Hey all, (yes it's me, I know I don't come here anymore 6.6)

I'll just cut to the chase, I really am not sure about the whole concept they have going with the Citidel in HL2: Episode 1 and 2. I have some ideas.. but I'm not sure if they're right or not, so I'd like to hear what you think.

From what I understand, basically, the citidel's core is what we try to stablize in Episode 1. Now, I'm not even sure at this point, is this the Dark Energy Reactor? Or was that what was at the top of the citidel? The reason I'm so confused there is because it seemed like the device at the top was only like a focusing device for the portal... I dunno.

Anyway, so I understand that the combine (I guess) had a failsafe plan that if the citidel was compromised they'd send out a distress signal to the homeworld and try to open another super portal. (though I dont see why they can't just open on from their homeworld) Normally this would make sense, but given the situation it seems kind of wierd. For one, I mean, wasn't all that mechinery at the top needed to open a portal? (evidently since the portal at the end of HL2 closed when you destroyed the ..whatever it is. So if that mechinery at the top was needed to open portals, how the heck were they able to open a portal and send the transmission at the end of episode 1? I mean the whole top of the thing was blown off! But lets say that the stuff at the top WASN'T needed, the powersource was melting down, how could it even be working at all???

Then one last thing, the super portal in episode 2. I can understand that a transmission was sent eaither by soldiers inside or a automated computer sequence, but how were they able control that beam of "raw discharge of the meltdown" into making a portal? I mean there's no mechinery or anything to control the flow of discharge into doing such a thing? ... Could you guys please ease my mind on all this? : /

This isn't meant to dis HL, it's the most awesome series ever, I just want to understand.

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Yes I spell bad, but remimber Mighty are the stupid.

Check out my drawings at http://half-dude.deviantart.com/

Well, if you have playin the games and where listening, than you should know whats going on, but if not, than this information is not hard to find out :wink: .

Half-life 2, EP1, EP2

Also...

half-dude said:
This isn't meant to dis HL, it's the most awesome series ever

hmmmm... :razz:

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Aaron's Stuff

The Dark Energy Reactor is the power source of the teleporter at the top of the Citadel. That teleporter is not used for local teleportation (which is what humanity has) but for inter-universe transportation, allowing a link between Earth and the Combine homeworld and their limitless reinforcements. When you blow it up at the end of HL2 you sever Earth's Combine forces from the rest of their military. Basically once the Combine conquered Earth they pulled back the bulk of the troops and left a smaller occupation force, the core of which is trans-human troops. With communication lost and no chance of reinforcement the Earth Combine are in trouble.

In EP1 the main power core of the Citadel is set to explode, which at first is thought as just an evil move to flatten City 17 as some sort of pseudo-MAD situation. However when you are going to buy time to evacuate the city you find the transmission packet. The packet is to be sent out when the core explodes. The exploding core would act as a recreation of the resonance cascade from HL1, causing portal storms worldwide. This would give the packet a chance to be sent out and reach its destination, the Combine homeworld. I don't exactly remember the exact details but the jist of it is: the packet is sent out, distress call sent, sustainable portal opened, bulk of Combine forces come through, humanity wiped out.

EP2 is getting the packet data to the rocket so that they can fire it up there and close the portal before additional forces can arrive.

Notes:
-Obviously the Combine can't open a portal from their homeworld into Earth, the whole freaking point of HL1 was that without the resonance cascade the Combine has no way of reaching Earth.
-I think the transmission and the resulting swirly beam was basically an anchor point and a small opening that the Combine on the other side could focus on, control, and expand. It wasn't an instantly viable portal.
-All that machinery at the top of the Citadel was required to have controllable, repeatable, and reliable teleportation. Obviously there's other ways of making portals, they are just a whole lot messier (HL1's resonance cascade, Citadel core destroyed)

You see? It's people like you here that are the reason I never come on these forums. There was no reason for you to sound like such a dick, that was really uncalled for. 9.9

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Yes I spell bad, but remimber Mighty are the stupid.

Check out my drawings at http://half-dude.deviantart.com/

half-dude ... what are you talking about?

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

What the hell, are you joking? Nobody is being a dick, I don't even know who you are referring to.

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Aaron's Stuff

Try this: http://members.shaw.ca/halflifestory/

It's apparently pretty darn accurate!

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Why snark works.

sigh, I typed all those words for nothing! shakes fist

For some reason the site didn't tell who I was replying to.. even though I pushed reply. I was referring to aaron_da_killa, his responce we alot more hostile and insulting then it needed to be.

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Yes I spell bad, but remimber Mighty are the stupid.

Check out my drawings at http://half-dude.deviantart.com/

Oh, thats strange. I didn't mean to sound like that, hey buddy, I got you those links for your reading and I accidentally navigated to another web page, so I had to retype my whole post again, than I stuffed up the bbcode so I had to fix it up .

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Aaron's Stuff

We should change your screen name to sensitive-dude. :razz:

Aaron wasn't even remotely breaking your balls and you retaliated his effort to help you by calling him a dick ... smooth.

Half-Dude, like always: calm down and relax. No one here was hostile or insulted you in any manner.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Crono is right.

I guess it is easy to confuse peoples mood or tone when reading forums, this is why I think that emoticons are useful. Maybe if I added a few of those "poking out tongues" emoticons in my first post, you would think differently.

