Ep3; Your Pitch

[DEATH eVADER]

Barney should join us for the whole game, Adam Baldwin should have a proper character coming to fruition (for this case, one civilian should become a plot character), and Alyx should join us in the latter half of EP3

I am really hoping that this will happen, afterall it would be a real comeback as I have been missing Barney for quite a while. Heres how everything could fall into place.

Unfortunately, Barney's train got caught up in the Core destruction too. With his train unrepairable he proceeds on foot to White Forest, but on the way, he gets caught up in a battle with the combine, but gets joined by a contingent of Vortigaunts on search for advisors.

Barney and the Vorts spot two advisors ripping through a helicopter hanger and attempt to take them down. Unfortunately they were too late. Uriah, having telepathy to the other vorts, found out what had happened, and alerted the base, including the likes of Kleiner and Magnusson. They all proceed to the hanger, where they discuss what to do.

Now, with Alyx in dismay about her father?s death, Kleiner suggests that Barney should replace Alyx for the Journey to the Borealis, which he does with his new comrade in arm <<insert name here>> and Gordon.

<<Insert a whole bunch of gameplay elements here and there before a revelation of startling consequences>>

When they get to the Borealis, they find Alyx waking up from a deep sleep from one of the bunks. How did she get there? It couldn?t be the Gman, otherwise you would of known about his presence, or would you? It may be that Gman has no interest in you anymore and cares much more Alyx now.

Apparently, Kleiner suggested to Alyx that she should lay down for while to calm her about the death of her father. She went to sleep and had a dream about what happened that day in the test chamber, and who Eli was talking to. Then the next minute she woke up on the ship.

<<Insert rest of gameplay here and a bit of story>>

 

[Iron_cube]

I think we shouldn't see Alyx that much again.

I mean, some people really hate her, while valve supposedly said we weren't going to interact with alyx that much in ep2 (which is untrue)

Kinda feel sorry for them.

 

[Hellrider]

The parts with Barney coming with you sound awesome.

 

[Rizzo]

Who hates Alyx? Shes very likeable in a, not at all perverted way.
But Barney is freaking awesome and i whould love to fight with him by my side for a change.

Rebel main character seems intessting, but I feel satisfied with Alyx and possibly Barney. Fingers crossed.
Besides, Mossman will probalby make a comeback, unless shes been stalkerfied. fingers crossed.

 

[Iron_cube]

I want to see barney with his security guard helmet, that'd be classic

 

[Dr_Crowbar]

Damn, I miss Barney so much. That guy and his wisecracks are awesome.

 

[Shift]

Yeah I would like Barney as a companion again, I realy cant see how Alyx would be in any shape to fight after witnessing something as traumatic as what she had just seen.

 

[Narvi]

I miss Barney. It's not really an HL game without him somewhere.

 

[Laivasse]

I enjoy having Barney tag along more than Alyx tbh. Seeing him soak up the gunfire in his metrocop armour is slightly more believable than seeing Alyx be a bullet sponge in just her jeans and jacket.

 

[Hellrider]

Anyone asked Valve about the reason of him not appearing in EP2 ? or does anyone have a good explanation ?

 

[Narvi]

He was having sex with everybody on his train.

 

[Crash Happy]

They spent the episode rounding out Alyx as a person plus from a pure game point of view it'd be difficult to crowbar him into the events. What I mean is, thinking back where would you have put him? You can't have a third in the car, even if you assume that you just happened to bump into him at some point after Alyx gets healed. The tunnels are essentialy a solo event with the second run having some Vortigaunt action, so having Barney too makes no real sense there as it would destract from that. And that only really leaves you with the final battle, where you're driving about like aloon to keep up with the attacks and so wouldn't see Barney unless he tagged along and waiting for him to get into the car again when you're against the clock as it were would just be teeth grinding.

Edit: Besides someone has to look after the civvies that escape and we know they don't head for the silo. Maybe we'll get Blue Shift2 and it will cover the week without Freeman or his fight to steer the evacuees clear of C17 and into safety.

