https://twitter.com/marc_laidlaw/st atus/901647787854462976

>>388404026
inb4 caramel starts trying to make actual HL3 ruse threads

Half-Life Effect: Andromeda

it's happening

>Bernadette

>>388404026
it means that even if the ending he wrote on his blog was the intended ending, it would've been changed or altered by Valve's other writers or adjusted when they couldn't make certain aspects of it fit gameplay

>>388404026
He means that plots get tweaked in development through discussion so don't take it as gospel.

But it's as close as we're ever going to get to episode 3.

We might see another HL at some point but it won't be connected to the people who made the original games

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>>388404026
He's giving pointers to the mod team developing his vision.

>>388404026
He's telling you that the story he posted was probably one of the first drafts, and that stories change throughout development as other writers and developers share input on it.

>>388404026
He means it's a fanfic and we had a sticky for literally no reason.

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>>388404026
what did he actually mean by this?

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He's just reaffirming this.
What he dumped was just the framework of something they were going to work on long ago.

It's all a ruse.
Laidlaw never left Valve.
It's Half-Life 2 Episode 3 not Half-Life 3.
The BreenGrub tweets are a message.
Episode 3 soon.

imo, Valve should have just made Episode 3. It's crazy that they didn't rather than just leaving it hanging.

They should seriously consider getting someone like Bluepoint to remake/remaster HL1/HL2/Ep1+2 then create Episode 3 and just get the fucking game out as "The Half-Life Trilogy". Would probably still sell a good few million copies at $60 each and it lets Valve wipe their hands of the series.

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>>388404561

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Nothing is stopping Valve from making Half life 3, that's what he says. This plot was for episode 3, a 5 hour expansion for HL2 that was meant to release in 2008.

So, Valve could expand and rewrite the Antarctica/borealis story when it comes to a full fledged new game. That's assuming they even worked on HL 3's assets all these years, if all they have to rework is the story.

>TLDR, nothing&nobody is stopping Valve from making a new story than themselves

Artifact is Portal 3.
Episode 3 has one more ending where we revisit Black Mesa.
The real Half-Life 3's story has not yet been leaked.
Laidlaw has never left.

>>388404679

>Half Life story not written by Marc himself

nah

>>388404679
>nothing&nobody is stopping Valve from making a new story than themselves
Do they even have anyone left capable of creating a AAA game? I imagine all the creative people have left years ago out of simple lack of work if nothing else

>>388404876
i remember something about an exdus of writers or something

Why doesn't Valve either outsource or create a subsidiary aimed at single-player games?

How does it make any sense for anyone to leave Half-Life in limbo?

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>>388404026
The most ironic thing about this situation is that this entire series of events might actually force Valve to make Half Life 3

think about it

>announce a dota card game, almost everyone hates it and thinks of it as a blatant cash grab

>HL2 EP3 script is leaked, it turns out to be good enough to live up to 10 years of wait and hype
>people are FURIOUS
>Half-Life discussions literally everywhere, Dota store page is bombarded
>there is a good chance of a negative effect on Valve's money and reputation, no matter the size of the company

>"hey guys we might ACTUALLY need to make this"
or is this Stage 3: bargaining?

>>388404561
>>388404783
Kojima being a big fan of Valve explains so much about MGS V Chapter 3.

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what it felt like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3GekYR0kbw

>>388405001
I have wondered if it might give some people in Valve a kick up the ass they need and get them focused to do something with Half-Life

Nothing about reputation or financial effects though

IMO he is testing waters to fund an indie with old pals and make it happen
and by the looks of this shit, i think Gaben with be ok with it

>>388404783

Sure, the hundreds of DOTA illustrations for Artifact were done just for the lulz and the backlash.

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>>388404679
I remember an interview where Gabe was saying there were features in episode 3 that was never ever seen in the history of gaming before. If that was the case I'd imagine they probably couldn't decide whether it should be just an episode or a game at that point and as the time went on VR started to make a comeback and here we are today, Valve announcing 3 new vr games.
It all makes sense when you think that Valve was one of the first companies to actually invest on this tech.

>>388405001
Nah, no one can force Valve to do shit. Even Marc said fear is the very last thing that would effect decisions made in Valve.

>>388405230
>not knowing about Caramel
Have you been out of /v/ for the last year?

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>>388405001
>>388405158
Would it really be for the best even if it happened? I'm not sure I trust current Valve to make a sequel to one of the most beloved games in the history

>>388404679
Jesus Christ fuck you with that image. That looks so fucking awesome why would anyone fucking make something like that, knowing that it will never be played? Fuck you.

>>388404026
>I no longer know or recognize most members of the research team, though I believe the spirit of rebellion still persists. I expect you know better than I the appropriate course of action, and I leave you to it.
He believes that videogames, even Valve itself included, can move the medium forward and raise the bar again.

>>388404783
kiddo

>>388405001
Would you really want the people behid the shitty cashgrab cardgame to make HL3?

Because those are the only people left at Valve.

Be careful what you wish for.

Valve management is pretty interesting and unique
the problem is, you need people full of passion, and hunger
when a new studio debuts, they have both, and they work their ass off
but now, these guys at valve are drown on cash, and they are more into the artsy 'hey what if'
This situation could lead to really amazing innovation, but not a competitive one. They have lost their edge, because they are not hungry

>if VR fails, it was a nice experiment
FUCK OFF, you should get mad if your product fails. one thing is accepting loss, and another is not giving a fuck

tldr: a lot of talent, a lot of time and resources, some passion, but zero competitive edge or hunger

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>>388405425
you know what's the saddest fucking part is?


remember this fucking concept art?


>"The next thing I clearly recall is our final approach to the coordinates Dr. Mossman has provided, and where we expected to find the Borealis. What we found instead was a complex fortified installation, showing all the hallmarks of sinister Combine technology"


it was already done YEARS ago

>>388405668
>>388405723
>>388405794
what did he mean by this

>>388404676
These tweets aren't even thought through, they're meaningless garbage.

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Ever wondered why the logo of Artifact has 3 lambda symbols in it?
Or how the ARTIFACT title uses the same font as the HALF-LIFE series? look it up

Now Laidlaw releases the cancelled 2008 Episode 3 plot..

Either this is a social experiment/ARG by valve, or just wishful thinking..

>>388405812
couldnt get the fuckin image right

>>388405668
>>388405723
>>388405794
Is this part of the arg?

>>388405813
they are not, read all of them, they fit perfectly in with the new lore

>>388405610
It's all over. :(

>>388405848
It's just some random fucker on twitter writing half-thoughts, hoping to ride the wave.

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>>388406032
check the fucking date you idiot

>>388406032
No you dense bitch, it's Laidlaw and he's talking about shit that only makes sense now.

>>388404026
The story changes during development.

>>388404679
What this tells you is that they never even got past the first rough draft, meaning they never were working on HL3.

>>388406032
except he's been doing it years ago.

>>388405491
>and raise the bar again.

I see what you did there.

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>>388406070
>>388406074
>>388406087
fuck you its 4am and I just woke up.

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>>388406091
I'm the master of subtlety.

>>388405823
FUCK OFF
NO

>>388404026
He doesn't want to get sued and/or blacklisted by Valve.

>>388404026
>"A map is not the territory."
Laidlaw really is a massive Borgesian faggot, isn't he?

>>388406396
That's just a famous saying, no? Of Borges I've only read Ficciones.

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>>388405823
>some anon kills himself after learning that HL3 will never be a thing
>it was just a ruse and the game is still being made

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>>388406572
>there are people that haven't committed suicide yet, just to play the next Half life

A-are you guys ok?

