I just released a video talking about Half-Life 3 mods and why there still isn't one, go check it out! :D ruclips.net/video/Y-KkjeFwbdE/видео.html CORRECTION: The Combine were NOT storming Aperture Science when it got teleported away. It wouldn't make sense, given the Combine never having discovered Aperture Science. It was this sentence where I got confused: "Looking from the bridge, we could see the drydocks of Aperture Science at the moment of teleportation, just as the Combine forces closed in from land, sea and air." This part was not meant to imply the Combine forces closing in on the drydocks. In this scene, the Borealis is in all times at once. If you need it restructed to fully understand it (as did I) perhaps see it as this: "We could see the Combine forces closing in from land, sea and air. At the same time, we could see the drydocsk of Aperture Science at the moment of teleportation" Then again, Marc Laidlaw did note that they teleported it to the Arctic in means to escape the Combine Invasion. It seems more likely though that he simply meant the general invasion of Earth by the Combine, not Aperture Science directly. Sorry for this slight mistake. Join the brand new Discord! discord.gg/luciashideout
@@themaniomarianTwo ways to make a groundhog day subvert all expectations. If Gordon is on board of the train, he could take the decision to stop the experiment altogether. After all, he is the one who has to put the sample carrier inside the mass spectrometer. He could easily say "nah, not today", and then go away by his own volition, before spilling the beans. The other option would be to have Gordon confront G-Man in Anomalous Materials when he is talking with the scientist, and have him say something like "NO, you won't control me anymore, I refuse to go further" and G-Man saying "But you don't have to do anything, you are not the one". Then the resonance cascade starts and we discover that the timeline got altered and there's another person who took Gordon's place.
I love the timeloop alternate ending in Epistle 3. Where that explosion powers a timeloop and Gordon is back on the Black Mesa Inbound train ride. I mean it's interesing after all of this Gordon gets a chance to prevent the Resounance Cascade from happening or not depends if his memories returned or not. If Gordon's memories in the Timeloop ending did not return the timeloop begins again.
@@thewolfstu I can see it now - Gordon Freeman thanks to the Borealis's time traveling nature was Never a physicist at all! He was the lead singer for a metal band in the early 70's who did way too much pot!
don’t have that much knowledge of epistle 3, but this video will surely explain a lot of the storyline, also I love the included artwork from your discord server they help a lot to explain the storyline. keep it up Lucia :)
Epistle 3 was too dark and weird to ever end up being the real Episode 3/Half-Life 3. But it is valuable as a snapshot of a writer's frustration. I always thought it was weird how the HL community reacted to it. Half-Life was not created in a vacuum.
The Half-Life 2 Mod Inhuman takes place years after the Borealis incident, and I think doing this is a great new perspective without interfering with the main story.
(Alyx spoilers) Epistle 3 was definitely the conclusion many wanted. Valve creating a new timeline through Half-Life Alyx was perfect, since we can now experience something else without comparing it to Epistle 3. I for one am grateful to it.
"Valve creating a new timeline through Half-Life Alyx was perfect..." No, it wasn't. It needlessly gave g-man too much power and introduced non-random backwards timetravel which both are major issues with story and Half-Life lore. Probably thrid greatest disaster after merging portal and half-life into the same world and canceling ravenholm game with Shephard. If "something else" will contain anything from epistle 3, then it will be compared no matter the timetraveling retcons. Borealis HAVE to appear in the game, the knowledge about the ship and its importance isn't removed by Half-Life: Alyx, so the next instalment that in any way continues the story will be compared to epistle 3. While Alyx is a groundbreaking VR game, the story is lackluster because (speculation) Valve wanted so badly to cut themself from Epistle 3 so hard that they had to introduce timetravel. G-man has too much power, previously an unknown entity looking like a human with strange mannerism, seemingly either appearing in many places at once, or being actually multiple instances of the same. Plucking on the strings of reality, influencing it via "politics", teleportation and "recruiting" agents, puting them in and out of the stasis and then placing into perfect place and time to achive its goals. Now it is a literal god who can timetravel to the past. There will never be an answer why he recruits agents, or does whatever. Motherfucker can timetravel to the past, he can do anything and everything. Satisfying and logical answer can no longer exist. Why he got himself captured by the combine? He can fucking timetravel and change stuff in the past. Why he needed Gordon to kill Nihilanth? Motherfucker can just timetravel and change stuff in the past. Why he was unable to keep gordon in stasis from vortigaunts? Motherfucker can timetravel to the past and change stuff.
@themaniomarian "satisfying and logical answer can no longer exist" I feel that's part of the appeal of G-man. He is an eldrich level being, that we can't comprehend, with goals far beyond our understanding. He is a mystery, created with the sole purpose of being neither friend nor foe. The G-man, like Gordern, will preform the tasks laid before him in the interest of his employers (likely the HL2 writers) at any means necessary. Whether that be providing the crystal that caused the resonance cascade, setting off a nuke at Black Mesa, dropping Gorden Freeman on a Combine controlled Earth, or going back in time to trick a young Alyx Vance into his employment. Perhaps one day it will all make sense to us, but until then, the G-man is not at liberty to say.
@@themaniomarian G-man is a eldritch like creature. Not too far fetch pre-Alyx to imagine him being able to go into different timelines simultaneously as he exists currently.
@@conner4385 And now with different timelines cliche... Bioshock did it, DC did it, Mortal Kombat did it, Portal did it... How many times we do have to get this cheap stuff? It is better for Half-Life 3 to never exist than to came out with half-baked overused ideas as proposed by fans.
I think that you are the first person to talk (or decipher), the initial and conclussive parts of the letter being an analogy to Mark Himself and Valve, good job!
