FREEMAN'S MIND: EPISODE 61

[Professor von Kriplespac]

On the same basis that he believes the scientist will do what he says and send him to Massachusetts? Unlike in the latter case, what reason does he have to assume the scientist isn't telling the truth?

 

He would, if the scientist hadn't outright told him that one person needed to go through the portal to kill the Nihilanth. That's the only way they have to go to Xen. Freeman should know this. So how the hell does he expect the military to do shit against the aliens that can teleport anywhere and are invincible to retaliation?

 

It is questionable that he thinks they are seriously going to send him to Massachusetts, but I have to stop you there. He doesn't really pay attention to the fact that no one else is left to deal with the Xenian threat that's about to take over Earth and that's because of the following:

 

A. He wouldn't care, because he's selfish and thinks himself capable of surviving in such a world so long as he has his suit and lots of money (don't ask me what he's going to spend it on)

 

B. He really isn't aware where the Xenians are originating from, nor does he realize that the teleportation system that has been built is specific to Xen's coordinates. In fact, I'm 99.9% sure he doesn't know what Xen is anyways, as his character clearly misidentified it in this episode. This can be explained by the fact that he doesn't typically pay attention to those he sees as the plebs, which in this case is pretty much everyone.

 

On a side note, he also doesn't expect the military to do anything (competent) against the aliens, and once again he doesn't care who is and isn't left to deal with said situation because as I said; he doesn't realize how bad it really is, and he probably thinks it will just blow over without affecting him so long as he survives.

 

To summarize, everything fits because Freeman doesn't really give much credence to anything anyone says, he puts too much faith his two or three days worth of combat experience, and even if he did know the Earth was going to end he would probably say that humanity had it coming.

[Ross Scott]

He really isn't aware where the Xenians are originating from, nor does he realize that the teleportation system that has been built is specific to Xen's coordinates. In fact, I'm 99.9% sure he doesn't know what Xen is anyways, as his character clearly misidentified it in this episode. This can be explained by the fact that he doesn't typically pay attention to those he sees as the plebs, which in this case is pretty much everyone.

No, this can be explained by NOT EXPLAINING THIS ANYWHERE IN THE GAME. Freeman hasn't had ANY briefing on this, the Lambda labs were outside his security clearance. While I gloss over it for the sake of the series, Freeman would be extremely weak at this point having exhausted adrenaline, doing strenuous physical activity, and barely having any food for two days. He's not qualified for this at all aside from being a tenacious survivor. While he doesn't have faith in the military or the Black Mesa staff, I don't think I've suggested Freeman considers the entire globe to be incompetent. Freeman has no evidence this isn't a localized event confined to Black Mesa aside from one scientist saying otherwise. Keep in mind, these scientists also claimed they had to "seal off" the area when aliens were clearly teleporting inside. Freeman doesn't trust these people, but he's hoping they can teleport him AWAY FROM BLACK MESA since all hell has been broken loose, he suspects it could get nuked, and he's still lost and hungry. Even if they are telling the truth, he's in no condition to handle this and figures there would be better people for the job. I mean everybody's commenting on how selfish he is, but in this scenario, they're asking an awful lot and not telling him much at all. You'll hear some more on this topic in the next episode, I didn't work in everything I meant to say on it in this one anyway.

 

Anyway, you can't really take a game like Half-Life too seriously, it doesn't hold up to serious scrutiny, Valve masks most of this with a lack of information. The game is so outrageously sparse on details, that's the very reason a character like Freeman can even exist, they've left so much open.

[ThePest179]

On the same basis that he believes the scientist will do what he says and send him to Massachusetts? Unlike in the latter case, what reason does he have to assume the scientist isn't telling the truth?

 

You're forgetting something crucial here: Freeman has nowhere else to turn to. No exit, car, chopper, or food/water to keep him up on his trek through a desert. He literally has zero options except to trust the idiots he berates at every turn.

 

So how the hell does he expect the military to do shit against the aliens that can teleport anywhere and are invincible to retaliation?

 

What the hell is that supposed to mean? And for the record, I imagine that he would expect that kind of commitment being made by Navy Seals or Black Ops. A physicist who lucked out of death dozens of times isn't exactly on par with more elite US forces.

[loudaslife]

Can this be taken to mean that Episode 62 will feature the long-awaited moment in which the gravity of the situation hits Freeman like a freight train and completely redefines his perception of everything that's happened?!

