Is Gearbox canon?

[Absinthe]

As well as that my original point was that Shephard is fundamentally no different from Gordon Freeman. Neither one is more superior or inferior to the other in terms of their character or capabilities since they're exactly the same in those regards. It makes no sense to accuse Shephard of somehow being the lesser of the two.

Basically, Shephard could just have easily battled through Black Mesa, Xen, and destroyed the alien source behind the invasions... Oh wait, he did.

How the Hell are the Vortigaunts supposed to regard somebody as a hero when he's still locked up in interstellar limbo status.

 

[VortigauntLover]

How the Hell are the Vortigaunts supposed to regard somebody as a hero when he's still locked up in interstellar limbo status.

Well I am pretty sure the vortigaunts thought Gordon was a hero when he was in statis.
Unless they suddenly decided to treat him like a hero and god the second he arrived in City 17.

P.S. Shepard is the lesser of the two, but only because he was less known. No living person knows what he did in Black Mesa besides G-Man.

 

[Absinthe]

If anybody knew anything about his doings, it would be the vortigaunts. Them with their telepathic thingy-ma-jiggy.

But what I'm saying is that Shephard is not a pertinent character in HL2, hence why there would be no dialogue or recognition of him. Freeman arrived and all attention was focused on him. We have no idea what kind of reaction (if any) would be provoked if Shephard returned.

 

[Breaker]

Sorry, I know this thread is very old, but I don't understand this:
http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=114535

If my knowledge of English is acceptable, I would understand, that the expansions are not really a part of the "real" Half-Life storyline.
Gearbox did many mistakes by the fact, that they wanted to create their own games with their own ideas.

The Black Ops are one mistake (Valve only mentioned CIA agents), another is the direct intervention of the Gman into the events.
And there are some more things.

Some interesting sentences:

"Gearbox did what was right for their games."

"Even though they had feedback and guidance from us, they didn't always listen to it, and they steered by their own lights, etc., etc."

"so I only take the games created by Valve into consideration when I am working on the story"

I think these are very clear statements, that Opposing Force and Blue Shift aren't canon or only a bit.

Or do I misunderstand anything?

Thanks for replies!

 

[Tagaziel]

It's very simple: the expansions are canon whenever they do not contradict VALVe games.

 

[Breaker]

Thanks for your fast reply!

Hmm, sounds a little bit like: It's true as long as we have nothing against it. ^^

So, we could say that Op4 and BS are great games, but the stories of both can/have to be ignored, if you want to discuss about the relevant HL story, because the plot in Op4 and BS is only tolerated (and not really confirmed) as long as Valve has no reason to disclaim anything.

 

[Azner]

Tbh i never understood what canon meant.

Thus making me think that canon=official?

Anyway use the SEARCH icon more.

Edit

Absinthe for mod. I whole agree with his post anyway.

edit

Wait. Holy shit. This thread is old. Zomg revive. Dammit. explains why bacon is still kamiekazie blitz.

 

[Narvi]

Canon is basically continuity. It's like how Alyx is a character in both Hl2 and Episode 1. HL2 is canon to Episode 1. Got it?

 

[LandStander]

Guess which one of the two has had more exposure (therefore interaction) with them? HINT: Shephard is still in stasis.

While you are more then likely right we don't know for sure if Shepard is in Stasis. He is merely left on a floating asteroid by the G-man where no harm could come to him.
My point being that Shepard could have been left there until he died of exposure or dehydration (or dementia), or he could have been released by the G-Man sometime during the combine invasion (and we have yet to hear of it possibly because he is in another part of the world).

This is probably just wishful thinking for myself as I would love to see an expansion with Shepard fighting the Combine in North America around the same time Gordon was kicking ass in Europe.

 

[Absinthe]

Anything's possible. My guess, however, is that he is still alive. If only for the reason that Valve is keeping him so if they fancy using his character in the future.

It just doesn't seem sensible to me that he'd be dead any way. If G-Man wanted him silenced, then wouldn't he just kill him? And why dispense with a potentially valuable asset? He survived Black Mesa, showing unique skill. And while G-Man did have to aid Shephard from time to time, he was also responsible for keeping him at Black Mesa at the same time. And how about being mysteriously bumped up to advanced training? The question is to what purpose. To test him? Having a little game?

The debate over canon aside, G-Man's action usually have a very conscious and practical purpose to them. If he allowed Shephard to live, then the only thing I can fathom is that he's taken an interest in his abilities, much the same way he did Gordon. But whereas he seemed to have a plan with our favorite bearded scientist, I think he's just holding onto Shephard just in case.

 

[99.vikram]

GORDON FREES VORTIGAUNTS.
THEREFORE VORTIGAUNTS LOVE GORDON.
VORTIGAUNTS DONT CARE ABOUT SHEPHARD.

Really, what's so hard to understand?

 

[Absinthe]

What does that have to do with anything?

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

Holy ****. Thread resurrection.

 

[Azner]

Anything's possible. My guess, however, is that he is still alive. If only for the reason that Valve is keeping him so if they fancy using his character in the future.

It just doesn't seem sensible to me that he'd be dead any way. If G-Man wanted him silenced, then wouldn't he just kill him? And why dispense with a potentially valuable asset? He survived Black Mesa, showing unique skill. And while G-Man did have to aid Shephard from time to time, he was also responsible for keeping him at Black Mesa at the same time. And how about being mysteriously bumped up to advanced training? The question is to what purpose. To test him? Having a little game?

The debate over canon aside, G-Man's action usually have a very conscious and practical purpose to them. If he allowed Shephard to live, then the only thing I can fathom is that he's taken an interest in his abilities, much the same way he did Gordon. But whereas he seemed to have a plan with our favorite bearded scientist, I think he's just holding onto Shephard just in case.

So Shephard is a plan B?

 

[Breaker]

Well I don't think, that he will return.
Canon or not, Freeman is the hero of the whole HL story and Shephard only a character for an expension, unimportant... The idea behind OP4 was to let you play as a soldier and to experience the events from another point of view, nothing more.