Reactor explosion, survival, and Breen.

[Asknoone]

Because Eli has one leg and will struggle to get out as it is? Gordon and Alyx can handle themselves, there isn't really much a pair of scientists can do against soldiers.

 

[99.vikram]

Which forces me to ask how they got out of the Citadel without Gordon's help in the first place??

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Because Eli has one leg and will struggle to get out as it is? Gordon and Alyx can handle themselves, there isn't really much a pair of scientists can do against soldiers.

Right, because a scientist doesn't stand a chance against soldiers... that would just be ridiculous

 

[Asknoone]

Right, because a scientist doesn't stand a chance against soldiers... that would just be ridiculous

Well, neither of them are wearing a HEV

 

[Rennmniscant]

I'd like to see a semi-bio-mecha-synth Breen! They could give him a funky offensive appendage as a replacement for the one he lost to a falling wall of metal while escaping the carnage. Ooor maybe Mr. F and Al catch up with him after his impromptu descent and had their way with him before he escapes with one hellova limp? Breen with an arm missing and a funky high-tech leg vaguely remnisc of Eli would be something nice to boost the poly count.

Near future maybe he has a sort of semi-bio-synth suit that not only keeps him alive, but also lets him temporarily inhabit a giant mecha suit for an epic match against, oh let's say... Dog? That'd be fun.

But then who's to say that Breen survives? I think that's a bit far fetched, seeing as he has just fallen that fair distance to the floor of a highly reactive and mollecularly unstable environment about to go super-nova... And the bubble? My thought would be that it certainly wouldn't protect him very well seeing as its primary power source has just been disintegrated.

Now... Alyx surviving... Maybe Alyx is in on the G-man's plot too? She might have been hoisted along for the ride along with Gordon and the Vorts. Actually, speaking of G-man hirelings, does anyone hold any hope in seeing Shepard making a guest appearance as a dashing young npc hero? I'd also be curious to find out about the remains of Father Greogry and Cubbage. Future episodes though, probably not for ep. 1.

That HL2ep1 trailer opens with Gordon being dug out by dog... is that before or after escaping the citadel, 'cause I don't remember the combine being too fond of concrete (such as he is burried under) in their architechture.

I wonder also about the possible conflict between Breencasts and Klienercasts? Sure, we know from all those screenshots and sneak-peeks that Kliener takes over the local TV station, but will the return of Breen (hehe... Episode 2: "Breen Strikes Back" or "Return of the Breen") trigger another shift in telecasting power and see the return of a deformed and even more dillusional administrator randomly quoting doomsday recitals?

And I'm all for thinking the combine won't immediately dismiss Breen, since that would be such a plot killer on Valve's behalf, so here's to hoping he dies quietly in his fall, or makes a triumphant return to evil tyranny with some funky upgrades.

 

[99.vikram]

a)

I'd like to see a semi-bio-mecha-synth Breen! They could give him a funky offensive appendage as a replacement for the one he lost to a falling wall of metal while escaping the carnage. Ooor maybe Mr. F and Al catch up with him after his impromptu descent and had their way with him before he escapes with one hellova limp? Breen with an arm missing and a funky high-tech leg vaguely remnisc of Eli would be something nice to boost the poly count.

God forbid :x

Near future maybe he has a sort of semi-bio-synth suit that not only keeps him alive, but also lets him temporarily inhabit a giant mecha suit for an epic match against, oh let's say... Dog? That'd be fun.

Refer (a).

But then who's to say that Breen survives? I think that's a bit far fetched, seeing as he has just fallen that fair distance to the floor of a highly reactive and mollecularly unstable environment about to go super-nova... And the bubble? My thought would be that it certainly wouldn't protect him very well seeing as its primary power source has just been disintegrated.

From what I remember, the bubble didn't fall, it descended at a moderate speed. It's been a while since I played Dark Energy though...

Now... Alyx surviving... Maybe Alyx is in on the G-man's plot too? She might have been hoisted along for the ride along with Gordon and the Vorts. Actually, speaking of G-man hirelings, does anyone hold any hope in seeing Shepard making a guest appearance as a dashing young npc hero? I'd also be curious to find out about the remains of Father Greogry and Cubbage. Future episodes though, probably not for ep. 1.

The Episode 1 official site says:
"In HL the Gman made you. In HL 2 he used you. In Episode 1 he loses control."
From what I can tell, he had plans for both Gordon and Alyx but they somehow escape his clutches.

That HL2ep1 trailer opens with Gordon being dug out by dog... is that before or after escaping the citadel, 'cause I don't remember the combine being too fond of concrete (such as he is burried under) in their architechture.

Agreed.