>>388405001
Nothing can force Valve to do shit as long as Steam keeps printing money forever.

>>388406572
https://youtu.be/A7boOfmDj7E?t=3m29s

>>388406561
It comes from a famous quote by Alfred Korzybski from 1933 that influenced a lot of people, mostly literates. However, I'm pretty sure "On Exactitude of Science", one of Borges'es most famous micro-stories popularized it the most among literally educated people.
If you have not read it, you can read it here:
http://www.idb.arch.ethz.ch/files/borges_on_exactitude_in_science.pdf
It's literally one paragraph.

Laidlaw is famously obsessed with Borges - he infected Gabe with it too - hell, Steam as a concept started in a crazy project for Borgesian game called "Prospero", which was inspired both by the Aleph and Library of Babel stories (it took place in a world called "Aleph" and the main character was called "Librarian"). So I'd be really surprised if he wasn't thinking of "Exactitude" when he wrote that.

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It was clearly being developed at one point, the question is: what the fuck made them stop? There were always snippets of HL3 shit in updates that were leftover, usually found once every other year, which I always assumed to be a very crusty-eyed wink from Gaben, but this went on for a while, so again, why? How could an episode be such a pain to develop? It was already confirmed they were farming one-off episodes to Turtle Rock and Warren Spector's studio before canning THOSE too

https://gamerant.com/half-life-3-dota-2-reference/
http://www.valvetime.net/threads/half-life-3-referenced-in-source-filmmaker-render-code.244373/

>>388404525
Clearly says fanfic. This story isn't even canon.

>>388407158
There were many 'hl3' leaks in 2016 too. I think it is still in development and wouldn't call the series dead until we see what those 3 vr games from Valve are.

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If Valve is so scared of getting terrible backlash for releasing a new game that they don't continue the HL project, what makes them think that it's a good idea to make a card game?

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>>388404026
>Expect no further correspondence from me regarding these matters; this is my final episode.


>Continues to post about it

>>388407429
That was an epistle from Gertrude Fremont to Laidlaw, I don't see why Laidlaw can't continue talking about it.

>>388407158
>It was clearly being developed at one point, the question is: what the fuck made them stop?
It wasn't going as well as they hoped, probably. They just did not feel like it's what they want to make in the end. Gabe probably came to the crushing realization that he does not really like making games, something he admitted in one of the most recent reviews. He is obsessively perfectionistic and game development is something that in the end always boils down to an endless chain of cuts, compromises and failures to live up to his vision, which is why he admits that the only games Valve made he really enjoys are Portal 1 and 2 - the only two where he had virtual no involvement.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team found other ideas more interesting, felt the pressure of expectations being too high and their vision too mundane, and wandered off to other projects.

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>>388407158
By 2010, they canned episode 3 in favor of "let's make Half life 3 and source 2"

by that time, Valve was making more money with micro transactions, so they focused on that

Then along the years, less people worked on hl3. They wasted time with the steam machines and VR(one is a failure, the other is on its way to fail since not that many steam users use VR)

It's probably a combination of laziness, lack of new ideas, greed and bad decisions that stopped them. They're not the same company anymore.

Unless they worked on HL3 in total secrecy and all of this is a ruse to experiment on the gaming community. But you still can't deny Valve's horrible last years, when it comes to costumer support and micro transactions.

Plus, they haven't made any game at all, not just HL3. If you're expecting L4d3 or even a fully fledged new IP, thats wishful thinking. Just a business company nowadays.

They should've just made episode 3 in 2008, a 4-5 hour episodic game for Hl2 , as it was intended, and end it there with the current story.

>>388405794
>this is what gaben told marc back then
jesus fuck I hate valve so much, they probably had game completely done but they were scared of a backlash...

>>388405184
This is the best case scenario.

>>388405001
>monkeypaw.jpg

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>>388407395
>>388407662
>Valve
>Fear

>Fear is the last thing that would drive a decision about what to work on

>>388407292
Of course it isn't canon, he can't write anything canon since he's not with Valve anymore. However, fuck Valve.

>>388405001
10 years anon, let it die

>>388407021
>Borges got BTFO by Google Maps and StreetView
kek

>>388408381
Uh... what? I seriously need to expand a little on your point there.

>>388408381
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agloe,_New_York

Two cartographers add a town named after themselves to a map to assert copyright. Because the map and territory correspond to each other, a few years later the same town appears on the territory.

>>388407292
How dense can you be?

He means that they don't just write the entire story on day one and go with it. Shit gets altered for a multitude of reasons.

>>388408670
There is a spa complex called Yuwaku Hot Spring in Japan near the city of Kanazawa that was built after a fictional one featured in popular anime called Hanasaku Iroha, too.
I still don't understand how this relates to the original story.

>>388408852
Okay sorry.

>>388408868
The point was that map can sometimes influence territory as well

>>388407659
also 2010 is when breen's voice actor died, who had a role in episode 3. was probably a factor in work slowing/stopping on the game

>>388404410
>There's a group of Redditors sitting down right now planning development

>>388409040
nah, they could've easily replaced him. Since Breen was an advisor, they could've used a distorted voice

>>388408991
That is a rather questionable interpretation. The point of the story is a general contemplation of the relationship between a symbol and what it represents - something that was a bit of an obsession in the first half of 20th century, mostly due to Saussure's Course in General Linguistics (which in return inspired the "Map is not the Territory" quote, which inspired Exactitude...). The map does indeed become part of the landscape, but I doubt that is the main point of the story.

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>>388404026
please let this be another ARG

Something that just occured to me in all this. It redeems Breen, to a certain extent at least.

Breen felt that collaboration with the Combine was the only option, but the actions of the player seem to cast doubt on that, since Freeman is able to cause so much damage to the Combine forces on Earth, even eventually cutting them off from their home dimension. That would seem to point solidly to a second option, resistance, one that Breen refused to counternance for his own reasons.

This shows that Breen was, in fact, right all along. The Combine possesses such vast power that any victory could only ever be temporary. Even Freeman cutting off the Combine from their Dyson Sphere home system could surely only be a matter of buying a little time.

Breen had seen the Dyson. He knew resistence was futile. Nightmarish though the reality of Combine control was for Earth, against a force with that much power, it was really the only option.

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>>388408852

Pic related, it's you

>>388409843
>Breen had seen the Dyson
He saw other things, but they no doubt cemented his position:
(Judith leads the pod into a room with Eli and Dr. Breen talking)
Dr. Breen-..ancient stars colonized by sentient fungi. Gas giants, inhabited
by vast meteorological intelligences. Worlds stretched thin across the
membranes where dimensions intersect...Impossible to describe with our limited
vocabulary!
Eli-What I have seen is also beyond words Breen. Genocide, indescribable
evil...Good god.
Dr. Breen-Well if it isnt Gordon Freeman at last.

Though his certainly villainous behavior is definitely one that shows he enjoys being the big guy in charge. Breen could've said to Eli and co. "Look, the Combine are completely beyond us and there's really no fucking point to resisting I've seen an intelligent lifeform stretched across an entire planet pls stop Eli." But he chose to be more nefarious, showing again, he liked his position of power. He was Joe Pantoliano in The Matrix.

>>388408494
We've got a map of the world that coincides point for point with the entire world, and it's pretty damn useful and practical. I know that it sort of misses the point made in that excerpt, I was just joking about Borges getting BTFO, Anon

>>388405001
Their reputation has taken some big hits the last few years and they show little sign of changing.

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>>388404026

who knows, maby something might be happening soon or later that only he knows about.

