Forgive my frankness...

[omnimutant]

But what the hell was that game about???
I just finished, and yet I really don't have a clue. All I really got was Gorgen enters City-17. Then he's told to leave. Then he has to save Alyx's dad like 3 times. Finally he stuops dude from escaping to god knows were from god knows what. Then the Gman shows up mumbles some completely abigus stuff and leaves.

Im cluless. I loved the game and though ti was top notch but it would really be nice if I knew what it was about. Pretty much most of the game I was lost and it was about trying to find your way through this huge maze. The story I guess is the same way?

 

[Logic]

My advice... the best way to start understanding the story is to play through the original Half-Life, if you haven't. That should give you an understanding of who Gordon is, and how everything began. Once you have that general understanding, you should be able to gradually piece things together as you play through HL2 again. There are lots of clues about what's happened to the world, and why things are the way they are. Talk to people, read newspaper clippings on walls, and in general be observant, and things should start to click

Don't expect everything to be clear, though, as there are still more than a few unanswered questions to keep us guessing.

 

[Lanthanide]

HL1 has almost no bearing on the events in HL2.

 

[Dedalus]

HL1 has almost no bearing on the events in HL2.

holy...what?!

HL1 is practically the whole basis and the bedrock for the story of HL2. you're a nutter, honestly.

 

[omnimutant]

My advice... the best way to start understanding the story is to play through the original Half-Life

Well as I said I played it but never actually finished it. I got pretty close Im sure, but I think I got stuck at the Rocket. (can't rmeber it's been awhile) I know who Gordon is and I know what happend at Black mesa and all that. What does any of that have to do with Half life 2?

 

[Lanthanide]

Lets see.

HL2 has: Barney, Kliener, Eli in it from HL1. They weren't even real characters in HL1.

It sets up the vortigaunts/head crabs/zombies/barnacles and the resonance cascade (portal storm).

That's about it.

Anything you can sum up in so few words pretty thoroughly really doesn't have much of a relation to the other topic.

 

[Wraith]

the whole thing is one big clusterfu*k

 

[Dedalus]

Lets see.

HL2 has: Barney, Kliener, Eli in it from HL1. They weren't even real characters in HL1.

It sets up the vortigaunts/head crabs/zombies/barnacles and the resonance cascade (portal storm).

That's about it.

Anything you can sum up in so few words pretty thoroughly really doesn't have much of a relation to the other topic.

like i've said many times before to you, if that's all you take from the story, stop stating it as fact. it's your opinion, which means it's your own take on events. the story is there and if you're too feeble to find it then stop making sweeping statements about the lack of a plot/valve not doing their job etc.

 

[Spartan]

But what the hell was that game about???

Who knows.

holy...what?!

HL1 is practically the whole basis and the bedrock for the story of HL2. you're a nutter, honestly.

All right, let's hear it then. What bearing does HL1 have on the story?

 

[omnimutant]

Exactly. Don't say I'm too feeble to figure it out. If you really think you know what the story is about then share with the 10,000,000 other people that dont have a clue please.

 

[Dedalus]

ok non-believers, here's my take on the story of HL1 and how it has a relation to events in HL2. first i'll explain how everything is discovered, then i'll explain my summations/conclusions... (and please note, i'm theorising based on what i've seen/heard while playing both games, which is what you should be doing instead of asking for it on a plate)



you work at the Black Mesa Research Facility as a research associate. you go into work, and apparently you're running late. along the way i spot a man in a suit at least twice. the second time i spot him he's having a furious discussion with one of the scientists. hmm, who's this guy? then i hear people talking about an elusive 'administrator', so maybe this guy is the administrator? anyway, i move on to the experiment that i need to perform.

the scientists explain the situation. i remember vividly they mentioned something about getting 'samples', and this one being the 'purest sample yet'. well..samples of what and where are they getting them from? (becomes clear later on).

so i do the experiment thing, it goes tits up as expected, and now it's up to me to survive. the once tranquil work area is now infested with aliens. well, what the hell happened? i remember being teleported to various locations while i was in the chamber, maybe those aliens teleported here too.

play through the levels for a few hours and you're thinking, man i'm all alone. then all of a sudden, one of your scientist friends proclaims 'they're here, we're saved!'. great! so i run down the stairs and...oh shit, the soldier just shot the scientist...that isn't right. and oh shit x2, now he's trying to shoot me! so i kill him and i'm thinking, what the hell...the aliens are trying to kill me, and now the soldiers are too. and i've seen that guy in the suit a couple more times too..what's he up to..

