Half Life, Blue Shift, and Opposing Force

[iLLiCiT]

i think the three of these were well corralated together... acctually extremely well. it's funny though how BS begins when HL begins, and OF begins halfway or so into HL. i'm not sure how many people have played all three but i was very impressed i must say. also i have a question; at the very end of Opposing Force, you talk to the Gman and he basically says, "i've decided not to kill you but my bosses think i should, so i'm gonna put you somewhere where you can do no harm and no harm can come to you, but i'm GOING to call back on you again" wtf is that all about... is there gonna be another opposing force?!?!?

EDIT: OF starts when Gordon is on the "wall climbing area... i think"

 

[Sulkdodds]

OF starts just after the accident in the original game had happened, but like in Blue Shift you get knocked out for ages and miss lots of time.

The way the ending to Opposing Force was done really made me think that Adrian Shepherd would return at some point. If he wasn't going to, I don't know why they'd have done the ending they did, apart from to avoid making the player feel pointless and killing him after all he's gone through.

 

[PanikSpreder]

OP was by far the best expansion for Half-Life. I really liked the commentary from the fellow marines all along... especially the smoking guy

I hope they will make an expansion with Adrian Shephard in mind for Half-Life 2 or maybe for Half-Life 3. Thats would be rock solid cool

 

[kupocake]

OF starts just after the accident in the original game had happened, but like in Blue Shift you get knocked out for ages and miss lots of time.

In Blue Shift you can't be knocked out for all that long - the game itself is about the same length as HL is up until getting knocked out, and BS finishes where you see Gordon being knocked out.

In BS there are Soldiers who're moaning about "Shepherd's team not making it". That seemed weird to me at first because I'd always assumed that Opposing Force opened half-way through HL1, but because you're knocked out, there are no problems.

Only iffy thing is the fact that the Ospreys are downed by Alien fighters - In HL1, I always got the impression that the full-scale Alien invasion was mounted in the second half - the Cascade pulled all the wildlife and slaves through, but the war machine springs to life for a full-scale invasion complete with Grunts and Alien Fighters.

The way the ending to Opposing Force was done really made me think that Adrian Shepherd would return at some point. If he wasn't going to, I don't know why they'd have done the ending they did, apart from to avoid making the player feel pointless and killing him after all he's gone through.

Oh god... this isn't going to turn into one of those threads, is it?

I'll just say that what Gearbox had in mind when making the ending to their expansions is of little consequence. Valve never adopted the character, Gearbox were never assured the rights to make a sequel. It's just an ending that's left open, ambiguous, not hinting for Shepherd's return.

 

[ríomhaire]

BS starts first, then HL a few seconds latter, Decay a few minutes later and OP4 a few minutes later again.
Barney, Gordon and Adrian are all knocked out. The girls from Decay don't get knocked out but there are spaces in between the levels you play. Gordon wakes up first, then Barney. Adrian wakes up at least an hour later.

 

[jerkasaur]

HL doesn't start after BS, sometimes, i don't know why, when you get knocked out in BS, you see Gordon looking at you and then again the screen fades, personally, i think Op4 begins where gordon takes down the helecopter in the original HL, back in the wall climbing area, like ILLICIT said.

 

[ríomhaire]

HL doesn't start after BS

In BS you see Gordon getting on the the tram, in HL you start on the tram.

 

[CyberPitz]

Am I the only one reading through these, but in my head, keeps on reading BullShit?

 

[Buveed]

OP was by far the best expansion for Half-Life. I really liked the commentary from the fellow marines all along... especially the smoking guy

yeah, it was much better than most expansion packs that get released for games. It was fun, and was creative and what ever. The only thing i didn't like was the enemies getting a little goofy near the end of the game. Didn't feel like the half-life world, but that's just me i guess.

 

[Reginald]

The most picky detail:
The Barney in HL2 can't actually be the Barney from BS. You never offer Gordon a beer.

 

[D.L]

yeah, it was much better than most expansion packs that get released for games. It was fun, and was creative and what ever. The only thing i didn't like was the enemies getting a little goofy near the end of the game. Didn't feel like the half-life world, but that's just me i guess.

I didn't like the final boss, i thought it was too wierd.

 

[jerkasaur]

originally posted by ríomhaire:
In BS you see Gordon getting on the the tram, in HL you start on the tram.

ok, but if you play the game more carefully, you'll see that in the surveillance room in BS, when you press the use key in front of the monitors, (there are three of them) you'll see gordon passing the hallway, and gina bringing up the prototype thing to test, just because you start the tram b4 gordon, it doesn't mean you get there faster, i mean like, you do spend more time in order to get to that elevator by foot, right? but honestly i don't know why you see gordon there in BS, i mean like in the original HL you never get there... .
oh and i think the BS storyline was BS(!) too short, too stupid, and it doesn't match, in op4 barney(s) help you, but in BS you shoot army soldiers. have you ever thought of that?

