The HL Storyline Thread

[Logic]

I'm creating this thread with the intention of compiling the most complete and comprehensive representation of the storyline presented in HL, Opposing Force, Blue Shift and Decay. I'll then piece it all together (re-write it) into one document (word doc or html).

If you have something to add that hasn't been mentioned yet, point it out, but try to keep discussion to a minimum unless it's neccissary to establish something important in the storyline.

Here's a starting point, what I picked up by playing blue shift again the other day:

" Basically, the research facility was built to continue and expand on research into teleporter technology. What the scientists found, though, was that they couldn't accurately determine a target location. They discovered that there was a "border world" (xen) that was somehow involved in the teleportation process, and they soon discovered that the crystals found on xen were the key. So, they set up some machinery on xen that would intercept the teleportation "signals" from Earth, and utilise the crystal structures on xen to control and direct the rest of the teleportation process. So scientists knew about xen, and the aliens there, a while before Gordon's incident.

As teleporter technology got better, they began to realize that if they brought back samples of the crystals from xen, they could incorporate them into the teleporters, cutting out the need to have operational machinery in the border world. This is what they were trying at the beginning of HL - they were testing a new sample, the best one so far, in the hopes that they could produce stable portals without xen being involved. Obviously this went wrong, and the experiment's result allowed portals to be created from xen (and other worlds, as seen in opposing force) to earth.

In HL, there are places in the facility where teleporters were working properly, but they were over short distances, and we don't know if they were relying on equipment on xen or not. Perhaps the experiment Gordon was involved in was an attempt to create long range portals, using localised samples of crystal. If they had have pulled it off, it would have been a major step forward. Obviously, they didn't. "

 

[Gordon'sFreeman]

Very Well wrote :cheers:

 

[Logic]

Post information on characters, too. Dr Rosenberg, for example. While he had a fairly important role in Blue Shift, I've heard there's a lot of critical storyline stuff revolving around him in Decay. Can anyone with decay shed any light onto his role in the plot?

 

[Gunner]

Originally posted by Gordon'sFreeman
Very Well wrote :cheers:

That's more than I can say for you lol : )

 

[FriScho]

I only played HL1, I don't want to buy/play the add-ons now. It would be very nice to read more about the complete hl1 storyline including those add-on missiondiscs. Thanks in advance.

 

[groovy]

what's decay?

 

[groovy]

decay is the ps2 port of half life? is it the same as the comp version of it?

 

[Logic]

Originally posted by groovy
what's decay?

It's the "expansion pack" that never came out for the PC. It's only on the PS2 version of HL.

Can someone with the PS2 version perhaps possibly write a transcript of important dialogue? that would be very helpful. I have transcripts of HL and Opposing Force ( http://www.geocities.com/dusan_malindzak/Index.htm ) and I can get info from BS by playing it, but I have no access to Decay.

 

[Andy018]

the BMRF was a disused nuclear installation which was owned by the US government. this was then bought off the governement by an anon person (see administrator) who then converted it into the BMRF.

Gordon seemed to be caught up in everything, being a new starter at BM its possible that the administrator saw him as an easy person to kick the show off with Xen. Which if you remember the GMan confirmed near enough at the end of HL that that was the intention of the administrator or his superior's "the border world xen is in our control ... for the time being" and you can see that this was a pretty well thought out and planned intervasion by the army.


Its possible that the whole incident at BMRF was constructed so that the army grunts who were training in Op Force could go over to the border world and occupy it. remember there was a lot of hinting at that going on in Op force.

But because the grunts knew too much they blew up BMRF both to contain the invasion of earth but also to stop the grunts getting home

 

[mrchimp]

If the army were training for it does that mean the goverment was in on it or not, I know the G-man stands for goverment man but BM was now owned privately when the disaster happened

 

[RadiuS]

id like to know more about the things happening in decay. i dont have a ps2, so someone please post spoilers in decay

 

[Andy018]

I dont think the government was involved I think the army was called in to control the situation but the GMan sent them to xen to take over and to remove all traces of the experiments from BMRF.

on the other hand i do believe the black ops were owned trained paid by the Gman/administrator

and they took the roll of the cleaning crew who cleaned up ... well the cleaning crew

 

[.5c0ut-WHoR3.]

