Half-Life2 Expansion Pack - Semi-Announced

can i just say...an alyx expansion pack doesn't sound very interesting. And playing as dog is just a bullshit gimmick IMO.
They beauty of the first expansion pack for hl1 was that we played from an alternate point of view from the OPPOSING FORCE. I wanna be a 'bad guy' again!
Can i get an amen?
 
Sars said:
can i just say...an alyx expansion pack doesn't sound very interesting. And playing as dog is just a bullshit gimmick IMO.
They beauty of the first expansion pack for hl1 was that we played from an alternate point of view from the OPPOSING FORCE. I wanna be a 'bad guy' again!
Can i get an amen?
Click to expand...

I dont think they would want to reveal too much about them yet. The combine may have more secrets that valve would like to preserve for a later time.

Just a thought
 
What's to stop them creating a totally new combine character that is a million times cooler and more badass than adrian?

It seems to me many love "adrian" simply because they adrian was part of a group of the "bad guy" team that was doing some good... Now, what if they made a combine mod that built up some sympathy for the combine? Ie you join civil protection because you have no food and nowhere else to go, intending to be one of the "good" cops, and everywhere you turn citizens are throwing bottles at you and saying rude things. Then on your first mission your squad comes across some people suspected of trying to smuggle weapons into the city, and when you get there they put on a big show and act all innocent and hard done by, and as soon as you go to leave you bump into a couple of citizens hiding away the last of the RPG ammo crates under the house...

Movies do this sort of thing all the time. They use a character's point of view to make them more likeable, no matter how bad they are. In many movies cops are often made to look like the bad guys, and in many other movies they are made to look like heroes. You even occasionally get one hero cop in amongst a crowd of bad cops! Each and every time we just go with it, we want to believe in the story.

It will be a lot easier for Valve to create a likeable character (if not neccessarily a "good guy") as part of the combine, than to somehow figure out how the hell to actually insert Adrian Shepard into the combine... Unless ofcourse they use Adrian in a 7 hours war expansion...
 
One tiny problem, Revenge.

If I remember correctly, the combine are basically mindless drones who have had their physiology altered. I guess you could be some individual where things went wrong and the process didn't work on you.
 
If they are so mindless, then why does Breen play them explanatory and moral-boosting messages? In Nova Prospekt you hear him congratulating his troops on capturing Eli, and gently reminding them that the fate of humanity basically lays in their hands and that if they can't stop Gordon, then the human race may become extinct. Being a scientist, I doubt Breen would waste his time recording those messages if his troops were mindless and therefore incapable of giving any less than their 100%. Why use psycology of all things to try and encourage his own troops to keep fighting?

EDIT: I'm more inclined to think they are EXTREMELY professional, as opposed to emotionless, and that either way they are still intelligent. Also, why would the combine civil protection officier at the start of the game play that little "put the can in the trash" game with you and then chuckle if he was a mindless drone? Why would it be considered natural for Barney to say "Oh yeah! I'm gonna need me some privacy for this!" for the sake of the cameras if all CPs are mere drones?
 
Yeah, I agree with Revenge, although a majority of the Civil Protection is evil, IMO :p
 
Revenge said:
If they are so mindless, then why does Breen play them explanatory and moral-boosting messages? In Nova Prospekt you hear him congratulating his troops on capturing Eli, and gently reminding them that the fate of humanity basically lays in their hands and that if they can't stop Gordon, then the human race may become extinct. Being a scientist, I doubt Breen would waste his time recording those messages if his troops were mindless and therefore incapable of giving any less than their 100%. Why use psycology of all things to try and encourage his own troops to keep fighting?

EDIT: I'm more inclined to think they are EXTREMELY professional, as opposed to emotionless, and that either way they are still intelligent. Also, why would the combine civil protection officier at the start of the game play that little "put the can in the trash" game with you and then chuckle if he was a mindless drone? Why would it be considered natural for Barney to say "Oh yeah! I'm gonna need me some privacy for this!" for the sake of the cameras if all CPs are mere drones?
Click to expand...


Not to mention Overwatch soldiers also shout stuff like "oh shit!" when you throw grenades at them, seems like an emotional response to me.
 