 

If there's going to be any real character development, Xen is obviously the last chance for it to happen. So far Freeman has maintained pretty much the exact same demeanor throughout the entire series. Honestly it would pretty disappointing if he continues that way through to the end. Freeman's personality is what has made the whole series, but I think it will have to change at some point, even if only for a little while.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[Crawfish]

Ah, another great episode!

I can just hear the beginning of the next episode.

"...Okay, this definitely isn't Massachusetts..."

 

What about this as continuation of that intro:

 

"...Although, some newer buildings on MIT looks really weird. Maybe they are just renovating. Besides, walking around the Stata Center stoned for the first is far more weird that this. Wait. The gravity here is fucked up? OK, now definitely this is not MIT either. OMG, the sky is purple. I'm in LA. Those stupid scientists sent me to Cal Tech. Pollution and beautiful sunsets my ass. I clearly said Massachusetts. This isn't pretty. This is fucked up. I bet they also say that the water in the San Francisco bay tastes like cinnamon due to pollution...."

 

My god it's perfect!

[K4_Kydure]

...and barely having any food for two days.

 

Are you telling me you can't really go a whole week on a single bag of Doritos? I've been lied too for so long.

[RandomGuy]

No, this can be explained by NOT EXPLAINING THIS ANYWHERE IN THE GAME. Freeman hasn't had ANY briefing on this, the Lambda labs were outside his security clearance. While I gloss over it for the sake of the series, Freeman would be extremely weak at this point having exhausted adrenaline, doing strenuous physical activity, and barely having any food for two days. He's not qualified for this at all aside from being a tenacious survivor. While he doesn't have faith in the military or the Black Mesa staff, I don't think I've suggested Freeman considers the entire globe to be incompetent. Freeman has no evidence this isn't a localized event confined to Black Mesa aside from one scientist saying otherwise. Keep in mind, these scientists also claimed they had to "seal off" the area when aliens were clearly teleporting inside. Freeman doesn't trust these people, but he's hoping they can teleport him AWAY FROM BLACK MESA since all hell has been broken loose, he suspects it could get nuked, and he's still lost and hungry. Even if they are telling the truth, he's in no condition to handle this and figures there would be better people for the job. I mean everybody's commenting on how selfish he is, but in this scenario, they're asking an awful lot and not telling him much at all. You'll hear some more on this topic in the next episode, I didn't work in everything I meant to say on it in this one anyway.

 

Here's the thing, though: why does Freeman think they'll do anything other than teleport him to Xen, like they said they were going to? What reason would they have for doing that? If he doesn't trust the guy apparently in charge of the Xen expeditions about the nature and number of the alien creatures, why does he trust him enough to jump into a teleporter? The scientist just told him that other Black Mesa personnel who went to Xen got killed by the aliens, even though the depot is loaded with HEV suits and heavy weaponry, and he also pretty much said that sending one guy via this teleporter was the world's only hope. Combine this with the fact that apparently no one in Black Mesa outside of this section knows about teleportation technology (Freeman didn't, after all), along with the fact that the only other potential candidates for going to Xen are a couple of geezers and a rent-a-cop, and I'm not sure what Freeman was thinking. You can say he just didn't believe a word the scientist said, but that brings us back to point 1.

 

When I was first playing HL1, I didn't have much of an idea of what was going on, but I could at least tell that not killing the Nihilanth = bad for Earth, because that's what the scientist tells you.

 

I'll wait until the next episode until I say more, but for now I'm just kinda disappointed that Freeman bumbled in there by ignoring everybody's warnings and trusting people he apparently doesn't trust.

 

You're forgetting something crucial here: Freeman has nowhere else to turn to. No exit, car, chopper, or food/water to keep him up on his trek through a desert. He literally has zero options except to trust the idiots he berates at every turn.

 

He doesn't, but he doesn't actually acknowledge that at any point. He just thinks these guys with the teleporter are the best way to go, even though they outright said that if he went into that room, they'd teleport him to Xen. I question why he just ignores that warning, doesn't pay attention when they brush him off and don't respond to his requests, and jumps into the portal he sees aliens pouring out of, again after being just told that the portal leads to the alien dimension.

 

What the hell is that supposed to mean? And for the record, I imagine that he would expect that kind of commitment being made by Navy Seals or Black Ops. A physicist who lucked out of death dozens of times isn't exactly on par with more elite US forces.

 

The aliens are hiding in Xen. No one can reach them, except via the use of that one specific teleporter. And the not only was that teleporter deep inside a facility occupied by aliens, the place was about to get nuked.

