Complistic
Member
Ultimately it sounded pointless and unnecessary. Probably why they never went forward with it. Would have awesome to see the ending bit though. Oh well, at least I can completely give up now.
Marc Laidlaw reveals Half-Life 2 Episode 3's story synopsis
- Thread starter dex3108
- Start date
Jonneh3003
Banned
I didn't get that vibe at all. In fact the resolution of it being all for nothing impacts me greatly. It's a story I'm glad has finally been told.
I've assumed for years that Half-Life is dead, so I'm not thrown by this revelation today.
I must say, however, that if this truly is what would have followed that cliffhanger, then I am underwhelmed. I suppose it really couldn't live up to the hype, plot-wise. (Obviously we have no idea what we'd see for gameplay or scenarios or set pieces, as far as new stuff).
I mean, we've seen in the Portal games the wide scope of Aperture's history, innovations, and general insanity. And in HL2e3, with the mystery of the Borealis, what do we get? More teleporting. Oh.
I must say, however, that if this truly is what would have followed that cliffhanger, then I am underwhelmed. I suppose it really couldn't live up to the hype, plot-wise. (Obviously we have no idea what we'd see for gameplay or scenarios or set pieces, as far as new stuff).
I mean, we've seen in the Portal games the wide scope of Aperture's history, innovations, and general insanity. And in HL2e3, with the mystery of the Borealis, what do we get? More teleporting. Oh.
The Borealis arc is finished, and we get to see the Combine Overworld. I don't think it's pointless.
It's a short retelling. I'm sure we would have got a lot more exposition in the game.
Yautja_Warrior
Member
It's sad to see Valve treat a great IP like Half Life so poorly, especially after 3 successful and brilliant games.
Magical Drop
Neo Member
This was my take on it too - it felt like it was saying there was a crushing inevitability at work and that, despite all its kicking and screaming, humanity just isn't going to win this (at least not in the conventional sense). I've always felt it's nice to get something where the `humanity as the saviours of the entire universe` trope doesn't get put into play.
There's also a nice little irony in the plot given it's Alyx's idea to use what could have been humanity's last home-grown hope of prolonging it survival as a sort of conventional warhead weapon instead of studying it and adapting it.
Then you get to realise that she's been in the G-Man's pocket all that time and it wasn't necessarily because she felt it was the right thing to do, but rather it could be because she's been instructed to.
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
wow, that final paragraph is the saddest part of all this.
i will never forget the joy of traversing the treacherous suspension bridge as a combine helicopter terrorized me, of fighting two antlions in an open field after traipsing through mines, or of defeating through sheer luck the multi-strider battle and allowing the launch of the rocket.
thank you to those who work at valve, or used to work at valve, who cared enough to bring us these great moments. and thank you to marc for sharing this post, which though it be a bitter pill to swallow, is also somehow comforting.
i will never forget the joy of traversing the treacherous suspension bridge as a combine helicopter terrorized me, of fighting two antlions in an open field after traipsing through mines, or of defeating through sheer luck the multi-strider battle and allowing the launch of the rocket.
thank you to those who work at valve, or used to work at valve, who cared enough to bring us these great moments. and thank you to marc for sharing this post, which though it be a bitter pill to swallow, is also somehow comforting.
Gordon and Alyx set the Borealis on a suicide run. The G-Man pulls out Alyx for his own purposes, and the Vortigaunts save Freeman. The implication with the last bit is that while they destroy the Borealis and deny its tech to the Combine, it doesn't necessarily do any real damage to the Combine, and it sounds like Freeman got sent further forward in time. He passes the torch onto the new leaders of the rebellion, which sounds like it is still ongoing in some form.
This is honestly the reason I think Valve just gave up on HL3. They waited so long that they hit a Last Guardian/Duke Nukem Forever situation where people would hype themselves up so much. Obviously a plot summary is one thing, and what would actually have made this story good would have been the execution, but I'm not sure if they could have managed to properly temper expectations at this point. Had the game come out in 2010? I think it would have been well-received? If it came out any point now? It would be hit with a massive backlash, because there's no way it could be as good as everyone told themselves HL3 could be.
I don't think the end message is futility at all, but rather that one person despite all their skills and efforts can't necessarily turn the tide themselves.
idyllicLife
Member
Same.
