Poll: Half-life 2: Episode 3: The Escapist's reader theories

[LordOmnit]

The Gene Worms' purpose was to make a planet suitable for being inhabited by the creatures of the Nihilanth's creation and alteration. The Race X were similarly the Nihilanth's creations. Finally, Sheppard was placed in protective isolation by G-Man (assuming it is canon and all) and would only be brought out by said G-Man.
Not really meaning to burst that bubble for you Ascendant, but that all seems unlikely in the highest degree.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

The Gene Worms' purpose was to make a planet suitable for being inhabited by the creatures of the Nihilanth's creation and alteration. The Race X were similarly the Nihilanth's creations.

I'm not so sure about that. Xenians and Race-X creatures would readily fight each other to the death upon sight. Also, a close look shows that the body structures of the primary Xen classes (Vortigaunt, Grunt, Controller) are quite different from the Race-X creatures.

 

[PurpleRain]

I also noticed something weird while playing Gmod, did anyone else notice that Alyx is wearing a Black Mesa t-shirt?

Yeah every time I see her... but that's only because I keep stairing at her breasts.

You take off in the helicopter and head towards the wastelands
You walk across the barren landscape left behind after the Seven Hour Wars
You invade the Air Exchange (maybe)
You make it to the icy coast
You maybe run into Mossman
You get inside the Borealis
You meet GLADoS (hopefully)
She explains everything, reveals herself to be Minerva
G-Man shows up and tries to stop you
You lock away G-Man
Sheppard appears and brings with him a bunch of Race-X
You teleport back to White Forest
The Gene Worms arrive
Eli is brought back to life (hopefully)
The Combine are all destroyed
Everything is all ok
END!

Best plot line ever! I really miss Race-X and I miss those giant sharks (although you see one at the start of HL2) I miss all the aliens from Xen. But Nihilanth won't return. I think you killed the last one at the end on HL1.

 

[LordOmnit]

I'm not so sure about that. Xenians and Race X creatures would readily fight each other to the death upon sight. Also, a close look shows that the body structures of the primary Xen classes (Vortigaunt, Grunt, Controller) are quite different from the Race-X creatures.

I dunno about that, but after double checking, it looks like they were just and enigma, but a hostile enigma none the less. I don't ever remember seeing Race X and Xen creatures attacking each other, but I was probably too busy killing them to notice anyways. And strangely enough, the only two Xen creatures (aside from headcrabs) I remember encountering after the Race X fully appeared was two vortigaunts randomly after I got up to the mortar.

 

[Abbadiel]

GlaDOS is probably lost somewhere or was destroyed by the combine. I would be fun, though, if there was an easter egg on the borealis (pieces of GlaDOS cores, a unpowered portal gun or even a companion cube) regarding GlaDOS.

The Big squidgy combine thing seem pretty far-fetched since it's too cliché.

The G-Man is obviously going to play a major role in HL2: EP3 (the usual role of stalking you like a psychotic sex offender and the usual enigmatic talk that he always do) but seems unlikely to be a boss because he's pretty much too powerful to be reached by Gordons weapons.

...Barney or Alyx as a boss fight? I think that would never happen actually, since the absence of Barney in Ep2 was kind of weird and having him to come back in Ep3 just to kill him? That wouldn't be too nice for the people who like Barney (like Yahtzee). Alyx has entuthiasts too and it wouldn't be nice either for people who like Alyx.

I'd like to see Adrian Shepard to make an appearance and actually, having to fight him as a G-Man puppet (who knows? maybe Gordon will try to free himself from the control of the G-Man) since he's like the "one man army" kind of guy. Since the G-Man has him on a stasis field (or whatever) maybe he'll bargain something to make Adrian Fight gordon.

 

[EvilEngineNumberNine]

That thing about the headcrabs always bugged me. If you destroyed Nihilanth and he was supposed to be controlling the inhabitants of Xen, and the headcrabs came from Xen, then how the hell are there MORE on Earth? Not only that but different kinds that you didn't encounter in the first game. How many G-Men are there? Does the G stand for god? While his methods are rather brutish, it does seem that the G-Man has been PROTECTING Earth. Or at least the inter-dimensional balance of power. If humans invaded another universe, would there be a G-Man in the form of that species to find and cultivate a savior among them? Is it too much of a stretch to assume that Gordon's biggest enemy has always been egomaniacal power-humgry maniacs and that this game will be no exception? Will GLaDOS have some sort of relationship with DOG?

