Game details that BLEW YOUR MIND.

[Zhukov]

Yeah, you heard me. Translate the operatic piece at the end.

What Operatic piece? In the credits, you mean?

Not quite.

(Sorry, I'm trying to be vague to avoid spoilers.)

I mean this: Link contains huge spoilers.

There is some contention regarding the exact details of the translation. But the general meaning is the same either way. Read the description under the video.

[Disco Science]

I saw the translation, but interpreted it as GLaDOS calling Chell a "child" figuratively, in the sense that she's much younger and less experienced in life than GLaDOS, not literally as Chell being Caroline's (perhaps adopted) daughter.

[Freshbite]

Yeah I got the same impression.

[pookaguy]

I'm starting to think that Chell is Cave's and Caroline's daughter.

[Disco Science]

I'm starting to think that Chell is Cave's and Caroline's daughter.

I dunno...I think it's possible, considering she was present as a child at Bring Your Daughter to Work Day. If true, it would certainly bring a warm fuzzy feeling to my heart. But I still don't think it has to be true.

[Ere Was I]

I'm starting to think that Chell is Cave's and Caroline's daughter.

I dunno...I think it's possible, considering she was present as a child at Bring Your Daughter to Work Day. If true, it would certainly bring a warm fuzzy feeling to my heart. But I still don't think it has to be true.

But why would Chell be a full grown adult in this trailer?

I mean, I guess that the subject jumping around isn't necessarily Chell, but I think the general indication is that Chell is indeed flippin' around in those boots.

Then again, if anyone could give birth to a fully grown adult, it would be Cave Johnson.

[pookaguy]

I'm starting to think that Chell is Cave's and Caroline's daughter.

I dunno...I think it's possible, considering she was present as a child at Bring Your Daughter to Work Day. If true, it would certainly bring a warm fuzzy feeling to my heart. But I still don't think it has to be true.

But why would Chell be a full grown adult in this trailer?

I mean, I guess that the subject jumping around isn't necessarily Chell, but I think the general indication is that Chell is indeed flippin' around in those boots.

Then again, if anyone could give birth to a fully grown adult, it would be Cave Johnson.

*Highlight* The long fall boots were created after Cave, thus Chell is an adult. Remember the guy who got blue paint? Yeah. No boots for him. Don't know how Cave announced it though. I think he is just that awesome. Or something.

[Freshbite]

Warning, this post may contain spoilers to those who have yet to played through the Portal 2 Singleplayer Campaign.

That's obvious. He just pre-recorded it before his death, as he did with all his dialog in the game. He was a man of science, after all. It's not impossible that they had atleast started the development for it before he died.

[Zhukov]

(spoilers etc)

Chell doesn't age while in cyro-sleep. Considering that she's gone under at least twice now, her "real" age could be anything.

Besides, I'm pretty sure trailers aren't strictly canon.

[Freshbite]

I also doubt that they actually thought of that when making the trailers.
However, I bet they could come up with a good answer on the spot if asked about it.

[Zhukov]

Ohhh, ohh, I thought of another one! It's a line from Half Life 2: Episode 2.

(Yes, yet another Valve game. Yes, I feel like a bitch.)

After Alyx gets Vorti-fibrilated and steps into the elevator, she has this one line, perfectly delivered in a warm but tremulous tone of voice.

"Come on Gordon, next to me."

I always thought that was extremely well done. Manages to say a lot with very little. To say that that line tugged on my heartstrings would be a massive understatement. Rather, it carefully sorted through said heartstrings, found the one labelled "big brother" and gave it an almighty heave.

[Freshbite]

I really don't get what else there is to interpret from what she says other than she wants you to share the elevator with her, and perhaps stay by her on the road that lies ahead of them to White Forest.

