Jesus Christ, massive respect for going through the entire chapter again to find the lore dump vortigaunt and actually getting something out of the dialogue, not just tossing it aside as vaguely meaningful words. I love your insight and these little theorycrafting moments haha
@renedahse6861 he appears to be very graceful and elegant, but upon closer inspection reveals himself hostile and ferocious, waiting for a chance to strike down his natural enemy
You will love the next two chapters. Such a great new toy to play with. Also, I wanna say, seeing the loading screen only takes 1-3 seconds is so weird to me. I remember playing Half-Life 2 back when it came out and my poor PC was struggling to load each map, so much so that I could go for quick bathroom break and it would still not be done loading. It's been about 2 decades and somehow I still remember that as if that was yesterday.
Love the way you play through games, really paying attention and noticing recurring elements and such. I just binged your Half-Life series and enjoyed it very much, very excited to be in time to watch along.
He killed hundreds of marines and aliens, launched a rocket, made his way across Black Mesa and went in an alien dimension to kill the leader of an army. And also *fought his way out of Black Mesa with nothing but a crowbar* as some say. He's sure someone I'd trust with my own life and look up to.
Dude I already cannot wait for your next episode, you just get half-life in a way nobody else I've seen does. And already I can't wait for you to play episodes 1 and 2. And once you've done that, you should play the Black Mesa remake of HL1, which you will definitely also appreciate more after having played the original and these sequels. You must become one with us, the Half-Life fanbase hivemind. Join. Joooooin.
Fun fact: there are theories that the boss of the first game (Nihilanth) is the sole survivor as it's race got exterminated by the combine, further more... Combine architecture matches the style of that metal on the lower half of the Nihilanth. Edit: nvm it's not a theory it's pretty much confirmed by the end of this video😅
Judging by the abdomen arm, the Nihilant, the Controllers, the Alien Grunts and the Vortigaunts are part of the same species divided into castes. My guess is that Nihilant was part of the ones in the top with free will, enslaved by the Company. He probably ran off and hid into Xen with part of his species, until saw Earth as a perfect place to settle down. The alien grunts look like they were produced in their factories while the controllers are like an extension of the Nihilant
It's such a pleasure to see your gameplay, especially when you theorize, and dig up ideas I never thought of. The time theory of the vortegaunts was an amazing observation, which even makes sense. I just figured them to be a hive mind, and that hive mind messed with their sense of time because their memory is all intertwined with other's.
2 дні тому
Hive mind is further confirmed in HL: Alyx - what they refer to as "The Vortesence" and what they mean by "we are coterminous"
Glad you had fun with this chapter, but it's a shame you felt it began to drag on. I've really never felt that way myself, and it's actually easily one of my favorite chapters in the game. I'm admittedly a huge sucker for first-person vehicles though, and don't suffer from any kind of motion sickness. The whole chapter has always reminded me of those snowmobile racing games I would play in arcades when I was younger that had simulation snowmobiles you'd sit on and that would rock back and forth as you'd bank around in the game. Good times. I also honestly love how floaty the airboat's handling is because it makes small jumps and even minor bumps feel like wild stunts despite the fact that the thing actually doesn't go very fast at all. And thanks for taking the time to play through the chapter pretty thoroughly and notice some things that can be rather easy to miss. Still lots of stuff to look forward to ahead! Cheers!
I'm glad that you're enjoying the lore of the franchise. Tbh, I've always been more engrossed by the lore and atmosphere of the world than the actual gameplay. Same with the portal series. That's not to say the gameplay is lackluster or anything. I just love the world.
#1: I was really looking forward to this episode coming out. I'm now caught up with all your Half Life series and watching in real time #2: I think Water Hazard is the weakest chapter in the game for exactly the reasons you described. It's still really good. The spot where you have to balance the boat across the tops of some partially submerged, partially gapped concrete pipes while taking chopper fire is maybe the single biggest grief point in the Half Life family of games. #3: The Magnum is extremely fun and satisfying to use. Because you can only carry a small amount of Magnum ammo your brain will tell you to hoard it like a scarce resource. But getting to a new box of Magnum rounds before using the ones you already have always feels like a wasted opportunity. So you might as well let it fly as soon as you get them. It's usually right before a cool shootout anyway. There are no spots where you will be punished for being out of magnum rounds. Only spots where you are sad for having too many already on hand.
High five from the UK regarding the Thai Sweet Chicken crisps (chips), you have chosen wisely. I abolsutely adore Half Life 2, I've played it through three or four times now, it was what got me back into gaming in a big way when it came out.
Note: below isn't a spoiler, as the game never actually tells you how it works, it's stuff fans have pieced together. Vortigaunts have what's best described as a kind of 'collective memory' they can choose to tap into, that exists outside of time. Like human memory, it can have blind spots and isn't perfect, but they can reach out and 'remember' things that didn't happen to that specific Vort.
A tip for combating headcrab zombies: The crowbar is not just good for headcrabs, but also the zombies, you just gotta know how to _tango_ with them 😉 Also, 9:17, funny you should say that, because after you leave with the airboat, if you were to return to her after reaching the next checkpoint, you'd find her dead with a headcrab running around
This is definitely the biggest secret in the game, beyond this it's mainly just G-man appearances and small easter eggs. I hope you will continue to listen to every one of Dr. Breen's speeches throughout the game, they are very interesting
The vehicle feeling "weightless" was done right in Descent (were you are ironically literally weightless in the sence of flying all time), there your motion has inertia behind it. This however makes it unplayable with a mouse and all the Zoomers hate it. In fact Descent should generally get more atention. After all it had a fully 3D Engine a few months before Quake.
