Half-Life 2: Episode 2 - Discussion

[Fissh]

Just realised that, though there is an Orange Box thread, there isn't really a place to discuss the present HL2 plot and things.



All in all I thought it was better than episode 1, but still far too short

The hunters were hard to kill :(

[WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD]

Anyway, what I noticed;

Firstly the whole thing with the "Borealis" ship and Aperature Science makes me think that possibly portals may be connected in some way in episode 3?

When you come into the launch room for the rocket Dr Kleiner questions some excess weight on the rocket which Magnusson quickly dismisses....

Eli getting murdered (an immensely dark ending I think, no over the-top-drama, just very realistic murder) and the weird floaty combine possibly stealing his brain? Thus they know about the Borealis too?

The G-Man revealing he has a link with Alex too, could this become more prominent and important in episode 3?

Finally the final, solid proof that G-Man does exist, Eli discussing his involvement in the Black Mesa shenanigans


Overall a good game I thought, tedious in parts (that final strider fighting section got very boring) and sadly too short but still, episode three is coming....

[stav]

When you come into the launch room for the rocket Dr Kleiner questions some excess weight on the rocket which Magnusson quickly dismisses....


yes that would be lemar the headcrab

[Mr_Moo]

Hunters are fun when you LOB OBJECTS BACK AT THEM, WITH FLETCHETTES ATTACHED. As I found out the accidental way.
It also seems to be about the only way to get that sodding annoying "Kill a hunter with its own fletchettes" achievement

[Fissh]

yes that would be lemar the headcrab

Possibly, but Magnusson, who is usually very strict with procedure and such, seems to brush it off far too quickly IMO...

Also wouldn't Kleiner realise that Lemarr was gone?

[WraithMaster]

Possibly, but Magnusson, who is usually very strict with procedure and such, seems to brush it off far too quickly IMO...

Also wouldn't Kleiner realise that Lemarr was gone?
No, it is Lemarr. When you first see the rocket (when you first meet Magnusson and Kleiner working on the rocket that is) you can walk up a small set of stairs on the opposite end of the rocket and look at an open hatch on it. When you look at it, it triggers a small event where Lemarr climbs into the hatch and then the hatch closes. Mystery solved.

[bionic sheep]

Can we just assume there are going to be spoilers in this thread? Seems kinda silly to spoiler tag everything.

[Tratos]

Great game, although annoyed allot of it was spent in the mines. I HATE AntLions *grumble* although the Vautegaunt makes things more bearable with his witty remarks.

"A pit is never complete without the Freemon climbing from it"

Looking forward to episode 3, i just hope they get the last bit about episodic gaming right, cheap, short and the one they've lacked so far more often?

[tom93]

Overall a good game I thought, tedious in parts (that final strider fighting section got very boring)
are you kidding?
that section was so much fun!
Especially since I wanted the achievement for saving all the buildings, so I was rushing around like a madman. It was great fun.

[woobi]

I actually thought it was quite short.

Took me about 4 hours to complete.

Loved it though.

[Cjw]

The strider-asploding bit was good, but the hunters in that section were somewhat annoying.

Infact, the most annoying bit was when i forgot where the hell i parked the car and attempted to do most of it on foot. :D

[Pkhunter]

the car icon shows up on your hud...

and the hunters are easily taken care of with the car. Running them over does the trick.

[Seriphyn]

I don't know if I am alone in thinking this but that ending struck me quite profoundly. Never has a game struck me like that before, which goes to show just how amazing the storytelling and characterization in half-life 2 is.

Point is I almost cried...yea I'm a woman...

[Lyricaus]

Well I can't wait for epi 3 as they said in epi 2. That the pictures of the aperture ship, also had blueprints with "GlaDOS" underneath. So not only could the portal device be on-board, but so will be GlaDOS? Oh, and I'm thinking the amount they were mentioning Eli's wife/Alyx's mother, I reckon she worked at aperture laboratorys. Could she of been a test subject, etc? Well I'l be looking forward as I love Aperture Science.
Oh and this is awesome. People, load the chapter my mutual fiend. When you get to the part with the vortiguant in a lab coat, (next to the angry note next to the switch) Well, if you go into the room with the vort, and jump onto the oil container, theres a room behind there in reference to lost. Its damn awesome, check it out.

[albie_123]

Aperture Science is the cancer that is killing the Half-life storyline.

I really wish they had made Portal have nothing to do with it, because Aperture Science right now seems like a completely superfluous part of the story.

I could go in detail with the whole half-life plotline thing but i am really not in the mood for thinking

[Lyricaus]

How do you know? So far all we know about aperture science is they were rivals of black mesa, and their ship is the point of episode 3. How can that be ruining the storyline?

[albie_123]

Well unless this ship is directly linked to the events of Half-life 1, and especially Breen's involvememnt with the invasion of the combine and the destruction of the nihilanth, I'm not going to be very into the whole aperture science.

[Twatybollocks]

Sorry to bump an old thread but I just completed this game and wanted to say...ARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!

Those achievements drove me mad. I tried my best to kill all the grubs but only managed 328 out of 333 and I looked EVERYWHERE for them.

I tried my best to carry the bloody gnome all the way through the game but I simply couldn't get it to stay in the car and when you are being chased by a helicopter you simply don't have the time to stop every 10 yards to put the gnome back in! :(

Overall a great game though, looking forward to Episode 3.

[Lewiji]

I tried my best to carry the bloody gnome all the way through the game but I simply couldn't get it to stay in the car and when you are being chased by a helicopter you simply don't have the time to stop every 10 yards to put the gnome back in! :(
The trick is to pick it up with the gravity gun, blast it as far as you can then drive to it, get out and repeat - you die a lot but it's fun as hell :p I loaded up a save one time near the end and the gnome had just disappeared though :confused: My last save was ages beforehand too. Oh well.