man is meant to reprosuce less i think is what hes getting at. theres all those leaks on a 90iq mixed race bing ideal for mind control
Jose Williams
Half Life 3 by today's Valve would be so fucking good.
Tyler Lewis
don't even bother giving a shit >Since the 1960s critical analysis of the recordings has cast doubt on their provenance. For instance, audio transcripts reveal that none of the cosmonauts, who were supposed to be Soviet air force pilots, followed standard communication protocols, such as identifying themselves when speaking or using correct technical terminology.[4] Likewise all the recordings contain disjointed sentences and grammatical errors (e.g. the meaningless "..aшa пepeдaчa бyдeт тeпepь", Nov 1963)(aшa пepeдaчa бyдeт тeпepь Translation: "...[o]ur transmission will now...") contradicting the known fact that the Soviet space program only used highly trained, well-educated Russian native speakers from aeronautical backgrounds.[5] Though some of the transcripts record cosmonauts saying they are leaving Earth's orbit (i.e. heading into interplanetary or "deep" space), the manned Vostok 3KAs could not reach escape velocity because their designs never contained secondary-burn propulsion units. This was inherent to the Vostok programme, a project to put the first Soviet citizens into low Earth orbit and return them safely. OKB-1 only required spacecraft with velocities that could reach Earth orbit (28,160 kilometres per hour (17,500 mph)) far less than the speed needed to break orbit (40,320 kilometres per hour (25,050 mph)). Propulsion units powerful enough to leave Earth's orbit did not begin to appear until the test firing of the RD-270 engine in 1969; and it was not until the N1 moon rocket (with the NK-33 engines) in 1974 that the Soviets built a spacecraft able to reach open space.[6][7] It is impossible to "accidentally" veer off into deep space without firing a rocket engine powerful enough to accelerate to escape velocity.
Austin Perry
>multiplayer only game with as many cosmetics as can fit in the files ???
John Stewart
Let me read a letter I recently received. "Dear Dr. Breen. Why has the Combine seen fit to give us so many hats? Sincerely, A Concerned Citizen."
Thank you for writing, Concerned. Of course, your question touches on one of the most basic commercial impulses, with all its associated hopes and fears for the adornment of heads. I also detect some unspoken questions. Do our benefactors really know what's best for us? What gives them the right to make this kind of decision for mankind? Will they ever limit the number of hats and allow us to pay our rent again?
Allow me to address the anxieties underlying your concerns, rather than try to answer every possible question you might have left unvoiced. First, let us consider the fact that for the first time ever, as a company, infinite profit is in our reach. This simple fact has far-reaching implications. It requires radical rethinking and revision of our commercial imperatives. It also requires planning and forethought that run in direct opposition to our neural pre-sets.
Jacob Brooks
underrated
Isaac Anderson
cringe cringe cringe cringe
Matthew Parker
>position of negotiation What's there to negotiate about, what preferred funeral rites the last living human will be given as Breen, in his new form, speaks a few meaningless words akin to an eulogy because he's exactly the kind of "person" who would want the last words ever spoken about humanity to be uttered by him?
I'd imagine it was the position of "hey don't wipe us out as a species. Can you just keep us around as subservient at least?"
Xavier Hall
Because it's more of a bunch of cool-seeming concepts thrown together. When they sat down to make an actual game, they had to make it cohesive and thus throw out certain ideas which, while interesting, wouldn't fit in.
Landon Long
>thinking Breen was acting on behalf of humanity rather than himself post-BM, or rationally for that matter >thinking humanity doesn't deserve to ascend to the stars because it made mistakes during its childhood developmental stage and subconsciously wishing for its demise >justifying betraying your planet to its aggressors because you're so full of yourself that you think you could somehow 4D Chess them into not sterilizing your entire solar system and grafting its few remains onto their collective living machinery whose IQ is only several orders of magnitude bigger than yours could ever be >not realizing that after the resonance cascade, Breen started to unravel so badly his only fleeting hope of ever feeling human again was to get an autograph from a meteorological intelligence Breen is worse than the Combine. And so are Breencucks.