Never thought I would hear of descent here hahaha. I kind of loved it, even if it may have missed something to be remembered widely. The sense of the 3rd dimension there was incredible. I remember also triying myself at building maps for descent and it was pretty epic.
Remember folks, keep your comments as vague as possible, if it's a detail about the game, that he hasn't experienced yet, that isn't as simple as a game mechanic, like the forementioned zoom, keep it to yourselves, let him discover new details of the world by himself, let him theorise. Just like we did when we first played these games! Obviously nothing wrong to say, to keep an eye out in the next chapters, if there's mysterious or interesting things coming up, but do not go beyond that in your explanations ^^" Trust me, I know the urge, but we'll all have time to discuss when he finishes on the final vid!
Valve have always said that Gordon Freeman is meant to be an outlet for the player, so his personality comes down to the player. Although the community has come to terms that Gordon has the worst case of the 1st day at work in history. He is tired, traumatized, depressed and gone mute after the incident, and now has an entire human resistance putting faith on Gordon to save the planet.
I didn't know it when I played Half Life 2 all that time ago, but watching it now, I realized that the Vortigaunt is voiced by Louis Gossett Jr (who passed away last year). What a legend.
Liking this playthrough so far. I personally did not find water hazard too long on my first playthrough - but maybe thats just because I was young and had no obligations except school and not a lot of money to buy videogames. So there basically did not exist such a thing as a too long videogame.
those flying things the combine uses are called synths they scan a living animal and grow a version of it in vats and add metal bits to it. this isn't ever explained in the game, it's something written in the game's booklet guide
If you backtrack to the woman who gives you the airboat, she's apparently been killed by a new headcrab variant. Kind of wild to think these rebels gave Gordon their only means of escape while they were being attacked.
not much to add or note as water hazard is basically straightforward. most of its open areas are just filed with scattered supplies so unless you really need them, you can just skip them. It's also nice that the game actually tells you now that there are alt fires for the weapon. makes things easier later on as it seems you tend to forget the weapons have alt fires since hl1 XD What's nice with this game is that, they slowly give you the weapons so that you can feel and experiment on it. you already got 2 episodes in, and only saw a pistol, magnum, smg, and a grenade. each one having incredibly long gaps in between. That said, note that compared to HL1, the ammo cap in this game is smaller (i.e smg in hl1 is 50/250 with alt 10, whereas here, you got 45/225 alt 3, magnum was 6/30 but now 6/18)
here's a thought: what if the aliens were only acting in self-defence and confusion? think about it from their POV; randomly sent to a strange new location with strange creatures running around making noise; you'd feel threatened, wouldn't you?
The secret vortigaunt just says every possible "random dialogue" you can get from different vortigaunt NPCs throughout the game when you press E on them. e.g. the Vortigaunt that mounted the gun to your airboat would say a subset of the sentences you heard in the secret cave, if you press E. Another vortigaunt in another section of the game would say another subset of the random responses. i think only the 4th wall break ones are reserved to the easteregg vortigaunt.
Fun fact! The airboat was created out of spite! It was originally supposed to be a Jetski, which would have had ramps and you would have to do Tony Hawk like tricks to get ahead of the combine! It wasn’t testing well, and the Jetski was hard to get working, The guy in charge of the Jetski (unfortunately I forget his name, he mentions it in the HL2 official documentary, highly recommend as it’s free on UA-cam, watch once you finish Half Life 2 and the episodes! As it contains heavy spoilers) , he just kinda quit, and threw together the airboat quickly, and that’s what stuck!
Re. doing "Water Hazard" without the airboat: it is technically (almost) possible, but because the sludge kills you, you need speedrun tech. And in fact, you may only be able to *almost* do it without the airboat -- you stil mayl need it for a couple trigger-skip glitches; but there is other speedrun tech you can use to get the boat again at those spots, even if you leave it behind. There have been several GDQ runs of the game over the years. I don't have a particular one to recommend, but definitely check one or two of them out once you're through. Maybe finish the episodes first as well in case there are offhand spoiler comments tossed out? Also, 1:10:00 re all the bombs in the hunter chopper -- fun fact, that was a bug they had in development, but were then like "... actually this is awesome, let's leave it in". I'm so glad they did, it's hilarious and fun.
Technically you can do the whole thing completely boatless, but the one tricky part is the camp where you get the gun In a speedrun you can: use Yesclip to pass through that base - however this requires setting up Yesclip with the airboat in an earlier map Or you can save delete and get the airboat at the start of the map, get through the first gate, and exit from the boat in such a way that you phase through the second gate Or you can do a very annoying and tricky prop clip to do it completely without the boat, but i think that's *slower* than just regularly playing the level
And he found the singing vortigaunt! Today feels like a good day to game! This game series brings me nostalgia, as a longtimer of Half Life. Knowing all of the secrets. 👌😆😎
Overwatch voice does say a lot of interesting stuff like you mentioned but it's a lot of police radio codes which are hard to hear and understand in the moment. I had to find a separate video upload that explained what they all meant. Fun trivia about it though- it's the same voice actress as Glados from Portal
Im just 17:48 minutes in but i just wanted to say, youre definitely my favorite blind playthrough youtuber now, thanks for actually caring about the game
1:13:44 actually there's a room in Surface Tension. If I'm not mistaken, you didn't go in it. It had an insane supply of stuff. It was after the warehouse with all the tripmines. The next building you enter after fighting the tank. Could only be accessed if you saved the guard after picking up the hivehand (bee gun).