I agreed with marc at the time when he posted this. And I still do. It was imo the right decision. And when he suddenly changed his mind and turned tail on the whole epistle 3 thing, it felt almost like a weird facade coming from him. Like it wasn't marcs own words when he said he regretted his actions and he was deranged. He's a confident writer and a good one too, it just all seems....weird to me.
I'm wondering if this is all to prevent legal issues. Valve is a business afterall, nothing personal. So Laidlaw probably thinking about some breach of contract notice after the magic died down probably shook him into just sweeping it under the rug. Why deal with a legal trouble when you can just enjoy retirement? Yes, even though he's retired and no longer works for valve, he could still have some kind of agreement that would prevent him from "meddling" with the IP. I get the general legal issue vibes when he mentioned that it "can't be the real story unless it's part of the whole game creation environment" line. Also claiming some kind of "mental illness" as an excuse just in case. I've probably explained it poorly but hopefully most people generally understand lol
7:15 So cool to hear the Aperture Science facility is in Michigan per lore! I have a car with MI plates that just so happens to have an Aperture Science bumper sticker ive had on it for years
Good video! Yeah, I'd love a video on ep3 mods, both made and in development, it'd be neat for more people to learn about Project Borealis and Infinite Finality, both ep3 based mods/games in the works. Keep it up :)
Great video! but i def think you should have included the intro and epilogue in the actual story, because i think its supposed to be taken both ways, as Gordon's actual thoughts/story, but also Marc's thoughts.
i am very greatful that Half Life Alyx cancel out the original timeline, which is the biggest middle finger Valve could give to Laidlaw for screwing over a lot of half life fan because of the ending of Epistle 3
It would be cool if you could showcase some hl episode 3 modes that people made thru years. Love your vids. Keep up the great work you are big help for people who want to know more background stuff on halfl ife or valve in general.
honestly, i am not the a diehard fan of the series. but i do say the borealis mystery really got me intrigued, especially considering its a major branch to the portal games. i remember trying to learn so much about it and the cancelled sequals. its a shame it never got payed off
The most gut wrenching comment at 18:07 about how many people have died waiting for HL3. I've thought about this my self. It's kind of depressing to think about.
You’re doing yourself a disservice my friend. If you really do feel that strongly about it though, you can at least play the first Half Life and its expansions without leaving on a cliffhanger.
I respect the will to skip out on one of the best gaming experiences you’ll ever have because of the story not being conclusive but trust me the experience of playing half life 2 is something that everyone deserves in their lifetime. As pissed as I am at the ending I still find myself frequently playing the series 10 years later
bro i knew i saw that pfp somewhere, you are the guy that makes those dope something's off maps that scares the shit outta me and the boys. (extremely great video btw)
Honestly, I'm kinda glad that that is not the official ending we got. Destroying the Borealis, and especially only to find out it didn't really impact the combine, would have been a bummer of an ending
(HL:Alyx Spoilers!) I think the ending is meant to be understood in it's eventual sequel. Imagine that the Vault is actually reverse-engineered from the Borealis. The G-Man wanted control of the vessel, much like he and his employers controlled Xen, but Gordon neglected to help, wanting to respect Eli's wishes to destroy it. But Gordon failed, hence he was "unable and unwilling" to do what he was told, by both G-Man and Eli. As a result of the Combine's accomplishments, they are finally able to imprison the G-Man, who they see as a larger threat. For temporary safe-keeping, they transport the vessel back in-time to a period where the Combine had a stronger foothold, and the Resistance was still in it's infancy. Of course, Alyx still manages to throw a wrench in their plans, and frees the G-Man. Knowing how previous (future) events transpired, the G-Man decides to use Alyx as a replacement for Gordon, who had failed him. He attempts to gain some trust from her by granting her the opportunity to save her father from his eventual fate. Though even if she doesn't fully trust him, this demonstrates that if he has the power to alter Eli's fate, he can ultimately hold his life for ransom to get Alyx to obey.
A great video as always. And yeah I would like to see a video about the community EP3/HL3 projects. BTW will you conisder covering any of these mods in the future: Point of View They Hunger Absolute Redemption Paranoia Half-Rats Hunt Down The Freeman (the 2016 Demo and the 2018 release)
While Epistle 3 isn't cannon, for a long, long time,heck or even today, I wouldn't blame anyone for considering Epistle 3 the conclusion of the franchise. It's better than keep it in a limbo for whoknowshowlong because Valve was busy with steam aka their money printer. Nowadays, it also makes sense Zero Entropy to be considere pseudo Canon by fans. If valve won't do it, go the Thanos route and do it yourself
Imo the interesting progression of events would put Gordon on the combine home world. I love the world of Black Mesa and City 17 but there's a lot more visual variety in an all-new location such as the combine home world. Heck, you could even throw Adrian Sheperd in there somewhere. If the Borealis can travel through space and time than it's theoretically possible. It also gives the writers a completely new avenue and lore to explore.
It’s Valves greatest shame they never delivered this game. It didn’t need to be some revolutionary new way of playing games it turned into. We just wanted a conclusion to the story.
i cant think of a cliffhanger bigger than HL, its been decades already i guess, you can tell me im cringing and maybe i am but the idea of the world ending without a proper sequel of hl is hauting to say the least like lucia mentioned at the ending
I have a crazy theory.. Marc deleted epistle 3 in 2022. 2 years after HLA released and when HL3 leaks were beginning to appear. Especially in CS2 files. And with rumors saying that in the next 18 months there is gonna be a new half life game. Could it possibly mean that Marc Laidlaw returned to Valve and is working on HL3's story? Not to mention that Valve got the old crew back for the documentary on HL1's development. Did they get most of the old team back for HL3?
