Half-Life and Portal series, general discussion (v6) - Games

Just wondering, is there any mod that makes Combine Soldiers more accurate and Rebels less accurate? I mean, by now there must be at least something, but I can't find anything on the internet.

[QUOTE=Xonax;47746482]I have a question, if Portal 1 takes place during the Combine Years, then how come the Combine didn't try to invade it when GLaDOS was destroyed and had a huge ass hole in the ground. It only makes sense if Portal 1 takes place AFTER the Combine Years.[/QUOTE] You could think of it in these ways: 1) Portal and Half-life are in one universe, but valve don't want to mix them together at all. So most probably they never developed why and how combine didn't invade the facility or what happened to it after GLaDOS was destroyed. 2) Treat Portal 2 as non-cannon wacky spinoff "somewhere in the future", again, to not mix it with half life universe. That was literally the intention behind this far future thing. Now, if you ignore Portal 2 - Combine invaded Aperture after the death of GLaDOS, took their ball and turret technology and implemented it in their stuff. Don't think about this too hard. I don't know if I remember correctly, but one of the writers maybe mentioned that Portal 1 takes place during the start of the combine invasion. The reason Portal has turrets and balls like in hl2 is only because Portal team was small and didn't have the time to develop their own original assets.

[QUOTE=Spor;47747419] Don't think about this too hard. [/QUOTE] Blasphemy

I just think a clash between combine and aperture motifs would look really cool. The combine with their blocky back technology and aperture with round white tech.

Personally, I consider Portal 2 non-canon to the Half-Life universe. That is, the original Portal does happen in the HL universe, but without all the retcons made to Aperture Science history and its facility, and Chell actually gets out at the end of the original game. The reason why I interpret things as such is mainly because of the style discrepancy between Portal and Portal 2. The former fits very well into HL universe, the latter not so much, even though it could, but it would be quite a stretch. Also, the retcons made to Aperture Science timeline are hard to fit and quite absurd at times. The AS level of technology is the biggest offender. I mean, functioning Portal gun (which in the original game was supposed to be in the fledgling testing stages and still being developed by GLADoS after she killed all the personnel) by the 70s? [I]Nanomachines[/I] in the 50s?

I pretty much see it the same way, it's not a popular opinion, but Portal 2 clashes pretty damn hard with Half-Life. I like to think of Portal 2 as it's own thing, rather than related to Half-Life in any way other than references. I like to think of it as Portal 1 being Aperture Science in the Half-Life universe, and Portal 2 being Aperture Science in the Portal universe. It's the easiest way to explain the huge number of plot holes Portal 2 introduces.

I agree, Portal 2 is fun, but it doesn't make sense in the Half Life Universe. They don't really explain how GLaDOS got back into her Room, and all hooked up. It's not retconned since in the Lab Rat comic which came out I think around the release of Portal 2, she appears outside of Aperture. Also is it just me or is Portal 2 disappointing? I mean story wise, I really liked the puzzle element in Portal 1, it kinda felt like that the game was built around the puzzles and not the story, but Portal 2 feels like it was built around the story. Also, why the fuck does it have a loading screen each time you go to a new test chamber? It's annoying.....Also Wheatly should have stayed dead and GLaDOS should have been more of a cunt to you (considering her fucking personality cores got destroyed in Portal 1, AND you killed her). At least make her a big cunt till PotatOS since that is when she learns more about herself.

[QUOTE=Spor;47747419]2) Treat Portal 2 as non-cannon wacky spinoff "somewhere in the future", again, to not mix it with half life universe. That was literally the intention behind this far future thing. Now, if you ignore Portal 2 - Combine invaded Aperture after the death of GLaDOS, took their ball and turret technology and implemented it in their stuff. Don't think about this too hard. I don't know if I remember correctly, but one of the writers maybe mentioned that Portal 1 takes place during the start of the combine invasion. The reason Portal has turrets and balls like in hl2 is only because Portal team was small and didn't have the time to develop their own original assets.[/QUOTE] I like the idea that they were actually successful in their invasion of Aperture and they assimilated the tech in true to form. Could be a cool way to link the overwatch announcer to Glados: maybe they found the Glados tech and engineered it into the announcer. Given that they have the same voice actor it'd be a cool little story element. Don't really know how they'd explain them not having the portal tech though.