You mentioned the actual body they used for one of the corpses, (Coincidentally while next to the exact body you were talking about) Just to clear up, the body is a real photo, but Gabe Newell just didn’t photograph some dead guy he saw when on his way to work, The body is a licenced photo taken from a medical study, The body was from a person who donated their body to science, who died of natural causes, They had burned the body to study how human flesh burns, how it peels ect, So it is of a real photo, a real body, But the person was just used in an experiment after they died, I imagine after taking out organs if they where needed or whatever
As other people have said, you should pay close attention to the props in the next chapter, you get some insight around other characters pre Gordon arriving!
1:35:00 actually a few of them appear, but this one has the most dialogue and is the easiest to find, the vort that gives you the airboat gun also uses some of the same dialogue
It's not possible to get through this chapter without the airboat due to the occasional ramp and long areas of radioactive waste. Regarding the "weightless" feel of the airboat, apparently the devs adjusted its physics/handling because it wasn't fun to maneuver. This game "flows" really well, all-in-all, so I think the flowy feel of the airboat works really well. Impossible physics abound in HL2 anyway (e.g. Gordon effortlessly dragging big barrels of air deep underwater). When you finish the game, you might enjoy the documentary Valve released in late 2024 about the making of HL2. It's on their YT channel. I especially liked learning about the face models. Regarding the meaning of the Vortigaunt statements, you ask if it's about G-Man, the 4th wall, or some deeper meaning (the deeper meaning being: the interconnectedness of all things). Why not "and" instead of "or?" Besides, Vortigaunts exist and communicate beyond linear time, so it seems likely to me that their perspective is always an "and."
Random tidbit- it's sort of an exploit, but in the source engine, you can fall into water at any height and not take fall damage, even if the water is ankle deep.
Seems like a feature rather than a bug, even though it doesn't make sense. Cuz it was also a thing in Half-Life 1, and in that game they used it very deliberately, like in the Nihilanth fight the only reason you can survive the jump pads is because there's a little bit of water covering the floor.
Good job on this episode. In case you come up in front of Vortigaunt try talking to them. A little heads up: most of them share voicelines. Also, do keep in mind that every enemy in this game is killable. There maybe some times where enemies are endless, so try guessing when that happens and don't waste your ammo. Plus, remember to save often. You don't wanna end up in an unfortunate scenario, do you?
In the future don't let comments ruin your enjoyment with regards to secret hunting. You mentioned thinking the chapter dragged on a bit so I can't imagine playing it again was super fun lol
It's never explicitly stated, but the game is actually set in Sofia, Bulgaria. People figured it out based off the architecture and it's confirmed by a map on a wall in Half Life Alyx.
1:31:49 I think they are individuals but individuals always in contact accros time and space. So they are a kind of council, hence the “we” and no names
I can see why a third game has never been made, Half-Life 2 really changed things but any new game would pail in comparison, unless it could somehow bring something entirely new to gaming. The only thing I could think of that Valve could try, is a game with AI built into it, that would make NPC's and the setting to feel more real. Plus new mechanics that would give the player more freedom. I just don't see that as being possible yet though, maybe in ten years but not right now.
Please don't give them ideas. An AI with all its training based on "the best tactics for conquering and oppressing humanity" huh? Do you WANT Skynets? Because that is how you get Skynets ;)
HL3 is being made right now. It's been in development since at least 2021 under the codename HLX. Now it's reached the point of going through external playtests (employees' friends and family), so it very likely won't get cancelled, and will probably be announced this year and released late 2025 or early 2026. Leaks seem to show that they're trying to innovate physics even further than what most games have today.
@@vibaj16 I don't believe the rumors and Reddit posts about Half Life 3. Gabe has been pretty clear that they would only do a third game if they could do something very revolutionary. It's just people wanting it to be true, and I doubt anyone from Valve would risk their job by leaking info. Working at Valve is one of those dream jobs, and nobody would risk losing that.
@@NnT042 There are mods for Skyrim that has the use of AI, I think it's ChatGPT. Pretty silly stuff mainly but it exists. If it were developed a bit that could make a really interesting game. I'm sure it wouldn't lead to Skynet, at least not a dangerous form of SKynet.
Hard Mode in this is game is effectively the same bit as the first game except it just kinda further nerfs the player by making every weapon you have deal way less damage. You don't feel with Metrocops yet, they're the weakest (and most human) variant, their tactics aren't great. There are 2 more variants of Combine Infantry where you will feel the hard mode difference. --- Note the passage of time as you make your way through the canals. I like this incredible detail. --- As implied, the Vortessence is some ever-present force or entity within all living things, it's just that most species aren't evolved enough or at least couldn't interact with it like the Vortiguants could. Also noting that when they say the "Vortal Cords you've cut" they also mean all the humans you killed in the previous game. The Vorts never spoke English in the first game, how do you think they learned English? Well... you'll get an explanation a few chapters later-it's weirdly funny. --- In terms of enemy variety, yeah that was one of biggest criticisms of this game, it has a way smaller roster compared to Half-life 1. Though, you have to put it into consideration that a lot of Half-life 1's enemy types are tailor-made for their environment that you play on. The design was more videogame-y in where an enemy is specifically placed somewhere for the sake of level flow in design. Half-life 2's approach is broader. Since this one has an emphasis on story telling, the locations are less videogame-y and feel more natural to traverse. This isn't to say there isn't any level design though, it's designed enough to guide you around to provide a certain challenge.