>>388410181
this is on another level though

>>388410053
>We've got a map of the world that coincides point for point with the entire world
But it does not, that is the point. It fits on your computer screen. What Borges proposes is physically impossible, which is part of the point too.
It's also not an excerpt. It's literally the whole story. It's how Borges writes. His best story has half the words this one has.

>>388409748
Didn't they announce Portal 2 with an ARG? Might just be.

>>388410039
His best-case scenario is also a bit grim. Like, what is he expecting to accomplish? His entire plan was to prove that humanity can be useful, so they don't just wipe us all out. We got a show of the "useful" humans, and we killed all that were brought before us.

>>388410273
This REALLY does not look like an ARG in the slightest. First of all it's mainly Laidlaw's innitiave, and he has not been with Valve for at least half a year. Second of all, Steam is not involved. Third, when they wanted people to learn about this shit, they did it through means that HL modding community would pick up on first.

Nah, this is just reality - Laidlaw getting sick of being bombarded by this shit and wanting to put it behind him.

>>388410257
I just read it and I don't get it.

Remember when Gayben told us back in 2007 they already knew how the story would end?
Remember when Gayben told us that after releasing the orange box the priority would be hl3?

>tfw if this was released while marc was still at valve we would be the most hyped ever

>>388410039

>Though his certainly villainous behavior is definitely one that shows he enjoys being the big guy in charge.

Whilst that's true, he's also dealing with rebels who aren't going to accept that the fight is hopeless; they either won't believe him or tell him that humanity should fight anyway. Now you can argue that humanity should rage against the dying of the light and go out with a bang instead of a whimper, but realistically, all that achieves is an earlier death.

>>388410545
And thats why they don't announce shit without it's completely done anymore.

>>388409843
>Even Freeman cutting off the Combine from their Dyson Sphere home system could surely only be a matter of buying a little time.
Why is that?

>that newfag who calls it "HL3" and not "Episode 3"

>>388410714
Not him, but Episode Two was all about closing the superportal that was going to bring in the Combine's regular army. Who is to say they couldn't try again? Who knows how many citadels there are?

>>388410448
>I just read it and I don't get it.
It's not an easy text to understand, especially if you aren't familiar with Borges and his style, and the kind of literally audience he wrote it for.

Mostly, it's about the feeling: the absurdity of the concept. Borges was actually really heavily influenced by Kafka, though he is much more intellectualizing than Kafka was. He is also obsessed with the problem of idealism (in Platonic sense). And he is incredibly cryptic and minimalist. There are dozens of themes just touched upon, assuming that the reader is actually savvy enough to follow up on them: the obsession with "mapping" and creating models of reality, the absurdity of the notion that symbol and what it represents are (or could be) the same. The vague nostalgia of great, seemingly absurdly large projects (that Borges in particular associates with Chinese history). The cynicism of pragmatism. And so on.

I did say it's not an excerpt (it really isn't) but all of Borges'es work is deeply interconnected and understanding his other works - his other short stories, as well as essays, helps understanding this one too. It resonates the themes of absurd projects of creating a number system in which ever number has it's own unique symbol that is not combination of previous ones (mentioned, among others, in Funes), or his fascinations with Chinese Emperors wanting to erase all of history, and build a wall long enough to encompass the entire world (mentioned in several essays), his pre-occupation with Platonism that he refers to in countless works etc...

Don't feel bad for not seeing any of it. It takes a crazy person to enjoy some of his stories.

>>388410545
No, they said the priority was episode 3, which would was at the time planned to be another 2-3 hour adventure.
But then they wanted it to be a feature length game like HL2 was, so it got delayed to like 2010.
But then they wanted it to be a blockbuster AAA title which would win tons of GOTY awards, so it got delayed to 2012-2013
But then Valve started making more money from hats, CSGO crates, and Dota 2 shit so it was delayed indefinitely because they just wanted money.

>>388410805
>Who knows how many citadels there are?
They only ever mention the one in City 17 so I assumed that was the only one.

And without the Citadel, I don't think they can get back into our universe. That's why they were trying to reverse engineer the Borealis.

So I don't know why people are calling this a 'sad' ending, sure they could never actually defeat the Combine completely but from the point of view of Earthlings they're no longer a threat, with the exception of the remnants still left on Earth.

Tl;dr Combine BTFO

>>388410805

They'd never find Earth ever again, in the vastness of the twisting transdimensional reality. They'd be stuck jerking off their shitty Dyson sphere forever.

>>388410878
So it's just an exercise in navel gazing? Not that there's anything wrong with that, I actually like that stuff. But how does it relate to Laidlaw and Half-Life?

>>388410926
>>388410993
I think we're missing something here. When did the Combine get to Earth? Was it during the events of HL1? Nihilanth was holding the portals open to send his people to Earth, and killing him closes it. Was that how the Combine got in, or was it at a later time?

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>>388404350

The only bit of the synopsis that was really fleshed out was the hugeness of the Dyson sphere, and Alyx leaving to become Gman's interdimensional buttslut. The exact outcome as far as earth goes and the various characters would be up for changes, but I got the feeling that those two points were something Marc had pretty clearly in mind.

>>388410714

The Combine have some knowledge of teleportation technology; we know that from conversations in HL2. The Black Mesa incident alerted them to our dimension and allowed them to enter it.

Now, Freeman shutting down the super-portal over the ruins of City 17 is going to delay them, no question there. But let's assume the Combine are really cut off from Earth because the portal is closed.

Civilizations that control even one Dyson Sphere have populations that are simply ludicrous. The Combine could assign 10 billion researchers and scientists to the task of getting back to Earth and it would not even represent 1% of their resorces. Estimates for the human population of a Dyson Sphere in our galaxy are around 10 to the power of 20 people, or 100 billion-billion people.

That's why its inevitable. You can't fight against this sort of power.

>>388410257
Yeah, I know. Read the spoilered part. I was just making a shitty chan-culture-inspired joke. I like Borges too.

>>388411058
after black mesa earth was terrorized by xen flora and fauna, enough to already disrupt ecosystems and force rural peope to concentrate into cities, some time after which the combine arrived, and with the increased urbanization it no doubt was even easier for them to subjugate all of mankind.

>>388410997
>So it's just an exercise in navel gazing?
Well, yeah. Like most philosophically inclined literature or musings. Borges is uber-super-mega intellectual masturbator.

>But how does it relate to Laidlaw and Half-Life?
Well, Laidlaw is well renowned for being massive fan of Borges (as mentioned, to a point where he convinced Gabe to work on a Borges-inspired game-kinda-project, which eventually basically became the foundation of Steam).
And it's relevant in the sense that the symbol (the fan-fiction that Laidlaw posted) in the end is not, and can't by definition, be the real thing (e.g. the game, if it ever was made). Even if the insanity that surrounds them become equal in scope.

>>388411058

Something was said about the HL1 fuckery setting off portal storms that let the Combine in.

>ywn hear a remastered version of this from waiting in hl3s menu for too long

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKuT8f7gSXA

>>388410926
>And without the Citadel, I don't think they can get back into our universe. That's why they were trying to reverse engineer the Borealis.

No, the Combine forces trapped on Earth were trying to re-establish a link with the Combine dimension so they could get re-enforcements. It's completely unknown whether the main body of Combine forces couldn't just show up whenever they felt like it. Which does play into the whole narrative of the Dyson Sphere civilization; we're so ludicrously insignificant next to the scale of the Combine that we barely rate any notice. The entire Combine force we see on Earth is most likely the actions of a tiny group that the leaders of the Combine, whoever or whatever they are, don't even know about.

>>388411131
Once the Borealis is destroyed and all research data that led to its creation is lost, the Combine have no reason to come back to Earth specifically though. They can go anywhere else for resources, Earth was only important due to Aperture's teleportation tech.

