for you who want Adrian or 7-hour war. (Spoilers)

[ríomhaire]

First Adrian:
it would be a stupid storyline contradiction to bring him back. The g-man stated he was only there because the g-man liked him, the employers wanted him to be left in the explotion. How can you justify the employers leaving him out? If you say the g-man goes freelancing it would be almost imposible and a waste of time to implement that in the game, how could you actually include that without the g-man telling you outright? It just wouldn't fit. Adrian is going to be left in stasis until the g-man's employers get desperate, and if they can aford to unload Gordon it would make something that would crush Adrian on a whim to to make them that desperate. Adrian in the 7-hour war would make no sense remember what the g-man said "all the efort in the world would have gone to waste. The only way to justify it is if the employers felt like unloading him. (Note, I am not anti-Adrian, I just see no place for him)

7-hour war:
This would possibly be the most unfun thing ever. Wave after wave of synth pounding you. It lasted 7 f**king hours, the humans were anihilated, there have been about 3 wars that lasted shorter amounts of time than that. Plus there would be no deversity, only synths and some xen aliens that got caught in the portal storms. Plus, you know how it ends, imagine pounding synth after synth for 7 hours then suddenly Breen shows up on the radio, "we surrender", rather f**king antclimatic.

Adrian would require to much story twisting and the 7-hour war would be so little fun.

 

[Jandor]

Portal Storms in the run up to the seven hour war would be cool, trips to Xen, fighting Combine as they come through Xen then to Earth, finished up by the actual 7-Hour war.

As for the anti-climactic ending, the only Half Life game, that ended "happy" was Blue Shift.

 

[Asknoone]

Adrian - No.

7-hour war - I'm sure Valve could think of something

 

[Polaris]

I want Adrian in 7-hour war, G-man can him send to some secret mission during 7 hour war. And why no deversity in figh with enemies? In 7 hour war could fight Cremators, Combine Elite Synth soldiers and many other unknown enemies!
And about "anti-climactic ending", I like bad endings...

Sorry, but Valve (or Gearbox) can explain this story better than you!

 

[Asknoone]

I doubt an anticlimatic ending would be in order, i guess it would be just you holding back hundreds of enemies when suddenly Breen surrender us.

 

[Sufferin-rebel]

yea, and some of the rebels will go "Like the f*ck we are!" and contiune battling them until they are dead..

 

[ReDeemer_]

Maybe G-Man send Adrian to do some secret mission (as Polaris said), and if wouldnt been Adrian the world would be much worse place or something like that.

 

[r2000]

Maybe G-Man send Adrian to do some secret mission (as Polaris said), and if wouldnt been Adrian the world would be much worse place or something like that.

Maybe. I was thinking Shepard is sent through to assasinate one of the Combine, or to help shut down their teleportation systems. Sadly, I doubt he gets a part. Hell, he wasn't supposed to escape alive.
As for the 7 hour war, the problem was the Combine materialized in the cities. By the time the military fully mobilized, synths had already smashed them.

 

[ríomhaire]

yea, and some of the rebels will go "Like the f*ck we are!" and contiune battling them until they are dead..

How could they be rebels? The Combine are not in charge yet so there would be noone to rebel againts

Half Life 2:7-Hours War, Rebel without a cause

 

[el Chi]

7-hour war:
This would possibly be the most unfun thing ever. Wave after wave of synth pounding you. It lasted 7 f**king hours, the humans were anihilated, there have been about 3 wars that lasted shorter amounts of time than that. Plus there would be no deversity, only synths and some xen aliens that got caught in the portal storms. Plus, you know how it ends, imagine pounding synth after synth for 7 hours then suddenly Breen shows up on the radio, "we surrender", rather f**king antclimatic.

I agree that Adrian has no sensible place in C17, but the 7-hour war would be awesome.
Violence in FPSs is usually the extravagant against-all-odds fun we always have, but the 7-hour war could have such an air of doom (no pun intended) and futility to it, it'd be incredible. The point is you DO know how it ends - it's how you get there that's the exciting part.
Plus, it could be done in real time over about 8 hours, say. That way we see the war in its bloody entirity plus the portal storms and influx of aliens before, and the proper arrival of the Combine after the surrender at the end.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

Portal Storms in the run up to the seven hour war would be cool, trips to Xen, fighting Combine as they come through Xen then to Earth, finished up by the actual 7-Hour war.

