FREEMAN’S MIND 2: EPISODE 17

i liked this episode! withdrawal being alleviated aside, it was an enjoyable episode - i particularly liked the jokes about the saw thrower, eddy and how freeman tried to punt the zombies with the gravity gun, got confused when that didn't work and then later assumed its battery died. i also like how freeman's tone has shifted to be less ultra freaked out, even if he had justifiable reasons for it in episodes prior

So Freeman thinks the Gravity Gun is out of power and is never going to use it again. Well, there's one more thing I was looking forward to in this series that Rose wrote out. I wouldn't be surprised if he modded the final level to just be a normal shooting one at this rate.

Well, at least Freeman is making some jokes and only half of the lines are just Ross taking the piss out of the level design through Freeman instead of pretty much all of it like the last few episodes.

I'm not sure why people expected Freeman to kill Grigori given that Ross has stated he's his favorite Half-Life character (which is unsurprising).

On 5/12/2022 at 10:48 AM, daisekihan said:

So Freeman thinks the Gravity Gun is out of power and is never going to use it again. Well, there's one more thing I was looking forward to in this series that Rose wrote out. I wouldn't be surprised if he modded the final level to just be a normal shooting one at this rate.

 

Well, at least Freeman is making some jokes and only half of the lines are just Ross taking the piss out of the level design through Freeman instead of pretty much all of it like the last few episodes.

 

I really wouldn't assume that. You'd have to pretty heavily change both the final boss of Half-Life 2 as well as the entire first half of Episode One to justify Freeman not using the Gravity Gun again. He'll come around to it. It's not like Lambda Core where the Gluon Gun was actually too heavy to carry around and Freeman had to leave it.

On 5/12/2022 at 10:48 AM, daisekihan said:

So Freeman thinks the Gravity Gun is out of power and is never going to use it again. Well, there's one more thing I was looking forward to in this series that Rose wrote out. I wouldn't be surprised if he modded the final level to just be a normal shooting one at this rate.

i think you're being a little premature here in thinking that he's completely written the gravity gun out of the series, otherwise i don't see why effort was put into modding how it functions. ross mentioned in a video chat that he'll see how the gravity gun plays out since its been modded.

On 5/12/2022 at 11:03 AM, grayling said:

i think you're being a little premature here in thinking that he's completely written the gravity gun out of the series, otherwise i don't see why effort was put into modding how it functions. ross mentioned in a video chat that he'll see how the gravity gun plays out since its been modded.

Like I said, you'd literally have to change Half-Life 2's entire ending and Episode One's entire beginning to make it so that Freeman never uses the Gravity Gun again. Not just environmental mods or small scene changes, but like, entirely different progression.

If he wanted to write it out, he could've made him drop the Gravity Gun like he did with the Gluon Gun.

I'm gonna get so drunk tonight, like, way more than usual. It's Freeman's Mind again! Party! Party! Party!

I will post The Admiral in every article thread until things begin to make sense

On 5/12/2022 at 12:03 PM, grayling said:

i think you're being a little premature here in thinking that he's completely written the gravity gun out of the series, otherwise i don't see why effort was put into modding how it functions. ross mentioned in a video chat that he'll see how the gravity gun plays out since its been modded.

I hope you're right, but it feels like Ross's approach to HL2 is more about critiquing the world and the story instead of trying to interpret it in an entertaining way. Part of the charm of FM was that Gordon seemed to be enjoying himself, but that side of him is almost completely gone now. The Freeman who thought of a rocket launcher was the perfect gift for the was who has everything is gone now. Using the gravity gun would be far too much fun for the current version of Freeman, so I could understand why Ross would write it out.

Every time Gordon passes by another one of those tags that just say "A GUN" I wonder if he's gonna notice it and comment on it yet or not. I feel like that's the kind of thing he'd make fun of.

Also, TIL about the corpuscular theory of light. Ross just keeps finding obscure science stuff to whip out when the situation calls for it.

The intro both surprised me with a hilarious non-sequitur, and reminded me that I haven't had a pop-tart in like ten years. I wonder if they were actually good or if that was just my broken high-school brain reacting to the sugar.

This one didnt really hit with me, some jokes re-used (if i was in charge this wouldnt be happening for instance) others just not that good i guess?  Maybe a little too dismissive of what is going on?  I dont know I am really tired I just felt like I had to provide some kind of feedback.

I am curious to see how Freeman gets through Ravenholm, I was under the impression that ammo was scarcer in the chapter to encourage using the Gravity Gun.

What's with shadow cone around the base of the torso rope? 

Literally unwatchable

I'm eagerly awaiting the next episode. Just checked out Ravenholm on my HL2 installation and I had forgotten how convoluted the map really is. Gordon has to climb up, go to rooftops, and then reverse back on the street level, then go back again...so a lot of the alleys are indeed "murder alleys" going nowhere. Ross will probably comment on that :)

On 5/14/2022 at 6:24 AM, Zarhan said:

I'm eagerly awaiting the next episode. Just checked out Ravenholm on my HL2 installation and I had forgotten how convoluted the map really is. Gordon has to climb up, go to rooftops, and then reverse back on the street level, then go back again...so a lot of the alleys are indeed "murder alleys" going nowhere. Ross will probably comment on that :)

I admit it's been a good half a decade since I started up the game, but I know starting with Water Hazard there have been map edits in these videos. I'm pretty sure *some* of the alleys in Ravenholm include such edits.

Could be. Actually, when I played through Ravenholm, one weird event - comparable to jumping off a dam - is right after that. Immediately after you get to the church with Grigori, he says "yeah, I'll lead you to the mines". Fine, he doesn't want Gordon to stick around. But after the graveyard, the entrance to the mines themselves...first, you have to drop down like 10 stories, and then once you get into the mines you need to do another cannonball to water. The cannonball to water has a precedent (Ep 20 of FM1), but that huge drop might need some in-universe justifications :)

Subs up!

On 5/15/2022 at 2:24 PM, Zarhan said:

first, you have to drop down like 10 stories

AND you see DOZENS of poisonous headcrabs running around right where you are going to jump.

On 5/13/2022 at 12:22 AM, Steve the Pocket said:

Also, TIL about the corpuscular theory of light. Ross just keeps finding obscure science stuff to whip out when the situation calls for it.

Well it would make sense for a scientist to do stuff like that. I can just imagine his brain is just trying to make sense of the world and he's using science to just... cope.