In all seriousness, this is a dire situation.

[Tastychainsaws]

If you don't like the show, don't watch it.

What, i never said i do not like it, on the contrary, i love it, it is one of the few machinimas i look forwards to. This is the exact reason i made this post, because i love the series, and i wanted to offer a bit of criticism for the safety of the series. Is it so bad that i wanted him to at least partially recognize the plot, seeing as he is going through the plot, i am not asking him to metagame, only to have Freeman recognize that that button he pressed, he didnt just randomly press it, he pressed it because he knew, from what others had said, that he needed to, he could make a joke or be angry about it, but he would at least recognize the point of what he is doing.

 

Edit: I actually had a positive rep before i created this, it went from 2 to -6, but is slowly recovering.

 

I still think it's because the plot hasn't be revealed to him in any way that makes it seem urgent or important. Give it time, it'll all come together.

[danielsangeo]

I didn't read the whole thread (just the first page) and here's my thoughts on the Gordon Freeman thing:

 

I like the idea of Gordon being a sort of "bumbling know-it-all". "Did somebody fix this?" "I just launched a missile!" and so on. It makes the eventual messiah-hood (the "One Free Man") of Gordon Freeman just that much funnier. They're all following someone who throws grenades at nitroglycerin boxes while thinking about Doritos ("Sometimes, I dream about nachos.").

[MakoVlazkov]

If you don't like the show, don't watch it.

What, i never said i do not like it, on the contrary, i love it, it is one of the few machinimas i look forwards to. This is the exact reason i made this post, because i love the series, and i wanted to offer a bit of criticism for the safety of the series. Is it so bad that i wanted him to at least partially recognize the plot, seeing as he is going through the plot, i am not asking him to metagame, only to have Freeman recognize that that button he pressed, he didnt just randomly press it, he pressed it because he knew, from what others had said, that he needed to, he could make a joke or be angry about it, but he would at least recognize the point of what he is doing.

 

Edit: I actually had a positive rep before i created this, it went from 2 to -6, but is slowly recovering.

 

I still think it's because the plot hasn't be revealed to him in any way that makes it seem urgent or important. Give it time, it'll all come together.

That's what I hope, I posted this out of fear that the trend would continue, as i feel it has gone on at this level for a bit too long, I want it to stay, but at a lower level.

[The Hamburglar]

I think it's pretty shitty you got your rep. lowered because your opinion wasn't to the status quo.

 

I, personally, can't wait for him to get his hands on the Gluon Gun.

[fergie3108]

Hi Mako!

 

I definitely respect your opinion on this subject, but mine differs. I feel that Freeman's subtle insanity is what makes this series so great. I also agree that Freeman has changed quite a bit since the beginning of the show. In my opinion, that change was brought about by Mr. Scott's very hectic schedule recently. With the Tunnel debacle, moving around, changing his staff, and the issues with the forums, I doubt he had very much time to put into his most recent FM's. I thought the most recent episode was his best in a while and that may be the product of extra time and ability to put more thought into his creations. I respect Ross as much as anyone, but even I realize that one man can not do it all by himself. The strain of other projects caused FM to decline in quality just a little bit, but still remain hilarious.

[MadDogBV]

I think it's pretty shitty you got your rep. lowered because your opinion wasn't to the status quo.

 

I, personally, can't wait for him to get his hands on the Gluon Gun.

 

I have a feeling he might ignore the Gluon Gun entirely. After all, there are a few weapons that he has skipped or not used since the series began (e.g. the revolver, and apart from one occasion, the grenade attachment on the MP5), and it's not necessary to pick up the Gluon Gun in order to finish the game.

[The Hamburglar]

I think it's pretty shitty you got your rep. lowered because your opinion wasn't to the status quo.

 

I, personally, can't wait for him to get his hands on the Gluon Gun.

 

I have a feeling he might ignore the Gluon Gun entirely. After all, there are a few weapons that he has skipped or not used since the series began (e.g. the revolver, and apart from one occasion, the grenade attachment on the MP5), and it's not necessary to pick up the Gluon Gun in order to finish the game.

I know, but it's a cool gun. I can see him picking it up, using it, commenting on how heavy it is, dropping it, and leaving.

[Alyxx Thorne]

I agree with Hamburglar. Ross Scott has said he aims to make the show realistic and you don't just imagine Freeman carrying a huge heavy gun all the time if he's just a scientist and not Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[Ross Scott]

I grow very tired of the attitude Ross seems to think appropriate for Gordon Freeman. In the beginning, the attitude was funny and fitting, but by the time the HECU Marines got involved, it was wearing thin. One thing I really liked about Half-Life over Half-Life 2 was the sense of seriousness and urgency, there was a dire need to do what must be done to save the world, and Gordon Freeman was the man to do it. As the series progressed, i expected Freeman to come to terms with what is happening and realize his central role in what is happening, and bloody man up. But still he persists with screaming in terror and crying about wanting to flee, steal, get high, and other nonsense. Dear god, Ross, this is Gordon Freeman, he isn't Duke Nukem, you once explained your view of Freeman, and it seemed agreeable, but that is not what you are representing, he is still a jumpy and delusional jokester as the situation rapidly becomes an urgent battle for the continuance of the human race, for the survival of Earth, meanwhile Gordon, the central protagonist, contemplates getting high on animal tranquilizers...

