FREEMAN'S MIND 2: EPISODE 12

[Ross Scott]

Here's the latest Freeman's Mind!  This was delayed MUCH more than I planned.  There were actually some good excuses related to the delay, but not enough for it to be delayed this much.  Expect 13 out faster!

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[Elfing]

This has to be the most action packed episode yet.

[Zarhan]

Out of interest, what was the Source issue that gave you lots of extra work + needed coding help to get it sorted?

[Im_CIA]

It wasn't me

[daisekihan]

I don’t know, it feels like all Freeman does in FM2 is scream and complain. Not that he doesn’t have reasons to scream and complain, but he used to dwell on cliff dwelling cultures, sing Gilbert and Sullivan, and pretend to be a pirate. I used to be looking forward to Freeman getting the gravity gun because of how much fun it was for me as a player and seeing how Ross’s Freeman might reflect that. But now I’m pretty sure he’s just going to call it lame and impractical or something and take no pleasure in it at all. I mean, I get it that FM is trying to be realistic and that Freeman was always meant to be an self centered asshole under a lot of stress, but it feels like he used to be almost enjoying himself on some level now it’s just a total chore. And I wonder if that isn’t because Ross doesn’t just dislike Half Life/Half Life 2 and making Freeman’s Mind 2 as a project, he practically hates it. 

Edited January 9, 2020 by daisekihan (see edit history)

[ScumCoder]

17 hours ago, daisekihan said:

because Ross doesn’t just dislike Half Life/Half Life 2 and making Freeman’s Mind 2 as a project, he practically hates it.

It's painfully obvious that Freeman's Mind is Ross's red-headed stepchild. He had said on several occasions that he only does it because he considers himself obliged to.

 

To me, even the freaking Lecarde streams were head and shoulders more enjoyable to watch, because Ross's genuine interest and investment in them were apparent.

[grayling]

Once he gets to the Resistance outpost I suspect he might calm down a bit what with the hunter chopper gun giving his boat genuine firepower. Once he makes it to Black Mesa East, I'd be stunned if he *didn't* calm down, especially after Eli says that Gordon is getting back into a lab coat. I can see how Freeman's attitude lately is not everyone's cup of tea, but I feel like it's totally warranted. That said, I kinda would prefer less yelling.

Basically, once Freeman gets into a situation where he can actually calm down for a while after having been introduced to the state of the world, I think we'll see more of the spirit from season 1 return.

 

I'm looking forward most to the episodic games (gonna take a while, lol) considering there's so much more proper character interaction/dialogue in those. Ross can work really damn well off dialogue from NPCs (that argument with the 3 scientists trapped near the prototype cheese slicer comes to mind, as well as the talk with the guard who leads him to the armory).

 

And in regards to this episode itself, I thought it was fine. Nothing mindblowing but still decent overall.

[daisekihan]

13 hours ago, ScumCoder said:

It's painfully obvious that Freeman's Mind is Ross's red-headed stepchild. He had said on several occasions that he only does it because he considers himself obliged to.

 

To me, even the freaking Lecarde streams were head and shoulders more enjoyable to watch, because Ross's genuine interest and investment in them were apparent.

I don’t know why he thinks he has to keep making FM if he doesn’t want to. From the donations list he’s making decent money and ad revenue is basically gone now so he doesn’t really need the views. And he’s only made 12 episodes in like nearly three years so it’s not like the channel depends on it.

 

 If any of you watch some other parody series on YT like the Abridged series, even when they are tearing those shows apart there is still a lot of affection. But especially with Half Life 2, I can tell that isn’t the case at all for Ross. He’s even said that doing the series has made him like the HL in general a lot less. So whereas old Freeman used to try to fill in the plot holes with something amusing, now he’s barely even trying. I mean his rant in this one might as well have been “I’m a character in a video game being tormented for the amusement of the player!”—which might be the case, but it does’t feel particularly original or amusing as a take.

 

I just wish we had the Freeman who treated a tram like pirate ship back, instead of the current Freeman who’s treating a pirate ship like a tram. And if we can’t maybe Freeman should go on a long hiatus until Ross can feel less negativity about it.

[Im_CIA]

22 minutes ago, daisekihan said:

I don’t know why he thinks he has to keep making FM if he doesn’t want to. From the donations list he’s making decent money and ad revenue is basically gone now so he doesn’t really need the views. And he’s only made 12 episodes in like nearly three years so it’s not like the channel depends on it.

 

 If any of you watch some other parody series on YT like the Abridged series, even when they are tearing those shows apart there is still a lot of affection. But especially with Half Life 2, I can tell that isn’t the case at all for Ross. He’s even said that doing the series has made him like the HL in general a lot less. So whereas old Freeman used to try to fill in the plot holes with something amusing, now he’s barely even trying. I mean his rant in this one might as well have been “I’m a character in a video game being tormented for the amusement of the player!”—which might be the case, but it does’t feel particularly original or amusing as a take.

 

I just wish we had the Freeman who treated a tram like pirate ship back, instead of the current Freeman who’s treating a pirate ship like a tram. And if we can’t maybe Freeman should go on a long hiatus until Ross can feel less negativity about it.

I think you're overreacting a tad much here. Freeman's Mind is a series best watched binged.

[ekket]

10 minutes ago, Im_CIA said:

I think you're overreacting a tad much here. Freeman's Mind is a series best watched binged.

I don't think that’s a good retort, even though I don't agree with his argument entirely either. A series that is good for binging doesn't necessarily have to have that aspect be the only thing of merit.