I don't think this is completely out of the realm of possibility, though I think Marc Laidlaw has clearly stated that he's done with the series and that he can not see another Combine anymore. He is making music nowadays. But man, I love Marc Laidlaw's writing a lot, so I hope you're right! Though it is to note that there is one writer (I forgot who exactly it was) that was basically Marc Laidlaw's apprentice, so Marc Laidlaw's influence will continue on in the Half-Life games no matter if he returned or not!
@@1lucia maybe he changed his mind or Valve got the old team back for their biggest project yet for one last time to make sure it's just right. I think you might be referring to Erik Wolpaw who wrote the episodes, alyx and the portal games. He is definitely his successor! I agree with that a lot.
I doubt it, Gabe doesn't want to make HL3, and both Laidlaw and Antonov and all those people are gone. Gabe for some reason just wanted to kill off the original HL franchise, so don't expect Valve to ever create another proper HL game, yeah Alyx isn't a proper HL game.
@@ziongite I honestly doubt it. The post credits scene for HLA was a pretty big confirmation. You also have to put in mind that valve communicates through "leaks" it's intentional as they said before. Why don't you like HLA or count it as a proper half life game? Because it's vr or because you dislike the way they're taking with the story?
i feel like you can kind of tell that epistle 3 was a rough draft, it feels unfinished and a little too “weird” without finishing the story very well and in a satisfying way, still really cool to see one of the rough drafts
Modders - You can Make This Story - Epistle 3 Need Not to Die! I'm sure this video along with copies of Epistle 3 can be your guide ! Half the work is done for you!
You should check out the mod "Half life 2 Get a life" (that's the name it's not a joke). It's has a surprisingly high production value and is about 7/8 hours long, on top of that it was made by a team rather than a dev. The strange thing is that this mod is mentioned almost nowhere, on youtube the only content are a couple of 10 year old let's play, only one of them being complete. This mod really need a proper review to do it justice though
The letter of epistle 3 makes it *very clear* that Gordon ends up coming back in the extremely far distant future on Earth, thousands of years. And heavily implies that half-life 4 wouldve has both Cheryl and Gordon working together.
So a depressing closure is worse than introducing backwards timetravel? I swear to Nihilanth, bet you would be happy if they introduced looper logic into Half-Life as long as you get your nice, sweet and heartwarming ending, or nothing at all.
@@DarkOmegaMK2 I'm bitter for many other reasons, but since this could turn into a fun discussion and you didn't provide anything to explain why you hold that opinion, all I can do is to hurt your feelings with bitter response.
@@themaniomarian You are not attempting to look for a discussion and i don't need to justify myself to you, a bitter person that relishes on being a mean-spirited jerk.
@@themaniomarianLiterally cannot even spell the name of the game right (lol jk, autocorrect is a jerk). Though to be fair, HL: Alyx is closer to HL3 than EP3 since it is a much bigger budget title while being a full game, much more enjoyable than a few hours of new content in the same engine.
The fact that this whole "leak" was over 5 years ago is messing with me. Maybe even more so the fact that Alyx came out over 3 years ago as well, but I guess this decade has just flown by for most people anyway
13:48 Wow, can’t believe I’m seeing an Underhell reference in 2023. Mxthe couldn’t be bothered to do shit with this game if it meant saving a chihuahua’s life from Michael Vick.
So deep down, they don't want the HL universe or Freeman to have closure. That's fine. I can accept that. What I CAN'T accept for the last 16 years is there being no closure for Eli Vance. Eli getting killed off like that induced my brain to inhabit a quantum space where I both loved BAM! disruption in the final moment of hard-fought success, but I also HATED that I got kicked out of a speeding car like that. The "our mutual friend" was not sufficient prep. I had a lot invested in Eli, and like Attack on Titan, they straight-up mugged me of an exquisite character when I didn't expect it.
I hope we get to see Adrian, Dr. Rosenberg, Barney, Otis, Colette Green, Gus and The Scientists that Escape Black Mesa Again in the next Game. If we hope if It still can be Canon.
Half-Life Alyx's ending DOESN'T makes Episode 3 impossible. Hear me out: Half-Life: Alyx is clearly set in a parallel universe. Half-Life: Alyx is just one possibility out of infinite possibilities. There are cut versions of that ending that even toyed with showing the player the larger Half-Life multiverse, which implies they had that sort of thing in mind. G-Man is a multidimensional being, they're fighting to control all timelines across the entire multiverse, and their war will only end once all timelines are in their favor; so far we had only seen a little bit of one timeline in one universe. Plus: G-Man is actually Valve. I don't mean that that's G-Man's true identity or anything like that, but that G-Man has always served as Valve's insert-character and narrative device within the context of the games. So in a sense this was Valve telling us, "Hey, we know you were expecting Episode 3, but we're not here to give you that". It put them in a position where they can just make whatever next Half-Life game they want, and that can and might be whatever Episode 3 or Half-Life 3 was ever shaping up to be (any of their multiple attempts).
I'm so f'in sick of multiverses, If half life starts going the BS multiverse route I'm done with it. Overdone nonsense by writers who think the stupidest shit that renders all stories meaningless is smart.
@@rtmclean484 Half-Life was always about multiverses. Don't believe me? Fail a level in Half-Life 1 and see what it tells you: That version of Gordon didn't make it, they failed their employment test, etc. Valve did that as a way of justifying the player's multiple possible deaths and as a way of having so that each player's Gordon was their Gordon. Marc Laidlaw himself said he doesn't care about the concept of Canon and that Half-Life would always be about adventures that begin and end with G-Man putting Gordon in Quantum Leap scenarios as an excuse for some next adventure. All stories are meaningless buddy.