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Aaron's Stuff

I guess this is my cue to come in and light some scented candles and play whale songs.

+1 for Yak though, that's a great precis of the events. You should get a job in copy writing.

sarcasm/[ No one here was hostile or insulting...except me!!! HOO HOO HA HA HA HA!!!!! I'm your worst nightmare!!! ]\sarcasm

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Anyone who is pregnant, has been pregnant, could ever become pregnant, or who could ever impregnate others should not read this.
I told you not to read that.

Pay no heed arron, half dude comes here looking for wood to burn his fire a lot of the time.

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Posting And You

Yeah, this guy seems a bit strange.

half-life dude's profile said:
I also have some problems here at the pit so just bare with me.

Whats that all about :S?

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Aaron's Stuff

Crono said:
We should change your screen name to sensitive-dude. :razz:

Maybe >.>

<div class="abouttext">Message submitted 1 minutes after original post:</b></div>

aaron_da_killa said:
I guess it is easy to confuse peoples mood or tone when reading forums, this is why I think that emoticons are useful.

Probably, the way it sounded to me sounded VERY belittling.

"if you'd even PLAYED half-life..." notice the emphesis on the PLAYED.. thats how it sounded.

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Yes I spell bad, but remimber Mighty are the stupid.

Check out my drawings at http://half-dude.deviantart.com/

Yeah well, I didn't intend that. If I wanted it to sound like that, than I would have emphasized that word, but I didn't :wink: .

Anyway, do you understand the half-life story better? Yak wrote up some pretty important information there and reaper47 posted a link to a great website that is full of interesting information about the half-life story. You should go through that stuff if you haven't already.

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Aaron's Stuff

Slightly unrelated, but the most recent realization I've had about the HL universe is what Gargantuas are. They are quite obviously synths just like gunships and striders, and it only took like three years after HL2 was released for me to notice. I just love how the stories all work together yet require some thought as to how. Revealing it straight up ruins all the fun, and it also makes me think that anybody who says HL2 relates in no way to HL1 is a complete imbecile.

anybody who says HL2 relates in no way to HL1 is a complete imbecile.

That might be among the few things I never heard being mentioned about HL.

I almost found the ties a little too obvious. Like, what a surprise, BARNEY the security guard from Black Mesa is right with you in an obscure, Eastern European city. Just with DR KLEINER and ELI VANCE and everyone in the street is wearing lambda(R)-signs because the lambda(R) sector in Black Mesa was so cool and they all worship Gordon Freeman and know every detail about him like some kind of post-apocalyptic celebrity.

In HL1 you were some random dude who happened to have the only hazard suit. In HL2 you are a prophetic demi-god. That always bothered me about the sequel.

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Why snark works.

I thought it would've been funnier if when citizens recognized Gordon they started throwing rocks at him for 'ruining their planet' forcing him to wear a disguise.

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o

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting reaper47</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quote:</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>anybody who says HL2 relates in no way to HL1 is a complete imbecile.</DIV></DIV>

That might be among the few things I never heard being mentioned about HL.

I almost found the ties a little too obvious. Like, what a surprise, BARNEY the security guard from Black Mesa is right with you in an obscure, Eastern European city. Just with DR KLEINER and ELI VANCE and everyone in the street is wearing lambda(R)-signs because the lambda(R) sector in Black Mesa was so cool and they all worship Gordon Freeman and know every detail about him like some kind of post-apocalyptic celebrity.

In HL1 you were some random dude who happened to have the only hazard suit. In HL2 you are a prophetic demi-god. That always bothered me about the sequel.

</DIV></DIV>

You'd be surprised :/ I've lurked somethingawful.com for years and the number of times I've heard that statement bewilders me. The supposed disconnect is not so much the returning characters and Gordon being a demi-god (I thought it was cool, considering you're one of the very few who know you had a hand in the destruction of Earth and their suffering), but things like the setting of City17, why Earth is enslaved, and the 'Combine coming out of nowhere' in the story. People complained that the Combine seemed random and unrelated to anything in HL1...

Yeah, I find all the Half-life games very scripted and that really bothers me. And the "OMG its Freeman, where all saved" attitude that all the characters have bothers me even more, Freeman is no big deal at all, and I would have a more enjoyable experience if at least some of the characters in half-life didn't notice him.

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Aaron's Stuff

I thought it would've been funnier if when citizens recognized Gordon they started throwing rocks at him for 'ruining their planet' forcing him to wear a disguise.

Exactly, lol

But honestly, I think I just dug the exploration part about HL1. You, the player, alone in the desert with a big secret to solve. You didn't even know what happened and never actually received an explanation (but - and that's important - you could feel that there was going on more behind the scenes).

In HL2 you never really felt alone, the secrets were about background details regarding the origin of the combine, otherwise it was pretty obvious. The mystery is only part of the story, the environments you visit aren't mysterious at all, you always know where you are and how you got there.

It's a different style. And I always liked the HL1 style. I liked it a lot.

I must say that the Episodes, as criminally short and cliff-hangerish they are, really brought back some of the atmosphere of the HL1 days without scarifying what they introduced with HL2. I really like the Episodes and the direction they're going with them.

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Why snark works.