End game discussion *spoilers of course*

Anyone see the Gman, or at the very least, a face, in the final explosion? Maybe my mind is fooling me, but...just take a look

gmanexplosion.jpg
 
I don't know if this has been mentioned before but: If the Gman can stop time, then isn't it plausible that he brought Freeman into the future, hence why he hasn't aged at all and theres no recolation of what happended in between?
 
well, the way i saw the game was that everyone assumed you knew what was going on (they probably thought you were just in ANOTHER city, and understood the world around you already). to me, it seems that gordon teleported onto the train (the guy says "i didnt see you get on") and between hl2 and hl1 he was in a sleeping, stasis type state. the transiton from hl1 to hl2 may have been instantaneous for gordon.
 
first off wtf was up with the combine advisor, we get a glimpse of him really quickly, he must play a role in HL3.
Also a speculation on the combine, what if since we were playing with time so much here, what if the combine were humans in the future trying to reclaim earth in some way. I dunno it just dawned on me. anyways Ive been waiting for HL2 for a while and I thought we would have answers and by the time HL3 comes around I wont be here, Ill be serving the the United States military so it kinda stinks i wont get to play it. =/
 
Lemartes said:
first off wtf was up with the combine advisor, we get a glimpse of him really quickly, he must play a role in HL3.
Also a speculation on the combine, what if since we were playing with time so much here, what if the combine were humans in the future trying to reclaim earth in some way. I dunno it just dawned on me. anyways Ive been waiting for HL2 for a while and I thought we would have answers and by the time HL3 comes around I wont be here, Ill be serving the the United States military so it kinda stinks i wont get to play it. =/

you have a very good idea here, but i think that the combine are the humans from the future and they are trying to assimilate all the humans so that they can survive forever instead of being like the combine and wasting all their resources and becoming dependant on technology. (breen says in the beginning- "when we get rid of instinct we will be able to complete the transformation and live forever.") so g-man could be working for aliens from another planet that want to invade earth for its resources.

damn, when i started writing that it made perfect sense. everytime i think i start to understand the story i end up more confused than before.
 
Its quite obvious that people dont tell you about their surroundings cause G-Man wants to keep you in check. They're all traitors, you cant trust any of them! Also remember that G-Man was talking to that british dude near the coast and later he acts like an ally...
 
Muskrat said:
I wondered the same thing. And the OICW gun, and the traptown level from the videos. I wanted to blow that dumpster on the combine SOOOO bad! There seemed to be quite a lack of clever traps to kill the combine with physics.

I also get the feeling I missed something important about the story, besides the basic understanding the we were helping the humans be free from the combine.

Well, after I beat HL2, I realized that ALL of the E3 2003 videos were just tech demos and really nothing more. Trap town was re-worked into Ravenholm, the shooting down the Combine drop ship on the coast was totally reworked, battling the Striders is nothing like in the 2003 vids. The closest one was Nova Prospect, but in the 2003 vid antlions come from the celings and windows when Gordon throws the bugbait, but in HL2, you are already being followed by antlions and you can't shoot out the windows anymore.

Sorry if that had nothing to do with the actual thread.
 
Originally Posted by Lemartes
first off wtf was up with the combine advisor, we get a glimpse of him really quickly, he must play a role in HL3.
Also a speculation on the combine, what if since we were playing with time so much here, what if the combine were humans in the future trying to reclaim earth in some way. I dunno it just dawned on me. anyways Ive been waiting for HL2 for a while and I thought we would have answers and by the time HL3 comes around I wont be here, Ill be serving the the United States military so it kinda stinks i wont get to play it. =/

No, thats just not plausible me thinks. Theyre alien, and they go around stripping planets of resources...also i remember from reading the script eli had a line "Their only use for this technology is to enslave more races." so that proves it i think.

Also something tells me breen has already been to the combine universe...he mentions "Gas giants inhabited by vast, meteorogical essences...worlds streched thing across the continium where the dimensions...intersect.."