Brayden Morales
If that were the case, he wouldn't have tried his best to sabotage the resistance. If he still cared one iota about humanity's continued existence he would've hedged his "negotiations" (collaboration) with not doing his utmost best to wipe our solar system off the map. As evidenced by him wanting to get 'transplanted' into an Advisor or some such as soon as he realized it was his days that were numbered rather than humanity's. If he were still somewhat human at that point he would've simply eaten a bullet, but upon realizing that this was no longer his planet he just wanted to 'transcend' humanity and become something else.
John Rogers
This is STILL some of the best writing in the history of video games.
Lucas Rogers
So I had a thought for a long time, the manhack game, it was not a game at all, you were controlling a manhack and killing people
William Baker
That's exactly what the manhack arcade is.
Wyatt Moore
Did Dr. Kleiner just tell us to "have sex, former incels"?
Charles Brown
Pulling Breen out of their ass and not making G-Man the admin was one of the worst HL2 retcons.
Jacob Fisher
Oh fuck, I thought I was retarded for thinking thats what it was, but it looked way too convienant, so I guess when you start playing is when a manhacks thrown up by a metrocop and you fly therough areas that while in your eyes look like a weird as fuck space, when in reality your in a rebel base breaking boxes and killing civvies
I know other media has done this but damn is that dark
Don't drink water from swimming pools then you fucktard.
Connor Jones
Half-Life 2 is the biggest retcon ever.
The fact that they even pulled that shit off is the most surprising. It's like the 12th Cloverfield Lane of videogames.
Jackson White
But it makes even less sense. For example, in the beta it's clear why and how theyre draining the oceans but in the final game you're riding along the dry ocean floor with no explanation. The anti procreation field just seems like a contrivance to not include children and avoid an M rating.
Blake Gutierrez
they made a great choice with the medical jargon being used as Overwatch code, it has an effect of both professionalism and callousness. like describing active conflict areas as "infected" or use of lethal force as "amputation", it's different but the meanings are still vaguely understandable
Asher Johnson
Did he honestly believe the suppression field was anything other than a cost-effective method of global annihilation and that the Combine would ever lift it, or was he just biding his time and trying to prove his worth to his superiors so he could become immortal?
Andrew Lewis
HALF LIFE FULL LIFE CONSEQUENCES
Ayden Martinez
It's a shame Valve wrote themselves into a corner by making the Combine one of the most overpowered space empires in all of fiction. Seriously I think those fuckers could take on the Imperium of Man.
Brandon Harris
They would wipe the imperium like the shit out of their assholes
the combine have dyson spheres the imperium has flying churches
Isaac Clark
>The Imperium of Man Nigga the Combine could take on the fucking Culture
Jeremiah Moore
How is it a retcon?
Caleb Lee
He was a man shoved in between a rock and a hard place.
Alexander Phillips
Learn the difference between an open ending and a cliffhanger.
Episode Three was supposed to end like Half-Life and Half-Life 2, finish the narrative arc but leave an opening for a new separate adventure. That's completely different from how Episode One and Episode Two left the narrative arc unfinished.
Jeremiah Smith
I hated the "G-man is the adminsitrator" theory and never understood why it was so popular. In Half-Life, G-man acts like a field agent, not an administration guy.
Aiden Stewart
I mean it made sense considering how the opening emphasized how "classified" your administration was, then to end the game with a businessman with beyond-reality powers observing you throughout the game hiring you.
With that said, I don't mind since Breen's narrative is one of the best things to come from Half-Life.
Benjamin Perry
Gordon should've drove the Borealis right into the exhaust port of one of the Dyson spheres desu. It's what I would've done in his situation.
Brody Rodriguez
>businessman
In no way, shape, or form is he ever even slightly suggested to even possibly be a "businessman".
