Some things I noticed

I noticed some interesting little things in HL2.

• There is a Rayovac 9v battery strapped to the bottom of the crossbow
• There are no fat people in HL2
• Eli's prosthesis looks a lot like my Crowbar
• DOG is really, REALLY strong.
• Sometimes I get caught off-guard by NPC's but they seem to be able to home in on me from around walls and from about 2000 yds away.

did you see anything that caught your eye?

i noticed that the material on alyx's shirt hides her areola very effectively.

i notice the lack of clearly defined pantie lines.

i noticed that she is knock kneed when she walks.

I noticed there isn't very good colliding code when pertaining to models in HL2.

The real-time shadows are rather bad :sad:

Father Gregory is fat.

Scanners help the combine determine your posistion.

Dog is a robot, all robots are strong.

Your crossbow bolts are electrified, therefore the battery fits.

I notice that 90% of the game feels very scripted.

The Combine Force:

How did they "win" the war against the humans? I mean, come on, they
just have small APCs, Helicopters and Gunships. I think we would kick
their asses with our Apaches, B52 Bombers, Stealth Fighters, High tech
tanks,... They would not stand a chance if we team up every single army
in the world. And don't forget that we still have ABC weapons as last
counter measure.

It talks about how the combine assimilated our technology as it works best for our environments.

And I thought the crossbow had red-hot rebar bolts. shrug

I notice that 90% of the game feels very scripted.

I
noticed that, but also noticed that I only noticed that playing
the game the third time around. I enjoyed it anyway, and still want to
play some bits over and over again.

I also noticed that I needed a new graphics card.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting ding</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>The Combine Force:

How did they "win" the war against the humans? I mean, come on, they just have small APCs, Helicopters and Gunships. I think we would kick their asses with our Apaches, B52 Bombers, Stealth Fighters, High tech tanks,... They would not stand a chance if we team up every single army in the world. And don't forget that we still have ABC weapons as last counter measure.
</DIV></DIV>
Uhh, dude, they have future technologies, as you can see i the end of the game, in the citadel, if you reached there, you will see other MORE aircrafts and strange robots and wierd skinny humans running around inside, so i think they are powerfull enough, and dont forget the strange nuke explosion at the end, this would explain the Dr.Breen is insane enough to blow the world with his friends and his allies still there, i dont think that rockets and stuff and can destroy there dropships and striders, they do have strong weapons you know, if you dont understand me why i say they are strong, try playing difficulty of HARD, then you would get my point :wink:

Read the bulletin boards on the walls throughout the SP game - apparently the Combine came out of nowhere and defeated the entire human race in seven days, so they must have used nuclear weapons or somesuch - remember, Breen said that City 17 one of the last remaining population centers.

Also, the Overwatch/Metro police are human Combine forces. Like Dark said, the Combine have a pretty varied arsenal. Also, their ability to, you know, stab a mile-wide tower into the Earth's crust probably came in handy when attacking the our humble species.

Also, according to one of Breen's announcements, the Combine have made it illegal for human beings to have sex :shocked:

Yeh, so he already defeated us all, lol, so in other words, we havent been able to defeat them with our "PowerfulWeapons" thingy... :heee:

But are the combines the new type of the opposing force army in HL1 ???

From what I know the combine arn't a 'thing' really. They are influence.

I think that the citidel (sp?) is a invation ship that is droped from
the sky and it just eats everything around it. The combine use
conquered species as wepons, like the dropship and strider. Those
are living things that have been made into wepons. Same thing
with the metro cops, those are humans who are under the combine
influence. Those strange walking things in the citidel are
vorgons.

the combine "assimilated" all their tecnology. I see the force on
earth as a slave army that is controlled by the puppet masters (look at
the screen when you reach the top of the citidel).

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting DrGlass</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>From what I know the combine arn't a 'thing' really. They are influence.

I think that the citidel (sp?) is a invation ship that is droped from the sky and it just eats everything around it. The combine use conquered species as wepons, like the dropship and strider. Those are living things that have been made into wepons. Same thing with the metro cops, those are humans who are under the combine influence. Those strange walking things in the citidel are vorgons.

the combine "assimilated" all their tecnology. I see the force on earth as a slave army that is controlled by the puppet masters (look at the screen when you reach the top of the citidel).

