Yout thoughts on how ep3 would go..

soulslicer

soulslicer

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I just have this feeling, that the style of ep3 would have a primary goal of heading to the Borealis, with you getting off in pit stops from your helicopter, thus seeing many new places and fighting new enemies and stuff..

what do you think? How would it flow?
 
I hope it actually starts with you already approaching the Borealis with Alyx talking something about it.
 
That would be awsome if done correctly, I just hope the episode doesnt start miles away with you waking up randomly in the back of the now landed helicopter after being unconsious, it would seem a little cheap to me, I trust valve to make it cool, im sure they have been looking forward to making the finalie of the trilogy, and with the quality of the midsection, i can only predict greatness.
 
This directly shows what I consider to be the greatest problem with visualising Episode 3 at the moment. For all the plot revealed in Episode Two, I honestly can't come up with anything more than Helicopter - Base - Borealis - Mossman - G-man - Advisor - End. Mind you, without the Episode Two trailer I could have said the same thing about the end of Episode One.

In addition, the ending of Episode Two in a real circumstance doesn't really lend itself to "Get to da choppaaaaaa". Eli's dead, and unless there is a new massive seige on White Forest with no hope of survival, I think you would expect the two of you to stay around a little under the circumstances. Mind you, race the combine, save the world could happen... kinda confusing really. Where they start off would be a big deal though.
 
And i ALSO hope that the helicopter doesn't crash somehow miles away from Borealis, and half of the game is actually GETTING to Borealis, as you run around the blizzard, raiding bunkers and outposts and such.

When finally, the entire last level of the Episode consists of you simply killing the combine on the deck and in a few cabins and finally finding that...whatever is on the ship.
 
I think we will either have to ditch the helicopter or it will crash thus making our way on foot or maybe we might get the snowmobile they cut from Hl2.
 
They cut the jet ski.

What the hell would you be doing with a snowmobile in C17?
 
I had a picture in my head that EP3 starts with flashbacks of what has happened, looking like the HL2-intro did with the black transparancy. Then all of a sudden you wake up lying on a bed staring at the ceiling. You can hear someone talking about, well, something important, something you want to hear more about, lets say Gman, Mossman, something else that is going on, then someone in the room can see that you are awake, and they stop talking and walk over to you.

Then, just a guess, is that you will actually travel with the chopper that you saw in the hangar. With NoClip on in EP2, you can see that they didnt make it possible to travel in the back of the chopper, it's just not programmed and designed on the inside. In the cockpit however, I can clearly see you and Alyx sitting in there. Looked like when you sit in the minivan that Dog launches into the Citadel in EP1.
 
Xendance said:
I don't really see the combine being in the arctic.
Click to expand...

Judith's message says otherwise, if that is the Arctic, after all.

I'm pretty sure Valve will start Episode Three off exactly how they started One and Two off - exactly where you left off. These are Episodes after all, meant to represent an entire gamesworth, so the immersion of ending one Episode in one place then starting again in, give or take, the exact same spot will continue as it already has done before (which works brilliantly) They won't just throw you into the helicopter for you to start already on the move, we've yet to hear what Kliener and Magnusson have to say about...

Eli's death...

... and anything else in and between. If I remember correctly, Eli was against using the Borealis for... well, whatever reason, but with him out of the picture, I've a feeling Magnusson and Kliener are going to step up with a new plan, involving the use of the Borealis and possibly a whole new narrative of information inside White Forest as a sort of brief.
 
Xendance said:
I don't really see the combine being in the arctic.
Click to expand...

Snow.jpg
 
^ No, but hopefully some new Xen fauna.

I don't think we will travel with helicopter all the way from eastern Europe to the Arctic, though, but at least a bit north, maybe to Baltics or Finland.
 
It wont start off with you on a helicopter; you'll most likely go back and talk to Kliener and Magnusson about the Borealis and why Eli was a opposed to using it and etc. At which point Barney might show up and go North with you and Alyx.

They just wouldn't skip the aftermath of Elis death like that.
 
Irksome said:
They just wouldn't skip the aftermath of Elis death like that.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

As much as you and Alyx are in a hurry to get to the Borealis, I'm willing to bet there will be some sort of burial of Eli before we leave. There is no way in hell Valve would skip out on some sort of afterthought and plot focus as this. It's far too much of a big event in the games story.
 
If you're hot-footing it for the good of all man-kind you don't stop for a wake. The end events of Ep2 made for a good ending but have left Valve with a difficult start to Ep3.
We could leave Alyx behind, maybe she catches us up later. Or maybe she's so bent on revenge that she abandons her fathers remains and we head off. Some players are going to go rabid either way.
 
Well, perhaps not a burial - if anything, we'll most certainly be seeing it at the end of Episode Three if things go smoothly with the whole 'save the world' plot, which lets face it, it won't, will it? But there will most certainly be a halt in progress.
 