To expand, since time related craziness is a thing, theoretically anything is on the table. We can have Alyx and Moss' fight on the Borealis be as canonical as Eli not being dead. Time isn't even fully understood by our science anyways, so why not? To also play devils advocate for rtmclean, I do sort of understand where they're coming from. From solely the story perspective: The gripping part to a story is the finality of actions and consequences. I won't say multiple universes and time bending shenanigans makes it all "meaningless" but it does take away the fear of a character dying or their situation when it could very easily be manipulated into never having happened or a large portion of it changed spontaneously at any given moment. I'm hoping Valve in the future gives more nuance to Gman or gives us a more in-depth look at them through a new title without giving us too much. Just to set up more possibilities for the character. In all, great for explaining game mechanics, but quite a mountain to deal with when focusing on the story itself. I don't personally even think Valve is trying to make a good story anyways, they're probably more focused on the gameplay. We're probably all just looking into it way too much lmao
Have Epistle 3 happen, but instead G-man doesn't like what's happening, and it cuts to the G-man, and through his reference to Gordon in the third person, the player can figure out that they're no longer playing as Gordon, and further down his monologue, it can be pieced together that the player is now Adrian. Then have an epic climatic battle where Adrian beats up a temper tantrum throwing Alyx and uses the displacer cannon to teleport him, Alyx, and Gordon out of there. That would definitely be neat. Do I want that? No, but I do want Adrian.
Same shit, different name. Before Alyx g-man had no "reality nudging abilities" besides forcing someone to say some words and stop time. Now he can "nudge" past so it majorly affects future.
ok hear me out, the time anomaly and gordong being back on black mesa IS the real timeline, after that, everything happens again, this time tho with HL ALYX canon.
Epistle 3 is interesting but I personally don’t like it as an ending to the half life 2 episodes, I for one like the direction the games are taking with the end of half life alyx
I feel that valve is waiting for technical opportunities before they even try to make a half life, source 2 feels like them trying to expand to our need for more modern tech so we can enjoy not only a good story but a good gameplay aspect, Alyx was a great showcase of that aspect, but it seems they are a very rusty on the inside, CS2 for proof if you will. I feel there is a future for half life, but now is not the time as both community and company are not in the right mind set and yern for something fresh instead of recycled air and calling it new. We are currently living a sad time but time is what we need to rebuild our GAMER spark.
I just released a video talking about Half-Life 3 mods and why there still isn't one, go check it out! :D ruclips.net/video/Y-KkjeFwbdE/видео.html
CORRECTION: The Combine were NOT storming Aperture Science when it got teleported away. It wouldn't make sense, given the Combine never having discovered Aperture Science. It was this sentence where I got confused:
"Looking from the bridge, we could see the drydocks of Aperture Science at the moment of teleportation, just as the Combine forces closed in from land, sea and air."
This part was not meant to imply the Combine forces closing in on the drydocks. In this scene, the Borealis is in all times at once. If you need it restructed to fully understand it (as did I) perhaps see it as this:
"We could see the Combine forces closing in from land, sea and air. At the same time, we could see the drydocsk of Aperture Science at the moment of teleportation"
Then again, Marc Laidlaw did note that they teleported it to the Arctic in means to escape the Combine Invasion. It seems more likely though that he simply meant the general invasion of Earth by the Combine, not Aperture Science directly.
Sorry for this slight mistake.
Join the brand new Discord! discord.gg/luciashideout
I love how you are still keeping the HL-2 community still alive
5:25 Please tell me where is this footage from?
@@willkeinnamen5829 I recently showed it in my video called "Why No Half-Life 3 mod exists", you can go check it out :P
I still believe.
I love the idea of gordon going back to the black mesa transit system
I can already imagine his reaction to going through those events yet again
Nah, "groundhog day" narrative is soooooooooooooo cliche. Might as well have Gordon wake up in his bed and find out it was all a dream.
@@themaniomarianTwo ways to make a groundhog day subvert all expectations. If Gordon is on board of the train, he could take the decision to stop the experiment altogether. After all, he is the one who has to put the sample carrier inside the mass spectrometer. He could easily say "nah, not today", and then go away by his own volition, before spilling the beans. The other option would be to have Gordon confront G-Man in Anomalous Materials when he is talking with the scientist, and have him say something like "NO, you won't control me anymore, I refuse to go further" and G-Man saying "But you don't have to do anything, you are not the one". Then the resonance cascade starts and we discover that the timeline got altered and there's another person who took Gordon's place.
@@BuryTheLight-tds "ah shit here we go again"
PARADOX
The stories we could've gotten if it wasn't for Gabes obsessions with each Valve game needing to break technological limits with each release.
Mmmm, I'd say the Steam business ended up occupying more of his time. They were well past being superseded technologically by 2012.
@@SurelyYewJest couldnt they have the studio work on it withoit him
Gordon needs to hear all of this he's a highly trained proffesional
Yes
Gordon doesn't need to hear all this he's a highly trained professional*
@@thekeyboardwarrior1018 hs
@@thekeyboardwarrior1018 really? you had to ruin the joke?
@@thekeyboardwarrior1018 of course there will be a person who wouldn't get the joke
I love the timeloop alternate ending in Epistle 3.
Where that explosion powers a timeloop and Gordon is back on the Black Mesa Inbound train ride. I mean it's interesing after all of this Gordon gets a chance to prevent the Resounance Cascade from happening or not depends if his memories returned or not. If Gordon's memories in the Timeloop ending did not return the timeloop begins again.
plus it could inspire fun mods of different reruns of Gordon Freeman's life along with a good reason for Black Mesa to reappear again.
@@thewolfstu I can see it now - Gordon Freeman thanks to the Borealis's time traveling nature was Never a physicist at all! He was the lead singer for a metal band in the early 70's who did way too much pot!
@@DivergentDroid LOL, YES.