</DIV></DIV>
yeh dude you are right, but what makes me wonder alot is that, at the end, when breen takes your grav gun, he runs away right, if you follow him, you will see him talking to a big worm-like creature, then he flees away down the elevator, who the hell is the worm??? Maby IT gives breen the monsters to turn them into robots?? And about the G-Man, everyone seems to know him except Freeman, WHY!?!? He is one freakin Guy, And at the END END END of the game, where the hell does the G-Man go? He throws himself from a white window or something?? And where did freeman go? Followed him down or what?? Very ironic game i say!!!

I noticed that the UT2k3 or Doom 3 engine is better... actually if anyone wants to test that... Export a load of HL2 textures and try. I'd love to see what an HL2 environment would look like in Doom 3.

/me too

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Dark|Killer</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>
<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting DrGlass</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>From what I know the combine arn't a 'thing' really. They are influence.

I think that the citidel (sp?) is a invation ship that is droped from the sky and it just eats everything around it. The combine use conquered species as wepons, like the dropship and strider. Those are living things that have been made into wepons. Same thing with the metro cops, those are humans who are under the combine influence. Those strange walking things in the citidel are vorgons.

the combine "assimilated" all their tecnology. I see the force on earth as a slave army that is controlled by the puppet masters (look at the screen when you reach the top of the citidel).

</DIV></DIV>
yeh dude you are right, but what makes me wonder alot is that, at the end, when breen takes your grav gun, he runs away right, if you follow him, you will see him talking to a big worm-like creature, then he flees away down the elevator, who the hell is the worm??? Maby IT gives breen the monsters to turn them into robots?? And about the G-Man, everyone seems to know him except Freeman, WHY!?!? He is one freakin Guy, And at the END END END of the game, where the hell does the G-Man go? He throws himself from a white window or something?? And where did freeman go? Followed him down or what?? Very ironic game i say!!!

</DIV></DIV>
yus, very ironic, Sherlock

/me too

Dark|Killer said:

DrGlass said:
From what I know the combine arn't a 'thing' really. They are influence.

I
think that the citidel (sp?) is a invation ship that is droped from the
sky and it just eats everything around it. The combine use conquered
species as wepons, like the dropship and strider. Those are living
things that have been made into wepons. Same thing with the metro cops,
those are humans who are under the combine influence. Those strange
walking things in the citidel are vorgons.

the combine
"assimilated" all their tecnology. I see the force on earth as a slave
army that is controlled by the puppet masters (look at the screen when
you reach the top of the citidel).

yeh dude you are right, but what makes me wonder alot is that, at
the end, when breen takes your grav gun, he runs away right, if you
follow him, you will see him talking to a big worm-like creature, then
he flees away down the elevator, who the hell is the worm??? Maby IT
gives breen the monsters to turn them into robots?? And about the
G-Man, everyone seems to know him except Freeman, WHY!?!? He is one
freakin Guy, And at the END END END of the game, where the hell does
the G-Man go? He throws himself from a white window or something?? And
where did freeman go? Followed him down or what?? Very ironic game i
say!!!

yus, very ironic, Sherlock

Indeed

i mean, if irony were made out of strawberries, we'd all be drinking a lot of smoothys right now

No, those things in the Citadel are called Stalkers, and they were going to be enemies you could fight at one point. I don't know what Vorgons are, but Vortigons are what were alien slaves in HL1 and are now helping the resistance...

Anyone else think that the Race X enemies in OP4 are meant to be Combine, or just some random, un-tied-in enemies?

they were going to make you fight those weird things in the citadel,
theyre called mortar synths, theyre living things with mech parts added
to make them big ass killing machines...

I'm gonna pop one in a level with a bunch of rebels and see what happens.

No, those things in the Citadel are called Stalkers, and they
were going to be enemies you could fight at one point. I don't know
what Vorgons are, but Vortigons are what were alien slaves in HL1 and
are now helping the resistance...

Anyone else think that the Race X enemies in OP4 are meant to be Combine, or just some random, un-tied-in enemies?