 

[ríomhaire]

The most picky detail:
The Barney in HL2 can't actually be the Barney from BS. You never offer Gordon a beer.

Gordon did have a life before the resonance cacade

ok, but if you play the game more carefully, you'll see that in the surveillance room in BS, when you press the use key in front of the monitors, (there are three of them) you'll see gordon passing the hallway, and gina bringing up the prototype thing to test, just because you start the tram b4 gordon, it doesn't mean you get there faster, i mean like, you do spend more time in order to get to that elevator by foot, right? but honestly i don't know why you see gordon there in BS, i mean like in the original HL you never get there... .

What are you talking about? It is quite obvious that BS a few seconds before HL

oh and i think the BS storyline was BS(!) too short, too stupid, and it doesn't match, in op4 barney(s) help you, but in BS you shoot army soldiers. have you ever thought of that?

Because the marines attacked barneys because they were ordered to. The barneys you meet in OP4 have not had a run-in with the millitary(if they did they'd be dead) and don't know that the millitary is hostle.

 

[jerkasaur]

ok, just get the point:

-in half-life:
you start the tram, you get to sector c, you go to personel's room, you take your suit, you go to the test chamber and BOOM.

-in BS:
you start the tram, you get to some sector, you go to personel's room, you take your suit, you go to sector c (cause you see a map after you get there that shows sector c) and by foot (notice three or four loadings b4 you get there), you go to the elevator, and BOOM.

now which one do you think takes more time?

-about the barney thing with the military, yes, i think you're right. this could be it.

 

[ríomhaire]

ok, just get the point:

-in half-life:
you start the tram, you get to sector c, you go to personel's room, you take your suit, you go to the test chamber and BOOM.

-in BS:
you start the tram, you get to some sector, you go to personel's room, you take your suit, you go to sector c (cause you see a map after you get there that shows sector c) and by foot (notice three or four loadings b4 you get there), you go to the elevator, and BOOM.

now which one do you think takes more time?

BS, I still don't see your point.

 

[OvA]

ok, just get the point:

-in half-life:
you start the tram, you get to sector c, you go to personel's room, you take your suit, you go to the test chamber and BOOM.

-in BS:
you start the tram, you get to some sector, you go to personel's room, you take your suit, you go to sector c (cause you see a map after you get there that shows sector c) and by foot (notice three or four loadings b4 you get there), you go to the elevator, and BOOM.

now which one do you think takes more time?

-about the barney thing with the military, yes, i think you're right. this could be it.

BS starts aboveground, you take a tram ride down to the door-being-stuck sequence, which is right after you see gordon get on the tram.
Blue Shift starts first. You can't argue that.

 

[jerkasaur]

how do you explain barney seeing gordon then? and, gordon climbs up from the ladder, sets the thing, put's the prototype into the thing, and everything happens while barney hasn't even reached the bottom floor yet!
i'm not trying to be a di*k though, i just think like that... . later.

EDIT: whoe wait, BIG misunderstanding, BS does start first, but gordon starts moving on first, like b4 barney, ofcourse, at the begining, look at the time, barney is ten minuts b4 gordon.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Oh. I get it. You think that it's Gordon and Gina on the security don't you?

No, what you see, pushing the sample, is Gina Cross and Collette Green.

Silly.

 

[jerkasaur]

but the one saying hi to the scientist is gordon, i'm pretty sure, yes the other one is Gina

 

[Sulkdodds]

Oh that one? Yeah that's Gordon. That's very soon after he gets off the train, easily enough time for him to do it before you get to the security room.

 

[jerkasaur]

exactly

 

[UndeadScottsman]

Oh god... this isn't going to turn into one of those threads, is it?

I'll just say that what Gearbox had in mind when making the ending to their expansions is of little consequence. Valve never adopted the character, Gearbox were never assured the rights to make a sequel. It's just an ending that's left open, ambiguous, not hinting for Shepherd's return.

You haven't read the info from Valve thread lately, have you? Gabe Newell confirmned that Valve owns the character of Shephard, and that they know he has a large fanbase (Of whom, Gabe is a part of)

 

[Absinthe]

When did Gabe say that? Just curious.

 

[LGs0pHT]

Well, I did neither like Opposing Force nor did I like Blue Shift.
Why?
Of course, both games were done pretty good, and if you compare Opposing Force to Blue Shift, you can see the increase of quality at gearbox.

