OHH MY GOD! (Huge spoilers)

[McGooTheWise]

Spoiler

Well, we all knew it, Eli ded.

I was kind of sad for the way he died, because his character seemed so much more important in this episode. After how much he'd done for us in this one, he dies with a tentacle stuck through his head. And the fact that he's dead, Alyx is crying, and I can't do any ****ing thing... God damn you Valve, I love you. What an awesome story. I'm more hyped up for the next one than ever.

Damn, I wish I could have done more than just lay there watching alyx cry... I want to kick some Adviser ass now. Them damn ****ers... Any other thoughts?

 

[Ennui]

Not only did I spend the entire Episode actually responding automatically to most of the things that Alyx said to Gordon, but at that part I was actually angry and sad because I couldn't do anything to save Eli.

Honestly, HL2 has provoked the most powerful emotional responses (other than the usual fear/surprise that games like Doom and FEAR try for) I've ever had from a videogame. I've never cared about vg characters this much.

 

[frenchfrysauce]

Spoiler

lol at the end to i was like WTF NOO, that was pretty hardcore how he died tho. or maybe they will bring him back too like alyx haha.

 

[Tyguy]

im sorry but best scene in the game was when dog owned the strider....if he died, id probably die inside

 

[Asuka]

Truly a great moment. Felt sad and really wanted to have a longer talk with him. After all he tells you.

 

[tibetanpunk]

Sigh...I just finished it, what a tragic ending....
Totally freaking unbelievably amazing game....Seeing those houses explode and driving threw them as they did, running over hunters while you do it and then 'busting' the striders...
I personally think that action is unrivaled by any game I have ever seen, even Crysis can't compete with that graphically....From what I have seen.
Holy crap, the rocket launching bit! That was astounding graphically, I mean...WOW! Just WOW!

Eli was uber cool, one of the most likable characters in video game history. ;(

 

[McGooTheWise]

Eli was uber cool, one of the most likable characters in video game history. ;(

HL2.net should hold a candle light vigil for Eli. That might give us a sense of closure. ;(

To die in such a way... What a brave man he had to have been. To take a far superior being (by obvious lengths) up in a fight with the pipe used by Jake in the Rout Kanal chapter in hl2, (Jake is the guy where we first meet the manhacks.) I would have been screaming and begging for my life like a little girl, not even realizing I should tell MY little girl not to watch as a monster sucked out my brains. I think that's what advisers do anyway. They suck out the intelligence from the brain... Valve, there's gotta be other worlds in earth's uprising state... Please clue us in on some allies in ep3! I feel so alone and secluded! Have mercy!

damnit, and everything was looking up too, I was about to get on a chopper, go find Mossman, and kick some combine ass... But now... Now such a downer... poor alyx... i don't think I can sleep tonight... Ohh shit! I have 3 finals tomorrow! O_O

Damnit... Back to reality... ><

 

[giant384]

valve rox for games seriously.

ive never felt the closeness to a character in a game ever.

 

[TheDude]

Best half life entry yet. BTW do the Combine advisers suck the brains out of people and absorb their knowledge, a la Starship Troopers? If that is the case, the combine now know where the aperture science lab is located and they may have another way to open a portal to earth. I'm guessing that Episode III will be a race between the combine and the resistance to get control of the aperture lab. Thoughts anyone?

EDIT: I've noticed a significant correlation between starship troopers and half life. For one, the antlions are almost identical to the arachnid of starship. Now the combine advisers suck the brains out of people like the big brain in troopers.

 

[mikese]

TheDude: Your guess on what will be in Ep3 sounds reasonable to me.

 

[TwwIX]

It's always the black guy that ends up dead.
Seriously though,that was a bit of a gruesome dead to give to a lead character.
The devs clearly watched Starship Troopers a wee bit too much.

 

[PvtRyan]

The "Don't look Alyx, honey close your eyes." and Alyx's reaction was really, really powerful emotionally.

 

[Mess]

i think it was a little too obvious that Eli was the one who would die, after all the confidences he had been making in you. They should have developed the other characters that much as well.

 

[Navy Man]

I was the Son he never had, R.I.P.................dad.

 

[Asknoone]

Best half life entry yet. BTW do the Combine advisers suck the brains out of people and absorb their knowledge, a la Starship Troopers? If that is the case, the combine now know where the aperture science lab is located and they may have another way to open a portal to earth.

I didn't think of that, yeah.