Yeah, suit power isn't great in this game. They eventually fix it in the episodes. There is also MMod which fixes the issue and has separate power sources for the flashlight and everything else.
15:00 yup. it was actually the one you were looking at as you were saying that. kinda wish valve wouldnt have left that in the game. another interesting thing about it is that it has beta citizen clothing on. theyre literally beta models. they probably werent switch for new ones due to the game being very rushed near the end of its development.
It seems Valve agreed with you that the hidden Vortigaunt's exposition was too well hidden, because when they released Half Life 2: Episode 2 and added revamped high-tech Vortigaunt textures and animations to Half Life 2 and its episodes they also gave all Vortigaunts throughout the games a small chance to say the hidden Vort's lines when you speak to them. You might come across one as you play through.
I don't think it's chance. If you talk to the vortigaunt who puts the gun on the airboat after he's done it, it'll say the same series of lines, and so will the one who hangs out with Colonel Cubbage after the gunship fight, though you have to put up with Cubbage talking over him as he just repeats his lines endlessly.
the hunter chopper that follows you is the same one^^ (they're not called "gunships" in this game. gunships are the one's yo usaw at the start, the smol long one's)
regarding the ending, you should check out the Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary Documentary from Valve from 2 months ago (maybe react to it) after you finish all episodes ^^
3:20 they.where meant to return alongside an aquatic variant and the houndeyes where a lot skinnier, sadly the only aliens from the first game to return are the vorts, crabs, barnacles, and spoilers Leeches
The Combine uses a lot of biologic lifeforms from other planets and give them synthetic enhancements, that's why dropships and other things look a bit biological or animals. Combine soldiers were once human, Metrocops on the other hand they're just humans who joined the Combine in exchange of better living conditions, that's why citizens don't like them as they see them as traitors of the resistance. Missed GMan at 1:13:14 in the distance. A funny thing with the chopper, that thing were it just drops a million bombs?, it was a bug that showed up when they were doing tests but they kept that because it was fun lol. The Vorts don't really have names but I think there's at least one later on with a name, the reason they use "the" for everyone is because humans call them "the Vorts", so to the Vorts, everyone is "the". So you have "the Freeman", "the Eli Vance", and so on. Those 4th wall breaks were about GMan and how he's pretty much everywhere.
I would consider that first part a minor spoiler, most people realizes this eventually when they kill their first Gunship or when fighthing the Striders
Jesus Christ, massive respect for going through the entire chapter again to find the lore dump vortigaunt and actually getting something out of the dialogue, not just tossing it aside as vaguely meaningful words.
I love your insight and these little theorycrafting moments haha
"you just get to see him walking around in the wild" he talkin bout G-Man like he's an animal on national geographic lol
And here we see G-Man, in his natural habitat, staring ominously at Gordon Freeman from a distance.
@renedahse6861 he appears to be very graceful and elegant, but upon closer inspection reveals himself hostile and ferocious, waiting for a chance to strike down his natural enemy
I think you were the perfect player to find the vortigaunt of mystery and spookiness.
As the great vortigaunt poet once said: *GALLUM GALLA GILLA MAH*
I find it hilarious that UA-cam offers me to translate your comment into English 😂
GULLUNGA
You will love the next two chapters. Such a great new toy to play with.
Also, I wanna say, seeing the loading screen only takes 1-3 seconds is so weird to me. I remember playing Half-Life 2 back when it came out and my poor PC was struggling to load each map, so much so that I could go for quick bathroom break and it would still not be done loading. It's been about 2 decades and somehow I still remember that as if that was yesterday.
"Well, no one thought the Airboat section was too long." - David Spreyrer (Valve Dev).
So many great quotes and stories from this video
You can hear the laugh in the commentary when he says that, too. 😂
Love the way you play through games, really paying attention and noticing recurring elements and such. I just binged your Half-Life series and enjoyed it very much, very excited to be in time to watch along.
The reason Freeman has such a rep is because, most of the survivors of the Black mesa incident are his closest friends
Also the vortigaunts probably told everyone about how he freed them from the Nihilanth
He killed hundreds of marines and aliens, launched a rocket, made his way across Black Mesa and went in an alien dimension to kill the leader of an army. And also *fought his way out of Black Mesa with nothing but a crowbar* as some say. He's sure someone I'd trust with my own life and look up to.
On top of that, even the big bad is one of them, and knows Freeman is a menace
1:10:51 This man just got one of the most cinematic ends to a boss figth ever
Dude I already cannot wait for your next episode, you just get half-life in a way nobody else I've seen does. And already I can't wait for you to play episodes 1 and 2. And once you've done that, you should play the Black Mesa remake of HL1, which you will definitely also appreciate more after having played the original and these sequels. You must become one with us, the Half-Life fanbase hivemind. Join. Joooooin.
Fun fact: there are theories that the boss of the first game (Nihilanth) is the sole survivor as it's race got exterminated by the combine, further more...
Combine architecture matches the style of that metal on the lower half of the Nihilanth.