>>388411204
If the Combine came at a later date, after the portal closed, then there is no reason to say they couldn't find Earth again.

How many of you still believe that Half-Life 3 will be released one day?

>>388411058
>Was that how the Combine got in, or was it at a later time?
Nihilianth was the guardian of the Border-world (Xen), able to open and close windows between Xen and any other world, thus theoretically becoming the conduit of travel between different worlds.

By killing him, the Xen was left empty and that opened the door to Combine invasion. There was a brief period after HL1 during which shit just kept coming in from Xen, but after a while, Combine used the now-unguarded Xen to move from their dimensions through it and to Earth.
So ironically, Gordon enabled the invasion.

>>388411282
I agree. As far as I remember, the resonance cascade was just what brought their attention. Maybe they started drilling the holes between universes right then and there, so it could take a few years for a portal to open.

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What's life like on the Combine dyson sphere? What's the average anon's day?

>>388411270
>Earth was only important due to Aperture's teleportation tech.

They don't need resources, they have a Dyson. The Combine on Earth was most likely leaching resources as some kind of planetary science experiment, much like we might tinker with an ant colony. But yes, they do want the teleportation tech we've developed.

And that gives them a reason to come back.

>>388411260
>The entire Combine force we see on Earth is most likely the actions of a tiny group that the leaders of the Combine, whoever or whatever they are, don't even know about.
This. Their entire invasion force that subjugated the whole planet in 7 hours likely was just a minor branch of Combine sector #10939046 forced and just barged through the dimensional rift when they noticed it and got the chance

>>388411404

Sentient fungi shitposting across the indescribable vastness.

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>>388411404
Just replace the logo with the combine logo.

>>388411370
>So ironically, Gordon enabled the invasion.
Jesus. It's disheartening to think that Nihilanth had been fleeing from the Combine for decades. They find a niche in Xen, only for the humans to expose it. Nihilanth pours his forces into Earth in the hopes to escape the Combine when they inevitably find his hidey hole, only for Gordon to kill him and stop all that he tried to do.

>>388411404
Every mind is a virtual AI powered by the sun, part of a massive artificial brain the encloses the sun. Their lives are simulated bliss of whatever they wish to experience, and the entire drive of the Combine civilization is to get more computational power for more minds or to save up as much power as possible before the heat death.

>>388411547

Combine are harvesting energy to mine the last Bitcoin in the universe.

>>388411547
Matrioshka Brain? But if the Combine just wanted to bring species for ultimate bliss, why all the fucking suppression field and torture?

>>388411370

I've always wondered about the bit at the very end of HL1 where you see destroyed tanks and marines on Xen, and G-Man says "The border world, Xen, is in our control, for the time being". So was G-man referring to the Combine gaining control of it? Unlikely, since he seems to act against the Combine in HL2. So what other entity was it that gained control of Xen?

>>388411429
You do need resources due to the eventual heat death of the universe, to stretch existance for as long as possible long after the last stars are gone. Civilizations of these scales would plan trillions of years in advance for this, trying to be as efficient in everything to save energy after there is nearly no power to be generated.

>>388411547
what if GLaDOS was somehow uploaded into that massive artificial brain?

>>388411547
>having a pussy civilization who needs artificial fun
COMBINE! WHAT IS BEST IN LIFE?
>TO CRUSH YOUR ENEMIES, SEE THEIR GENOMES IN YOUR DATABANK, AND TO HEAR THE LAMENTATIONS OF THEIR ECOSYSTEM

>>388404676
Wow,is this jayden smith?

>>388411659
I think artificially elevating other species would be too much of a inefficient use of resources, and completely insignificant in comparison when a single dyson sphere contains billions to the power of billions of minds. And if there's one dyson sphere, they are everywhere.

>>388408852
You look like you have the personality of Lenny from Of Mice and Men.

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https://www.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/6wa480/marc_laidlaw_tweets_more_on_epistle_3/dm6q4ij/

>Is that too harsh? What if Alex pushed Jerry into a timeloop or portal bubble instead, leaving his fate open?

pic is a concept art of episode 3/hl3

>>388405286
That interview was 8-9 years ago.
Who knows what he was talking about

>>388411720

What is GLaDOS IS the Combine? And the entire game is just a massive puzzle set up for the player to get through?

>>388411839
i remember when that huge bunch of art came out. had me hyped for fucking weeks it looked so good, phone wallpaper and everything.

fuck this shit.

>>388404679
I like how there is ice on the deck, cool little detail.

>>388411809
And to add to this, why bother with lesser civilizations when letting them roam about could spawn competition that might fuck up your plans of expanding computational power

>>388407429
>tear drop tattoo can mean someone killed someone
>3 of them
Gabe killed Half Life 3

>>388411429
The Combine on Earth were stranded, cut off from the Empire. That's why they needed the Borealis.

>>388410878
Weird question. Did he ever touch on Gnosticism?
Because there were apparently references to Gnosticism, even directly quoting a Gnostic text, Pistis Sophia, in the HL2 beta.
http://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Grigori/Quotes

>>388411720
doesnt portal 2 take place millions of years in the future?

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>>388411260
>>388411443
People don't quite understand the importance of Dyson Spheres

Having a Dyson Sphere means that you can harass 100% of a star's energy output, which puts you at K2 level or above on the Kardashev Scale. A K2 civilization therefore has access to 10^26 W energy, according to Sagan's modified version, which means that they an approximate population of 10^20, or 100-billion-billion people.

That is a scale where they have easily colonized an entire galaxy, and a gigantic war that destroys entire star systems to them seems like a fight between two 3 year old kids. A K2 civilization has the resources to move entire stars, create Ecumenopolises in the billions (entire city-planets), can destroy planets on a fucking whim. And they still don't hold a candle up to a K3 civilization, which has covered every SINGLE star in a galaxy in Dyson spheres, and has access to Matrioshka Brain level ultracomputers.

As far as we know, the Combine can be a K3 type civilization. At that point, we only got invaded because some automated invasion-system they created millions of years ago has sent out Combine species No. 2315126616 to merge our planet into their giant web.

>>388411659
>why all the fucking suppression field and torture
Breencasts talk of the suppression field when he's "asked" about by a "concerned citizen". Breen specifically mentions that the oppression and suppression field are a test of manking to see of the Combine feel they're worthy of elevation.

So perhaps the Combine are testing manking to see if they can hold out without giving into to their baser desires like breeding, and wanting their petty, infantile conception of freedom.

>>388412110
No.

>>388412190

The scale of power possessed by Kardashev 2 civilizations can best be described as follows. A single Dyson Sphere has more power and population than the entire Imperium of Man from Warhammer 40k.

>>388412190
Uh no, that's not what a Dyson Sphere means.
Harnassing the majority of your star's output puts you at the first step to moving to other star systems.

>>388412218
it's probably just because it's easier to control a population that's slowly growing old and dying than if you were to shoot them in the streets, plus it's reversible

>>388412105
>Weird question. Did he ever touch on Gnosticism?
Not weird at all, and OH BOY HE DID. He is quite obsessed with it too - like most intellectuals of that era (Jung, Tolkien...)
I can't name all the stories and essays that deal with it from my head, though I could dig up his Ficciones and browse it to find at least some examples. But yeah, he found the idea absolutely fascinating. It really was a general obsession of that era.

>>388404679
>Nothing is stopping Valve from making Half life 3
Laziness and greed.

>>388412190
>100% of a star's energy output
>Hey fuck you star you better give me your energy you big ball of shit

>>388412190
>As far as we know, the Combine can be a K3 type civilization. At that point, we only got invaded because some automated invasion-system they created millions of years ago has sent out Combine species No. 2315126616 to merge our planet into their giant web.
Pretty much this. People lack imagination about the scale of such civilizations.

