Marc Laidlaw Vault

[Ophiguris]

Ok Ok Until some one upholds an actual Arguement as to WHY shephard sucks, there is no proof that he doesn't suck becuase NO person has EVER given me ANY reason that they hate him, it's always just 'he sucks' and until someone can even slightly prove me otherwise, I will not agree!!!

 

[Darkside55]

there is no proof that he doesn't suck

Indeed.

Shephard sucks.

 

[Ophiguris]

*tears face apart*

WHY THOUGH???
what reason do you have for such a proposal???

 

[Darkside55]

Alright, I am going to explain why Shephard sucks before Ophiguris explodes. Or rather, I'm going to explain why he does NOT suck.

You see, the whole thing's based on a fallacy. The arguments presented against the character of Shephard have absolutely nothing to do with why most--if not all--people say he sucks. These arguments include:

1. Shephard has no character / less character than Gordon Freeman
2. He's "just a grunt."
3. Doesn't fit into the current world.

And these are the only arguments you'll get against the character of Shephard. More often, arguments against Shephard (and search the forums on this, because it's really interesting [how many times have I used that word in this thread?]) are arguments against Opposing Force. Things like the level design in OpFor was stupid, Race-X sucks, should Gearbox's expansions even be treated as canon, BARNACLE GUN AND TELEPORT GUN LOLOLOL, Race-X sucks, the G-man had too much of a hand in Adrian Shephard's quest (which can also be used as a character argument, but it doesn't hold water), Race-X sucks. Because Adrian was included in a game that most people feel was a concentrated mixture of suck with only some interspersed greatness (but not enough to warrant a positive feeling toward the game), Adrian Shephard therefore must suck.

File that information away for now. That's only part 1 of the reason people dislike Adrian Shephard.

Part 2, and I have mentioned this many a time, is that there is no fault in Adrian himself but rather Adrian's fans. You see, like Boba Fett, Adrian has gained something of a cult status among HL fans. For no reasons that I think THEY can even pinpoint, aside from "facts" such as:

"Adrian is a marine and he kicks ass. He could kick more ass than a scientist like Gordon Freeman."

he has garnered an intensely loyal fanbase. And the big joke here is that the fans of Adrian Shephard are what caused all the feelings of negativity towards him.

You see, the fans want Adrian back so badly that they try to make him crop up where he isn't needed and/or wanted. They'll stick him into their theories "just because." And if you had heard the ridiculousity (coining that phrase) of these theories, you'd probably realize why there are so many anti-Shephardites on the forum. Theories before HL2 was released included things like:

1. Adrian being a member of the human resistance.
2. Adrian being a leader in the human resistance.
3. Adrian working for the Combine to track down Gordon Freeman.
4. Adrian being a Combine soldier.
5. Adrian being the model for the Combine soldiers; i.e., all the Combine are clones of him.

After HL2 he started showing up again thanks to the quotes from Valve about the "steps G-man is taking to regain control over Gordon Freeman." I swear, once that quote was released to the internet the entire We Love Corporal Shephard fanclub were at their computers, simultaneously posting threads and responses that went:

"The G-man is going to use Adrian Shephard to bring back/kill Gordon Freeman!!!"

It really didn't help the situation when Valve said that they would eventually get back to Adrian Shephard, that Gabe Newell likes Shephard, and that there'd be a new familiar face from Black Mesa showing up in Episode Two.

And that's reason 2. The fans of Adrian Shephard.

Now, you get a bunch of people who dislike OpFor, or certain aspects of OpFor, and they're putting that on Adrian Shephard's shoulders already. Then you get this group of people who pose all these idiotic theories about Adrian Shephard day in and day out. You open up Rumors and Speculation (we didn't have SPM back then), and every post on the first page has something to do with Adrian Shephard. And you're telling these people, "That's ridiculous," "Sorry, but no," "It would never happen," over and over and over again. And eventually at some point your answers get shorter, more curt, you start wondering what's up with these noobs and their unrequited love, nay, NEED for Shephard, and then one day you shout

ENOUGH DAMN IT! Adrian Shephard SUCKS!

