Beautiful ending. Here's a thought: What are the odds that the Gordon Freeman-led games are traditional games for flat screens while Alyx titles are VR games that run parallel to the main story?
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Saw the video since I'll probably never play it. I'm blown away by the gameplay tbh, a lot better than I expected. Kinda disapointed by the retcon, It cheapens the emotional punch of Ep.2. I would rather play through Epistle 3.
That would be great!
Can no fictional universe keep its fingers out of the time manipulation pie anymore? It's getting silly.
Based on the original script, the Borealis does not stop the Combine. But again, who knows what they'll do now that Laidlaw is no longer on board.
https://www.marclaidlaw.com/epistle-3/
What it came down to, at last, was a choice. Elizabeth Moss argued, reasonably, that we should save the Borealis and deliver it to the resistance, that our intelligent peers might study and harness its power. But Alex reminded me had sworn she would honor her mother's demand that we destroy the ship. She hatched a plan to set the Borealis to self-destruct, while riding it into the heart of the Combine's invasion nexus. Moss and Alex argued. Elizabeth overpowered Alex and brought the Borealis area, preparing to shut off the Bootstrap Device and settle the ship on the ice. Then I heard a shot, and Elizabeth fell. Alex had decided for all of us, or her weapon had. With Dr. Moss dead, we were committed to the suicide plunge. Grimly, Alex and I armed the Borealis, creating a time-travelling missile, and steered it for the heart of the Combine's command center.
At this point, as you will no doubt be unsurprised to hear, a Certain Sinister Figure appeared, in the form of that sneering trickster, G-Man. For once he appeared not to me, but to Alex Vance. Alex had not seen the cryptical schoolmarm since childhood, but she recognized him instantly. "Come along with me now, we've places to do and things to be," said G-Man, and Alex acquiesced. She followed the strange grey man out of the Borealis, out of our reality. For me, there was no convenient door held open; only a snicker and a sideways glance. I was left alone, riding the weaponized luxury liner into the heart of a Combine world. An immense light blazed. I caught a cosmic view of a brilliantly glittering Dyson sphere. The vastness of the Combine's power, the futility of our struggle, blossomed briefly in my awareness. I saw everything. Mainly I saw how the Borealis, our most powerful weapon, would register as less than a fizzling matchhead as it blew itself apart. And what remained of me would be even less than that...
At this point, as you will no doubt be unsurprised to hear, a Certain Sinister Figure appeared, in the form of that sneering trickster, G-Man. For once he appeared not to me, but to Alex Vance. Alex had not seen the cryptical schoolmarm since childhood, but she recognized him instantly. "Come along with me now, we've places to do and things to be," said G-Man, and Alex acquiesced. She followed the strange grey man out of the Borealis, out of our reality. For me, there was no convenient door held open; only a snicker and a sideways glance. I was left alone, riding the weaponized luxury liner into the heart of a Combine world. An immense light blazed. I caught a cosmic view of a brilliantly glittering Dyson sphere. The vastness of the Combine's power, the futility of our struggle, blossomed briefly in my awareness. I saw everything. Mainly I saw how the Borealis, our most powerful weapon, would register as less than a fizzling matchhead as it blew itself apart. And what remained of me would be even less than that...
When did Gordon Freemang ever alter past events? You've seen time slow and stop and been shunted outside time but you've never altered the past.
i get that the execution isn't fully there and up to ppl's tastes but that subjectivity will always be there when trying to revive something after a decade-plus of dormancy... seems like ppl are finally gonna get the full-fledged half life 3 sequel they've been waiting for and that's pretty exciting, i suppose.
and thanks for posting this up. i'd never have the money space and time to have that vr experience myself so i'm glad to see it myself in some fashion.
and thanks for posting this up. i'd never have the money space and time to have that vr experience myself so i'm glad to see it myself in some fashion.
G-man talking about a mutable future and splitting into multiple selves is implying alternate dimensions and timelines. This alt-dimension Alyx is going to be an antagonistic force working for G-man in the sequel, which could easily take place in the established HL2 continuity in which Eli is dead.
I'm pretty sure some of the dialogue in the ending rules out preventing any of the games from happening.
