Because we love Alyx...

[Neko!]

Surely, after all is said and done, you just can’t help but finding yourself emotionally attached to the woman. And thus, I felt the need to dedicate a thread to her. Because… well, If there’s’ already one… I can’t find it. And Damnit! Alyx needs her own thread.

Ahem… There are some Slight spoilers, but if you haven’t played the game than you shouldn’t know what I’m talking about…

I love how they made her seem so playful. The Zombine joke and the moaning in the tunnels. She constantly says funny and humorous things that every time I replay makes me love her more and more.

I felt so bad for her when the train wrecked. Even in the first time playing my natural want was to crawl over as fast as I could to help, and even still when we got out found myself wishing I could have comforted her more. She looked so much like a little scared lost child standing there with her face in her hands.

After years of playing games like Jak and Silent Hill 2 with dreaded ‘Escort missions’ (As my mother can vouch for. She has witnessed first hand how I do so dread Escort Missions…) in which the NPC would constantly die and the hours of frustration when I couldn’t find a way to keep their happy asses from standing in my line of fire.

Alyx is the First Ever NPC who I Want to be near my line of fire. Like in the garage with the antlions. I couldn’t have done that by myself. And with the waves of enemies that would swarm at such a constant level, there’s just not way I could have done it by myself. And they made her so realistic that when she did ever find herself in trouble and yelled for me you could bet your sweet ass I was over there faster then a bolt of lighting. I didn’t want her to die. And as credit to my abilities, would sacrifice myself before allowing any harm to come to her. (Despite the fact I know her heath replenishes at such an insanely fast rate… I do tend to forget however when in the heat of battle…)

I don’t know how Valve did it. Years and years of hating sidekicks in video games and then they come along. They make a character that talks and acts so real that you find yourself truly caring for what is simply an AI machine. And to that I say Kudos Valve!

They must be using Breen’s brain-washing water supply… It’s the only explanation I can think of…

Being female, If they can make another Woman love Alyx this much, I can only image how much some of you guys here must love her now.

Welp, I'm off to draw fanart! -Whistles while waltzing away-

 

[Geogaddi]

Alyx is much more likeable in this latest episode.

 

[Lemonking]

......^idiot?

btw I agree with you Neko

 

[Neko!]

Just kidding..

Or are you?

Ohh, but really! You're just joking..

But is it really?

Mahh, It don’t bother me any. Personally, with the amount of sex I get… I just don't really care about the source in which it may get to me anymore.

But I Digrees... For this is a thread about Alyx. Not my sex life... (Or lack of therefore... Perhaps.. Half-sex-life? BWAH!)

And it's good to know someone does...

 

[Cpl_Facehugger]

*snip*

Absolutely.

Part of what I feel made Alyx fun to be around was the fact that she wasn't perfect. She made mistakes, she showed fear, she cracked jokes that weren't really funny... all things that a real human being does. What's more, she does all these things believably. So kudos to whoever wrote her dialog, and all the great men, women, and headcrabs who worked on getting her facial expressions just right. I felt it really paid off.

 

[TheCheckt]

I know I love Alyx. She's so comforting to be around. Like in Lowlife when it was all dark and there was all those zombies I would've been super chilled, but Alyx was there and I was like sweet. She even made jokes when I turned my flashlight off

 

[ktimekiller]

I agree, valve did excellent

 

[99.vikram]

I <3 Alyx and her comments!

 

[Black Op]

What happened to the good ole' days where you had to defend a character in some sort of control room while he or she was hacking into a computer terminal, like in Goldeneye 64? At any rate, VALVe seems to have made headway in FPS characterization outside of exposition scenes. However there's still the ultimate test of applying this philosophy to an entire cast throughout a full-length game (which again, is not limited to exposition sequences). :smoking: Alyx and EP1 are successful stepping stones to this goal.

 

[The One Freeman]

Viva la Valve!!!!!!!

 

[Adabiviak]

My spider sense smells psycho, but I agree with you. Valve (in the commentary) took elaborate steps to that end.

 

[BrimStone04]

alyx has quiclkly become one of the most famous female videogame characters, and with good reason, valve gave her a personality that just got a whole lot better with EP1.....applause to valve, once again they did a grand job.

 

[Neko!]

My spider sense smells psycho, but I agree with you. Valve (in the commentary) took elaborate steps to that end.

You may be right.

...I may be crazy.

....But I just may be the Lunatic your lookin' for!

 

[Risiko]

Agreed, Alyx is great. Valve should be commended for an excellent job at making her seem like a real, living person. Just like our favorite characters in other entertainment sources (movies, tv, books), videogames have, for the first time, been able to express characters that truly feel alive.

Which is why I hope she is dead, as the episode two trailer would lead us to believe. Why? Because Alyx being killed would be the ultimate tragedy. The ultimate pain - it would bring a personal and raw quality to us, as the gamer, to avenge her death and take down the combine and their ilk ruthlessly. It would make killing combine ever so more meaningful. It would bring a lot more emotion to a struggle (the combine invasion) that, were it to be true in reality, would cause great emotion.