>>388412218
Alright by why the torture?

>>388411815
I dun a bad thing George. I wrote a fanfic tricking everyone into thinning my headcanon for hl3 was real.

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>>388412423
That is literally what a Dyson Sphere is

>>388412336
Yes, but we only saw one Dyson Sphere.

The big question is

>is this finished

>is this the first one

>if not, how many others do they have

The answers can mean the difference between a K2 and a K3 level civilization. Which is pretty much the difference between an ant and God

And we wouldn't know which one it is, but both of those levels are still incomprehendable us, who are a measly 0.8-0.9 level civilization, even in the HL universe


God I'm fucking furious that they did not release Episode 3 with a story like this. The sheer impact of the last 5-10 minutes of the game would be something that would be discussed for years

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>>388405823
>mfw valve is working us all into a shoot with the most advanced ARG of all time

We must dig deeper, cryptic codes will start appearing soon. The faithful will be rewarded.

>>388412476
Perhaps the Combine don't feel pain the way humans do. Pain on the level of agony to a human is a slap on the wrist to a combine. Pain could be weakness to the combine and they make humans "stronger" through forcing them to suffer.

>>388412743
No legs and arms sure toughens a guy up.

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>>388404271

>>388412568
humans are 0.7 at the moment
even if we used 100x the energy we currently do it would only put us at about 0.9

pretty sad

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>people now honestly believe it's all just an ARG

>>388412808
Stalkers are humans that couldn't mentally survive the pain, so they were repurposed into servitors. Waste makes haste.

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>>388405001
You know, at Valve people are allowed to work on whatever project they want. I guarantee this shit storm has started to get some employees thinking. In the Laidlaw letter he mentions that perhaps an air of rebellion still lingers (alluding to Valve), he thinks that there are still people there that want to do this. I'm seriously starting to get my hopes up again. People think this is the end but maybe it's just the beginning.

it's not an ARG, gaben's stringing you along so you can be a good goy and buy more keys and cosmetics

>>388412960
However in the valve employee handbook Gabe and some of the old guard must be considered bosses in terms of seniority ranking so you do the fuck what they say.

Sometimes a manager or Gabe himself will force Valve staff to temporarily drop their projects and work on whatever he dictates. If Gabe decided he wanted nobody to work on HL3, then that's what would happen.

>>388412923
It's just wishful thinking at this stage. It would be really cool if it was though.

>>388411117
i knew i'd find your shitty post when i ctrl+f'd the thread for buttslut

>>388412960
Am I the only one who thinks this "do what you want and eat big pink cookies!" work ethic is incredibly fucking stupid?

>>388412110
40 years after the events of portal, which itself takes place somewhere between the events of half life and half life 2

>>388413421
no, because they still actually have to deliver something or they get fired

>>388410878
This is all fascinating anon, thank you for exposing me to this man and his works. The whole concept of "a map is not the territory" is something I've thought about idly before. I didn't know it was an entire thing that many writers and philosophers mused about, though that seems like a no-brainer in retrospect. You seem like a sharp anon.

>>388413356
At this point it should be obvious that Gaben will never stand in front of people and admit they're done making non-lootcrate games.
This is all the closure we'll get, better take it.

>>388411058
wait how long was the original hl again? sounds like

cumbne done that in at least 7 hr since resonance cascade and nihilanth fight.

Nobody remembers the Portal VR Demo?
Nobody remembers when Half Life was broken and uninstallable on Steam 1 month ago?

>>388413738
A tech demo and it wasn't? There was a patch for some security holes that affected Goldsrc games.

>>388413523
But they'll choose to deliver the easiest thing, that being hats, CS:GO skins and digital card games.

>>388409206
Not him but I could really use some help with that paragraph.
All I got out of it is that
>the scientific description of a thing does not equal to the thing described
which I think should be obvious to everybody.

>>388410209
Paid mods was much worse than this, and even for that all that happened was they said "ok nevermind we'll try this again later when you're less pissed off"

>>388413449
Let's start making some connections with the leaked end and what would've happened to Chell when she went out Aperture.

>>388413840
It was, nobody could install the game, the download files were broken on Valve servers.

>>388413840
>A tech demo and it wasn't?
I don't know what language we're speaking, but it certainly isn't English.

>>388405001
People will still play Artifact, even the ones who were mad it was announced instead of a decent game.
A million people who think your game is a 6/10 at best but drop $20 on loot boxes nevertheless is better than ten thousand die hard fans who pre-order your game for $90.

>>388413534
>I didn't know it was an entire thing that many writers and philosophers mused about,
Well, it's basically the ONLY thing absolute majority of philosophers have been musing in the first half of the last century. In fact this problem became one of the biggest turning points in western cognitive history. The realization of the difficult relationship between symbol and represented shocked western intellectuals so hard that philosophy basically started falling apart:
This is the true source of postmodernism and it's scepticism and relativism. They basically said "well if we can only think and percieve in symbols (in text, in thoughts, in images) and we can't be sure of how they relate to REALITY itself, then... what the fuck do we do? How can we believe anything? How can we declare one symbol more "true" than another symbol - they are just symbols - they are just maps, not the territory!"
Most of modern philosophy embraced the panic. Derrida speaks about "the fall of transcendental that guarantee's meaning". Rorty claims that as a result, the only thing we can be certain off is that we can't ever be certain of anything, and best we can agree on is to disagree.
And so on and so forth.
All of this is actually known as "The Semiotic Turn" in modern western philosophy and academia, the realization that we talk and think in maps, not in territories, roughly speaking.

It is funny how nowdays, almost EXACTLY hundred years from Saussure's "Course in General Linguistics" which first outlined this problem in a popular level, we consider this absolutely intuitive and normal. But back then, it was literally undermining everything people believed to know. It caused a LITERAL panic among intellectuals.

Borges explored this subject way before the Postmodernists did, and frankly better. He was less hysteric about it.

>>388413940
Out of space but if I said "a symbol and the thing the symbol represents are NOT the same things" would that help? Or should I expand?

>>388412923
it is viral marketing. same with Artifact (whose logo is a spiral of flipped lambdas) the actual ARG will start with Black Mesa Xen this Winter, and the next Half-Life will be formally revealed whenever that ARG is finished (Q1 2018).

>>388411659
Combines true motives remain unknown. The fact of their existence as a Many Worlds spanning entity that defies any conventional/mundane resource-acquisition motive. There is something about our particular Earth, with our particular People, that is what draws them.

>>388414381
>>388414381
>There is something about our particular Earth, with our particular People, that is what draws them.

Aperture.

>>388413523
>deliver something or they get fired
I'm struggling to see Valve delivering anything tangible other than esports competitions (which are mostly outsourced to dedicated organisers anyway). Most of the stuff going on there is all codemonkeying, system upkeep and administration of Steam and their online game servers.

ITS GOING TO BE A SCRIPTS FOR A MOVIE

>>388414573
Valve would sooner make a Dota movie than they would a Half Life movie.

The real ending:

Gordon returns to Black Mesa with the Bootstrap device to stop the events that triggered the Combine invasion.

Didn't Valve stated that portal 2 was going to be his last single player game? Meaning:
a) Half life was going to be a co-cop adventure now, starring obviously Gordon and Alyx, and somewhat along development they coulnd't make that work like they wanted hence the eternal delays
b) They subtly confirmed Half Life series as dead while focusing themselves on team co-op games like dota, tf2, etc

>>388414667
well i think you are wrong
becuase they don't need to work on the movie.
they just need to "sell" the HL lisence to some movie studio.

