Comeback for Shephard

[gusIII]

Now when gman has lost control over gordon, he can take his second man, Adrian Shephard! This is an excellent moment to take him back into the story whitout too much trouble.(!)

 

[Asknoone]

Oh god, no. Please. Shephard sucks ass. If he returns, I'll cry. Let him die. There is no point in bringing him back whatsoever. The Vorts rescued Gordon, they won't be rescuing a military idiot who tried to kill him.

And for the record, I don't hate Shephard - I hate the amount of silly attention he gets. Gawd.

/Rant

 

[gusIII]

I see...

 

[Asknoone]

Sawy. :E

 

[Zoetrap]

Am I the only one who LIKES Shephard? Great character IMO

 

[Asknoone]

God not another ONE!

 

[Zephos]

To be honest, I want to see more Barney adventures.

 

[$kelet0r]

Copy+Paste of last years Rant

:bounce:

 

[Asknoone]

No John, I went out of my way to write up another one. !

To be honest, I want to see more Barney adventures.

But we know he talks, so I don't think it would work.

 

[$kelet0r]

No John, I went out of my way to write up another one. !

I'd hate to see a Barney expansion - he's an individual and unique character, having the player control him now is not a good idea imo especially after the way we experience him in HL2
besides Blue Shift was weak and badly thought out (gearbox strikes again )

 

[Asknoone]

Ok, so I'm going to get pelted with tomato's but...Blue shift wasn't as retarded as Opposing Force. By no means great, it was till abit of fun and had far less plot contrivances, shitty new weapons/enemies. But it was, and could be very stale.

But it proves that typical ol' Gearbox should be barred from Half-life.

 

[RezDude]

Am I the only one who LIKES Shephard? Great character IMO

Can you explain why he is? Is it the gas mask?

 

[$kelet0r]

Ok, so I'm going to get pelted with tomato's but...Blue shift wasn't as retarded as Opposing Force. By no means great, it was till abit of fun and had far less plot contrivances, shitty new weapons/enemies. But it was, and could be very stale.

But it proves that typical ol' Gearbox should be barred from Half-life.

the reason people go on about shephard i guess is one thing and one thing only. It wasn't the bastardised hl1 storyline, it wasn't the fact that you were playing as Shephard, it wasn't the weird and tbh nonsensical enemies that were introduced. It all came down to the fact that the combat gameplay in Opposing Force was awesome and substantially better than halflife. People myself included are nostalgic for that and I suppose use Shephard as an excuse to demand that same gameplay again in hl2.

 

[Zoetrap]

Can you explain why he is? Is it the gas mask?

Well, to be honest, it's not Shephard himself that I find interesting, it's the situation he's in.

Really, he knows much less about the whole Black Mesa incident and what has occurred after than what Gordon does. It's all utter confusion + a silly man with a briefcase for him


The possibilities to create a sequel based on Shephard are limitless!

 

[Asknoone]

the reason people go on about shephard i guess is one thing and one thing only. It wasn't the bastardised hl1 storyline, it wasn't the fact that you were playing as Shephard, it wasn't the weird and tbh nonsensical enemies that were introduced. It all came down to the fact that the combat gameplay in Opposing Force was awesome and substantially better than halflife. People myself included are nostalgic for that and I suppose use Shephard as an excuse to demand that same gameplay again in hl2.

I thought the gameplay in Opposing force was pretty generic. It was fun, but it wasn't great. It's abit of a joke in todays world of gaming, imo. Half-life is far less brainless, and it isn't just about shooting. Every turn you make is another set piece. You don't just need a gun.

I didn't think Opposing force had anything special about it's gameplay. It may have been a great deal more...tighter, than Half-life, but Gearbox wouldn't be able to keep that standard up for a whole game. What they succeed in at one aspect, they completely fail at everything else, and that's why Half-life comes out on top.
I've seen it's gameplay before in countless other shooters. Opoosing force is just a shooting romp. I think people demand more than that these days, and quite frankly, I don't think another Opposing force would bring back that 'nostaligia'.

 

[RioBravoXL]

I liked Opposing Force except for the end boss.

As for it being cannon, didn't the player learn from OpFor that Black Mesa had been nuked?

 

[Asknoone]

Yep, Opposing force is fun. But that's as far as it goes with me.
Yeah, we learnt that but...it's not exactly a brainteaser.

 

[Zoetrap]

a "sequel" to Opposing Force is just not possible IMO, but something with Shephard somehow involved is entirely possible

 

[Vagrant]

As I've said before I preferred Opposing Force to the original Half-Life, in pretty much every way.

Shephards puzzles and weapons were kinda cooler than Gordon's which makes him a better character for me as far as speechless FPS heroes go. So there, Samon.

 

[Solaris]

I for one would quite like to see shepard re-appear. The real significance to opposing force is what it tells us about the gman. The gameplay was cool, but the story revolved less around shepard and more around the G-man, useful story that is anyway.