Edit: nvm it's not a theory it's pretty much confirmed by the end of this video😅
Judging by the abdomen arm, the Nihilant, the Controllers, the Alien Grunts and the Vortigaunts are part of the same species divided into castes. My guess is that Nihilant was part of the ones in the top with free will, enslaved by the Company. He probably ran off and hid into Xen with part of his species, until saw Earth as a perfect place to settle down. The alien grunts look like they were produced in their factories while the controllers are like an extension of the Nihilant
Chip intermission went hard af
"worst game ever made! they can throw shit at you, but you can throw shit back!"
ahaha, just wait
It's such a pleasure to see your gameplay, especially when you theorize, and dig up ideas I never thought of.
The time theory of the vortegaunts was an amazing observation, which even makes sense.
I just figured them to be a hive mind, and that hive mind messed with their sense of time because their memory is all intertwined with other's.
Hive mind is further confirmed in HL: Alyx - what they refer to as "The Vortesence" and what they mean by "we are coterminous"
After next episode you will never have problems with manhacs again.
Glad you had fun with this chapter, but it's a shame you felt it began to drag on. I've really never felt that way myself, and it's actually easily one of my favorite chapters in the game. I'm admittedly a huge sucker for first-person vehicles though, and don't suffer from any kind of motion sickness.
The whole chapter has always reminded me of those snowmobile racing games I would play in arcades when I was younger that had simulation snowmobiles you'd sit on and that would rock back and forth as you'd bank around in the game. Good times. I also honestly love how floaty the airboat's handling is because it makes small jumps and even minor bumps feel like wild stunts despite the fact that the thing actually doesn't go very fast at all.
And thanks for taking the time to play through the chapter pretty thoroughly and notice some things that can be rather easy to miss. Still lots of stuff to look forward to ahead! Cheers!
Dude I laugh out loud multiple times on each one of these! (and love your commentary and theorizing!)
It gives me so much esthetic pleasure to see how new people get to know this universe, this story, for the very first time. Happy for you, mate.
I'm glad that you're enjoying the lore of the franchise.
Tbh, I've always been more engrossed by the lore and atmosphere of the world than the actual gameplay. Same with the portal series.
That's not to say the gameplay is lackluster or anything. I just love the world.
Dude, McCoy's thai chips are the bomb. I totally agree.
CANT WAIT FOR THE NEXT EP !!! LOVING THIS SERIES
#1: I was really looking forward to this episode coming out. I'm now caught up with all your Half Life series and watching in real time
#2: I think Water Hazard is the weakest chapter in the game for exactly the reasons you described. It's still really good. The spot where you have to balance the boat across the tops of some partially submerged, partially gapped concrete pipes while taking chopper fire is maybe the single biggest grief point in the Half Life family of games.
#3: The Magnum is extremely fun and satisfying to use. Because you can only carry a small amount of Magnum ammo your brain will tell you to hoard it like a scarce resource. But getting to a new box of Magnum rounds before using the ones you already have always feels like a wasted opportunity. So you might as well let it fly as soon as you get them. It's usually right before a cool shootout anyway. There are no spots where you will be punished for being out of magnum rounds. Only spots where you are sad for having too many already on hand.
when you are at the base, look around every corner, there are many interactive things that reveal the history of the world.
High five from the UK regarding the Thai Sweet Chicken crisps (chips), you have chosen wisely.
I abolsutely adore Half Life 2, I've played it through three or four times now, it was what got me back into gaming in a big way when it came out.
Note: below isn't a spoiler, as the game never actually tells you how it works, it's stuff fans have pieced together.
Vortigaunts have what's best described as a kind of 'collective memory' they can choose to tap into, that exists outside of time. Like human memory, it can have blind spots and isn't perfect, but they can reach out and 'remember' things that didn't happen to that specific Vort.
I was kinda bummed when I found out this is a recent series, just because I'd love to binge watch the whole game :P
Great vids, keep it up!
Half life 2 a classic of classics great to see you trying it out
A tip for combating headcrab zombies: The crowbar is not just good for headcrabs, but also the zombies, you just gotta know how to _tango_ with them 😉
Also, 9:17, funny you should say that, because after you leave with the airboat, if you were to return to her after reaching the next checkpoint, you'd find her dead with a headcrab running around
McCoys crisps: 75% air. Classic.
This is definitely the biggest secret in the game, beyond this it's mainly just G-man appearances and small easter eggs.
I hope you will continue to listen to every one of Dr. Breen's speeches throughout the game, they are very interesting
The vehicle feeling "weightless" was done right in Descent (were you are ironically literally weightless in the sence of flying all time), there your motion has inertia behind it. This however makes it unplayable with a mouse and all the Zoomers hate it.
In fact Descent should generally get more atention. After all it had a fully 3D Engine a few months before Quake.
Never thought I would hear of descent here hahaha.
I kind of loved it, even if it may have missed something to be remembered widely.
The sense of the 3rd dimension there was incredible. I remember also triying myself at building maps for descent and it was pretty epic.
Remember folks, keep your comments as vague as possible, if it's a detail about the game, that he hasn't experienced yet, that isn't as simple as a game mechanic, like the forementioned zoom, keep it to yourselves, let him discover new details of the world by himself, let him theorise. Just like we did when we first played these games!
Obviously nothing wrong to say, to keep an eye out in the next chapters, if there's mysterious or interesting things coming up, but do not go beyond that in your explanations ^^"
Trust me, I know the urge, but we'll all have time to discuss when he finishes on the final vid!
