God damnit. Half life 2's ending sucked. Discuss.

[punkonjunk1024]

OK, bazillions of questions unanswered.
What the hell are the combine?
What the hell is going on in the backround?
Who are the benefactors? Is this some implied other-dimensional stupidass shit? Or Xenfags?

Alright. So I didn't play ep1-3 or lost coast, but I might. Should I? Would it provide any additional story info?
Is a sequel planned?

And dear god... was this game anti-climactic. That whole gravity gun thing just kinda ruined it. I thought it was a just-for-fun thing, not the final heading in the game. I thought I'd go through the portal or something...
Half life and half life 2 are the absolute best FPS's I've ever played. They truly define the genre, and I do not understand why some faggot would want to play shitty FPS's like halo and the tons of other drab, exactly the same FPS games.

But man, did this game lack some ending material. And answers.

So you know, plot analysis, ect. Any answers I missed.

Also, do any of the other ones (besides coast, which I started for a sec, and seems to star freeman) build on freeman's story, G-man, or the backround of the benefactors and breen?

[ShadowTiger]

Here's my take on things. Note that they are not answers, but opinions. .. obviously.

What the hell are the combine?

I think that they're some sort of hybrid between human and .. something. Possibly human and the aliens from the portal, though I'm tempted to doubt that yet try to confirm it at the same time. o.o' They're employed under Dr. Breen's control to keep City 17 in order.

What the hell is going on in the background?

Take a look at what Dr. Breen is trying to do. His speech when you reach his tower gives quite a bit of information away to you. Although, define background, please...

Who are the benefactors? Is this some implied other-dimensional stupidass shit?

I think Dr. Breen may have been pulling citizens from Xen out to be modified or something, and the Xenites have been fighting back, so they're helping "The Gordon Freeman" to stop him. A good cause, if you ask me. Those Xenites are pretty damn handy.

Or Xenfags?

.. WTF?

Alright. So I didn't play ep1-3 or lost coast,

I've played Episode 1, (Very nice. A bit scarier than the first game.) but I had no idea the second two episodes were out. I really don't think that they are though. Are they? And what is Lost Coast?

[gdorf]

Play episode one. It continues the story.

[biggiy05]

Play episode one. It continues the story.

++

They aren't done with it yet. The story will continue it's just a matter of when they are going to release episode two. I haven't heard anything about it either.

[rock_nog]

Okay - the Combine is a race of imperialistic aliens from another dimension (the benefactors are just another name for them). Breen is their lackey representative here on Earth. As it turns out, they had conquered Xen, too. The aliens from the original Half-Life weren't evil, they were slaves to the Combine. The portal experiments from the original Half-Life had attracted the Combine's attention, and it's heavily implied that Breen made a deal with them, and that the experiment at the beginning which opened the portals was deliberately tampered with by Breen in order to create the portals and allow the Combine to invade.

After Half-Life, the Combine created their own portals to Earth, and after a portal storm that led to places being overrun by headcrabs and the like, the Combine invaded and world powers fell within seven hours. Breen was then appointed to his current position as representative for the Combine.

One major theory about the G-Man is that he's working for a group of rebel aliens who want to overthrow the Combine (but no one can say for sure).

[gdorf]

In the meantime, check out The half life saga story guide. Its an interesting read that points out many details you probably missed.

[Darth Marsden]

Half-Life 2 didn't have an ending. It just stopped. I don't like games that do that. I don't like them ever!*

You asked questions. Let's answer them as best as is humanly possible, and then let's insult everyone else for saying anything different. Y'know, like everyone always does on the interweb. Onward!

"What the hell are the Combine?" - For this, I shall summarize the blurb found upon Wikipedia's rather excellent page upon the subject. Sadly, it proves rock_nog slightly wrong, but I'm sure he doesn't mind. Not that I care.

The Combine is a vast empire spanning multiple parallel universes, which expands its empire by conquering and enslaving populated worlds. By genetically altering the most intelligent races, the Combine (Pronounced COM-bine, with the emphasis on the first part of the word) create advanced soldiers adapted for individual worlds, allowing for the easy destruction of rebellion factions.

Prior to conquering Earth, the Combine had previously tried to enslave the as-yet un-named race which human beings refer to as the Xen race. This race were defeated by the Combine on an entirely different world to Xen, but managed to flee to their final retreat - a dimensional transit bottleneck, or an area of continual contention. This area, which subsequently 'bled' into our dimension, was known as Xen.

Following the death of the supreme being of this race, known as Nihilanth, at the hands of Gordon Freeman, the Combine were able to use the massive portal storm to invade Earth. This resulted in what has since come to be known as the Seven Hour War. Dr Wallace Breen, the former administrator of the Black Mesa Research Facility, was able to negotiate a surrender on Earth's behalf, and as a result was appointed administrator of the Combine's forces on Earth – also known as the Overwatch.