It heightens everything up a notch, and though thinking of Alyx as truly dead seems almost blasphemous, it would give the Half Life saga more raw power -- now, like in real life, loved ones die unjustly. It would be something that hasn't ever happened in a videogame, and would remind us how much Alyx, a fictional digital being, means to us as the player, despite her being made up of pixels.

Granted, I don't think this will happen. Valve knows that gamers will be upset if she really is forever slain, which is why I doubt she'll be killed off in the end. We'll know fairly soon.

 

[damien.t.bayless]

but it looks to me like she dies at the starts of EPI:2, hopefully they revive her some how

 

[Asknoone]

Agreed. Alyx was very lifelike, and was a joy to have around. When we were leaving on that train I looked and thought "Well, we did it." Not "I did it."
My only gripe was that she wasn't present enough in the final battle. I wanted to experience the final hurdle with her at my side.

 

[bigburpco]

Originally, in HL2, I didn't really like Alyx. Her personality was basically like, "Hah. Over here!" Very annoying, I thought.

Episode One changed everything though. Alyx is such a joy to have around that uh, I hope she'll be the main character (besides Gordon) in the episodes.

My only gripe was that she spoke a little less than I hoped, but who am I to say that? I don't talk...

 

[Lemonking]

Agreed. Alyx was very lifelike, and was a joy to have around. When we were leaving on that train I looked and thought "Well, we did it." Not "I did it."
My only gripe was that she wasn't present enough in the final battle. I wanted to experience the final hurdle with her at my side.

most likely the Strider would have crushed her...so its good she wanst there.

 

[Hypnosos]

*text*

I couldn't agree more. I loved Alyx already in HL2, EP1 made her even better.

 

[kupocake]

Alyx in Episode One was great, but her near-invulnerability was a bit of a let-down. I was hoping that Valve would come up with an ingenious way of making her not a liability and at the same time realistically vulnerable, but it just seems they bypassed the competency issue by pumping up her HP to ridiculous levels. I managed to get her killed numerous times though (she got whacked by the Antlions once and was a victim of the falling debris in the first chapter because I was trying to be too clever )

Which is why I hope she is dead, as the episode two trailer would lead us to believe.

The emotional impact wouldn't work precisely because the Episode Trailer has already supposedly spoiled it for us. She's alive, just not kicking. An excuse for getting her out of the way whilst Valve concentrate on a different set of gameplay features.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

I completely agree. Alyx felt alive in Ep1, even more so than in HL2, and much, much more likeable. Just like most of you I felt for her and I 'really' felt that we were a team, just not player + generic NPC to draw fire.

Also, big up to the voice actor, she did a great job and voice over seems like the hardest kind of acting to do. Alyx sounded really believable, and if this was any other company than Valve, the facial animations would not live up to that voice.

 

[madog]

It was totally obvious valve was trying to get you attatched to her through all the comments like "Oh Gordon do be careful!" or "Gordon your my new hero!" Personally I don't find myself to attatched to her. She is kind of a noob but at least the combine have another target while I pick them off. It was kind of funny to hear when she said "So you did all right without me back there?" because she is the one who would be screwed without Gordons help. But overall it was cool having someone work with you.

 

[Shippi]

I totally agree. Alyx was awesome It's the first game character who, to me, has actually seemed alive. After the train crash I just wanted to give her a hug, poor girl

 

[99.vikram]

Alyx? A noob??

I left her alone with 7-8 combine soldiers once (as an experiment ), and she came out of it alive. :sniper:

Alyx is my new hero.

 

[Black Mesa corp]

Alyx was very lifelike in EP1 and if you listen to the commentary you'll realise how much care and effort Valve team took in making her perfect to be beside throughout EP1.

By the way, I definitely do not think Alyx dies in EP2. Valves just playing. Although I do think she passes out for a while, mainly to get her off your back for the episode, because Valve want to concentrate on something different this time round. So what's better of an excuse than knocking her out for a period.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

I totally agree. Alyx was awesome It's the first game character who, to me, has actually seemed alive. After the train crash I just wanted to give her a hug, poor girl

Oh yeah! To quote a guy from another forum: "After the train crasch I was looking for a button to go up and hug her! Alas, ther was none."

 

[99.vikram]

Come to think of it Alyx is kinda cute *slaps himself*

 

[russ_uk]

your sad :upstare: , it's only a bloody game (btw her teeth look bigger in this ep)

 

[sam_justice]

It was totally obvious valve was trying to get you attatched to her through all the comments like "Oh Gordon do be careful!" or "Gordon your my new hero!" Personally I don't find myself to attatched to her. She is kind of a noob but at least the combine have another target while I pick them off. It was kind of funny to hear when she said "So you did all right without me back there?" because she is the one who would be screwed without Gordons help. But overall it was cool having someone work with you.

Agreed, I didn't find myself attached to her at all, she was just a cool asset to have handy.
It's a game

 

[shuin4]

Alyx ruled. In HL2 it just felt like her character existed just so they could have a hot ass-kicking girl in their game, but this episode definately made it seem like she was a real human being you cared for.

