Carbon stars with ancient satellites 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.
This is the reason why Black Mesa Xen made no sense to me. Its supposed to be a wasteland where dimensions clash and thus only the toughest extremophiles of each dimension could survive its conditions. It wasn't supposed to be full of life.
You're generally right but I think they do a better job of it with the second half in the Nihilanth's tower and just how much a shithole it is but by then it gets pretty reptitive. I appreciate the effort that was put into reworking the entire section but it's more like something outta Avatar than Half-Life. Alyx did it pretty well where all the Xen stuff is just gross, nasty fricked up growths and shit.
There's a few places in our own planet where only a handful of extremophiles can survive, and all those places have consistent gravity and oxygen levels. Xen is a place where different dimensions, all with different properties, collide. And is not even a round planet, but a set of floating islands. Just like in our own extreme places, the fauna on Xen should be minimum, like it was in the original half-life 1, and not teeming with life, because the conditions are extreme, and so it only make sense only a handful of species can survive such harsh conditions. Take the southern pole for example, its inner part, do you see it teeming with life? No, only microscopic fauna make it there.
The idea of that ending was to show that no matter how much humanity tries to understand and dominate everything (in this case the aliens of xen) there will always be something out of our understanding. Of course, the idiots came out making stupid theories anyway and they had to invent the bullshit of the combine ruining such a good ending.
>The idea of that ending was to show that no matter how much humanity tries to understand and dominate everything there will always be something out of our understanding.
No it wasn't.
What I'm confused about is he, right in the middle of his monologue teleporting you into this map where HECU soldiers are dead inside Xen. Was it supposed to be an illusion from GMan or did the HECU really venture inside Xen?
As much as I like HL2, I kinda wish HL2 to be stuff about the adventure of Gordon hopping through interdimensions, doing errands for Gman like the HL1 ending teases.
I think it was intended to be a different scenario each game, hence the ending of HL2 being gordon getting put in the freezer again. Then the episodes threw that in the bin by just outright retconning HL2s ending.
Supposedly Episode 3 was made to end HL2 saga and for Valve to go with a different theme again in HL3 but alas, it was cancelled. By what happened in Alyx, HL3 will take place right after it, hence it might as well be HL2.5 considering we're dealing with the Combine front and center again.
its 4d
Ligma
What's updog
Joe mama
it's just a trippy skybox OP, don't try to make sense of it, it's fine.
Carbon stars with ancient satellites 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.
Go on.
Go to bed, Marc.
was it autism?
Xen's a pretty big place. It's the dump of universes where things that don't belong end up there.
This is the reason why Black Mesa Xen made no sense to me. Its supposed to be a wasteland where dimensions clash and thus only the toughest extremophiles of each dimension could survive its conditions. It wasn't supposed to be full of life.
You're generally right but I think they do a better job of it with the second half in the Nihilanth's tower and just how much a shithole it is but by then it gets pretty reptitive. I appreciate the effort that was put into reworking the entire section but it's more like something outta Avatar than Half-Life. Alyx did it pretty well where all the Xen stuff is just gross, nasty fricked up growths and shit.
Why wouldn't it be? It would just have to be really tough life.
There's a few places in our own planet where only a handful of extremophiles can survive, and all those places have consistent gravity and oxygen levels. Xen is a place where different dimensions, all with different properties, collide. And is not even a round planet, but a set of floating islands. Just like in our own extreme places, the fauna on Xen should be minimum, like it was in the original half-life 1, and not teeming with life, because the conditions are extreme, and so it only make sense only a handful of species can survive such harsh conditions. Take the southern pole for example, its inner part, do you see it teeming with life? No, only microscopic fauna make it there.
It just looks cool.
>tfw I still remember G-man's monologue decades after
Wisely done, Mr. Freeman.
The idea of that ending was to show that no matter how much humanity tries to understand and dominate everything (in this case the aliens of xen) there will always be something out of our understanding. Of course, the idiots came out making stupid theories anyway and they had to invent the bullshit of the combine ruining such a good ending.
>The idea of that ending was to show that no matter how much humanity tries to understand and dominate everything there will always be something out of our understanding.
No it wasn't.
Yes, it was
No it wasn't.
What I'm confused about is he, right in the middle of his monologue teleporting you into this map where HECU soldiers are dead inside Xen. Was it supposed to be an illusion from GMan or did the HECU really venture inside Xen?
I read somewhere that it was supposed to be earth but goldsrc couldn't change the skybox
Yeah. That figures, the map has its typical desert ground texture after all. It's just weird how the skybox is Xen-ish.
I think I recall laidlaw saying the HECU soldiers dead in xen was a skybox bug and it was actually a scene from blackmesa.
As much as I like HL2, I kinda wish HL2 to be stuff about the adventure of Gordon hopping through interdimensions, doing errands for Gman like the HL1 ending teases.
I think it was intended to be a different scenario each game, hence the ending of HL2 being gordon getting put in the freezer again. Then the episodes threw that in the bin by just outright retconning HL2s ending.
Supposedly Episode 3 was made to end HL2 saga and for Valve to go with a different theme again in HL3 but alas, it was cancelled. By what happened in Alyx, HL3 will take place right after it, hence it might as well be HL2.5 considering we're dealing with the Combine front and center again.
If you want to understand ze meaning of that background you need to play trough Psychonauts 1 & 2.