"What the hell is going on in the background?" - I'm not sure what you mean by this one. If you mean the background of the game, then essentially Gordon Freeman, having 'arrived' in City 17 and subsequently going on to destroy countless Combine forces, inspires many of the City's remaining inhabitants to rise up against their oppressors, while the Combine try to track Freeman down and kill him.

"Who are the benefactors? Is this some implied other-dimensional stupid ass shit? Or Xenfags?" - The benefactors are the Combine. That's just what Dr Breen calls them. Interestingly, he only properly refers to them as 'The Combine' once, near the end of the game. There are a couple of theories behind this - either that's what he really thinks of them and can't be bothered to hide his feelings anymore, or it's just a slip of the tongue caused by the heat of the moment.

"Alright. So I didn't play ep1-3 or lost coast, but I might. Should I? Would it provide any additional story info? Is a sequel planned?" - Yes, you should. Just remember what they are - short. Lost Coast gives you nothing plot-wise, it's just a setting they cut out during development and then subsequently felt would be a good place to try out HDR lighting while giving fans a bit more HL2. Episodes I, II and III, once finished (only Episode I is currently out. Episode II's release date has slipped to around the end of the year. Don't even ask about Episode III), should reveal a whole lot more plot.

As for sequels, well. These HL2 Episodes as, essentially, Half-Life 3. Gabe Newell, uber-god regarding all things Half-Life, has admitted that a more correct title for these episodes should have been 'Half-Life 3: Episode One', etc, but whatever. A proper Half-Life 3 does seem likely, however nothing's been confirmed. There will be an Episode IV, but it'll be developed outside of Valve and will start a new story arc, so if there's going to be a proper sequel, chances are Valve will start work on it after Half-Life 2 Episode III - Not inspired by Star Wars.

"Not actually a question, but what the hell is up with that ending?" - It's not an ending. Half-Life 2 didn't have one. It just stopped. However, before it did that, a couple of things happened, which I shall now point out to you in a manner making me feel incredibly superior to you. Since there are spoilers, I'll use the appropriate tags.

Spoiler: show

At the end of the game, Gordon is captured by Dr Breen, who already holds Alex and Eli Vance. Judith Mossman, who had earlier betrayed Dr Vance, is with Breen. Dr Breen takes this opportunity to brag about the situation, revealing that Gordon's services are 'open to the highest bidder'. As he threatens the Vance family, however, Mossman turns on Breen and frees the pair, along with Gordon. Alex and Gordon chase after Breen while Eli and Judith escape. At one point, when they catch up to him, he is apparently bargaining to be removed from Earth via a host body. He agrees to do this, and flees to a teleportation chamber. This, due to the Combine's teleportation technology being far clunkier by comparison to Earth or 'Xen', is a massive chamber powered by a dark fusion reactor, which Gordon manages to destroy. Does Breen escape? We don't know. The G-Man pulls Gordon out of reality and shoves him back in stasis. Presumably Episode II will tell...

*I've just finished re-reading the entire archive of 8-Bit Theater. My brain-meats will not recover for days. Days, I tell you! DAYS! And I was just on the way top slaughtering an entire planet full of Jedi. Alas, it shall have to wait until I've watched a couple of episodes of Frasier. Now that's using the old noodle, which is surprising, given that I can't for reasons I have already divulged in my previous utterance. Or something. Also, I notice that rock_nig is viewing this thread at the same time as me. If he posts before I do, I will end him. That is all.

[punkonjunk1024]

OK, I'm not done reading everything, but to clarify, when I said backround, I meant G-man's existance, what he's doing, and gordons' "higher purpose"

EDIT
OK.
Somehow I got the idea there was an episode 1-3 already finished. I guess not.

I completely agree with the "no ending" thing on half life 2. I mean, there could have been some kind of big fight in the game... but it was pretty much dry of bosses, and didn't have much of a finale. Woo super gravity gun woooooo game over. I thought I got the bad ending by accident or something.

Thanks for all the info, that one site someone linked to is very helpful. Looks like I should play all those half life 1 things too. Opposing force and blue shift and stuff.

Man.. I wish all of this would come together faster. This is almost as bad as golden sun.

EDIT
Holy crap do I want Episode one now! Man, I wish there were cracks for steam games. Oh well. I'll have 10 bucks eventually.

[Darth Marsden]

Ah. Well, then I can't really help you. No-one knows who the G-Man is. That's probably not even his name. There are theories, but nothing's been confirmed. I like the one that he's a member of an incredibly ancient race, older then the Combine, who seek their destruction, and who realizes that Gordon is the one who can do that. One thing is for certain - he is NOT Gordon from the future. Totally.

Opposing Force and Blue Shift don't really add much to the general plot - they're more side-stories that happen to occur during the Black Mesa incident. You should still give them a go if you haven't, they're great fun, just don't expect any mind-blowing revelations.

PM me about a steam-less version of HL2. Y'know, if you're interested.
If you own the HL2 DVD like I do, then technically it's not illegal. Kinda.

[AlexMax]

It's quite simple, really. Half Life 2 is the matrix, and Gordon Freeman is the One.