Think about it. Scandinavia in ep3!!

then you have to land. to fuel up, combines attack while you are down there, you fight your way trough what was once Stockholm, new helicopter, you are flying again, well theres pretty long to the artic still, in less there is a lot more ice now and the artic has moved further south, then you see Borealis, lands in the middle of a battle, jump out of the heli and starts kicking some combine ass!
 
The one thing that confuses me is how the helicopter ride will be handled in "real time"...they can't possibly make us sit through what I assume is several hours of uneventful flight from the C17 area to the Arctic...at the same time, the helicopter has to actually come close to its destination, so they can't have it crash and use unconsciousness as an excuse to make time pass.

Maybe we won't even use the helicopter, and we'll be teleported there by Vortigaunts/Kleiner/Magnusson/G-Man/Santa Claus/etc.
 
If they go down the chopper route, they'll probably do some kind of intro with you sat on the chopper, opposite anybody else who's coming with. I imagine FEAR, R6V or maybe even MOH:A type intro, where you rappel/chute down to the surface to an LZ.

I don't think they'd be going to the Artic, I'm assuming it'd be part of the Baltic Sea which had frozen over due to the effects of the Portal storms.

Whatever happens, it's sure to be about a race to the Borealis to uncover whatever it is that's in there which will give the Combine ultimate control over the earth, or the Rebels the chance to save the earth. Some kind of massive Portal device that will either send the Combine back 'home' or let them take the Earth again, for good.

We're also assuming there'll be a happy ending...what if ultimately, earth is destroyed and the G-man just puts you in stasis in preparation for another mission on another world. That'd be a real tear jerker for the fans, but ultimately, isn't this what Gordon was taken from Black mesa in the first place for? To serve the G-man?
 
The Combine is now unable to send any more reinforcements, and that might mean that we in EP3 will start seeing humanity getting the upper hand in the battle against the Combine. That might also mean, though, that the Xenians, who were previously held down by the Combines, will now start attacking humans on a full scale.
 
I think it's reasonable to assume no more reinforecments from what is said in Ep1 & 2 but we still have a planet full of Combine forces and the more time goes by the more time they have to rally those remaining resources.
I'd like scandinavia for Ep3.
 
I think that GLaDOS is in the borealis. She probably went mad like at aperture science and teleported the ship. But hopefuly you don't have to fight here the way Chell did, that would suck.
 
How to open Episode Three is going to be a tough one for Valve. They had it pretty easy for Episode Two, but now they're going to make up for it.

We could open at the "burial of Eli", which would certainly set the tone for the rest of the Episode. We could start out in the helicopter, avoiding the whole "burial of Eli" bit. But the problem with that is that there's no way to have the player sit through the flight, doing pretty much nothing except staring at a wrecked Alyx. This would require an "unconscious" section, which actually would be somewhat realistic, as neither Gordon nor Alyx have had a wink of sleep in some time. Somebody else (Barney) could fly the helicopter while Alyx and Gordon sleep.

In any case, somebody is going to be unhappy with the opening.
 
I wouldn't want a 'Gordon does Portal' either but as pointed out by someone else on these forums the schematics do make mention of the moving scaffold and the emancipation grid. So whilst it doesn't have to mean that there's even a test center in the ship it does suggest some of the elements used in our experience of one.
 
My money is leaning towards helicopter to a teleporter, fight around teleporter, to get it working etc, teleport to arctic, miss, fight way to base, win.

Or, helicopter the whole way, with stops to fuel/gather supplies, using sleep to cover time, all the way north, then epic realisation of some sort (Base destroyed, new citidel dropped, whatever) and end -> HL3
 
Ep3 has to start directly after Ep2, seeing the aftermath on all the characters. There's no need to actually have a burial. Eli's body can be given to the Vorts for them to prepare the body and Vort-y chants and alike, the actual burial will be suspended till Alyx and Gordon return from their mission.

The chopper idea with Barney flying it is good but i know i want to have air combat in Ep3. Barney\Alyx flying the plain while you bring death from above on combine troopers, air chase and battle with Combine Gunships is also a must. It's a good chance to introduce new "air enemies" that we don't have much in the HL2 world.

Like i said in another topic, i want a huge Itchy fight. The itchy is swimming around the ship so you have to take it down. They can have the itchy appear all of a sudden, breaking through the icey waters.

On-foot combat as well, maybe DOG-ski (i'm still not over the idea of having the combine taking over control on him), more hunters and tougher ones, new enemies (xen and combine), new weapons, new environmental hazzards and dynamics.
 
Dude Santa Claus for the ****ing win! I hope we fly to Lapland and then refuel at Santa Claus that has gotten mad because of Combine ruining the christmas. He hopes we can make christmas to come again, and also achievement to rescue one of his gnomes, that you just sent to space. You get to Borealis and teleport to space, then you go take a look at the satellite and pick up gnome and Santa comes with his flying reindeers and that's quite basically the episode.
 