Did the Overwatch soldiers say things when you attacked them???

I didn't notice, guess I have to play the game again.
 
Turn on the subtitles, then. Their voice is cracky on radio, you won't be able to make out all of them :p
 
Or do what I did and open up the source sounds gcf and have a listen to what they say using winamp :D

It's a lot easier to understand them without all the other stuff going on in the background. That's where my sig quote comes from, and I like that quote so much because he sounds like he's really trying to remain proffesional and aloof but doesn't really know what to make of the situation... (biotics is their codeword for antlions by the way)
 
Revenge said:
What's to stop them creating a totally new combine character that is a million times cooler and more badass than adrian?

It seems to me many love "adrian" simply because they adrian was part of a group of the "bad guy" team that was doing some good... Now, what if they made a combine mod that built up some sympathy for the combine?
Click to expand...

the thing is, u already have a character developed within the HL universe which pple seem to like for various reasons.. with doing what u suggest, Valve would be starting over... and that may not even go well with some gamers because Adrian was liked so much.


Revenge said:
It will be a lot easier for Valve to create a likeable character (if not neccessarily a "good guy") as part of the combine, than to somehow figure out how the hell to actually insert Adrian Shepard into the combine... Unless ofcourse they use Adrian in a 7 hours war expansion...
Click to expand...

i don't think it would be that hard to insert Adrian into a supposed 7 hour war (this mod is in the works btw) and i don't think its too hard to insert Adrian as part of the combine...infact it would be perfect if Adrian was inserted as a combine troop but "things went wrong" with him.. and this way, gamers still don't know where Adrian's alligences lay because for him it would be a matter of survival :)

Revenge said:
If they are so mindless, then why does Breen play them explanatory and moral-boosting messages? In Nova Prospekt you hear him congratulating his troops on capturing Eli, and gently reminding them that the fate of humanity basically lays in their hands and that if they can't stop Gordon, then the human race may become extinct.
Click to expand...

but that could just be Breen motivating his troops to stop Gordon so Breen can continue with his plans.. i mean is that too far fetched to believe?

anyway just to point out Adrian Shepherd's popularity here, there was a poll about a month ago on which character would u like to see in an expansion pack and Adrian did win it by a considerable margin :p
 
Mr.Wotsit said:
The propa ganda is aimed at citizens, not the combine guards. Did you actually complete the game and see what was being done to humans?
Click to expand...

Some of the humans.

Breen's message in Nova Prospekt was directed to the Trans-Human Combine forces. It's not exactly good propaganda if you're berating your troops for the world to hear.
 
Making any combine NPC (metrocop, overwatch soldier, elite) sympathetic is impossible, except to an undeveloped, hormonal, frustrated, aggressive boy with no moral or political consciousness.

What's with kids wanting to play bad guys? I don't remember being that way.
 
Huntoon said:
What's with kids wanting to play bad guys? I don't remember being that way.
Click to expand...

They're cool. They get away with more stuff. They satisfy your id in a way that is not harmful to others. They usually look neat. Most of all, however...

They're interesting.
 
nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo i do not want to play as dog! I do not want to play as alyx! I want to play as the Gman, that would be so sweet, staring..and then walking and disappearing. The action sells itself.
 
i dread to think that will be playing alyx in an expansion pack.

can they degrade the original style anymore?

oh i forgot , this has turned into a totally different (and less serious) game now.
 
Revenge said:
If they are so mindless, then why does Breen play them explanatory and moral-boosting messages? In Nova Prospekt you hear him congratulating his troops on capturing Eli, and gently reminding them that the fate of humanity basically lays in their hands and that if they can't stop Gordon, then the human race may become extinct. Being a scientist, I doubt Breen would waste his time recording those messages if his troops were mindless and therefore incapable of giving any less than their 100%. Why use psycology of all things to try and encourage his own troops to keep fighting?

