SST

The scribbled out picture? I've always assumed that it's Dr. Breen, the former head admin of Black Mesa, now the hated combine leader. Some people have suggested it's the G-Man, but that doesn't seem to make very much sense.

SST

Look at the picture that scientist uses to open the door to the teleporter room, whos that on the far right :).

Awesome site, tron, but (sstblahblah) I don't think they address the "who is" aspect of Gordon Freeman very well. Claiming he's an MIT grad/scientist seems to fit with what Valve has presented directily, but if you read between the lines it seems obvious he's not just a scientist.

Honestly, a hazard suit provides some advantages, but it doesn't make you invincible. Just look at the corpses we saw in Xen, protected by hazard suits, but thoroughly dead nonetheless. Had Gordon been human it seems likely he would have been killed quite quickly in Xen, if not before then.

The obvious conclusion is that Gordon is almost as invincible as the G-Man, and if the G-Man is not human, than Gordon most likely isn't either. I'm (and I should not that I think my whole theory is pretty unlikely, I'm fairly certain that when Valve wraps up the series, Gordon will still in fact be thought of as human) hoping that in the end of HL 3 or whenever the series ends it is revealed that Gordon (and the G-Man) are not human, but instead are a third (or fourth, who's counting?) party with a vested interest in an independant humanity.

Anyway, it's really freaking late, and I need to get back to bed. Gonna leave it at that (I've got a lot more hole ridden HL theories, but those will remain safely locked away in my head) for now..


This comment was edited on Nov 28, 07:07.

Pissed me off to as I had not saved it since the last "auto save" area...

HL autosaved very regularly though. By the end I didn't bother quicksaving, not because I am l33t but because there was no need.

______________________
We don't go to Ravenholm.

I just crossed "the bridge" and entered Sand Trap. Don't know how far into it I am but am having a blast.

That was the ONLY time I died during the whole game.
Even though I was not at the edge, but near the middle of the room somehow the bridge still "closed" on me and killed me.
Pissed me off to as I had not saved it since the last "auto save" area...

_____
Enahs
That’s a deep kiss too, like the Europeans. You know the French they have to unhinge their jaw to show love.

I just crossed "the bridge" and entered Sand Trap. Don't know how far into it I am but am having a blast.

Am I the only one who felt like Wile E. Coyote, crossing that bridge, (SST) when the train showed up?


You've got a ways...I'm like 3 chapters from the end, and this chapter goes on FOREVER...

edit: I take that back - now 1 chapter from the end.


http://tds.nin.com/
This comment was edited on Nov 28, 02:34.

As I'm not as close to finishing HL2 as I thought (whoever said the game was short must have been comparing it to Baldur's Gate 2!)

I just crossed "the bridge" and entered Sand Trap. Don't know how far into it I am but am having a blast.

I don't touch coffee - saving myself a bit of $$$ I see.


*************
* Warhawk *
*************

Stay close to the candles. The stairway can be... treacherous.

Well the music only comes in to heighten suspense on occasions... I never actually heard and entire track during the game. Guess it sounded all right, I remember HL1 having nice music as well.

------
“The closer you get to being a pro, the closer you can get to the client. The knife, for example, is the last thing you learn. Ok?"

heya nin, did you get the soundtrack to HL2?

Yep!

It's not bad, from what I've heard so far. I normally turn down the music in games, but this stuff isn't bad...



http://tds.nin.com/

heya nin, did you get the soundtrack to HL2?

WarPig, I share your G-Man theory...it just seems to obvious to ignore. Someone screamed that here on the board awhile back, and since then I've found it hard to ignore.

As I'm not as close to finishing HL2 as I thought (whoever said the game was short must have been comparing it to Baldur's Gate 2!), I went ahead and installed Pirates.

First things first: I'm going to have to read that manual (@ 144 pages - small book (as the dvd edition comes in the same small box as the regular edition), but still very nice to explain things). I've managed to get 2 additional ships by fighting, and both times easily defeating the captain in a duel. It also seems to favor the number pad for movement, which might take a bit to get used to. But there's an easy guide in the lower right corner, outlining what each button does at a given time.

As far as the dvd edition, it weighs in a 2 and a half gig, and includes (in addition to the regular Pirates game):

23 pieces of concept art (jpg and tif)

73 jpgs of European Package art

18 jpgs of US Package art

Idle animations of key characters (9 avi files)

5 Designer Diarys in Word format

Pirates Gold (Windows 256 color original version)

Renders and Sketches (various jpg images)

The Making of Pirates - 10 minute movie in both AVI and MOV formats

US and UK preview movies

Wallpapers in 8, 10, and 12 resolution...

AND (most importantly):

Special Theme Pack - 20 meg of bonus material, including flags, sails, and a special file that "will change some of the characters you meet in the Pirate Havens".



Overall, the game seems very cool, so far (and a nice break from FPS, RTS, etc sort of games)...graphics are sharp, sound is good, and there seems to be a number of quests. Now I just have to learn what everything does!




http://tds.nin.com/

Do they still make some old fashioned grinders that you hand crank? I think that would be more reliable than even the most expensive electric model, not to mention cool looking.