Originally posted by Andy018
and they took the roll of the cleaning crew who cleaned up ... well the cleaning crew

They cleaned up the cleaning crew =)

 

[Andy018]

basically ... yes

 

[el Chi]

Originally posted by Andy018
Gordon seemed to be caught up in everything, being a new starter at BM its possible that the administrator saw him as an easy person to kick the show off with Xen. Which if you remember the GMan confirmed near enough at the end of HL that that was the intention of the administrator or his superior's "the border world xen is in our control ... for the time being" and you can see that this was a pretty well thought out and planned intervasion by the army.
Its possible that the whole incident at BMRF was constructed so that the army grunts who were training in Op Force could go over to the border world and occupy it. remember there was a lot of hinting at that going on in Op force.

I disagree. It's an elaborate stunt to pull... I think that the border world being in their control was simply a pragmatic approach to the problem of the Xen invasion. They just took control of the teleportations etc that were being used by the aliens to come to Earth. At no point did it seem like the army were
a) supposed to know about Xen
b) invading Xen
I think they knew the experiment COULD go wrong, which is why they'd sort of primed the military but that they wanted to go ahead anyway because it was an important piece of research which is also why they bumped up the specs and such likes on the test ("Anti-mass spectrometer to 110%" or whatever)

But then maybe we'll find out properly in HL2.

 

[KaMaNcHi]

This is a great idea to put it all in one doc...Nice 1

I have just installed HL and OF for the first time in about a year for the purpose to get upto date with the story line. I have played HL through to the end but not OF (Used to lockup my old PC)

If I find anything interesting in the plot I'll post here.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

I'm pretty determined to figure out the whole plot myself.
Here's a theory of mine I posted in another thread, but it fits here too. It sums up alot of the mysteries behind the game, but some of it is speculation:

My theory is that G-Man simulated the invasion by causing the test-chamber incident to teleport in the aliens, and making it seem that Nihilanth was the source.

With Nihilanth looking like a massive threat, Earth folks would definately try to take him out, so G-Man sends the military in, in the hopes that they would find their way to Xen and kick Nihilanth around for him.

Unexpectedly, Gordon proves to be more successful than the military when it comes to L337 killing skillz, so the G-Man checks up on him every once and a while, and guides his progress. At the same time, Corporal Shepard from OP4 gets pretty close to Xen under G-Man's watch, but never makes it there.

After Nihilanth dies, G-Man hires Gordon, and takes over the slaves now that thier master is dead. G-Man then nukes the base to cover up the evidence, and stop any more aliens from warping, since he doesn't need them anymore.
Shepard is considered almost as useful as Gordon, and is kept in storage for later. The End.

Now, in HL2, Gordon and the slaves battle the combine for some reason, with G-Man commanding them along the way.

Possibly...

 

[coax]

I have a confession to make. I never finished HL1, and I never played any of the expansions. But now that I'm reading this stuff, maybe I should have :/
For one thing, I know I'm gonna play hl2 till the end.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

As for decay... *****SPOILERS*****

Note: there are breaks between missions, these are not in perfect chronological order. They just skipped the tram rides and walking from level to level sections.

Mission 1: Dual access
Gina Cross (the woman from the hazard course) and Colette Green are sent by Dr. Keller (thier wheelchair-riding boss) and Dr. Rosenberg to an area underneath the test chamber.
Gina pushes the sample onto the delivery elevator, while Colette turns the machine up to full power. The incident happens, and you escape to find Dr. Keller and Dr. Rosenberg for further orders.

Mission 2: Hazard Course
Rosenberg wants to call in the military for help, so you need to escort him through the partially destroyed Hazard Course.

Mission 3: Surface Call
You escort Rosenberg the rest of the way to the comm center, and he sends a transmission to the troops, asking for help.

Mission 4: Resonance
"The rift between Earth and the
alien world is widening. Reset the dampening
fields to prevent another cascade."
Keller send you to mess with some machines, then you go in a tram with him. This mission shows some Apaches flying past, so the military is already there.