from then on it's a constant 3 way battle between you, the aliens and the soldiers. along the way you encounter a number of scientists who divulge further nuggets of information which confirm my fears. the 'border world' is mentioned, as is teleportation. although it's not until i get to the teleportation chamber that i'm finally told that i need to travel to the border world and get to 'controller' or whatever he calls it. i'm told that once i destroy the 'controller' the others will stop or get thrown into confusion.

so i get to Xen, and it's a weird place. i wander around doing the usual stuff, occasionaly stumbling accross corpses of other Black Mesa employees. maybe these guys were collecting samples mentioned above?

after a while i reach the Nihilanth. he's a big ugly baby, but i kill him anyway. once he's done, the guy in the suit appears again. he explains that Xen is under 'our' control thanks to me. he mentions something about his employers and wanting to offer me a job. i walk through the portal and it's game over.



Summation
the border world is important as it provides some sort of 'sample' which is important to experiments and teleporatation. i was caught in the middle of this big fiasco, which was probably orchestrated by the guy in the suit. he seemed quite pleased with himself when i'd destroyed nihilanth and put xen into our control. he utterly destroyed my self confidence and ego, and i'm now in the employ of the 'enemy'.


Other Material
play Oppising Force. not much in terms of relevant story here, although a lot of the above is confirmed in one way or another.

also, i take it you haven't played Blue Shift? there's a whole sequence near the end where that doctor (forget his name) explains practically the whole thing with regards to xen, teleportation etc.





Half-Life 2.. (please note, there is too much stuff to put in here so i'll just write about the most relevant and that which i can remember)

it's the g-man again, and he's telling me to wake up. obviously he wants me to do some of his dirty work for him. so i'm on a train. the guys on the train didn't see me get on. i step off the train and i'm confronted with a giant screen with a guy spouting some nonsense. he harps on about how this city is great and maginifcent. looking around the station, the place looks like a tip, so he's quite obviously talking out of his arse.

i amble over to the screen, and spot a guy in uniform pushing another guy away. it's quite clear what's going on. these guys in uniform are the authority, and not to be messed with.

i walk around, and i spot an alien sweeping the floor. wait a sec, he looks like one of those aliens from HL1 that shot electric bolts at you. holy crap what's that all about?

i walk through the gate, hearing the lady say "were you the only ones on that train?". she was waiting for someone, hmm, lets talk to her, she says something about her husband being taken off a train for questioning, and that 'they' said he'd be on the next train. she also states that 'they' are being nice letting her wait for him.

i walk through, the guy mentions that you shouldn't drink the water as it makes you forget. the other guy is mumbling to himself about trains departing and leaving..he's clearly deranged and distressed. one of the other guys sitting down is quite anxious, and is working up the courage to get out of here. the other two guys waiting by the fence mention how they'd 'had enough of breen in city 14'. hmm. this is city 17, and he's talking about a city 14...i wonder how many of these cities there are..

i walk through the fencing, and get ushered into another gate. i see someone being taken away against their wishes while they protest their innocence. seems a bit unfair to me. i walk through the gate hoping to get a glimpse of the next area but the claxon goes off and the camera starts clicking. now i'm shitting myself. a door opens and i'm told to follow the guard. my exits are blocked so i guess i'd better follow. on my way down the hall i peek through the other cell door, where the guy is again protesting his innocence and claiming that he got a regular relocation ticket just like everyone else.

i walk into the room and i'm told to back up. the guard walks over to a security station and says he's gonna need some privacy for this *gulp*. "about that beer i owed ya"...hang on...that's the security guard from black mesa, and that's the scientist on the screen.

-that's just the introduction. there's quite a few things you can pick up from just this small sequence. if you can't pick up on those things then the story is lost on you. quite frankly, there is much more story relevant conversation in HL2 than there was in HL1.

so you meet up with alyx, and she mentions that it's funny you showed up on this day in particular. why is it funny? because they're testing their teleportation device. something which was an important part of your work at Black Mesa. maybe the g-man knew this, and maybe this has something to do with the dude on the screens and all these guards.

the plan is to teleport to Eli's place, but it goes wrong and i have to travel there myself. along the way i meet various citizens who seem to think i'm some sort of messiah. how do they know what i did? they also mention things about the resistance and how they have to keep fighting etc.