 

[W4d5Y]

GOSH I HATE MYSELF...and YOU guys too...
I just COULDN'T help but read this, fisting awe, I still have one week to go before I can get my hands on one of them retail boxes here...
Meh, VALVe really should go with real worldwide release next time...I mean, I watched some vids, quite hyped, when ep1 came out, but with the release of the actualy orange box actually already behind us and my not being able to have a grasp at it in time really annoys me...
I actually feel like the first time I masturbated now, so guilty, to have ruined my own peronal emotional responses to that eli-scene...
I just can't stand the tension, I'm so horny for this game so bad right now!

At least I'll get to see my brother's reactions, maybe we'll cry, that would be awesome...

 

[bodhi]

i agree the story is obviously very well done, great characters, suspense and intrigue by the bucket-load. the hl2 series is much more coherent than may other similar games and you always feel like theres a purpose to what your doing, not just that your doing this/that because it breaks up shootouts.

im really interested to see how the majority of console gamers find halflife,seeing as its now all bundled together. maybe console gamers will finally see how much better this is than stuff like halo which by comparison is childish in its character interaction, plot "twists" and narrative.

i think this little review sums up halo better than most...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/art.../zeropunctuation/2304-Zero-Punctuation-Halo-3

anyway, episode 2 was great, it felt a bit shorter than ep1, but had some great moments - i especially loved the music that would kick in when trouble developed (such as helping those two guys with turrets. that kicked ass)

 

[tepps]

Jesus christ the ending was so unexpected for me. I was like cool, all is dandy, im getting more gman info from eli soon and the portal is closed. Really really strong stuff ;x

 

[Lobster]

I love the way the second advisor rips half the building apart just by flying past it, I wonder if we will get to go freeman on one in Episode 3, it would be a crime to Eli if they dont let us, dab nam it!

 

[tepps]

Agreed, there is need of a 1on1 for some quality advisor time in EP3. *advisor, meet crowbar*.

 

[kupocake]

I'm thinking this is among the best death sequences in video gaming history. Many of us knew deep down that it would be Eli dead at the end of it all, but it was just such a dramatic way to go: a father killed in front of their own daughter in the most horrid way. And there was plenty of build-up for Eli as a sympathetic character, though I did think they rather overdid his calling Gordon 'Son', as if we weren't getting the point

On a related note, when the fleshy tentacle started twisting towards Gordon himself, I think we finally saw Valve's implementation of the 'Mr Friendly' concept. I think that's what makes it such a horrid death: it's not just murder, it's some kind of twisted murder-rape combo.

 

[GM)Paravin.]

And when he started to talk about grandkids.. Oh god, when I will fight against the Advisors, I'll show them what does ''rage'' mean... (28 Weeks Later Style.)

And I had a bad feeling when we were on that small elevator, I just knew everything is too good to be true..

 

[Ennui]

The moment Eli said "We have a lot to talk about" to you when Alyx brings back his cup of tea I realized he was doomed.

Watching him die was moving though, especially with Alyx screaming and crying next to you. I am going to f*ck some Combine up in Episode 3.

 

[Absinthe]

I knew he'd be the one to bite it the moment he mentioned feeling proud of you almost like a son. I feel pretty gutted now. When he told Alyx to not look, I too almost turned my head to avoid seeing the inevitable.

 

[kingkuttar]

God when she returned with that damn cup of tea i was like OMG he was about to tell me everything about the G-Man you just HAD to come back. *Fumes* Eli should have told her to go disassemble and reassemble Dog 17 times.

 

[el Chi]

Best half life entry yet. BTW do the Combine advisers suck the brains out of people and absorb their knowledge, a la Starship Troopers? If that is the case, the combine now know where the aperture science lab is located and they may have another way to open a portal to earth. I'm guessing that Episode III will be a race between the combine and the resistance to get control of the aperture lab. Thoughts anyone?

EDIT: I've noticed a significant correlation between starship troopers and half life. For one, the antlions are almost identical to the arachnid of starship. Now the combine advisers suck the brains out of people like the big brain in troopers.

I doubt that they absorb knowledge like that. Personally it seems like a silly thing to do which worked with ...Troopers because that was, well, silly.
I think it's simply good sustenance for the advisors who are, as implied by the vorts, in a larval stage.
After all, can you really suck out the knowledge of a corpse, like the first human we saw attacked by that noodly appendage?

And yes I think your thoughts on Aperture are spot on.

 

[dogboy73]

I have to say that was an awesome ending. I knew someone was going to die & as soon as things went a bit pair shaped at the end I knew it would be Eli. What an incredible sequence. I to felt the need to kick some advisor arse! Roll on EPII so we get to avenge the Eli Vance!!

