Race X - Bad or good Idea

[Asknoone]

personally i think the whole Idea sucks. i hate Race X, the aliens look rubbish and they are a badly implemented idea and should never have been added.

I mean Xen was great and it made sense in the story. But another? i mean what? its just stupid and i hope valve have decided not to use them

 

[dæmon]

If they were in the game to show that other races had discovered the portals, then they were a good idea. It would make it easier for them to explain how the Combine has come to exist in Half Life 2 (assuming that the Combine are aliens).

I was never convinced though that Race X was definitely separate from Xen. Unless I've missed something, I haven't seen Valve confirm or deny that they are a different race. The "X" could stand for Xen, but the marines didn't care where the aliens originated, and calling them "X" was acceptable. Also, the big thing at the end of Opposing Force has similar features to the ordinary Xen tentacles, suggesting they are from the same place.

As for the aliens themselves, the Shock Troopers were a good challenge, but those little hornet spitters were just annoying.

 

[el Chi]

They worked within Op4, but I'd rather not see them in HL2.
That is all.

 

[Fender357]

personally i think the whole Idea sucks.

This is the first thing I read on this thread, and its all I'm going to read.


I so fully agree. Gearbox did a crappy job of trying to make a good game (like they ALWAYS do). They don't realize that you don't need to make a whole new freaking game, with EVERYTHING freakn' new, if its an add on to another game. I know Valve probably didn't have the entire story in the HL univers worked out at the time OP4 was made, so there was nothing for Gearbox to really go by exept HL, but HL alone should have been a great thing for them to try and go by story wise. Insted they just made up a ton of their own crap that really didn't make any sense.


And they screwed up Halo for the PC. Bastards.

 

[Fender357]

oh yeah........and I'm fairly sure, and fairly happy that there wont be anything from OP4 in HL2 or any of its addon's. Valve said they were going to make everything else them selves....and I say THANK THE LORD!!!!!

You can pretty much consider Op4 and Blue Shift as just add on's that are not going to be payed attention to in the true Half-Life Universe.

 

[CreamOfetus]

yeah... op for was fun and all that, but it was pretty dumb.... especially the barnacle gun.

 

[Asknoone]

Fenders correct there was no need for Gearbox's rubbish.

i am glad that Valve are making there own expansions this time and the barnacle gun...the barnacle gun WTF was tha....how stupid

 

[Brian Damage]

First off, I don't remember VALVe ever saying Race-X/OP4 creatures/BS characters or references to them won't be in HL2. I wouldn't mind it if one of the "Race-X are teh suxxorz!" people could go find a source for that. In fact, the character Barney Calhoun in HL2 is the Barney Calhoun from Blue Shift.

Secondly, VALVe, Mark Laidlaw, and Gearbox worked closely together to create the stories in OP4 and Blueshift. VALVe and Laidlaw had a hand in the creation of Race-X. Personally, I liked them.

Thirdly, the Xenians and the Race-X are different groups (They fight if they meet), but it isn't known whether they both come from the same place or not.

 

[Sprafa]

I loved Race X.

the Xenians looked too weak, and Race-X looked like an organized army.

 

[Brian Damage]

Yeah, the only really military-type creatures in the Xen forces were the Grunts, and they reminded me more of policemen or enforcers.

 

[Darkside55]

Race-X was...interesting. Certainly challenging. My only complaint with Race-X is that the bastards are damn hard to find a place for in the HL universe. I mean, are they from Xen? Are they from another dimension/planet? And although I'll never personally believe this unless HL2 specifically tells me so, and in great detail, some people seem to believe Race-X has some kind of connection to the Combine.

They're too mysterious. Please see sig.

 

[Sprafa]

I have an explanation to the Race-X - When the Nihilant fell, Xen lost leadership.

It seems like he was organizing Xne to block ppl from using it, since it is a borderworld that allows long-range teleportation between "whatever", Xen is a very important strategic dominion for any race.

Race-X probably saw the Nihilant fall as an oppurtunity to expand and dominate thru Xen, as the Xenians lost the manpower to stop a generalized breaktrough.

So, they go through Xen, most probably with some eliminated resistance, and came to Earth and maybe a few other planets, to invade. Meet resistance from scattered Xenians, and terminate them.

End of the day, Shepard kills the Gene Worm, and Race-X also lose leadership.
I assume that's it for them.

 

[NeLi]

I liked Shepard and his adventure. I really hope they make another gread add-on for him.

 

[Brian Damage]

Sprafa's thoeory has a certain ring to it, though I'd doubt that they'd just give up, after all, the Xenian leader was destroyed (We think.), and we still see the presence of at least part of the Xenian civilisation. I've got a feeling that the Race-X Gene Worm was merely some sort of troop transport, anyway.

It always seems to be a 50/50 split, give or take a few percent (Though from what I've seen here, I'd err on the side of the people who like Race-X). Some people like them, some people don't.