i reach Eli's place, and i'm greeted by this flirtatious woman called Mossman. she's apparently in awe of me for things i've done in HL1. i meet Eli, and he explicitly mentions how i haven't aged one iota. well..the g-man did mention that he was waking me up...had i been sleeping? how long had i been asleep? Eli has aged, and he's now got a grown up daughter too. taking a look at his photo, Eli mentions it was one of the only things he could drag out of Black Mesa. in that photo, alyx is still small, and eli still has dark hair..interesting...

a quick gander at Eli's newspaper cutting confirms my fears. there was a 7-hours war, and Breen arranged our surrender to the enemy, and now there's a resistance to that regime. but what place does the g-man have in all this? he's just...unleashed me onto the world, what else is there to do except follow these people and help them.

then it's a bit of running and gunning until i reach the final chapter. breen has us all captured and is trying to convince us to join him/stop the resistance. he is quite persuasive in his arguments, maybe he's telling the truth. naturally i manage to break free, and while i chase breen, i catch the back end of a conversation in which breen demands a host body, and states that any will do. it's not clear who he's talking to, but it doesn't look pleasant. so breen wants a host body...interesting, maybe he's leaving?

we get to the end game, and breen is trying to escape through the singularity. i manage to stop him, and alyx beckons me away so we can escape. just as we're about to leave, i see a flash, and then...everything's stopped. all the noise has stopped, there's an explosion just about to engulf us that's just stopped where it was. and alyx has frozen too. then guess who appears..the g-man. i wondered when i'd see him again. he mentions how he couldn't really explain things to me, but that my work was done for now. he walks through a door into white light, and it fades to black for me. obviously he's got me on a leash good and proper. i did the job he woke me up for, and now i have to go back to 'sleep'.

end of HL2.

i'm not gonna attempt to simplify that because it can't be, and there isn't one single definition of the story. it's how you discover it and how you put the pieces together. and if you haven't managed to put anything together, well it's your own fault and you shouldn't be complaining about it. the story is there if you want to find it. poke around and stuff will explain themselves.

 

[Spartan]

i'm not gonna attempt to simplify that because it can't be, and there isn't one single definition of the story. it's how you discover it and how you put the pieces together. and if you haven't managed to put anything together, well it's your own fault and you shouldn't be complaining about it. the story is there if you want to find it. poke around and stuff will explain themselves.

I don't really understand what all that was supposed to prove. It was just a quick explanation of what happens during the games. I still see no real story. Too many holes, too many unaswered questions, illogically written script...

 

[Varsity]

I got pretty close Im sure, but I think I got stuck at the Rocket.

Mate, you aren't even half way.

HL's story is told in a very different way to other media: you've got to work it out for yourself. There's no voiceover or forced camera zoom to spoon feed it to you.

 

[Logic]

I don't really understand what all that was supposed to prove. It was just a quick explanation of what happens during the games. I still see no real story. Too many holes, too many unaswered questions, illogically written script...

Right, so what constitutes a "real story"? And why do the events (both presented and hinted at) in HL1 and 2 not qualify? Is it because there's no character that sits you down and explains everything to you like you're a complete twit? Is it because (just like in real life) you actually have to LOOK and THINK for yourself?

And you really shouldn't conclude that something is "illogical" simply because there are points not covered, and questions not answered. REAL LIFE is full of ambiguity, and if you ask me, games (and movies) could use a hell of a lot more of it.

 

[Dedalus]

I don't really understand what all that was supposed to prove. It was just a quick explanation of what happens during the games. I still see no real story. Too many holes, too many unaswered questions, illogically written script...

those were all the events in both HL1/2 and the two expansion packs which prompted me to deduce a certain 'story' out of it. hopefully you can find these events, and those similar to it and draw your own conclusions. i didn't write a summary of the 'story' because there isn't one. if you want it so badly, write a letter to marc laidlaw and ask him for an explanation. you won't get one btw.


from now on, any question regarding the story etc, please quote me:

Work it out for yourself.

 

[paraboL]

Right, so what constitutes a "real story"? And why do the events (both presented and hinted at) in HL1 and 2 not qualify? Is it because there's no character that sits you down and explains everything to you like you're a complete twit? Is it because (just like in real life) you actually have to LOOK and THINK for yourself?

And you really shouldn't conclude that something is "illogical" simply because there are points not covered, and questions not answered. REAL LIFE is full of ambiguity, and if you ask me, games (and movies) could use a hell of a lot more of it.