Nevertheless, both destroyed in some way my Black Mesa impression. For example, those weird things that appeared on every wall to allow the player to use his "Hand Barnacle" (in OF), were not seen in Half-Life and were not seen in Blue Shift.

Futhermore, in comparision to Dr. Rosenberg Dr. Kleiner (Walter) has a small unimportant role in Blue Shift, and I don't see why Valve didn't continue with Dr. Rosenberg instead of Dr. Kleiner in Half-Life 2.

Then they showed great Black Mesa Xen Themeparks in Opposing Force

There are so much differences between the stuff that Valve made, and Gearboxes own ideas. By the way: Barney escaped from the Gman, how can he be so young in Half-Life 2? I mean: There are 30 years between Half-Life and Half-Life 2.

I just try to forget all that Gearbox stuff. E.g. for me, Barney is a new character introduced in Half-Life 2, and I don't try to create a relation to Barney of Blue Shift.

 

[Edcrab]

Personally I loved OpFor and didn't think BS was too bad despite its length, but I fully understand why some people disliked the content/story additions (for example, I'll concede that Race X did look a bit cartoony for the likes of Half-Life).

I'd love to Shephard back, of course

As for Dr. Kleiner, I was under the impression he didn't appear in BS- Rosenburg refers to the "Walter" scientist model by name (i.e., he calls him Walter) and Kleiner's first name is apparently Isaac. But yes, it would've still made sense for Rosenburg to return, even if he wasn't in the original game.

 

[Adrik_Senturu]

When did Gabe say that? Just curious.

I emailed him and posted it in that..question thread thats all stickified and such

I took a pic of the email http://photobucket.com/albums/a350/Darkjakk/?action=view&current=adrian.jpg

 

[iLLiCiT]

one thing that i'm dissapointed about is the enemies that you fight in OF as opposed to HL and BS, OF had so many more enemies. and also had way more guns. Speaking of guns here's a question.....

DURING THE USE OF THE VORTEX GENERATOR GUN I WOULD SOMETIMES "twice total" BE TELLEPORTED INTO A HEALING AREA..........WTF is that supposed to happen or am i lucky?!?!?!?!?!? thats one thing thats been bugging me ALOT! the first time there, there was a professor and he healed me along with the magic water, and then the second time it was jut the magic water... i don't have a clue!!! that was sooo random. HELP ME UNDERSTAND!!!!

 

[UndeadScottsman]

Well, I did neither like Opposing Force nor did I like Blue Shift.
Why?
Of course, both games were done pretty good, and if you compare Opposing Force to Blue Shift, you can see the increase of quality at gearbox.

Nevertheless, both destroyed in some way my Black Mesa impression. For example, those weird things that appeared on every wall to allow the player to use his "Hand Barnacle" (in OF), were not seen in Half-Life and were not seen in Blue Shift.

They were also not seen in Op4 until after Freeman goes to Xen. There's a reason they had a lot of Op4 take place after that point in time.

Futhermore, in comparision to Dr. Rosenberg Dr. Kleiner (Walter) has a small unimportant role in Blue Shift, and I don't see why Valve didn't continue with Dr. Rosenberg instead of Dr. Kleiner in Half-Life 2.

Rosenburg is a coward for one; also Kleiner is Freeman's mentor.

Then they showed great Black Mesa Xen Themeparks in Opposing Force

Which meshes with the fact that Black Mesa had been studying stuff on Xen for a while. Notice how those things were still under construction though?

There are so much differences between the stuff that Valve made, and Gearboxes own ideas. By the way: Barney escaped from the Gman, how can he be so young in Half-Life 2? I mean: There are 30 years between Half-Life and Half-Life 2.

Wrong, there is no official word on how long between Half-Life and Half-Life 2; thought the estimate is between 10 and 15 years. It's never listed how old Calhoun is in Blue Shift but he only attended college for two years, so he was probably still in his early twenties.

 

[UndeadScottsman]

one thing that i'm dissapointed about is the enemies that you fight in OF as opposed to HL and BS, OF had so many more enemies. and also had way more guns. Speaking of guns here's a question.....

DURING THE USE OF THE VORTEX GENERATOR GUN I WOULD SOMETIMES "twice total" BE TELLEPORTED INTO A HEALING AREA..........WTF is that supposed to happen or am i lucky?!?!?!?!?!? thats one thing thats been bugging me ALOT! the first time there, there was a professor and he healed me along with the magic water, and then the second time it was jut the magic water... i don't have a clue!!! that was sooo random. HELP ME UNDERSTAND!!!!

