It's kind of comparable to something like the Titanic sinking or the Chernobyl disaster, it's a massive, multifaceted event which had an enormous footprint and enormous consequences. You have entire groups of people who dedicate themselves to the study of these things, and the Resonance Cascade, while fictional, is no less different.
Maybe they have different philosophies in their conquering methods or use of new resources, I like to think race x wanted to make earth an expansion of their homeland for them to inhabit all in the same having no room for diaologue with the victims all being silenced while the combine would study, adapt, overcome, infiltrate, replace and inhabit the land they conquered in an effort to have a diversity of troops adapted to different environment but still have some malevolent use to the enslaved race to be used however they please or total extermination
They probably aren't aware of their existence, they seem to be of a separate world/dimension, only popping up into earth given the opportunity that the cascade gave
As an idle thought, an interesting NPC for if we ever got another Adrien Shephard game would be the juvenile shock-trooper he fed, petted and used as a grenade launcher.
I don’t know what’s weirder. The fact that the Shock Troopers have an internal bodily process for producing organic grenades, or that their babies can be used as living grenade launchers. Seriously, is this Destiny or something? WHY ARE GUNS ALIVE?!
@@ShawndaPrawn Well, we see similar -- albeit significantly less advanced -- natural weapons in this world. The weirdest part of the whole thing is probably that it's stable enough to *impact* something or roll around.
Well Race X's whole thing is bio weapons and technology so it's not crazy to think that then Shock Troopers "enhanced" themselves in order to be deadlier during their invasions of other worlds.
I think the reason we don't see Race X at all during half life 2 and even Alyx is because they probably realized that not only was earth quite difficult for them to invade even with the Xen creatures already doing a fair bit of damage, but also the fact the Combine were keeping humanity alive in hopes of finding out their secrets to teleportation, I imagine Race X wanted no part of that happening to their species. I mean if the combine had Vortigores at their disposal, that'd be quite a harsh reality.
Even then, the Combine seem to be a quite fairly popular species. I couldn't imagine a Vortigore being a Synth of some-kind, even then. The Striders are dangerous as all hell, even the basic Hunter is dangerous. But then again, it's like comparing a nuke to a fucking shard of glass. And plus, considering how the insects in Race X's weaponry. Pit Worms, Pit Genes, Sprites, Shock-roach(?) And even their own babies being all dangerous. Plus, imagine a Synth Shock-trooper! Spore grenades, 4-swiping arms, 9 feet tall! Don't forget Pit Drones, they are terrifying!
I think it was most likely that the combine was an infamously strong faction that was known throughout the dimensions i think when race X found out the combine started inavding Earth theyd be in a war against the Faction that managed to genocide the Nihilanth species which even at their worst health one of them was still powerful enough to take over Xen and enslave the Vortigaunt refugees I mean seeing that they probably mustve thought they dont want to end up like Earth or the other dimension that got taken over by the combine
If you think about it, it makes sense why they didn't return in 'Half Life 2' because there is many ways why like, combine could use them in xen or there was not enough of them to reproduce fast enough etc.
I doubt its because of reproduction since we've seen many nests form with baby x aliens in them,and they are bug like and bugs reproduce quickly because of their short life span,I think it was just much safer for them to stay in the x dimension
X straight up don’t make sense and their motivations are flimsy to non-existent, but I do agree there’s interest in the ideas. It’s just a shame Gearbox didn’t want to flesh any of it out. Just “here’s aliens, they bad, shoot them.” A few ideas I’ve heard around are worth looking into for interest, like that Race X are a loose alliance of species loosely akin to the conglomeration of free western nations that is the UN for earth, Race X being an empire or federation from one of the many universe that border Xen, with the Race X invasion just an expeditionary force which would explain why they were seemingly under armed, armoured, and without a clear, dominating strategy during the invasion at Black Mesa. Another idea was that they’re just other refugees like the Nihilanth’s Influence, and the loose conglomeration is more akin to a raid gang trying to take over a favourable hiding spot from the folks that live there, and that Race X is a misnomer, as they’re all just refugees from the same universe as the Xenian forces. There’s so much one could work with, maybe it’s a blessing gearbox left a lot of information blank.
I like that they seem to be a more organized sort of intelligence based on cooperation with each other as opposed to the others being forced by the Nihilanth. If they were to ever come up in the future, I imagine they'd somehow bust Adrian Shepard out of his ethereal prison, knowing first hand that he's a force to be reckoned with. If they were to ever combat the combine, it'd be with his help. It'd be a cool parallel to Gordon Freeman unexpectedly becoming allies with the Vortigaunts.
How I always saw race x is like a mini version of the combine. A multi dimensional empire but nothing on the scale of building dyson spheres. They seem more organized as a military than the Xenian life but also not a threat big enough to take over a planet in 7 hours. I would love to see them in the distant future game. Perhaps the story takes us to a colony dimension that the combine later found, where they were able to fight off the combine at the cost of the colony. It seems like they have a better understanding of portals since they appear to be connected to the vortesence giving them a small advantage over combine tech despite the smaller army.
