I agree with your sentiment and think that a game like that would certainly get plenty of hype and sales, but so will an Episode 3 and HL3 and look how much Valve is seeming to bother with either of those. That said, I think it’s a really good avenue for the modding community to take, and there is a mod out there that is trying to do this. I think they’re staying too close to the HL2 story, though, personally. I also have my own idea for a Sheppard-centered, episode base take on the series, but my idea starts on an unique island and tries to do things a bit differently. I made a thread that vaguely laid it out a while back. While I’ve developed the story-line/mechanics quite a bit, I haven’t done much else with it…
I always saw the other games as merely other perspectives of what happened in HL1. Everyone’s ideas usually center around taking the main character of each game & giving them their own sequel for whatever reason. I’ve always thought that if they ever did expansions that way again, it would work the same way. Just alternate perspectives of the main story. And Gordon’s story will always be the main story as far as I care.
That purple place you teleport to seemed fairly different than the other areas of Xen & the purple portal the Gene Worm came out of, but ok, fine.
The one I came up with was retarded & deliberately so.
I was responding to ironballz who was talking about HL2.
That’s because you didn’t read the little quote above that post. Usually when people quote something before posting it is in reply to what they were quoting.
Actually I don’t see why Valve wouldn’t make some expansion or a mod, even a short one with Shephard. After all, they would probably have to use the new engine from ep3 and just change the layout of the level and the movement of the characters. I mean, a full, or a half full Valve team wouldn’t waste too much effort of doing this, so why not? And isn’t this the same story with BS and OP? They’ll have a new game/mod/expansion in no time, they will have their sales, cause most HL fans are diehard fans and they will be more than happy to play the new shitz…everybody wins.
I don’t think Shepard was actually supposed to be alive, because when you teleport after Gordon when he first goes to xen, it says Shepard is trying to change history, and was stopped.
the idea of this topic is retarded. anyone who has played any of the expansions WILL see that nothing is against/changing MAIN plot. those are just side stories that CHANGE NOTHING.
I think my balls are invading… your mouth.
Whilst we can agree it doesn’t add anything that changes anything to the series over all story, it does, at least for some people, diminish the rich and detailed world of the main game. Thus people don’t like them and don’t consider them canon.
I was getting peoples views in this forum, with what they’d want to see protagonist wise and gameplay wise. We’ve even delved into potential stories that don’t screw up Freemans story. We’ve also discussed we don’t want the main story screwed with.
So all in all I wouldn’t consider it retarded, and I resent the idea. Seems to me to be arrogance on your part.
@Dias: Yeah I thought that idea was pretty shit too but I didn’t want to shit on it tbh. Regardless though, you DID give us an idea in the first page, having Shephard as a Combine soldier during HL-2. Personally I’d prefer Shephard to not help the Combine, as I don’t think the Gman would use him to do that. ( Yes that is an assumption, not fact. )
I also want to delve into the large gap between Black Mesa and the 7 hour war. I personally think this is too good an opportunity to miss up. I’d like to know why you don’t?
When has there ever been any indication Episode Three will have a new engine?
Because if they wish hard enough & click their heels together 3 times it will come true.
From what I recollect, the 7 hour war sparked soon after the incident, and the rest of the time leading up to the events of half life 2 we’re just combine occupation.
I was always under the impression there were years of Xen infestation before the Combine actually decided to invade. We certainly don’t see any Xen creatures teleport in during HL2, so we can assume the ‘interdimensional rift’ has subsided.
However the earth is literally brimming with Xen life, and it had to come through at some point.
It’s never been solidified in canon, however imo at least 5 years is the most realistic time frame. It certainly wouldn’t take the Combine long to diminish our numbers to what they are in HL-2, so assuming it has been at least 20 years between HL1 and 2, they’ve still got over a decade, including the most devastating war the world has ever know, to set up shop.
I’ve always considered the expansions to be canon. Blue shift doesn’t really contradict anything, and it introduced Barney. As for Opposing Force, I’ve always considered Race-X to be some sort of Combine scouting party.
Opposing force 2 should have Barney as the main character, as he was a metrocop in HL2 And this thread is still stupid and retarded. All of us should be ashamed for posting in it
Ouch… that hurts man…
it hurts deep.
God damn. Why the fuck do you guys bother posting in threads you don’t like, simply to say you don’t like them? You’ve literally nothing better to do with your time?
‘I’ve been on this forum for years and any thread that doesn’t interest me must be stopped at all costs! For this is MY FORUM!’
People need a fucking hobby or something.
One thing I don’t like with what has been said about Opposing Force being canon is the the destruction of Black Mesa. I really don’t see why Black Mesa being destroyed is so important that it had to be “canon”.
I would love to one day, in a potential future HL game, revisit Black Mesa. It has been deserted for a decade, a bit Portal 2-ish, with strange alien wildlife “growing” in it (Xen and Black Mesa merging organically). You could still recognize some of the iconic areas and play through them.
What if in Half-Life 3, you would have 2-3 chapters dedicated to returning to Black Mesa and retrieving the Xen crystal that caused the resonance cascade, or something like that. I know this won’t happen, but if I was Valve, I’d do it 
. I’m already seeing the run-down, overgrown and corroded facility with new forms of alien wildlife inside. You’d make your way from one part towards the test chamber, going backwards relative to HL1. Of course, to make things interesting, equipment should still be functioning (such as elevators, doors, lights), which wouldn’t make much sense after that much time, but one sequence could be dedicated to restoring power to the facility or something…
I have heard that the only official thing that is canon from Gearbox was the nuke. The rest is of unknown canonity.
As far as I know, Valve wanted the destruction of Black Mesa so they wouldn’t have any reason to go back. They wanted to try new things, as evidenced by their radical new take in HL2.
Eli: ‘Black Mesa is a CRATER’
-'nuff said
The Barney is the one banging on the door in Inbound, since they share a last name.
Other than those two, I can’t think of any that are set in stone.
(and even then, a retcon is always possible)
To be honest, while I love Half-Life 2, I always thought it was a poor sequal to Half-Life. Honestly, I would’ve thought Half-Life 2 would’ve been something similiar to the first game, I imagined Gordon being in a city undergoing a huge Xen portal storm, with the city being invaded by the aliens, then the military comes back and tries to cover up the invasion the same way as they did in HL1. Then whatever ending that can be fit in that kind of scenerio. I always thought the survival/horror aspect of Half-Life to be much more interesting then the gothic/resistance aspect of Half-Life 2. But that’s just me.
As for whether or not the expansions are canon, I don’t think they are, I honestly never liked them, they’re just as canon to Half-Life as a regular mod would be.