Totally agree with you bro.

Honestly people, think for yourselves.

 

[Spartan]

Right, so what constitutes a "real story"? And why do the events (both presented and hinted at) in HL1 and 2 not qualify?

Half-Life has a story, Half-Life 2 doesn't. Nothing, aside from largely trivial issues, is ever explained. Important matters are ignored as if the game comes with a manual that explain it all. Everything comes down to speculation (=personal opinion).

Is it because there's no character that sits you down and explains everything to you like you're a complete twit? Is it because (just like in real life) you actually have to LOOK and THINK for yourself?

Boy, you guys never get tired of that argument, do you? You think that there are only two ways: 1) complete blackout - no information given about anything or 2) every single detail is explained and hammered into your head until you get it right. Did it EVER occur to you that there could be another way of doing it?

And would Gordon be a twit for asking question? Would he be foolish to ask why everyone has been waiting for him, for example?

And you really shouldn't conclude that something is "illogical" simply because there are points not covered, and questions not answered. REAL LIFE is full of ambiguity, and if you ask me, games (and movies) could use a hell of a lot more of it.

Oh, sure. In real life, people never ask questions. In real life, people accept everything that happens to them without blinking an eye or stopping to think about it.

 

[Logic]

Half-Life has a story, Half-Life 2 doesn't. Nothing, aside from largely trivial issues, is ever explained. Important matters are ignored as if the game comes with a manual that explain it all. Everything comes down to speculation (=personal opinion).

I'm completely baffled that you can say Half-Life 2 doesn't have a story... especially if you think that Half-Life has one. A great deal is explained. I pretty much rushed through HL2 the first time, and after only that, I had quite a clear idea of the storyline. You can discern most things just by looking around and listening to character dialogue, and there are plenty of explanations and elaborations to be found in the details of the game, many of which I've come across while re-playing the game, and some of which I'm probably yet to discover. If you honestly think everything comes down to speculation, you simply weren't paying attention. At all.

Boy, you guys never get tired of that argument, do you? You think that there are only two ways: 1) complete blackout - no information given about anything or 2) every single detail is explained and hammered into your head until you get it right. Did it EVER occur to you that there could be another way of doing it?

Complete rubbish. Firstly, PLENTY of information is given. Or... wait, do you have some crazy definition of "information", just like you have of "real story"? Secondly, don't presume to tell me how I think. Obviously it's not all or nothing. In Half-Life 2's case, there is plenty of information there, it's just not thrown in your face in cutscenes, or typed out for you on the screen. Did it ever occur to you that that might be one of those other ways of doing it?

Oh, sure. In real life, people never ask questions. In real life, people accept everything that happens to them without blinking an eye or stopping to think about it.

Ok, lets say Gordon asked questions.... he might ask what's happened to Earth, right? Well that's already explained in the game (if you make any effort to find out).. he might ask about the aliens now working with the resistance? That's all explained too! He might ask about the G-man right? Nobody would know anyway. See, Half-Life 2 assumes you ARE Gordon. If you personally want to know the answers to these questions, you can generally figure it out. The things you can't, nobody knows anyway, and you can only speculate... or wait, do you want one of the characters to do the speculating for you?

Sorry if I'm coming across as being bitter, but you're making rediculous and unjustified claims, and you clearly haven't given the game any kind of chance to reveal information to you. If you like your storylines to hit you in the face with their obviousness, go watch TV. Half-Life 2 is not the game for you.

 

[zapper]

Spartan doesn't like to imagine, let him be in his own dull world.

 

[Doombringer]

Unfortunately, we don't have the opportunity to sit down and talk with any of the game's characters to discuss what happened. In real-life, we would have the chance to do this... but in the game, something always happens to move us along. The conversations are entirely one-sided. This theory worked for HL1, where it was you - Gordon Freeman - with an occasional Barney #36 or Scientist #55 as your backup. The story had to come in dribs and drabs because there were very few real characters to deliver anything more than (A) eyes to operate a retinal scanner or (B) a second gun to blast headcrabs.

But, here in HL2, we have characters with actual names and a presence in the world. Kleiner is not Disposable Scientist #55. Barney is one guy, not one of many clones. They have personality and contribute to the narrative... Gordon Freeman being 'mute' (for all intents and purposes) just doesn't fly as easily in this game as it did in the last. Everything is so much more involved, but Gordon can't even say "So just who are the Combine?" If the player is asking that question, given everything that is being thrown at them in the game, the character would most likely be asking the same thing.