I haven't read through this whole thread, so I apologize if this is repeating something. While I'm adding a lot of color to it, the thoughts regarding the overall plot of the series / game pretty much represent my own when I first played the game. While you can wax intellectual about what's actually happening because of some slipped hint in an interview with a Valve employee or something, at FACE VALUE the game explains almost nothing to you. You're involved in some science experiment, something goes wrong. Aliens start teleporting in. You try to escape. You can't escape. Scientists goad you into teleporting into another world. You fight more monsters, unclear towards what end. Every character knows more about what's going on than you do. Your character never says anything. From what I remember there was no indicator you were actually saving the world or just fighting more random aliens. To add insult to injury, for HL2 you obviously DIDN'T save the world, so I'm not sure what was so dire that was within Freeman's control anyway. The game has an unprecedented level of wiggle room here and I'm basically exploiting that. A theme you'll get from FM and even moreso from CP is that the perspective you're supposed to assume may not be the correct one, there's simply not enough evidence given. The presented storyline of the games is so nebulous that if these events were really so self-explanatory I'd never be able to get away with assigning all these extra traits to Freeman. I know I personally would just get the hell out of there in that situation, but the game won't let me.

 

To me, the game really doesn't make it clear that Freeman is some grand hero. The level design leads you around like a sheep from one event to the next that you have to complete in order to proceed. Freeman doesn't save any of the scientists dying around him, you can even MURDER OTHER CIVILIANS and get away with it scot-free and yet he's still the "hero." In my eyes, what's notable about Gordon is not his deeds, but that he's just a seemingly ordinary scientist that WILL NOT DIE despite all odds that he should.

[MakoVlazkov]

I don't want him to be a grand hero, but when you had several people tell you, or at least try to tell you, exactly why you had to go launch a rocket, and then you go and launch the rocket, but completely oblivious to what was said and what the point was, and freak out... I'm not expecting him to be an action hero, but to at least know a portion of what he is doing, from what little dialogue there is.

Half-Life does shuttle you around like a sheep, throughout the plot, from one plot device to another; I'd think that an intelligent person like Gordon wouldn't just ramble forward with no goal other than escape without actually learning the means of escape or the depth of the situation.

[Ross Scott]

When I first played the game, I remember being surprised I was launching a rocket or wondering WHY I was launching a rocket. Having played it again for FM, I STILL don't know why it's being launched. My memory's faulty since I started this a while back, but all I remember is one guard mentioning a rocket being necessary for the scientists via hearsay. As for his motives, that's my interpretation yours is clearly different. I'm not as intelligent as Freeman is implied to be, but if aliens were teleporting around me and soldiers were shooting at me, I wouldn't be terribly concerned with long-term ramifications of events taking place there. I'd be more concerned with just staying alive for the next hour. It depends on personal motives. Look at it this way:

 

Option 1: Risk your life unnecessarily, perhaps die within the next 24 hours, but have a chance of saving all of humanity.

 

Option 2: Minimize risk, leave everyone to their fate, survive probably for weeks, months, years, even in a worst-case scenario provided you can escape.

 

 

Both are valid options an intelligent person could make, but motives make a huge difference.

[Kyronea]

Edit: I actually had a positive rep before i created this, it went from 2 to -6, but is slowly recovering.

It's been recovering because I've been intentionally giving you positive rep on every post to try to counter the undeserved negative rep.

[Alyxx Thorne]

When I first played the game, I remember being surprised I was launching a rocket or wondering WHY I was launching a rocket. Having played it again for FM, I STILL don't know why it's being launched. My memory's faulty since I started this a while back, but all I remember is one guard mentioning a rocket being necessary for the scientists via hearsay. As for his motives, that's my interpretation yours is clearly different. I'm not as intelligent as Freeman is implied to be, but if aliens were teleporting around me and soldiers were shooting at me, I wouldn't be terribly concerned with long-term ramifications of events taking place there. I'd be more concerned with just staying alive for the next hour. It depends on personal motives. Look at it this way:

 

Option 1: Risk your life unnecessarily, perhaps die within the next 24 hours, but have a chance of saving all of humanity.

 

Option 2: Minimize risk, leave everyone to their fate, survive probably for weeks, months, years, even in a worst-case scenario provided you can escape.

 

 

Both are valid options an intelligent person could make, but motives make a huge difference.