I wonder also about the possible conflict between Breencasts and Klienercasts? Sure, we know from all those screenshots and sneak-peeks that Kliener takes over the local TV station, but will the return of Breen (hehe... Episode 2: "Breen Strikes Back" or "Return of the Breen") trigger another shift in telecasting power and see the return of a deformed and even more dillusional administrator randomly quoting doomsday recitals?

With the resistance in power and the Citadel in ruins, where will he send his Breencasts from, assuming he lived?

I saw a screenshot of a Breenscreen with Kleiner in the forefront, and a fuzzy image of Breen behind him. If it is from the game, then I think the resistance has taken Breen prisoner or given him shelter.

And I'm all for thinking the combine won't immediately dismiss Breen, since that would be such a plot killer on Valve's behalf, so here's to hoping he dies quietly in his fall, or makes a triumphant return to evil tyranny with some funky upgrades.

The Episode 1 official site says quite clearly that the Combine are NOT happy with Breen, and have decided to take things into their own hands. So will earth witness another Combine onslaught? I don't know.

Here's the link: http://ep1.half-life2.com/

 

[Asknoone]

The Kleiner screen with Breen behind was fake.

Breens bubble fell at moderate speed, and I very much doubt it would have harmed him when it hit the bottom.

 

[Rennmniscant]

Hm... well that threw a spanner in the works... thaniks for the link, 99.vikram
"G-Man's malevolent grasp" eh? I never thought the G-man was such a character to be described that way. My comprehension was that he was an alien government agent (thus the government man => G-man) and was indifferent, just doing as the boss says.

Breen must have survived that fall even if purely for continuing the storyline. I can't imagine Valve easily disposing such a well developed character that was a primary focus of HL2, not to mention all the sprays and posters of his ugly mug.

Breens bubble descent, I must admit I didn't pay too much attention to, but I thought I saw it gain momentum as gravity sunk it's fingers back in. I'll take your words for it. And I really don't like Breens chances of surviving the blast anyway, bubble or none. Even that distance he fell wouldn't be much to stop him copping a fair brunt from the overhead explosion. Or is the G-man on his side too?

In all seriousness, I would like to see Breen survive with some difiguring injury, enough to give him a robotic leg, or arm or something, just like our dear old Eli. Speak of the devil, who has any ideas how Eli and Mossman escaped?

Even if it's not Breen, I'm sure as hell looking foreward to SOME new or rennovated npcs, like a new breed of combine unit out to herd the humans back into line. And fighting one of those crab synths or similar... that's gonna be fun!

 

[Asknoone]

With the Citadel just hours from blowing up, there is simply no time to perform a procedure on Breen.
Also, Gman is not the characters real name. Therefore the Government argument is moot.

 

[99.vikram]

Most guys I know assume Gman is helping humans. But all evidence points to something else.

Half-life: He is seen in BMRF. Soon things go to hell. After you defeat the one force that protected and watched over Xen (Nihilanth), he congratulates you.
But the portal storms never stopped.

Half-life 2: He gives his cryptic speech and sends you on your way. After you kill Breen, he again says some crap.
If anything, Gordon weakened the resistance and brought them out of hiding - when the Combine decide to "take things into their own hands", the ragtag resistance will be powerless.

 

[Asknoone]

Half-life 2: He gives his cryptic speech and sends you on your way. After you defeat Breen, he again says some crap.

Fixed.

I honestly don't think Gman is deliberatey trying to weaken the resistance, it's just a consequence of his true goals.

 

[99.vikram]

If you dont stop Breen's teleporter in time, gman says you have failed, just as you failed in Black Mesa. WTF does that mean?

It must mean Marc isn't making up the plot as they go along

 

[Asknoone]

If you dont stop Breen's teleporter in time, gman says you have failed, just as you failed in Black Mesa. WTF does that mean?

Nor, Gman doesn't say that
Breen says that.

 

[99.vikram]

Oh, right. See, I have DirectX 6 level hardware, so I sometimes disable sound and read the in-game dialogue. It helps to keep the framerate around 15 fps.

I thank Valve everyday that I can play this game on my uber-crappy 2000 rig, which I cannot upgrade. It was pretty hard playing Doom3 and FEAR at my friend's house everyday for a month. But this June... MUAHAHAHAHA :sniper:

BTW, which gfx card would you recommend for my new comp? Anything top-of-the-line.

 

[Glenn the Great]

Hey everyone, I'm new to the site and want to say a few of my own ideas on the subject since I haven't seen a few of them mentioned anywhere on the Internet.

Dr. Breen is my second favorite character in HL2 next to Barney Calhoun, and it's really important to me that he survives the explosion and continues to play an important role in the story. When I first beat HL2 well over a year ago, I had originally assumed that Breen was as good as dead. After playing the final chapter several times over, I realized that maybe Breen had a chance for survival, and I've been entertaining myself with ideas of how Breen might escape.