Its important to note that, unlike with Xen and the Nihilanth, the Gene-Worm survived the events of Opposing Force. Meaning that Race X has a unified command structure that would make them put up a much more effective resistance then Xen did.
I'm split on Race X. On one hand, I love Opposing Force (I hope it will eventually confirmed to be canon) and I like the variety Race X introduce into the gameplay, but on the other hand, they feel a bit forced into the story. I mean the concept of a chaotic fight between Black Mesa personell, HECU, Black Ops, Xen creatures AND Race X on top of that is really cool, but it does feel a bit too much. I think if Valve has a problem with that, they could just retcon Race X to be simply other Xen species. One thing Opposing Force introduced that I will always keep in my headcanon (even if Opposing Force gets contradicted at some point) is the fact that the Black Ops assassins are supposed to kill everything, including the Marines. That's such a cool little plot twist.
I think it would be awesome to include race X as, not a enemy that pops up in story but something that happened and exists out there, makes the whole universe feel more diverse
9:23 I think these creatures can be seen in Half Life 2 when You are going up the citadel in that pod thinkg before you reach Breens office. When 3 gunships exit the citadel
Opposing Forces was such a good addition. I was very young at the time and it never really clicked Race X were different. I can imagine now if any had lingered after Black Mesa the Combine would have defeated them. Maybe we'll see some slave variants going forward.
Binging your half-life lore videos and it's so nice to see you finding your voice, getting better overtime. Really, I don't know, comforting in a weird way.
Finally, somebody thinks like me. If all facility builded on the ground, one bomb destroyed all sectors but in underground they need at least 5 bomb. Also this facility made for nuclear war after ww2
Remember that room in Surface Tension that was full of nukes and tripmines? Black Mesa probably has many places like that. So one strategically placed detonation is enough to level whole facility since it'll create chain reaction. That's how I think.
@@kesorangutan6170 you have a point, but I have strong doubts that a random parking lot in an apparently mostly abandoned 1960s era factory at the far end of the complex is that location. Somewhere in the Lambda Complex or Anomalous Materials with their OSHA violations and high energy systems is probably a better place for a single bomb. On the other hand, Gordon and Barney have already left the facility by the time the Black Ops have decided to just nuke the place off the subsurface of New Mexico; it's quite possible there were multiple bombs.
Even if the nuke somehow daisy chained the ordinance rooms they'd still have to take out the rest of Sectors A-G, and we only saw one other ordinance storage facility besides the two in OF. Not to mention the vast distances and depths between each Sector.
INTERACTING IN ANY WAY HELPS!? Dope. I love this channel and I love you. I have learned so much about the Half-Life universe through your videos, MUCH more than I knew before. I played Half-Life and opposing force many years ago and didn't really pick up on most of this kind of info, like I didn't even realize the aliens Sheperd faced were so different and a part of a whole collective outside of what Gordon faces. Incredible. I have a whole new level of appreciation for this universe thanks to you!
I think Race X works as either part of the Combine Empire, or as a resistance similar to the Shu'Ulathoi who lasted until the combine found an exact counter. However, unlike the advisors the Combine never found a way to break the coalition of Race X, so we'll see Race X again during or after the EVENTS of HL3 chronologically.
I like to imagine race-X as a smaller empire that was all but wiped out by the combine, whose vestiges roam the galaxies they conquered in search for shelter.
That intro gave me an idea. What if the role was reversed and something an alien race did started teleporting life from Earth into one of their research facilities, which humans start exploiting? A human organization manages to place a "transmitter" in Xen, allowing them to stage a full-fledged invasion on this alien planet.
I enjoy these tidbits, as someone who hasn't touched Half-Life since the end of Episode 2. I haven't gone back to replay the games or really analyze anything since about a year after that, and all this stuff is really refreshing now that I'm old enough to wonder about all the quite literal universes that Half-Life opened up.
The plot for a new Half-Life could be that the Borealis creates a new portal to the X homeworld and the Geneworm tries to get through again. The Geneworm has evolved to be more resistant to humans so Freeman has a tough time killing it. Then it would give an excellent excuse to find someone who is an expert at killing it, Shepherd, who has been stuck on the alien world this whole time. Freeman finds him and returns him to earth to help kill the Geneworm.
@@GlupShito Maybe the combine also view the geneworm as a valuable asset to their plan, essentially creating a goose-chase scenario of who can find and stop the Geneworm first
I personally hope that if they ever come back in half life 3 (which will totally happen) we don't see them assimilated into the combine but once again trying to invade earth now the combine are cut off.
Man, if these games are meant to be canon, then it makes me wonder if antlion+antlion guardians are related to Vortigore, or if the tentacles are race X, and are just so capable of living everywhere that they grew on Xen
Honestly race x was interesting but gear box didn't put enough thought into them the lore is a little wishy washy and dosant seams cohearant but still interesting to learn about them
You should do a video on Gabe Newell's 2011 PC Gamer April fools story involving inter-dimensional species telepathically communicating to him to make Half-Life.
It makes me wonder how many species Gman actually saved from Combine rule, and he didn't save Earth specifically because humanity has the technology to beat the Combine.