When I first played the game I just did what it seemed like I should be doing. Pressing that button to launch the rocket just seemed logical, but I was never sure why it needed to be launched.

[Serva]

I think anybody who has actually been in a real life emergency crisis, especially one that lasts for as long as this black mesa alien invasion, they can all talk about how difficult it is to think clearly when your life is on the line. Everything is moving quickly, you have no instruction, no direction, and no clue what to do to get out of it. You can die any moment, and now you're being told some complicated instruction such as making your way to a control panel to launch a satellite delivery rocket in order to do something you have no clue of, which really isn't going to stick with you too well.

 

Granted, this incarnation of Gordon Freeman isn't completely panicked, but not everybody reacts the same to emergencies.

 

Ultimately though, I find all this beside the point. The series is entertainment. I enjoy it. I wasn't watching it for the thrill of witnessing a hero in action, I could have just played the game myself. I'm watching it because it makes me laugh. Watching someone who is normally of an oblivious nature go through this emergency is much more fun than watching someone who is a little more calm and is able to keep track of every word that every random security guard may tell you. I don't really care for realism, that failed the moment aliens started teleporting in randomly.

 

Edit: I actually had a positive rep before i created this, it went from 2 to -6, but is slowly recovering.

It's been recovering because I've been intentionally giving you positive rep on every post to try to counter the undeserved negative rep.

 

I started positive repping too.

 

I think it's dumb that people would give negative rep just because it's an opinion that they don't agree with. I can tell by the spelling and grammar, Mako isn't a stupid person, nor is he annoying, or trolling.

 

Rep system gets used in stupid ways sometimes.

[Bjossi]

Iirc the security guard you meet as you enter the On a Rail chapter explains the part about the rocket, at least to some degree. He calls it a satellite delivery rocket.

[Pinkie Pie]

Mako, if you're still talking about it being unrealistic for Freeman to push buttons randomly, your still not getting Freeman's character, even after Ross explained it. He may be intelligent, but look at what he's done during the series. As Ross just said, he's only concerned with escaping. He ignored everybody, so obviously he doesn't know what the rocket is. He doesn't care about the other people so option 2 would be the obvious one Freeman would pick. "I don't want to die! I want other people to die FOR me." Even after the explaination, if you're still talking about how unrealistic it is for him to push the rocket button, maybe you should take a look at the series as a whole and take a look at Freeman's personality more. If you want him to at least know a portion of what he's doing, that ship has basically sailed until probably later in the series where it's going to be demanded of him to know what he's doing. Probably right before Xen until the end of the game.

[danielsangeo]

Ross Scott: The missile has an in-universe explanation. The Resonance Cascade opened up a spacetime rip or dimensional rip or something like that, allowing aliens from Xen, the borderworld, to teleport in.

 

The storyline states that launching the missile will send a satellite into orbit that will close the dimensional rip. It probably does, but you end up going to Xen and destroying Nihilanth, freeing the Vortigaunts from bondage and unleashing random "portal storms" on Earth, alerting the Combine of our presence, and allowing them to take over the world. Then, two humans, Mike and Dave join Civil Protection....

[Kyronea]

Incidentally, if it helps, they do something almost identical in Half-Life II: Episode II, at the end...I think they even mention in the dialog that it's being done for the same reasons.

[Descriptor]

Incidentally, if it helps, they do something almost identical in Half-Life II: Episode II, at the end...I think they even mention in the dialog that it's being done for the same reasons.

Furthermore, I'm pretty sure that the satellite from the first game was also used then as well, too...

Because they mention the previously established satellite network.

 

As for reactions in game, I kinda felt the way Freeman did when I played through.

As in, just following aloung the rail pressing buttons for no reason.

I really had no idea what was going on, either...

[frozt]

Those who wish to discuss episode 10.5, please do so in the respective thread: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=540

I can feel we are getting a bit off topic here.

i agree

also, did you consider that ITS FICTIONAL, its more realistic than him being total badass even though he is a MIT graduate (as someone mentioned)

and +rep 2 alyxx 4 being awesome

 

edit: anyway, the guy that started this has negativee rep, so we can all ignore him, with reason

oh you are just the worst kind of person, "He has negative repuation, so his opinion isn't important." This is why I hate the Rep system, it should be used to let people know when they're being assholes, but it's just a popularity contest.

 

"Plus Rep to Alyxx for being awesome." While I like Alyxx, you're only upvoting her because you think she's awesome? That's a bit stupid.

 

And I love how Negative Rep is an excuse to just ignore someone.

 

not what i meant, i think that if choose to ignore someone then you should give them negative rep, to thus illustrate the point

 

also i think alyxx is awesome BECAUSE i agree with her posts (mostly), which is a reason to give rep, in fact its the reason the rep system exists, to see who makes the most points or is valid in arguments. But i understand the misunterstanding, it was badly worded