And then all it takes is someone else to feel the same way and quote you for truth.

And there I have exposed the fallacy behind the suckage of Adrian Shephard. In truth, he himself does not suck. Rather, he's the victim of circumstance (Opposing Force) and a horde of rabid fanboys (the scourge of the intarnets). Any arguments against the character of Shephard can easily be put down, save for one: Adrian Shephard's story is over and there is no further need for him in the Half-Life storyline. I've argued THAT one time and time again and I've yet to see it put down, so there you go. I like Adrian Shephard, I really do. But he has no more need to be in the Half-Life series.

tl;dr version:

Adrian Shephard does not suck.









Adrian Shephard sucks.

 

[Max35]

"Adrian Shephard's story is over and there is no further need for him in the Half-Life storyline."

I believe Marc LaidLaw will decide that, I think. That said, I'm not a Shephard fanboy and don't necessarily care if he comes back or not. I suppose I would like to see a more interesting ending for him instead of him rotting in Xen--whether it be a swift death, or whatever. In short, whatever Valve decides, as long as it lies within the realm of creative genius, I'll be happy.

 

[Crimo]

Barney = shephard = gordon = the player, telling one of them suck, is calling "sucker" yourselves.

 

[Jintor]

ENOUGH DAMN IT! Adrian Shephard SUCKS!

And then all it takes is someone else to feel the same way and quote you for truth.

QFT.


(Not really. I don't really mind him. But, you know... fans...)

 

[W4d5Y]

Hey, thx Darkside and Samon for your appreciation of my Laidlaw-mails...Anyhoo, I myself was very much into the idea of Shepard showing up in P0rtal...but of course, from some point on, where everything does not suggest Shepard being included in P0rtal...I began to realize, that you shouldn't struggle against it, rather welcome it. Say goodbye to ye olde gameplots, rather say hello to your new masters.
IMPORTANT! Not that Laidlaw said Blue Shift shouldn't be concidered canon, but rather he did say he only expands HL² on VALVe's own ideas, mostly new ideas being new characters and everything else being based upon HL1. So, possibly Barney from city 17 IS the Calhoun, and has fought thru Black Mesa in Blue Shift and was the guy pounding onto the door back in HL1 cause there would be no contradiction towards the official canon, except Rosenberg stating, the Antimass-spectrometer thingie was on Gordon's first actual day at work.

 

[UndeadScottsman]

Something I think needs to be logged somewhere

That crystal sample in the opening, for instance, should have been clearly echoed in the Nihilanth’s chamber—and even down inside its gaping cranium. That was the plan. But we ran out of time to make the clear visual association.

Source: http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.34/feat/index2.php

I've been holding on to that link for years.

 

[Darkside55]

If I had been drinking anything at the time of reading your post, Scottsman, it would've been all over my screen just now. THANK YOU for that. Holy jeez, you've ignited my fan theorist blood all over again.

You know I recognized that the crystals were one of the sources of Nihilanth's power (and vital to his health), but yeah, the correlation between those crystals and the sample never quite clicked aside from the fact that they were both from Xen. Plus, a crystal in his head? WAS there a crystal in his head? Pretty sure there wasn't...but anyway if there was, or was supposed to be, doesn't that point to his construction? To his specific purpose? I'm all giddy now.

Oh hey and that also means those crystals aren't native to Xen. Not if there was already one in the Nihilanth's head. So those things are from their homeworld and were being seeded and grown in Xen. Ah, again, thanks for that. I might have to go play HL later and fight the Nihilanth again, take a look inside that petal-like dome of his.

And yeah, Wadsy, that's a good point. Since Blue Shift doesn't contradict HL, it's the same Barney Calhoun. But even so, Laidlaw doesn't recognize the events of Blue Shift from happening when he writes, so we probably won't hear about Barney rescuing any scientists and driving off into the sunset in a BMRF jeep unless that's what Marc thinks happened (because he thinks it happened and not because BS said so).