 

[Asknoone]

while valve supposedly said we weren't going to interact with alyx that much in ep2 (which is untrue)

No they didn't.

Anyone asked Valve about the reason of him not appearing in EP2 ? or does anyone have a good explanation ?

HL takes place on a day-to-day basis. Barney was fighting for a week in the Street war; he was in a real state in EP1. He's resting.

 

[leib10]

Alyx will be more than able to turn her despair and sadness into a murderous rage. She will definitely be along, but she won't be the same Alyx we got to know in all ways except one- her caring for Gordon.

Barney should play a major role as well. Now he's had time for a little R&R and to meet up with the rest of the Resistance. I bet he'll be going with us.

 

[Crazy_killer]

Whats wrong with Alyx?

 

[leib10]

Not much, aside from the fact that she almost died and saw her father brutally killed before her eyes all in a matter of hours.

 

[Crazy_killer]

No I was commenting on the fact that "some people" hate Alyx ;P

 

[leib10]

If you mean why people don't like her, it's usually because she's always around rather than a deficiency in her character. They want more alone time. They also feel that she doesn't help you enough during puzzles (yet they also complain that she ends up doing everything for them, such as operating panels and the like). So there's no pleasing them.

I personally love having her around. I think she really is useful in combat and navigation, and you feel less desperate when you know somebody's got your back. Not to mention the fact that her personality is one of the best in HL, IMO. Merle Dandridge does an excellent job voicing her, and they've done a great job fleshing out her emotions with the facial animation system. She brings a lot of humanity into the series.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

No I was commenting on the fact that "some people" hate Alyx ;P

Don't know, I think its because she likes you unconditionally when you first start HL2, as if you are the reliable kind of person. She has no dislikes or suspicions of you, despite disappearing from the face of the Earth for a better part of 10 years, and not knowing the reason. Even Eli should of been suspiscious of your return as he didn't know what the Gman had in store for you.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

I prefer to have Alyx with me than Barney cause he really annoyed me when i was fighting with him in HL2 but i would still like to see him.

 

[Nitre]

If you mean why people don't like her, it's usually because she's always around rather than a deficiency in her character. They want more alone time. They also feel that she doesn't help you enough during puzzles (yet they also complain that she ends up doing everything for them, such as operating panels and the like). So there's no pleasing them.

I personally love having her around. I think she really is useful in combat and navigation, and you feel less desperate when you know somebody's got your back. Not to mention the fact that her personality is one of the best in HL, IMO. Merle Dandridge does an excellent job voicing her, and they've done a great job fleshing out her emotions with the facial animation system. She brings a lot of humanity into the series.

Agreed. Alyx stops me from being lonely. In the long bit in the warehouse whenever i went outside and heard her say something it was uplifting. Plus, she's funny sometimes.

 

[whb]

Alyx can be incongruously drippy in places -- the way she's started fawning over the player (since Episode One, not so much in the original HL2) doesn't quite sit well with her tougher nature when she was first introduced, and seems a little like "here's something for the lonely teenage male audience" rather than character development.

 

[Nitre]

Alyx can be incongruously drippy in places -- the way she's started fawning over the player (since Episode One, not so much in the original HL2) doesn't quite sit well with her tougher nature when she was first introduced, and seems a little like "here's something for the lonely teenage male audience" rather than character development.

I think it makes sense for Valve to develop her character in that way. After hanging around with Gordon so much i'd say its inevitable.

 

[Crash Happy]

After all the tough spots they've been in a bond was inevitable. I don't think her respecting you at the start of HL2 was that far fetched since you are The One Free Man. And her dad Eli would seem to pretty much know what to expect.
I wouldn't describe what she does as fawning even by a broad definition.