Mission 5: Domestic Violence
After the tram ride, you fight the military in the living quarters (Freeman's flat is there!) to find a security guard who has the access codes for the rocket that is later launched by Freeman. You bring him back to the tram to meet Keller.

Mission 6: Code Green
The rocket is about to be launched, so you fight to a security comm center to uplink the codes.

Mission 7: Crossfire
"Prototype equipment must be used
to seal the dimensional rift. Manually raise
the displacement beacon into place."
You raise a huge yellow and silver device out of an underground storage bay.

Mission 8: Intensity
"The prototype equipment requires
huge amounts of energy. Activate the beam
matrix to power the displacement beacon."
Keller is now stationed in a lab near the device you brought up to the surface.
You fight your way through another lab where research is being done on Aliens brought back during earlier expeditions to Xen, mostly concerning the weapons they have. (This part is really kewl).
You then do a puzzle involving coloured lasers, which powers the machine.

Mission 9: Rift
"A resonance reversal may seal the
dimensional rift and save the planet. Use the
displacement beacon to initiate a reversal."
Keller tells you that Black Mesa workers have been visiting Xen for a while and have been capturing aliens, as well as other stuff I don't remember.
You power up some Xen crystals to fire at the device, while aliens warp in.
After you power three crystals, one of the alien flying ships from HL warps in and tries to blow up the machine. If you kill it in time, it explodes, and you are warped back to where Keller is. The End.

Bonus Mission:
Retrieve the Xen Crystals.
You play as slave aliens, and are wandering around in the Xen area that Gordon first warps to in the "cutscene" after the test chamber blows up. Suddenly, you are teleported in to Black Mesa. You fight past a lot of soldiers and black ops, until you reach a van with the crystals in the back.
End of mission.

Fun Facts:
-Alien Slaves are assigned serial numbers instead of names.
-Rosenberg built the test chamber and was one of the first to say that the Administrator's orders for the scientists were a bad idea.
-Keller sponsored Gina and Colette, just like Kliener sponsored Gordon, but Keller's status is confidential.
-In blue shift, you can see Gina push the sample towards the test chamber through a security camera.

 

[el Chi]

Go Mechagodzilla! Nice stuff there.

By the way - how d'you know it's Freeman's quarters?

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Originally posted by el Chi
Go Mechagodzilla! Nice stuff there.

By the way - how d'you know it's Freeman's quarters?

The names are listed near the doors. Also, there might be a picture inside, if I remember correctly? His is the only room you can enter, but there are several dozen such rooms.

 

[mrchimp]

how long deos it take for the incident to happen in decay?

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Originally posted by mrchimp
how long deos it take for the incident to happen in decay?

Same length as in HL1. You can hear the same orders that Gordon is given over the intercom.
You do black out for a second too, but you don't get any nifty visions like Gordon does.

 

[mrchimp]

dammit if you black out in that then there's no way of telling in that either...

Looks like we'll never know how long it takes headcrabs to mutate scientists.

*begins to cry*

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Originally posted by mrchimp
dammit if you black out in that then there's no way of telling in that either...

Looks like we'll never know how long it takes headcrabs to mutate scientists.

*begins to cry*

It might be real-time, y'know. Perhaps it only takes a minute or two to mutate. It's not inconceivable. After all, I don't think Gordon or the ladies are unconcious at all: you can hear them breathe the whole time. It's just dark from a power failure, or as a result of warping, IMO.

Edit: Woot, I'm a zombie now!

 

[Logic]

ah, excellent, thanks

I'll start piecing things together into some sort of readable narrative tomorrow.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Originally posted by Logic
ah, excellent, thanks

I'll start piecing things together into some sort of readable narrative tomorrow.

No prob. I wanted to do this idea of writing out the entire plot a while back, but I type slower than an upside-down turtle. ;(

 

[Nathaniel]

Originally posted by Mechagodzilla
Edit: Woot, I'm a zombie now!

so why don't YOU answer all our questions on how long it takes to become a zombie? after all, you recently became one

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Originally posted by Nathaniel
so why don't YOU answer all our questions on how long it takes to become a zombie? after all, you recently became one

What questions?