 

[PurpleRain]

That thing about the headcrabs always bugged me. If you destroyed Nihilanth and he was supposed to be controlling the inhabitants of Xen, and the headcrabs came from Xen, then how the hell are there MORE on Earth?

Because the combine concered Xen. You were only able to free the Vortigants that were under the Nihilanth.

How many G-Men are there? Does the G stand for god??

G-Man means Government man not God.

 

[Copter400]

Alyx Vance: No. Just...no.
GLaDOS: She may be 'Still Alive', but I doubt Gordon's travels will take him to the Enrichment Center.
Combine Squidgy Thing: I think you'll be fighting a few of these in the next game, in mini-boss style battles like Striders and Hunters.
G-Man: Not a bad idea, actually. But how exactly do you fight a being that can take you out of the space-time continuum?
Yahtzee: That would be impossible to win.
Magnusson: Nah. Him turning bad would be too cheesy.
Someone Else: My guess? Dr. Breen. That would be awesome.

 

[Frankminimia]

I may be mistaken but i believe that the combine advisors are merely the larval stage of a much more powerful creature as was said either in game or in discussion. Perhaps a fully grown or coocoon stage advisor will be the boss, like, dont let it grow or the world is screwed type of thing. Thats my main theory, what do you think?

 

[sapient]

Advisors are pretty imba as it is, but just before Eli dies you can use NOCLIP to get behind the warehouse and see the advisors idle. They also have a pain animation if you shoot them, so I think they probably are ready for combat in Ep 3, but not going to be an evolved form.

My guess is it'll probably be Dr. Breen, but in an alien form (he talked about a 'host body'). And hopefully, right at the end of the game, in the last and final ten seconds, Gordon will speak and say something like "Well...that was fun" or "I love you, Alyx" or "I'm adopted."

 

[eggdog14]

If they kill of alyx, or otherwise make her "evil," there will be an uprising. Seriously.

I'd like GlaDOS to be in it, but i doubt they'll play that card again. I'm guessing there will be some portal-gun action though, perhaps in the reins of the ship? in order to integrate the portal gun they'll have to be very well-designed, and controlled, levels.

I don't like boss fights anyway. . .

 

[Meshakhad_v1legacy]

Alyx Vance: No. Only exception is if she survives the boss battle - maybe the Combine mind-control her, and you have to disable the mind-control device before Alyx kills you. But she must live. If Gordon has to die for Alyx to live, so be it.
GLaDOS: Maybe as the AI controlling the Borealis.
Some Big Squidgy Combine Thingy: As in an Advisor? Would work. Valve will probably make Advisors a common enemy in Episode Three. Something else would also work.
G-Man: If it turns out he's a villain, that would work. But frankly, I'd rather have him as he is now, mysterious but more or less on your side.
Yahtzee: Ha ha.
Mangusson: Not likely, but as nobody likes him, he'd be an easy traitor for people to hate.
Barney: Only if he's been mind-controlled. I could see killing him as necessary in that case.
Someone Else: Breen, maybe? One idea I like would be if the final boss is the Borealis itself.
No Boss: A possibility.

 

[Ixus Illwrath]

I'd love to see Aperture Science squeeze their way into the HL games.

As for a boss, I'd guess the mind controlling maggots. That is if GWAR doesn't use them to hitch a ride off of earth first...

 

[Ixus Illwrath]

Also, for storyline, I think Gordon is going to use US Air force fighter jets to blow the dome around the Combine city, then one of his fellow man-animals will port to the Combine's home planet and use a nuclear device that will react with their atmosphere and destroy the planet entirely.

 

[Count_de_Monet]

You will fight some Combine soldiers
Then you'll fight some walker dudes
Then you will fight some white-shirted zombies
Then some Zombine
Then a couple of the quick dudes
Oh, then you'll fight some antlions
Then they'll introduce something new and you'll kill it
Beat bad guy, end.

After the game ends I will wake up.