He is clearly describing it to eli
 
I loved the ending. This is the second game of three, the development of the story, so if any questions are going to be answered, you best wait for the third.
 
Didn't you watch people watch Lord of the Rings? Star Wars? The Matrix? The END doesn't come until ... well, the end. Right now we are only 2/3 through the game. Why would you want to know everything now? Then there is no reason for HL3 and no more games in the HL series. Don't you know why Alfred Hitchcock is the best thriller writer of all time? Because of the suspense. Valve has done an amazing job on this story - leaving us with question upon question. Don't you see we're doing exactly what they want us to? We have no clue about what happens next to Gordon Freeman, and we need to find out, because they've sucked us into this wonderful world of Half-Life.

I just finished it and I absolutely loved the ending, can't wait to play through it again this weekend! :)

P.S. Why do you all talk about the "years" between HL1 and 2? As if Eli doesn't give a big enough hint with his little speech "Gordon Freeman... you haven't aged a bit, how do you do it?" G-Man meets Gordon + Eli says Gordon hasn't aged + G-Man controls time = ??? ;)
 
grevez said:
P.S. Why do you all talk about the "years" between HL1 and 2? As if Eli doesn't give a big enough hint with his little speech "Gordon Freeman... you haven't aged a bit, how do you do it?" G-Man meets Gordon + Eli says Gordon hasn't aged + G-Man controls time = ??? ;)

Exactly. Seems like most of the people here seem to lack the skill of thinking in four dimensions. What a shame. I guess the illusion of slow teleporting is perfect for them though.

About slow teleporting, didn't anyone of you consider that if the matter stream is interrupted in any way, it will just shatter around causing "the thing with the cat" effect and even if the explosion in Nova Prospekt didn't interrupt the matter stream, then a simple power surge could've done it in the other end and considering how much power that teleport sucks I don't think it's very likely that Kleiner just left it on for a whole week. So, G&A were teleported just enough "late" to be in a wrong place at the right time, but by what...or who? ;)
 
i loved the game and the ending too. when time froze and i started to hear g-man.. wow. and the shifting colors were cool. the only complaint i have is that at times the game was just travelling without specific reasons no other than youve been told to do so. what a great game!
 
Tyrsenus said:
I think once their contract with Vivendi expires, they're going to Activision. I think they owe Vivendi one more game under the contract agreement.

VU Games really did shoot themselves in the foot with the way they handled Half Life 2. It'll be interesting to see where things go between them and Valve.
 
personaly i was not impressed with alot of this game.

Why dint they add any zen levels? combine homeworld would be nice.
maybe even have some new enemies besides recycled old ones and two types of headcrabs and zombies? one was enough imo.

vehicles were cool but nothing new "farcry"
models looked great but again nothing new "doom 3"
levels were open and detailed but guess what ...nothin new "unreal 2"
weapons were trite and boring with the ecception of the pheremones and grav gun. unfourtunatly the pheremones only were usefull on one level.

im not gonna even get into how the lack of a real storyline and the worst ending ever ruined it even worse.

my point is if your gonna take soooo long to release a game that doesnt offer anything new. at least give me a fekin storyline to enjoy.
 
indy, then you must not have been that impressed with the original Half-Life either. After all, it didn't do anything that hadn't been done before.

But what made that game great was that it managed to take on all aspects and do them well. Really, the only thing that's "new" about the Half-Life games is that their quality shines in almost everything.
 
new = gameplay important physics and facial animation.

The rest is refining what everyone else did, and doing it ALOT better.
HL1 started the true FPS genre, after that, everything that can be done has been done. So Valve has taken all the stuff thats been done and refined it. Taken it all to it's best possible.

I AM curious as to what you expected.

and lack of story? Sure, the story is forced in your face. same for HL1. You have to pay attention to get the story. If you didn't, well...no one to blame but yourself.
 
Might want to scratch gameplay important physics from the "new" list, as this was attempted by an ambitious little experiment called "Trespasser". :)

Just another example of Valve taking something that's been done before (albeit didn't turn out that popular) and improving on it in every way.
 
indy said:
personaly i was not impressed with alot of this game.