 

Professor Stuff

 

1. The Lambda staff just told him Earth would be screwed if he didn't go through the portal. So, it wouldn't just be him who loses in that case. Maybe the aliens wouldn't outright conquer Earth, but their teleportation fuckery and deadly wildllife could make a mess of modern society, even if their actual military is eventually defeated. Besides, is Freeman really so sociopathic that he'd let the entire world die if he and only he could somehow survive it? As you said, what would he even spend his money on?

 

2. The scientist just told him it was the place the aliens were coming from. "This, Mr. Freeman, is a long jump module, created expressly for navigation in the world beyond. I certainly hope you received long jump training because once you're in Xen, you will need it". This comes right after they tell him that they're going to send him to the alien dimension, in case any more clarification was needed. He doesn't say any more, but what else does he need to say?

 

3. This brings us back to point 1: he doesn't trust the Lambda personnel about the aliens, even though this is their job and what they're saying is backed by what he's seen today (the wildlife are nasty, the aliens have a military, this military uses teleportation as a weapon, the US Army/Marines/whatever just got routed, the aliens are about to break out, etc.). Okay. Then why does he trust them to teleport him to Massachusetts?

 

4. Him thinking they were going to take him to Massachusetts is still the main issue here.

 

If there's going to be any real character development, Xen is obviously the last chance for it to happen. So far Freeman has maintained pretty much the exact same demeanor throughout the entire series. Honestly it would pretty disappointing if he continues that way through to the end. Freeman's personality is what has made the whole series, but I think it will have to change at some point, even if only for a little while.

 

He's at least gotten a little more unhinged.

 

Unrelated: Freeman's going to be freaking out over the next two episodes. Not just because he's in an alien dimension, but because in the very first chapter (which should be one episode), you already encounter three dead HEV-suited scientists. At the start of the very next chapter, the area you're teleported into has ANOTHER dead HEV-suited adventurer loaded with weapons not five feet away from where you land. Freeman will probably wonder what killed him before the giant armored spider monster comes into the frame a few seconds later.

Edited October 21, 2014 by Guest (see edit history)

[Professor von Kriplespac]

 

Anyway, you can't really take a game like Half-Life too seriously, it doesn't hold up to serious scrutiny, Valve masks most of this with a lack of information. The game is so outrageously sparse on details, that's the very reason a character like Freeman can even exist, they've left so much open.

I'll just stop at that and say it's the most logical thing I've heard all day.

 

Other than tacos.

[J.C.]

I wonder if the Doom 3 sequence at the end is just an easter egg, or something else...

[Ross Scott]

Here's the thing, though: why does Freeman think they'll do anything other than teleport him to Xen, like they said they were going to? What reason would they have for doing that? If he doesn't trust the guy apparently in charge of the Xen expeditions about the nature and number of the alien creatures, why does he trust him enough to jump into a teleporter?

"Of course, you owe us nothing." Freeman sees this as a way out of Black Mesa, which he's been trying to do this entire time. The scientist's talk sounds like the middle of a discussion he's not up to speed on and I wanted to allocate more time to explaining that he's not the person they're looking for. Since he seems to be the dominant personality, he's hoping he can just get them to send him on his way instead. It would be like if you wandered into the investor meeting for General Motors. You're not sure what's going on, but you'll be happy to get a ride home from someone. I mean the real reason of course is the game gives me no other option, this is why I prefer being able to do more original videos rather than have to shoehorn in explanations.

 

As for your analysis below, you're looking into it too much. It reminds me a quote I heard from a cop before: "Lawyers have weeks to go over decisions we have seconds to make."

[BTGBullseye]

There is another explanation for the lack of attention, and borderline disassociation with reality: Low blood sugar. It can happen to anyone, and since he supposedly has been without food for days, it would make perfect sense for him to not make perfectly logical decisions.

[RandomGuy]

Here's the thing, though: why does Freeman think they'll do anything other than teleport him to Xen, like they said they were going to? What reason would they have for doing that? If he doesn't trust the guy apparently in charge of the Xen expeditions about the nature and number of the alien creatures, why does he trust him enough to jump into a teleporter?

"Of course, you owe us nothing." Freeman sees this as a way out of Black Mesa, which he's been trying to do this entire time. The scientist's talk sounds like the middle of a discussion he's not up to speed on and I wanted to allocate more time to explaining that he's not the person they're looking for. Since he seems to be the dominant personality, he's hoping he can just get them to send him on his way instead. It would be like if you wandered into the investor meeting for General Motors. You're not sure what's going on, but you'll be happy to get a ride home from someone. I mean the real reason of course is the game gives me no other option, this is why I prefer being able to do more original videos rather than have to shoehorn in explanations.