Would be cool to see them come back having reverse-engineered stuff they took from black mesa, either with PCVs and MP5s, or maybe plasma stuff from black mesa itself.
The concept of a weapon that is also a mob gives me a bit of a chill, I love it. The snarks in the hl inventory are essentially similar in concept, but it’s just not the same! And I’ve said this a lot but all of the opforce mobs look so wicked. I want nothing more than to see this get a modern addition. The SAW / m249 was also very satisfying and it wanted to be your primary, hard to understand how anybody could know this and not feel like it was missing in hl1 or black mesa for that matter.
Thanks bud. It would've been great to learn more about the Race X homeworld and what their true intensions were. Maybe one day? Can't loose hope. Anything can happen!
I think in hindsight,Race X is just a smaller scale version of what the Combine eventually was and I think that’s really cool when you think of it that way
As usual very good video. You tell the story very detailed and immersive. What's your opinion on using the more modern and realistic footage from Black Mesa remake? For example Xen levels aged really poorly. But on BM it's one of most beautiful maps in gaming right now.
I think Racve-x while shunned by Valve, are actually a great idea, it makes teh world feel bigger and more nuanced. Imagine if Humans invaded some other extremly valuable dimension, if the americans send an army you can bet that as soon as possible the chinese would send their own troops aswell.
When i played opposing force, i found the vauntigores and shock troopers very annoying to fight and the final boss annoying because there is no way to know your killing it
I wonder why their teleportations have the green effeckts, not purple like their portals would suggest. I wonder that too, why the Gene worm resembels slightly to the Tentacle beasts in Blast pit and Interloper.
I think Race X didn´t invade earth to conquer it in the same sense as the combine did but to flee from them. A lot of technology used by X is used by the combine too, to be precise the bio weapons. The combine are known for invading planets to get their techs and use them to conquer other worlds with it, for earth it was the teleportation and for X the biotechs and for simple teleportation. The Nihilanth in Zen is trying the same, invading earth to get away from the combine. The ultimate goal of the combine is to have a good teleportation tech without having to travel through a borderworld or being unable to go back like in HL2. All Races that are fleeing from them or already been enslaved (Vortiagaunts) have some kind of teleport tech. The G-Man could be another Nihilanth as he does everything to stop the combine without ever revealing why he does it. It´s only a theory but it kinda makes sense to me.
At first, when the game was rleased, I didn't really feel the need to understand the origins or motivations of the Race -X in HL:OpForce, but I did wholeheartedly appreciated their addition to the game - it's only logical, that by telling a story from a new perspective and considerably upgrading the player's arsenal, new enemies have to be introduced as well. The Shocktrooper+shockroach combo is by far my favorite and most creative both esthetically and mechanically. The introduction with the abduction scene was ace! Leaving the player safe but guessing what new horror he's about to face. Shocktroopers are tough, fast, smart and have a variety of tricks up their sleves, to make the player's life a pain. The fact that we get to encounter them in large packs only after obtaining the mighty M249, the M40A1, the RPG and the Sporelauncher really helped to set the balance right. The Voltigore is an enemy that the game sort of needed, given the absurdly wide range of firepower within player's possession. It's introduction in the biodome and the arena fight is pretty neat - using cover from the rock formations and dancing around it makes it relatively easy for the player to burst it down even with a shotgun: it shows that it's a tough bullet sponge with a scary ranged attack and you certainly do not want to get to get anywhere near it. The first encounter does it's job at introducing the enemy, but doesn't spoil the absolute nightmare that is the "Foxtrot Uniform" chapter and it's underground segment where you get to fight over half a dozen of those things in a pitchblack labirynth. I'm pretty sure it's the one thing that players remember about this whole game most vividly and what made OpForce what it still is to this day. Unfortunately the rest of the Race-X creatures did not bring as much novelty to the franchise. The Pitdrone to me was basically like fighting a group of scaled down Bullsquids: having a respectable ranged and melee attack, small, but numerous, quite durable and somewhat annoying. They simply don't bring anything new to the table as an opponent. The Pitworm _kinda_ worked as a mini-boss segment and a homage to the "Blast Pit" level, but again, it's nothing new. The Gene Worm on the other hand will forever remain in my mind as what the introduction of Deadpool was in the X-Men origins: Wolverine; a half-assed attempt that is *so bad* , that you just want to forget about it as quickly as possible and by any means necessary.
6:51 here's what i have hard time to understand Aliens need to enter portals to teleporting to earth, right ? So why can you see, on Earth, aliens teleporting where and when they want to ?
Very informative video. I love anything related to Half-Life, specially Opposing Force. I don't see Race X returning in a new Half-Life game but it was great to see them. My favorite Race X alien it's gotta be the shock trooper. Also, if we compare Race X with Xen, the latter takes over due to the large of aliens that we witnessed throughout the Half-Life games.
