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Alyeska wrote: Anyway, Valve has said they intend only 3 episodes in total to Half-Life 2. They don't want to bog down production of Half-Life 3 by doing years upon years of episodes. And there still remains the posibility of add-ons which take place in other characters perspectives.

Gabe Newell has stated that Episodes 1-3 are basically "Half-Life 3" except in title.

Its OK but I don't know, it just hasn't grabbed me like Halflife 2 did. The fact that I was stuck with just the Gravity gun, my least favorite weapon, through about half of this scenario already sucked and now this over emphasis on the zombies and darkness also annoying.

Alyx is useful, almost too useful if you ask me. I can just sit back and let her blast away with her unlimited ammo and such. Lack of a good submachine gun or pulse rifle really sucks ass. Shotgun, pistol and Gravity gun. That's it, eh.

The level designs also don't have the viseceral goodness of let's say Ravenholme.

I'm currently holding the line at the elevator that is taking too long to come down so I don't know if there's much more to surprise or delight me left in this game but I certainly haven't been as excited with this installment as I though I would be.

Stravo wrote:
I'm currently holding the line at the elevator that is taking too long to come down so I don't know if there's much more to surprise or delight me left in this game but I certainly haven't been as excited with this installment as I though I would be.

Spoilers for Stravo!

Your about ten minutes from Rocket launchers, smg's, the Combine AR and enough nades to drown a cat. Your about to enter the combat heavy section of the game

DPDarkPrimus wrote:
Gabe Newell has stated that Episodes 1-3 are basically "Half-Life 3" except in title.

So, does that mean we won't be getting a sequel game that is really HL3? Or are you just saying that HL3 is being summed up as these episodes, and what HL3 will really be is a whole new concept? Personally, I see a whole load of promise in the Combine invasion plot. You just have to look at what was cut from the game as mentioned in the Raising The Bar book to know they really though about the story.

Admiral Valdemar wrote:

DPDarkPrimus wrote:
Gabe Newell has stated that Episodes 1-3 are basically "Half-Life 3" except in title.

So, does that mean we won't be getting a sequel game that is really HL3? Or are you just saying that HL3 is being summed up as these episodes, and what HL3 will really be is a whole new concept? Personally, I see a whole load of promise in the Combine invasion plot. You just have to look at what was cut from the game as mentioned in the Raising The Bar book to know they really though about the story.

Acording to an interview with Newell, these episodes are what HL3 would have been, but they are looking into actual expansions that look into the story from other angles, like Opposing forces.

Admiral Valdemar wrote:

DPDarkPrimus wrote:
Gabe Newell has stated that Episodes 1-3 are basically "Half-Life 3" except in title.

So, does that mean we won't be getting a sequel game that is really HL3? Or are you just saying that HL3 is being summed up as these episodes, and what HL3 will really be is a whole new concept? Personally, I see a whole load of promise in the Combine invasion plot. You just have to look at what was cut from the game as mentioned in the Raising The Bar book to know they really though about the story.

The story that was started with HL2 will be finished with Episodes 1-3. They plan on doing other episodic content to tell side stories in the HL2 universe as well, so I bet we'll see some of the ideas in Raising the Bar expahded upon.

It's WAY too early to be guessing what HL3 is going to be about.

Hmm, good points. I'm still expecting HL3 will be related to the Combine arc somehow, since the HL universe revolves around that resonance cascade opening rifts around our planet. Xen was one thing, but the Combine were the pan-universal Borg to worry about. What if there's an even bigger fish?

You still don't know anything about who employs the G-Man for instance, and since he's a god practically incarnate, it's probably some game played like in the old Greek mythos I expect.

Admiral Valdemar wrote: You still don't know anything about who employs the G-Man for instance, and since he's a god practically incarnate, it's probably some game played like in the old Greek mythos I expect.

I think you severely overestimate the G-Man's powers. He can freeze time and keep you in stasis, and has some sort of transdimensional teleportation powers, but that's really all we've seen.

Were you not paying attention at the beginning of Episode 1?

SPOILER
A group of Vortigaunts were able to work together to hold back the G-Man and free you from his stasis field. And the G-Man doesn't show up again in Episode 1, as far as I know. They BROKE his hold on you.

DPDarkPrimus wrote:

Admiral Valdemar wrote: You still don't know anything about who employs the G-Man for instance, and since he's a god practically incarnate, it's probably some game played like in the old Greek mythos I expect.

I think you severely overestimate the G-Man's powers. He can freeze time and keep you in stasis, and has some sort of transdimensional teleportation powers, but that's really all we've seen.

Were you not paying attention at the beginning of Episode 1?

SPOILER
A group of Vortigaunts were able to work together to hold back the G-Man and free you from his stasis field. And the G-Man doesn't show up again in Episode 1, as far as I know. They BROKE his hold on you.

Well... We'll see about that.

DPDarkPrimus wrote:

Admiral Valdemar wrote: You still don't know anything about who employs the G-Man for instance, and since he's a god practically incarnate, it's probably some game played like in the old Greek mythos I expect.

I think you severely overestimate the G-Man's powers. He can freeze time and keep you in stasis, and has some sort of transdimensional teleportation powers, but that's really all we've seen.