 

[W4d5Y]

Yeah, agreed. So, about those crystals, (waita sec, crytek should call its next game crystals^^farcry, crysis, crystals..) if Marc sais they were supposed to be in the nihilanth, then it should be that way I think. So, yeah, if the nihilanth and the vorts aren't real xenians, rather fled there, then how did that crystal spread all over the planet? Is it organic?! In RtB, the early test-chamber sketch sais, that the specimen looks alien, but there was some hint that it was in fact organic, I think...Vortessence, here we go.
Anyhoo, one question, didn't they say, the combine weren't on Xen around the time of HL1, then how come the Xen aliens spread on earth, if they hadn't had the order...cause judging to their 'outfit' (look at the HL1 and HL2 vortigaunt 'SLAVES'), the synth must've had some control over them. But it's been stated that the Nihilanths race fled to Xen, cause they were pursued! So, at any rate, they probably couldn't avoid getting caught by the combine...
Anyway, I also got an answer from Marc once, that was both uninformal and rumorful, cause he replied, on my question wether we should concider Black Mesa having been blown up by Black Ops, government troops or someone else, (actually I insisted on simply the Military having it destroyed so we could put that question ad acta without complicating it too much by bringing in a greater conspiracy) as he once told me Op4 and Race X weren't canon, except blowing up the Black Mesa being a good way to avoid 'creative death' by situating HL2 in Black Mesa (of course that decision was made very early, followoing the release HL1, as fans demanded return to Black Mesa, so this is what the Gearbox Addons were probably for, and it doesn't really bother anyone nowadays), that he couldn't tell me anymore of that stuff. So, I doubt he was too lazy to simply say 'agreed, the military tried to contain the invasion' and maybe has something bigger in mind, but also the contrary might be true.
I'm sorry for my lack of paragraphs, or my super-long sentence above making no sense, but, hey, it's the way of life.

 

[ríomhaire]

Nihilanth has a spike in his head like the Controllers IIRC but his is just flesh. And Darkside, those crystals perhaps can be from 2 worlds at the same time, or maybe came from the controller's world from Xen in a happy accident and they used them as the cornerstone of their technology. I sometimes wonder what HL1 would have been like if Valve had taken as much time as they wanted.

 

[Darkside55]

Nihilanth has a spike in his head like the Controllers IIRC but his is just flesh. And Darkside, those crystals perhaps can be from 2 worlds at the same time, or maybe came from the controller's world from Xen in a happy accident and they used them as the cornerstone of their technology. I sometimes wonder what HL1 would have been like if Valve had taken as much time as they wanted.

That's what I thought too, about the controller spike. Didn't he also have a portal in his head or something though?

And yeah, the crystals could exist on two (or more) worlds at the same time, but even if they did I'm sure Nihilanth and the controllers would've taken lots of their own along with them, considering they're so important for fleeing the Combine.

 

[ríomhaire]

Everyone seems to state there was a portal in Nihilanth's head, I don't remember any :\

 

[kupocake]

Everyone seems to state there was a portal in Nihilanth's head, I don't remember any :\

Yeah, i'm not 100% on that. I think something stange grows in there when he's close to death and his head has opened up fully... or when he's dying...

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

I always thought its was suppsosed to be some sort of brain or a last power source(!) and limitations of grpahics at that time forced them just to make a crystal. Then again, that email...
Its quite horny...

 

[Crimo]

hmm... maybe there are crystal in every world, and those crystals allow the vortex oppenings, some kind of "gates"... ah damn im stoned

 

[Narvi]

It would certainly give the "thieves" dialogue more meaning.

 

[Azner]

IT looked like a portal, When you got spoofed to fly up to his head level, you could see it. But, it could be something else.

 

[Headcrab Pie]

Bullsquids were awsome... I hope they bring them back...

I loved bullsquids...*sniff*
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(> <) This is Bunny. Copy Bunny into your signature to help him on his way to world domination.

 

[UseAbuse]

something to add to the vault

Were the Vortigaunts and the Nihilanth ever captured by the combine at
one point before HL2?