*sigh* Haven't you guys thought about the OTHER options, Valve could use to open Ep.3?
Like Ep.2, with an introductory movie.

First they show, how the advisors attacked, Alyx crying for help, rebels showing up after advisors flee...fade to black...fades back in...everybody is centered around a grave, somebody cries...fade to black...fades back in...you and Alyx get on the chopper and start it with some people watching in the hangar, with the Gman standing in the middle of the crowd...fade to black...shows helicopter ride, your sitting next to Alyx, with a blizzard outside and nothing visible below...fade to black...fades back in...Alyx spots something, which is the Borealis and you land, which turns the control over to you, and the Episode starts.

Well this is just a example.
But they might come up with something like this.
 
Do we really have time for a funeral? i thought the message Valve was giving was that it was critical we get to the ship before the combine and destroy it.
 
I was overlooking the "sleep in helicopter" option because it would force Gordon to do a voluntary action without input from the player...but now I think of it, they could do the same thing they did with the stalker pods in the Citadel at the end of HL2, and just make the bed/seat/whatever into a 'vehicle' which Gordon could enter to trigger the sleeping sequence.

And good to see that people like my Santa Claus idea. :LOL:
 
It's going to start with Magnussun pouring out a forty on the street while playing either a biggie smalls or tupac song. He'll say, "this is for you, Eli." Then he'll go cap some combine bitches.
 
If we did introduce a pilot outside of our heroic couple, then they could use part of the ride for more character development between Alyx and Gordon. Alyx could pour out all her feelings about her fathers death, fall apart as Gordon comforts her. Out of sheer emotional and physical exaustion she would fade to a whisper and fall asleep in the middle of one of her sentences. Gordon would reflect on all that has happened and drift off himself. Both awakening suddenly when the Helo comes under attack.
 
This is also a possibility.

its all black, flashes from the original half-life apears. Voices talking in a big mix, (like rebels, scientists from hl1, alyx, combine, vorts) some sentences are clear, maybe some of the most famous from both games, flashing between different scenen from the games, small glims of strange things we have yet to meet. The advisor attack on Eli also flashing with voices, G-man starts talking something about Eli, the resistance and a remark of that this is the first time Gordon is asleep (if you dont couint the stasis) since the Day everything went wrong and that now is his chance to do his most important job yet, while alot of talking in the background, still with sentences that can be heard, scenes also flashing in the background in the traditional hl2/epsidode 2 style. then he comes with his "So wake up Dr. Freeman.. Wake up.. And feel the cool breeze". slowly fade and you start heering wind, then you wake up, alyx looks at you, tells you that you been sleeping since Elis death, she starts crying, she hugs you, you gets her comfort, The Pilot in the chopper starts yelling, *Boom*, it crashes. everything turns black. you wake up while looking directly into a vorts eye. you are in somekind of artic base with little HP, no alyx, the cottact has been cutted from the around world because of bad weather.

Asingment:
Get contact to White Forrest and save Miss Vance​

Still like to see Scandinavia in ep3
 
PimpinPenguin said:
Do we really have time for a funeral? i thought the message Valve was giving was that it was critical we get to the ship before the combine and destroy it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's something you spotted while others... *sigh* missed it.
Time passing doesn't seem an option and the quick catchup film we get shown at the start of Ep2 is the first time I can think of that Valve hasn't used the in-game engine for info-dumps.
 
This sounds like a very similar topic on the opening scenes of HL2. Lots of speculation about a long train ride (like HL1), and in the end they just cut right to the action :)

One thing you can count on with Valve's scriptwriters is that they tend to surprise you.
 
Meh, i'm not really creative, so here's my sucky story.

Gorden and Alex need to hurry to reach the Borealis before the combine or even stop the combine from using it. On the way to the Borealis you get some information about what the Borealis contains. If we assume it can be used to 'call' another Portal Storms you want it destroyed (Eli said it) but Alex, waiting for revenge and not aware of Eli's message, wants to use it against the vile Combine.

At one point, inside the Borealis, she locks you up and goes on alone, becoming more and more intrested in revenge and not seeing the consequences. You escape and discover the combine plan to link the Portal Storms direcly to their homeworld were a massive force is waiting for the opening. Meanwhile hell breaks lose around, and inside the Borealis were the Combine and rebels fight their final battle. You try to reach her, and kill an Advisor on the way. You find Alex at the Portal thing. She is wounded, insane and filled with despair and revenge. Alex points her gun at you and then she sees a glimp of the Combine homeworld. Alex faints and you can stop the portal just in time and it can be destroyed.

At that point, the Borealis is collapsing and then the Gman enters, revealing himself to Alex and teleports both out of the ship. After that, the Borealis. In that time, you need to defend the Borealis, keeping of the Elite Combine army under the command of Advisors. After that, the complete Borealis needs to be destroyed, you, together with the Vortigaunts and rebels make a final push against the combine, giving you just enough time to enter te ship and destroying the core.
 
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