Any part of Half-Life you don't like?

[Omnomnick]

• Why does the destruction of the City 17 Citadel cause all of the other Citadels and Suppression Fields on the entire planet to shut down? That's like if the Death Star powered all of the Star Destroyers or TIE Fighters in the entire Galaxy, it doesn't make sense.

It doesn't cause all of the other Citadels to shut down, it merely damages the network. We can assume the network was simply overloaded, and the damage itself was caused by the dimensional portal being active just as the dark fusion reactor exploded. I like to think of it working like a kind of global EMP.

It's likely all of the other Citadels are still functioning as normal. It's also likely that all of the Citadels on Earth are, or were, physically connected, given that the suppression field is extended through the ground using the cables which can be seen dangling from the building. We know the suppression field is removed at the start of Episode One, and that's when the cables begin collapsing/being removed from the building, as shown by the total lack of cables during the finale.

• Why did Breen choose City 17 as his base of operations? What was so special about it? Why did he advertise where he was all across City 17? It only took a theoretical physicist and a robot dog to muck up everything.

Who knows? I imagine the Combine actually placed him there. It's pretty unlikely Breen legitimately had a choice in the matter, as he likes to explain on the Breen casts. Maybe it was just where the Combine happened to land their largest/most important Citadel, or maybe it was one of the areas with the least damage during the 7 hour war, prompting most of the remaining refugees to be placed there until they all naturally die out under the terms Breen agreed during the surrender.

• Why didn't the Resistance just make a bunch of D0Gs to fight the Combine?

A lack of resources and suitable talent/expertise? "MIT graduates are few and far between these days!", aka "There isn't a whole lot of clever people left, so we can take what we can get our hands on."

• Can robots get tired? If they can't then why didn't D0G just hold up that barrier in front of the Citadel forever so that they could let an army of Rebels all storm the Citadel at once instead of letting Gordon go by himself? If the Gravity Gun didn't malfunction and turn into the blue insta-death version he would've been ****ed.

If I remember correctly, the Combine start shooting at Barney and D0G just as he's holding up the gate, so I imagine they become too pre-occupied holding off the forces on ground level. While I doubt robots can become "tired", I imagine they would be able to detect when they are becoming too physically strained or damaged, which might also explain why D0G needed to drop the gate when he did. He's strong, but not that strong.

 

[MFL]

For the last part, I would imagine it was because of the deal the Resistance made with the G-Man regarding Gordon's utilization.

 

[Omnomnick]

For the last part, I would imagine it was because of the deal the Resistance made with the G-Man regarding Gordon's utilization.

What deal? As far as we know, the resistance is totally unaware of Gman and his involvement. Otherwise, why would Eli need to keep him a secret with Gordon in Episode Two?

People who know of Gman's existance:

• Breen - Has dealt with Gordon's "employers" prior to being killed.
• Gordon - Is one of the only individuals who can see the Gman and interact with him.
• Eli - Made a deal with the Gman at Black Mesa and agreed to use the dangerous Xen sample in the experiment, subsequently causing the Resonance Cascade.
• Random scientists at Black Mesa - Throughout Half-Life, you can find the Gman talking with random scientists, but it's likely this is because Valve planned to make him the administrator before Breen was retconned into the series in HL2.
• Gman - It'd be weird if he didn't even know about himself.
• Alyx - Probably isn't fully aware of him, but she has been affected by his influence at least once, maybe more.
• Odessa Cubbage - He makes a deal with Gman during the coast missions. It looks like Gman convinces Odessa to give the rocket launcher to Gordon to help him proceed. However, he probably doesn't know Gman is as "unusual" as he is.

 

[Skyace65]

I think the street war goes on a little too long. It's not that I really dislike any particular part of it but another change of pace chapter between Follow Freeman and Anticitizen One might have been cool.

If we're talking the Episodes as well I think the train station escort in Exit 17 was pretty tedious TBH.

I don't really think it's a change of pace issue, i think it's more of a lack of variety when it comes to enemies in HL2. it drags on because there are no different groups of enemies to adapt to or get used to. it's just the same combine soldiers again and again and it drags on.

• Why did Breen choose City 17 as his base of operations? What was so special about it? Why did he advertise where he was all across City 17? It only took a theoretical physicist and a robot dog to muck up everything.

this actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it. the biggest threat to the combine would be any previous black mesa staff or survivors of the HECU. by moving him to Europe that makes it a lot harder for either of those groups to get closer to him since it wouldn't be easy to cross the ocean.

 

[Danny_ZQ]

this actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it. the biggest threat to the combine would be any previous black mesa staff or survivors of the HECU. by moving him to Europe that makes it a lot harder for either of those groups to get closer to him since it wouldn't be easy to cross the ocean.

But people are getting transferred to different cities all the time.

 

[Skyace65]

But people are getting transferred to different cities all the time.

and i seriously doubt they are being transferred across the ocean

 

[Omnomnick]

and i seriously doubt they are being transferred across the ocean

It's entirely possible. Breen must have been transferred to City 17 at some point in the 20 year gap between HL1 and HL2.

 

[Danny_ZQ]

and i seriously doubt they are being transferred across the ocean

What's so far-fetched about it?