 

As for your analysis below, you're looking into it too much. It reminds me a quote I heard from a cop before: "Lawyers have weeks to go over decisions we have seconds to make."

 

That's not just him being up to speed, it's him being outright told everything of importance and ignoring it. While the game only gives you the bare minimum, it still at least lets you know where the portal goes and why. So what if Freeman is the "dominant personality"? The scientists just told him the portal went to Xen, but that it was his choice whether or not to step in. They never mentioned they even could teleport him anywhere else (he has no reason to believe they can, given the limited nature of the teleporters he's seen so far), nor did they respond to his requests that they do. On top of that, they had no reason to send him to Massachusetts, and he knows that. Plus, aliens started pouring out of the portal the minute it started up, which should have immediately tipped Freeman off, and they have absolutely no one else to send, especially since Freeman just made off with all their heavy weapons, and the last crews they sent were killed by aliens (which Freeman will notice very quickly when he finds HEV-suited and weapon-toting corpses, in pools of their own blood, next to hostile Vortigaunts and Grunts, not to mention Big Momma; looking forward to that).

 

Am I really? They just told him that they needed him to go kill the powerful alien controlling the rift. They also said that they sent survey teams to Xen, who "collected some handsome specimens... before being collected themselves, anyway", and mention that this was the supply depot for said teams. This depot is teeming with guns, heavy weapons, and HEV suits, which Freeman takes note of. I guess Freeman could have just not been paying attention, but "we've sent people to another dimension before, and most of them died" seems like something that'd be really hard to miss.

 

There is another explanation for the lack of attention, and borderline disassociation with reality: Low blood sugar. It can happen to anyone, and since he supposedly has been without food for days, it would make perfect sense for him to not make perfectly logical decisions.

 

There's a difference between not being perfectly logical and what Freeman did here in regards to the scientists and the teleporter. He's at least shown enough sense not to get himself killed so far, so he should show enough sense to know what the teleporter did, rather than completely making up a solution in his mind and assuming the scientists are both able and willing to go along with it, despite them having no reason to do so, and them never taking back their statement that they'd send him to Xen. The Controllers pouring out of the portal is just icing on the cake; he still jumped in. Plus, his low blood sugar hasn't been mentioned as an explanation by Ross (in fact, he specifically mentioned that he glossed over the potential effects of Freeman's journey so far), nor has it been brought up when it would be very noticeable before (Freeman just makes the occasional comment about being hungry). So I doubt that's the explanation.

 

I'll wait until the next episode until I say more, though. For reals this time. Yep. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Edited October 21, 2014 by Guest (see edit history)

[BTGBullseye]

Why did you completely ignore my perfectly logical explanation?

[JudasPhysicist]

At this point I would have to imagine that the suit pumps in some proteins and sugar into his blood stream directly. Otherwise he should have feinted by now.

 

Also people seems to have forgotten the point of this series. It is a parody about the bizzare story and level design of the late 90's shooters.

And as far I am concerned it still does a great job of pointing out the flaws in funny ways.

 

Another thing is that this is a very accurate description of how I felt about the game story the first time I played it. It was so barebones

that I couldn't understand much of it after "Forget About Freeman". Many of the story points made sense when HL:Ep2 pointed them out to me.

[Otto]

Why did you completely ignore my perfectly logical explanation?

Haha, poor Bullseye.

 

Well that goes back to the teleporter clone question again huh?

Very true. Pure genius.

 

Oh and he's coming for you too Gabe, you obese ass monkey.

Hey, that's mean.

 

Can this be taken to mean that Episode 62 will feature the long-awaited moment in which the gravity of the situation hits Freeman like a freight train and completely redefines his perception of everything that's happened? Either way, looking forward to it!

I don't think the "Gravity" will be hitting him very hard on Xen.

Jokes aside, are you referring to Freeman eventually becoming the actual hero that gamers have always imagined him to be? I once thought of this myself.

But then I realized: Haha, of course not!

 

At the very least, he should recognize that maybe millions of soldier aliens showing up in the middle of the United States along with highly deadly wildlife teleporting all over the Earth would be very bad.

Ahem, looks like somebody was confusing the later sequels / books / writer's lore with what we know of the current game in question...