EDIT: I'm more inclined to think they are EXTREMELY professional, as opposed to emotionless, and that either way they are still intelligent. Also, why would the combine civil protection officier at the start of the game play that little "put the can in the trash" game with you and then chuckle if he was a mindless drone? Why would it be considered natural for Barney to say "Oh yeah! I'm gonna need me some privacy for this!" for the sake of the cameras if all CPs are mere drones?
Click to expand...


most of CP is made up of normal humans who have voulnteered into the cp to get something to eat.

because breen and the combine are starving the people to death.
as the npcs say at the start.

but of course some are just evil people or stupid who would do such a thing.

breen has forced humanity into an impossible situation and the combine is 1000times more evil than the nazis or anything like that.
the combines have one purpose, to make earth extinct, do u really want to be one???

even they will die when they have been used for the task as the combine doesnt care about them they are just "tools" which used to be human beings.

the other combines the combine soldiers are mechanised things cyborgs , converted humans who one way or another went to one of these combine facilities and got converted into them.

so they are not thier own selves as proffesional soldiers they are just proffesional at fighint thhrough the brainwashing and inbuilt chips they have in them. they might appear to be proffesional ut they are just drones, proper drones.

they are mindless, have chips in thier head and are brainwashed into massacre thier own race and species. for the combine, who are thier alien masters.

i dont think valve would have u playing in any mod as a fully combine loyal combine soldier. as who u play are essentailly good guys and are for humanuty and the resistance. plus cmbine soldiers of the assimilated sort only tend to do what they are instructed and so it would not to play and use your mind/ initiative for something which has none.

are u n00b people just impressed by "ohh, cool hard combines!"
obviously u never played the original hl for its worth.

in the original hl u play a much better troop type, the marines, which in my opinion, not only have a better AI, but cooler actions, radio comms, the works they are truely impressive and inspiring. and if shepard comes back it will be as one of these who are as they are, human , survivalist good-guys.

breen is evil and he and the combine are making humans extinct u obviousl misunderstood this, he is teling people that they will die out if they dont listen to him, but they really will if they do. and later on in nova prospeckt he then reveals this as he threatens that he will make humans extinct if they dont submit.
 
Dr. Freeman said:
but that could just be Breen motivating his troops to stop Gordon so Breen can continue with his plans.. i mean is that too far fetched to believe?
Click to expand...
And I say again... How can you be motivated if you are mindless?

moggy said:
most of CP is made up of normal humans who have voulnteered into the cp to get something to eat.

because breen and the combine are starving the people to death.
as the npcs say at the start.

but of course some are just evil people or stupid who would do such a thing.
Click to expand...
Good point.

moggy said:
the combine is 1000times more evil than the nazis or anything like that.
the combines have one purpose, to make earth extinct, do u really want to be one???
Click to expand...
I don't agree. Saying that "The Nazis" were evil in the first place is a huge generalisation. Many Nazi soldiers were conscripted from the countries that Germany conquered, and many of these Nazi soldiers fought against the Germans before they were conquered. Are you saying that they all magically became evil human beings bent on the destruction of non-arian races at the flick of a switch?

And don't you think that if the combine's purpose was to destroy Earth or humanity, they would have done it by now? Do you believe the combine's purpose on Xen was to destroy Xen? The combine are making armies and amassing technology to use against other races in their conquest of the dimensions, much like the romans did (they conquered the greeks and began using all their technology). Eventually though, like the Germans and the Romans before them, I believe the Combine will spread themselves too thin to be able to effectively defend all they have conquered, and their demise will be a rapid one.

moggy said:
the other combines the combine soldiers are mechanised things cyborgs , converted humans who one way or another went to one of these combine facilities and got converted into them.

so they are not thier own selves as proffesional soldiers they are just proffesional at fighint thhrough the brainwashing and inbuilt chips they have in them. they might appear to be proffesional ut they are just drones, proper drones.

they are mindless, have chips in thier head and are brainwashed into massacre thier own race and species. for the combine, who are thier alien masters.
Click to expand...
When I said professional, I meant it in the sense that they acted like professionals as opposed to being the actual dictionary definition of professional (which means you are paid for doing whatever it is you do).