 

[Aizawa]

Odessa Cubbage knows Gman too, at least they talked to each other. But I understood it always like that the people you see talking to the Gman actually dont really know that he is that special or something. Gman doing some mind control stuff or something.

 

[10n02]

People who know of Gman's existance:

• Breen - Has dealt with Gordon's "employers" prior to being killed.
• Gordon - Is one of the only individuals who can see the Gman and interact with him.
• Eli - Made a deal with the Gman at Black Mesa and agreed to use the dangerous Xen sample in the experiment, subsequently causing the Resonance Cascade.
• Random scientists at Black Mesa - Throughout Half-Life, you can find the Gman talking with random scientists, but it's likely this is because Valve planned to make him the administrator before Breen was retconned into the series in HL2.
• Gman - It'd be weird if he didn't even know about himself.
• Alyx - Probably isn't fully aware of him, but she has been affected by his influence at least once, maybe more.

Vortigaunts too

[Edit]
And also some random HECU & security guards:

 

[MFL]

Odessa also meets with the G-Man shortly before he mysteriously gets rocket launchers as if from nowhere to hand over to Gordon.

Just because people act like they don't know about him does not necessitate that being the truth.

Also, Breen directly gives an allusion to the nature of the relationship between Gordon and the G-Man at the top of the Citadel. Contract being up for the highest bidder and whatnot.

That leads to my belief that Gordon's mission during the course of HL2, given to him in the introductory sequence, was part of a deal with the Resistance for Gordon's services. Terms not defined because we only get to see one side of said deal, that being the perspective of Gordon Freeman.

 

[Max Wood]

"Questioning things in the story ruins the game for every person who ever played Half-Life 2."

oh

Yeah questioning pointless things that have nothing to do with the story.

 

[Danny_ZQ]

Yeah questioning pointless things that have nothing to do with the story.

I don't see how my questions are "pointless" or how they "ruin the game for everyone else." I pointed out what seemed like plot holes and nick and the numbers guy explained how they weren't.

 

[Kitfox]

The worst part of HL is the part where they allude to a third episode.

 

[MFL]

=(

 

[Max Wood]

I don't see how my questions are "pointless" or how they "ruin the game for everyone else." I pointed out what seemed like plot holes and nick and the numbers guy explained how they weren't.

Well I can't really argue with that, you win.

 

[Omnomnick]

I don't see how my questions are "pointless" or how they "ruin the game for everyone else." I pointed out what seemed like plot holes and nick and the numbers guy explained how they weren't.

I honestly think I know too much about Valve games for my own good. I'm sure it'll be invaluable in helping me get a job. I can't even begin to imagine how useful information it would be, like the history of TF2's lore, or how Portal 2's storyline is mostly based off Greek mythology.

 

[MFL]

Man, we might as well talk about this now. IS doing anything not directly productive inherently a bad thing, or against one's own good? Do we have to maintain utter objectivity at all times? Sometimes I wanna lay back and dribble whiskey into my maw, sometimes I wanna poke a boob, sometimes I wanna get all worked up over the machinations of fictional dystopias. Do you, man, and enjoy it. Y'aint gotta stress unless you fall off the wagon and start sleepin next to a crowbar just in case.

 

[Skyace65]

What's so far-fetched about it?

because as I've already explained, the combine and breen aren't idiots. they know the strongest resistance would be in America from former BM staff or HECU. so obviously they wouldn't transfer people across the ocean so that there is very little chance of them getting close to Breen.

 

[Danny_ZQ]

because as I've already explained, the combine and breen aren't idiots. they know the strongest resistance would be in America from former BM staff or HECU. so obviously they wouldn't transfer people across the ocean so that there is very little chance of them getting close to Breen.

So what's stopping them from sneaking into the city? They probably have more than one underground railroad.

 

[Skyace65]

So what's stopping them from sneaking into the city? They probably have more than one underground railroad.

a mother Fing ocean.....

 

[imadoofus]

Blast Pit has always been very stressful for me. I don't dislike it, exactly, but trying to stealth around that thing that can kill me in a couple of hits with a limited number of grenades to distract it and having to smash some stuff without calling its attention to me to reach safety.... yikes.

 

[Danny_ZQ]

a mother Fing ocean.....

Boats don't exist.

 

[Dotard]

Some more, the sand-trap part of Sandtraps ._. also the infamous train that almost can't be overrun chapter earlier.

 

[Matt]

FEAR gunplay sucked compared to HL2's gunplay.

Really? I've never played FEAR , but the videos I've seen of it make the gunplay look freakin' awesome.

 

[Barnz]

It is awesome. You should play the original game and its expansions.

 

[SpotEnemyBoats]

FEAR gunplay sucked compared to HL2's gunplay.

 

[Dotard]

Actually it's FEAR 2 gunplay where it's at, too bad FEAR 3 killed the IP

 

[Matt]

It is awesome. You should play the original game and its expansions.

I dunno, I'm not really into horror.
Also, why the hell is there so much space in the box that I'm typing this in?

 

[Barnz]

It's not a horror game, it's not even scary. It's a fast-paced shooter with horror elements. If you ignore the stupid storyline and the bland environments, it's a pretty fun game.