Now that I've seen the new trailer and seen the short scene of a dropship inside a large room of the Citadel (you can see several of those stalker pods on the walls), the answer for how Breen can escape seems really obvious.

Remember how in the final moments as the teleporter opened, the Combine aircraft were being scrambled and started hovering over the chamber in a desperate attempt to shoot you down? What if a dropship makes a brave descent into the chamber, picks up Breen, and then attempts to make it out of the Citadel with its precious cargo? Breen escapes into the air, while everyone else has to get out of the tower before it collapses.

Something else that piqued my interest in the new trailer, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned this to my knowledge, is the scene where Alyx is looking into the reactor chamber, and a blue swirl is seen inside, and Alyx says, "What the hell is he doing?" I am very intrigued by this, as I can't imagine what it could be. Is that blue glow part of some process to transform him into his alien host body? Also, I'd have to look at that scene closer, but it almost appears as if a drop ship is barely visible inside that blue glow. Maybe it's just my imagination.

As for the theory about the Breen in the bubble being a decoy, I think it's a ridiculous idea, but to play devil's advocate, I suppose a hologram of Breen in the bubble would surmise. Maybe I should noclip into that bubble while Breen is in it and see if his model is standing there, for what that's worth.

 

[Asknoone]

Well, it wasn't a decoy. Honestly people, it wasn't.
Welcome to the forums, first off! However, I honestly doubt a dropship could make it's way down the reactor chamber to pick up Breen, with things collapsing and exploding around you - there'd be no room.
Also, she says "What the hell are they up to?" in reference to the Combine and their attempts to take things into their own hands in Episode 1.

 

[MorganFreeman911]

Something else that piqued my interest in the new trailer, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned this to my knowledge, is the scene where Alyx is looking into the reactor chamber, and a blue swirl is seen inside, and Alyx says, "What the hell is he doing?" I am very intrigued by this, as I can't imagine what it could be. Is that blue glow part of some process to transform him into his alien host body? Also, I'd have to look at that scene closer, but it almost appears as if a drop ship is barely visible inside that blue glow. Maybe it's just my imagination.

Not to be rude, but Alex says "What the hell are they (is he, i dont remember) up to?!"

 

[Glenn the Great]

Hmm, after listening to it closer I agree it says "are they" and not "is he". It's a little hard to make out I guess.

I think the dropship could get down there comfortably if some of the platforms fell out of the way first. It'd be a tight maneuver but I can see it happening.

 

[99.vikram]

Hmm, after listening to it closer I agree it says "are they" and not "is he". It's a little hard to make out I guess.

I think the dropship could get down there comfortably if some of the platforms fell out of the way first. It'd be a tight maneuver but I can see it happening.

I don't see why a dropship would have to enter the chamber. Breen's bubble starts descending after you shut down the teleport. He could simply walk away to another room and escape by dropship or any other means.

 

[Asknoone]

Hmm, after listening to it closer I agree it says "are they" and not "is he". It's a little hard to make out I guess.

I think the dropship could get down there comfortably if some of the platforms fell out of the way first. It'd be a tight maneuver but I can see it happening.

That'd be very, very tricky.

 

[99.vikram]

Sorry to derail the thread but -

BTW, which gfx card would you recommend for my new comp? Anything top-of-the-line.

 

[Azner]

I think the dropship could get down there comfortably if some of the platforms fell out of the way first. It'd be a tight maneuver but I can see it happening.

He has a point the dropship is Bio--- Bio-- can someone help me here its Bio..something...

 

[Glenn the Great]

Are you trying to say bio-mechanical? It's some creature with a lot of legs that have thrusters attached and a thing to carry people around in.

I imagine that the dropship being a living creature, it would gracefully make complicated maneuvers just by thinking about them. I don't think it is the case that a combine soldier is using a joystick to fly it, as that is a much clumsier way to control it and would arguably demand a lot of piloting skill to pull off a rescue.

I suppose Breen could go back down the shaft and get out the way he got in. What bothers me about it is that his lift seems to be very slow moving for some reason (it seems that is only so that you have enough time to do your thing). Is he going to be able to lower it and get out in time?

That brings another point to consider. How fast and how intense is the destruction in that room going to happen? If there is enough time between the explosion we see at the end, and subsequent explosions, there would be a window of opportunity for a drop ship or some other means of escape.

I guess we simply won't know until we see it. I'm going to be very disappointed if Breen gets engulfed the the explosion and that's the end of him. It would be a shame, and one of the biggest reasons I'm looking forward to this game is because I hope to see Breen make a dramatic getaway.