Capture of vorts is fairly common. That particular Nihilanth was the
last of its kind, and never captured, but some of its predecessors might
have been.

 

[Asknoone]

Cheers UseAbuse. I find that interesting, given how ugly the bumbling baby is. What with the stitching an all.

 

[Darkside55]

It had predecessors.

IT HAD PREDECESSORS.

NITH HAD PREDECESSORS!


Every once in awhile there'll be a piece of news that absolutely ignites me and brings out Darkside the Theorist. This is one of those times. Coincidently, the last time was in this thread too. This is absolutely huge though. Huge. X-Box hueg. This is so huge I'm going to have to retire to my recluse cave on top of the mountain and ponder this for forty days.

(Also booyah, he was never captured, stitches weren't from the Combine, totally called it, rubbing it in some faces )

 

[UseAbuse]

Just when I have things almost figured out, Marc slaps me in the face and tells me that im not even talking about half-life anymore

 

[Asknoone]

He did say something like "The last...I am the last." Something like.

 

[Narvi]

I wonder how the heirarchy went: Nihilanths; Alien Controllers; Vortigaunts; Grunts. Why were the nihilanths made in the first place? Did the vortigaunts somehow enslave themselves, when a bunch of them decided to grow into giant fetuses and order everybody about?

 

[Sam]

In Nihi's head, there is a sort of spike thing, and what looks like a teleport portal (but isn't, and I almost died when I jumped into it and I started to get hurt, only just killing him before I kicked it). Nothing is particularly clear about the spike though.

 

[Deleted member 56031]

I can't believe that nihilanth had predecessors! :O It looked pretty unique especially with all of the wierd stitching.

 

[Darkside55]

I wonder how the heirarchy went: Nihilanths; Alien Controllers; Vortigaunts; Grunts. Why were the nihilanths made in the first place? Did the vortigaunts somehow enslave themselves, when a bunch of them decided to grow into giant fetuses and order everybody about?

Nihilanth > Controllers > Grunts > Vortigaunts. The vorts are so disrespected even the idiotic grunts are worth more on Xen than they are. They really are just slaves. Pure menial labor.

It'd be a crazy twist if the vortigaunts made Nihilanth though. But I would think it'd go against their code to make something like that, at least without any kind of safeguards. Plus Nith looks too much like the controllers and controllers are known for their experiments in biotechnology.

But in all likelihood we might have to throw out the notion that the Nihilanth was anything but a naturally-occurring creature. Nith was part of a species...that's really wild. And while there's certainly nothing to say that the controllers didn't make MORE of him, another theory has opened up that the nihilanths were the top dog species on Xen. I think someone mentioned that once, I forget who, but whoever you are you might've been right. In which case...hypothetically, if the scars were not a result of creation or Combine, then perhaps ritual scarification? Or perhaps some internal surgery? Are the stitches even common across the species or was it this particular nihilanth?

There are so many other questions that come out of this too. "What happened to the other nihilanths?" "How long is the lifespan of a nihilanth?" "Do they all possess such powers?" And if so, and they were captured, then (as mentioned in another thread) the Combine either couldn't grasp the abilities of the nihilanth(s) or perhaps they died beforehand. Whatever the reason even with a live nihilanth specimen--or specimens--they couldn't master short-range teleportation.

I must admit that, even though I was initially happy to hear this news, I'm now slightly bummed. I liked to think of the Nihilanth as a singular entity. He's not so special now.

 

[Piers89]

I think i prefer the thought of the vorts being a different species to the nihlanth race, but i dont mean entirely different aliens; i mean more like the similarities between chimpanzees and humans.
I think that would be a good way to explain why the vorts are enslaved by the nihlanth(s), just like us humans use other animals for slavery (horses etc). Basically, i dont believe either the vorts or the nihlanths created one or another, more like what darkside mentioned - top dogs on xen/whereever they originated from.