Were you not paying attention at the beginning of Episode 1?

SPOILER
A group of Vortigaunts were able to work together to hold back the G-Man and free you from his stasis field. And the G-Man doesn't show up again in Episode 1, as far as I know. They BROKE his hold on you.

That's the thing, right? These are the same Vortigaunts you blew through like they were paper and you were a blowtoarch in Half-Life, right? If they're so frickin' powerful, then how were you able to defeat them, yet still can't with the G-Man. And for those of you who say that their power during/before the Black Mesa incident was limited by Nihilanth, how were you able to defeat him, while they couldn't even hold him off? In other words, Half-Life1: G-Man>You>Nihilanth>Vortigaunts, whereas HL2:E1 seems to make the argument that: Vortigaunts>G-Man>You. How does that much change happen? Maybe someone else has more insight on this, but that's what I'm getting.

DesertFly wrote:

DPDarkPrimus wrote:

Admiral Valdemar wrote: You still don't know anything about who employs the G-Man for instance, and since he's a god practically incarnate, it's probably some game played like in the old Greek mythos I expect.

I think you severely overestimate the G-Man's powers. He can freeze time and keep you in stasis, and has some sort of transdimensional teleportation powers, but that's really all we've seen.

Were you not paying attention at the beginning of Episode 1?

SPOILER
A group of Vortigaunts were able to work together to hold back the G-Man and free you from his stasis field. And the G-Man doesn't show up again in Episode 1, as far as I know. They BROKE his hold on you.

That's the thing, right? These are the same Vortigaunts you blew through like they were paper and you were a blowtoarch in Half-Life, right? If they're so frickin' powerful, then how were you able to defeat them, yet still can't with the G-Man. And for those of you who say that their power during/before the Black Mesa incident was limited by Nihilanth, how were you able to defeat him, while they couldn't even hold him off? In other words, Half-Life1: G-Man>You>Nihilanth>Vortigaunts, whereas HL2:E1 seems to make the argument that: Vortigaunts>G-Man>You. How does that much change happen? Maybe someone else has more insight on this, but that's what I'm getting.

Assuming those Vortigaunts are of the same timeframe, dimension, or race that we know. For all we know, they're the psychic emanations of Nihilanth lying dreaming at Rlyeh. They could be the G-Man's controllers. They could be Tupac Shakur's flying motherfucking monkeys.

The best part about the G-Man is that we just don't know.

Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba wrote:Assuming those Vortigaunts are of the same timeframe, dimension, or race that we know. For all we know, they're the psychic emanations of Nihilanth lying dreaming at Rlyeh. They could be the G-Man's controllers. They could be Tupac Shakur's flying motherfucking monkeys.

The best part about the G-Man is that we just don't know.

Maybe, but it seems pretty clear that they're supposed to be the same species. I dunno, hopefully Valve will clear it up.

It took a good dozen or so of them just to stop the G-Man from taking Freeman, so anything saying the G-Man's powers are not all they're cracked up to be is bullshit. Only now with the Vortigaunts banding together do we see a real opposition. And it's not like the G-Man has given up either (nor is he really displaying anything of his powers elsewhere. He could singlehandedly take on anyone in any of the games, yet chooses to test you for some unknown purpose).

The fall of the Combine after their Citadel is taken out will affect the situation a great deal, but that assumes they've also given up. As Kleiner's PA video pointed out, the ball's no longer in their court, but they're not out of the game yet. That final transmission was obviously very important, so much so that blowing the dark energy reactor was necessary while those mysterious pods escaped.

DesertFly wrote:

Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba wrote:Assuming those Vortigaunts are of the same timeframe, dimension, or race that we know. For all we know, they're the psychic emanations of Nihilanth lying dreaming at Rlyeh. They could be the G-Man's controllers. They could be Tupac Shakur's flying motherfucking monkeys.

The best part about the G-Man is that we just don't know.

Maybe, but it seems pretty clear that they're supposed to be the same species. I dunno, hopefully Valve will clear it up.

You've got to remember that
1. The HL1 Vorties were slaves. They were wearing inhibitor/mind-control/whatever collars that probably stopped them from doing anything like what they did in E1.

2. The Vorties seem to be connected to some type of hive mind; Theoretically, that could give them immense psychic power when they work together.

3. What they did in E1 doesn't really have any combat applications that I can think of. I'm at a loss as exactly how it'd have helped them against Gordon in HL1.

At the beginning of HL2, you can see a Vortigaunt still in slave gear sweeping up at the train station. Since the Vortigaunts are a hive mind, I'm guessing that they weren't able to utilize their powers to the fullest potential until whatever was inhibiting the enslaved Vortigaunts in the City was disabled when you destroyed the reactor at the end of HL2.

That would seem to make sense, else you can't rationalise them not helping out during HL2 when they were on your side, but only helping out like rebel Humans. The Combine may have to take the gloves off again to combat the new resistance, especially with Freeman no longer the agent of the G-Man.

So, the G-man has lost control over Gordon. But hasn’t he still got Sheppard tucked away in stasis somewhere? Does anybody think he might bring him back now?

Also of note: In Ep1, the G-Man doesn't have his trademark briefcase with him, which he oherwise has at all times. Coincidence? I don't think Valve would forget a thing like that.