They are all from Black Mesa:
I understand that Kleiner and Eli are from Black Mesa. Converting generic NPCs to canon is pretty cool. And then there’s Barney Black Mesa’s guard … okay I guess. And Dr. Antagonist Breen is also from Black Mesa … What? But then comes Judith Mossman from Black Mesa! Serious?? Couldn’t you have said it came from another laboratory or research institute? Can they do anything? Valiance Industries. “J. Robin Dartmoore Laboratories.” “Hephaestus Technologies”. I just did it, it wasn’t hard; I did it in about ten seconds.
And in episode 2 Magnusson is also Black Mesa! holy beat! They are all from Black Mesa. The globe consists of only two geographical locations: Black Mesa and City 17. These are the only two places anyone talks about. Sure, we hear the civilian government say they’ve been to City 13, but it’s probably just a typo. Valve said he was probably from Black Mesa.
Why aren’t you in the Vortigaunt black Mesa jacket? He could have been one of the attacking Vortigauns. He could have said, “We were on a dark plateau and so helpless when a free man cut off our brother’s Vortal essence. We fought with many of them. What happened to the ninjas? Why don’t they help combat the combination? ”
Hell, at this point I’m surprised that the Combine has not Black Mesa. I mean why not? The rest are.
Seriously, this is one of the most spectacular amateur writers that I have seen. It’s the kind of world-building mistake a teenager would make. Literally every great human character in Black Mesa is. Which. It just makes the world small, claustrophobic and supportive. If the characters were given a different background, the world would look wider, richer, and more vibrant. What Valve’s authors did instead is such a youthful and amateur mistake that I can’t understand what it does in the HL2 story. Are you going to do something smart with it? Or don’t they really understand storytelling or building the world?
Father Grigori:
Do you remember Father Grigori? A semi-crazy, priest-looking Eastern European cartoon who calls zombies a “flag” and aspires to the “church” by firing them with a shotgun? Nothing? Well, I really don’t remember him until I read a summary of the two half-hearted stories as I wrote this article. He is such an insignificant and strange character that my brain has lost him from my memories of Half-Life 2. I didn’t even find any interesting pictures of him, not even one from Garry’s Mod.
To which branch of Christianity does he belong? Orthodox? Roman Catholic? We don’t know, and maybe Father Grigori doesn’t know either.
It really doesn’t fit into the rest of the bisecting universe. It’s not clear whether you should take him seriously as a character or treat him like a dark comedy or something.
He is also responsible for building all the different traps around Ravenholm. Make it what you want.
Under “Raising the Bar,” Valve mentions that they’re not going to use that sign again. Yeah? No shit? Don’t you intend to recreate your weird, loudly contradictory character who you don’t think fits into this universe and has no purpose? Go to the picture.
D0g:
Oh my God, I hate dogs. All about him. It just doesn’t seem to fit into the half-life universe, it has no real purpose in terms of gameplay or history, and it just creates gaps in the history of the valve. But I think the game testers responded to him well and Valve is their bitch (no word).
Let’s look at the different things Dog did in the HL2 series. He throws an entire car at Combine soldiers. He personally attacks and defeats the combined armored transport ship. He attacks and wins a Combine Dropship vehicle that can fly. He uses his body to improve Skype reception between Alyx and his father. He throws the car with Gordon and Alyx easily and accurately hundreds of meters into a small opening in the Combine Citadel. Get the fighter yourself. Attack two of his combination counselors and wound one of them so badly that they both fly away and then shout, “This is my house!” When he hit his metal box.
