Half-Life 2 Setting...

[xX NoTe 2 SeLf]

ok so ik that valve has said that they used eastern europe as a model for a lot of the levels in episode 2 ... whether or not this means they used them for strictly visual reasons or because half-life 2 and its episodes take place in eastern europe is still unknown ... when i was playing episode 1, though, i noticed that the sign on the front of the hospital is, in fact, in some eastern european-looking text (possibly russian) ... so if half-life 2 does take place in eastern europe i have to ask why? ... every inhabitant of city 17 i have seen so far speaks american english ... ik they were all transported there and they didnt live there b4 neccessarily but wouldnt it be easier for the combine to transport american people to american cities or at least some place else that wasn't on the other side of the world? your thoughts plz.

 

[Link]

The combine got 3 tug boats, moved america, the actual continent, over, next to europe, then poked the americans onto europe with a sharp stick, before discombobulating america.

They are being tolerated because the combine are currently sharpening their sticks for use on the Mexicans and the americans are forming a nice barrier.

Either that, or its easier to get american voice actors in america than english ones. Who knows?

 

[xX NoTe 2 SeLf]

The combine got 3 tug boats, moved america, the actual continent, over, next to europe, then poked the americans onto europe with a sharp stick, before discombobulating america.

They are being tolerated because the combine are currently sharpening their sticks for use on the Mexicans and the americans are forming a nice barrier.

Either that, or its easier to get american voice actors in america than english ones. Who knows?

england is still too far from eastern europe for it to be conveniant

 

[Link]

Closer than america

 

[Planetary]

They transported people all around. I bet not very many people from Eastern Europe were allowed to stay, you hear it in the train station about how relocating seems completely random. (Believe me, I know a lot about leaving Eastern Europe)

Same reason why there's people of all skin colours in City 17, the Combine have been relocating people for almost 2 decades.

 

[ríomhaire]

I imagine that the Combine moved all of the remaining citizens of Earth to one, centralised location (Eastern Europe) so that they could more easily keep control of the population.

 

[Slug Advisor]

When the Portal Storms started(before Combine invaded) im America, most Xen Aliens ended up there. A mass evacuation started. That's why we don't see Xenians(except Vorts) in HL2. They're all in Mexico. The remaining Black Mesa staff just ended up in Eastern Europe by accident.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

They speak english because you foolishly set the language to english, if you want authenticity, set it to russian and enjoy the eastern european vibe.

 

[xX NoTe 2 SeLf]

When the Portal Storms started(before Combine invaded) im America, most Xen Aliens ended up there. A mass evacuation started. That's why we don't see Xenians(except Vorts) in HL2. They're all in Mexico. The remaining Black Mesa staff just ended up in Eastern Europe by accident.

i'm pretty sure i read somewhere (maybe the Laidlaw vault?) that when the xenians arrived on earth they drove ppl from the wilderness into the cities for protection ... as in cities accross around the globe ... how can u go from the southwestern U.S. to eastern europe by accident?

They speak english because you foolishly set the language to english, if you want authenticity, set it to russian and enjoy the eastern european vibe.

ouch

 

[AJ Rimmer]

ouch

Hey, it's true. Everyone could be speaking russian flawlessly if you would only change a setting.

 

[Planetary]

When the Portal Storms started(before Combine invaded) im America, most Xen Aliens ended up there. A mass evacuation started. That's why we don't see Xenians(except Vorts) in HL2. They're all in Mexico. The remaining Black Mesa staff just ended up in Eastern Europe by accident.

Uhh... headcrabs?

Antlions?

Barnacles?

Leeches?

Icthyosaur(s)?

The Portal Storms were global. Though not everything survived right where it landed. There are no leeches in the canals, right? Only the ocean.

As for the the Black Mesa people all ending up there, who knows?

 

[Asknoone]

When the Portal Storms started(before Combine invaded) im America, most Xen Aliens ended up there. A mass evacuation started. That's why we don't see Xenians(except Vorts) in HL2. They're all in Mexico. The remaining Black Mesa staff just ended up in Eastern Europe by accident.

No, that isn't the case. Portal storms fired up all over the world. We simply aren't far enough into the wasteland to see it.

 

[Planetary]

No, that isn't the case. Portal storms fired up all over the world. We simply aren't far enough into the wasteland to see it.

I've been looking more and more at the Episode Two stuff that we've seen so far, and the term "wasteland" just doesn't seem to apply anymore. At most, that weird place during the teleport accident in "Red Letter Day" qualifies as a wasteland, but it looks like no place on Earth at all, but seems increasingly 'separate' from what seems to really be beyond the City.

Maybe it's because "Raising the Bar" mentions everything beyond the City exclusively as "wasteland", and that book was written long before they even thought up the Episodic sequels.

 

[Ridge]

True. As you said, the teleport accident sends you to the Wasteland, which is a desert area because the oceans have been drained...While the Episodes were an afterthought, who is to say that once you get past the forested areas around City 17, that it wont be like in the teleport accident?

 

[ríomhaire]

America was still inhabited at the time of the Combine invasion. There is a newpaper clipping in Eli's lab showing New York (Specifically, the UN building) being attacked.

 

[xX NoTe 2 SeLf]

Hey, it's true. Everyone could be speaking russian flawlessly if you would only change a setting.

although the game was made originally with the characters speaking english because the way their mouths move they clearly are speaking the english words ... if im not mistaken they didn't change the animations for the russian language...

 

[Rapstah]

although the game was made originally with the characters speaking english because the way their mouths move they clearly are speaking the english words ... if im not mistaken they didn't change the animations for the russian language...

Faceposing, someone?

 

[AJ Rimmer]

although the game was made originally with the characters speaking english because the way their mouths move they clearly are speaking the english words ... if im not mistaken they didn't change the animations for the russian language...

You're quite wrong, they did. Lip synching adapts to all the languages.

 

[xX NoTe 2 SeLf]

damn...owned again

 

[kineaesth]

...which is a desert area because the oceans have been drained...

Then why is there still ocean in the Highway 17 chapters?

 

[morgs]

because they've been partly drained

 

[Ridge]

Which is why there are skeletal ships everywhere.

If HL2 takes place where we think it does, then that would be the black sea, an inland ocean...