Theories about the game

[Albino]

I come on here and I see a lot of people figuring out the game, guessing plot details and reading into little touches. Im confused. Everyone seems to be reading alot into these little touches, like they have figured out the secret of halflife.

Like, trying to figure out where black messa is, and who G man is, and figuring out what planet it is based on. I think that as it stands, the plot in the games is pretty thin. And playing through these games, i didnt figure anything out, or see the point in it once I have finished the game,

Therefore, My Theory is that this is JUST a game. the hidden touches are little bits VALVe have added in just, with maybe some thought, but not major plot influencing thought. You are all reading into the game too much, searching for things that arent there.

But after saying that, i may be wrong, and valve may be hinting on these things, and you are very clever for figuring them out :E

 

[Asknoone]

Like, trying to figure out where black messa is

We know where black mesa is ....you mean city 17 right?

and figuring out what planet it is based on

Half life 2 is based on earth...the one were on right now

 

[Solver]

And Marc Laidlaw himself has stated that everything that is in the game is there for a reason...

No, it's really deep, it's just a pretty unusual way for a story to be told in a game, it usually unfolds in a rather obvious fashion you can't miss, while in HL/HL2, you really piece the small things together...

 

[Is This Tea]

Honestly this isn’t just a game… Valve has “raised the bar” a bit here rendering plot and therefore “little things” now important. You can now analyze a computer game in the same fashion you could do with a movie before. Obviously each “little touch” was a conscious design decision made by a human being who is trying to fit his work in with the producer’s artistic vision of where the piece is headed. To deny these design decisions is to deny the importance of art in games… which is obviously a view point that valve does not seem to share. Valve seems interested in raising the quality of art in games not demoting games to a purely entertainment aspect. As everybody knows the best art is entertaining and the best entertainment is artistic. Go Valve!

 

[Rasta-Bunny]

I come on here and I see a lot of people figuring out the game, guessing plot details and reading into little touches. Im confused. Everyone seems to be reading alot into these little touches, like they have figured out the secret of halflife.

Like, trying to figure out where black messa is, and who G man is, and figuring out what planet it is based on. I think that as it stands, the plot in the games is pretty thin. And playing through these games, i didnt figure anything out, or see the point in it once I have finished the game,

Therefore, My Theory is that this is JUST a game. the hidden touches are little bits VALVe have added in just, with maybe some thought, but not major plot influencing thought. You are all reading into the game too much, searching for things that arent there.

But after saying that, i may be wrong, and valve may be hinting on these things, and you are very clever for figuring them out :E

You sir, Suck!

 

[Is This Tea]

I went to an art school that had a Game Development track… So I know some game developers who work in the field now… Generally speaking people who make video games take them very seriously and consider them an art form. Do you think novelists just throw stuff into their works with thinking about how it affects the greater whole? Do Movie directors do that? Do painters? Poets? Not the good ones.
“God is in the details.”
- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

 

[dæmon]

A game is "just a game" in the same way books are 'just' books, or films are 'just' films. A game can still have lots of little details making up the story which HL2 proves, even if most of them are subtle. You wouldn't infer much of a book simply by looking at it and the same goes for HL2, and probably a lot of other games out there.

 

[bouche]

ValvE has set the game, style and community involvement up in such a way that an almost 'X-Files' sort of speculation is spawned. That's what makes something last forever as culturally significant.

I just finished it tonight. After reading so many 'worst ending ever' posts, I was curious to see what the problem was. I found the ending leaving me with the drive to go read about theories and ideas on the various HL2 forums and look forward to more content, and enjoy the DM fully.

Good times. ValvE done real good!

 

[Albino]

We know where black mesa is ....you mean city 17 right?



Half life 2 is based on earth...the one were on right now

nah, ive seen post where people are trying to figure out where black messa is and also trying to figure out what planet the game is set on.

And Marc Laidlaw himself has stated that everything that is in the game is there for a reason...

ah, i didnt know this

I went to an art school that had a Game Development track… So I know some game developers who work in the field now… Generally speaking people who make video games take them very seriously and consider them an art form. Do you think novelists just throw stuff into their works with thinking about how it affects the greater whole? Do Movie directors do that? Do painters? Poets? Not the good ones.
“God is in the details.”
- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

i can see what you mean. I just meant that not EVERYTHING put in the game is majorly influencial to the overall plot, as most people seem to think.

A game is "just a game" in the same way books are 'just' books, or films are 'just' films. A game can still have lots of little details making up the story which HL2 proves, even if most of them are subtle. You wouldn't infer much of a book simply by looking at it and the same goes for HL2, and probably a lot of other games out there.

very true, i just didnt seem to pick this up from h2

ValvE has set the game, style and community involvement up in such a way that an almost 'X-Files' sort of speculation is spawned. That's what makes something last forever as culturally significant.

This is very true. but i just felt some of it seemed a bit too far, and far too much was read into the tiniest details.

You sir, Suck!

Do i? Because I have a different view than you? :thumbs:

I didnt mean anyy disrespect to anybod who trys and figures things out, btw. if you spend time things about the gmae and analysing it, fair enough, I do that about art and books and films as well. All i was saying is that maybe the things you are analysing arent actually majorly influencial to the plot, they werent put there to provoke the player into thought, they were put there simply to make the game a more believeable world.

I have been proved mostly wrong however