I feel they might be an enemy of the combines, trying to take earth before they are able to. I feel the combine can't go into zen for some reason and races use it as a middle ground against them. The combine probably have a monopoly on most habitual planets so when one comes up, everyone rushes to make a claim and dig in
When it comes to that spore launcher sitting in a test tube... Heh, I like the idea that when the Black Mesa scientists were on their expeditions collecting their samples from Xen, they accidentally collected a member of somebody else's expedition! 'cause especially in a place like Xen where even the native life all came from other worlds... how would you even know? The pit drones make less sense. With those eyes situated where they are, meaning no depth perception, and that spike launcher of theirs blocking the middle of their view, they shouldn't have any ability to actually aim it. In fact, shock troopers shouldn't have any depth perception either. And voltigores seem to be blind. Maybe they all use something other than vision to pinpoint their targets. Maybe they detect body heat?
My own opinion that Shock Troopers of X-Race are kind of militarised slaves for alliance. That's why they hate military elite of alliance - gargs and agrunts, and still ally with other xen monsters. What about pit drones and voligores - they looks similar as xen monsters, so they most likely xen animals domesteficated by the Shock Troopers. Huge worms - most likely mutants produced by their genetics for different goals, which were blown by Adrian Shephard.
If the Combine discovered race X it would have been gg for the universe as they will create something even more terrifying from the gene worm and the sprites.
Why would they need those Race X "leader" Gene Worm when they have their own "leader" who is Combine Advisor. The weakness of Advisor is however they can be distracted and well spolier in the eli grabbed moment on Half-Life 2 EP 2 and one of them get killed by DOG. While Advisor is smaller than Gene Worm, they could literally telekinesis, stop time (probably), pick props around (probably) and literally wrap reality so yea. There is more combine synths too but for further look, you gotta go look for that.
@@namelessguy933 The advisors are not the real leaders of the Combine though, since they were a peaceful spiritual and quite culturally bizarre race before the Universal Union assimilated them into its war machine.
The amount of times he’s gone over the cause of the resonance cascade is amazing
It's just one of those important moments I guess. Can't gloss over it really ☺
It's kind of comparable to something like the Titanic sinking or the Chernobyl disaster, it's a massive, multifaceted event which had an enormous footprint and enormous consequences. You have entire groups of people who dedicate themselves to the study of these things, and the Resonance Cascade, while fictional, is no less different.
@@Skyrionn what accent do you have? I wish I could speak like you
@@g--stef4756 and also it leaves a lot of questions.
@@singularity6305 He’s actually Welsh, IIRC.
I like the Idea that Race X and the combine are both competing Rival empires who have previously come to blows within the multiverse
Maybe they have different philosophies in their conquering methods or use of new resources, I like to think race x wanted to make earth an expansion of their homeland for them to inhabit all in the same having no room for diaologue with the victims all being silenced while the combine would study, adapt, overcome, infiltrate, replace and inhabit the land they conquered in an effort to have a diversity of troops adapted to different environment but still have some malevolent use to the enslaved race to be used however they please or total extermination
@@nadie4221 Pretty cool concept
Like Rome and Persia were
I remember reading a theory back in the day on the overwiki, (around 2010 - 2011), that Race X could have been a first strike force for the combine.
@@alexyerkey8139 That's interesting
Huh, this "Adrian" guy sounds pretty cool. Can't wait to see what he did in the sequel.
Reminds me of that kid that finished HL2 and asked his dad about the next game☠
I have some bad news
@@Skyrionn what is it?
I mean, there was Prospekt?
He hunted down the Freeman
I think that co-opting Race X would be of great interest to the Combine for their advanced bio-technologies.
thus... they cannot be within their grasp. the gman's mission?
Just imagine what would have happened though!
They probably aren't aware of their existence, they seem to be of a separate world/dimension, only popping up into earth given the opportunity that the cascade gave
They could be fighting them on the combines multiversal war
As an idle thought, an interesting NPC for if we ever got another Adrien Shephard game would be the juvenile shock-trooper he fed, petted and used as a grenade launcher.
Maybe he domesticated it? Lol
I don’t know what’s weirder. The fact that the Shock Troopers have an internal bodily process for producing organic grenades, or that their babies can be used as living grenade launchers. Seriously, is this Destiny or something? WHY ARE GUNS ALIVE?!
@@ShawndaPrawn Well, we see similar -- albeit significantly less advanced -- natural weapons in this world. The weirdest part of the whole thing is probably that it's stable enough to *impact* something or roll around.
Well Race X's whole thing is bio weapons and technology so it's not crazy to think that then Shock Troopers "enhanced" themselves in order to be deadlier during their invasions of other worlds.
It’s interesting seeing how many different spins he can put onto describing the resonance cascade
and I have so many more :P
The ride never ends
I think the reason we don't see Race X at all during half life 2 and even Alyx is because they probably realized that not only was earth quite difficult for them to invade even with the Xen creatures already doing a fair bit of damage, but also the fact the Combine were keeping humanity alive in hopes of finding out their secrets to teleportation, I imagine Race X wanted no part of that happening to their species.
I mean if the combine had Vortigores at their disposal, that'd be quite a harsh reality.
Even then, the Combine seem to be a quite fairly popular species.
I couldn't imagine a Vortigore being a Synth of some-kind, even then. The Striders are dangerous as all hell, even the basic Hunter is dangerous. But then again, it's like comparing a nuke to a fucking shard of glass.