[QUOTE=Spor;47747419]You could think of it in these ways: 1) Portal and Half-life are in one universe, but valve don't want to mix them together at all. So most probably they never developed why and how combine didn't invade the facility or what happened to it after GLaDOS was destroyed. 2) Treat Portal 2 as non-cannon wacky spinoff "somewhere in the future", again, to not mix it with half life universe. That was literally the intention behind this far future thing. Now, if you ignore Portal 2 - Combine invaded Aperture after the death of GLaDOS, took their ball and turret technology and implemented it in their stuff. Don't think about this too hard. I don't know if I remember correctly, but one of the writers maybe mentioned that Portal 1 takes place during the start of the combine invasion. The reason Portal has turrets and balls like in hl2 is only because Portal team was small and didn't have the time to develop their own original assets.[/QUOTE] Portal 2 was set in the future so the games story and characters would not have a direct effect on the Half life games, but the backstory is still relevant. They still take place in the same universe. [QUOTE=Corak;47748094]Personally, I consider Portal 2 non-canon to the Half-Life universe. That is, the original Portal does happen in the HL universe, but without all the retcons made to Aperture Science history and its facility, and Chell actually gets out at the end of the original game. The reason why I interpret things as such is mainly because of the style discrepancy between Portal and Portal 2. The former fits very well into HL universe, the latter not so much, even though it could, but it would be quite a stretch. Also, the retcons made to Aperture Science timeline are hard to fit and quite absurd at times. The AS level of technology is the biggest offender. I mean, functioning Portal gun (which in the original game was supposed to be in the fledgling testing stages and still being developed by GLADoS after she killed all the personnel) by the 70s? [I]Nanomachines[/I] in the 50s?[/QUOTE] There is nothing background-wise in Portal 2 that wouldn't fit in the Half life universe. The characters and humour may not fit in with a half life game too well, but that isn't a problem because it is not a Half life game they are in. Besides, the half life universe is not some place where nothing comedic or silly could ever happen. What retcons are hard to fit in? Even in the first game Aperture had seeminly better technology than Black Mesa did at the time. Knee replacement, sentient AI, high energy pellets, unstationary scaffolds, emancipation grids, stasis, a working portal gun, wall-generators for portals, the Borealis, the party escort bot and hints of cloning and androids were all things Aperture had before portal 2 which Black Mesa did not have anything comparable to that we know of. I can't remember if it was actually said you were testing the portal gun in the first game. It just referred to as "testing" and there are a few references to a person being tested e.g. "Perfect time to have her tested" as well as several of the tests being before you even have the portal gun. The lab Ratt comic also suggests it's the people they were testing, not just the equipment. Portal 2 doesn't say to what degree the Quantum Tunneling device in the 50s was usable. All we know is it was capable of generating portals, with no idea what the downsides of it were. There's also no indication of what sort of thing Black Mesa had at that time, whatever it was must have been far better for them to receive funding over Aperture despite that. The nanobots were not in the 50s section of Aperture, either. They didn't have those in the 50s. If Portal 2 was intended to be non-canon, Valve would have said that. There is nothing in the game itself that suggests it's non-canon, a few discrepancies does not suddenly make a game non-canon, especially when they are retcons. Games are canon unless the developer says otherwise, not the other way around. I even sent an email to Marc Laidlaw about it once, his reply wasn't too helpful though: [img]http://i.imgur.com/GTuC7uE.png[/img]

[QUOTE=nightlord;47748838]I even sent an email to Marc Laidlaw about it once, his reply wasn't too helpful though: [img]http://i.imgur.com/GTuC7uE.png[/img][/QUOTE] I'm pretty sure hes just saying that there is silly people in half-life too. Its not just as out there as it is in Portal 2