As for the anti-climactic ending, the only Half Life game, that ended "happy" was Blue Shift.

Come THROUGH Xen? I thought they were using tunelling teleportation to get straight here without having to stop by any worlds.

And for the first time ever, I actually agree with Riomhaire.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[Cons Himself]

i think their tunneling required them to have a dark energy reactor here already - Alyx says at some point it powers their tunneling entaglement device...

since you destroyed it at end of HL2 who knows...? perhaps there are others on earth, in other cities.

the portal storms enabled them to establish a beachhead, then they built the citadels so they could control the population and tunnel through more easily and reliably.

 

[Unimita]

How could they be rebels? The Combine are not in charge yet so there would be noone to rebel againts

Half Life 2:7-Hours War, Rebel without a cause

They'd be civilians taking up arms or attacking back against the invasion forces. I know I would if we were in the middle of an invasion, so the 7-hour war could be an interesting and dramatic, especially with an opening if it starts with you in a peaceful town when suddenly it all starts and everyone reacting differently. If Shepard was in military uniform the civilians would also look to him for help as well.

 

[ríomhaire]

Come THROUGH Xen? I thought they were using tunelling teleportation to get straight here without having to stop by any worlds.

And for the first time ever, I actually agree with Riomhaire.

-Angry Lawyer

You agreed with me on something to do with headcrabs , the fabric of the universe is falling apart! Everyone, get you dementional sowing kits!

 

[Angry Lawyer]

Yeah, things are going a little strange these days... If you suddenly agree with me on the Combine-Xen lack of connection thing, then I know the world's gonna end.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[Cons Himself]

why do u think there is no combine-xen connection?

 

[Fliko]

It is clear this is after Half-Life 2, so that takes away the 7-hour war
You are traveling with Alyx.... well, Adrian doesn't know who the hell Alyx is
defeated both objects, Adrian doesn't seem right for expansions, wouldn't feel right,
he was never part of the official story, just something else
Barney is reasonible though
EDIT: Xen is a border-world, to travel to other worlds. Nihilithan could have been combine, thus allowing the combine to take travel secretly into earth, and build teleporters from 2 different universes

Spoiler

(As Breen said "Infact... I will be in another universe)

 

[Asknoone]

I'm not sure what your talking about Fliko....but this thread isnt about Aftermath

And yeah, the combine are from another universe but this doesn't involve Nihalinth.

And you play as Gordon in aftermath

 

[UndeadScottsman]

First Adrian:
it would be a stupid storyline contradiction to bring him back. The g-man stated he was only there because the g-man liked him, the employers wanted him to be left in the explotion. How can you justify the employers leaving him out? If you say the g-man goes freelancing it would be almost imposible and a waste of time to implement that in the game, how could you actually include that without the g-man telling you outright? It just wouldn't fit. Adrian is going to be left in stasis until the g-man's employers get desperate, and if they can aford to unload Gordon it would make something that would crush Adrian on a whim to to make them that desperate. Adrian in the 7-hour war would make no sense remember what the g-man said "all the efort in the world would have gone to waste. The only way to justify it is if the employers felt like unloading him. (Note, I am not anti-Adrian, I just see no place for him)

Really, you don't have much of an imagination if you can't think if a single reason why the Gman would pop Adrian out of stasis. All it would take is for something unexpected to happen when Gordon is indisposed and the need for someone like Shephard would be readily apparent.

 

[Adabiviak]

A 7-hour war expansion is certainly feasable. Adrian would be a fave for many of us, but anyone (Barney, Alyx, any rebel). The first part of the game would include the 7-hour war and the remaining part of the game would be a HL2 expansion (as OF and BS were other points of view for the incident in Black Mesa). I personally think it would be fairly cool to have an expansion where you are a Vortigaunt suddenly freed when the Nihilanth dies (maybe a shot of Gordon somewhere). The portal storms start and suddenly you are on earth - wtf? The storms run their course, you hook up with the rebels, and have glimpses of Gordon on his journey to the Citadel in various places. Is timing an issue? Just have the 'gaunt "help" with a teleportation experiment (after the 7-hour war) and when he comes out, it's much later (with Gordon running around). Easy way around the time discrepancies. What drives me nuts (in a good way) about the HL world is that it's such fertile ground for some fantastic stories that I want Valve to somehow do them all, from everyone's point of view.