Maybe where G Man doesn't turn off his alarm, making him late.
don’t have that much knowledge of epistle 3, but this video will surely explain a lot of the storyline, also I love the included artwork from your discord server they help a lot to explain the storyline. keep it up Lucia :)
the discord people are all here
nozal! it me fedex dozer!
@@Scrubby_scrumuck howdy
Project Borealis be like :
Epistle 3 was too dark and weird to ever end up being the real Episode 3/Half-Life 3. But it is valuable as a snapshot of a writer's frustration.
I always thought it was weird how the HL community reacted to it. Half-Life was not created in a vacuum.
At this point I'm more hyped for the Entropy Zero 3 than Episode 3/Half Life 3.
Episode 3 and HL3 should be separate. Episode 3 can finish the story of HL2 and 3 can be brand new.
Entropy is canon in my headcanon
Entropy Zero 3 also has an actual chance to be released within our lifetimes.
@@vgmaster9 episode 3 is all we need, itll be the conclusion bruh we dont need half life 3 and that shit is NEVER coming out anyway
The Half-Life 2 Mod Inhuman takes place years after the Borealis incident, and I think doing this is a great new perspective without interfering with the main story.
(Alyx spoilers)
Epistle 3 was definitely the conclusion many wanted.
Valve creating a new timeline through Half-Life Alyx was perfect, since we can now experience something else without comparing it to Epistle 3.
I for one am grateful to it.
"Valve creating a new timeline through Half-Life Alyx was perfect..."
No, it wasn't. It needlessly gave g-man too much power and introduced non-random backwards timetravel which both are major issues with story and Half-Life lore. Probably thrid greatest disaster after merging portal and half-life into the same world and canceling ravenholm game with Shephard.
If "something else" will contain anything from epistle 3, then it will be compared no matter the timetraveling retcons. Borealis HAVE to appear in the game, the knowledge about the ship and its importance isn't removed by Half-Life: Alyx, so the next instalment that in any way continues the story will be compared to epistle 3.
While Alyx is a groundbreaking VR game, the story is lackluster because (speculation) Valve wanted so badly to cut themself from Epistle 3 so hard that they had to introduce timetravel.
G-man has too much power, previously an unknown entity looking like a human with strange mannerism, seemingly either appearing in many places at once, or being actually multiple instances of the same. Plucking on the strings of reality, influencing it via "politics", teleportation and "recruiting" agents, puting them in and out of the stasis and then placing into perfect place and time to achive its goals.
Now it is a literal god who can timetravel to the past. There will never be an answer why he recruits agents, or does whatever. Motherfucker can timetravel to the past, he can do anything and everything. Satisfying and logical answer can no longer exist.
Why he got himself captured by the combine? He can fucking timetravel and change stuff in the past. Why he needed Gordon to kill Nihilanth? Motherfucker can just timetravel and change stuff in the past. Why he was unable to keep gordon in stasis from vortigaunts? Motherfucker can timetravel to the past and change stuff.
@themaniomarian "satisfying and logical answer can no longer exist" I feel that's part of the appeal of G-man. He is an eldrich level being, that we can't comprehend, with goals far beyond our understanding. He is a mystery, created with the sole purpose of being neither friend nor foe. The G-man, like Gordern, will preform the tasks laid before him in the interest of his employers (likely the HL2 writers) at any means necessary. Whether that be providing the crystal that caused the resonance cascade, setting off a nuke at Black Mesa, dropping Gorden Freeman on a Combine controlled Earth, or going back in time to trick a young Alyx Vance into his employment. Perhaps one day it will all make sense to us, but until then, the G-man is not at liberty to say.
@@themaniomarian I don't think he time travelled, I just think he exists outside of normal linear time.
@@themaniomarian G-man is a eldritch like creature. Not too far fetch pre-Alyx to imagine him being able to go into different timelines simultaneously as he exists currently.
@@conner4385 And now with different timelines cliche... Bioshock did it, DC did it, Mortal Kombat did it, Portal did it... How many times we do have to get this cheap stuff?
It is better for Half-Life 3 to never exist than to came out with half-baked overused ideas as proposed by fans.
I think that you are the first person to talk (or decipher), the initial and conclussive parts of the letter being an analogy to Mark Himself and Valve, good job!
I agreed with marc at the time when he posted this. And I still do. It was imo the right decision. And when he suddenly changed his mind and turned tail on the whole epistle 3 thing, it felt almost like a weird facade coming from him. Like it wasn't marcs own words when he said he regretted his actions and he was deranged. He's a confident writer and a good one too, it just all seems....weird to me.
I'm wondering if this is all to prevent legal issues. Valve is a business afterall, nothing personal.
So Laidlaw probably thinking about some breach of contract notice after the magic died down probably shook him into just sweeping it under the rug. Why deal with a legal trouble when you can just enjoy retirement?
Yes, even though he's retired and no longer works for valve, he could still have some kind of agreement that would prevent him from "meddling" with the IP. I get the general legal issue vibes when he mentioned that it "can't be the real story unless it's part of the whole game creation environment" line. Also claiming some kind of "mental illness" as an excuse just in case.
I've probably explained it poorly but hopefully most people generally understand lol
7:15
So cool to hear the Aperture Science facility is in Michigan per lore! I have a car with MI plates that just so happens to have an Aperture Science bumper sticker ive had on it for years
you're canonically an aperture science worker! :D
Thanks dude for including my animation at the end:)
better than any artwork/animation in the video, a true masterpiss.
Good video! Yeah, I'd love a video on ep3 mods, both made and in development, it'd be neat for more people to learn about Project Borealis and Infinite Finality, both ep3 based mods/games in the works. Keep it up :)
Great video! but i def think you should have included the intro and epilogue in the actual story, because i think its supposed to be taken both ways, as Gordon's actual thoughts/story, but also Marc's thoughts.