>>388414883
The next Half-Life game will literally be l4d3 with Gordon, Alyx, Barney and Shephard.

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>>388404676

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>>388414381
>it is viral marketing. same with Artifact (whose logo is a spiral of flipped lambdas) the actual ARG will start with Black Mesa Xen this Winter, and the next Half-Life will be formally revealed whenever that ARG is finished (Q1 2018)
Anon pls stop.

Okay so the vortigaunts saved Gordon at the end of Episode 3, but at that point why? There had to be some reason they saved him, if humanity was completely fucked saving him would be pointless, and we know the vortigaunts have some sort of visions into the future/prophecies and such. So why?

>>388415229
so that he didn't throw his life away for nothing

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>>388415097
>Q1 2018
>People try putting together clues from various sources like Artifact's trailers
>It finally gets solved and we find a site with timer on it
>Valve releases 15 seconds teaser without a title of a guy picking up broken glasses from the floor

>>388415269
But if he's simply going to die/be enslaved by the combine anyway there is literally no point in saving him.

>>388407158
it was never cancelled, never abandoned. it has always had the same number of staff on it, from the time it was Ep3 with literally almost all the company involved. they never planned to do anything but take their time and make another 'best game ever'. there have been several particular delays, ~2012/2013 when they decided to pursue VR, and then in 2015 when Paid Mods blew up in their faces.

>>388415229
Gordon is Gman.

>>388415229
Vortigaunts see Freeman as a messianic equal. They are saving a brother who is also their savior.

Plus Gordon is a prime example of humanity. A man who did everything he could to save humanity, in the face of all odds, to save just a few. Even if it was futile and he deep down knew it, he worked towards that goal anyway, because he is Good.

Therefore the Vortigaunts want to usee him as an example, and might begin humanity anew with Gordon as the template.

>>388415343
I still think "Thank you for coming to our press conference. Check your Steam." is better.

>>388415389
The Combine on Earth are being defeated, since they are cut off from the actual Empire. That's part of the reason they were desperate to get the Borealis and portal technology.
I don't remember if the Vorts had a relationship with G-Man, so they probably just want Freeman to continue the fight against the Combine.

>>388414883
>Didn't Valve stated that portal 2 was going to be his last single player game? Meaning:
That is precisely what they did not mean. They even followed it immediately with "But that does not necessarily mean what you think it means.": LITERALLY the next sentence in that statement.
And here is more further clarification for retards like you:
https://www.giantbomb.com/valve-corporation/3010-1374/forums/valve-clarifies-last-single-player-game-statement-494753/

So no.

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>>388404026

>>388415740
That would be badass but press would probably take it as that Valve is afraid that HL3 is going to flop so they didn't do any marketing or something along those lines. I wouldn't take a risk like that if I had to make the best game ever made.

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>>388414381
>it is viral marketing
yes, for his shitty books

>>388414381
>There is something about our particular Earth, with our particular People, that is what draws them.
Well, we did manage to open a multi-dimensional portal, that was probably enough to put us on their radar.

Here's a silly idea for those who want to show Valve that we care.

Let's schedule a date and hour, and let's all start at the same time Half Life, and play it or leave it playing for as long as we can.
It'll show everywhere on Steam.

Was Breen a bad guy or was he genuinely doing his best for humanity?

>>388414381
>it is viral marketing. same with Artifact (whose logo is a spiral of flipped lambdas)
This is the biggest stretch in history of insanely stretched thoughts to justify irrational or wishful thinking I've ever seen in my life.

>>388416015
He did what he convinced himself was the best for humanity. To differenciate how much of that was true, and how much of it was self-delusion is impossible. That is pretty much all there is to it.

>>388416003
>Let's schedule a date and hour
and kill yourselves
that will show them!

Imagine how fucking warm it would be to live in a Dyson sphere

>>388416372
Just go at night time.

>>388416371
Someday life will come at you pretty fast.

If the episodes were supposed to be months apart, why didn't they just finish it back then for the sake of finishing it, even if it's not necessarily on time? Procrastinating for years got them backed into a situation where no matter what they do they would get roasted by people's pent up expectations.

>>388405001
Even if they would make it they would use a completely different story than what leaked resulting in more betrayal. They fucked themselves 10 years ago.

>>388405001
You are correct this is stage 3

>>388412960
Getting thinking is still not good at all. Even if they started making it it would come out way north of 2020.

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>I for one am glad they didn't release it, because it could never come close to the community's unrealistic expectations!

>>388415874
Yes and look what they fucking did to it lmao

>>388415740
Worked great for Sega.

>>388417152
>I am so glad they released Prometheus and Covenant! They were great additions to a timeless series.

>>388417452
>clearly the release of this late sequel that ended up being bad means making sequels years after the fact can only ever end in failure

>>388416015
Half-life 1 had some scientists lamenting how they'd expressed concerns about that morning's test being risky, but the administrator refused to listen. In HL2 we learn that the administrator was Breen, and that he had somehow become the puppet ruler of the mankind.

These things imply that yeah, Breen did bad things. He wanted the test to happen despite knowing it was dangerous, and it's pretty suspicious/convenient how he ended up in such a high leading role after the Earth got wrecked by aliens. Did he actually plan for it? Did he have contact with G-man or any other shady interdimensional beings before the test?

Maybe he wanted to do good things, but his opinion on what is "good" is different from how most people would see it.

>>388417807
>making sequels years after the fact can only ever end in failure
You finally got it. Unfortunately you were trying to be witty. But that's exactly what it is.

>>388417932
The gman was the one to supply the crystal sample so yes, Breen had contact with the Gman.
Breen even mentions him in hl2.

>>388417932
>Did he have contact with G-man
He actually knows about G-Man, saying "has proven a fine pawn to those who control him." about Gordon, so plausibly.

>>388417932
>>388418063
And Eli knew him too. It's very possible that the Lambda staff we met by G-man in Xen a while before he supplied the sample that caused the resonance cascade.

>>388417946
Did you forget that Half-Life 2 was literally this exact scenario?
Retard.

>>388418276
HL2 was a far cry from the great game original was. Besides, it wasn't even that much between them faggot.

>>388416985
I've waited a decade, I could wait longer yet.

>>388418395
>HL2 was a far cry from the great game original was
Kill yourself.

>>388418448
Don't reply to my post ever again.

>>388414381
It's pretty strongly implied that they want point to point teleportation like Black Mesa and Aperture had very badly.

>>388404026
How the fuck do you read this shit

>>388414972
You mean like they sold it to JJ Abrams like 7 years ago?

>>388418448
It's written like a self-insert fanfiction wank, though. Everyone suck's Gordon's cock. Every character is an epic reference, and they make references to the referential nature of their existence "Man of few words" "About that beer I owed ya" "GORDEN FREEMAN OMG IT'S U, U R MY HERO I HEARD ALL ABOUT YOU!" even though he fucking vanished and was just some dude with a gun. Even G-man says "unforeseen consequences" which is probably the most iconic level name of any video game, and one that sets the entire tone of the first game.

It's retarded. You're retarded.

>>388415931
Who gives a shit what the press thinks if the game is already out by the time anyone knows it's coming.

>>388418554

You have to be retarded to not be able to figure it out.

>>388416003
It's been done. More than once I think.

>>388418760
I'm sorry I don't get your stupid GenZ shit, post 2000 babby.

>>388418703
Sounds to me like you're making excuses to post your shitty video again.

>>388417452
I haven't seen Covenant but Prometheus was on par with the series quality up to that point.