My headcanon stuff is that Combine realised they shouldn't try to get into Aperture and let the sleeping monster lay. GLaDOS isn't something they can mass-produce and weaponise when she already is a giant pseudo-weapon. I feel if they got anywhere near GLaDOS then she'd just have taken over the Combine infrastructure like she did Aperture and pretty much made two entire planets into her personal testing areas which is worse for everyone. "Combine Solider DFθ-28495 and Human Subject 21924 please stand at the designated spots and try to launch each other.... oh no you're both dead. What a shame. Next participants.."

You know, one of the biggest plot holes is in Portal 2's ending itself. [sp]When you're on the Moon, you can see that the Earth looks exactly the same as before. You can also see the American flag on what seemed to be an undisturbed Moon. Now here's the problem, in 'Highway 17', we can see that the Earth's sea is being drained by the Combines that resulted in massive drop in sea levels. None of this is visible from the Moon. Secondly, the Combines would've built a Moon facility to extract the mineral in the Moon since they're also doing the same to the Earth. But why haven't they? Lastly, and the biggest plot hole is the US flag on the moon. You can obviously see the colors and design of the flag. In our world, the flags planted during the Apollo missions have long since turned white due to ultraviolet exposure to the Sun. Which can only mean that this flag was planned recently. If Portal 2 is to take place in the future, it can't be during HL2 and it episodes and only somewhere in the far future where the Combine are overthrown and the U.S. has regained power. Either that, or Portal 2 takes place DECADES before the Black Mesa Incident.[/sp]

Why did they make Chell younger?

[QUOTE=iAmaNewb;47749175]You know, one of the biggest plot holes is in Portal 2's ending itself. [sp]When you're on the Moon, you can see that the Earth looks exactly the same as before. You can also see the American flag on what seemed to be an undisturbed Moon. Now here's the problem, in 'Highway 17', we can see that the Earth's sea is being drained by the Combines that resulted in massive drop in sea levels. None of this is visible from the Moon. Secondly, the Combines would've built a Moon facility to extract the mineral in the Moon since they're also doing the same to the Earth. But why haven't they? Lastly, and the biggest plot hole is the US flag on the moon. You can obviously see the colors and design of the flag. In our world, the flags planted during the Apollo missions have long since turned white due to ultraviolet exposure to the Sun. Which can only mean that this flag was planned recently. If Portal 2 is to take place in the future, it can't be during HL2 and it episodes and only somewhere in the far future where the Combine are overthrown and the U.S. has regained power. Either that, or Portal 2 takes place DECADES before the Black Mesa Incident.[/sp][/QUOTE] None of those are plot holes. You're just looking way too far into things. The Combine would unlikely have done enough to have a noticeable effect visible from space, at least not from that distance. They aren't mining every part of the Earth for resources either, we don't know what sort of thing they are taking other than the water. It's not even stated in the game that they are taking the water, just something has caused a drop in sea levels, although the Combine are the most likely reason. As for the flag, it just looks the same so it's clearly recognized. It wouldn't be as good if it was just a completely white flag, not everyone knows that's what it would actually be like. It's left how it normally would be to be easily identified and because it's a game, not everything has to be completely accurate. I doubt after the Combine are defeated everything is going to go back to how it was before and have them even use the same technology from last time they went to the moon.

[QUOTE=Xonax;47749338]Why did they make Chell younger?[/QUOTE] countless years of bed rest they're not called relaxation chambers for nothing

[QUOTE=Xonax;47749338]Why did they make Chell younger?[/QUOTE]It's a subtle hint to perhaps what will soon be revealed to be the greatest plot twist in gaming history: Portal 2... [i]is a prequel![/i] I'm pretty sure Valve stole the idea from Five Night's at Freddies.