I have already repeatedly argued for why I believe the combine are not mindless drones at all, Breen is not stupid enough to deliver motivational messages to people that are mentally and physically incapable of being motivated... Which would be the case if they were mindless.

moggy said:
i dont think valve would have u playing in any mod as a fully combine loyal combine soldier. as who u play are essentailly good guys and are for humanuty and the resistance. plus cmbine soldiers of the assimilated sort only tend to do what they are instructed and so it would not to play and use your mind/ initiative for something which has none.
Click to expand...
Simple solution: Cut the tether. For example a squad of elites loses all lines of communications to any other combine forces, and is forced to make their own way back home, like in the Star Trek Voyager series. Combine Soldiers are still soldiers at the end of the day, and you can always make stories about soldiers.

Huntoon said:
Making any combine NPC (metrocop, overwatch soldier, elite) sympathetic is impossible, except to an undeveloped, hormonal, frustrated, aggressive boy with no moral or political consciousness.

What's with kids wanting to play bad guys? I don't remember being that way.
Click to expand...
moggy said:
breen is evil and he and the combine are making humans extinct u obviousl misunderstood this, he is teling people that they will die out if they dont listen to him, but they really will if they do. and later on in nova prospeckt he then reveals this as he threatens that he will make humans extinct if they dont submit.
Click to expand...
Moggy I feel perhaps you are the one who has misunderstood both Dr Breen as a character and the Combine's purpose on Earth. Breen is not evil. Got it? He is not evil, just horribly horribly misguided. He truly believes that his way is the only way for humanity to survive, and not only that but he truly seems to believe that this is humanity's path to immortality. He is supervising the creation of the Trans-Human forces, don't you think that he would have noticed if everything that was human about his troops was being destroyed and that all that remained were life-less mechanical husks?

Life isn't black and white moggy, concepts of good vs evil belong in children's tales and comic books. In any truly good story, you never have good or evil, you simply have different perspectives. There are two sides to every story, and each side believes themselves to be right. The Combine doesn't see itself as evil, they are simply claiming resources as they see fit. They aren't doing anything that humans in the past haven't done to other humans. Breen might see Eli and the resistance as "evil" because they are trying to destroy what he thinks is humanity's last chance for survival.

We've seen the combine do some pretty nasty stuff, and we've been given ingame hints that they dont have good reasons for what they do... But just think about this: From the moment Gordon escapes from Barney's beating chamber and gets back into the city, we can hear the CPs telling each other to check for miscounts. Right from the word go, they realise something isn't right and immediately they start checking for what could be the only feasable cause of a miscount: Somebody entered the sector without going through a security checkpoint. This means they broke the law and they are now criminals. They begin raiding places they've been monitoring for ages, and as soon as the scanners confirm to overwatch that there really has been a miscount, the CPs realise they have little time to react and immediately begin subduing anybody who appears to be resisting or running away. Ie "sit your ass down or we'll sit it for you".

A couple of CPs on duty come across a couple in an allyway, an allyway that they should not have access to considering that the entrance to it is a restricted area within the trainstation, and the other end comes into an abandoned part of town and more restricted areas of the railway network. As they begin interogating these suspcious individuals, a man who has been photographed by a scanner sneaking around in a powerplant and then vandalising combine property (blowing up a scanner later on) with a crowbar and an orange suit wanders in. One of the soldiers moves in to subdue the suspect has his head viscously smashed in with a crowbar. With the suspicious man now being a "cop-killer", the combine swarm in to deal justice to this criminal. They chase the suspect into the sewers where they stumble across a huge underground network of smugglers who are using the sewers to sneak past checkpoints, which they can only assume is how the miscount occured in the first place, and so all the smugglers are therefore accomplises to the many murders already commited by Gordon Freeman, who victims were only doing their jobs... Jobs that they were doing only because they had no other way to get a decent meal...

And you say Gordon is the good guy, huh? He is a murderer plain and simple, and they still made him sympathetic. The danger of being arrested for breaking the law by the law enforcement officers is no excuse to kill people.
 
Hey, I'd have fun trying to make humans extinct! Just as long as the human opponents have interesting and diverse units and weapons. The cool thing about fighting against aliens/combine/monsters is that developers can make the enemy look like whatever they want and give them cool technology that you can steal.
 