 

[Nitre]

Spoiler

The ending made me really sad. I knew someone was going to die but i sort of forgot about it because of the immersiveness of the game. Near the end when you're watching the portal shut down i was physically shaking in anticipation of what would happen next, but when the adivsors came i was just completely surprised. Agreed, it is absolutely one of the best death sequences in any game, and the best i've ever seen. As a matter of fact, for me i think the best thing was that it didn't hit me straight away what the death of Eli meant for the storyline. Really damn emotional, after all that Eli said towards the end about the gman and black mesa and all the other stuff. I wanted to know more

 

[Mutley]

Spoiler

Can't the Vorts' save Eli like they did with Alyx? I'm not sure if they can restore brains though.

 

[giant384]

Spoiler

Can't the Vorts' save Eli like they did with Alyx? I'm not sure if they can restore brains though.

if its the same concept, then they would have to go back to the antlion hive to retrieve a larva. i wouldn't want it to turn into halo where we have to go back to an older area just to complete an objective.

 

[Mutley]

Yeah it would kinda suck, I think for the emotional epicness of it, he should stay dead.

 

[Ennui]

You guys don't need to use spoiler tags in here, the title of the thread says Spoilers and that's enough. Only in threads where the title doesn't say spoilers anywhere is when you have to use the tags.

Eli can't come back, period. The Vortigaunts restored Alyx because she got stabbed in the stomach; they can repair tissue and whatnot but I am positive they can't restore a brain, particularly when it's been sucked out by an Advisor who then left.

 

[Hellrider]

Alyx wasn't dead yet.

 

[f1r3b4ll]

After just completing the game today (I found out through some idiot spamming on a forum that Eli died, watching it was something else though)

Ok so did anyone pick up the conversation in the control room while talking about the huge ship (that I can't remember the name of) and what it had to do with Aperture Science, it seems a bit too convenient for all these namechecks. Surely there must be some deeper connection than just cross-referencing games, maybe Portal is a subtle addition to the storyline?

And yes the way Eli died was a very emotional moment, not only because of his death but because of the gut feeling that the deep rooted knowledge of everything thats gone on with Black Mesa, Gordon, the resistance and everything else. I wonder why G-Man was so adament that Alyx safely reached the white forest, surely it couldn't be just to watch her father die ?

As for restoring Eli, not a chance, I'f I am right then the vorts aided the bodies natural healing process on Alyx and managed to stabalize her internal wounds. Eli is gone to a better place now, does that place have cake ? who knows?

It's all just speculation but my god, between Episode 2 and Portal, I am really happy I bought the orange box, with a big level of satisfaction completing both.

 

[Ennui]

The ship is called the Borealis, and I too think that there is going to be a lot more of crossover between Portal and HL2 than we saw in Episode 2.

 

[kamikazeCow]

On a related note, when the fleshy tentacle started twisting towards Gordon himself, I think we finally saw Valve's implementation of the 'Mr Friendly' concept.

wow, i never thought about it that way, but your right. While playing against the hunters, i also thought back to raising the bar, and instantly thought combine elite.

the combine elite were originally designed as an existing combine creature, something akin to a small bipedal strider, grafted onto the proportions of a human soldier.

Just add an extra leg and change some colors around and your damn close to what we see in game.

 

[Asknoone]

The Advisor sucked pretty much all of Eli's brains out. He didn't just kill him with it.

 

[Laivasse]

I doubt that they absorb knowledge like that. Personally it seems like a silly thing to do which worked with ...Troopers because that was, well, silly.
I think it's simply good sustenance for the advisors who are, as implied by the vorts, in a larval stage.
After all, can you really suck out the knowledge of a corpse, like the first human we saw attacked by that noodly appendage?

Agreed@lameness of knowledge-sucking. That really wouldn't be a great plot development.

Alyx wasn't dead yet.

Also agreed, she was just mortally wounded/on the brink of death. So there won't be any magical resurrections for Eli. That would be another awful thing for the plot.

 

[Black Op]

I had a feeling Eli was going to die in Ep2, and I was expecting it right after that rocket launch. A pity he died just as he was prepared to reveal more secrets. I guess we'll have to wait for more revelations from G-Man or Mossman.

Well at least Eli's death was done justice, even if it was quite messy indeed.

 

[McGooTheWise]

Do you all remember the first Ep.2 trailer we saw, where the Adviser was in the middle of that warehouse room, kinda like the one that's in there, but the adviser came out laying down. It also had a red light on it. Maybe they moved that one to the next game.