19:51 These are living beings converted into machines. These are synths. They even scream in pain.
Valve have always said that Gordon Freeman is meant to be an outlet for the player, so his personality comes down to the player. Although the community has come to terms that Gordon has the worst case of the 1st day at work in history. He is tired, traumatized, depressed and gone mute after the incident, and now has an entire human resistance putting faith on Gordon to save the planet.
I didn't know it when I played Half Life 2 all that time ago, but watching it now, I realized that the Vortigaunt is voiced by Louis Gossett Jr (who passed away last year). What a legend.
Liking this playthrough so far. I personally did not find water hazard too long on my first playthrough - but maybe thats just because I was young and had no obligations except school and not a lot of money to buy videogames. So there basically did not exist such a thing as a too long videogame.
Fun fact the vortigaunts are voiced by late Oscar Winner Lou Gossett Jr 😆
those flying things the combine uses are called synths they scan a living animal and grow a version of it in vats and add metal bits to it. this isn't ever explained in the game, it's something written in the game's booklet guide
Make sure to check the newspapers in the next chapter, they have juicy content.
Apparently the final boss fight where the chopper just drops a ton of bombs was a bug. Ultimately they decided to leave it in because it's fun.
Just in case you feel like playing through this for the third time. You missed one last Gman sight.
LOL @ you noticing the G-man while editing. ::)
If you backtrack to the woman who gives you the airboat, she's apparently been killed by a new headcrab variant. Kind of wild to think these rebels gave Gordon their only means of escape while they were being attacked.
not much to add or note as water hazard is basically straightforward. most of its open areas are just filed with scattered supplies so unless you really need them, you can just skip them. It's also nice that the game actually tells you now that there are alt fires for the weapon. makes things easier later on as it seems you tend to forget the weapons have alt fires since hl1 XD
What's nice with this game is that, they slowly give you the weapons so that you can feel and experiment on it. you already got 2 episodes in, and only saw a pistol, magnum, smg, and a grenade. each one having incredibly long gaps in between. That said, note that compared to HL1, the ammo cap in this game is smaller (i.e smg in hl1 is 50/250 with alt 10, whereas here, you got 45/225 alt 3, magnum was 6/30 but now 6/18)
One of the HL2 developers did say in a video, quite sarcastically, "Well no one thought the airboat section was too long"
I've played the entire game more than 10 times maybe, but never visited some lambda spots you found in first playthrough, lol
here's a thought: what if the aliens were only acting in self-defence and confusion? think about it from their POV; randomly sent to a strange new location with strange creatures running around making noise; you'd feel threatened, wouldn't you?
1:17:53 omg that's an omori print on your shirt, that's so cool
Glad this playthrough will continue
The secret vortigaunt just says every possible "random dialogue" you can get from different vortigaunt NPCs throughout the game when you press E on them. e.g. the Vortigaunt that mounted the gun to your airboat would say a subset of the sentences you heard in the secret cave, if you press E. Another vortigaunt in another section of the game would say another subset of the random responses. i think only the 4th wall break ones are reserved to the easteregg vortigaunt.
52:12 “I wonder if you could do the entire mission without the jetski thing”
After you finish the game you should watch a speedrun
Fun fact!
The airboat was created out of spite!
It was originally supposed to be a Jetski, which would have had ramps and you would have to do Tony Hawk like tricks to get ahead of the combine!
It wasn’t testing well, and the Jetski was hard to get working,
The guy in charge of the Jetski (unfortunately I forget his name, he mentions it in the HL2 official documentary, highly recommend as it’s free on UA-cam, watch once you finish Half Life 2 and the episodes! As it contains heavy spoilers)
, he just kinda quit, and threw together the airboat quickly, and that’s what stuck!
Re. doing "Water Hazard" without the airboat: it is technically (almost) possible, but because the sludge kills you, you need speedrun tech. And in fact, you may only be able to *almost* do it without the airboat -- you stil mayl need it for a couple trigger-skip glitches; but there is other speedrun tech you can use to get the boat again at those spots, even if you leave it behind.
There have been several GDQ runs of the game over the years. I don't have a particular one to recommend, but definitely check one or two of them out once you're through. Maybe finish the episodes first as well in case there are offhand spoiler comments tossed out?
Also, 1:10:00 re all the bombs in the hunter chopper -- fun fact, that was a bug they had in development, but were then like "... actually this is awesome, let's leave it in". I'm so glad they did, it's hilarious and fun.
Technically you can do the whole thing completely boatless, but the one tricky part is the camp where you get the gun
In a speedrun you can: use Yesclip to pass through that base - however this requires setting up Yesclip with the airboat in an earlier map
Or you can save delete and get the airboat at the start of the map, get through the first gate, and exit from the boat in such a way that you phase through the second gate
Or you can do a very annoying and tricky prop clip to do it completely without the boat, but i think that's *slower* than just regularly playing the level
And he found the singing vortigaunt! Today feels like a good day to game! This game series brings me nostalgia, as a longtimer of Half Life. Knowing all of the secrets. 👌😆😎
Overwatch voice does say a lot of interesting stuff like you mentioned but it's a lot of police radio codes which are hard to hear and understand in the moment. I had to find a separate video upload that explained what they all meant. Fun trivia about it though- it's the same voice actress as Glados from Portal
keep up the great content!