Yeah stalkers, I think those are converted vortigons. It looks
like they are slaves to the combine (there is one part where you see a
combine cop beating up on a stalker)

As for the op4 enemys, I didn't think that valve had anything to do with that story line?

but if they did, it could be combind force. There were a
multitude of enemys that didn't seem to have much of anything in common
all controlled by some 'force'

Did they ever really explane that the voitigon's were slaves in HL1? I thought they were just a high level species from Xen.

Stalkers are humans.. Humans that had all their organs replaced with
saline and are running on some life support thingy. They are basically
human slaves for the combine.

The Combine take over planets by creating a hybrid of themselves, and
the dominant race on a planet - they spread gas that prevents the
inhabitants from reproducing, they put chemicals in the water to make
them forget and fall to their rule. They enslave races with soldiers
that can use the race's weapons, vehicles, and other technology.

This is how the combine get all kinds of technology - their last planet
was Xen, which Gordon Freeman Freed (heh) in HL1, that is why
Vortigaunts are now helping you (they were the smart ones on Xen) but
headcrabs, antlions, fishy sharks, are kinda like some type of tigers,
sharks, etc. on earth - they are wild and untamed, and now not under
the rule of the combine anymore - that is why you see the combine
fighting them. The big blob guy you saw was an actual Combine guy -
because "Combine" soldiers and stuff are partially human.

We can assume most of their technology that they use came from other
worlds they conquered, all they want to do is take all our stuff, the
planet's resources, and turn humans into stalkers to work for them.

i think...

And of course, surely thousands of headcrabs etc escaped from Black Mesa, thus weakening Human Civilization?

Stalkers are humans.. Humans that had all their organs replaced with
saline and are running on some life support thingy. They are basically
human slaves for the combine.

The Combine take over planets by creating a hybrid of themselves, and
the dominant race on a planet - they spread gas that prevents the
inhabitants from reproducing, they put chemicals in the water to make
them forget and fall to their rule. They enslave races with soldiers
that can use the race's weapons, vehicles, and other technology.

This is how the combine get all kinds of technology - their last planet
was Xen, which Gordon Freeman Freed (heh) in HL1, that is why
Vortigaunts are now helping you (they were the smart ones on Xen) but
headcrabs, antlions, fishy sharks, are kinda like some type of tigers,
sharks, etc. on earth - they are wild and untamed, and now not under
the rule of the combine anymore - that is why you see the combine
fighting them. The big blob guy you saw was an actual Combine guy -
because "Combine" soldiers and stuff are partially human.

We can assume most of their technology that they use came from other
worlds they conquered, all they want to do is take all our stuff, the
planet's resources, and turn humans into stalkers to work for them.

i think...

how much of that is speculation?

I dont think the combine had controle of xen, I think that xen got mixed up with earth and the combine came. I dunno.

Stalkers are humans.. Humans that had all their organs replaced with
saline and are running on some life support thingy. They are basically
human slaves for the combine.

The Combine take over planets by creating a hybrid of themselves, and
the dominant race on a planet - they spread gas that prevents the
inhabitants from reproducing, they put chemicals in the water to make
them forget and fall to their rule. They enslave races with soldiers
that can use the race's weapons, vehicles, and other technology.

This is how the combine get all kinds of technology - their last planet
was Xen, which Gordon Freeman Freed (heh) in HL1, that is why
Vortigaunts are now helping you (they were the smart ones on Xen) but
headcrabs, antlions, fishy sharks, are kinda like some type of tigers,
sharks, etc. on earth - they are wild and untamed, and now not under
the rule of the combine anymore - that is why you see the combine
fighting them. The big blob guy you saw was an actual Combine guy -
because "Combine" soldiers and stuff are partially human.

We can assume most of their technology that they use came from other
worlds they conquered, all they want to do is take all our stuff, the
planet's resources, and turn humans into stalkers to work for them.

i think...

how much of that is speculation?

I dont think the combine had controle of xen, I think that xen got mixed up with earth and the combine came. I dunno.

partially what i read in Valve's own stuff, partially this guy who
seems to know what he's talking about http://fragfiles.org/~hlstory//

I got the collectors edition, which has the booklet with excerts from
"Raising The Bar" and it clearly stated that Stalkers are humans
adapted for combine use, among other things.

