Is it possible?

[Mech Man]

I was thinking back to Raising the bar earlier and remembered about the idea valve came up with where outside the cities everything was one big desert. (im not sure but it was either due to the seven hour war or some combine method , most likely the air processing plant)

Is it possible that that is still true because in the beggining of half life two when the teleportation accident happens you get teleported to a vast desert in some remote area. Is it possible that the white forest is still technically the outskirts of C17 and that beyond that everything is desert?

Also hi.

 

[Oreolek]

Maybe it's just a coast.
We don't know anything about it.
But nice guess,I like it.

 

[Druckles]

It could be that white forest is one of the last surviving forests in the world. The reasons for it could be due to Breen using City 17 as his base of operations and thus requested the forest to stay.

Unfortunately it's hard to make any clear decisions on the matter, because we really don't know. We haven't been far enough outside of City 17 to be able to make a good enough guess, so really either option is open to Valve at the moment. I think we might find out in a helicopter ride to the arctic.

Also Hi

 

[Mech Man]

Good ideas Druckles. And Oreo brings up a good point , maybe the coasts are still being drained (which means the coast in HL2 was one of the least affected areas or some thing).

 

[elkaebee]

Well, from Breens globe, we know that North America(and perhaps a smidge of the South) has been turned into giant tennis court by the Combine, so that'll be all green(unless the Combine use a different form, or even colour of tennis court material), but everwhere else is anyone or anythings guess. I suppose that's why this thread is up.

Could the Combine actually be bothered to destroy the landscape(s) of the world(would'nt mind seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa after Combine occupation) in the few decades (smart money's on two) that they have been here. Of course, you must take into account the Seven Hours War, which destroyed the worlds' superpowers, so that would've destroyed maybe a couple of mountains, a couple of forests, perhaps an ocean or two. Then, from the Portal Storms, a couple of Gargs' may have caused a tad bit of damage, so remember that.

Then we've got all those lifeforms transported here that serve as "plantlife"on Xen. Those pointy ones seems especially hostile, so, they assuming that they follow the survival of the fittest instinct that every other species we've seen up to this point demostrates, they probably have wiped out a significant amout of other Earth-based plant species, soil and season permitting(you see, they need peraphods mixed into the soil to live and only bloom in winter).
I realise this added no further information to the arguement, neither did it make any intelligent points, but I made the post so that I could say this without(hopefully) being considered a troll:

It''s always incredibly nice to see a Shepard supporter come in with some good ideas. Welcome to the club my pilot/stewardess, you have entered an elite among gamers, those whom realise that the wrench wielding, barnicle-butt thrusting, shock roach shooting, green thing picking God, and Lord upon lords that shall deliver us to heaven is the one and only hero of the Half-Life franchise.
Yes, yes fellow Half-Life 2 dot netters', I am, and I always have been, a Shepard supporter, and I have come out of the closet.

(now say all of that in Magnuessen voice and giigle at the results, and for a challenge, use Faceposer to put those words in Maggies' mouth)

 

[Mech Man]

I totally forgot about the top of the citadel where you get a view , but if i remember it was night so it was hard to tell the landscape. And that was another cool idea in raising the bar , after the 7 hour war there was huge scrap yards (not really scrap yards just old battlefields) full of destroyed tanks , aircraft , APCs and such left over from the war. (Hail Shephard!)

 

[elkaebee]

Hail Shepard indeed, brother.

 

[Combine_Advisor]

seems possible...very possible...

 

[Druckles]

I totally forgot about the top of the citadel where you get a view , but if i remember it was night so it was hard to tell the landscape.

It was New York.

 

[Mech Man]

I got some screenshots from the dunes , i went there with no clip for a better view and stood in the exact point you get teleported to. The first shows telegraph poles proving that its not a dried up sea bed , and the second confusingly shows the citadel puzzlingly close.

View attachment 20715

View attachment 20716

Edit : Hmm , aparantly the citadel only appears after the actual sequence which means its further away from the city than i thought , although it might not be that far because you couldnt see the citadel from the coast either.

 

[Oreolek]

Hmmm...Indeed,this is puzzling.
The City 17 shot from the top of the Citadel shows no coasts or sands at all (as well as battlefields - that was New York).But you can see the Citadel from the coast,from the sand and other places like Black Mesa East - so you would see them from the top of Citadel.
I think that's a mistake of Valve.

 

[Mech Man]

Maybe it was the opposite direction from the citadel so you could only see the city from the top , that would make sense as you were going away from the citadel from the airboat all the way to Nova Prospect. I might go replay HL2 to check it out after im finished replaying HL1 (Nihilanth is alot tougher than i though he was).

 

[Vaun]

The wastland is possibly some kind of oil field in saudi arabia or wherever, after all there was that tower, another seen in ravenholm (not the citadel, a rusted lift tower). It could have been for lifting driling equipment or something. After all, kleiners teleporter could take you ANYWHERE in the world during that little sequence right?

 

[Asknoone]

Dear god, lets hope not. I hate the post apocalyptic dunes approach to wasteland. Much prefer Valve's “abandoned Earth”.

 

[Vaun]

Thats why im thinking its some oil field or something. C17 is in a slavic country, possibly bordering khazakstan (spelling?), maby it sent you there, but where did the bit with the giant ictheosar take place? it would have to be way off the coast for it to be that huge...

 

[Van Kayne]

Well, it's certainly possible, but think about this:
Take the screenshot provided in the posts above and compare it to the opening vista in Episode 2 where we see the Portal Storm for the first time.
In the "desert" shot, the citadel is much bigger (wider), yes?
Therefore, in Episode 2, in the forest, we are further away from the citadel than the teleporter sent us. We know City 17 is near the coast, so I therefore propose we were sent to a region of denuded sand dunes near said coast.
We also don't see any huge swathes of desert in Episode 1 or 2, despite being in areas with a pretty damn good view (inside the citadel, the train ride away from City 17, the radio transmitter, at the Silo, opening vista at the train wreck etc.).

Not sure about the first screenshot Mech Man posted, because there are power lines like that all over the world, and that tower looks like a Combine watchtower, which I figure could be damn near anywhere.

 

[Vaun]

Thats not a combine watchtower, a watchtower has a curved, sail looking roof, this has a curved roof and is made of rusted steel, and theres several in Ravenholm, seen in the background, and appear to be for mining or drilling, having a wheel for holding a cable. Also, ravenholm is devoid of combine tech.

 

[mrman234]

The only reason you can see the Citadel in that shot is that it's part of the 3D skybox, which, until The Orange Box engine, could not be removed.

The Orange Box engine brought a new texture called toolsskybox2d, which does not show the 3D skybox, but this was not possible in the Source revision used in Half-Life 2, therefore the Citadel is present.

 

[Tagaziel]

The sandy area we are teleported to isn't a desert, boys and girls, it's a highly eroded temperate plain. Since water was being removed by the Combine, the rivers dried up in the vincinity of that mine. Without water, the plantlife died out, and without plantlife, winds could chip the soil, removing nutrients and causing desertification. Eventually, plantlife was rooted out together with trees by the sandstorms that rampaged through the area, which also destroyed much of human things left except for the elevator mining tower.

 

[Mech Man]

It wasnt an oil field , if it was an oil field wouldnt there be more structures like oil deriks and stuff? And i dont know what you meant by the iky sequence being "big" if you were referncing the actual creature then thats the normal size , the actual place isnt off the coast , if you no-clip there you can see the cliff side and a guard rail.

Edit : Mrman read my previous post. I think mikael has the right idea.