Frostiken

The way you say "I like supplies" activates Alexa.

Okay, I'll admit, this episode has me a bit worried for Freeman's Mind 2, and I'll tell you why - Half-Life 2 has a LOT of fighting in it. Way more than Half-Life 1. HL1 Freeman's Mind was a lot of wandering, slow-paced walking, and lots of whacky scripted sequences we could appreciate. When Freeman was in combat, Ross's ability to really comment on things was limited because... well what are you going to talk about? HL2 has tons of combat and it's way faster-paced and more frenetic. I'm worried that all that combat will limit our ability to get the Freeman-esque critique on what is going on and the situation at hand. Ross, if I could suggest something, it would be a mod to slow down Freeman's foot speed. His default 'walking' speed feels like running in HL1, and his sprinting speed is like Usain Bolt. The scenery is flying past us at breakneck speed. I already feel like the pace is too fast. When Freeman walks out of the train station, he didn't take in the sights, he just talked to one woman and then walked on his way. No comments on the citadel. Almost no comments on Breen's silly speeches on the monitors. I mean, I was expecting him to fuck with the TVs in the apartment (every time I play HL2 I throw the TVs out of the windows), but he just sprinted past them.

.Hah, just like the good 'ol days of Freeman's Mind 1

I'm definitely not a 'laugh out loud' kind of person, but Gordon thinking the intention was to completely vaporize Alyx and getting ready to celebrate got me good. I actually think that might be one of the highest points of the 'franchise' for me.

It could also make sense that, because Black Mesa is a government entity working on military projects, that it's a hold-over from how people would talk about superiors in the military. I never really called our squadron commander by their name ("Lt. Colonel so-and-so said..."), it was always 'the commander' and 'the chief'.

This is probably the most meta April Fool's joke I've ever seen.

Both this and the previous Game Dungeon weren't that great. They're short, light on content, light on banter. I know they take vastly more time to produce but I prefer the 30-45 minute videos. The 'point' of Game Dungeon, to me at least, isn't so much the games, it's the tangents you go off on. The Deus Ex 1 video is one of the best for that. A little fifteen minute video about an adventure game where you don't even share the ending? Kind of disappointing. The brief interlude episodes are fine every now and then (Potty Pigeon, Spiderbot, Zany Golf) but the long rambling neurotic episodes are the best. Even worse, we're losing actual Game Dungeon content for this: No awards? No customized intro screen? I remember you (Ross) being excited for the custom intros for each episode. Also it's been a long goddamn time since the last 'follow up'.

Not really a huge fan of you recommending New Conglomerate, because the NC population is in a good place right now. VS desperately needs more players.

Ross, you mentioned not knowing any other RTS games that used 'decks' and let you customize what you bring to the game. The more modern Wargame series of RTS games lets you pick what units you want to bring to battle too. It's not quite as varied as Battleforge for several reasons (unit balance, not having to 'earn' units, and being able to take so many cards that you'll have like 80% unit commonality between decks) but it's interesting nonetheless. Plus, modern warfare RTS games are cool. Everyone likes F-15s and tanks and explosions. Nobody likes cancellations, but those can happen for all kinds of reasons. As for PT, I don't like seeing any game die, however this is one reason I'm kind of anti-console nowadays. It's not that I don't think people shouldn't have the functionality and convenience of a console, they should, it's that I don't think companies should be in that sort of position where they can kill games at a the press of a button. With old consoles that would never happen, new consoles you have stuff like P.T. I'm generally against anything that allows companies to kill games. I think it's interesting how much Kickstarter is such an exclusively PC scene for 'well the assholes in charge don't want to make this, but we're doing it anyway'.

While I can understand your skepticism on that point, keep in mind that Ross uses the premise that Freeman forms conclusions based on two things; his personality and what he observes in the game. Evidence to suggest the G-Man could be CIA (from Freeman's perspective): 1. He's seen ample evidence of a giant government coverup at Black Mesa. Marines have killed every scientist they can. They've failed to kill Freeman over a substantial period of time. A guy shows up, tells him he has limitless potential, and offers him employment. I know Freeman doesn't say it, but maybe he figures they've decided he's too hard to kill and it's better to work with him. That's consistent with his ego. 2. G-Man dresses like a government official. This is why he is known as 'G-Man' after all. He also speaks English. 3. G-Man talks about Xen being "under our control." Throughout the game, there are two extremely hostile forces; aliens and the US military. Freeman doesn't have any information to suggest that G-Man represents some mysterious third party. After all, Black Mesa has sent hundreds of researchers into Xen, heavily armed, along with soldiers and tanks. Freeman probably thinks he's capped off the takeover of the other world by killing its most powerful entities. Sure, there are plenty of things that aren't explained (how Freeman winds up with G-Man [possibly explained by going through one of the teleporter-like orbs given off by Nihilanth], G-Man's apparently supernatural powers [which Freeman acknowledges]). Also, while we, the audience, know the series is at its end (for the moment, at least), Freeman does not know that. He just wants to get out, as ever. Add in the fact that G-Man doesn't really give Freeman much room to respond...makes it tough to squeeze in a different theory. Also, let's keep in mind that - if you played Half-Life back in the day - nobody knew shit about the G-man. It was one of the most unexplained, weirdo things we'd ever seen in a game. In fact, even to this day, 90% of what we "know" about the g-man is just speculation. You see the guy like six times throughout the entire game, and he's easy to miss most of them. He doesn't say or do anything except look at you and leave. Then he stands there and yaks for thirty seconds and the game's over.

Big problem with that: The end scene is very short, the G-Man talks over most all of it, there's wacky shit going on, and there's only about twenty seconds of actual 'dead air', and it's on the tram at the end, where you have to make the choice. Not a lot of room for introspection. Freeman's mind is definitely his most popular work. I'm very certain he will extend this to Half Life 2, but I don't expect anything on that until probably summer... if at all this year. He wants to do other shit, and personally I look forward to more Game Dungeon.

On one side, that would be freaking awesome On the other, people are gonna freak out waiting for the next "season" (since Ross obviously has to take a very long vacation)... it would be a terrible cliffhanger! But a great one Let's be honest, Freeman's Mind took 7 years because there pretty much was a "long vacation" between almost every episode. Honestly the series almost died a few years ago, it was like six months between updates, and then it was almost another five after that one.

I actually had a dream last night about the end of the series. I'll tell you how it went. Freeman's on the final train car with the G-Man, eventually goes out the door. "Wisely done, Mr. Freeman! Wisely done..." Then it's blackness and silence. And Freeman starts talking. How long have I been here? Why can't I move or feel anything? This goes on for several minutes. Just blackness while he ponders his thoughts. Then at the very end of the episode... "Rise and shine, Mr. Freeman... rise... and shine..." Man I'll be disappointed as shit if this doesn't happen.

Ross, you were complaining about the steering being all wonky. Did you not notice how fast the clock was ticking in-game? Or that every car accelerated 0-140 in like two seconds? The game is running at nearly 5x speed - that's the problem. If you found a way to slow it down (where's your Turbo button?!) the steering would be fine and you wouldn't be constantly flying off the road!

Perpetual procrastination is a bitch