 

[Ap2000]

Yeah I would like Barney as a companion again, I realy cant see how Alyx would be in any shape to fight after witnessing something as traumatic as what she had just seen.

you do realize that Gordon has been on an alien planet fighting the most fugliest creatures ever ?

 

[Shift]

But Gordon is a true fighter, he did face horrors in Black Mesa and it was his first time in combat but he is extremely smart and brave guy, adapts to the situation and begins to handle it.

Alyx is a very strong fighter but the women you see now is because of Eli, in the early years of the Combine invasion when she was still small, Eli had to bring her up and protect her, and he did it flawlessly. Eli is the only person Alyx has ever had to cling to since she wouldn't have known her mother, he taught her everything she knows and made her into the person that she is. She is emotionally driven, the way she reacts to seeing Eli again in EP2 after she nearly died says that she must always be in fear of not seeing him again.

Well that person was etched up right in front of her, and had a massive tube dug into the back of his head before having his brain sucked out, before being slammed onto the floor. That one thing from her perspective, is 100x what Gordon has had to face so far.

 

[Iron_cube]

That one thing from her perspective, is 100x what Gordon has had to face so far.

You sure about that?

Killing hundreds of military men, countless zombified scientists, Nih, turning a whole city into a pile of ashes in four days and then having some guy in a blue suit controlling shit around you.

Human grunts had feelings, too
Hell I remember reading special lines when grunts saw fellow dead soldiers in HL1, but that kind of interaction never made it into the game.

No they didn't.

Was mentionned in a old review, even before the five gameplay videos. Doesn't matter anyway.

 

[Shift]

You sure about that?

Killing hundreds of military men, countless zombified scientists, Nih, turning a whole city into a pile of ashes in four days and then having some guy in a blue suit controlling shit around you.

Well maybe the same amoumt of trauma. The difference is, Gordon has had it in bits and has adapted to it, got on with the job sort of speak, not mention his instict of survival and his all-mighty HEV suit has kept going.

Alyx had that same level thrown at her all at once, basically probably would have felt like having your heart ripped out before two world squash players started using it for a ball.

 

[Iron_cube]

Hmmhmm, point!

Can't wait to see the kind of interaction we'll get with her in ep3.

Uh.. actually I can.

*gets ready waiting for at least two years*

 

[Crash Happy]

I'm sure that seeing her father die, especialy in that manner will be traumatic for Alyx. At the same time though with the world having gone to heck in a handbasket we can be reasonably sure that he's not the first person she's lost to the combine. She's bound to have got pally with other resistance members for one thing. Gordon seems to be the less than 1% of the population that can handle these sorts of things well.
We already know though that Alyx survived the loss of her mother, how that happened though they haven't even hinted. For all we know she got taken by the Combine and was subsumed into what we call Overwatch.

 

[Black Op]

Alyx's mother died at Black Mesa; Eli mentions back in HL2 that he only escaped with Alyx and a family picture.

 

[Crash Happy]

The statement he makes doesn't directly mention her dying at Mesa does it? I thought it just referenced her death and seperately that Eli escaped with just Alyx and the photo.

 

[Nitre]

The statement he makes doesn't directly mention her dying at Mesa does it? I thought it just referenced her death and seperately that Eli escaped with just Alyx and the photo.

0mg Azian is the G-man!

 

[Crash Happy]

I wasn't saying she is the overwatch, I'm just saying that whilst we might be assuming one thing to be true we could be very wrong. You know, like you thinking you're humorous by repeating the same joke that's been made since HL.

 

[spunge]

I bet barney's hidden in ep2 somewhere. In the gcf there is 'barney_gestures.mdl' amongst other ep2 stuff, theres nothing else in there that isn't in ep2. Like breen.mdl or something.. it's all 'new' stuff.

 

[Dr_Crowbar]

Well maybe the same amoumt of trauma. The difference is, Gordon has had it in bits and has adapted to it, got on with the job sort of speak, not mention his instict of survival and his all-mighty HEV suit has kept going.

Can't forget those automatic morphine injections!