HL2's story isn't bad... the method of story-telling isn't bad either. But I do agree that a little more information should have been forthcoming. If they're saving resolution for HL3, that's fine... I hope most of the questions will be answered, with just a few left unanswered to tease. Gamers, movie-goers, book-readers... they want a resolution to the story they're reading/watching/playing, and an understanding of what happened along the way. I can't fault people for wanting that.

 

[78stonewobble]

ok non-believers, here's my take on the story of HL1 and how it has a relation to events in HL2. first i'll explain how everything is discovered, then i'll explain my summations/conclusions... (and please note, i'm theorising based on what i've seen/heard while playing both games, which is what you should be doing instead of asking for it on a plate)



you work at the Black Mesa Research Facility as a research associate. you go into work, and apparently you're running late. along the way i spot a man in a suit at least twice. the second time i spot him he's having a furious discussion with one of the scientists. hmm, who's this guy? then i hear people talking about an elusive 'administrator', so maybe this guy is the administrator? anyway, i move on to the experiment that i need to perform.

the scientists explain the situation. i remember vividly they mentioned something about getting 'samples', and this one being the 'purest sample yet'. well..samples of what and where are they getting them from? (becomes clear later on).

so i do the experiment thing, it goes tits up as expected, and now it's up to me to survive. the once tranquil work area is now infested with aliens. well, what the hell happened? i remember being teleported to various locations while i was in the chamber, maybe those aliens teleported here too.

play through the levels for a few hours and you're thinking, man i'm all alone. then all of a sudden, one of your scientist friends proclaims 'they're here, we're saved!'. great! so i run down the stairs and...oh shit, the soldier just shot the scientist...that isn't right. and oh shit x2, now he's trying to shoot me! so i kill him and i'm thinking, what the hell...the aliens are trying to kill me, and now the soldiers are too. and i've seen that guy in the suit a couple more times too..what's he up to..

from then on it's a constant 3 way battle between you, the aliens and the soldiers. along the way you encounter a number of scientists who divulge further nuggets of information which confirm my fears. the 'border world' is mentioned, as is teleportation. although it's not until i get to the teleportation chamber that i'm finally told that i need to travel to the border world and get to 'controller' or whatever he calls it. i'm told that once i destroy the 'controller' the others will stop or get thrown into confusion.

so i get to Xen, and it's a weird place. i wander around doing the usual stuff, occasionaly stumbling accross corpses of other Black Mesa employees. maybe these guys were collecting samples mentioned above?

after a while i reach the Nihilanth. he's a big ugly baby, but i kill him anyway. once he's done, the guy in the suit appears again. he explains that Xen is under 'our' control thanks to me. he mentions something about his employers and wanting to offer me a job. i walk through the portal and it's game over.



Summation
the border world is important as it provides some sort of 'sample' which is important to experiments and teleporatation. i was caught in the middle of this big fiasco, which was probably orchestrated by the guy in the suit. he seemed quite pleased with himself when i'd destroyed nihilanth and put xen into our control. he utterly destroyed my self confidence and ego, and i'm now in the employ of the 'enemy'.


Other Material
play Oppising Force. not much in terms of relevant story here, although a lot of the above is confirmed in one way or another.

also, i take it you haven't played Blue Shift? there's a whole sequence near the end where that doctor (forget his name) explains practically the whole thing with regards to xen, teleportation etc.





Half-Life 2.. (please note, there is too much stuff to put in here so i'll just write about the most relevant and that which i can remember)

it's the g-man again, and he's telling me to wake up. obviously he wants me to do some of his dirty work for him. so i'm on a train. the guys on the train didn't see me get on. i step off the train and i'm confronted with a giant screen with a guy spouting some nonsense. he harps on about how this city is great and maginifcent. looking around the station, the place looks like a tip, so he's quite obviously talking out of his arse.

i amble over to the screen, and spot a guy in uniform pushing another guy away. it's quite clear what's going on. these guys in uniform are the authority, and not to be messed with.

i walk around, and i spot an alien sweeping the floor. wait a sec, he looks like one of those aliens from HL1 that shot electric bolts at you. holy crap what's that all about?

i walk through the gate, hearing the lady say "were you the only ones on that train?". she was waiting for someone, hmm, lets talk to her, she says something about her husband being taken off a train for questioning, and that 'they' said he'd be on the next train. she also states that 'they' are being nice letting her wait for him.