About the scars, i speculate that if this nihlanth was the nihlanth who abandoned the original homeworld to go to xen, because of the combine, then perhaps the scars are a result of a battle with the combine?

And this may have been afore mentioned, but doesnt anyone see a slight resemblance between the nihlanth's floaty platform and its lack of ability to move indepentdantly, and the combine advisors lack of ability to move independantly?

 

[Narvi]

Nihilanth > Controllers > Grunts > Vortigaunts. The vorts are so disrespected even the idiotic grunts are worth more on Xen than they are. They really are just slaves. Pure menial labor.

It'd be a crazy twist if the vortigaunts made Nihilanth though. But I would think it'd go against their code to make something like that, at least without any kind of safeguards. Plus Nith looks too much like the controllers and controllers are known for their experiments in biotechnology.

But in all likelihood we might have to throw out the notion that the Nihilanth was anything but a naturally-occurring creature. Nith was part of a species...that's really wild. And while there's certainly nothing to say that the controllers didn't make MORE of him, another theory has opened up that the nihilanths were the top dog species on Xen. I think someone mentioned that once, I forget who, but whoever you are you might've been right. In which case...hypothetically, if the scars were not a result of creation or Combine, then perhaps ritual scarification? Or perhaps some internal surgery? Are the stitches even common across the species or was it this particular nihilanth?

There are so many other questions that come out of this too. "What happened to the other nihilanths?" "How long is the lifespan of a nihilanth?" "Do they all possess such powers?" And if so, and they were captured, then (as mentioned in another thread) the Combine either couldn't grasp the abilities of the nihilanth(s) or perhaps they died beforehand. Whatever the reason even with a live nihilanth specimen--or specimens--they couldn't master short-range teleportation.

I must admit that, even though I was initially happy to hear this news, I'm now slightly bummed. I liked to think of the Nihilanth as a singular entity. He's not so special now.

You don't think a race of nihilanths is more special than just one? :dork:

 

[ríomhaire]

I wonder how the Xenian (for lack of a better word) caste system worked and evolved, and how many of the castes were natural and how many engineered.

 

[Darkside55]

You don't think a race of nihilanths is more special than just one? :dork:

Special is just a synonym of unique. Unique is synonymous to singular. Hence, more than one means that they are not unique. At one point time, they may have even been commonplace. Who knows how many nihilanths there were?

Also a thought just struck me: what if nihilanths weren't actually a race, but modified controllers? A controller altered and bloated with teleport energies?

 

[Narvi]

Special is just a synonym of unique. Unique is synonymous to singular. Hence, more than one means that they are not unique. At one point time, they may have even been commonplace. Who knows how many nihilanths there were?

Also a thought just struck me: what if nihilanths weren't actually a race, but modified controllers? A controller altered and bloated with teleport energies?

Unique does not necessarily mean singular. A race can be unique. The human race could be said to be unique.

Bloated to handle teleport energies, eh? I assume the enslavement of the vortigaunts would be a regrettable side-effect then... but then, where did the controllers come from?

Hmm... either the controllers came first, making the nihilanth; or the nihilanth made the controllers.

 

[Darkside55]

Unique does not necessarily mean singular. A race can be unique. The human race could be said to be unique.

Unique when compared to other animals, or the fact that we are--without any concrete evidence otherwise--alone in the universe. We are the sole higher-evolved species on the planet, and perhaps the only sentient beings in the universe. The word still has the same meaning. It implies that we're singular as a group.

Bloated to handle teleport energies, eh? I assume the enslavement of the vortigaunts would be a regrettable side-effect then... but then, where did the controllers come from?

Hmm... either the controllers came first, making the nihilanth; or the nihilanth made the controllers.

Enslaving the vortigaunts could've just been the product of needing a labor force and/or the thought that the vortigaunts were inferior, and thus needed to be servants to the superior race.

And I would imagine that the controllers came first, and the nihilanths were a product of their experimentation on their own bodies.