I just Want Adrian Shephard being involved in the ending again. Maybe Alyx and Gordon fail, so the Gman bring Adrian in or something.
i feel like half life alyx was made out of spite for Laidlaw
Same feeling.
i am very greatful that Half Life Alyx cancel out the original timeline, which is the biggest middle finger Valve could give to Laidlaw for screwing over a lot of half life fan because of the ending of Epistle 3
It would be cool if you could showcase some hl episode 3 modes that people made thru years. Love your vids. Keep up the great work you are big help for people who want to know more background stuff on halfl ife or valve in general.
Great video, very fun to watch, even though I knew the Epistle 3 story well already. You've earned a new subscriber!
honestly, i am not the a diehard fan of the series. but i do say the borealis mystery really got me intrigued, especially considering its a major branch to the portal games. i remember trying to learn so much about it and the cancelled sequals. its a shame it never got payed off
Thumbs up for a video on ep3 mods! I have played a few and they can have wild differences 😂
The most gut wrenching comment at 18:07 about how many people have died waiting for HL3. I've thought about this my self. It's kind of depressing to think about.
Not sure if Valve can even conclude the Half-Life series in our lifetime, for now I intentionally avoid playing Half-Life
You’re doing yourself a disservice my friend. If you really do feel that strongly about it though, you can at least play the first Half Life and its expansions without leaving on a cliffhanger.
You should definitely give the saga a chance. You simply have to replace Episode 3 with the Entropy Zero saga. 😎
Maybe at the end of the world.
I respect the will to skip out on one of the best gaming experiences you’ll ever have because of the story not being conclusive but trust me the experience of playing half life 2 is something that everyone deserves in their lifetime. As pissed as I am at the ending I still find myself frequently playing the series 10 years later
@@dray1195 Half Life 3 is literally like Final Fantasy XXI.
baby wake up lucia dropped a new video
Seems like I'm in time today. I'm gonna have fun watching through this.
Yes a episode 3 recreation video would be great it would also give me some ideas for mods to play
bro i knew i saw that pfp somewhere, you are the guy that makes those dope something's off maps that scares the shit outta me and the boys. (extremely great video btw)
woah thx for including my alyx + gman artwork, means a lot!
Epistle 3 was definitely closure for some of us.
Honestly, I'm kinda glad that that is not the official ending we got. Destroying the Borealis, and especially only to find out it didn't really impact the combine, would have been a bummer of an ending
I just hate every video game and tv series endings with “traveling in alternative timeline” style lazy endings.
(HL:Alyx Spoilers!)
I think the ending is meant to be understood in it's eventual sequel.
Imagine that the Vault is actually reverse-engineered from the Borealis. The G-Man wanted control of the vessel, much like he and his employers controlled Xen, but Gordon neglected to help, wanting to respect Eli's wishes to destroy it. But Gordon failed, hence he was "unable and unwilling" to do what he was told, by both G-Man and Eli.
As a result of the Combine's accomplishments, they are finally able to imprison the G-Man, who they see as a larger threat. For temporary safe-keeping, they transport the vessel back in-time to a period where the Combine had a stronger foothold, and the Resistance was still in it's infancy.
Of course, Alyx still manages to throw a wrench in their plans, and frees the G-Man. Knowing how previous (future) events transpired, the G-Man decides to use Alyx as a replacement for Gordon, who had failed him. He attempts to gain some trust from her by granting her the opportunity to save her father from his eventual fate. Though even if she doesn't fully trust him, this demonstrates that if he has the power to alter Eli's fate, he can ultimately hold his life for ransom to get Alyx to obey.
A great video as always. And yeah I would like to see a video about the community EP3/HL3 projects.
BTW will you conisder covering any of these mods in the future:
Point of View
They Hunger
Absolute Redemption
Paranoia
Half-Rats
Hunt Down The Freeman (the 2016 Demo and the 2018 release)
With the release of Half-Life Alyx, I made my own head-cannon to Epistle 3. It's roughly the same, but Eli Vance takes Alyx's place
We should of gotten Half Life 3
Espically with Source 2
While Epistle 3 isn't cannon, for a long, long time,heck or even today, I wouldn't blame anyone for considering Epistle 3 the conclusion of the franchise. It's better than keep it in a limbo for whoknowshowlong because Valve was busy with steam aka their money printer.
Nowadays, it also makes sense Zero Entropy to be considere pseudo Canon by fans. If valve won't do it, go the Thanos route and do it yourself
Thank you for the disclaimer for hl:a spoilers! I'm saving up for a new pc and vr so can't play it yet
hey thx a lot for.including my artwork!!!! it means too much for me!!! really good Quality video too!!! You are awesome!!!!!
Imo the interesting progression of events would put Gordon on the combine home world. I love the world of Black Mesa and City 17 but there's a lot more visual variety in an all-new location such as the combine home world. Heck, you could even throw Adrian Sheperd in there somewhere. If the Borealis can travel through space and time than it's theoretically possible. It also gives the writers a completely new avenue and lore to explore.
tysm for including my art in the video!!
18:20 no, no, I'm also very much like that. Whenever a long awaited sequel comes out I think "wow, people died waiting for this. that's awful"
hello there im here to watch a video
same
Mee too
The leak of Epistle 3 is exactly why HL: Alyx ended how it did. So Valve can have a clean slate.
It’s Valves greatest shame they never delivered this game. It didn’t need to be some revolutionary new way of playing games it turned into. We just wanted a conclusion to the story.
Lucia thank you for making this video :)
i cant think of a cliffhanger bigger than HL, its been decades already i guess, you can tell me im cringing and maybe i am but the idea of the world ending without a proper sequel of hl is hauting to say the least like lucia mentioned at the ending
Love your videos, keep it up!