The secondary fire teleports you to Xen; sometimes it'll teleport you into a spot where you fall to your death though. Apparently the scientists didn't fix all the bugs with it.

 

[iLLiCiT]

wtf.. i didn't even know that!!! hahaha damn that would have saved me a couple o times!

 

[Absinthe]

Anybody remember at which point you need to be to teleport to the Black Mesa training facility? I got a real kick out of that.

 

[Kitire]

*brain explodes*.. WOW does it REALLY matter how many seconds there are between blue shift and half-life?!? You guys have a lot of time on your hands..

 

[Dr. Freeman]

You haven't read the info from Valve thread lately, have you? Gabe Newell confirmned that Valve owns the character of Shephard, and that they know he has a large fanbase (Of whom, Gabe is a part of)

that is quite a relief for Adrian Shepherd fans
while it does not confirm that we will see Adrian in the HL universe, it gives those of us who like the character some hope that he will appear in an expansion or maybe even in one of the main games :thumbs:

oh.. and im sure Samon is dancing after this bit of news

 

[iLLiCiT]

that is quite a relief for Adrian Shepherd fans
while it does not confirm that we will see Adrian in the HL universe, it gives those of us who like the character some hope that he will appear in an expansion or maybe even in one of the main games :thumbs:

oh.. and im sure Samon is dancing after this bit of news

Maybe Corporal Shepard becomes like..... one of the combine soldiers. that would be cool playing the "opposing force"

 

[kupocake]

Anybody remember at which point you need to be to teleport to the Black Mesa training facility? I got a real kick out of that.

As Teleporting to Xen works on maps where you're working on Earth, the opposite is true: The one map where you actually constructively working in Xen is the one between seeing Gordon jump into the Lambda teleporter and and the one where "Crush Depth" starts.

I.E. the very map where you get the Displacer itself. . And for the record, You revisit The Training Course in Decay. Those lazy mappers

You haven't read the info from Valve thread lately, have you? Gabe Newell confirmned that Valve owns the character of Shephard, and that they know he has a large fanbase (Of whom, Gabe is a part of)

Though people on my side of the "arguement" have said that Gearbox own the rights to the "character", that's never been my angle. Why did it need to be confirmed that properties developed in an expansion default to the people who own the game series on which the expansion is based? However, a senior Valve member actually being interested in the "character", is very interesting. Lets hope they come up with a good episode for the guy.

Maybe Corporal Shepard becomes like..... one of the combine soldiers. that would be cool playing the "opposing force"

... Oh God No ...

 

[ríomhaire]

I mean: There are 30 years between Half-Life and Half-Life 2.

There is o offcial time but numerous bits that were cut from HL2 say 10 years, so that's our best bet.

 

[kupocake]

There is o offcial time but numerous bits that were cut from HL2 say 10 years, so that's our best bet.

Yeah, our best indicator is probably Alyx. The photo in Eli's lab has Eli, Alyx and Azian. Considering that Azian died in Black Mesa, the photo must be from before the incident. 30 Years is obviously way off, because Alyx doesn't like anything like a 30 year-old.

 

[little.rebel]

I loved HL, OF and BS, they were all slightly different and fulfilled themselves for each character in thier own way.
The only thing i diddnt like in OF was that the marines/your comrades were a bit babyish and were not as Kick'Ass and deadly serious, as they came accross in HL. They did say a few funny things , but in the original were much cooler.

I think that Adrian Shephard should return, not only because i am a big fan of his, but also, i think they would have quite abit to go on. Besides, hes a great character second to Gordon i think, another 'strong and silent' type, which the player had fun playing as.
He would make a great Rambo like figure, teleported back into the world, say in end of or after hl2, sent by the g-man to firstly see what the world has become and then join in the rebellion as a major alien and combine ass kicker. Or likewise be put into an expansion of hl3 and be sent to an alien world to cause mayhem.

Just a few thoughts.. i bet ive already upset the anti-shephard lobby, they can go stuff themselves:bounce:

 

[Sulkdodds]

I'd actually prefer to see Shepherd pack as an NPC rather than a playable character. Not as a gung-ho kick-as-and-chew-gum type, more the quiet, haunted, nam veteran, kyle-reese-from-terminator, hicks-from-aliens type.

 

[little.rebel]

yeah, that is what he could be like interms of personality considering his experiences, strong and silent, been through hell and back in again. But i think hes should still be a playable characte, who u play (as in OF) who comes back, and kicks aliens and combines ass. Beacaue its good idea, and also, how they hell woud he be a NPC in agame, gordon nor anone else knows him.