But again, that's just a theory to play around with. Another theory to explore is that the entire race of nihilanths were built by the controllers. It could even swing the other way, as you said: perhaps the giant nihilanths created the controllers to use as another sort of labor force. They built them small, for ease of biological economy and less energy expended, but packed them with only so much power as necessary to serve the nihilanths. In that way you can really see them as the master race of their species, making slaves and servants of all other races from their homeworld. It makes sense as well in that the controllers are wholly dependent on the Nihilanth on Xen, and died without his power to teleport them around (and thus they could not gather food, and died of starvation).

 

[Narvi]

Unique when compared to other animals, or the fact that we are--without any concrete evidence otherwise--alone in the universe. We are the sole higher-evolved species on the planet, and perhaps the only sentient beings in the universe. The word still has the same meaning. It implies that we're singular as a group.

Yes... that's what I meant. :cheese:

Enslaving the vortigaunts could've just been the product of needing a labor force and/or the thought that the vortigaunts were inferior, and thus needed to be servants to the superior race.

And I would imagine that the controllers came first, and the nihilanths were a product of their experimentation on their own bodies.

But again, that's just a theory to play around with. Another theory to explore is that the entire race of nihilanths were built by the controllers. It could even swing the other way, as you said: perhaps the giant nihilanths created the controllers to use as another sort of labor force. They built them small, for ease of biological economy and less energy expended, but packed them with only so much power as necessary to serve the nihilanths. In that way you can really see them as the master race of their species, making slaves and servants of all other races from their homeworld. It makes sense as well in that the controllers are wholly dependent on the Nihilanth on Xen, and died without his power to teleport them around (and thus they could not gather food, and died of starvation).

Yes. How'd they come to be though?

 

[Piers89]

And I would imagine that the controllers came first, and the nihilanths were a product of their experimentation on their own bodies.

I have to disagree with this sorry, my one main reason being the fact that with the death of the nihlanth all the controllers died.
I fail to see why controllers would create a version of themselves which could then control them and enslave them, seems pretty terminator-cybernet-esque to me...

I see it much more like the ancient egyptian system - pharoah/nihlanth > slavemasters/controllers > slaves/vortigaunts.

 

[Darkside55]

In that particular scenario (controllers experimenting on themselves) nothing says they became slaves. In fact everything up until the meeting with the Nihilanth in the first game suggests controllers are the upper crust of the Xen hierarchy. So by modifying themselves they'd only be granting themselves more power...the Nihilanth would still have been one of them, you see.

But then who can speak for the controllers? Maybe they're just weird like that. I still enjoy my old "building a god" theory, which is similar in motivation to what you said. Create something to lord over them and support them.

There's also more questions of their relationship. The controllers are dependent on the nihilanths, for certain, but why do the nihilanths need the controllers? Especially since we know there to have been multiple nihilanths. Would an entire species of these beings have use for anyone other than themselves? So the controllers must also play an integral part to the nihilanths, probably having to do with the "support network" comment.

Oh, and one other thing: note that while Marc said there were previous members of the species, he never indicated whether they all lived at the same time.

 

[Piers89]

Yes you do raise good points, however during the first time you played the xen levels, you must of realised you were working your way towards the real big cheese, much bigger than the ickle controllers.
There is always the possibility, that in the golden age of the nihlanth race, they created the controllers as a means of doing all the hard 'controlling work' of the slaves, so they themselves could be more lazy... but then again i guess you could say the exact same about the controllers creating the nihlanth.

 

[Darkside55]

Yes you do raise good points, however during the first time you played the xen levels, you must of realised you were working your way towards the real big cheese, much bigger than the ickle controllers.

Even before then. The scientist and the guard at Lambda Core outright told you, "There's something big over there, plz kill it." I should have elaborated; what I meant is that even to the Nihilanth they don't seem like workers. They don't seem to do anything other than monitor the vortigaunts and grunts, and protect the gateway(s) around Xen.

There is always the possibility, that in the golden age of the nihlanth race, they created the controllers as a means of doing all the hard 'controlling work' of the slaves, so they themselves could be more lazy...

If so, they're not much different than the Combine (the slug race, not the empire).