I actually have Raising the Bar. So I can confirm that. :smile:

i think the citadel is some giant multi-dimensional-star-cruiser to dig
up resources of planets and serve as a barack for the combines and
production factory.

Very sorry about this double post something messed up my browser. Please don't get mad. :biggrin:

I've noticed that your airboat wieghs about as much as a feather. Seriously if you shoot it with your grav gun it will fly up and slowly tumble down. It might be a glitch too. Heres a screen. It stays that high for a couple seconds tumbling and then it falls ever so softly down. I found it funny.

Stalkers are humans that are made into slaves. In the citadel there are LOTS of mortarsynths and crabsynths. I am sure the combine (AKA. the synth) would have no problems wiping the floor with us.

The combine is a lot like th Borg. It asimilates things and makes hybrids. like the combine soldiers are just modified humans. If you saw that one that had been stripped of its armour.

Also, nobody mentioned the badass striders.

[edit] i thought the crossbow bolts were red-hot rebar too, otherwise how do they stick in concrete and stuff. Also, you show me a rayovac 9v that is gonna make enough heat to get a rebar red-hot.

[edit] i thought the crossbow bolts were red-hot rebar too,
otherwise how do they stick in concrete and stuff. Also, you show me a
rayovac 9v that is gonna make enough heat to get a rebar red-hot.

Well this IS slightly in the future - who knows :biggrin:

Or maybe the combine got Top Secret 9v battery when they took over China

Ok... Can't remember where I found this out, but I did. Stalkers are when the combine take a human for use as a soldier, but then find they don't want it as a soldier or something, so they make it a stalker. The combine soldiers are just same as stalkers but with some muscle and a bit more bulk. I'm not sure if they have full legs or not, you can't tell.

I love the amount of back-story and thought that went into HL2. As far as story goes, there's an insane amount of continuity. Honestly, it seems like a lot of this confusion over the terms they use in the game are purposeful. Valve is pretty big on "putting you in the shoes", so if you just woke up and all this crap happened, you'd be confused, they're leaving Gordon's confusion up to the player, I suppose.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting SnarkSephiroth</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>I've noticed that your airboat wieghs about as much as a feather. Seriously if you shoot it with your grav gun it will fly up and slowly tumble down. It might be a glitch too. Heres a screen. It stays that high for a couple seconds tumbling and then it falls ever so softly down. I found it funny.</DIV></DIV>
The reason it flies into the air is because it has a very low weight so it move realistically for an airboat. Thats why you never have airboat and the gravgun at the same time in the game.

I love the amount of back-story and thought that went into HL2.
As far as story goes, there's an insane amount of continuity. Honestly,
it seems like a lot of this confusion over the terms they use in the
game are purposeful. Valve is pretty big on "putting you in the shoes",
so if you just woke up and all this crap happened, you'd be confused,
they're leaving Gordon's confusion up to the player, I suppose.

For anyone who believes Valve to be ignoring a lot of details, read Raising the Bar. Then open your mouth again.

Ok... Can't remember where I found this out, but I did. Stalkers
are when the combine take a human for use as a soldier, but then find
they don't want it as a soldier or something, so they make it a
stalker. The combine soldiers are just same as stalkers but with some
muscle and a bit more bulk. I'm not sure if they have full legs or not,
you can't tell.

Most likely you read that from : http://fragfiles.org/~hlstory/ . I
haven't read it in a while, although it sounds as thought it could be.

This is a very interesting thread. Since the release of Half Life
2, I have been very impressed with both the continuity and the fact
that Valve lets us speculate!

So many video games spell this stuff out with giant black
crayons rather than using the subtlety that this game does.
Rather than dump a lot of exposition on us, Valve put in easter-eggs
that would reward those of us who pay attention to the details.
Personally, I love that.

A suitable comparison (story-wise) is comparing this game with, say,
any of the Metal Gear Solid games. MGS buries you with poorly
translated, poorly voiced "story" segments that, ultimately, don't
contribute one damned thing to the gameplay. It's just stuff to
pound on the controller button to bypass. Needless to say,
there's none of that in Half-Life 2.

The more you explain, the more hokey it gets. In the care of
another production crew, HL2 could easily have been yet another hokey,
schlockey Aliens-conquer-the-world game. :smile: My two cents...