GMan's heart-to-heart in Half Life 2: Episode 2 is one of the hypest moments in gaming (spoilers)

[Deleted member 12790]

For those who need a refresher, after surviving a train wreck and making your way through a mineshaft and fighting through an antlion nest, Alyx and Gordon are fleeing with critical data for the resistance when Alyx is wounded by a hunter. The vortigaunt convene to save Alyx's life as gordon fights off a zombie infestation. This is one of the climaxes of the Half Life 2 story, and after a huge, and momentous series of battles, it's finally time for some rest. Alyx is safe, the Vortigaunt are rescuing her and healing her wounds, it feels like one of Half Life's patented down moments.

Then time stops.

DOOOOOOCCCCTOOOOORRR FREEEEEEEEEEEMAAAAAAAN



Prepare for unforeseen consequences

Goddamn I can't wait to see this dude again.

 

[GenericBadGuy]

I'm glad some of these threads may be picked up again. I did enjoy a lot of the sci-fi in the Half Life series, especially the G-Man and his incredible power but yet still somehow bureaucratic restrictions.

"The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world."

 

[signal]

"one of the hypest moments in gaming" is a bit much but G-Man talking is always nice.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

 

[Grimminski]

I really do have to plow through the rest of EP1 this weekend

The MMod makes this shit so rough though

 

[Avitus]

Was there Valve stuff at TGA that I missed?

 

[Cathcart]

"hypest"

 

[Bomblord]

Was there Valve stuff at TGA that I missed?

Click to shrink...

They pulled out last minute

 

[Walnut]

I had legitimately forgotten how much I like Half-Life with how long it's been since we've gotten one

 

[Wumbo64]

One of the things that took me multiple attempts to understand about Half-Life is just how seamlessly it merges narrative and gameplay. The genius structure and use of subtle intrigue elevates the mundane areas you visit and simple tasks you perform. It took 3 attempts to make it past the opening and chases in the aqueducts in Half-Life 2 proper, but I am glad I pushed through it. When you make it to the end, it's place in the context of the journey just makes so much sense.

Extending that all the way to the events OP is describing, the presentation of it alone is brilliant. Then, if you have invested yourself in the ongoing narrative of the entire franchise up to that point through Half Life 1, Half Life 2, and the episodes... it just creates an emotional crescendo that is so rewarding and again... intriguing. G-Man, with his bizarre mannerisms and mysterious background... just perfectly contrasts the urgency of the main plots that he interrupts at his leisure.

He is one of gaming's greatest antagonists.

 

[Ryuhza]

Highly rare for a cutscene-ass-cutscene in Half Life, but when it happens, the cinematography is pretty on point.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

One of the things that took me multiple attempts to understand about Half-Life is just how seamlessly it merges narrative and gameplay. The genius structure and use of subtle intrigue elevates the mundane areas you visit and simple tasks you perform. It took 3 attempts to make it past the opening and chases in the aqueducts in Half-Life 2 proper, but I am glad I pushed through it. When you make it to the end, it's place in the context of the journey just makes so much sense.

Extending that all the way to the events OP is describing, the presentation of it alone is brilliant. Then, if you have invested yourself in the ongoing narrative of the entire franchise up to that point through Half Life 1, Half Life 2, and the episodes... it just creates an emotional crescendo that is so rewarding and again... intriguing. G-Man, with his bizarre mannerisms and mysterious background... just perfectly contrasts the urgency of the main plots that he interrupts at his leisure.

He is one of gaming's greatest antagonists.

Click to shrink...

When alyx actually repeats the words to Eli, it becomes one of the best remote taunts ever. She doesn't even know what she just said to him, but Eli understands loud and clear.

 

[Wumbo64]

When alyx actually repeats the words to Eli, it becomes one of the best remote taunts ever. She doesn't even know what she just said to him, but Eli understands loud and clear.

Click to shrink...

Yep. It's simple and effective, but brilliant storytelling. It's almost hard to verbalize a lot of the devices they use to convey emotion and make many moments like the heart-to-heart note only resonate throughout a localized scene, but also the entire narrative. It's the reason I may just fork over a thousand dollars to get a Vive and experience Half-Life Alyx on it's optimal platform. If they can make me feel those kinds of butterflies again, let alone with the added immersive layer of a headset...it's honestly probably worth it.

Likewise, Half-Life 3 if it ever happens is something I don't even expect to really push the needle forward much on the narrative. Similiar to Shenmue 3, there is definitely an odyssey type design to this story. And the thing that makes it a special franchise isn't just the novelty of the moment-to-moment gameplay, it's how it is such a sum of it's parts. Half-Life 3 would be a mere step on the journey, but it would be such a satisfying step...

 

[Wumbo64]

Sorry, mistakenly quoted myself. Not sure if you can delete your own messages.

But yeah, it's good stuff lol