And plus, considering how the insects in Race X's weaponry. Pit Worms, Pit Genes, Sprites, Shock-roach(?) And even their own babies being all dangerous. Plus, imagine a Synth Shock-trooper! Spore grenades, 4-swiping arms, 9 feet tall! Don't forget Pit Drones, they are terrifying!
I think it was most likely that the combine was an infamously strong faction that was known throughout the dimensions i think when race X found out the combine started inavding Earth theyd be in a war against the Faction that managed to genocide the Nihilanth species which even at their worst health one of them was still powerful enough to take over Xen and enslave the Vortigaunt refugees
I mean seeing that they probably mustve thought they dont want to end up like Earth or the other dimension that got taken over by the combine
I think Race X could stand a fair chance against the Combine forces
it would be really cool if the Revivers from Alyx are race x.
They just didn’t want that smoke
If you think about it, it makes sense why they didn't return in 'Half Life 2' because there is many ways why like, combine could use them in xen or there was not enough of them to reproduce fast enough etc.
I guess it was just safer for them to stay within their homeworld away from The Combine
I doubt its because of reproduction since we've seen many nests form with baby x aliens in them,and they are bug like and bugs reproduce quickly because of their short life span,I think it was just much safer for them to stay in the x dimension
X are fascinating. Would be neat to see them at war with the Combine, or as part of them, in a later game
I was thinking the same thing, perhaps they might become allies against the Combine as well.
@@DriftedVisionMan Issue is, they're cut off. They tried to take earth, but were thwarted by shepherd
I'd love to see a synth version of the shock trooper
X straight up don’t make sense and their motivations are flimsy to non-existent, but I do agree there’s interest in the ideas. It’s just a shame Gearbox didn’t want to flesh any of it out. Just “here’s aliens, they bad, shoot them.”
A few ideas I’ve heard around are worth looking into for interest, like that Race X are a loose alliance of species loosely akin to the conglomeration of free western nations that is the UN for earth, Race X being an empire or federation from one of the many universe that border Xen, with the Race X invasion just an expeditionary force which would explain why they were seemingly under armed, armoured, and without a clear, dominating strategy during the invasion at Black Mesa.
Another idea was that they’re just other refugees like the Nihilanth’s Influence, and the loose conglomeration is more akin to a raid gang trying to take over a favourable hiding spot from the folks that live there, and that Race X is a misnomer, as they’re all just refugees from the same universe as the Xenian forces.
There’s so much one could work with, maybe it’s a blessing gearbox left a lot of information blank.
@@DoctorProph3t they did that on purpose in case valve decided to use them in future gsmes
I like that they seem to be a more organized sort of intelligence based on cooperation with each other as opposed to the others being forced by the Nihilanth. If they were to ever come up in the future, I imagine they'd somehow bust Adrian Shepard out of his ethereal prison, knowing first hand that he's a force to be reckoned with. If they were to ever combat the combine, it'd be with his help. It'd be a cool parallel to Gordon Freeman unexpectedly becoming allies with the Vortigaunts.
How I always saw race x is like a mini version of the combine. A multi dimensional empire but nothing on the scale of building dyson spheres.
They seem more organized as a military than the Xenian life but also not a threat big enough to take over a planet in 7 hours.
I would love to see them in the distant future game. Perhaps the story takes us to a colony dimension that the combine later found, where they were able to fight off the combine at the cost of the colony. It seems like they have a better understanding of portals since they appear to be connected to the vortesence giving them a small advantage over combine tech despite the smaller army.
Its important to note that, unlike with Xen and the Nihilanth, the Gene-Worm survived the events of Opposing Force. Meaning that Race X has a unified command structure that would make them put up a much more effective resistance then Xen did.
I'd like to see a bit on the less conventional weapons. Hive Hand, Snarks, the Gluon Gun... that kind of stuff.
Maybe in future game if they come
@@Skyrionn valve doesn't go back on weapons much
@@thegoldenbucketstudios9896🖍️🔁💥❌🚀
I'm split on Race X. On one hand, I love Opposing Force (I hope it will eventually confirmed to be canon) and I like the variety Race X introduce into the gameplay, but on the other hand, they feel a bit forced into the story. I mean the concept of a chaotic fight between Black Mesa personell, HECU, Black Ops, Xen creatures AND Race X on top of that is really cool, but it does feel a bit too much. I think if Valve has a problem with that, they could just retcon Race X to be simply other Xen species. One thing Opposing Force introduced that I will always keep in my headcanon (even if Opposing Force gets contradicted at some point) is the fact that the Black Ops assassins are supposed to kill everything, including the Marines. That's such a cool little plot twist.
I think it would be awesome to include race X as, not a enemy that pops up in story but something that happened and exists out there, makes the whole universe feel more diverse
I heard there was maps cut from op4 around the chapter where you first start fighting them. Probs would have fleshed them out more
the official stance is that they dont confirm anything as canon, that there is just the games, so personally i consider all the games to be canon
I always think race X just went to Black Mesa just to see the fireworks
A little more than that :P They contributed to its fall I guess
You watched jolly wangcores video did you?
