Questions about the end of 'Half Life 2' (spoilers for a 20 year old video game)

[Miller]

@Hoopy_Frood

He wasn’t hired to take down the Combine. He was hired to find people who could. When the humans (accidentally) created the resonance cascade in the first game, he decided to pay a visit to Earth, where he found the perfect tool in Gordan Freeman. Humanity and the G-Man both need to defeat the Combine, so Gordon doesn’t have much choice other than to work with the G-Man.

The first couple times you see the G-Man are before the resonance cascade, though. He’s visible from the tram as you’re entering the facility, and again in a soundproofed room, arguing with a scientist. You can also see him before shit goes sideways in Opposing Force and Blue Shift. IIRC, there’s some suggestion that he’s the source of the samples they’re testing that causes the cascade, but either way, he’s involved in Earth well before the Combine show up.

[solost]

@Hoopy_Frood

My guess is the G-Man is not omnipotent, but he does have limited ability to control pockets of time and space.

@Miller

The first couple times you see the G-Man are before the resonance cascade, though.

Thanks for the lore info!

@FluffyBob

I played the living crap out of the original half life. When it came out it was finally the game I’d been waiting for. It presented a cohesive story and level progression that made sense, highly interactive environment, decent scifi narrative, and top notch level design. It was filled with all sorts of magical elements and contrivances that helped the story fit to the gameplay.

I hadn’t been considering picking up the original Half Life since I figured being a 1999 game it would be a bit primitive gameplay-wise, even for me (I don’t mind primitive graphics if the gameplay is engaging). But your description makes it sound like I might want to buy it. It’s only $10, and that’s the regular price.

[Mijin]

FYI there was a recent “remastering” of the original halflife called Black Mesa. Originally a community-made thing but now a full price title.

It has better graphics and they’ve added a bit of content and improvements particularly to the final location which apparently was a part of the game that many players didn’t like (without giving anything away the final location is a quite different playstyle, which personally I didn’t mind, but I can see how some might find it annoying, particularly on repeat playthroughs).

[solost]

@Mijin

FYI there was a recent “remastering” of the original halflife called Black Mesa. Originally a community-made thing but now a full price title.

Thanks for the tip! I had heard of Black Mesa, but I thought it was a spinoff of Half Life, similar to Blue Shift, not a remake / remaster of the original. I just checked it out on Steam and the video preview looks great. And at only $20, I don’t even need to wait for a sale, like I might for a pricier game. Looks like I’m going to be immersed in the Half Life universe for awhile…

[Hoopy_Frood]

@Miller

The first couple times you see the G-Man are before the resonance cascade, though. He’s visible from the tram as you’re entering the facility, and again in a soundproofed room, arguing with a scientist.

You’re right. I forgot those parts. (It’s been a while since I last played either of the games. Now I’m tempted to go play them again (though, I don’t have much gaming time these days).

[HMS_Irruncible]

I’m of a generation where we didn’t really demand video games provide a Scorsese-level plot. I played Pac-Man on the Atari 2600, so I am more than satisfied with Half-Life 3 bringing revolutionary graphics, mechanics, gameplay, and physics. The world and atmosphere were top-notch too.

The ending didn’t knock my socks off, for sure. But I don’t care, I was just glad to finish a really cool game that had innovations at every turn.

You know what was awesome though? The BEGINNING. They did such an amazing job of setting the scene of a despairing dystopia. LIke I felt it emotionally, just literally depressed for those people. They nailed the whole atmosphere of a drab, sterile dystopian city. And the rest of the story was cool too! When the whole “revolution” started it was electrifying, like with automatic gunfire popping off in the distance, it really did feel like a major political moment.

So yeah the ending was meh, but everything else was amazing, so I’m not complaining.

[kferr]

I just installed and played a bit of Black Mesa. I noticed on the train ride in when it’s giving you Gordon’s details that is says “Administrative Sponsor: Classified”. So maybe it was G-man who got him into Black Mesa in the first place?