FREEMAN’S MIND 2: EPISODE 15

[Ross Scott]

Here's the latest Freeman's Mind episode!  Sorry again for the delay on this, it's been because of a myriad of things, but I fully intend to catch up with a lot more this year.  Game Dungeon probably next!

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[SlavaZSU]

Well, this was definitely worth the wait. Probably the best episode so far! Got to give Toby, the modder, his due, he did a great job! And hey, Freeman's met the all knowing vortigaunt! Sort of...

Thanks Ross!  Now I can't wait for Freeman to arrive in Ravenholm.

Edited April 30, 2021 by roger_duncan_101 (see edit history)

[Wiktorpolak]

Love the edits! For a moment I thought you skipped the sewer vortiguant, but you've made it so much more entertaining haha Great job!

[kerdios]

what was the guy in the sewer pipe saying? I couldn't hear him over all of freeman's loud ramblings.

Edited May 3, 2021 by kerdios (see edit history)

[Im_CIA]

47 minutes ago, kerdios said:

what was the guy in the sewer pipe saying? I couldn't here him over all of freeman's loud ramblings.

Yvan Eht Nioj

[Sniveler]

Ross:

 

I write this as someone who considers himself a dedicated fan of Freeman's Mind. I realize that I might be in the minority here, but I'm not really a fan of when Gordon goes "off-script" and does things that aren't usually possible in the game.

 

As I wrote on my blog, if I were to pitch Freeman's Mind to a prospective viewer, I would say this: "Hey, you know all that time you were playing as this game character and going through this adventure? Ever wanted to know what was really going through that character's mind all that time? Here it is!" That's one of the core draws of the series, and it only works when said character is only doing things that the player could actually do.

 

It's understandable if you take the occasional shortcut to skip puzzles and other portions of the game that would be boring in a Freeman's Mind video, but adding in new areas of the game world have little point. It lacks the aforementioned appeal of riffs on material the games' players have experienced.

 

If you wanted to, you could put something really wacky in a new area, like a pyramid of watermelons surrounded by dead headcrabs who seem to have been worshiping it. It would be funny, perhaps, but it wouldn't fit in with the established style of humor of Freeman's Mind.

 

Freeman's Mind works best when it works within the constraints of playing through the games while staying in character as its version of Gordon. This occasionally leads to another entertaining aspect of the series: Your being challenged to go through the motions of Gordon while staying true to the character you have developed for him. You can't canonically attack the vortigaunt in the rail car, so how will you explain why your version of Gordon doesn't attack him? Modding the game so that Gordon does shoot him feels like kind of a cheat.

 

Continuing from my comparison of Freeman's Mind to Mystery Science Theater 3000, I am reminded one controversial point in the latter. In a very early episode, they manipulated the movie in a way that went beyond what their audience characters would be able to do. For example, the silhouette of Joel put his hand over the mouth of a singing woman in the movie, and her voice was non-diegetically muted. A writer for the show apologized for this in the episode guide, acknowledging that it violated the show's unwritten rules.

 

That's my opinion, anyway. Take it or leave it. Thank you.

 

[Im_CIA]

1 hour ago, Sniveler said:

 

Ross:

 

I write this as someone who considers himself a dedicated fan of Freeman's Mind. I realize that I might be in the minority here, but I'm not really a fan of when Gordon goes "off-script" and does things that aren't usually possible in the game.

 

As I wrote on my blog, if I were to pitch Freeman's Mind to a prospective viewer, I would say this: "Hey, you know all that time you were playing as this game character and going through this adventure? Ever wanted to know what was really going through that character's mind all that time? Here it is!" That's one of the core draws of the series, and it only works when said character is only doing things that the player could actually do.

 

It's understandable if you take the occasional shortcut to skip puzzles and other portions of the game that would be boring in a Freeman's Mind video, but adding in new areas of the game world have little point. It lacks the aforementioned appeal of riffs on material the games' players have experienced.

 

If you wanted to, you could put something really wacky in a new area, like a pyramid of watermelons surrounded by dead headcrabs who seem to have been worshiping it. It would be funny, perhaps, but it wouldn't fit in with the established style of humor of Freeman's Mind.

 

Freeman's Mind works best when it works within the constraints of playing through the games while staying in character as its version of Gordon. This occasionally leads to another entertaining aspect of the series: Your being challenged to go through the motions of Gordon while staying true to the character you have developed for him. You can't canonically attack the vortigaunt in the rail car, so how will you explain why your version of Gordon doesn't attack him? Modding the game so that Gordon does shoot him feels like kind of a cheat.

