On 11/6/2021 at 4:21 AM, daisekihan said:Fans are not donating for FM2, I suspect. Ross started taking donations before FM2 even started, after the beg-a-thon. There was no expectation he would do Half Life 2. The fans who donate are primarily not here for Freeman's Mind 2 (including myself when I can donate) or else the fact that there has been so few days episodes would be reflected in his donations. I am familiar with his schedule and it seems to me like he is far more interested in making the Game Dungeon, even to the extent thar FM2 feels more like a Half Life 2 Game Dungeon where Ross picks the game apart rather than making Freeman an appointment with enjoyable character to experience the story with. Like I said before, it's like someone in a D&D game who constantly points out the gamey-ness of the experience and won't even make an attempt to meet things half way.
As for the Movie, while I have honestly started to doubt whether that project will ever come to fruition over the many years since Ross announced it, I am fairly certain that if Ross didn't have FM2 out, he would be closer to finishing it.
If Ross did not feel like fans were donating with the expectation of a Freeman's Mind 2, then I do not think he would have made it. Even you say he feels 'obligated'. After the original series ended, he left it with the implication that he may start again with the next game. And while FM may or may not be what fans donate for primarily (I would assume they donate just to support Ross period), it's clearly what the majority of the audience enjoys. Your own personal gripes with it are not relevant at all, I hate to keep having to be the bearer of bad news for you.
Though I have to ask if we even watched the same show? Like, are you forgetting that Freeman screamed constantly at everyone and made fun of the level design in the original? Especially when you take the context in which the character is in (he was just chased by police, then immediately gassed and suddenly everyone in the base is acting completely calm). Whether the story reason for the Combine coming down on them is Mossman selling them out or not, Freeman is an ultra paranoid man already and would have seen an invasion coming regardless. I feel like you think Ross is disrespecting HL2 or something by not making him more agreeable to the story circumstances. He's just rolling with the punches of what the narrative gives him in the framework of a character like Freeman who is already a neurotic, highly paranoid individual who JUST went through a stressful ordeal in the Black Mesa incident and is immediately brought forward into an alien dystopia. He doesn't trust anything even when the situation is on the up-and-up, so how do you think he'd act when red flags are getting posted up everywhere? And the thing is, Ross still manages to make it funny to watch, at least for people like me. I'm just not seeing the same problems you think it has. FM2 is exactly what I wanted when Ross started making it, and more because I appreciate the little mod touches he has done to spice up some of the level design to have it make more sense.