Change of story in Half-Life 2 (Raising the Bar)

F

Firefox21

Guest
I've just read through Raising the Bar and noticed that the original Half Life 2 story is quite different than what we have now.

The original playout is set to have artic scene and a flight of C-130 and others.

Could this change of story due to the leak of source code previously?
 
I read somewhere that valve did not change the story in any way when the leak happened and kept the story the same.
 
Things just evolved and they scrapped things and added new things. But as strict as story goes, I dont think the story changed too much, just the locations and where it all took place.

Or what do I know, I dont even have the flippin book :hmph:
 
They were definitely going for a more cyber-punk, post apocalyptic story with an Alyx who was the usual "Sexy bad-ass bitch" with a weird, equally bad-ass dog-type character at first. And then they realized every game is like that and decided to make HL2 good.
 
Well, digital_junkie just explained it quite well. In the original story there were things such as:

Arctic
Weather dome
Wasteland/desert
Scrapyard filled with the earths defeated tanks etc
Portal drain that was sucking up the ocean
Air exchange
Kraken base...

I could go on forever, but, ultimatley, i think the story is much better now anyway,
 
It seem a lot is cut out from the game. If they went with the original story you will have to do a lot of travelling around the world
 
I won't mind traveling around the world while enjoying the marvelous created by Valve :)

Though I like the current story as well
 
Damn I want to have this book... is it already released nationwide? Anyway, the current plot is cool... but it would've been much cooler if they added those levels w/c will make the game much much longer to finish.
 
It seems I'm one of the few who actually wish they kept in all the old plot elements. I read the book recently and a LOT of stuff in there was just plain kickass.
 
Personally; I'm really happy that the whole "Destroyed Earth" theme they were going for in the beginning was replaced with an "Abandoned Earth" feel. It just makes things eerier because it's all familiar but all still wrong.
 
Originally posted by Digital_Junkie
Personally; I'm really happy that the whole "Destroyed Earth" theme they were going for in the beginning was replaced with an "Abandoned Earth" feel. It just makes things eerier because it's all familiar but all still wrong.
Click to expand...

I couldnt agree more.

Originally posted by DeusExMachinia
It seems I'm one of the few who actually wish they kept in all the old plot elements. I read the book recently and a LOT of stuff in there was just plain kickass.
Click to expand...

They dont take them out to be mean, they take them out because they lack in gameplay and dont fit well, be happy they were removed. Things always look good on paper...
 
Firefox21 said:
Could this change of story due to the leak of source code previously?
Click to expand...
I think the caption says that the map of the areas was a very early one... I'm pretty sure that route was discarded about 2 years before the leak. The leak didn't really cause any delays at Valve. Gabe has said that numerous times.
 
Digital_Junkie said:
Personally; I'm really happy that the whole "Destroyed Earth" theme they were going for in the beginning was replaced with an "Abandoned Earth" feel. It just makes things eerier because it's all familiar but all still wrong.
Click to expand...
well, i think its more like an "conquered world" theme. :cool:
 
Sure it's been defeated, but not conquered per say. Conquered would imply that the combine would immediately be "moving in". They don't seem to be doing any more than turning it into a mine, bridge, or (at best) an outpost. All that they have built is purely destructive in nature, nothing has been installed with the purpose of building something new. And the only things that were added directly by the combine were the locks, gates, propaganda screens, and citadels.

The citadels could been seen as them "moving in", but I doubt it. Because we all remember that, inside, it's just a massive factory/laboratory or war machine. It looks like they are just there to consume and nothing more.

Even buildings of earth put to direct use weren't repaired of even kept-up; look at Nova Prospekt. Everything the combine used seemed only temporary, and anything that didn't have a human nearby wasn't touched for good or evil. It seems that perhaps humanity was, to the combine, earths greatest resource.
 
Its more abandoned than anything, i mean practically 3 quarters of the planet is just pure wasteland inhabited by alien wildlife with not a human in sight, the only habited places are the few combine cities....
 
my friend had the leaked version... it had nothing to do with any of the stuff in the book... therefore, most of the stuff was eithor hidden somewhere, it didn't get leaked, or they decided to scrap it before the leak.
 
Digital_Junkie said:
It looks like they are just there to consume and nothing more.
Click to expand...

Agreed. When you're "under" the citadel, it's clear it's digging deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep into Tera. Also, it seems to be growing... expanding throughout the game.

Like a parasite consuming its host.
 
dogboy73 said:
I got my copy of Raising the Bar in the post yesterday (Ordered from Amazon.co.uk). It's a good book for HL fans. Plenty of artworks but I would have prefered more text to be honest. As I said though, Well worth it for HL fans.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...399/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-9723981-4843626
Click to expand...
I thought that too. I think the style of the book was "Coffee Table" meaning pretty and uncluttered but lacking on substance. It's the sort of book you can pick up and go "Ooh that's pretty". I would have preferred deeper explanation on why decisions were made and much more info on the Source engine.
 
, most of the stuff was eithor hidden somewhere, it didn't get leaked, or they decided to scrap it before the leak.
Click to expand...

Its in there, hidden.
 
Samon said:
Its more abandoned than anything, i mean practically 3 quarters of the planet is just pure wasteland inhabited by alien wildlife with not a human in sight, the only habited places are the few combine cities....
Click to expand...
Well, abandoned by humans... conquered by alien life... hmm... its both "conquered and abandoned" theme. :cool:
 
Im so glad with the way the game turned out compared to some of the early development ideas shown in raising the bar... the game is so much more unique now, i wont go into details so people can enjoy reading the book for themselves :)
 
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