Half Life thread - Discussions about Valve's FPS magnum opus(es) and any related content (spin offs, expansions and etc)

[HeyYou]

It was, at least compared to its sequel since there is always this sense of hopelessness and melancholic chaos with death everywhere and very little allies. And the situation growing more and more severe even with the efforts of the science team to reverse this mess.

In the sequel, there is always "hope" against the combine when, realistically, there aint. The characters crack wise more even when it isnt necessarily fitting (not saying that the game does that to the point of annoyance).

Beta seemed to take the situation far more seriously.

What hopelessness? Starting with Questionable Ethics, it is revealed to the player that Black Mesa already knows about the aliens and where they come from, and then later on you learn that Black Mesa has teleported to and from Xen multiple times. Throughout the game, you're told the Lambda team has the resources and knowledge to stop the invasion, the Lambda team confirms once you get there that the invasion can indeed be stopped and they trust you to do it, and then Gordon stops the invasion.

There's certainly a strong sense of melancholy at multiple points in the game (and many, many moments of levity) but any hopelessness felt at the beginning of Unforeseen Consequences only begins to shrink as the chapters go by. Half-Life definitely wanted to keep the player on edge and moving forward at all times, and you could certainly argue it did it better than Half-Life 2 considering there's no long breaks in the action a la Black Mesa East, but its tone is not anywhere near the original concept for Half-Life 2.

 

[naiiunderscore]

It was, at least compared to its sequel since there is always this sense of hopelessness and melancholic chaos with death everywhere and very little allies. And the situation growing more and more severe even with the efforts of the science team to reverse this mess.

In the sequel, there is always "hope" against the combine when, realistically, there aint. The characters crack wise more even when it isnt necessarily fitting (not saying that the game does that to the point of annoyance).

Beta seemed to take the situation far more seriously.

Half-Life 1 is not straight up tonally dark at all lmao. You have Scientists hiding in trash cans, the "This is my hiding spot!" guy, all the people killing themselves in varying ridiculous ways, "yore dead freeman" graffitied on the wall, etc etc.

Half-Life 1 is more of a dark comedy than just straight up dark. And though Half-Life 2 does have a lot of wisecracks, it does keep up the darkly comedic tone with some of the shit the citizens say (Sometimes, I dream about cheese...). But unlike the first game, there are some concepts that are just straight up fucked up. Like the Stalkers. Or the half-human combine soldiers. HL2 utilizes horror way more than the first game. Just about the darkest shit you'd find in HL1 was the Questionable Ethics chapter. But it was difficult for that concept to be explored in such a primitive game.

I think what we got is the best overall tbh. Half-Life 2 would not be as fondly remembered if it was a consistently dark and depressing pseudo 1984 adaptation. It would have melded together with the games of its era and stood out far less. It's fun to think about beta aesthetics, and I'd love to play a game in its fashion, but it would not hit "greatest of all time" lists like the HL2 we got does.

 

[MassierSon]

I agree with everything but the character part. I never understood why people enjoyed the characters in Half Life 2. Humanity is facing extinction, the oceans have been drained, procreation is impossible, everyone is living under the thumb of an ultra-totalitarian state that views humans as nothing more than insects and yet every main character you run into is smiling and cracking jokes all the time.

That could be explained by the water they’re fed. It’s already known they put chemicals in the water to make them forget things. Perhaps there are other effects it has on humans.

 

[HeyYou]

Just about the darkest shit you'd find in HL1 was the Questionable Ethics chapter. But it was difficult for that concept to be explored in such a primitive game.

I'd say the game probably feels the darkest, tonally, from Power Up to Apprehension. Power Up has the dying security guard who's played completely straight for once, On a Rail has the funny graffiti but is otherwise a creepy level filled with weird ambient noises and a surface section taking place at night, and Apprehension has the Itchthyosaur and Black Ops, who aren't nearly as personable as the HECU, and obviously ends with Freeman getting captured. The relative lack of friendly NPCs compared to earlier chapters also contributes to that feeling, I think.