It frees Valve from having to have Alyx tag along with Gordon in Episode 3. When Valve said the episodic model wasn't working, I don't think they were just talking about the way it was released, I don't think they were just talking about the release structure. I think they came to realize that having Gordon tied to a persistent NPC buddy was limiting gameplay and storytelling potential.
So I guess Half-Life Alyx is their way of giving us a sorta send-off for that character, and freeing up Half-Life 3 to once again feature Gordon as the sole protagonist. And since the narrative hook of Half-Life 3 is apparently saving Alyx, watch the Borealis be the prologue and also the means of Gordon hopping dimensions to chase after G-Man. I could see the Borealis being a sort of hub world, and one that you could potentially repair over time.
Frankly, I think all of this is fucking brilliant, given the narrative hole they locked themselves into with Episode 2. I can't fucking wait for Half-Life 3, whenever it comes.
So I guess Half-Life Alyx is their way of giving us a sorta send-off for that character, and freeing up Half-Life 3 to once again feature Gordon as the sole protagonist. And since the narrative hook of Half-Life 3 is apparently saving Alyx, watch the Borealis be the prologue and also the means of Gordon hopping dimensions to chase after G-Man. I could see the Borealis being a sort of hub world, and one that you could potentially repair over time.
Frankly, I think all of this is fucking brilliant, given the narrative hole they locked themselves into with Episode 2. I can't fucking wait for Half-Life 3, whenever it comes.
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I think that would be the best way of doing it tbh. As said in another thread, they both have different toolsets.
This, as soon as laidlaw put out that story, I knew whatever the sequel would be, it would not go that path at all. and they would do something to change the story cards dealt to them at the end of EP2
From interviews, Valve seemed to be interest about the reception because they want to know if they could keep going on this VR path when moving forward
So I wouldn't hold my breath for any non VR game from Valve. Specially since you control Gordon at the end of HL Alyx.
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Well, you do, you have to pick up the crowbar to finish the scene.
Yeah, that seemed like a hint that the mainline games are going to be VR too.
Not a fan at all. It's very beautifully presented and it's incredible to see Episode 2's final moments remade in Source 2, but the retcon is completely unnecessary and change-the-past timeline fuckery complicates the series time travel and multidimensional narrative beats that otherwise delicately balanced having both concrete rules and ambiguity.
Writers need to stay the fuck away from stories where people travel backwards through time and change the past. It complicates the narrative with vague, vapid science magic that can never follow a concrete set of rules and just opens up stories to have whatever the writers want happen with utmost convenience and contrivances. Half-Life dealt with a lot of weird dimensional and time dilation stuff, but kept its feet pretty firmly on the ground on what did and did not work. It's the kind of series that had a "slow teleport" as a means of time travel explained and integrated into the story itself, without displacing the rest of the narrative.
Obviously the G-MAN breaks a lot of these rules, and that's what makes him interesting, but the ambiguity works there as he's a secondary avatar from whom the mystique and law breaking can be observed by the player. The sense of not knowing his limits, and also not being able to posses his power, gives him a presence in the narrative framework that is omnipotent and awe inspiring. And even so, there's no events in my recollection of him travelling to the past and changing timelines. Because, you know, changing the past is a big fucking deal.
So yeah. I get the intention in order to shape the future of the series (hah), but like most change-the-past time travel in other stories it's just lazy and contrived as far as I'm concerned. Anything is possible now and that's boring.
Writers need to stay the fuck away from stories where people travel backwards through time and change the past. It complicates the narrative with vague, vapid science magic that can never follow a concrete set of rules and just opens up stories to have whatever the writers want happen with utmost convenience and contrivances. Half-Life dealt with a lot of weird dimensional and time dilation stuff, but kept its feet pretty firmly on the ground on what did and did not work. It's the kind of series that had a "slow teleport" as a means of time travel explained and integrated into the story itself, without displacing the rest of the narrative.
Obviously the G-MAN breaks a lot of these rules, and that's what makes him interesting, but the ambiguity works there as he's a secondary avatar from whom the mystique and law breaking can be observed by the player. The sense of not knowing his limits, and also not being able to posses his power, gives him a presence in the narrative framework that is omnipotent and awe inspiring. And even so, there's no events in my recollection of him travelling to the past and changing timelines. Because, you know, changing the past is a big fucking deal.