@@Pacman009 yep
9:23 I think these creatures can be seen in Half Life 2 when You are going up the citadel in that pod thinkg before you reach Breens office. When 3 gunships exit the citadel
I'm absolutely going to have to look into this!
The Mortar synths definitelly have some resemblence even though they are visibly altered by technology.
The resonance cascade in the HL universe is basically what can happen in 40k if a demon gets into a high powered psyker's mind.
Yet another half-life lore. Put too well. Thank you Skyrionn
Thanks for watching. Also thank you for the continued support!
Opposing Forces was such a good addition. I was very young at the time and it never really clicked Race X were different. I can imagine now if any had lingered after Black Mesa the Combine would have defeated them. Maybe we'll see some slave variants going forward.
Binging your half-life lore videos and it's so nice to see you finding your voice, getting better overtime. Really, I don't know, comforting in a weird way.
I still don't believe that one nuclear bomb was enough to destroy Black Mesa, especially one detonated while in an underground parking lot
Finally, somebody thinks like me. If all facility builded on the ground, one bomb destroyed all sectors but in underground they need at least 5 bomb. Also this facility made for nuclear war after ww2
Remember that room in Surface Tension that was full of nukes and tripmines? Black Mesa probably has many places like that. So one strategically placed detonation is enough to level whole facility since it'll create chain reaction. That's how I think.
@@kesorangutan6170 ture
@@kesorangutan6170 you have a point, but I have strong doubts that a random parking lot in an apparently mostly abandoned 1960s era factory at the far end of the complex is that location. Somewhere in the Lambda Complex or Anomalous Materials with their OSHA violations and high energy systems is probably a better place for a single bomb.
On the other hand, Gordon and Barney have already left the facility by the time the Black Ops have decided to just nuke the place off the subsurface of New Mexico; it's quite possible there were multiple bombs.
Even if the nuke somehow daisy chained the ordinance rooms they'd still have to take out the rest of Sectors A-G, and we only saw one other ordinance storage facility besides the two in OF. Not to mention the vast distances and depths between each Sector.
INTERACTING IN ANY WAY HELPS!? Dope. I love this channel and I love you. I have learned so much about the Half-Life universe through your videos, MUCH more than I knew before. I played Half-Life and opposing force many years ago and didn't really pick up on most of this kind of info, like I didn't even realize the aliens Sheperd faced were so different and a part of a whole collective outside of what Gordon faces. Incredible. I have a whole new level of appreciation for this universe thanks to you!
I'm glad I could help and thank you so much for the comment.
I think Race X works as either part of the Combine Empire, or as a resistance similar to the Shu'Ulathoi who lasted until the combine found an exact counter. However, unlike the advisors the Combine never found a way to break the coalition of Race X, so we'll see Race X again during or after the EVENTS of HL3 chronologically.
I like to imagine race-X as a smaller empire that was all but wiped out by the combine, whose vestiges roam the galaxies they conquered in search for shelter.
@@AlteForeFair assessment.
I feel like it would be cool if the team that did Black Mesa made a sequel about Opposing Force.
You are making the best lore videos ever. Continue like that please.
Thanks so much! I really appreciate that. There's more to come :D
Love these videos, race X has way more going on than I thought!
I learned so much too while doing research. Thanks for watching
That intro gave me an idea. What if the role was reversed and something an alien race did started teleporting life from Earth into one of their research facilities, which humans start exploiting? A human organization manages to place a "transmitter" in Xen, allowing them to stage a full-fledged invasion on this alien planet.
idk but if xen was ACTUALLY real in rl then humans would totally do that.
Except they don't enslave them
I enjoy these tidbits, as someone who hasn't touched Half-Life since the end of Episode 2. I haven't gone back to replay the games or really analyze anything since about a year after that, and all this stuff is really refreshing now that I'm old enough to wonder about all the quite literal universes that Half-Life opened up.
it's mindblowing how much these weird insect like weird alien creatures are fascinating.
Ngl I kinda want this guy to cover all of Half-Life lore in detail in one long video some day.
Your voice is actually quite soothing.
You know what would be interesting, what if race X were rivals to the combine and both are fighting over control of the multiverse.
keep up the videos brother,they are awesome
Thanks bud! Really appreciate the support
The plot for a new Half-Life could be that the Borealis creates a new portal to the X homeworld and the Geneworm tries to get through again. The Geneworm has evolved to be more resistant to humans so Freeman has a tough time killing it. Then it would give an excellent excuse to find someone who is an expert at killing it, Shepherd, who has been stuck on the alien world this whole time. Freeman finds him and returns him to earth to help kill the Geneworm.
But that would push the whole Combine story line to the waste line for what is essential a bonus boss in the whole half life series
@@GlupShito Maybe the combine also view the geneworm as a valuable asset to their plan, essentially creating a goose-chase scenario of who can find and stop the Geneworm first
I had no idea Sprites were sentient organisms, holy shid. I always thought they were errant sparks of exotic energy and never thought to observe them.