 

[Steel.Inferno]

Another possible setting for an expansion is the week Gordon and Alyx are stuck in the "very slow teleporter." (As well as before and after) Barney was real busy that week, getting the resistance really going.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

why do u think there is no combine-xen connection?

Don't start me off...

-Angry Lawyer

 

[Cons Himself]

no i just interested to hear why

 

[ríomhaire]

Just search the rumours and speculation forum, there was a massive debate between me and Pai-Mei/Angry

 

[Asknoone]

no i just interested to hear why

Rumour and speculation forum. Enjoy reading 20 odd pages of theories, half cooked idea's and bickering.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

And me coming out on top.

Basically, the jist of it is that traditionalists, like Riomhaire, the guy who created the "official HL saga webpage", and most new people believe that the Combine control Xen, and always have (the main idea being that the Nihilanth has a metal life support thing that looks combine-ish). On the other hand, rationalists, like me, Pai-Mei, Samon, Jandor, and a few other super-cool people who are on the list for being the first chosen for getting to play my mod, believe that there's not enough evidence to support any link between the Combine and Xen before the 7 hour war (based upon the fact that Mossman tells you about the differences between the human way of teleportation (going to and from Xen as a stepping stool), and the Combine way (tunneling straight to the target universe).

-Angry Lawyer

 

[ríomhaire]

I don't think it because of the ass-jet, it's because of what the vorts say, plus the fact they were building up an army, I doubt the controlers neaded grunts to keep a headcrab problem down.

 

[Element88]

I don't know why and how, but Shepard must be back.
As for the seven hours war:
You know the end and thats the big idea!
You know it's all over but you feel you must do as much damage to the Combine as possible.
A suicide trip.
EVERYONE WHO LIKES THE IDEA OF THE SEVEN HOUR WAR EXPANSION, REPORT!
No, Shepard won't be in it, but it sill can be fun!
We can do the same thing Gearbox did!
And maybe if we ask Valve they would confirm it!

 

[UndeadScottsman]

And me coming out on top.

Basically, the jist of it is that traditionalists, like Riomhaire, the guy who created the "official HL saga webpage", and most new people believe that the Combine control Xen, and always have (the main idea being that the Nihilanth has a metal life support thing that looks combine-ish). On the other hand, rationalists, like me, Pai-Mei, Samon, Jandor, and a few other super-cool people who are on the list for being the first chosen for getting to play my mod, believe that there's not enough evidence to support any link between the Combine and Xen before the 7 hour war (based upon the fact that Mossman tells you about the differences between the human way of teleportation (going to and from Xen as a stepping stool), and the Combine way (tunneling straight to the target universe).

-Angry Lawyer

What, the whole "Slaves.. We are slaves... We are slaves.. We are.." quote from the Nihilanth and the "That sharp spur of hope has not dulled to this day. For once the lesser master lay defeated, we knew the greater must also fall in time." connection didn't tip you off?

Oh, and it might be prudent to can that elitest additude. You're arguing over plot points in a videogame, after all. No reason to get snobby about it.

 

[ríomhaire]

"Slaves.. We are slaves... We are slaves.. We are.."

Slaves to the controlers

"That sharp spur of hope has not dulled to this day. For once the lesser master lay defeated, we knew the greater must also fall in time."

The g-man

Oh, and it might be prudent to can that elitest additude. You're arguing over plot points in a videogame, after all. No reason to get snobby about it.

Seconded, realy winning this arguement would put down your social standing

 

[UndeadScottsman]

Slaves to the controlers


The g-man

So, dispite the fact the Nihilanth has had surgical work done on him, not to mention machinery added to him (Which no other Xen critter had.. Even pre-release material mentioned the Xen Grunts as growing their armour), those previous quotes can't possibly be related to each other? Right...

And it's not wise to assume ANYTHING about the Gman. Especially when there's already a much more present "enslaving" force in the storyline and even more so when said enslaving race would have had to have noticed Xen long before they started exploiting worlds beyond it.

 

[Kitfox]

7 hour war expantion - You are a civilian fighting for the good side you lose you get captured and converted to a combine the next part of the game play out as a combine soldier. Greatest Idea ever.