 

[The Reverend]

My money's on Gordon buying the farm at the end of episode 3, in some kind of sacrificial way, like running into some kind of quantum rift thing, gravity gun in hand, either closing the rift/exploding/bringing peace and love to the universe. And then some kind of whole funeral procession with everyone crying and cheering at the same time. That way, they dont have to worry about people harassing them to make a sequel.
And if I remember rightly, did Breen kinda.. explode at the end of HL2? I mean, I distinctly remember a bigass explosion originating from where he was standing.
I don't think we'll meet Chell in ep 3, but I reckon GLaDOS will turn up in some kind of cameo, seeing as you're not going to visit the enrichment center, didn't that go up in smoke when you killed GLaDOS? But, i daresay the Borealis has some kind of mainframe computer controlled by a malevolence such as GLaDOS.
And I think it would be cool if Cpl Shephard showed up too (he's long overdue for a promotion, mind)but he was also one of the "strong, silent types" that Valve seem to like, so crowbarring (hoho) in some decent scenes between Gordon and Adrian would be difficult.
As for the whole end boos, big squishy combine beasty seems most likely. A Barney headcrab zombie thing would go down just as quick as any other zombie, so that wouldn't make for much of an end boss.

 

[Vigormortis]

Clearification time children!!!

Race-X is a collection of species from a different world, in fact, different dimension than Xen.

Adrian Shepherd was not placed in stasis by the G-Man, he was transported to a a place occupied by an ungodly large army of Xen/Race-X creatures. Meaning, he was sent to die.

Alyx is wearing a Black Mesa sweater because either A: she got it from her father. or B: she was given one when she visited there with her father as a child.
Well, those or she just thinks it looks cool, who knows.

The headcrabs are back in the sequels because many were already here on Earth when the Combine arrived. Many mutated over time as they possessed people and were also genetically altered by the Combine as they experimented on them to use them as psuedo-biological weapons. Valve said the poison headcrab was actually intended to be in the first game, but were left out.

The combine have not conquered Xen, as they have been unable to reach it. One of many reasons the Nihilanth race fled there to escape the Combine. This is also why the Combine were so interested in Kleiners teleport technology as it used Xen as a sort of waypoint to teleport matter from place to place on earth.

And now, speculation time!

I'm not sure they'll be an end "boss", but full grown advisors, as opposed to the larval ones in Ep1 and 2, are a very likely enemy in Ep3.

I'd love to finally hear Gordon say something, but I just don't see it happening....ever. (he is mute after all)

Regardless of whether there's a boss or not, I think there could be a moment where Gordon has to sacrifice himself to save the world, or in the very least Alyx. Thus cementing his "christ-like" image to the people in the story. Or they may have Alyx sacrifice herself to save Gordon, who knows.

Breen is another possibility, but I firmly believe him to be dead.

The return of a Nihilanth would be an interesting twist, but an even more interesting would be allying with one to defeat the combine as they are our mutual enemy.

What ever the outcome, I can't wait. Sad there won't be a Half-Life 3. There may be other Half-life themed games, but none with the one Free Man.

 

[UncleAsriel]

Clearly Yatzhee. Can the gravity gun and HEV suit withstand a battle against the crippling power of ascerbic wit and bilious sarcasm?

Boss battles are not valve's style. Something subtler, more narrative-based. Like trying to GTFO of the Mystery Borealis of Doom before it goes Pompeii all over everyone's arse due to, say, a trans-dimensional breach (or cake?)

Gordon could probably beat GLaDOS down with a rocket launcher easily (Emergency intelligence incini-whatnow?), but she would not be a major threat. We have those damned murderous Shu'thaloi mind-munching telekenetic Combine Advisor slugs to contend with. GLaDOS would probably give you the portal gun and a rah-rah once staring down one of those ugly fiends (and after the end of episode 2, I'd glady rip one up, too.)

 

[p1ne]

It really is a storytelling cop-out when the final confrontation in a game is with some random monster you've never even heard of or seen before. When you're familiar with the bad guy's character and what they've done over the course of the game's plot, their possible motives, etc it adds a lot more emotional interest.

I think the evidence suggests that some kind of alien monster containing Doctor Breen's consciousness will be your ultimate nemesis. (why is he not a choice at all in this poll, actually?) There is no convincing evidence that Breen died in the core flare-up at the end of HL2 and he's the main "bad guy" character that you're the most acquainted with in the series thus far. Furthermore, there are two different moments in the series when you're given the opportunity to witness a truncated conversation between Breen and one of the alien Advisors in which he says "but I'd never survive... a HOST body? There has to be some other.... OH ALL RIGHT!" (roughly paraphrased, I forget the exact particulars)

On the other hand, maybe he's just dead. *shrug*



side note: wonder what CaptainBaconMan did to get himself bant?

 

[Copter400]

You know what I'm hoping for? The start of EP3 is Eli's funeral. I want to shed some effing tears.

The game fades into view, and the Resistance are gathered around, many of whom are in tears. They are circled around Eli's corpse. A few Vorts come in and say something awesome about the vortessence. The game begins.