Im just 17:48 minutes in but i just wanted to say, youre definitely my favorite blind playthrough youtuber now, thanks for actually caring about the game
1:13:44 actually there's a room in Surface Tension. If I'm not mistaken, you didn't go in it. It had an insane supply of stuff. It was after the warehouse with all the tripmines. The next building you enter after fighting the tank. Could only be accessed if you saved the guard after picking up the hivehand (bee gun).
1.27.50, is that trump or is that just me? Ironic he wanted to get rid of the aliens but now here he is, one himself 🤣
You mentioned the actual body they used for one of the corpses,
(Coincidentally while next to the exact body you were talking about)
Just to clear up, the body is a real photo, but Gabe Newell just didn’t photograph some dead guy he saw when on his way to work,
The body is a licenced photo taken from a medical study,
The body was from a person who donated their body to science, who died of natural causes,
They had burned the body to study how human flesh burns, how it peels ect,
So it is of a real photo, a real body,
But the person was just used in an experiment after they died, I imagine after taking out organs if they where needed or whatever
Second half life 2 video? Yes please!
As other people have said, you should pay close attention to the props in the next chapter, you get some insight around other characters pre Gordon arriving!
1:35:00 actually a few of them appear, but this one has the most dialogue and is the easiest to find, the vort that gives you the airboat gun also uses some of the same dialogue
That sign you saw in the station, last episode, was actually greek
Maybe it was a tasty gyro spot
@Instealer21 nah, it was a currency exchange
Well, Greece does border Bulgaria and other places that use versions of Cyrillic, so it makes sense ^^
47:35 I recall you asking if the Combine has any laws on earth or something like that last episode, well, there you go
so loving your HL play troughs.
We all feel your chip frustrations.
It's not possible to get through this chapter without the airboat due to the occasional ramp and long areas of radioactive waste.
Regarding the "weightless" feel of the airboat, apparently the devs adjusted its physics/handling because it wasn't fun to maneuver. This game "flows" really well, all-in-all, so I think the flowy feel of the airboat works really well. Impossible physics abound in HL2 anyway (e.g. Gordon effortlessly dragging big barrels of air deep underwater). When you finish the game, you might enjoy the documentary Valve released in late 2024 about the making of HL2. It's on their YT channel. I especially liked learning about the face models.
Regarding the meaning of the Vortigaunt statements, you ask if it's about G-Man, the 4th wall, or some deeper meaning (the deeper meaning being: the interconnectedness of all things). Why not "and" instead of "or?" Besides, Vortigaunts exist and communicate beyond linear time, so it seems likely to me that their perspective is always an "and."
Cool, more half life! liking the gameplay (:
Why do you look so dapper in today's episode?!?!
(i know i have commented already) look out for certain objects in the scrapyard up ahead. two of them give steam achievements
Random tidbit- it's sort of an exploit, but in the source engine, you can fall into water at any height and not take fall damage, even if the water is ankle deep.
Seems like a feature rather than a bug, even though it doesn't make sense. Cuz it was also a thing in Half-Life 1, and in that game they used it very deliberately, like in the Nihilanth fight the only reason you can survive the jump pads is because there's a little bit of water covering the floor.
Good job on this episode. In case you come up in front of Vortigaunt try talking to them. A little heads up: most of them share voicelines.
Also, do keep in mind that every enemy in this game is killable. There maybe some times where enemies are endless, so try guessing when that happens and don't waste your ammo. Plus, remember to save often. You don't wanna end up in an unfortunate scenario, do you?
In the future don't let comments ruin your enjoyment with regards to secret hunting. You mentioned thinking the chapter dragged on a bit so I can't imagine playing it again was super fun lol
It was all good! I would have been more upset if I missed that section. I'm just going to make more manual saves in the future
*YES!* MORE HALF LIFE ❤❤❤
It's never explicitly stated, but the game is actually set in Sofia, Bulgaria. People figured it out based off the architecture and it's confirmed by a map on a wall in Half Life Alyx.
I see you're leading enemies with your aim. I don't think that was a thing in gaming yet :P
ive played through this game at least 12 times and i had no idea you could even go up there at 32:27 and let alone find loot WHAT
1:31:49 I think they are individuals but individuals always in contact accros time and space. So they are a kind of council, hence the “we” and no names
Id rather hope a boat to be floaty, thats the point of a boat ;)
"I can't throw stuff at them" lol just you wait a little bit ))
spoiler brotha
You can turn on "weapon fast switch" in the settings so you don't have to click to confirm weapons
a lot of times when you stand still you slightly drift to the left. interesting
33:24, as far as I know there is a mod that translates every combine integration to subtitles
My high school drama department got to perform at the Fringe Festival in like 2005 I think. Edinburgh was fantastic.
That's awesome! One of my fav things in Edinburgh was going to the Fringe!
In all my years I have never seen the vortagont in the tunnel wtf
Man I can’t wait for my pc to get here!
Thanks for the upload!
The pistol is great at long range sometimes but you can use the smg as much as you want, they give you infinite ammo almost
I can see why a third game has never been made, Half-Life 2 really changed things but any new game would pail in comparison, unless it could somehow bring something entirely new to gaming. The only thing I could think of that Valve could try, is a game with AI built into it, that would make NPC's and the setting to feel more real. Plus new mechanics that would give the player more freedom. I just don't see that as being possible yet though, maybe in ten years but not right now.
i mean, theres a lot of rumors that its being made right now. like, very believable ones. possibly being officially teased at the moment.