Why dint they add any zen levels? combine homeworld would be nice.
maybe even have some new enemies besides recycled old ones and two types of headcrabs and zombies? one was enough imo.

vehicles were cool but nothing new "farcry"
models looked great but again nothing new "doom 3"
levels were open and detailed but guess what ...nothin new "unreal 2"
weapons were trite and boring with the ecception of the pheremones and grav gun. unfourtunatly the pheremones only were usefull on one level.

im not gonna even get into how the lack of a real storyline and the worst ending ever ruined it even worse.

my point is if your gonna take soooo long to release a game that doesnt offer anything new. at least give me a fekin storyline to enjoy.

Yeah, I hate games that aren't completely original, that's why I stopped playing games after Pong. Everything else was just so derivative.

Please note: Sarcasm
 
i was dissapionted that the parts we saw in gamespy e3 demo wasn't actuually in the game (well not that i saw). Like where you shoot you go up some stairs, shoot the vending machine cans came out which nothing happens in hl2. Also when you go in that room and block your self in etc.

Also i never saw the part where in gamespy demo they go in streets, and you can grab the letters of the bulding at shoot it at striders.

But overall its the best game ever!!!
 
The 2003 E3 videos were essentially "proof of concept" demos rather than representations of the actual game itself.

The 2004 E3 videos are closer to the finalized game that we are playing now.
 
Lanthanide said:
A game should not require it's owners to buy an official strategy guide/other book to fully explain the story. If it was required, it should have been in a manual that comes free with the game.

Actually, you don't need the strategy guide to tell you that - the game's whole final level is the ending.

Seriously - the majority of this was explained during gameplay.

This game, as well as the first HL, show exactly why it's best to actually pay attention to what's going on instead of rushing through to have some hackneyed explanation served to you at the end.
 
I love the story telling, and I love the plot, but I was disappointed about the lack of new information. I obviously didn't expect them to explain everything, but after beating it, I barely know anything more about the HL2 storyline than I did on November 15th. The only major plot developments I learned from playing the game (that I didn't know before the game was released) are: G-man can control time, Eli gets captured at one point, what the Combine looks like under the suits. Other than that, nothing new was learned really.
 
Just my own take on things here, but after watching the ending with the G-Man, I am almost certain that Alyx will live. Actually, I will go out on a limb here and say the G-Man probaby makes her go into the grey-status-place-where-Gordon-Doesn't-Age and she will awake when Gordon does. My basis for this is the G-Man's gestures, if you notice, when he pauses time he goes over to Alyx, puts a hand on her arm, and gives just a barely noticable smile. Between the good friendship she has with Gordon(maybe more, your own interpretations are free here :p) and the important role she played, I'm thinking she will probably accompany Gordon to where-ever the G-Man is sending him :p

Thanks.
 
Speaking of the G-Man, he talks of selling Gordons services onto others, contracting him to whomever. For what? Cant be money, he can freeze time! What DOES he get out of all this??
 
g-man said he recieved some interesting offers for gordon's services. and we also know that dr. breen offered us a job, and also said "did you know your contract was open to the highest bidder?"
so obviously one of the offers came from dr breen (combines), which means g-man has something to do with the combines?
but it doesn't really make sense since what g-man is trying to do is getting us to destroy the portal.
 
Jus for those who hate the ending to HL2, it was supposed to leave questions open. HL1, 2 and 3 are basically 1 game, so you will learn barely any in the first two, then everything at once in the third, the game is an epic, not even a trilogy. It's supposed to show how he progresses in one long story, that's why it ended like that, so keep an open mind and enjoy the third one, because ALL will (most likely) be explained.
 
I dont beleive the amount ofpeople here expecting an 'ending' or conclusion. Assasain just said it, its the middle part.

But anyway the "SURPRISE" valve were planning i think was the multplayer. If you look at other posts here you will notice people have 'found' a multiplayer element.

So its like a christmas pressie that been opened early for those who cant wait and want to play with their friends ho have also opened their pressie early.
 
