FREEMAN'S MIND: EPISODE 61

[Ross Scott]

 

 

(Downloadable copy will be up later)

 

Here's the final Black Mesa episode of Freeman's Mind! This one has been about 98% done for a couple weeks, but there were some complications with some of the final aspects of it. Some things that people may find interesting: 1. The volume of the last scientist is as it sounded in-game. I was kind of amazed how quiet it was. Otto was going to increase the volume to it, but I decided it worked better with Freeman shouting that he couldn't hear him at the original volume. 2. The slipping wasn't planned, but I thought it was a great addition to the episode, plus I'm never in a rush to redo a gameplay sequence if I don't have to. 3. My thoughts reflect Freeman's regarding the teleporter in that I couldn't imagine any scenario where Freeman is still alive after being teleported if momentum isn't preserved.

 

The footage for the next episode is done, though I haven't made progress on the voicework yet. I doubt there will be another FM episode before Halloween, but we'll see. Expect more in November!

 

LINK TO FORUM COMMENTS

[muzikaddict27]

I can't even remember how long I've waited for this moment, but your faithfulness to the project is applauded and beyond appreciated. Thanks Ross! It'll be a bittersweet last leg of the journey...

[Elliot]

The day has finally come!

 

Really good stuff as usual.

[Arby]

Was hoping for, "Get back here you big orange fuck!" but I guess a river of blood will have to do. Great stuff as always Ross.

[Ross Scott]

Was hoping for, "Get back here you big orange fuck!" but I guess a river of blood will have to do. Great stuff as always Ross.

I never planned on doing that because I thought it was too predictable and didn't add to the humor too much. My original plan was to have him say something crazier like "gimme some tacos!" or "rubber jump pants!" But the timing for him ended up being too short because of everything going on in the scene. It got drowned out a bit by everything else going on, but there wasn't any good way to make it more audible without making it sound like he was standing right next to Freeman.

[VeryShyPerson]

yay! i go and get boring and slightly painful routine medical procedures done and come home to an episode of freeman's mind! i'll watch it as soon as i find my headphones.

 

edit: i like it! but how could you not like a new episode of freeman's mind?

[Professor von Kriplespac]

Well done with the new episode, but two questions;

 

What was said at the end? I spent a few minutes trying to figure out the exact words without any luck.

 

Are we finally going to get our Month of Freeman for November?

[VeryShyPerson]

what the fudge was that stinger after the credits?

[Meelis13]

what the fudge was that stinger after the credits?

seemed like some weird inside-alien version of Stargate's gatetravel sequence (probably bit of it with dark filter or something)

[VeryShyPerson]

to me it looked like someone flushing a toilet filled with internal organs that'd been pureed with a blender

[Professor von Kriplespac]

to me it looked like someone flushing a toilet filled with internal organs that'd been pureed with a blender

 

It was the portal sequence from Delta Labs teleporters in Doom 3.

[Alyxx Thorne]

I'm gonna celebrate this episode! Getting darn excited now!

[VeryShyPerson]

to me it looked like someone flushing a toilet filled with internal organs that'd been pureed with a blender

 

It was the portal sequence from Delta Labs teleporters in Doom 3.

 

Thats a very strange looking portal

 

It is going to be very strange when Freeman's Mind gets to the end of HL1. If he decides not to do HL2 thats his decision but i'll definitely miss it.

[Mr. Mister]

I was expecting a Coriolis joke there.

 

 

Another possibility is that the teleporter can easily calculate the total momentum of the teleported cargo (which can be the contents of a space bubble around it, with the teleporter triggering if there's more than a certain amount of gravitational mass inside it), calculate the velocity of its centre of mass from it and its mass, and then extract that same velocity homogenously, which probably involves gravitons.

 

 

To me, every teleporter or portal technology makes much more sense if you imagine it's all connected to a big energy capacitator and a momentum engine at the core of the facility, which provide/store the differences in energy (both kynetic and potential) and momentum from whatever's teleported.

[ThatGuyWhoMakesThoseThings]

I never planned on doing that because I thought it was too predictable and didn't add to the humor too much. My original plan was to have him say something crazier like "gimme some tacos!" or "rubber jump pants!" But the timing for him ended up being too short because of everything going on in the scene. It got drowned out a bit by everything else going on, but there wasn't any good way to make it more audible without making it sound like he was standing right next to Freeman.

 

Aww, that's a bit disappointing. It would have been nice if he were just baaarely audible as a little easter egg for Shepard's Mind fans, but whatever. Can't wait for Xen!