 

Continuing from my comparison of Freeman's Mind to Mystery Science Theater 3000, I am reminded one controversial point in the latter. In a very early episode, they manipulated the movie in a way that went beyond what their audience characters would be able to do. For example, the silhouette of Joel put his hand over the mouth of a singing woman in the movie, and her voice was non-diegetically muted. A writer for the show apologized for this in the episode guide, acknowledging that it violated the show's unwritten rules.

 

That's my opinion, anyway. Take it or leave it. Thank you.

 

I'm in the camp that could care less about half-life- it was a boring ass game that I could never force myself to finish. Freeman's MInd is the only way that I can actually enjoy this little slice of Valveicana, so I would rather see Ross take liberties with the game than compromise on Gordon's character

[ScumCoder]

I'm in the camp that couldn't care less about Freeman's Mind, but I must admit I'm astonished by the sheer amount of work that goes into each episode. Here's what the map looks like in the game (image courtesy Niels L @ YT):

 

 

It almost looks like by the time Ross finishes FM2, the total amount of content in the game will increase by 20-30%.

[Swamp]

I'm a hardcore fan of Freeman's Mind since 2009. Even though I love Half-Life 2, I was surprised with all the work put into this, and I sincerely love it. It makes sense to me.

[kerdios]

13 hours ago, ScumCoder said:

I'm in the camp that couldn't care less about Freeman's Mind, but I must admit I'm astonished by the sheer amount of work that goes into each episode. Here's what the map looks like in the game (image courtesy Niels L @ YT):

 

 

It almost looks like by the time Ross finishes FM2, the total amount of content in the game will increase by 20-30%.

which part in the video does this correspond to?

[ScumCoder]

4 minutes ago, kerdios said:

which part in the video does this correspond to?

Everything after 10:40

[kerdios]

3 minutes ago, ScumCoder said:

Everything after 10:40

this part?

So the entire facility there doesn't exist in the actual game?

(In case it isn't self evident, I've never played any HL)

[ScumCoder]

2 minutes ago, kerdios said:

So the entire facility there doesn't exist in the actual game?

In the game, you press the button at 10:20, then jump on the glider through the opened hatch using some logs which you can see at 10:26 as a ramp (which Freeman would never ever do), then drive straight to the pier at 15:50 and walk into the airlock.

 

The door in the chain link fence at 10:40, as well as everything between it and the aforementioned pier, does not exist.

[kerdios]

1 hour ago, ScumCoder said:

In the game, you press the button at 10:20, then jump on the glider through the opened hatch using some logs which you can see at 10:26 as a ramp (which Freeman would never ever do), then drive straight to the pier at 15:50 and walk into the airlock.

 

The door in the chain link fence at 10:40, as well as everything between it and the aforementioned pier, does not exist.

Amazing, well done Ross!

[grayling]

i was honestly thinking that there'd just be an elevator or something modded in that could fit the boat to circumvent the dam jump but we got an entire new area instead lmao

 

i have to ask to ross: given that freeman's mind is mostly just a chore to you, do the modded aspects of half-life 2 bring more enjoyment/excitement to working on a specific part in the game?

[Toa]

I like that, though he's not exactly on the right track in terms of who he actually is, Freeman's inferring a lot about the G-Man's character that I honestly wouldn't have thought of otherwise. Like how he might intentionally want Freeman to see him watching him.

[The Screw]

15:00 - If I were the cops, I'd be scuttling the boat and reporting that the suspect's body was washed downriver. At some point, you gotta cut your losses.

[Steve the Pocket]

3 hours ago, The Screw said:

15:00 - If I were the cops, I'd be scuttling the boat and reporting that the suspect's body was washed downriver. At some point, you gotta cut your losses.

Considering this is the last time he encounters any that are necessarily looking for him specifically (all the rest are targeting rebel outposts or just guarding their own), there's no reason this can't be canon.

[JimPlaysGames]

One of the most important rules of storytelling is that no matter how fantastic the world is, humans are still humans. If it's a choice between changing Freeman into a cartoon character or changing the way he progressing through the game, it has to be the latter.

 

The humour partly comes from hearing the reactions of this established version of Freeman that Ross has created. How he would react to these situations. That has to stay consistent. As soon as Ross decided that Freeman can do a pull-up, the decision was already made. This is just a more sophisticated pull-up.

[aitap]

I must say, I was worried that all the modding will lead Freeman's Mind 2 in a direction I wouldn't like at all, but I do like the way this episode turned out. Perhaps HL2 is just a worse fit for an asshole protagonist than HL1, because it's more plot-driven. I hope it won't come to painting yourself into a corner. Thanks a lot and please keep them coming!