Ritz said:
Regarding a post made eariler (to lazy to quote)

The ending was the same as hl1, yes. But we where not angry with hl1, as it was the first game, there were not real questions that people wanted answers for, this time, however, we have waited 6 years to get some answers, and what do we get? A good game, good storyline, but no ending to back the greatness up. I dont want to wait anouther god-knows how long to play hl3 and POSSABLY get some answers.

People were angry... and there were real questions - we were told that HL2 would answer them
 
Added because of timeout:

What I find interesting is people have forgotten what has happened. the supposed code theft... remember?

No orange suited people were seen in my game roaming City 17, I never found that part in Ravenholm where you set off that trap with the swinging tractor trailer box. and of course the hydra.

I found myself easily getting through this game until the end too. I had a hard time finding out how to get over that little fence seeing that you can't jump. and then at the end with that portal. Alyx simply tells me to "see what you can do" ok that's helpful - I got no idea what to do. it made sense to fire a ton of those energy balls at breen but it never worked

Here is a neat hint
Ripping consoles off of walls and putting them in front of where combine troops will likely enter - before doing certain "quest flags" - (actions that further the script and set the next steps in motion) in the end will ensure you don't have to go into god and no clip mode just to figure out what to do next.

Ok back the the overall ending and what is going on behind the scenes...

Not only was valve forced to change things because of the theft - they also had to leave alot out of this release too ( it's been explained in various places as to why). HL3 of course will solve this.

Multiplayer... I think Valve knows that people are going to be finished with this title rather quickly and they'll want more.
 
Whatever the surprise is, I hope it's not multiplayer. BTW, wasn't there mention of some surprises to come in the game? And, wasn't there a quote that we would find out something about the GMan? I'm not complaining, mind you, just pondering. I wonder if the discovery about GMan's abilities to manipulate time was what was meant...
 
I don't think anyone has pointed this out yet...

It seems like prety much every member of the resistance knows who the g-man is. In the beginning of the game, i think it was the first level, you have to escape from city 17 (to ultimatly get to eli and alyx). Somewhere along the way you drop down in a container. Inside the container there is a member of the resistance and a vortigaunt. Now the interesting part is that when you are realy fast you can get a glimpse of the vortigaunt watching television. On the screen you see the g-man and the vortigaunt and the other guy were watching him. But about the second you drop in the vortigaunt sees you and turns of the tv. Almost like he doen't want you to see him watching the g-man. So i am guessing that the resistance payed g-man (or the people he works for) to hire gordon's services. I wonder in what they payed. Whats important for beings that can alter time :/
 
Exactly what i was saying DaFreak, and whom out of the Resistance hired him? And how? Barney? Kliener? Eli? The mystery continues...
 
I am not sure the combine use Xen to relay teleporting?

If I remember right doesn't Alyx say that the Combine haven't quite figured out teleportation yet? And thats what her dad's key role is and why Breen wanted him (or Judith).

My guess has always been that the combine were just other alien race that happened to attack after the black mesa incident... so the combine had to deal with the xen aliens on earth and resistance at the same time...
 
Touchi said:
Umm ... Did I miss something? That was the shittiest ending i've seen in a game.


Um... no. Finish Halo 2 and then come post that again :)

Halo 2 has to be the worst ending ever.

I liked HL-2's ending. Makes you want hl-3 even more.
 
Maybe Alyx was hire by the G-Man, at the same time you were, or hired by someone else? I mean, love interest should live to die another day!
 
I could get a post count of about 3000 if I went to every ancient thread and gave it my 0.02c. Why oh why did you have to dig this up? :hmph:
 
well now that it is up from its 3 and a half month long dirt nap...we might as well KILL RUSTY100 and close this damned thread....What was going through his mind? hmmm i dont like these new threads ill click this "last" button WEEEE thread resurection w00t!!
 
maybe the ending will be in the start of HL3. they wanted to have the citadel fall on the city destroying everything in front of your eyes but couldnt since our PCs are too weak yet.
 
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