 

[Eejit]

I like them, they were a nice addition to the storyline. I don't think OpFor would have been as fun fighting the exact same enemies the whole way through - who had already had their 'boss' defeated by Freeman.

 

[Sprafa]

Well, if Xen did plunged into chaos as I think, many other races would compete for it.

So, Race-X just tried their luck, but didn't managed to remain at the top for long.
Which would explain why they won't came again. Other, even more advanced races realized the Race-X invasion or something similar, and decided to take their chances as well.

Which explains the Combine technology and the massive alien invasion in HL2....

 

[Bing_Oh]

I tend to believe that Race X was from Xen. Their reliance on organic weaponry and the similarity of that weaponry to the only "Xen soldier" (that being the Grunt with the hornet gun) makes the connection quite possible. Now, there was clearly some hostility between Race X and the "traditional" Xen aliens...but whether that was simply a case of opposing alien factions and/or the more mindless Xen aliens behaving in their normal hostile way remains to be seen. Personally, I tend to believe that Race X was Xen's organized military, as opposed to the "traditional" Xen aliens who were either indiginous wildlife or a more "working class" of Xen (excluding Grunts).

 

[chimpmunk]

I tend to believe that Race X was from Xen. Their reliance on organic weaponry and the similarity of that weaponry to the only "Xen soldier" (that being the Grunt with the hornet gun) makes the connection quite possible. Now, there was clearly some hostility between Race X and the "traditional" Xen aliens...but whether that was simply a case of opposing alien factions and/or the more mindless Xen aliens behaving in their normal hostile way remains to be seen. Personally, I tend to believe that Race X was Xen's organized military, as opposed to the "traditional" Xen aliens who were either indiginous wildlife or a more "working class" of Xen (excluding Grunts).

Then, why do they attack each others on sight???

 

[chimpmunk]

IMHO, i think Race-X first came to earth to take back their kids... were faced with the chaos of black mesa (Xenians fighting Human Grunts Fighting black ops killing scientists) and brought the gene worm as a troop transport. When the Gene-worm was killed, they probably lost their "portal" to earth.
Since the Nihilianth was killed soon after that, the resonance cascade was stopped and the portal closed (at least, it was supposed to).
So i guess we won't see them again.

And IMO they come from xen too, look at their morphology, they look like a Beefy-militarized version of the xenians... They probably only lack a concentrated leader like the nihilianth...

 

[dæmon]

The only time I remember Race X aliens attacking Xen aliens was at the dam, when the shock troopers shoot at the gargantua. It is possible that they are from somewhere other than Xen - the scientist claims to have never seen the shock trooper before - but this was before Freeman went through the portal.

 

[Lordblackadder]

RaceX Competing Xenian Group

I think RaceX may be a different "nation" within Xen. Perhaps Nihilanth's people are dominant, but X aliens occupy a remote area of Xen.

X's may also be fighting a civil war of some kind against Nihilanth's people.

So when they got wind of the resonance cascade and subsequent battle between earth and Xen, they tried to seize the day and take a shot at Black Mesa in the resulting confusion. Perhaps they figured that both sides would be so weakened by the fighting, that they might ome out on top.

This may be a little convoluded but there you go. :rolling:

 

[chimpmunk]

i thought they came to take their childrens (spore launching larva) back?

 

[Brian Damage]

Possibly... That was never actually stated in game, IIRC,, but the spore launchers are called "Baby Troopers" in the model thingies.

There were only a few baby troopers there though, apparently. And there were massive numbers of Shocktroopers...

I'm also fairly certain that Race-X Shocktroopers (The only really intelligent Race-X) and the Xenians were deiiferent species/genuses/families or whatever the biology term is. They had very different morphologies, for the most part. All the civilised Xenians had three arms and two legs (There is the odd exception of the Gargantua, but perhaps they're only really beasts of war, not people), whereas the Shocktroopers had four arms. Also, the Xenians had multiple eyes, but the Shocktroopers only one, and it was constructed differently.

 

[<RJMC>]

in my opinion

I love Race X
they are original design and stuff

I think they are some class of aliance
cuz they are very diferent themselves
I dont think they are all of the same specie
maybe they allied to fight agaisnt Nihilant
is a good theory right?

also
more enemye's is better no?

 

[CrazyHarij]

Race-X are probably like the black dudes of Xen trying to become equals to the Xenians.

 

[Fender357]

I liked Shepard and his adventure. I really hope they make another gread add-on for him.

I really wouldn't mind if they did. I just would hope it took place in a world much closer to what HL2 will be. Like I said....no more of this makeing up tons of crap. Anyway, Valve will do it.....and it shall be good.

 

[Brian Damage]

Well the entirety of the HL series is made up anyway, so I don't really see the harm in adding an alien race that fits the extended plotline...

 

[eber]

what the hell is race-X and what are the diffrents between race-X and the Xenians ?
and why do you call the xen-aliens xenians ? does the race-X belongs to a diffrent world than xen ? i dont remember that the race-X aliens attacked the xen aliens !!
i also didnt know that there are 2 diffrent groups of aliens . . . but it sounds cool and i must say i liked the aliens from Opposing4rce . . . where do you guys get all that information about h-l storyline from ?? where do you know from that they are named race-X ? why why why ????????????