I don't really have time to read up on the fuller posts about this at the moment, but I just wanted to point out this little line I noticed.

It's easy to apply the things we know now, and not to remember how the events transpired, in a few days, within their own context.

 

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.

Yeah, and didn't you have some scheduling / communication problems with Robin by the time you needed his recordings? I don't know what really happened,

but I was starting to worry that you had to scrap the original plan and use a completely different sound clip. What I quite like about the final result though

is how similar sounding "Backrubs!" plays out like "Big Orange".

 

Also, that surprise you left for us at the end: Fucking Awesome. I really didn't expect that.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Guest (see edit history)

[lavaheart]

oh my guys this discussion seems ridiculously long and boring.... it's like you guys are walking around in circles.

 

anybutts. I liked that video a lot :3 I can't wait to hear what freeman nicknames the slavers. when I was a lil kid I used to call them flying monkies.

 

(also how in the world did you grab everything but the bee gun??? did you have to add it to your inventory or something to not pick it up?)

[doggie015]

Yay! A new Episode!

 

This is a good transition to Xen and I look forward to seeing how Freeman reacts when he discovers that it is quite obviously not Massachusetts (Why is that such a hard name to spell?)

[Datalvarezguy]

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.

 

We DID hear "BAACKRUUBS!" at the end!

[Ross Scott]

Alright this is the last I hope to say on the matter, but I really think you're giving the narration far more credit than it deserves:

 

That's not just him being up to speed, it's him being outright told everything of importance and ignoring it.

They're giving minimal reference, which doesn't result in clear communication. That's like me saying "The model will go to the limits, but you have to watch out for overheating." Yes, it gives vague instructions, but what model? What limits? What causes the overheating? Their entire briefing is like this.

 

The scientists just told him the portal went to Xen

They never explicitly say this. Seriously, go and listen to it. Give me the exact quote where they say this. They don't. Here's what they do say:

 

-They collected specimens from the border world.

-They suspect there is an immense portal over THERE, created by a being

-I must kill it

-I OWE THEM NOTHING, suggesting I have options

-I should gear up

-here is a long jump module for the world of ZEN. Yes, "Zen", seeing as how you're never given any context whatsoever to this name prior in the game and phonetically that's the only known word in English with this name. This is one of the best examples of poor communication and only reinforces Freeman's perception that the scientists don't fully know what they're talking about. He may as well have told him these weapons enhance his chi and the teleporter will modify his personal feng shui.

-There is someone waiting at the portal CONTROLS, suggesting you know, control.

 

Again, Half-Life is all about vague descriptions and withholding details. I really think you're looking at the game with many assumptions you have now instead of a blank slate. The game really doesn't fill in the gaps like you imply it does.

 

it still at least lets you know where the portal goes and why

No, see that's just it, you're assuming more than they said. It says there is a portal OVER THERE control. It says they have a portal CONTROLS. It does imply people have been sent there. It never says that's the ONLY destination and the fact that there are portals around Black Mesa is proof Freeman has seen that they can teleport on Earth as well.

 

Plus, aliens started pouring out of the portal the minute it started up, which should have immediately tipped Freeman off

They've been spilling out the entire game with no portals active. How do you know that's not cross interference?

 

and they have absolutely no one else to send

Except a gung-ho guard with weapons training and extra suits lying around and a scientist willing to use a shotgun.

 

On top of that, they had no reason to send him to Massachusetts, and he knows that

"You owe us nothing", again, one interpretation is they respect his decision to just leave.

 

and the last crews they sent were killed by aliens

They never said this, they said they were COLLECTED. You're assuming things again.

 

The thing is, your assumptions are correct, but you have the benefit of having played the game and been able to read about more the context after the fact. I'm operating on JUST what the game tells you, and it's highly interpretive. You can disagree, but I've already established multiple things you're ASSUMING and are not explicitly stated. If you don't explain something CLEARLY to someone, you can't expect good communication. You think it's unrealistic, I'm showing that the game is saying a lot less than you think it does, you're connecting more dots with the benefit of knowing the story after the fact.

 

When I was first playing HL1, I didn't have much of an idea of what was going on

I rest my case.

[Ross Scott]

Yeah, and didn't you have some scheduling / communication problems with Robin by the time you needed his recordings?

Yeah, it took me 3 weeks to get a serviceable version of that line from Robin. There was one other take, but there simply wasn't enough force behind his voice for it to fit in with everything. In my opinion, it wouldn't have fit in well at all with everything else that was happening.