I can't imagine playing a Naughty Dog-made HL game.
"Press X to kill Strider"
Alyx, Mossman and Gordon bicker over what to do with the Borealis, whether to destroy it or try to take it for the Resistance. Mossman wants to use it but Alyx disagrees and shoots her. Honouring her promise to Eli she aims the Borealis at a massive Combine staging area like a weird time-travel missile, but it bounces off the Combine like it's nothing. As it explodes, G-Man rescues Alyx (spiting Gordon) and the Vortigaunts rescue Gordon. In the future the resistance continues in some form, but the Combine are not defeated.
R
Rösti
Unconfirmed Member
Just so I understand this correctly, this is the plot of Half-Life 2: Episode Three and not Half-Life 3, right?
A peculiar happening I must say. I must assume this went through a lot of clearance and review before publication.
On another note, the tenth anniversary of the release of Half-Life 2: Episode Two/The Orange Box happens on October 10, 2017. Perhaps there'll be a little something then.
A peculiar happening I must say. I must assume this went through a lot of clearance and review before publication.
On another note, the tenth anniversary of the release of Half-Life 2: Episode Two/The Orange Box happens on October 10, 2017. Perhaps there'll be a little something then.
SoraNoKuni
Member
So that was it then.
:/
:/
TheLostBigBoss
Banned
The Borealis has a teleportation device on it that is able to travel both time and space.
Gordan, Alyx, and Dr. Mossman are all on it as they activate it, and realize the potential this device has as they inadvertently start warping around on the ship.
Alyx, wanting to follow her fathers final wishes, debates destroying the ship with Dr. Mossman, who sees this ship as the only chance to actually defeat the combine.
Alyx kills Mossman, mainly because she never actually trusted her and always resented her for being a double agent. Alyx locks in on what she thinks is the Combines base of operations for Earth, and basically makes a mini-citadel nuke that is traveling towards the Combines base.
In the fleeting seconds, the G-Man interrupts these events and takes Alyx away. Gordan witnesses that the "base", is actually a Dyson sphere, which is a megastructure that completely surrounds a star to harness all of it's potential energy, something only the most advance civilizations are able to create.
This basically means that Alyx was an unknowing sleeper agent for the G-Man, and her plan and goal are pointless, and the ship won't actually do anything other than be destroyed, Mossman was right.
In the final seconds, the Vortigaunt intercept Freeman, similar to what they did in Episode 2, and save him, bringing him to an undisclosed location on Earth at an undisclosed future date.
TL
R. The Combine quite possibly are the most powerful civilization in all of time and space in all realities , The G-Man's plans are to destroy the Borealis and it's technology for unknown reasons, it's unknown if humanity and the resistance was successful in it's uprising on Earth.Auto-Reply
Member
It would have been the conclusion to Episode 3, not to Half Life in general (not to the combine, not to the G-Man, not to any other characters). I guess it's just what Laidlaw had on the table for that Episode and it wasn't meant to be the last.
ArtificialIntelligence
Member
NO NO NO NO
slightconfuse
Banned
This is crazy news to wake up to
paperspace
Member
Last edited:
Auto-Reply
Member
I have not seen ID4-2, but from the vague description of the Borealis time travel and dimension shifting the game would have had a hard time topping what already has been done in Bioshock Infinite.
Jonneh3003
Banned
Few of the key employees who would have lead major aspects of Half Life 3 remain at Valve. For instance, this was posted by Marc Laidlaw. Valve haven't made a single player game in 6 years and they've stated multiple times that their future doesn't involve playing on your own.
Valve are a shop now. They want you to buy games on Steam and buy micro transactions on their free to play service games. I don't think there's any overreaction. Valve 2017 aren't the same Valve from 2007.
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
this person has been the narrative guiding hand for the series. he wrote the series story bible. in a blog dump, he just posted the plot for the unmade episode 3, and implies that few in the company care about the games anymore. there certainly seems to be cause to believe that it is toast.
nobody's expecting jodorowsky's "dune" to get made once they make a documentary about its troubled production and reveal its key players and elements. it's dead, jim.
It's not even that. There is easier money to me made not making Half Life 3 and doing what they do now. An employee slaving away at HL3 probably doesn't see a good return, but loot boxes, card games, I'm rich.