 

[Mechagodzilla]

what the hell is race-X and what are the diffrents between race-X and the Xenians ?

Race-X are all the new aliens introduced in Half-Life Opposing Force. They are the Shock Trooper, Baby Trooper, Shock Roach, Pit Drone, Voltigore, Baby Voltigore, Pit Worm and Gene Worm.

The main race-X alien is the Shock Trooper, which uses the rest as weapons to some extent (except the Pit Worm). They don't hang out with Xen aliens, and will attack them.

and why do you call the xen-aliens xenians ? does the race-X belongs to a diffrent world than xen ? i dont remember that the race-X aliens attacked the xen aliens !!

'Xenian' is a made up term. Canada has canadians, so Xen has Xenians.
No-one knows where race-X comes from, but most evidence seems to say that they are from another part of Xen that is far away from Nihilanth's area.
race-X only appears in Opposing Force, and they only really shoot at a Garg in one area.

i also didnt know that there are 2 diffrent groups of aliens . . . but it sounds cool and i must say i liked the aliens from Opposing4rce . . . where do you guys get all that information about h-l storyline from ?? where do you know from that they are named race-X ? why why why ????????????

I'm pretty sure Race-X was the name that they were called by valve, but they weren't really given a name in the game.
I got this information from playing the games way too many times.


Anywho, I say Race-X = good. They have some of my favorite designs out of the HL aliens. The Shock Trooper is my current favorite enemy out of the lot.
Plus, they've fueled so many of these crazy theories in this forum.

 

[Dsty2001]

Opposing Forces was very good, In fact I liked it in the action sense more than Half-Life. Although the boss sucked and was easy to beat...but really, Gearbox done a great job with OP4....I have no idea why anybody would say otherwise.

 

[Brian Damage]

Yeah, me neither. Felt like a damn good continuation to me. A lot of the old, some of the new, new background info and discoveries, plot revelations.

I still play it, too.

 

[Eejit]

And it's still a challenge to play through on difficult (for me), especially near the end... dozens of voltigores, shock troopers and black ops = fun


It's easy to see that the shock troopers and spore gun are related. Look at the spines from their backs, and the veiny things under their skins.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

I always assumed that the spore gun and the shock troops were somehow related, but their physiologies were so different, I just guessed that they came from the same environment. They'd ahve to go through a large-scale metamorphosis too. I mean, the baby doesn't even have an eye, when the adult has a huge one.

One thing that many people overlook about OP4 is what we learn of the G-man and his methods. In OP4, we see him take a much more active role, shutting doors and opening others. He's clearly guiding Shephard to somewhere (I'd guess the Main Portal that Gordon jumps into.)

If we assume that he acted the same way with Gordon, then I find it safe to say that the G-man's purpose was to guide a talented fighter to Xen and kill Nihilanth.

 

[InsaneCow]

Did any of you notice though, the garg doesn't attack the shock troopers? if you wait for long enough and hide, the shock troopers will throw those spore grenades at the garg and break the ropes holding it. The garg, although now free, will not attack them, just run around. If it sees you however, it will attack you

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Did any of you notice though, the garg doesn't attack the shock troopers? if you wait for long enough and hide, the shock troopers will throw those spore grenades at the garg and break the ropes holding it. The garg, although now free, will not attack them, just run around. If it sees you however, it will attack you

Maybe he knows that they can't actually hurt him?
or maybe Gearbox didn't expect anyone to hang around for that long.

 

[InsaneCow]

hahaha, yeah probably, the shock troopers do actually kill it in the end though. You can kill a garg (on normal difficulty) with 10 grenades (as long as they explode near his feet). Det packs and mp5 grenades also work, and obviously spore grenades/shots. Anything with a blast radius can kill one (takes a lot though). .

 

[Citizen 1150421]

How does Blue shift End?

 

[Eejit]

Blue Shift:

Spoiler

Barney escapes the BMRF along with a few scientists

Remember that tadpoles change a lot as they grown into frogs, why ca't shock troopers do the same?

 

[NeLi]

Blue-Shift was a dissapointment...I mean, what an anti-climax ending... Driving away from Black Mesa in some car with some scientists, heh.

 

[alehm]

I loved OP4 the first time I played it through.

But looking back in retrospect I do feel that Race X do not have that same 'Half life' feel of the original. Take for instance the 'next stage mutation' zombie. It is a zombie running around grabbing flesh of its chest and throwing it at you and it does damage(?)! I always felt that just doesn't feel the same way Valve would have done the 'next stage mutation' and judging by the new videos and what I have heard of the leak my feelings are justified. That is just one example of many.

Now all in all, I still don't think OP4 is a bad game, nor do their Race X aliens ruin the game for me. I just can tell a difference in the caliber to Gearboxs vs Valves twisted thinking. haha