I have a crazy theory.. Marc deleted epistle 3 in 2022. 2 years after HLA released and when HL3 leaks were beginning to appear. Especially in CS2 files. And with rumors saying that in the next 18 months there is gonna be a new half life game. Could it possibly mean that Marc Laidlaw returned to Valve and is working on HL3's story? Not to mention that Valve got the old crew back for the documentary on HL1's development. Did they get most of the old team back for HL3?
I don't think this is completely out of the realm of possibility, though I think Marc Laidlaw has clearly stated that he's done with the series and that he can not see another Combine anymore. He is making music nowadays. But man, I love Marc Laidlaw's writing a lot, so I hope you're right! Though it is to note that there is one writer (I forgot who exactly it was) that was basically Marc Laidlaw's apprentice, so Marc Laidlaw's influence will continue on in the Half-Life games no matter if he returned or not!
@@1lucia maybe he changed his mind or Valve got the old team back for their biggest project yet for one last time to make sure it's just right. I think you might be referring to Erik Wolpaw who wrote the episodes, alyx and the portal games. He is definitely his successor! I agree with that a lot.
I doubt it, Gabe doesn't want to make HL3, and both Laidlaw and Antonov and all those people are gone. Gabe for some reason just wanted to kill off the original HL franchise, so don't expect Valve to ever create another proper HL game, yeah Alyx isn't a proper HL game.
@@ziongite I honestly doubt it. The post credits scene for HLA was a pretty big confirmation. You also have to put in mind that valve communicates through "leaks" it's intentional as they said before. Why don't you like HLA or count it as a proper half life game? Because it's vr or because you dislike the way they're taking with the story?
Based AD_Type meme at the end fr
i feel like you can kind of tell that epistle 3 was a rough draft, it feels unfinished and a little too “weird” without finishing the story very well and in a satisfying way, still really cool to see one of the rough drafts
lucia kinda sounds like the killer fish from san diego
what does this mean
3:42 chad mindset
Modders - You can Make This Story - Epistle 3 Need Not to Die! I'm sure this video along with copies of Epistle 3 can be your guide ! Half the work is done for you!
thanks for the hl:alyx spoilers warning bro
purple colonel and you uploaded at the same time , lesgoooo
8:49 "the vishuewls"
thanks for including me in the video! it means a lot! ❤
You should check out the mod "Half life 2 Get a life" (that's the name it's not a joke). It's has a surprisingly high production value and is about 7/8 hours long, on top of that it was made by a team rather than a dev. The strange thing is that this mod is mentioned almost nowhere, on youtube the only content are a couple of 10 year old let's play, only one of them being complete. This mod really need a proper review to do it justice though
is it a good mod bro? this sounds interesting.
@@spectre8469 I'm not sure whether I can call it good or bad, it feels like a fever dream
2:38 Epic fight with a metrocop
The letter of epistle 3 makes it *very clear* that Gordon ends up coming back in the extremely far distant future on Earth, thousands of years. And heavily implies that half-life 4 wouldve has both Cheryl and Gordon working together.
the views have aligned theres 333 of them!
We will have Halflife 3.
Someone will pick up the flag and carry it onwards.
Oh how i would wish to work on Halflife 3's story.
The right man in the wrong place. can make all the differences in the world.
By the way, there are one more Epistle 3 mod in the process - Infinite Finality
If Valve made this word for word 2007 graphics and charged $60 I would throw my money at them, but that's beneath Valve.
Hell just use half life 2s engine would work
Du machst die GEILSTEN Vidios !
I RECOGNIZE THE VIDEO FROM THE BEGINNING HOLY SHIT WOWZA
Dr. Freeman, it is time to make a Epistle 3
Remmeber that day like it was yesterday...
Great video!
Lore of Epistle 3 - The Leaked Half-Life 3 Story momentum 100
I'm kind of glad that Epistle 3 was NOT the official story for half life and that we got Half Life: Alyx instead.
So a depressing closure is worse than introducing backwards timetravel? I swear to Nihilanth, bet you would be happy if they introduced looper logic into Half-Life as long as you get your nice, sweet and heartwarming ending, or nothing at all.
@@themaniomarian You don't need to be so bitter just because i have a different opinion from your own.
@@DarkOmegaMK2 I'm bitter for many other reasons, but since this could turn into a fun discussion and you didn't provide anything to explain why you hold that opinion, all I can do is to hurt your feelings with bitter response.
@@themaniomarian You are not attempting to look for a discussion and i don't need to justify myself to you, a bitter person that relishes on being a mean-spirited jerk.
@@themaniomarianwho pissed on your cereal this morning
I think the problem why we don't have hl3 or ep3 and portal 3 is because valve devs don't wanna develop it for some reason
We do have HL3, it is called "Half-Life: Alex"
@@themaniomarianno its more like half life episode 0.5
@@themaniomarianLiterally cannot even spell the name of the game right (lol jk, autocorrect is a jerk). Though to be fair, HL: Alyx is closer to HL3 than EP3 since it is a much bigger budget title while being a full game, much more enjoyable than a few hours of new content in the same engine.
Ah, I love me some videos about Epistle 3
yeahhh my art got into the video yayy ‘w’ 9:22
The fact that this whole "leak" was over 5 years ago is messing with me. Maybe even more so the fact that Alyx came out over 3 years ago as well, but I guess this decade has just flown by for most people anyway
HELL YES
I think it would be absolutely sick for VALVe to introduce Entropy Zero in official cannon
something worth adding is that its Laidlaws episode 3 and not valves final story as to how laidlaws hl2 story, while similar isnt the final product
There is a mod called Project Borealis. Which based on this story to create a fan game from scratch.
pov your gotdon and you see Aiden Walker and portal 2 defactive turet taking over a ship
We should come together as a community and create epistle 3 as a new hl2 episode. Full in those gaps and stuff
you would enjoy my video I just uploaded yesterday lol
13:48 Wow, can’t believe I’m seeing an Underhell reference in 2023. Mxthe couldn’t be bothered to do shit with this game if it meant saving a chihuahua’s life from Michael Vick.