I personally hope that if they ever come back in half life 3 (which will totally happen) we don't see them assimilated into the combine but once again trying to invade earth now the combine are cut off.
Man, if these games are meant to be canon, then it makes me wonder if antlion+antlion guardians are related to Vortigore, or if the tentacles are race X, and are just so capable of living everywhere that they grew on Xen
That's what i thought too.... These Antlion guards do look similar to the vortigores
Honestly race x was interesting but gear box didn't put enough thought into them the lore is a little wishy washy and dosant seams cohearant but still interesting to learn about them
Yeah, it's always interesting. I liked them :P
You should do a video on Gabe Newell's 2011 PC Gamer April fools story involving inter-dimensional species telepathically communicating to him to make Half-Life.
That's something I haven't heard of. Will have to look into it
Well we know that at least one of them is making a show about different types of water.
I love this channel. Awesome work
It makes me wonder how many species Gman actually saved from Combine rule, and he didn't save Earth specifically because humanity has the technology to beat the Combine.
Could you make a video on the beta storyline in general, I’m enjoying binging all this half life lore stuff :)
Would be cool to see them come back having reverse-engineered stuff they took from black mesa, either with PCVs and MP5s, or maybe plasma stuff from black mesa itself.
this guy has such an excellent voice for this type of content
Oh man, I love the song "Technical Difficultues" so strange it came from such a place.
The concept of a weapon that is also a mob gives me a bit of a chill, I love it. The snarks in the hl inventory are essentially similar in concept, but it’s just not the same! And I’ve said this a lot but all of the opforce mobs look so wicked. I want nothing more than to see this get a modern addition. The SAW / m249 was also very satisfying and it wanted to be your primary, hard to understand how anybody could know this and not feel like it was missing in hl1 or black mesa for that matter.
Cool video! Shame gearbox didn't make any more half-life games. We might have learned more about Race x.
Thanks bud. It would've been great to learn more about the Race X homeworld and what their true intensions were. Maybe one day? Can't loose hope. Anything can happen!
I think in hindsight,Race X is just a smaller scale version of what the Combine eventually was and I think that’s really cool when you think of it that way
Great choice of video clips to tell the narrative
Thanks my dude ☺
As usual very good video. You tell the story very detailed and immersive.
What's your opinion on using the more modern and realistic footage from Black Mesa remake? For example Xen levels aged really poorly. But on BM it's one of most beautiful maps in gaming right now.
Thank you ☺
Some of the BM Xen levels are the few I can use for capturing but the Black Mesa levels don't seem to want to cooperate 😂
@@Skyrionn I like how they used a lot of ideas Valve wanted to do with it.
I think Racve-x while shunned by Valve, are actually a great idea, it makes teh world feel bigger and more nuanced.
Imagine if Humans invaded some other extremly valuable dimension, if the americans send an army you can bet that as soon as possible the chinese would send their own troops aswell.
The Race X creatures don't have to be different species, they can very well be subspecies or assigned their roles at birth.
pit worm: can tower over 6 people with ease
Skyrionn: yeah thats about 12 feet
me:😐
When i played opposing force, i found the vauntigores and shock troopers very annoying to fight and the final boss annoying because there is no way to know your killing it
Fan fact about Shock Troopers - they use same lego-like composed (of sound files in game's directory) phrases as game's human soldiers.
1:03 vid:“Where did they come from“ my peanut brain „where did they go? Where do you come from cotton eyed joe“
Just because i have to comment your videos.
u deserve more subs
so much work in your content, i love it 💯❤
I wonder why their teleportations have the green effeckts, not purple like their portals would suggest.
I wonder that too, why the Gene worm resembels slightly to the Tentacle beasts in Blast pit and Interloper.
I have a little head cannon that race X is a rival empire to the combine
Well, in terms of operational methods, these guys are basically the Combine without cybernetics.
I think Race X didn´t invade earth to conquer it in the same sense as the combine did but to flee from them. A lot of technology used by X is used by the combine too, to be precise the bio weapons. The combine are known for invading planets to get their techs and use them to conquer other worlds with it, for earth it was the teleportation and for X the biotechs and for simple teleportation. The Nihilanth in Zen is trying the same, invading earth to get away from the combine. The ultimate goal of the combine is to have a good teleportation tech without having to travel through a borderworld or being unable to go back like in HL2. All Races that are fleeing from them or already been enslaved (Vortiagaunts) have some kind of teleport tech. The G-Man could be another Nihilanth as he does everything to stop the combine without ever revealing why he does it. It´s only a theory but it kinda makes sense to me.
Thomas Hood nailed this perfectly in my opinion
6:55 that's my boi, trooper mub mub
At first, when the game was rleased, I didn't really feel the need to understand the origins or motivations of the Race -X in HL:OpForce, but I did wholeheartedly appreciated their addition to the game - it's only logical, that by telling a story from a new perspective and considerably upgrading the player's arsenal, new enemies have to be introduced as well.
The Shocktrooper+shockroach combo is by far my favorite and most creative both esthetically and mechanically. The introduction with the abduction scene was ace! Leaving the player safe but guessing what new horror he's about to face. Shocktroopers are tough, fast, smart and have a variety of tricks up their sleves, to make the player's life a pain. The fact that we get to encounter them in large packs only after obtaining the mighty M249, the M40A1, the RPG and the Sporelauncher really helped to set the balance right.