From it we learnt that there's probably more people like Gordon and Shepard hired by the Gman, the Gman isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, he was very involved in black mesa, more so than we originally thought.

I think it would be cool to see shepard again, maybe just for a minute or too when you're playing as Gordon, wouldn't it be cool if they met each other;

Gordon:........
Shepard:.......
Barney: Well you too are obviously getting along great Shepard, tell him about that time you almost shot Gordon in Black mesa.

 

[esplin]

I have to say I agree with Samon. Opposing Force was fun, but I don't get why everyone says its "way better than half-life", I remember it playing exactly the same.

What I hated most about Opposing Force was the plot. I don't know about you but after that commander mentioned the air raid I expect, oh I don't know, an ACTUAL AIR RAID. I went through most of Opposing Force thinking "Wow, this is the most prestine air strike zone I've ever seen."

And for those of you who think Opposing Force is canon, play through the game again and honestly think about the story. If you do you'll realize that most of the plot has to be thrown away just for HL and HL 2 to make sense.

 

[Asknoone]

Esplin you crazy man you. :thumbs:

 

[DA YODA]

It would be cool to see your nemesis rescue you from a legion of combine. Thats if he still alive.

 

[Asknoone]

I'd hardly call Shephard your 'nemesis'. It's not like Shephard was a bad guy and besides, they never even met.

 

[DA YODA]

nemesis as in he was involve in the destruction of Black Mesa.

 

[DevgruSeal]

What?? From what I remember the "ninjas" started it, Shephard stopped it, then G-Man started it again. It's obvious the g-man wanted Black Mesa wiped out.

 

[DA YODA]

Because he was in the military. The military job in game was to destroy all evidence even the people who worked there. Just the fact the military brought a nuclear weapon to the facility. Was there fault.

 

[alphamonkey]

Granted, while OpFor had great combat, its plot sucked rather bad. And it's also true that Sheppard doesn't have as much depth to his character, he's just another grunt who's been abandoned.


But as a PLOT DEVICE for an upcoming episode, he's ideal.
G-Man has well and truly lost his favourite operative, for the moment at least. At the very least, he'll want to whip out a replacement to continue whatever plans he had for Gordon. More likely though, he'll want to use Sheppard as a lackey, someone who can recapture Freeman for him.

As has been mentioned, sheppard doesn't have a clue what's going on......even less so than Freeman does. Given that he's a survivor, and used to following orders (and faced with no alternative), it's entirely possible he could be used as a tool to hunt down G-Mans rogue agent. Maybe an assassin against the Vort/Resistance leaders, whom Gman is probably rather pissed at.




At least until he is freed of the G-Man by the resistance, or killed. The time inbetween would be a good opportunity to expand on him as a character.

Imagine another one of those moments where you spy the Gman in the distance, except this time you see him warping in a Marine. The guy is clearly confused. He removes his mask, says a few words. Is sent on his way by his new boss.

Some time later (perhaps after a few close encounters), you and other NPCs are caught in a tense stand-off with him, during which an uneasy dialogue is exchanged at gunpoint. Your allies try to explain that you're in fact on the same side. That G-Man can't be trusted. Could be a very cinematic moment.

Hell, it could even be a good opportunity to kill a major NPC. You know how mexican standoffs can be.......

edit:
I thought the nukes were stored on site at BM?
In OpFor, the first encounter with the blackops shows them in the middle of removing a warhead from its missile.

 

[DeusExMachina]

What is this "plot sucked" debate? Hate to break to you, but Half-Life didn't have some grandeur, epic plot either. Gordon and Adrian practically have the same amount of depth: little to none.

Now regarding future Shephard appearances, it would make a lot of sense. G-Man needs Shepherd to get Freeman again. It's not to say Adrian will start shooting Rebels and actually capture Gordon. Whose to say even the Vortigaunts won't want more help and possibly retrieve Adrian? Surely, they know of him and what he did in Black Mesa.

 

[Asknoone]

I hope he sends Shephard after Freeman, in fact. And then we can shoot him.

Deus, there were many a plot contrivances in Opposing Force. Teleport gun being one of them

 

[DeusExMachina]

How so?

 

[Sufferin-rebel]

Yes i would like to know aswell

 

[Asknoone]

So we've got these huge teleporters in Lambda that take a good while to charge up - in order to get you to Xen. Yeah...and then suddenly...you pick up this gun that takes you there at the click of a freakin button.
Yep, it's not a precise location and it's random but hell - it gets you there. It's just silly.

In HL1 your given this sense of the Lambda complex spiralling deep underground. In Opposing force you access it through a vent shaft from a rail tunnel. This is stupid. Gearbox are stupid.

 

[DeusExMachina]

The gun was likely in prototype phase. And it was fun to use.