Ya see? And now you are a theiving murderer, and remorseless to boot! :p
 
whoa...lets stop taking this so seriously...keep it simple.
Back on the topic of an expansion pack. I dont see how a Shepherd in the 7 hour war would work...we lost that war, so i dont see a very fun expansion there, cept for Shepherd being captured or killed.

Alyx expansion would be too similar to HL2 and wouldnt bring any diversity to the pack which is what i crave from this type of thing. Although if it was pre-Gordon Alyx fighting the combine with a younger DOG that was only waist height (it got bigger over the years) then that could be interesting.

Player as a rebel fighting or Overwatch/ CP would bring a new dimension to the game for me...either fighting for a smaller goal e.g. capturing a small combine outpost or such, or Soldiers flushing out rebels from a base camp. Just my thoughts

and BTW playing as DOG would suck so much...he cant shoot any guns, all he can do is pick up stuff and throw it...it would be repetitive and tedious...it would be the Hulk all over again (but worst, which is saying something) Trust me the cool factor of bullying everything around you by throwing large objects would wear off quickly, no DOG mods...hes a sidekick which we like, dont ruin it.
 
Ah... finally... atleast i'll be expecting something in a few months.
 
I haven't even bought HL2 yet..... :(


Frank said:
http://www.gamereactor.dk/texter/?id=58676


Gamereactor: When Gamereactor visited your HQ in Seattle last spring, Gabe Newell revealed some plans that you guys had about Half-Life3. Can you tell us some more about your plans?

Doug: Of course we're interested in telling more about the universe we have created and therefore we will continue making sequels to the game.
At the moment we're working on a game where you play as Alyx and her well known robotdog - Dog...
Click to expand...
 
Revenge said:
And I say again... How can you be motivated if you are mindless?
Click to expand...

acutally i never said the combine were mindless...someone else said that.
whether the combine are mindless or not is up for debate but it seems clear to me anyway that Breen did have some control and influence on the combine troops.

anyway u just addressed one thing...which i never claimed anyway :p
 
GonzoBabbleshit said:
i don't know why, but i don't really like the idea of playing as Alyx or Dog. Maybe it was just a bit too much of an obvious choice for expansion, not particularly exciting
Click to expand...

i agree. especially with the thought of spending around 39.99 dollars ( or about 350 kr) on some expansion that doesnt give u the info u want, but is neccessary to have bcuz ur so into HL. damn.
 
Revenge said:
I don't agree. Saying that "The Nazis" were evil in the first place is a huge generalisation.
...
Moggy I feel perhaps you are the one who has misunderstood both Dr Breen as a character and the Combine's purpose on Earth. Breen is not evil. Got it? He is not evil, just horribly horribly misguided. He truly believes that his way is the only way for humanity to survive, and not only that but he truly seems to believe that this is humanity's path to immortality.
...
Somebody entered the sector without going through a security checkpoint. This means they broke the law and they are now criminals.
Click to expand...

Nazi apologist, Combine apologist, fascism apologist, totalitarianism apologist.

Is this really the result of your very best judgment, that in the end the Combine which turns people into stalkers and bootlickers is well motivated whereas Gordon Freeman is a murderer?

It is not murder to kill Hitler, it is compassion.
 
Huntoon said:
Nazi apologist, Combine apologist, fascism apologist, totalitarianism apologist.

Is this really the result of your very best judgment, that in the end the Combine which turns people into stalkers and bootlickers is well motivated whereas Gordon Freeman is a murderer?

It is not murder to kill Hitler, it is compassion.
Click to expand...
The point of view I cited above was not my personal point of view, but rather an alternate viewpoint on the whole situation. I was attempting to prove that you could make even the combine sympathetic, and that you could make even Gordon look like a bad guy, by simply altering how events are presented. We have only been given half the story in HL2. I was trying to show that there is always another side to every story.
 
I want to play as barney, and I want sheppard back in the game KILLING GORDON!.... I really want to kill Gordon... stupid scientist thinks hes all that....
 
GonzoBabbleshit said:
i don't know why, but i don't really like the idea of playing as Alyx or Dog. Maybe it was just a bit too much of an obvious choice for expansion, not particularly exciting
Click to expand...
2x
-
Oh-no. Being Dog? Can you smell console gaming?
 
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