i walk through, the guy mentions that you shouldn't drink the water as it makes you forget. the other guy is mumbling to himself about trains departing and leaving..he's clearly deranged and distressed. one of the other guys sitting down is quite anxious, and is working up the courage to get out of here. the other two guys waiting by the fence mention how they'd 'had enough of breen in city 14'. hmm. this is city 17, and he's talking about a city 14...i wonder how many of these cities there are..

i walk through the fencing, and get ushered into another gate. i see someone being taken away against their wishes while they protest their innocence. seems a bit unfair to me. i walk through the gate hoping to get a glimpse of the next area but the claxon goes off and the camera starts clicking. now i'm shitting myself. a door opens and i'm told to follow the guard. my exits are blocked so i guess i'd better follow. on my way down the hall i peek through the other cell door, where the guy is again protesting his innocence and claiming that he got a regular relocation ticket just like everyone else.

i walk into the room and i'm told to back up. the guard walks over to a security station and says he's gonna need some privacy for this *gulp*. "about that beer i owed ya"...hang on...that's the security guard from black mesa, and that's the scientist on the screen.

-that's just the introduction. there's quite a few things you can pick up from just this small sequence. if you can't pick up on those things then the story is lost on you. quite frankly, there is much more story relevant conversation in HL2 than there was in HL1.

so you meet up with alyx, and she mentions that it's funny you showed up on this day in particular. why is it funny? because they're testing their teleportation device. something which was an important part of your work at Black Mesa. maybe the g-man knew this, and maybe this has something to do with the dude on the screens and all these guards.

the plan is to teleport to Eli's place, but it goes wrong and i have to travel there myself. along the way i meet various citizens who seem to think i'm some sort of messiah. how do they know what i did? they also mention things about the resistance and how they have to keep fighting etc.

i reach Eli's place, and i'm greeted by this flirtatious woman called Mossman. she's apparently in awe of me for things i've done in HL1. i meet Eli, and he explicitly mentions how i haven't aged one iota. well..the g-man did mention that he was waking me up...had i been sleeping? how long had i been asleep? Eli has aged, and he's now got a grown up daughter too. taking a look at his photo, Eli mentions it was one of the only things he could drag out of Black Mesa. in that photo, alyx is still small, and eli still has dark hair..interesting...

a quick gander at Eli's newspaper cutting confirms my fears. there was a 7-hours war, and Breen arranged our surrender to the enemy, and now there's a resistance to that regime. but what place does the g-man have in all this? he's just...unleashed me onto the world, what else is there to do except follow these people and help them.

then it's a bit of running and gunning until i reach the final chapter. breen has us all captured and is trying to convince us to join him/stop the resistance. he is quite persuasive in his arguments, maybe he's telling the truth. naturally i manage to break free, and while i chase breen, i catch the back end of a conversation in which breen demands a host body, and states that any will do. it's not clear who he's talking to, but it doesn't look pleasant. so breen wants a host body...interesting, maybe he's leaving?

we get to the end game, and breen is trying to escape through the singularity. i manage to stop him, and alyx beckons me away so we can escape. just as we're about to leave, i see a flash, and then...everything's stopped. all the noise has stopped, there's an explosion just about to engulf us that's just stopped where it was. and alyx has frozen too. then guess who appears..the g-man. i wondered when i'd see him again. he mentions how he couldn't really explain things to me, but that my work was done for now. he walks through a door into white light, and it fades to black for me. obviously he's got me on a leash good and proper. i did the job he woke me up for, and now i have to go back to 'sleep'.

end of HL2.

i'm not gonna attempt to simplify that because it can't be, and there isn't one single definition of the story. it's how you discover it and how you put the pieces together. and if you haven't managed to put anything together, well it's your own fault and you shouldn't be complaining about it. the story is there if you want to find it. poke around and stuff will explain themselves.

Ive been wondering about the g-mans explanation at the end of hl1 too. We can't really be sure what he means by "the border world of xen is now in our hands".

The us in this could mean:

Humans...

Superhumans as g-man and gordon only. Surviving everything.

G-man race. either allied with humans or their enemies (enemies of xen and combine presumably).

I disagree with opfor not having much to give regarding the story.

The fact that the g-man shows up talking to the officer of the marines (adrians unit) shows that he has probably been given some power by the us government.

This leads me to my own conclusion that the g-man is / were allied to the USA (or whole earth) government.