 

[Overcast]

One of my favorite bits about the original Half Life was shit was just escalating more and more the further you went into the game. It just starts off as a normal day at work, only for things to go wrong and aliens start attacking and killing your colleagues and co-workers and causing the facility to break apart. Eventually the HECU comes in to try and clean up and the soldiers grow an intense desire to kill you for killing their friends and inadvertently causing the disaster and are eventually forced to retreat as the aliens keep sending in nastier aliens in greater numbers. All the while, you're just a dude trying to survive by any means necessary.

It's something that's aged beautifully in that sense, especially in recent years where it feels like under pressure, the powers that be seem to make every wrong decision possible. So while I'm not sure if I could call it all tonally dark, the general feel that it gives resonates quite a bit with me on some level.

This video right here does a great job showing how massive in scale the whole situation was.

 

[TheHarbinger]

So while I'm not sure if I could call it all tonally dark, the general feel that it gives resonates quite a bit with me on some level.

The ending is dark. You realize that Black Mesa has been sending people into Xen to their deaths and opening dangerous portals without informing probably most of the people there. And they are endangering all of earth with their endeavor and research. They literally have you messing around with portals knowing that you could get sucked into Xen like the last dozen dead bodies with HEV suits on them. Or the portals could open up an alien world that floods earth with monsters. And worse is that likely humans are not even in charge of anything. The G-Man is an alien who is manipulating earth's end.

 

[armoreddinnerjacket]

The ending is dark. You realize that Black Mesa has been sending people into Xen to their deaths and opening dangerous portals without informing probably most of the people there. And they are endangering all of earth with their endeavor and research. They literally have you messing around with portals knowing that you could get sucked into Xen like the last dozen dead bodies with HEV suits on them. Or the portals could open up an alien world that floods earth with monsters. And worse is that likely humans are not even in charge of anything. The G-Man is an alien who is manipulating earth's end.

The endings you get for the HL2 and the episodes are equally dark, especially EP2's cliffhanger.

 

[TVB]

The endings you get for the HL2 and the episodes are equally dark, especially EP2's cliffhanger.

One of them felt a bit funny to me.

 

[Maurice Caine]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1583720/Entropy__Zero_2/

Finished it and enjoyed it. It's the Opposing Force 2 we never had.

 

[Ita Mori]

Half-Life 2 would not be as fondly remembered if it was a consistently dark and depressing pseudo 1984 adaptation.

Slight disagree. It already is a pseudo 1984 adaption, it's just the final product is a lot more timeless given we were spared the edgelord coats and the Matrix inspirations that instantly date the game.
I mean, I liked the Matrix visuals and edginess, but it's for the best we didn't get it.

 

[Monuklear]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1583720/Entropy__Zero_2/

Finished it and enjoyed it. It's the Opposing Force 2 we never had.

I remember playing the original Entropy: Zero way back ago. Didn't realize there's a sequel. I don't recall too much about the original but I seem to remember thinking it's a adorably amateurish (like that one HL1 mod where you play as a prisoner and get a plunger as your melee weapon).
I'll give this one a go next weekend.

 

[Maurice Caine]

I remember playing the original Entropy: Zero way back ago. Didn't realize there's a sequel. I don't recall too much about the original but I seem to remember thinking it's a adorably amateurish (like that one HL1 mod where you play as a prisoner and get a plunger as your melee weapon).
I'll give this one a go next weekend.

Half-Life Caged? iirc the guy that made it was hired by Valve.

 

[Ookoo Squad]

Apparently HL2 used the face of an actual burnt corpse for one of its corpse models.

https://www.thegamer.com/half-life-2-fans-discover-that-corpse-model-was-ripped-from-real-medical-book/

18 years on from its release, Half-Life 2 fans have made a fairly morbid discovery about one of its models. Corpse01.mdl, which is also now a popular skin in Garry's Mod, was ripped nearly 1:1 from a real medical book. The only difference is that both eyes are missing in Half-Life 2's model, otherwise, it looks exactly the same.

This was discovered on the r/eyeblech subreddit when somebody shared a photo of the deceased man with the caption, "Some pretty gnarly forensic photographs." Two days ago, someone replied, "oh hey 1st one's the half life 2 corpse01", a discovery that was later shared by YouTuber Richter Overtime on his channel and Twitter. Putting the pieces together was a result of sheer internet coincidence, but it shines a light on an earlier Half-Life development mindset (as shared by Metrocop).