[danielsangeo]

Subs up!

[daisekihan]

10 hours ago, Im_CIA said:

I think you're overreacting a tad much here. Freeman's Mind is a series best watched binged.

I have binged it, many times in fact—why do you think the earlier parts are so fresh in my mind.

 

All I’m saying is, having Freeman spend so much time pointing out the plot holes in Half Life 2 is getting a little old. Yes, he does it it the original, but he’s at least amusing about it, like, “get high before you die!”

 

[Formanack88]

What if you did a series of Freemans mind but as The soldier and barney For the first half life in the add-ons

[ScumCoder]

On 1/10/2020 at 5:20 PM, daisekihan said:

I don’t know why he thinks he has to keep making FM if he doesn’t want to. From the donations list he’s making decent money and ad revenue is basically gone now so he doesn’t really need the views. And he’s only made 12 episodes in like nearly three years so it’s not like the channel depends on it.

Personally, I think starting FM2 was one of the worst Ross's decisions connected to creation of Youtube content.

He endured a six-years-long slog, then he did a completely excruciating nine-months-long marathon, and that was it! He finally got rid of that yoke! He was finally free to focus on the videos he was yearning to do all this time!

And instead, he had put this burden back on his shoulders, for the sake of a crowd of people who couldn't care less about him and don't even know about this very website. (I am willing to bet that the overwhelming majority of people who make PayPal donations are not crazy about FM2 at all).

[Im_CIA]

1 hour ago, ScumCoder said:

Personally, I think starting FM2 was one of the worst Ross's decisions connected to creation of Youtube content.

He endured a six-years-long slog, then he did a completely excruciating nine-months-long marathon, and that was it! He finally got rid of that yoke! He was finally free to focus on the videos he was yearning to do all this time!

And instead, he had put this burden back on his shoulders, for the sake of a crowd of people who couldn't care less about him and don't even know about this very website. (I am willing to bet that the overwhelming majority of people who make PayPal donations are not crazy about FM2 at all).

Yeah, but that 9 month marathon brought out some of the best FM had to offer. Basically everything during Xen is golden.

 

The only part of FM2 that was off putting for me was the whole Liner aspect. Kinda out of character for Freeman to bow his head to anyone. The rest has been pretty good.

 

Though I admit: this boat section is kind of dragging on, and it parallels slogginess of the underground tram sections from the previous series. It will pick up again, barring Ross getting hit by a runaway bus while J-walking.

 

And before anyone calls me a sycophant, I only like around 50% of the Game Dungeons.  I don't really care about any of the video game oriented content in general. Dead Games? Sounds good to me

[A Satanic Panda]

On 1/9/2020 at 1:14 AM, daisekihan said:

I don’t know, it feels like all Freeman does in FM2 is scream and complain. Not that he doesn’t have reasons to scream and complain, but he used to dwell on cliff dwelling cultures, sing Gilbert and Sullivan, and pretend to be a pirate. I used to be looking forward to Freeman getting the gravity gun because of how much fun it was for me as a player and seeing how Ross’s Freeman might reflect that. But now I’m pretty sure he’s just going to call it lame and impractical or something and take no pleasure in it at all. I mean, I get it that FM is trying to be realistic and that Freeman was always meant to be an self centered asshole under a lot of stress, but it feels like he used to be almost enjoying himself on some level now it’s just a total chore. And I wonder if that isn’t because Ross doesn’t just dislike Half Life/Half Life 2 and making Freeman’s Mind 2 as a project, he practically hates it. 

 

I don't know what you're talking about. He thinks he was recruited by the CIA, the world was taken over by tripods, that Kleiner is a mad scientist who he adores, and that he's supposed to be in Hawaii. Plus considering he's taking the time to edit the maps so they don't have too much game logic, I think Ross is going above and beyond. 

[daisekihan]

On 1/11/2020 at 9:18 PM, A Satanic Panda said:

I don't know what you're talking about. He thinks he was recruited by the CIA, the world was taken over by tripods, that Kleiner is a mad scientist who he adores, and that he's supposed to be in Hawaii. Plus considering he's taking the time to edit the maps so they don't have too much game logic, I think Ross is going above and beyond. 

But compared to HL one he seems to do little but complain, which only works in small doses. I think that Ross is missing a key element of Freeman that he understood before— that’s the reason he was able to survive before is because he is an unstable person (a “powder keg”) but also that he kind of enjoys all the violence on some level. 

[BTGBullseye]

Well I for one would completely trust Freeman with running all the teleportation tech...

[daisekihan]

16 hours ago, BTGBullseye said:

Well I for one would completely trust Freeman with running all the teleportation tech...

 That was another annoying point, the idea that the G-Man could just teleport Breen into space and that would be problem solved. He’s already calling the Combine Tripods from the Tripods series of novels, and based on that he should realize that would solve nothing because the Combine would just replace him, and the real enemy is the Tripods/Combine themselves.  

Edited January 15, 2020 by daisekihan (see edit history)

[Im_CIA]

13 hours ago, daisekihan said:

 That was another annoying point, the idea that the G-Man could just teleport Breen into space and that would be problem solved. He’s already calling the Combine Tripods from the Tripods series of novels, and based on that he should realize that would solve nothing because the Combine would just replace him, and the real enemy is the Tripods/Combine themselves.  

 

Breen? You mean that grandfatherly looking fellow from the time-share commercials? Why would they space such an upstanding citizen?