So yeah. I get the intention in order to shape the future of the series (hah), but like most change-the-past time travel in other stories it's just lazy and contrived as far as I'm concerned. Anything is possible now and that's boring.
We might actually know his limits, though, as well as his origin story. You probably aren't aware of this, but Mike Laidlaw (who was a consultant on Half-Life: Alyx) revealed a lot of additional info about the Advisor race (the combine grubs aka Shuulathoi) on a now infamous twitter account named @BreenGrub.
(The account, of course, was named after Dr. Breen, which was implied in Epistle 3 to have been attempting to mutate into a Shuulathoi larval form at the end of Half-Life 2, resulting in a horrid monstrosity after the citadel was blown up mid-transformation)
Anyway, one of the things revealed by breengrub was that adult Shuulathoi can chose whatever form they want. Combine this with another breengrub revelation that the Shuulathoi themselves were victims of the combine, and you can see now why a lot of fans theorize that the G-Man is a fully matured member of that race - which explains why he seemingly is motivated by a desire to take down the Combine.
However, the fact that the Combine were able to enslave the entire Shuulathoi race, implies they are far stronger than an entire population of adult Shuulathoi. Which explains why they were able to capture G-Man and keep him in containment in Half-Life: Alyx.
(The account, of course, was named after Dr. Breen, which was implied in Epistle 3 to have been attempting to mutate into a Shuulathoi larval form at the end of Half-Life 2, resulting in a horrid monstrosity after the citadel was blown up mid-transformation)
Anyway, one of the things revealed by breengrub was that adult Shuulathoi can chose whatever form they want. Combine this with another breengrub revelation that the Shuulathoi themselves were victims of the combine, and you can see now why a lot of fans theorize that the G-Man is a fully matured member of that race - which explains why he seemingly is motivated by a desire to take down the Combine.
However, the fact that the Combine were able to enslave the entire Shuulathoi race, implies they are far stronger than an entire population of adult Shuulathoi. Which explains why they were able to capture G-Man and keep him in containment in Half-Life: Alyx.
I don't remember where, but I saw in YouTube a theory that the G-Man is actually from the same race as the Nihilanth. Don't know how that makes sense, but I thought it was interesting.
I knew about that, but that's a good theory. Fits in nicely. Who knows what they'll actually do going forward though, given this.
I'm still baffled at this ending.
I knew his voice was strange... didn't knew the actor actually died :(
I posted this on reddit back when Epistle 3 came out and got some sweet gold. It still sums up my reaction to Laidlaw's plot and its brilliance:
reddit said:
It is cheap. It's hard to spin as a positive. It appears like there was intent in setup for a potential future of the franchise, but any competent author will generally try to shy away from the two cardinal sins of writing evident here; retoconning an iconic and dramatic story beat for no justifiable reason, and using time travel magic to do it. It's as if the writers were more concerned about having a twist of some sort that would make for a memorable climax, irrespective of how reasonable it was, and using G-MAN science magic in whatever way, rather than writing something coherently fixed in with established tone and events.
But that often happens when you have new writers put in charge of a franchise. It's hard in this situation because I know Laidlaw advised, and I don't doubt that veteran Valve writers also played a role in the whole thing. Hell, the idea might have come from Laidlaw himself, post unravelling of Episode 3 plans. Nevertheless, it's pretty awful and it's a good way to sour an audience for no reason. I mean, even if you strip away the time travel and whatnot, to sit down and think "maybe we undo Episode 2's ending and Eli lives for some reason" is a pretty stupid narrative beat that shouldn't have made it past early conceptualisation.
I'm kinda hoping they dont answer who the G-Man is or who his "employers" have been this whole time. Like whatever it is, its gon be way less interesting when they have to put a tangible reason why he can travel through time and space and multiple dimensions.
Great Mike Shapiro performance, tho. Its so crazy to get new, weird G-Man content in 2020.
Great Mike Shapiro performance, tho. Its so crazy to get new, weird G-Man content in 2020.
Whoever G-Man was supposed to be or whoever his employers were supposed to be, I don't think that mystery really matters anymore. They're just making shit up as they go along.
So Valve erased the gut punch the audience have sat with for over a decade?