In the Stalker train, I actually WANTED to help her. For the first time it wasn't because I might get a game over screen if I didn't help her fast enough, I actually wanted to save her. That definately means something and I hope Valve improves on it in future games.

 

[Asknoone]

your sad :upstare: , it's only a bloody game (btw her teeth look bigger in this ep)

Don't be stupid.

 

[B_MAN]

surely valve have foreseen this attachment and will therefore use it to their advantage by having her die and/or captured and perhaps resurrected/rescued
have to wait and see though!

 

[Black Op]

I doubt Miss Vance will be wasted so quickly in EP2. Chances are that you will have to save her somehow and that will be a big player reward at the end. If she should die, it should be in HL3.

 

[Asknoone]

Which may not even happen. (HL3)

 

[Geogaddi]

Wht I noticed first off is that the new facial technology really makes they eyes incredibly lifelike.

 

[PoeticRocker]

This is one of the many reasons why I consider HL2 and EP1 great games.

Like the hugging effect in the beginning, that gave me a emotion like ah thats cute. You really feel their connection - her and gordon. I dont think we ever seen this in any other game at a fps point of view.

Then when shes leaning on dog asking gordon if they should try dog's suggestion. This just showed so much character in her and made her seem more alive to us.

After the train incident, I did feel sorry for her. She looked exactly how you said, a lost frighten child. I too had the passion to save her whenever she was in trouble.

Also on a relative topic, a scene in HL2. Where in one of the apartments, a guy is trying to comfort a little girl while the rebellion is going on. The things she say is so heartbreaking that it touched me so deep on a human emotional level.

Alyx is not all about looks, like many games only go for. Shes got so much more character and personal beliefs that shes easily more respected. Maybe for once you didnt feel insulted and exploited. I hope we see more characters similar to her in the future.

To summarize, HL2 interacts with us very deeply I feel - more than any other game I know.

 

[kupocake]

Look at Alyx's left-arm as the Vortiguant lays her down. A sign of life, or just bad animation?

 

[Neko!]

Neither really. To be honest with you.

Most likely It's (Now correct me if I'm using the wrong wording, for I am not a Molder) just the invisible ‘box’ that surrounds her model. You remember back in the days like in Zelda whenever a baddy came near and touched you, you would get hurt? Something about how the program knows when it’s hitting you and not, lets say, a bush. Well that invisible Box is also used to tell the program if you’ve touched something. It’s very advanced in Half-Life.

We’ve gone a long ways since then, The little square we use to be in old games like Mario have turned into rather form fitting 3D models like all good FPS should be. Thought not all the times are they So form fitting. The box that surrounds all of the models in Half-Life 2 are just a tad bigger then what we can see of the entire thing itself. By like… an inch.

So to try and make a long explanation short, it may simply appear her hand is moving itself. But in actuality, it’s simply the Box reacting to the physics of the game. Her arms moving because it’s hit the ground, despite the fact her ‘Flesh’ never touched it.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about I do believe you can view the wire-frames and Boxes in Half-Life 2’s model viewer..


Sorry to shoot you down like that hun....

 

[MorganFreeman911]

The "Invisible Box" is called a Hitbox

 

[The Kaiser]

Well, I recently finished Episode 1 fa little while ago, and I came here just to voice my thoughts really, since the preview left me feeling a little worse for the wear.

I've got to agree with Neko! among others. During Half-Life 2 and Episode One, I did get attached to Alyx as a character. I can remember at the one point when she actually made "zombie moans" and such, and laughed a little. I think it was her dialogue, along with just her general reactions to things occuring, from the stalker train to the rescuing of the civilians, that really grabbed me. She's more life-like than any other "NPC" in a First-Person-Shooter that I've ever played, and you really can't help but like her to a point.

It's just that she seems so human, so afraid at certain points, and how she deals with it. I know numerous people have already said how they felt after the Stalker Train crashed and how she seemed so afraid and child-like, but I felt the same way. For a moment, I almost thought she was going to start crying perhaps. It really was a gut-puncher for emotions, but unlike most of them in games and such where the writers try to drag emotions out of you in scenes, it actually worked, and it didn't at all seemed forced.

And again, there's that playful element with her. Her little chit-chat during the times when you're walking around, making comments and such. It added a realism to the episode, more than just any "regular NPC" that just follows you around immediately, not doing any talking, just wanting to get the mission finished. She adds a human element to it, just like the two people in the tenements back in HL2 did, as one person above was kind enough to mention. And personally, I liked that. It made the game so much more enjoyable, and I know sometimes when I was going for cars to plug up bugholes, that when I finished that and was looking for Alyx, I wasn't just afraid she was dead because that meant Game Over, I was afraid she might be dead because of who it was who might be dead. I just got really attached to her, and for a game, it may seem ludicrious, but it's the truth.

I'm hoping and praying that she's alive in Episode Two, but just hurt, and I'd like to say thanks to the people who give some hope on this thread with reasons why she wouldn't be dead. I know that sounds stupid, it is just a computer game after all, but for once... it does seem a little bit more to me.