Please don't give them ideas. An AI with all its training based on "the best tactics for conquering and oppressing humanity" huh? Do you WANT Skynets? Because that is how you get Skynets ;)
HL3 is being made right now. It's been in development since at least 2021 under the codename HLX. Now it's reached the point of going through external playtests (employees' friends and family), so it very likely won't get cancelled, and will probably be announced this year and released late 2025 or early 2026.
Leaks seem to show that they're trying to innovate physics even further than what most games have today.
@@vibaj16 I don't believe the rumors and Reddit posts about Half Life 3. Gabe has been pretty clear that they would only do a third game if they could do something very revolutionary. It's just people wanting it to be true, and I doubt anyone from Valve would risk their job by leaking info. Working at Valve is one of those dream jobs, and nobody would risk losing that.
@@NnT042 There are mods for Skyrim that has the use of AI, I think it's ChatGPT. Pretty silly stuff mainly but it exists. If it were developed a bit that could make a really interesting game. I'm sure it wouldn't lead to Skynet, at least not a dangerous form of SKynet.
Hard Mode in this is game is effectively the same bit as the first game except it just kinda further nerfs the player by making every weapon you have deal way less damage.
You don't feel with Metrocops yet, they're the weakest (and most human) variant, their tactics aren't great.
There are 2 more variants of Combine Infantry where you will feel the hard mode difference.
---
Note the passage of time as you make your way through the canals. I like this incredible detail.
---
As implied, the Vortessence is some ever-present force or entity within all living things, it's just that most species aren't evolved enough or at least couldn't interact with it like the Vortiguants could. Also noting that when they say the "Vortal Cords you've cut" they also mean all the humans you killed in the previous game.
The Vorts never spoke English in the first game, how do you think they learned English? Well... you'll get an explanation a few chapters later-it's weirdly funny.
---
In terms of enemy variety, yeah that was one of biggest criticisms of this game, it has a way smaller roster compared to Half-life 1.
Though, you have to put it into consideration that a lot of Half-life 1's enemy types are tailor-made for their environment that you play on. The design was more videogame-y in where an enemy is specifically placed somewhere for the sake of level flow in design.
Half-life 2's approach is broader. Since this one has an emphasis on story telling, the locations are less videogame-y and feel more natural to traverse. This isn't to say there isn't any level design though, it's designed enough to guide you around to provide a certain challenge.
Yeah, suit power isn't great in this game. They eventually fix it in the episodes. There is also MMod which fixes the issue and has separate power sources for the flashlight and everything else.
15:00 yup. it was actually the one you were looking at as you were saying that. kinda wish valve wouldnt have left that in the game. another interesting thing about it is that it has beta citizen clothing on. theyre literally beta models. they probably werent switch for new ones due to the game being very rushed near the end of its development.
It seems Valve agreed with you that the hidden Vortigaunt's exposition was too well hidden, because when they released Half Life 2: Episode 2 and added revamped high-tech Vortigaunt textures and animations to Half Life 2 and its episodes they also gave all Vortigaunts throughout the games a small chance to say the hidden Vort's lines when you speak to them. You might come across one as you play through.
I don't think it's chance. If you talk to the vortigaunt who puts the gun on the airboat after he's done it, it'll say the same series of lines, and so will the one who hangs out with Colonel Cubbage after the gunship fight, though you have to put up with Cubbage talking over him as he just repeats his lines endlessly.
Also did anyone mention that the overwatch voice is provided by Ellen McLain, the same voice as GlaDOS?
And the announcer in TF2 if you've played that.
9:17 after you leave with the airboat a headcrab eats her
the hunter chopper that follows you is the same one^^ (they're not called "gunships" in this game. gunships are the one's yo usaw at the start, the smol long one's)
Gunships are whale sized shrimps to me
You can actually kill the one that you fight as a miniboss in the tower if u do enuf damage. teehee
37:03. You’ll see that later. Not trying to spoil it, but there are multiple Combine variants of their soldiers.
regarding the ending, you should check out the Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary Documentary from Valve from 2 months ago (maybe react to it) after you finish all episodes ^^
5:53 ohhhhh wait untill he finds out xddd
3:20 they.where meant to return alongside an aquatic variant and the houndeyes where a lot skinnier, sadly the only aliens from the first game to return are the vorts, crabs, barnacles, and spoilers
Leeches
The Combine uses a lot of biologic lifeforms from other planets and give them synthetic enhancements, that's why dropships and other things look a bit biological or animals.
Combine soldiers were once human, Metrocops on the other hand they're just humans who joined the Combine in exchange of better living conditions, that's why citizens don't like them as they see them as traitors of the resistance.
Missed GMan at 1:13:14 in the distance.
A funny thing with the chopper, that thing were it just drops a million bombs?, it was a bug that showed up when they were doing tests but they kept that because it was fun lol.
The Vorts don't really have names but I think there's at least one later on with a name, the reason they use "the" for everyone is because humans call them "the Vorts", so to the Vorts, everyone is "the". So you have "the Freeman", "the Eli Vance", and so on.
Those 4th wall breaks were about GMan and how he's pretty much everywhere.
I would consider that first part a minor spoiler, most people realizes this eventually when they kill their first Gunship or when fighthing the Striders
Also, he hasnt even fought the Combine Soldiers yet so thats straight up an spoiler :/