Perhaps the beating of nihilanth by freeman and the taking of xen by marines made the aliens / combine delay the real invasion.

AND made them think of the idea to cooperate with humanity (through dr. breen) instead of just wiping us out.

It was to buy us time... mebbe... i dunno ... just random thoughts...

 

[cylyk]

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh there's no REAL story development because gordon is still left in the dark

EDIT: literally

 

[Logic]

Unfortunately, we don't have the opportunity to sit down and talk with any of the game's characters to discuss what happened. In real-life, we would have the chance to do this... but in the game, something always happens to move us along. The conversations are entirely one-sided. This theory worked for HL1, where it was you - Gordon Freeman - with an occasional Barney #36 or Scientist #55 as your backup. The story had to come in dribs and drabs because there were very few real characters to deliver anything more than (A) eyes to operate a retinal scanner or (B) a second gun to blast headcrabs.

But, here in HL2, we have characters with actual names and a presence in the world. Kleiner is not Disposable Scientist #55. Barney is one guy, not one of many clones. They have personality and contribute to the narrative... Gordon Freeman being 'mute' (for all intents and purposes) just doesn't fly as easily in this game as it did in the last. Everything is so much more involved, but Gordon can't even say "So just who are the Combine?" If the player is asking that question, given everything that is being thrown at them in the game, the character would most likely be asking the same thing.

HL2's story isn't bad... the method of story-telling isn't bad either. But I do agree that a little more information should have been forthcoming. If they're saving resolution for HL3, that's fine... I hope most of the questions will be answered, with just a few left unanswered to tease. Gamers, movie-goers, book-readers... they want a resolution to the story they're reading/watching/playing, and an understanding of what happened along the way. I can't fault people for wanting that.

Of course it's just a matter of opinion, but I felt that exactly the right amount of information was presented. The G-man is of course, still the key mystery. I'm extremely glad that his role wasn't given away, and we were given another iconic (probably the most iconic) G-man moment with the ending. I get the feeling that once we've played Half-Life 3, and the G-man's role becomes known (presumably), people will realise that Half-Life 2 is exactly how it should be. There are of course questions raised (regarding Breen \ combine) during HL2's ending, but I think further playing will allow us to digest things a bit more and make some more sense of it.

Personally, I think Half-Life 2's storytelling method is excellent, and groundbreaking, in the sense that it explores and refines a method of storytelling that only the gaming medium can offer - self exploration. Games that involve storytelling have generally taken their influence from the narrative structures and traits of film\television, and currently, that's what we're all used to, and what we expect.. but I believe that Half-Life 2's storytelling is a sign that gaming is beginning to find it's self, and present stories in ways that only games can. Valve are once again paving the way, and I expect that this "figure things out for yourself" method will become more common as gaming evolves.

 

[Logic]

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh there's no REAL story development because gordon is still left in the dark
EDIT: literally

That's like saying "Nothing actually happened today, because I'm currently confused." Which is of course, nonsense

 

[tommycat]

The G-man is either alien, or used to speaking in an alien tongue.He has "a voice that speeds up and slows down unpredictably, as if he is not quite comfortable with human speech."*

The invasion was started because the Combine were attracted to earth by the dimentional rift at the BMRF. bummer.
From the official hint book.

 

[hellfire_bullet]

Here is how I see it... Here are the sides known, in HL1 we had

The aliens of Xen, hostile and against humanity
The humans, accidentally opened a portal to which caused chaos
The G-man, no one really knows who or what he is, or who he works for

In Hl2 we have…

The aliens of Xen, now non-hostile and are working with humans for the greater good
The Humans, jaded and enslaved along side the Xen race
The Combine, another superior alien race that enslaved both Xen and Humans alike
The G-Man, still a mystery, hired Gordon because his bosses were impressed by his actions from HL1, and they want him to take down the combine threat in City 17.

The Benefactors are the Combine rulers, to which Breen answers too and makes bargains with. They for some reason choose to talk with Breen instead of kill him; and when everything goes to the crapper because of Gordon towards the end of HL2, they will port him to another world, but Breen protests and says he couldn’t survive being human, and they propose a host body so he can survive in that sort of environment, probably talking about the combine home world.

Well Breen tries to leave, but when the portal opens, we see combine ships come out and attack Gordon, so the portal was too the combine home world, or a place that has combine in control. Breen knows allot, allot more than Gordon, he hints he knows all about the g-man and the powers at be when he says to Gordon, "You didn’t know your contract was up to the highest bidder did you?" Basically putting Gordon as a mercenary against his will, the G-Man is the one that higher you for whosever purpose.