>>388418223
>It's very possible that the Lambda staff we met by G-man in Xen a while before he supplied the sample that caused the resonance cascade.
did you just have a fucking stroke?

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>decide to replay Half-life 2 after all this mad speculation about the Combine's power
>my head is filled with visions of a Dyson Spheres the size of a solar system, with ships as long as the distance from the Sun to Neptune
>encounter civil protection
>my fucking face
They really did send the B team to Earth didn't they

This end would have been the biggest 'fuck you' in FPS history

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>>388404026
yfw It's an ARG

>>388419107
That was my initial thought too, but the way things have been going, I really doubt that Valve is interested in anything non MP related.

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>>388419107
>mfw Marc actually never left valve

>>388419107
ARG after spoiling the fucking plot? Are you serious?

>>388419017
>B team

more like the Z------------------- team

see>>388412190

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>>388419017
>12 years of huge middle fingers
>valve release HL3 to an excited fanbase who are graciously willing to put all those middle fingers behind them
>the game is an even bigger middle finger
50% of all nerds die from their rage, while the other 50% die from their keks.

>>388419017
You're misunderstanding the situation. Every single sentient combine soldier in Half-life is a human. The ordinary combine forces stomped the shit out of Earth in 7 hours and then left as soon as they had conscripted enough humans to act as a police force on the rest. The combine forces seen in the game are fucking security guards.

So I just finished playing through Half Life 2 again and during the end of the game where you meet Breen in his office, when you're approaching his office with Mossman you can hear him talking to Eli about stuff that sounds a lot like he's explaining what the Borealis can do.

>Worlds stretched thin across the membranes where the dimensions intersect, impossible to describe with our limited vocabulary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAr2rd9PVL4
>0.45

>>388407640
It was never being worked on. All those leaks (the concept art, the hidden files, etc.) were all fake, intentionally left so that people would find them. This was meant to instill a false sense of hope that the game would eventually be released, so that people would never give up on Valve and continue to buy their games and microtransactions, hoping to find more clues about HL3.
It's a scam, and everyone has been falling for it for 10 years now.

>>388404271
>cAT

>>388420157
That is some absolute fucking delusional bullshit that you show there, kid. Jesus fuck Kid, you need some serious therapy. Seriously, you need actual medical attention if this is what you truly believe. That is some impressive mental gymnastics.

>>388418276
>>388417807
Half Life 2 was made by the same people that made Half Life 1. No one wants Half Life 3 made by a team of hat creators

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>>388419390
They ARE working on a singleplayer game tho.

>>388420157
Holy shit this is the worst """"""""theory"""""""" I've ever read.

>>388420264
If I'm wrong, then HL3 will eventually be released.

>>388420515
That is just more absurd, completely stretched and illogical conclusions that you are making up to validate your irrational theory.

It's actually completely possible that the game has been worked on, but abandoned. It's not a binary "either it was never worked on, or it will be released" option you retard. Also, I love how you insinuated that it was a conspiracy fabricated to increase the sales off... HL2 which is a decade old game, and Dota which is... free. Because those were the two games that contained whatever clues that people found.

But keep on completely deluding yourself, you moron. It's most amusing.

>>388420451
This literally confirms that they work on HL3.

>>388406032
laidlaw literally confirmed he was shitposting this stuff as GRUB BREEN, gordy

>>388404026
it means his damage control is shit.

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>>388420753
Also when that valve news youtube guy asked about HLVR leaks to Gabe he said "I'm not going to give any details on our upcoming products" or something along those lines.
I think there are way too many clues about it still being worked on to ignore and call the series dead. I'm still hopeful.

>>388421184
No, what it really means is that while this was the general plan, it's very likely the story would change during the course of development you fucking mongoloid. Remember what the original story outline of HL2 looked like? Yeah. What he means is that that shit happens.

The fuck, how are you people this clueless?

>>388413449

The writer said several thousand years but they ultimately didn't get too concerned with the timeline beyond establishing that a long ass time had passed and the events of Half Life are long over.

>>388421378
his example was only changing a very minor thing.
Alex will still be saved by the gman, the ship will still be teleported, freeman will still witness their power etc etc.

>>388421575
His example was - get this, because this will blow you fucking mind: AN EXAMPLE!

>>388418223
???

>>388419390
The last paragraph talks about a far future where no one remembers Gordon. but the resistance is still fighting. It is clearly a reference to valve itself.
Bbut What if it is also a hint that HL3 will be a FPS MMO where we fight as a resistance member in the future?

>>388409063
meanwhile /v/ is just bitching all the time

>>388419009
>>388421767
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8Fpon88GQA
watch the from 3:20

Eli says to Gordon at the missile base "Unforeseen consequences... the last time I heard those words were back at Black Mesa, and he whispered them in my ear. You know who I'm talking about—our mutual friend..."

>>388410273
no, portal 2 was announced way before the ARG happened. The potato thing was just meant to release portal 2 earlier

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>>388412960
Isn't there a clique of employees that basically controls what the company does?

I'm pretty sure they'd try to shut down any development of the game in fear that the project might give them a lower paycheck, because they desperately just want to play it safe and use the cashcows they have now

>>388422198

Was Portal getting its ending patched to show you getting dragged back in not the first hint for 2?

>>388413901
And make a lot of money though them, so the system works pretty well.
Also, don't forget the VR meme, which has to get big eventually (basically when it doesn't cost hundreds of dollar and only offers corridor shooters to play, and that's exactly why fags in Valve developing it are useful).

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>>388420090
Nah, they're just talking about Xen. They didn't think out the plot that far ahead yet

Marc is saying that this is a rough outline of what Episode 3 could have been. Inevitably, things change over time. As the story was implemented, cool ideas would pop up, rendering old ones obsolete. Killing of Mossman might actually just feel too shitty when fully implemented.

Development of any idea is an iterative, experimental process. This is doubly true of videogame development, and reinforced further by Valve's particular dedication to the concept of repeated iterative experimentation -- they playtest the shit out of their games.

>>388422684
I don't think I know of a single person who actually cared about Mossman.

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>>388422781
Mossman was my waifu.

>>388416073
Oh boy, you've never been in an MGS thread, have you?

>>388423090
Honestly, no. I avoid MGS discussion like a fucking plague. That two months of /v/ being paralyzed on the last MGS game release, and that one famous analysis of MGS2 that starts by quoting the Exactitude of Science that I think this thread already mentioned were enough to convince me to stay completely clear of the absolute loony bin that is MGS fanbase.

>>388404092
caramel spammed that shit so that he could force himself as a meme when nothing happened. quit giving that shitter attention

>>388408852
>post pic of mendle
>its totally me guise

Laidlaw may not have realized it but he may have just created a hipster fan faction. Now if Valve ever makes a sequel the hipsters will keep referring to Laidlaw's story as the canon.

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>>388424204
I still refer to the original Mass Effect story ending as the canon one.

If that makes me a hipster, I'll gladly be one

And I'd gladly do the same for Laidlaw's version.

>>388420157
You are one stupid motherfucker if you actually believe this.

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>>388405001
>announce a dota card game, almost everyone hates it and thinks of it as a blatant cash grab
Yeah, no. I'm not super hyped about it, but I want to see what they can come up with.

>>388420753
No it doesn't idiot. It's the same non answer he's been giving regarding episode 3 for years followed by confirmation that they're working on a single player game.

>>388422115
Go read your post again dude you mangled it and it's practically word salad. I have no fucking clue what you were trying to say.

>>388425504
>asked if they do single player games
yes
>asked if the anon source is right
he heavily implies that its wrong, therefore they do work on HL3

>>388425496
Practically nothing, dota2's universe is laughably tiny, and unless they pull a bible worth of lore and new characters out of their ass then the game is going to be stale hot trash.

