Half-Life 1 Combine & Story Relation

[Haze]

I wanted to ask a question about the Combine and the story-line.
Was there any reference at all, hidden or not, to the Combine in Half-Life 1?
I cannot find any relation and it makes me think that Valve made the Combine without planning to first. As in, they never had the idea for the Combine until Half-Life 1 was already released.
Otherwise surely they would have put some kind of reference in Half-Life 1.

 

[esplin]

No.

And yes, Valve had not thought up the Combine until after Half-Life 1. More likely they thought them up while making Half-Life 2.

 

[Ludah]

Seeds of their creation may have been sewn near the end of completing HL1, but I highly doubt the Combine were in their game plan all along. Laidlaw said in an interview once that their early sequel ideas were spun-off into Opposing Force and Blue Shift. Either way, the ending for the first game pretty much designed to allow working room in the future as opposed to writing themselves into a corner.

 

[Haze]

Ahh thats a shame, would have been good if there had been some kind of link, like an advisor hidden in Xen.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

Ahh thats a shame, would have been good if there had been some kind of link, like an advisor hidden in Xen.

There wouldn't be an Advisor in Xen. No Combine on Xen. Just so you know.:smoking:

 

[delusional]

i think laidlaw knew after you defeated nihilanth you would reveal an even worse enemy, he probably didnt have all the details on what that was, but the combine were partly pre-meditated
nihilanth also said "we are their slaves"

 

[99.vikram]

nihilanth also said "we are their slaves"

Yep. Nihilanth and his boys were on the run from the Combine, and chose Xen as a safe haven.

 

[Planeforger]

I find it hard to believe that the Combine weren't involved on Xen.

For an extremely organic environment, they had an awful lot of machinery/bodily augmentation/slave collars, etc.

And look, Nihilanth really does resemble something that the Combine would cook up.

The grunts, the 'gaunts and the gargs all appear to be, at least in part, Synths. And the factory at the end of Half Life is quite similar to the Citadel (at least in the sense that they both churn out rows and rows of Synths.

 

[Asknoone]

The inhabitants of Xen were all former slaves of the Combine, and fled to Xen in an attempt to escape. You could say Xen is the last safe haven.

 

[Ludah]

The grunts, the 'gaunts and the gargs all appear to be, at least in part, Synths. And the factory at the end of Half Life is quite similar to the Citadel (at least in the sense that they both churn out rows and rows of Synths.

They bear little, if any, resemblance to other products of Combine assimilation. A couple of slave collars don't cut it.

Almost everything about Xen was organic in design. There's nothing suggesting Combine interference with the Gargantua's appearance, nor the Grunts (that armor is a natural outgrowth of theirs). Nihilanth may have been subject to the Combine's alterations, but the presence of machinery doesn't necessitate a Combine presence.

As for the factory at the end, I think the differences should be obvious. One was cold, angular, metallic, and monolithic in its design. The one on Xen, by contrast, is of a very different pallette, employs none of the technology present in the Citadel, and is structured very differently.

Combine weren't on Xen.

 

[MTG_Maro]

The inhabitants of Xen were all former slaves of the Combine, and fled to Xen in an attempt to escape. You could say Xen is the last safe haven.

Exactly.

 

[Haze]

The inhabitants of Xen were all former slaves of the Combine, and fled to Xen in an attempt to escape. You could say Xen is the last safe haven.

So Gordans a murdering maniac who killed the poor slave creatures that managed to escape from the combine just to be innocentely slaughtered by a crappy scientist? O_O XD

 

[kupocake]

So Gordans a murdering maniac who killed the poor slave creatures that managed to escape from the combine just to be innocentely slaughtered by a crappy scientist? O_O XD

Well yes, but they cast the first stone and were under the influence of the Nihlianth who wasn't exactly a saintly being either. The Vortiguants adknowledge this and hold nothing against Freeman, indeed they empathise with him, perhaps because of some hidden G-Man connection: "we serve the same... mystery". "There is no distance between us..."

("you are standing on my foot")

 

[Ludah]

While they are grateful to Freeman, they still bear in mind the vortigaunts he killed.

I can't look it up at the moment, but if you "use" them enough, one says "We remember those whose vorts you cut. Forgiveness is not ours to bestow".

 

[ríomhaire]

The Vortigaunts, Controllers, Grunts and Nihily where refugees driven from their home by the Combine. Some speculate that the Combine are responsible for the resonance cascade, either through Breen or the g-man.

 

[Oppressor]

Some speculate that the Combine are responsible for the resonance cascade, either through Breen or the g-man.

Makes me think about those old lines from the scientist before the RC back in Half-Life
"The administrator is very concerned that we get a conclusive analysis of todays sample. I gatter he went to some links to get it"

 

[Tagaziel]

Yes, I believe that's correct, along with Blue Shift's convo between a scientist and guard in the lobby of Sector C security station, concerning his report not reaching the admin. It's really pretty neatly tied up in Half-Life 2.

-- Mikael Grizzly

 

[ríomhaire]

No it isn't. It's not neatly tied up at all. SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS! D:

 

[Tagaziel]

I was referring to the Administrator bit.

-- Mikael Grizzly

 

[ríomhaire]

That the RC was set up by Breen? Not even close to tied up.

 

[Asknoone]

I'm pretty sure Breen had no contact with the Combine. Considering Laidlaw stated they were attracted to Earth via the energies given off during the cascade, it would appear Breen had no hand in it. Other than urging the experiment to go ahead.

 

[Tagaziel]

Actually, given the fate of Black Mesa Research Facility, time interval between Half-Life and Half-Life 2, it's actually pretty realistic that we don't know WHO was behind the resonance cascade, as all evidence, be it digital, written or taped was vaporized in a mushroom cloud.

The only way of actually solving this mystery is ask Breen (very unlikely, as he's either a slug or dead) or the Combine Advisors (who for obvious reasons won't be happy to give out this information).

Besides, as far as I remember, it was said, that the sample used in the experiment was the 'purest one yet' and that the Administrator 'went to great lengths to get it'. Since the Administrator is mentioned as directly altering a regular experiment suggests that Wallace Breen was behind the resonance cascade.

That, and he directly profited from it, being given the position of Administrator of the Earth.

-- Mikael Grizzly

 

[Oppressor]

Excuse me, I know this is old (of course it is), but whats the speculations about the sample we extract in Half-Life? Where is it from? Funny I haven't come over that info yet... Would be nice if anyone bothered to inform me about the thoughts here at halflife2.net , just in short words

 

[Asknoone]

Xen.

 

[99.vikram]

whats the speculations about the sample we extract in Half-Life? Where is it from?

It was stolen from the Nihilanth's chamber, and was one of the reasons Nihilanth hated humans. Valve chose not to make this relation clear in the final game.

 

[ríomhaire]

Why does everyone instantly assume it's from Nihilanth's chamber? There is no evidence to support this other than Nihilanth had similar crystals. The were hardly the only ones on bloody Xen.

 

[Asknoone]

I can definately see them stealing it from Nihilanths chamber. Yep.

 

[ríomhaire]

How the hell would they get out? (First person to say teleporter gun gets a wrench up te ass)

 

[Max35]

vikram says: teleporter gun!

 

[Asknoone]

How the hell would they get out? (First person to say teleporter gun gets a wrench up te ass)

I was being sarcastic.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

Rofl, yeah...
If you look on Xen, those crystals are everywhere. There are three in Decay, and you don't even go to Xen.
A lot can be seen in those tunnels in Blue Shift, thats the best place.

 

[ríomhaire]

I was being sarcastic.

No shit, I was just continuing the rantiness.