[Ragdollmaster]

That's kind of silly. Yes, little details like good voice acting really affect a game's emotional impact on you. But a single line? That's just a bit of an overstatement. I don't even remember that line from HL2E2- it's not really memorable and it doesn't really have any connotative meaning. All it is is Alyx showing that she's scared through her tone of voice. Whoop-de-doo. Showing emotions is a two-dimensional trait and really not that impressive. That should honestly be more of a constant thing than a "oh gosh there was this one moment where it almost sounded GOOD" sort of thing. Not that the voice acting in Half Life is bad, it's just definitely not something that stood out to me.

On the other hand, I was pretty impressed by all of the scripted events that happen in the Half Life series. They make the games feel much more real and dynamic, because even though they are planned and unavoidable, they're still unexpected on your first run through, which makes them pretty cool.

Unfortunately, I have to confess that I have yet to finish a single Half Life game. I've played all of them- 1, 2, E1, E2- and they all started off fantastic and had me hooked and playing for hours at a time, and then the interest just kind of dropped off. In HL1, it was just a few minutes into the Lambda Complex that my interest really fell; in HL2, it was some part deep into Nova Prospekt where I just got utterly bored with the game; and so on and so forth. I don't know if it's due to the lack of narration or the somewhat repetitive gameplay (walk here, shoot enemies, solve small puzzle, walk there, shoot boss, shoot more enemies, repeat), but the Half Life series just doesn't have lasting appeal. Every game starts great and then fails to reach the bar which it sets for itself in the beginning. It's almost as if near the climax of every game Valve just went "Fuck it, they'll probably finish if we just slop together some levels and put in the same ol' game mechanics." The worst part is, I feel like games with such great beginnings have to have great endings, but I don't feel like I should have to (or even want to) push through an incredibly boring section of the game just to see the cool, mindblowing ending.

[Uberbeard]

Obviously I have no idea what motivates you as a gamer but I'm sure the greater percent of gamers (and critics) would completely disagree with you on every point made

I, for one, will take this opportune time to stare at you in incredulous shock.

[Ragdollmaster]

I'm not at all saying they're bad games. I enjoyed, at the very least, about 6 or 7 hours of gameplay from each installment. The games are just too drawn out. It is possible to have too much of a good thing; they inevitably ended up feeling stale and just plain boring. It's like riding on an awesome roller-coaster with tons of exciting twists and turns, and it feels like nothing you've experienced before- and then 15 hours later, you're still on the roller-coaster, begging God to kill you with a random bolt of lightning because you've already vomited out all of your entrails.

OK, maybe that's a tad dramatic. To sum it up, I'd still say the Half Life series is pretty fun but suffers problems with the pacing and length of the games. When you have such a long game, it's hard for it to not get repetitive, but I felt myself slipping into these cycles of "OK, new area, not much action" to "oh I have to do something, slightly more action" to "TESTOSTERONE IS POUNDING IN MY EARS LEVEL OF ACTION", and then back to the first one. There's great planning and juxtaposition and everything you theoretically need to keep the gamer hooked, it's just too fudge long. I actually remember hearing somewhere that just under half of everyone who played Half Life 2 actually finished, but I can't find that link anywhere now, and I don't know how valid that is. Still, it wouldn't surprise me if that was even remotely true.

And hey, I'm not a guy to complain about length, typically. My first playthrough of MGS4 was around 12 hours and 30 minutes. That's watching every cinematic and listening to every Codec conversation. As you can imagine, that alone took up somewhere in the vicinity of 6 hours. Yet I was hooked for about three days straight as I feverishly tried to finish the game. On Oblivion, I spent just over 100 hours on my primary character, often playing for several hours a day in a period that spanned roughly two months. I loved Final Fantasy X, even though it took me goddamn 60 some hours on my first playthrough, and I bypassed most of the optional quests.

So it's not the length itself which is bad, it's the fact that the games within the Half Life series follow a design that would work better if they were shorter. Long games can be great, but to me, the Half Life series has always felt more stretched out than just 'long'.