[QUOTE=Butthurter;47749277]the writers have said the time gap of portal 2 is somewhere between a hundred to 5000 years, latter one cited from the final hours book[/QUOTE] Sure it's 5,000? I recently saw this quote from the book (which I haven't read myself): [quote=Keighley] One way to further differentiate Portal and Half-Life was to set the game far in the future—at least 50,000 years. [/quote]

wouldn't the continents move at least a bit if it actually was 50 000 years

[QUOTE=iAmaNewb;47749175]You know, one of the biggest plot holes is in Portal 2's ending itself. [sp] Lastly, and the biggest plot hole is the US flag on the moon. You can obviously see the colors and design of the flag. In our world, the flags planted during the Apollo missions have long since turned white due to ultraviolet exposure to the Sun. Which can only mean that this flag was planned recently. If Portal 2 is to take place in the future, it can't be during HL2 and it episodes and only somewhere in the far future where the Combine are overthrown and the U.S. has regained power. Either that, or Portal 2 takes place DECADES before the Black Mesa Incident.[/sp][/QUOTE] The image is just stock NASA Blue Marble, it even mentions it in the credits. don't look too deep into it, Valve isn't known for consistency.

[QUOTE=Xonax;47749338]Why did they make Chell younger?[/QUOTE] More r34

Eh, Aperture's 70's tech isn't too out there compared to Black Mesa, when you think about it. Any kind of teleportation technology is of course equally outlandish. But Black Mesa also has robots, albeit far less extravagant ones, and it has particle accelerator cannons, ghost busting gluon guns, holograms, and its own kind of teleportation gun if you count Opposing Force. All in CRT computer monitor 1999.

[QUOTE=Catscratch;47749061]I feel if they got anywhere near GLaDOS then she'd just have taken over the Combine infrastructure like she did Aperture and pretty much made two entire planets into her personal testing areas which is worse for everyone.[/QUOTE] She took over Aperture Science's infrastructure because she was already wired into it. Having her take over Combine Infrastructure would make as much sense as the ending of Independence Day. [sp]the humans use a laptop to infect an alien computer with a virus written on human computers[/sp]

Looking at some of the HL3 Xen concept art, it's fucking awesome. I don't know how late i'd be if I posted it though

[QUOTE=Pigbear;47754889]Looking at some of the HL3 Xen concept art, it's fucking awesome. I don't know how late i'd be if I posted it though[/QUOTE] Why would we go back to Xen in HL3 though? If already visiting different worlds, it would be most likely home planet of Advisors. Not saying that it's not possible, just unlikely as the place holds barely any different meaning for everyone besides allowing for quick teleportation.

[QUOTE=Dom Pyroshark;47754923]Why would we go back to Xen in HL3 though? If already visiting different worlds, it would be most likely home planet of Advisors. Not saying that it's not possible, just unlikely as the place holds barely any different meaning for everyone besides allowing for quick teleportation.[/QUOTE] how do we know it's xen

[QUOTE=NixNax123;47754934]how do we know it's xen[/QUOTE] I'm just going by what Pigbearman [sp]jokes[/sp] said who said he saw some cool HL3 Xen concept art.

[QUOTE=NixNax123;47754934]how do we know it's xen[/QUOTE] [IMG]http://combineoverwiki.net/images/9/9b/Ep3_xen_islands.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://combineoverwiki.net/images/a/a7/Ep3_xen_advisor.jpg[/IMG] tell me that AIN'T xen.

[QUOTE=Pigbear;47754990][IMG]http://combineoverwiki.net/images/9/9b/Ep3_xen_islands.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://combineoverwiki.net/images/a/a7/Ep3_xen_advisor.jpg[/IMG] tell me that AIN'T xen.[/QUOTE] Actually doesn't. The whole psychotropic (I am not ever sure if I am using the word correctly here) feel to it just looks like some wild fanart than an actual Xen concept art.

the original xen was just microbiology samples turned into a skybox i mean what do you expect from it

if xen is supposed to be some weird inter-dimensional realm then the psychadelic chaotic visuals probably wouldn't be too far off if we got a modern version