 

[Nathaniel]

There was another thread asking how long it would take for a Headcrab to mutate a person into a Zombie. They discussed it a lot, but never came to a conclusion. Then I noticed you mentioning you had recently turned into a Zombie

 

[Driftlight]

Out of curiousity, exactly who do you play in Decay? I don't think anyone has mentioned that yet.

 

[el Chi]

Originally posted by Mechagodzilla
After all, I don't think Gordon or the ladies are unconcious at all: you can hear them breathe the whole time. It's just dark from a power failure, or as a result of warping, IMO.

When you become unconscious you have no sense whatsoever of how long you've been out for, once you come to. But I also agree that you haven't been unconscious for very long.

I assume after he sends for troops, you don't see Rosenberg anymore?

 

[RadiuS]

thx for the info on decay!

 

[Logic]

Originally posted by Driftlight
Out of curiousity, exactly who do you play in Decay? I don't think anyone has mentioned that yet.

It's co-op. The two playable characters are Gina Cross (the woman from the hazard course) and Colette Green, I believe.. (Mechagodzilla mentioned them)

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Originally posted by Logic
It's co-op. The two playable characters are Gina Cross (the woman from the hazard course) and Colette Green, I believe.. (Mechagodzilla mentioned them)

That is correct. Gina is from the Hazard course. Colette is a new character, but she's really just the gina model with longer black hair.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Originally posted by el Chi
I assume after he sends for troops, you don't see Rosenberg anymore?

I don't remember, but he must leave at one point. Then he can help out Barney in Blue Shift.

 

[Trachten]

After reading through the HL and OpFor transcripts (www.geocities.com/dusan_malindzak/Index.htm) I have a question: What did the satellite that Freeman launched do exactly for the Lambda scientists?

The scientists in Lambda Core never seem to mention it. The only one who does is the Barney in On A Rail ...

Barney: Freeman, I've been waiting for you! One of your scientist pals said to give you a message. You’re supposed to take this old rail system up to some kind of satellite delivery rocket. I don’t know where it is exactly, and the old guy was so worried about getting out of here alive he didn’t tell me. The main thing is, the military aborted the launch, so when you do find the rocket, you'll have to get up to the control room and launch it yourself. He said something about a Lambda team needing the satellite in orbit if they were ever going to clean up this mess.

Is this satellite where the 'all clear' is being sent to open some doors in the HL Uplink demo maybe?

Barney: Open up to reactor complex so we can get down to safety!

Scientist: I'm sorry, but those doors will not open until we send the "all clear".

Barney: So send it already!

Scientist: I would love to do that, but the area bombardment has made a wreck of my transmitter, the cables are separate, we have to aim it by hand and I'm getting high radiation levels in the transmitter dome. Nobody but a fool would go in there!

Barney: What about this guy?

Scientist: Yes. You could survive in that suit of yours. Very well! I will lower security on the satellite access elevator. And you can go up into the dome. I'll try to help you over the intercom.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Originally posted by Trachten
After reading through the HL and OpFor transcripts (www.geocities.com/dusan_malindzak/Index.htm) I have a question: What did the satellite that Freeman launched do exactly for the Lambda scientists?

From what I've seen, It seems that the satelite was needed by the scientists to teleport someone to Xen and stop Nihilanth.
Perhaps it was a targeting satelite, or helped line up the transport beam or something.
I'm not sure, but the holographic globe from the rocket launch control centre already had two satelites flying around it. Perhaps they needed triangulation? That would support the targeting theory.

They probably mention more about it in the decay mission where you rescue the guard with the launch codes, but I haven't played it in a while.
I might go do that now.

 

[mrchimp]

maby some one should email gabe about the satilite in HL1??

 

[Spamz0r]

i dont get the start:

"we will bring the anti-mass spectromiter to 80%" something like that

anyway

anti-mass spectromiter

WTF

a mass spectromiter is someting that finds average isotope of an element in percentages etc

so what does it do

measure anti-mass ?

im confused