Breen´s Speeches?!

[Victor2]

Does anyone here knows where I can find Dr. Breen´s dialogs, specially those ones that he speaks to the overwatch and to the citizens?

 

[jondy]

Google GCFscape, download the program and use it to have a poke around in the HL2 Sounds GCF. They're all there

 

[CREMATOR666]

Why would you want to hear that guy droning on about humanity's flaws? :O

 

[kupocake]

specially those ones that he speaks to the overwatch *snip*

"I have been asked to say a few words to the transhuman arm of Sector Seventeen Overwatch, concerning recent successes in containing members of the resistance Science Team. Let me say up front that I regret having to temper my heartfelt congratulations with a strong measure of disappointment. But I wouldn't be doing my duty as your Administrator if I didn't pass along the message I have received from our Benefactors.

The capture of Eli Vance is an event of major significance, make no mistake. And while it's true that conceivably we could have taken him at almost any time in the last several years, the manner of his capture may prove to have unexpected benefits.

It cannot have gone unnoticed by all resistance members that Doctor Vance's capture coincided with the act of giving shelter to Gordon Freeman. This might cause other resistance members to think twice before harboring Doctor Freeman. It might cause them to question his allegiance; even prompt some to turn him out, or turn him over to our cause. However, we cannot count on such developments. Doctor Freeman's reputation is such that other desperate renegades are likely to grant him a great deal of license in the spirit of spreading general chaos and terror.

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. I have been severely questioned about these shortcomings, and now must put the question to you: How could one man have slipped through your force's fingers time and time again? How is it possible? This is not some agent provocateur or highly trained assassin we are discussing. Gordon Freeman is a theoretical physicist who had hardly earned the distinction of his Ph.D. at the time of the Black Mesa Incident. I have good reason to believe that in the intervening years, he was in a state that precluded further development of covert skills. The man you have consistently failed to slow, let alone capture, is by all standards simply that--an ordinary man. How can you have failed to apprehend him?

Well…I will leave the upbraiding for another time, to the extent it proves necessary. Now is the moment to redeem yourselves. If the transhuman forces are to prove themselves an indispensable augmentation to the Combine Overwatch, they will have to earn the privilege. I'm sure I don't have to remind you that the alternative, if you can call it that, is total extinction - in union with all the other unworthy branches of the species. Let's not allow it to come to that. I have done my best to convince our Benefactors that you are the finest the species has to offer. So far they have accepted my argument, but without concrete evidence to back it up, my words sound increasingly hollow even to me. The burden of proof is on you. As is the consequence of failure. I'll just leave it at that. "


/me has that one just laying around, because I like it so much

 

[CREMATOR666]

You remembered that?!!! :O Or you hacked it from the subtitles text file?

 

[kupocake]

You remembered that?!!! :O Or you hacked it from the subtitles text file?

I have a text file full of the unused subtitles in the game (I didn't personally extract them - someone had the file on the net and I just picked from it). I kept that Breencast in that file because I like it

 

[Jenga]

coooool... :thumbs:

 

[vorinoch]

If you don't feel like digging around, just play through the speeches with subtitles on. I needed to to hear what the hell he was saying in the Citadel, both to Eli Vance and the, ah, Benefactor.

 

[zodiak]

Some half life 2 speeches can be found here: http://blackmesa.megazones.net/analysis.htm

 

[th3Phallex]

"Will they ever deactivate the suppression field and let us breed again?"

I loved that part.

That really made City17 seem like a concentration camp.

 

[Asknoone]

It has come to my attention that some have lately called me a collaborator, as if such a term were shameful. I ask you, what greater endeavor exists than that of collaboration?

In our current unparalleled enterprise, refusal to collaborate is simply a refusal to grow--an insistence on suicide, if you will. Did the lungfish refuse to breathe air? It did not.

It crept forth boldly while its brethren remained in the blackest ocean abyss, with lidless eyes forever staring at the dark, ignorant and doomed despite their eternal vigilance.

Would we model ourselves on the trilobite?

Are all the accomplishments of humanity fated to be nothing more than a layer of broken plastic shards thinly strewn across a fossil bed, sandwiched between the Burgess shale and an eon's worth of mud?

In order to be true to our nature, and our destiny, we must aspire to greater things. We have outgrown our cradle. It is futile to cry for mother's milk, when our true sustenance awaits us among the stars.

And only the universal union that small minds call 'The Combine' can carry us there.

Therefore I say, yes, I am a collaborator. We must all collaborate, willingly, eagerly, if we expect to reap the benefits of unification.


And reap we shall.

 

[th3Phallex]

Some half life 2 speeches can be found here: http://blackmesa.megazones.net/analysis.htm

That's an interesting read.

Some good theories behind the story...

 

[Flyingdebris]

breen wasn't such a bad guy if you listen closely to his speeches. He was a sellout and an ass but in the end all he really wanted was to save mankind by having it assimilate with the combine instead of being anihilated by them.

 

[Lanthanide]

Well actually, Flying, if you read the one where he talks to the transhuman forces, he mentions that every other part of the human race is going to be exterminated because they are unworthy. Yet he's never told the rest of humanity that, how come?

So yes, he is a bad guy.