So deep down, they don't want the HL universe or Freeman to have closure. That's fine. I can accept that.
What I CAN'T accept for the last 16 years is there being no closure for Eli Vance. Eli getting killed off like that induced my brain to inhabit a quantum space where I both loved BAM! disruption in the final moment of hard-fought success, but I also HATED that I got kicked out of a speeding car like that. The "our mutual friend" was not sufficient prep. I had a lot invested in Eli, and like Attack on Titan, they straight-up mugged me of an exquisite character when I didn't expect it.
main character of entropy zero escapes
Oh nice
Yes
I hope we get to see Adrian, Dr. Rosenberg, Barney, Otis, Colette Green, Gus and The Scientists that Escape Black Mesa Again in the next Game. If we hope if It still can be Canon.
Half-Life Alyx's ending DOESN'T makes Episode 3 impossible.
Hear me out:
Half-Life: Alyx is clearly set in a parallel universe. Half-Life: Alyx is just one possibility out of infinite possibilities. There are cut versions of that ending that even toyed with showing the player the larger Half-Life multiverse, which implies they had that sort of thing in mind. G-Man is a multidimensional being, they're fighting to control all timelines across the entire multiverse, and their war will only end once all timelines are in their favor; so far we had only seen a little bit of one timeline in one universe.
Plus:
G-Man is actually Valve. I don't mean that that's G-Man's true identity or anything like that, but that G-Man has always served as Valve's insert-character and narrative device within the context of the games. So in a sense this was Valve telling us, "Hey, we know you were expecting Episode 3, but we're not here to give you that".
It put them in a position where they can just make whatever next Half-Life game they want, and that can and might be whatever Episode 3 or Half-Life 3 was ever shaping up to be (any of their multiple attempts).
I'm so f'in sick of multiverses, If half life starts going the BS multiverse route I'm done with it. Overdone nonsense by writers who think the stupidest shit that renders all stories meaningless is smart.
@@rtmclean484 Half-Life was always about multiverses. Don't believe me? Fail a level in Half-Life 1 and see what it tells you: That version of Gordon didn't make it, they failed their employment test, etc. Valve did that as a way of justifying the player's multiple possible deaths and as a way of having so that each player's Gordon was their Gordon. Marc Laidlaw himself said he doesn't care about the concept of Canon and that Half-Life would always be about adventures that begin and end with G-Man putting Gordon in Quantum Leap scenarios as an excuse for some next adventure. All stories are meaningless buddy.
@@3333218But the G-Man doesn't actually represent Valve he secretly has his own motivations he doesn't represent Valve and ALL stories have meaning.
@@3333218 Marc Laidlaw perhaps but does Gaben??? Obviously not but he's the true running man that runs the canon.
To expand, since time related craziness is a thing, theoretically anything is on the table. We can have Alyx and Moss' fight on the Borealis be as canonical as Eli not being dead.
Time isn't even fully understood by our science anyways, so why not?
To also play devils advocate for rtmclean, I do sort of understand where they're coming from.
From solely the story perspective:
The gripping part to a story is the finality of actions and consequences.
I won't say multiple universes and time bending shenanigans makes it all "meaningless" but it does take away the fear of a character dying or their situation when it could very easily be manipulated into never having happened or a large portion of it changed spontaneously at any given moment.
I'm hoping Valve in the future gives more nuance to Gman or gives us a more in-depth look at them through a new title without giving us too much. Just to set up more possibilities for the character.
In all, great for explaining game mechanics, but quite a mountain to deal with when focusing on the story itself.
I don't personally even think Valve is trying to make a good story anyways, they're probably more focused on the gameplay.
We're probably all just looking into it way too much lmao
the main character of entropy zero 2 RATATATATATATATA THERES GO GORDEN FREEMAN
You could say the main writer of the half life series didn't prepare for unforeseen consequences...
Have Epistle 3 happen, but instead G-man doesn't like what's happening, and it cuts to the G-man, and through his reference to Gordon in the third person, the player can figure out that they're no longer playing as Gordon, and further down his monologue, it can be pieced together that the player is now Adrian. Then have an epic climatic battle where Adrian beats up a temper tantrum throwing Alyx and uses the displacer cannon to teleport him, Alyx, and Gordon out of there. That would definitely be neat. Do I want that? No, but I do want Adrian.
Yeah idk about any future of HL from Valve, Entropy Zero was about all I needed.
amazing video, when you gon talk about more half life mods???
i love your videos bruh keep it up
I say we task the crowbar collective to create this.
I'm not 100% convinced what happened was really time travel, more the gmans general reality nudging abilities
Same shit, different name. Before Alyx g-man had no "reality nudging abilities" besides forcing someone to say some words and stop time. Now he can "nudge" past so it majorly affects future.
ok hear me out, the time anomaly and gordong being back on black mesa IS the real timeline, after that, everything happens again, this time tho with HL ALYX canon.
Epistle 3 is interesting but I personally don’t like it as an ending to the half life 2 episodes, I for one like the direction the games are taking with the end of half life alyx
Nice, a new video
I feel that valve is waiting for technical opportunities before they even try to make a half life, source 2 feels like them trying to expand to our need for more modern tech so we can enjoy not only a good story but a good gameplay aspect, Alyx was a great showcase of that aspect, but it seems they are a very rusty on the inside, CS2 for proof if you will. I feel there is a future for half life, but now is not the time as both community and company are not in the right mind set and yern for something fresh instead of recycled air and calling it new. We are currently living a sad time but time is what we need to rebuild our GAMER spark.