 

[Edcrab]

I really could see the 7 hour war working, personally. And if Gordon can be dropped back into the action in Aftermath- despite the apparent closure of HL2's ending- I see no reason why Adrian can't "randomly" return from his (supposed) isolation following Op4.

7 Hour War- starts off as an ordinary day, in an ordinary city- a city with a name, for one thing. Takes the pre-disaster portions of the original games (and its SP mods) to a whole new meaning- everyday life going ahead, people driving to work, shopping, hailing taxis...

And then when you're in a cinema, or a supermarket, or even a street, the portals start. People flee in terror, perhaps doors seal themselves as a confused security system kicks in, you're left to fend for yourself amongst the chaos, and just as you emerge from the theatre/mall/office block all hell breaks lose as actual combat units begin to appear...

Well, I think it'd be great.

 

[Cons Himself]

Slaves to the controlers


The g-man


Seconded, realy winning this arguement would put down your social standing

Nihilanth says we are slaves - he was saying he was a slave of the controllers?

So the gman helped you defeat one of his underlings - the lesser master? Why?

I have to say, i dont think the teleportation thing prooves anything. The Xen teleportation was a local teleportation - a slingshot to get to other places on earth right? But the combine teleportation is more like wormholes - getting from one planet directly to another yeah?

How does that proove the combine didnt control xen?

 

[Laivasse]

How does that proove the combine didnt control xen?

Because the Combine can't locally teleport on Earth, but would love to be able to do so. If they even knew about the existence of Xen, let alone controlled it, they would be able to make use of local teleportation.

Back on topic - 7 hour war wouldn't work, and Adrian Shepard's flabby corpse is lying at the bottom of a chasm of G-man's choosing.

 

[UndeadScottsman]

Because the Combine can't locally teleport on Earth, but would love to be able to do so. If they even knew about the existence of Xen, let alone controlled it, they would be able to make use of local teleportation.

Uh, no, that's not what was said at all. The Black Mesa scientists utlized Xen as a rebound point for local teleportation (Dr. Mossman even says this when you first meet her). In effect, it's not "local" transportation at all, it just allows for teleportation from one Earth based destination to the next, by way of Xen.

Back on topic - 7 hour war wouldn't work, and Adrian Shepard's flabby corpse is lying at the bottom of a chasm of G-man's choosing.

7 hour war could EASILY work, but would I want to see it? Nah, we know what happened, lets see something new. And if the Gman wanted to kill Adrian, he would have done so at the end of Op4.

 

[Edcrab]

Meh, this is the definitive thread on the Combine/Xen subject as far as I'm concerned (insofar as my involvement goes, as it was the only one I repeatedly contributed to).

Regardless of what the "evidence" might indicate, you have to remember that Valve are ultimately responsible for their own decisions and what might seem incredibly obvious might be subtley (or not-so-subtley) altered for the sake of back story/dramatic effect. You never know what might turn out to be the truth...

I think the 7 Hour War would be best served as a real-time (high quality) user-made modification, rather than a dedicated Valve project. And I resent the implication that Adrian is dead

 

[pomegranate]

Because the Combine can't locally teleport on Earth, but would love to be able to do so. If they even knew about the existence of Xen, let alone controlled it, they would be able to make use of local teleportation.

Um... You killed Nihilanth to stop a certain invasion, didn't you?
So it makes sense to me that the Combine had Nihilanth enslaved to harness his powers of transportation, and once Gordon killed him, they lost that ability. Fits together like a goddamn jigsaw puzzle for me...

 

[Asknoone]

Um... You killed Nihilanth to stop a certain invasion, didn't you?
So it makes sense to me that the Combine had Nihilanth enslaved to harness his powers of transportation, and once Gordon killed him, they lost that ability. Fits together like a goddamn jigsaw puzzle for me...

No because if they did have control of Nihalinth they wouldn't have simply left it up to him - they would have gotten the technology and learnt to manipulate it themselves, not just leave some pompass asshole in a border world sitting about.

You actually killed the Nihilanth to seal the rift between Earth and the border world when actually it just ticked off the portal storms.

 

[UndeadScottsman]

No because if they did have control of Nihalinth they wouldn't have simply left it up to him - they would have gotten the technology and learnt to manipulate it themselves, not just leave some pompass asshole in a border world sitting about.

Powers of the mind != technology, just a FYI.