 

[Asknoone]

Oh he was very much the bad guy alright, his speeches were little more than a curtain for his true agenda, he may spout that he 'cares' for mankind, and is doing this and that and so on, when, it's little more than a pack of lies.

Lanthanide is quite correct, he somewhat fails to mention that the citizens, are simply unworthy, and use's them as a threat, which basically is : If you can't prove yourself to be good enough to join the sector 17 overwatch, then you might as well get in line with the rest of the civies.

How good of you Breen, to rightfully promote your own species in such a boastful manner. Not.

Moderators, i think this thread best be moved to singleplayer discussion, as it provides spoilers

 

[BlackDahlia]

Breen's speeches do give some tidbits of backstory, but he just won't shut up. No wonder the people want to revolt.

th3Phallex: I love the avatar, man.

 

[th3Phallex]

th3Phallex: I love the avatar, man.

Thanks!

It's rather fitting for this thread, I think.


:edit:
this thread just got moved to Single Player Spoilers...

probably should've put spoiler tags in, but oh well.

 

[Asknoone]

Breen's speeches do give some tidbits of backstory, but he just won't shut up. No wonder the people want to revolt.

th3Phallex: I love the avatar, man.

 

[Jenga]

breen wasn't such a bad guy if you listen closely to his speeches. He was a sellout and an ass but in the end all he really wanted was to save mankind by having it assimilate with the combine instead of being anihilated by them.

His speech is pure public relations, or what government officials call "playing to the masses". He's trying to calm them down and make them think "hey, he's on our side, let's forget all the problems that give lie to his statements and be happy living in horrid conditions".

But some people in City 17 are too smart for that. Or too jaded.

 

[dart321]

Breen is the only bad guy that occasionally made me stop and think: "You know, he's kinda right." I snapped out of it but still, just goes to show you the genious behind Breen.

 

[ShadowX]

I agree with that, like when he said, "You've destroyed so much, but tell me this, what have you created?" then I thought about his work, then I realised it was bad, and I yanked off the monitor he said it on and threw it off the edge.

 

[Tantalus]

You remembered that?!!! :O Or you hacked it from the subtitles text file?

Yeah. He remember that.

(slap)

 

[Asknoone]

Breen's role is quite intruiging, as a villain. He clearly elevates above the usual game villain cliche, with his rants of evolution and so on. But ultimatley, when it all boils down to it, hes just a selfish prat out for his own gain, this line seals it:

"With both of you in my keeping, and dictate the terms of any bargain, i care to make with the combine."

 

[bboymatty]

although i hated breen i wish we had of known about him in HL1. it would have stopped all the nosense about gman being the admin

 

[zodiak]

although i hated breen i wish we had of known about him in HL1. it would have stopped all the nosense about gman being the admin

Yes reall no point in not saying who the administrator was. If valve made the breen character up at that time any way.

 

[Asknoone]

Valve decided Breen should be the admin, half way through developement of half life 2.

Twa's gabes idea.

 

[Apocalypse89]

Yeah, notice how Breen only started being shown in trailers/videos/etc after the September 30 delay. And since I stopped following HL2 after that event(my interest was only sparked up long after the release, when I was bored and DLed the demo one day), his presence in the game came to me as a surprise. Although I had seen people refer to HL2 as being "1984-ish", and had no idea WTF they were talking about until I got three minutes into the demo. "Welcome to City 17"

That said, although Breen's motives are unoriginal compared to other villains, his presentation is. I feel like Valve really did their homework on real life "villains" such as Stalin, Hitler, or the more modern Saddam Hussein and Hugo Chavez before designing Breen. If I was a living in a post-apocalyptic world and my memory was screwed up by chemicals int he water, I'd probably believe his speeches.

 

[Asknoone]

Well, what i meant was, he was originally Consul of earth, this was in the very first draft fo scripts, around 2002, and then Gabe said "Who was the admin of black mesa anyway?"

And they decided that instead of Consul, Breen should be admin.

 

[dart321]

Dr. Breen is the former Administrator of the Black Mesa Research Facility, and is now the interim Administrator of Earth. He is dry, driven by logic, and literal-minded. Not a man who ever sought the spotlight, he finds himself forced to justify the invasion- and his decision to orchestrate Earth's surrender- by lecturing the public on the theory behind his appeasement. In person he is as cold and unfeeling as he appears on the gigantic monitors.

This is from Valve. Breen really isnt a bad, bad guy. He's just ignorant of the genocide around him, partly because he sold out and needs to justify his decision to surrender Earth and party because he actually believes that the Combine will still benefit humanity in the long run.

From our point of view (the player, Gordon) he is very bad. This however, is just because we oppose everything Breen stands for. Therefore, we are in constant conflict with him and therefore we see him as the "Bad Guy" all the time.

 

[Laivasse]

There is also the matter of what Breen is not telling everyone...

Someone mentioned it before - from what Breen says in his speech to the troops stationed at Nova Prospekt, it seems that the Combine intend to exterminate all "normal" humans who have not or will not be converted to Combine soldiers.

The "immortality" which he promises mankind is obviously just a euphemism for spending eternity as the Combine's newest shock troops. From what Breen says at Nova Prospekt, it doesn't seem like all or even most (or even any, should Freeman continue shaming the newly Combined...) of humanity will enjoy this "immortality", they'll simply be culled.