The G-Man himself is not all powerful, just really a point man for his bosses, to which we still don’t know who they are, besides the fact they are not Combine, but still most likely alien. The Explosion at the end of Hl2 meant a few things, the Combine has been booted from power in City 17, and the rebels have revolted and thanks to you, won the battle. We don’t know however if the other cities, such as City 14 and so on, throughout the rest of the world have come to the same fate, have the humans revolted against all cities or just City 17?

This is both good and bad, now that Breen is out of the picture, this means that the Combine have no middle man, no one they talk to or make bargains for the Human race, so they are probably pissed that you and the rebels have killed so many of them, they may just invade again and wipe out the humans, or put them in a worse kind of slavery. The G-Man is seen talking to others through out HL1 and 2, mostly people of some sort of importance, higher powers of humans if you will. In Hl2 he was talking to the English guy on Highway 17, he may have other contracts and assignments or agendas for other people besides yourself, although you are the most important of all of these.

In Hl3, I want to know, did the G-man save Alyx? I am 99% sure he did, because Valve talked about making her playable in Hl3, plus how could you kill off such a hottie? Any way, are the Combine enslaving other races besides Zen and Earth, is earth doomed because of Gordon’s actions, or liberated? And most of all, what the hell is the G-man and who does he work. Roll on Hl3!!!!!!!!!

 

[zapper]

Valve has succeeded in creating another Gordon Freeman. Their goal was for you to become Dr. Freeman, and they passed. Gordon would be asking the same questions you are asking. Gordon knows exactly what you know, absolutely nothing. Do you really think Gordon knows who the G-Man is? Hell, do you think anyone knows? Do you think Gordon knows who the combine are? Hell, do you think anyone knows? The game is realistic in that no one is going to sit down with you and explain the entire storyline. Gordon does his job without questions, and succeeds. It is a genius ending, but it takes some brains to understand it. There are clues here and there that help Gordon understand little things, but like you said, the big questions still remain. Which is realistic.

 

[Obsidian Blood]

I'm beginning to get the feeling that the difference between ordinary games and Half-Life in terms of storytelling, atmosphere, design and execution is like that between movies like Minority Report and Star Wars, in which basically everything is revealed to the viewer with all the subtelty of a sledgehammer blow to the temple, and films like Blue Velvet, Citizen Kane, 2001, even Memento, which are the sublime epitome of their chosen art form. These brilliant films -often referred to in those circles as masterpieces- are made with the enthusiast's musings in mind; constructed so smoothly, delicately and deliciously that they not only convey the filmmaker's intended message, but leave themselves open to almost limitless interpretation, and above all *appreciation*. Art, after all, is at its foremost an appreciation. Half-Life is no more about simply bashing out a story than a Monet painting is about showing someone what a garden looks like. I think that in the Half-Life series, we are all first-hand witnesses to the first real maturation of gaming towards becoming (and being recognised as) an *art form*. I think that the sooner we realise that self-paced discovery, reflection, exploration, and drinking pint upon pint of atmosphere are far more crucial not only to Half-Life but to gaming as an art than simply saying "aliens invade earth, guy with crowbar wins the day", the sooner we will see a more visionary growth for the medium. It is my opinion that the name Valve will one day be held in the same time-honoured reverence that Orson Welles occupies. My closing plea: slow down, and open your mind to new ways of enjoying a fledgling art form. You won't regret it.

 

[Steameh]

I was beginning to think there was no story in any of it, but i did my research (along with the help of a few forum members) on halflife 1 and its story and whos who and what happened and i must say its made halflife 2 a hell of alot clearer.

im at the buggy bit on hl2 currently but am starting from scratch tonight because i now understand exactely what has happened.
i am also going to be alot more observative on the surroundings and also play it on hard.

ive loved this game from the minute i stepped off the train but now im really looking forward to starting again now i understand.

do your research on halflife 1 and a little bit on whos who in hl2 (not too much as not to spoil anything) and everything should piece together

 

[rd_syringe]

The events of Half-Life 1 have everything to do with Half-Life 2, from causing the Portal Storms and introducing the Xen aliens to Earth to introducing the G-Man and the idea of the Administrator.

The resonance cascade in Half-Life 1 is the whole catalyst for this entire storyline. I feel sorry for those people who actually play the second game without having played the first.