I also wonder what Breen's alien host body was/is going to look like. First I thought it might be neat if he became a vortigaunt drone from HL1. You know , the ones that fly and have a big head? I can also see possibly the slug trooper that was in the Raising the Bar artbook. A Cremator would also be cool. I got the artbook only about 2 months ago, and that was the first time I heard of the Cremator, and I really wish that it didn't get cut. At least they put one of their heads in a jar in BME, which tells me that there is a strong possibility it will be in a later game, seeing as how it's at least canon. The whole mecha-Breen business is retarded. I think that if he escapes, it will probably be without any injury that might require cybernetics.

 

[Rizzo]

I dont know, i kinda like the whole cyborg Breen thing. Not big ass monster robot, but that he lost an eye and now has robotic one, and maybe a robot arm. A powerful one.

 

[Greatgat]

I like the idea of Breen with a robotic penis.

"We're waiting for you Gordon... In the pleasure chamber.

Okay, now seriously, I don't see how he would have time to get some implants and all that. It's been said that Episode 1 takes place immediately after the events of Hl2, as evidenced by the still standing Citadel and it's imminent explosion. So I think he'll just be a little scuffed up by the time you see him, unless if you catch him lying in a Combine hospital chamber, at your mercy. Which would be kind of cool, actually. Use the Gravity Gun to wing some syringes and bed pans at the ****er.

 

[Dr. Nelly Lemon]

Father Grigori carries the semi-concious Breen to safety. Sorry for the spoiler.

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

No no you have it all wrong!

In Episode 1 Breen will mount an Antguard. He will then go on a rampage across C17 like a drunken idiot screaming "TEH COMBINE IS TEH WIN!".

You know I'm right

 

[ríomhaire]

I'm so making that in Gmod tomorrow.

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

I'll make it too, then we can see who's is better

 

[Azner]

Thx Glenn its BioMech... Riomhaire... are you producer of Half Dead? or just making that...

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

It's not Mecha-Breen, it's the Cremator!!!11one

Sorry, just had to post that somewhere

 

[bbson john]

It's not Mecha-Breen, it's the Cremator!!!11one

Sorry, just had to post that somewhere

wtf spoiler

 

[99.vikram]

Well, now I dont have to play aftermath to find out what happens !

 

[ríomhaire]

Thx Glenn its BioMech... Riomhaire... are you producer of Half Dead? or just making that...

I am the acting writer, director, cameraman, producer and choreographer.

 

[el Chi]

It's not Mecha-Breen, it's the Cremator!!!11one

Sorry, just had to post that somewhere

Well by George! My dear boy, I do believe you're spot on!

 

[Remus]

Hmm... I cna't make out much out of that image but you just might be right:O . I just hope it's not gonnabe one boss tipe fight and that's it, I want to fight more of them

 

[Rennmniscant]

I imagine that the dropship being a living creature, it would gracefully make complicated maneuvers just by thinking about them. I don't think it is the case that a combine soldier is using a joystick to fly it, as that is a much clumsier way to control it and would arguably demand a lot of piloting skill to pull off a rescue.

Dropship dropping down there wouldn't be the wisest idea the combine ever had, but hey... they managed to loose at least 2 helicopters to a guy armed with a hover-buggy. Bio-synthetic though they may be, I doubt that a creature of that size could move with that amount of grace through such a small area. Heck the sheer size of it would make it hard enough, let alone with it all it's surroundings plummeting into destruction. And why the combine would risk anything to save the ex-administrator of the humans that they aren't terribly happy with is beyond me.

The bio-synth-y-mecha Breen idea wouldn't come into play immediately. It would make some nice sub-plot if you see Breen with (or in this case, without) his freshly decapitated limb, hobbling off to escape, and then progressively see him throughout the episodes, with bandages, crutch, operating table, new leg/arm/misc. appendages... A giant mecha Breen would be really cool... but certainly not for HL2. Recommend it to Jerry Bruckheimer, or George Lucas one day.

The G-man has been named as such, so I thought, because it stood for government man. Whether official or not, he certainly looks the part, and has been aptly scripted to suggest that he's an agent for some obscure alien government. And that Prima guide says he is in service of a higher power too. I wonder what they'd call him if not the "G-man"... Nobody else has refered to him apart from that vortigaunt in that boxcar, chapter... 3, wasn't it? And he only said "We serve the same mystery".

And just a quick idea, how does Gordon end up with the hyper-gravity gun again? does he seek it out of the rubble? Does the G-man let him keep it? Does Breen have it again?

 

[Azner]

'_' WHAT???? I have no idea

 

[Remus]

you end up with the blue gravity gun again because it says so in the script .

 

[99.vikram]

you end up with the blue gravity gun again because it says so in the script .

I'm sure Gordon will lose it minutes into Ep 1. Does anybody know if Ep1 includes new weapons?