Pie and Beans
Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
I think the problem is I and many others kind of knew all this Borealis setting stuff for so long, it now reads like filler. Downer filler at that with Alyx being pretty shitty there at the end.
Essentially all I care about in the HL plot is if Gordon becomes G-Man, or just to explain that aspect of it all and not take LOST's approach to "make it all up as we go along!" plot.
Essentially all I care about in the HL plot is if Gordon becomes G-Man, or just to explain that aspect of it all and not take LOST's approach to "make it all up as we go along!" plot.
Nah, I think we already believed for a long long time that HL3 was never getting made. Reading this plot has just given closure so we arent left with Elis death cliffhanger and can never move on. Hence people treating this as a time to have a wake for HL. Now we know where the plot was going and wrapped up the three-episode story arch.
That's how the story of Half-Life worked from day one.
TheLostBigBoss
Banned
This also matches up with the leaked concept art
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
all the talk about the finances of steam and loot boxes etc. imply that there is no artistic drive or vision left at valve. which just cannot be true.
you'd think half-life would remain economically viable as a loss leader. if they're making so much money, why the fuck not?
you'd think half-life would remain economically viable as a loss leader. if they're making so much money, why the fuck not?
Sad Affleck
Member
They don't care. They are not interested in developing this type of game anymore.
Pie and Beans
Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
Fine for the random events they plop Gordon into across a timeline, not fine for the core mystery becoming "who cares".
Majukun
Member
it's completely true
we already had a peek on how valve works,and basically it all comes down to profit
nobody in the entire team has any incentive on putting future earning on the line just to make half life 3 a reality..especially seem the only ones that put any creeative energy into the project,are not part of valve anymore
For the record though, that's the end of HL2 Ep3, not HL3. HL3 almost seems like it was meant to feature Alyx rather than Gordon Freeman.The Borealis has a teleportation device on it that is able to travel both time and space.
Gordan, Alyx, and Dr. Mossman are all on it as they activate it, and realize the potential this device has as they inadvertently start warping around on the ship.
Alyx, wanting to follow her fathers final wishes, debates destroying the ship with Dr. Mossman, who sees this ship as the only chance to actually defeat the combine.
Alyx kills Mossman, mainly because she never actually trusted her and always resented her for being a double agent. Alyx locks in on what she thinks is the Combines base of operations for Earth, and basically makes a mini-citadel nuke that is traveling towards the Combines base.
In the fleeting seconds, the G-Man interrupts these events and takes Alyx away. Gordan witnesses that the "base", is actually a Dyson sphere, which is a megastructure that completely surrounds a star to harness all of it's potential energy, something only the most advance civilizations are able to create.
This basically means that Alyx was an unknowing sleeper agent for the G-Man, and her plan and goal are pointless, and the ship won't actually do anything other than be destroyed, Mossman was right.
In the final seconds, the Vortigaunt intercept Freeman, similar to what they did in Episode 2, and save him, bringing him to an undisclosed location on Earth at an undisclosed future date.
TL
I feel like people aren't paying enough attention to this. The ending was either leading up to Alyx being HL3s protag (most likely, imo), or she was gonna be the baddy led by G-Man against a rebellion led by an old Gordon Freeman. Either of which would have been awesome.
It would have been such a great starting narrative point for a potential HL3. So many options.
For all the talk of a flat structure at Valve, it seems odd that all of the projects that reach release happen to be very marketplace friendly. I'm not saying that I don't believe in the Valve employee guide that got accidentally leaked, but it just seems odd that the people working at Valve keep happening to make games that seem like they're entirely focused on the Steam marketplace.
Melon Husk
Member
TL
Combine are not gods, just your run-of-the-mill Kardashev scale 2.x civilization. What they want from Earth begs the question.
I think a Dyson Sphere is really just near the top when it comes to representing technological advancement and power in sci-fi. Even in fiction, once you have a side with that scale, a battered planet taking it out is simply too far-fetched to write. The entire end game of the character's plan is to smash a huge weapon into the Combine. In every other game this would destroy the whole enemy, some main characters would die, and the people of Earth would be dancing in the street. But here the big payoff is a tiny fizzle. How cool is that?