 

[Dr. Isaac Kleiner]

The whole GoldSRC repository got leaked recently. Check it out!

https://mega.nz/file/vrgQTASL#Ta71t2Ok5x7G-o74__uqTQYkOVykxtTN4JA3BD9mrPo

Also, here's more leaked content that happened a week ago or so.

This one contains original source files for many models, including the birther: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14xuquuGIZQhCqKzNNDYjEL4-ldIYT-sf/view?usp=share_link

Uncompressed gasmask citizen textures: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/308783414104817665/1058956509079404624/Citizen_17.zip

Other stuff: https://www.mediafire.com/file/72q2orom2xody4t/soldier_stripped_src.rar/file https://www.mediafire.com/file/winx79ek903gvu3/Items_src.rar/file https://www.mediafire.com/file/uugebfnc0eedptr/Stalker_src.rar/file

(shamelessy ripped off from knockout.chat, lmao)

Spoiler: Highlights

I don't know where to put this, but also the Counter-Strike: Source map files got leaked as well. It seems there is also a Terror-Strike map in there and a map that features a cut gamemode.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/308783414104817665/1060699950452838430/cstrike-maps.zip

Get those while you can if you're into this stuff, I don't know how long those links will be up.

 

[Coolio55]

The whole GoldSRC repository got leaked recently. Check it out!

https://mega.nz/file/vrgQTASL#Ta71t2Ok5x7G-o74__uqTQYkOVykxtTN4JA3BD9mrPo

Also, here's more leaked content that happened a week ago or so.

(shamelessy ripped off from knockout.chat, lmao)

Spoiler: Highlights

View attachment 4217655View attachment 4217670
View attachment 4217598View attachment 4217630
View attachment 4217666

I don't know where to put this, but also the Counter-Strike: Source map files got leaked as well. It seems there is also a Terror-Strike map in there and a map that features a cut gamemode.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/308783414104817665/1060699950452838430/cstrike-maps.zip

Get those while you can if you're into this stuff, I don't know how long those links will be up.

GoldSRC and all the discord links are live but the rest are dead unfortunately.

 

[Toolbox]

The ending is dark. You realize that Black Mesa has been sending people into Xen to their deaths and opening dangerous portals without informing probably most of the people there. And they are endangering all of earth with their endeavor and research. They literally have you messing around with portals knowing that you could get sucked into Xen like the last dozen dead bodies with HEV suits on them. Or the portals could open up an alien world that floods earth with monsters. And worse is that likely humans are not even in charge of anything. The G-Man is an alien who is manipulating earth's end.

At hl1's release wasn't gman just as likely human just with ridiculous black site tech working for an out of control cia-like org? The hl2 lore kind of retconned this.

 

[Dr. Isaac Kleiner]

GoldSRC and all the discord links are live but the rest are dead unfortunately.

Damn, I'd have uploaded these myself but my internet is really crappy. AFAIK those leaks are also reuploaded on the Valve Archive site.

At hl1's release wasn't gman just as likely human just with ridiculous black site tech working for an out of control cia-like org? The hl2 lore kind of retconned this.

If I remember correctly the G-Man in the first game was supposed to be the administrator of Black Mesa. Then it was retconned in Half-Life 2 with Wallace Breen instead.

That's the reason why in Half-Life the G-Man has a briefcase with the Black Mesa logo on it.

 

[NSJAP]

 

[Big Fat Frog]

TheParryGod’s Half-Life SFMs are incredibly well made. If I remember correctly he’s also working on an original full-length movie set in the Half-Life universe, so if the quality of his shorts is anything to go off of it should be pretty good.

 

[The handsome tard]

Rather disappointed that there is no valve made comics set in Half Life's universe. They have it for L4D and TF2 but not Half Life. And this cant be justified as a "Half Life is told strictly through Gordon's eyes" when Half Life Alyx is now a thing.

I still cant explain why this theme just invokes such feelings of discomfort and even fear. Almost like your mind can detect something malicious in it even if you cant.

Things like that just add this whole aspect of the unknown in Half Life 2. Rebels even comment on it, saying they cant get it out of their head, almost implying some sort of hidden message or indocrination happening.