 

[Black Op]

I find the plot of Op4 to be mostly filler. The only important thing that needed to be explained was that there's no going back to Black Mesa. Everything else was there just to provide new content for an expansion pack. Furthermore, Gearbox totally blew the premise that you were a member of the military death squads sent after Freeman. None of this is apparent as you never once are required to waste away even one scientist. You're just a survivor that's being hunted down, just like Freeman was. The Human Grunts deserved a better treatment more in line with what's shown in HL1.

As for Shephard himself, I really don't give a damn for him. Persistant debates by people that wanted the man to have a cameo in the Lambda Core chapter of the Black Mesa mod make me despise Shephard. Shephard has no significance in the grand HL mythology that is Freeman's journey. If Freeman ever has a proper encounter with the former Marine, Shephard's characterization could be nothing more than a gasmask-wearing killing machine (much like Jango/Boba Fett from Star Wars). In a fight, Shephard will undoubtedly get killed in a pathetic manner (again like the Fetts).

If the 4th Episode deals with Shephard, it will just be filler yet again. You will fail to get Freeman like last time. And just like Op4, Shephard will have to deal with a placeholder situation which will never be noticed by Anticitizen One. I hope we don't get this situation again.

 

[DeusExMachina]

And you base Shephard's death to Freeman on what? "OH NOES, HEV SUIT OMG. Surely, a trained marine who survived Black Mesa couldn't figure out how to kill a scientist who has less health than a Voltigore!" And again with the characterization. There is NONE. When you play Half-Life 2, you the PLAYER, are Gordon Freeman. When you play Opposing Force, you, THE PLAYER, are Shephard. I agree, the plot in Op4 was filler. Just like Half-Life was.

 

[Asknoone]

The gun was likely in prototype phase. And it was fun to use.

I loved the blowing people up. But not teleporting. Silleh.

Actually, you are given little hints at Freeman throughout. There *is* a character in there.

 

[DeusExMachina]

As was Adrian. I'm talking more about how people try to say "Oh Gordon is far more developed as a character than Adrian." Neither character had any exstensive development. They don't speak. Your actions are their actions. If you decide to shoot a scientist, its because you did it. Being Gordon or Adrian while shooting him would have nothing to do with it.

 

[esplin]

Yes i would like to know aswell

Okay, so some people are having trouble seeing the gaping plotholes in Opposing Force, I will attempt to explain.

1. After a long day of fighting Adrian finds himself infront of a giant squid spewing teleporters. Adrian seems to have killed the beast, but it is also exploding. Just when it looks like the end Adrian is pulled out........and then told he knows too much and is locked away forever.
This would make sense except for the fact that EVERYONE during the time of Half Life 2 knows about the Black Mesa Incident. Dr. Kliener and Dr. Vance knew a lot more about the incident then Shephard did, yet they are allowed to tell the world while Adrian gets the boot.

2. The nuke. The government attempts to cover-up the incident by Nuking Black Mesa. The first problem with this is that Black Mesa should already be destroyed (see my previous post.) However, even ignoring this, their seems to be little or no reason to nuke the base. It would be a good cover up, except for the fact that the portal storms are still going on, and spreading. You think the government would try to stop the portal storms well before it tried to cover them up. Do they think that it will seal the portals? I'd love to see their scientific reasoning for this.

3. This one is debateable but I'll bring it up anyway. A large portion of the game takes place after Nihilanth is killed, yet we see Vortigaunts still wearing their collars.

4. I already brought this up, but the air rade should have destroyed Black Mesa. I don't care if Black Mesa is three times the size of Texas (another thread, don't ask) it would only be a matter of hours before Black Mesa was nothing but rubble.

So with all these plot contrivances what do we have left. The worst attempted cover up in history, Bomber pilots who couldn't find toilet paper in the bathroom, a hero locked away forever because no one likes him, and an alien race that is never explained, even in its own game.

The reason these flaws in the story exist, Half Life 2 was made without any consideration for Opposing Force. So their you have it. Valve may still say Gearbox's work is canon, but Valve itself has made their games obsolete.

 

[Black Op]

And you base Shephard's death to Freeman on what? "OH NOES, HEV SUIT OMG. Surely, a trained marine who survived Black Mesa couldn't figure out how to kill a scientist who has less health than a Voltigore!" And again with the characterization. There is NONE. When you play Half-Life 2, you the PLAYER, are Gordon Freeman. When you play Opposing Force, you, THE PLAYER, are Shephard. I agree, the plot in Op4 was filler. Just like Half-Life was.

If you're playing Freeman and you fight Shephard, it would utterly destroy immersion if Shephard had uber-health and was able to conjure up a unbelievable amount of weapons. It would feel like you were fighting in a deathmatch game, and anything that would give that impression would never survive playtesting. Shephard would have to be excessively nerfed to make him believable, and that basically means Freeman would waste him.

As for the characterization issue, at least Freeman has a developed backstory if you own the HL2 guide. And HL1 actually is a footnote to the HL2 storyline, while Op4 seems to not be a footnote at all.