Like others have said, the presentation is great. The import is worrisome. Time travel in fiction, especially to resurrect, is very overplayed. But I enjoy the idea of Alyx entering employment for the G-Man and his organization. I only wish they had considered a different deal for Alyx to make to seal the contract. This just feels weird and unwanted.
Like others have said, the presentation is great. The import is worrisome. Time travel in fiction, especially to resurrect, is very overplayed. But I enjoy the idea of Alyx entering employment for the G-Man and his organization. I only wish they had considered a different deal for Alyx to make to seal the contract. This just feels weird and unwanted.
am I missing something or did they make a dramatic moment out of handing the main character a crowbar like it's a lightsaber or some shit?
I haven't played or seen it i'm just curious if it feels corny or is just matter of fact within the actual moment in the game.
I recognize that half life's crowbar is iconic in a lot of ways, but it feels like kind of a meme approach of recognizing that to have it represent one character passing a torch or whatever. cuz it's still just a crowbar.
Anyways I'm sorry again, I don't know that much about half life at all.
I haven't played or seen it i'm just curious if it feels corny or is just matter of fact within the actual moment in the game.
I recognize that half life's crowbar is iconic in a lot of ways, but it feels like kind of a meme approach of recognizing that to have it represent one character passing a torch or whatever. cuz it's still just a crowbar.
Anyways I'm sorry again, I don't know that much about half life at all.
I mean like you said, you don't know about Half Life much at all and yet you still know about the crowbar. In-universe IIRC they know Gordon is handy with a crowbar from Half Life 1 and 2. Now as a player imagine you've been waiting for Half Life 3 for so damn long and FINALLY and almost unexpectedly you BECOME Gordon Freeman. The first thing you're going to want to do is pick up that damn crowbar.
Nonsense, people were hype as fuck back in 2007 after finishing ep2. Nothing to do with "thinking back to it fondly".
You're entitled to your own taste but are you drunk? Nothing to make you excited? Episode 2 specifically built up Aperture Science as having developed a powerful technology of some sort, of which was lost on the Borealis, now found. An invention so important that both the resistance and the Combine were searching for it. Mossman reveals they know the location, the Combine have arrived, and Gordon and Alyx are about to leave right before Eli is killed. People were literally going mental theorising what could be on the Borealis and if Portal gameplay would wind up in Half-Life.
So now instead of the resistance in pursuit of a dangerous, mysterious technology that had long since been lost, and in neck-to-neck pursuit for the invention with the enemy, it's about saving Alyx? And that's more interesting?
Different strokes, I guess.
I'm actually confused about the ending and am wondering what Eli meant when he said she was taken. I assumed he meant G-man took her but did he mean the Combine took her?
Because I think a Half Life 3 where we rescue Alyx from G-Man, deal with the Borealis and fight the Combine is damn interesting.
Of course Epistle 3 was great, but unfortunately we know about it now and Laidlaw isn't as heavily involved so I'm willing to give this new direction a chance.
Man, that's weird. I don't know how I feel. I'm excited because it seems to indicate more is coming. Undoing Eli's death makes me feel a bit empty, but I don't have the full game's context and I want to give them the benefit of the doubt by waiting to see how they follow things up in a possible continuation. I think my hope for HL:A was that midway through the game or so you'd pick up from HL2E2, so seeing that things haven't furthered much is also a bit of a downer. I'm going to need to chew on this plus whatever other possible implications / story beats transpire in HL:A for a while, I'm sure.
I totally get what you're getting at. Half Life 2 actually does a sort of similar thing, where a character tosses you a crowbar so you can break through the environment while he practically winks and nods at you about how you totally used a crowbar and you're good with it. HL2 Episode 1 also has that same character give you another crowbar while saying he doesn't have many more left and to not lose this one. So while it's kind of cheesy it's at least a sort of tradition for it to be cheesy. Though I'll grant, it's never been the climax of a title.
ok fair enough, if it's just like a quick moment that's a wink and a nod then it makes sense, I was envisioning like a solemn ceremony where he's handing off the crowbar reverently as though it's the strongest weapon you have. (i mean this is the game with the gravity gun and ACTUAL guns, right?)
But if it's just like "ey buddy you're gonna need to gear up" I get it.