Just look at this stuff:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13930&item=6133503841&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3202&item=4338759736&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=82&item=6133271957&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=82&item=6133103232&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13930&item=6133765132&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13930&item=6133373174&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32882&item=4338999690&rd=1

The first Douwe Egberts one is really cool, but the last link I think is to a similar design, but new.

ROFLHAXXORPRONL33TNOOB3SSHL2T:

pffffttt... you gone loco, senor WarPig!

check the link in my last post to see what is so far the best expaination for the HL time-line i have found... though it seems to delve into speculation a bit, it is mostly rock-solid. the guy who wrote it doesn't agree with your G-man theory, but i kind of like it... and it seems as plausible as anything else at this point.

i'm gonna replay the game on Easy skill, just so i can soak up more of the atmosphere, and spend less time fighting for my life!

sstsshl2ss:


ahhh... i forgot about G-Man being untouchable in HL1. which brings up how odd (but smart and maybe even neccessary) it is that in HL2 you cannot wound anyone on your own side. in a way i'm glad they took a moral high-ground in not allowing you to kill your pals, gib corpses, and spray blood and guts around the way D3 and many others let you.

back to G-Man... at first i thought the "G" was for Government, now i wonder if it stands for God, considering the power he has not only over Gordon's personal life, but also apparently: time and space.

just did some digging around and came up with this page... http://members.shaw.ca/storage_4/hl2story/
it is very complete and pretty interesting, but i wonder where they come up with some of the more specific detailed info... such as:
The Resonance Cascade - The event that started it all. Really, this event caused the fall of the entire human race. And who selected those "special" samples to be used on the day it all went down? None other than the G-man himself. G-Man is directly responsible for the events at Black Mesa and the Combine invasion of Earth.
it makes for a good story, and is very plausible - but where is the evidence of this in the games??

and yeah - i too eagerly await any add-ons, as well as the inevitable HL3. and let's hope HL3 is a Source engine product, which will should knock a good 3 years off of the Valve 6-year dev cycle!

I finished earlier today as well. What a great game!

ROFLHAXXORPRONL33TNOOB3SSHL2T:

I don't know why I'm using secret text here since this isn't a spoiler of any kind - just a personal theory.

I've been playing the game under the working theory that the G-Man is actually Gordon from the future. I don't have any good arguments to support this but the G-Man (G for Gordon?) does look like he could be an older Freeman without the facial hair. There is also the point in the game where the teleporter seems to have transported Freeman a couple weeks into the future - so they could be building up to a time travel slant.

The thing I'm missing from the story is what the "new order" has to do with what happened in the first Half Life and the other world that was involved. I probably don't remember enough about it and I never played Blue Shift or the other add on game so maybe I'm just missing a big part of the story.

Now I just have to look back at an earlier post that told how to get the blue grav gun so I can play the game over with just that!


-------------------------------------------------------
"Give me a Sandwich and a Douchebag and there is nothing I cannot do." ~ Lord Salisbury
This comment was edited on Nov 27, 20:34.

SSTHL2 reply:

I agree that the G-Man is not human. Remember in the first game when bullets would just bounce off him when you managed to get a shot off on him (they made a metallic spark). At the time I wrote that off as a bug, but now I believe it was fully intentional.

He's some kind of semi-invincible super being, but for some reason doesn't dare get involved directly.

Anyway, I pretty much agree with the rest of your post, and can't wait for the expansion or sequel that wraps up the story a little more :)

well, i finished HL2 SSTHL2 follows:

am i alone in thinking the G-Man isn't human? also, i assume that in the big confusing ending sequence that Dr. Breen was killed? this game was a lot like Matrix Reloaded in that it seems to create more questions than it give answers...

what i gather is that there is some evil enslaving alien race that is f*cking with the Vortigaunts and trying to take over Earth. they get Dr. Breen to act as their puppet, and meanwhile a resistance is formed to oppose the "new world order". Gordon is famous for the incident at Black Mesa, so he becomes a savior-figure to the resistance, yet the Vortigaunts also seem to think he is something special. i have no idea who or what the G-Man is, but he seems to think Gordon is something special as well, and is leading him around to do the dirty work.

anyone agree, disagree or have a different angle on any of this stuff?

(it has a one year warranty)

You've just jinxed it now. Up to 6 months after the warranty has expried, your grinder will break down. It's always the way.

Happened to my dad with a 250gb external firewire hdd. The software interface died. He wasn#t happy as the warranty expired like a month before this happened. They wanted i think it was £100 for every MB of data recovered by them. He cheated and managed to buy the software thingies from somewhere else and fix it himself. Smart man

Believe me, I've already got a pile of broken grinders with a retail value of over $130, so if this holds up like it looks like it will (it has a one year warranty), it will have been a bargain.

Dude, you go through coffee grinders like most people go through SOCKS.



http://tds.nin.com/

$13 would be all right - but $130?

We got it at the outlet for $99. Call it my birthday gift.

Believe me, I've already got a pile of broken grinders with a retail value of over $130, so if this holds up like it looks like it will (it has a one year warranty), it will have been a bargain.