>>388424962
To be honest, this isn't particularly less retarded to what we got.
But I DO remember some hints in ME1/2 about stars aging much more rapidly than they should have being dropped, though that might have been just a trick of my mind.

>>388422540
The Borealis was present in early builds of Half-life 2. A lot of the levels are mostly completed, you can play them yourself if you google Missing Information.

>>388422781
I don't care about Mossman but I still think Alyx killing her would be pretty weird.

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Everyone's shitting themselves that HL3 will never be made when the leak storyline was so much darker and more interesting.

>>388426157
Not very Half-Lifeish though.

>>388413983
Paid mods were worse on a moral and meaningful scale, but this is much worse on a emotional scale, and ultimately its emotions that motivate people to take action, not reason.

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>>388412336
But how could you herring the power of the star in the first place?

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>>388426258
JETSKIS

>>388425729
you do know every hero has their own paragraph snippet on lore right? there's quite a few rivalries and locations mentioned, enough for a pretty cool flesh out world imo.

>>388424962
Well, I am one myself. I still think Baldur's Gate 2 Ascension mod is the real storyline because the lead writer made it.

>>388425729
Nah, Dota 2's universe is pretty interesting to bh

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>And then what do you do if the brilliant actress who plays Wanda Bree...dies?
Fuck, I almost forgot about this. Even if EP3 was made, we were never going to get Breen back.

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>>388420090
Breen was right all along....

>>388426261
Paid mods were worse on an emotional scale too, people were pissed. With this people are just talking about half-life again and saying "oh that would have been cool". By this point in the paid mods incident Gabe had already felt compelled to have an AMA on reddit because people were so angry about it, and two days after that was a miserable failure they were gone.

>>388426923
Breen is a slug, ffs we don't need his original voice actor anymore just get someone else and add some alien like effects to his voice.

>>388419697
>Earth is policed by fucking mall cops

>>388419697
>>388427175
Only the civil protection, the black ones with the white mask are fully human.
Overwatch soldiers (the ones in blue) are human shells with cybernetic brain and a couple augmented limbs.
Ovewatch elite (the white ones) are basically cyborgs with very little human material.

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Be honest lads, will we EVER get to see a HL3 mod in our lifetimes?

>>388424962
i am still fucking mad.

>>388425835

The level where you rescue Tali in 3 takes place on a planet orbiting a start that's decaying way too quickly. It's the entire reason she's there.

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>>388426923
>yfw the guy who voiced Kleiner will be the next one to die

>>388428045
They're still human. The point is the only thing Combine about the Combine you fight is the tech they left behind.

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Keep working on it bros, you'll crack the hidden message any moment now...

>>388428149
Thanks, that is it. I really wasn't sure if that was there, or if I just imagined things.

>>388414323
thanks for your posts. learned quite a bit and doing my own research on this topic that interests me

How did Mossman escape the Citadel before or after it was destroyed?

You can't seriously expect me to believe that Breen did not report her betrayal to the Combine as he fled from his office and spoke to the Supervisors.

>>388414323
>Rorty claims that as a result, the only thing we can be certain of is that we can't ever be certain of anything
The idiotic part of this general state of mind is that it's ricorso that refuses to acknowledge itself as such. That answer as a solution was defeated 2,500 years ago, by the Pyrrhonists. Derrida got closer to an answer than any of the others have, even to this today, yet even he eventually gave up, with "lol who cares it doesn't matter anyway".

It's in the same way that we lose so many significant lines of thought, like the Javelin Argument. Modern retards think that it's actually discredited, in the same way that they think 'uncertainty' is the correct answer to the question of différance.

I just fucking hate people who think that they are having new ideas or contributing new thought to a discussion when they're doing literally nothing for the historical record.

>>388429067
You are welcome.

>>388404679
Anyone else think this HEV Suit model looks awful? Especially on the back.

>>388424962
wew lad all ME did was copy and modify elements of Revelation Space

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revelation_Space

>discussion of a leaked videogame plot suggestion turns into a discussion of french "philosophy"

wew lad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvwhEIhv3N0

>>388430063
Funny thing is that I have the same mindset on the matter. It's fascinating to play around with such ideas but being so deeply entrenched in it that you fall apart is downright laughable.

I'm guessing the fact that religions and the meaning of life questions were a lot bigger back then and people weren't as nihilistic as now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBRqu0YOH14

>>388431297
>These maxims made-up by OUR philosophy undermines the validity of YOUR philosophy!
I hate the French more than you could possibly imagine. That does not mean that continental philosophy is invalid.

>>388432714
>It's all arbitrary man! Maxims are just assertions!

have fun with the obscurantist nonsense fampai

>have about a first-grade understanding of philosophy as I have consumed little-to-no 'important' philosophical texts
>reason out most shit for myself
Are there any of those handy online quizzes to see which philosopher I would mesh the most with?

>>388410273
>>388422198
Portal 2 WAS announced with a small ARG, totally separate from the later 'Potato Fools Day' event that happened at its launch.

GLaDOS took over a fake BSOD at iirc Sony conference at E3 which included a code that lead to a series of webpages. They also updated Portal, changing the ending (Chell gets dragged away by the Party Escort Robot) and adding radios to nearly every level that, when taken to particular spots, played SSTV for screenshots of Portal 2. It was a pretty small ARG which was almost immediately fully solved.

Potato Fools Day was just a big marketing event for indie games on Steam, put on by Valve. they all added Portal/Potato-themed content and achievements and there was an external (totally bullshit) 'tracker' which tied the number of people getting those special achievements to ostensibly marginally quicker Portal 2 release (by a matter of hours at most, but even that was fake, no actual quicker release was possible).

>>388432786
I didn't imply anything of the sort. Don't put words in my mouth.

Searle gives no reason as to why he seems to believe in the maxims which he invokes at the beginning of that video. He just says them, then tells the listener that he doesn't like things that are hard to read or understand. Well, nobody does. The maxims are not some sort of rule of law because somebody 'important' said them at some point. If that were the case, should we not all still use the text of the Hammurabi Code as the premises for any and all current disputes? If not, why?

My original post in this thread was explicitly decrying the fact that people 'see everything as arbitrary'. If you care, I will explain to you my justifications for that and I will explain to you why continental philosophy is not invalid but, somehow, I don't believe that you actually care.

>>388430063
>Derrida got closer to an answer than any of the others have
Derrida did not get close to anything. His work is a pure SCAM. I honestly can't think of a single philosopher as brutally dishonest as he was.

Actually the answers were already pretty much given, by Saussure himself, and by pragmaticist philosophy a good while ago. It's just that people did not want to hear those answers because they were inconvenient.

>>388432714
>I hate the French more than you could possibly imagine
The two French philosophers I actually do value (Saussure and Sperber) seem to share that sentiment.

>>388411714
They have infinite universes to gather resources from. It's more efficient to just strike random ones when the opportunity happens, rather than spend resources to try and get back to Earth.

>>388433838
>Searle gives no reason as to why he seems to believe in the maxims which he invokes at the beginning of that video.
That is because those Maxims have already been made widely popular and accepted by Paul Grice who had also provided an EXTENSIVE argumentation in their favor. Searle just assumes that you are familiar with this argumentation, and that you probably accepted it as everybody else even remotely intellectually honest had. They are also really not nearly as arbitrary as they seem - not only they are rooted in most basic intuition about the purpose of communication, but they are also supported by extensive studies in the cognitive linguistics and evolutionary and social psychology.

>>388432902
Please respond. Somebody help me figure things out in the world. Or maybe I'm just tripping and want a stimulus to interact with