 

Edit: Just watched it with annotations on. I really appreciate the "Backrubs!" you threw in as a reference to that. Was that really KrimsinYT's voice?

[Professor von Kriplespac]

to me it looked like someone flushing a toilet filled with internal organs that'd been pureed with a blender

 

It was the portal sequence from Delta Labs teleporters in Doom 3.

 

Thats a very strange looking portal

 

Well considering that the teleporter literally sends you to hell, I don't find it all that surprising.

[Half-LifeFan365]

It was good, I liked it.

[RandomGuy]

Gotta admit, this episode was pretty disappointing. I've been looking forward to this scene for a while, because I wanted to see how Freeman would react to being told that there's a single alien keeping the rift open, and that he has enough troops to threaten the whole Earth. More importantly, I wanted to see how he justified going to Xen given his personality so far. I'm not a fan of him just bumbling in there. It's bizarrely out of character, as it relies on Freeman completely trusting guys he called lemmings, and leaving Earth for the aliens.

 

One, Freeman does not seem to trust anyone, least of all the Black Mesa staff, and it makes no sense for him to assume they'll do exactly what he says when they never took back their earlier statement that they're sending him to Xen if he goes in the teleportation room. Two, Freeman is selfish, but he has a sense of self-preservation. The Xen expedition staff flat-out told him that there wouldn't be much to come back to if the portals remained open. Even if they can't conquer the whole Earth, the aliens could inflict enough damage to effectively collapse modern society, via both the military invasion and the wildlife infestation, and Freeman knows this. Why would he think that getting to New England would stop that?

 

As for the jokes themselves: I didn't laugh at Freeman's teleportation rant, which took up a good chunk of the episode. I did, on the other hand, find his interactions with the guard and scientist to be very funny. Especially his reaction to the Kleiner scientist packing a shotgun, and him insulting the Barney.

 

Also disappointed to here that there will be no more Freeman's Mind any time soon. Of course, that probably translates to a lot of them in November.

[Ross Scott]

Gotta admit, this episode was pretty disappointing. I've been looking forward to this scene for a while, because I wanted to see how Freeman would react to being told that there's a single alien keeping the rift open, and that he has enough troops to threaten the whole Earth. More importantly, I wanted to see how he justified going to Xen given his personality so far. I'm not a fan of him just bumbling in there. It's bizarrely out of character, as it relies on Freeman completely trusting guys he called lemmings, and leaving Earth for the aliens.

 

One, Freeman does not seem to trust anyone, least of all the Black Mesa staff, and it makes no sense for him to assume they'll do exactly what he says when they never took back their earlier statement that they're sending him to Xen if he goes in the teleportation room. Two, Freeman is selfish, but he has a sense of self-preservation. The Xen expedition staff flat-out told him that there wouldn't be much to come back to if the portals remained open. Even if they can't conquer the whole Earth, the aliens could inflict enough damage to effectively collapse modern society, via both the military invasion and the wildlife infestation, and Freeman knows this. Why would he think that getting to New England would stop that?

 

As for the jokes themselves: I didn't laugh at Freeman's teleportation rant, which took up a good chunk of the episode. I did, on the other hand, find his interactions with the guard and scientist to be very funny. Especially his reaction to the Kleiner scientist packing a shotgun, and him insulting the Barney.

 

Also disappointed to here that there will be no more Freeman's Mind any time soon. Of course, that probably translates to a lot of them in November.

If I had allocated a little more time when recording I would have talked more about this (I may come back to it in the next episode), but the bottom line is they sort of thrust this information on you with no context at all. Besides for self preservation, who the hell says HE has to be the one to go in there and stop it? There are plenty more qualified people on Earth to handle it, plus it's assuming they know everything that's happening globally. The way I see it Freeman would rather take his chance on Earth than trust these clowns to teleport him to another part of the galaxy. This comes back down to Half-Life's story presentation, they give you the absolute bare minimum and you're just supposed to go along with it. I think a lot of people remember details that are plugged in later from HL2 or online supplements, when the game gives you almost nothing and you only have one option anyway. As for the teleportation rant, not every line is meant to be a laugh out loud event, there's always a bunch of space to fill and I try to mix it up with thoughts that might be interesting to follow.

[VeryShyPerson]

For some reason i expected the morphine thing that was from a few episodes ago to factor into his decision but then it stopped. Was that something an idea you were thoughting about that? (Sorry I don't phrase things so good, I'm kinda foggy.)