The Voltigore is an enemy that the game sort of needed, given the absurdly wide range of firepower within player's possession. It's introduction in the biodome and the arena fight is pretty neat - using cover from the rock formations and dancing around it makes it relatively easy for the player to burst it down even with a shotgun: it shows that it's a tough bullet sponge with a scary ranged attack and you certainly do not want to get to get anywhere near it.
The first encounter does it's job at introducing the enemy, but doesn't spoil the absolute nightmare that is the "Foxtrot Uniform" chapter and it's underground segment where you get to fight over half a dozen of those things in a pitchblack labirynth. I'm pretty sure it's the one thing that players remember about this whole game most vividly and what made OpForce what it still is to this day.
Unfortunately the rest of the Race-X creatures did not bring as much novelty to the franchise.
The Pitdrone to me was basically like fighting a group of scaled down Bullsquids: having a respectable ranged and melee attack, small, but numerous, quite durable and somewhat annoying. They simply don't bring anything new to the table as an opponent.
The Pitworm _kinda_ worked as a mini-boss segment and a homage to the "Blast Pit" level, but again, it's nothing new.
The Gene Worm on the other hand will forever remain in my mind as what the introduction of Deadpool was in the X-Men origins: Wolverine; a half-assed attempt that is *so bad* , that you just want to forget about it as quickly as possible and by any means necessary.
I really hope there’s a lore on conscripts
I'll see what I can dig up!
Idk why, but vortigors kinda looks like crab synths
6:51 here's what i have hard time to understand
Aliens need to enter portals to teleporting to earth, right ?
So why can you see, on Earth, aliens teleporting where and when they want to ?
Very informative video. I love anything related to Half-Life, specially Opposing Force. I don't see Race X returning in a new Half-Life game but it was great to see them.
My favorite Race X alien it's gotta be the shock trooper. Also, if we compare Race X with Xen, the latter takes over due to the large of aliens that we witnessed throughout the Half-Life games.
I can't say which my favourite is really. It tends to change every time that play it :)
High key didn't know that spore launcher is a baby shock trooper. Neat.
They should thank Adrian for stopping their invasion otherwise they would die to the combine
Adrian kicked their ass so hard they never came back
I feel they might be an enemy of the combines, trying to take earth before they are able to. I feel the combine can't go into zen for some reason and races use it as a middle ground against them. The combine probably have a monopoly on most habitual planets so when one comes up, everyone rushes to make a claim and dig in
When it comes to that spore launcher sitting in a test tube... Heh, I like the idea that when the Black Mesa scientists were on their expeditions collecting their samples from Xen, they accidentally collected a member of somebody else's expedition!
'cause especially in a place like Xen where even the native life all came from other worlds... how would you even know?
The pit drones make less sense. With those eyes situated where they are, meaning no depth perception, and that spike launcher of theirs blocking the middle of their view, they shouldn't have any ability to actually aim it.
In fact, shock troopers shouldn't have any depth perception either. And voltigores seem to be blind. Maybe they all use something other than vision to pinpoint their targets. Maybe they detect body heat?
This was a very good video and I look forward to more!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching :)
I hope race x returns and makes a more direct role then just a behind the main scene villain or someone makes a remade opposing force like black mesa
race x = part of the combine is my headcannon
3:02 Exotic Butter?
3:00 Shattered? It's Right There..
13:18 IA GORDON WEARING BADASS GLASSES?
I hope we see 'em again!
I liked it! Nice video!
Thanks very much ☺
You should've put Shepard bunnyhopping around
Pit drones are adorable
My own opinion that Shock Troopers of X-Race are kind of militarised slaves for alliance. That's why they hate military elite of alliance - gargs and agrunts, and still ally with other xen monsters. What about pit drones and voligores - they looks similar as xen monsters, so they most likely xen animals domesteficated by the Shock Troopers. Huge worms - most likely mutants produced by their genetics for different goals, which were blown by Adrian Shephard.
I am just drawn to Xen for whatever reason, seems like I belong there or a place similar like that
It's likely a very dangerous place too
@@Skyrionn yes no doubt, dangerous can be beautiful a lot of times too
Has anyone had a vent glitch shortly after meeting race x for the 1st time, going through the labs???
If the Combine discovered race X it would have been gg for the universe as they will create something even more terrifying from the gene worm and the sprites.
Why would they need those Race X "leader" Gene Worm when they have their own "leader" who is Combine Advisor. The weakness of Advisor is however they can be distracted and well spolier in the eli grabbed moment on Half-Life 2 EP 2 and one of them get killed by DOG. While Advisor is smaller than Gene Worm, they could literally telekinesis, stop time (probably), pick props around (probably) and literally wrap reality so yea. There is more combine synths too but for further look, you gotta go look for that.
@@namelessguy933 The advisors are not the real leaders of the Combine though, since they were a peaceful spiritual and quite culturally bizarre race before the Universal Union assimilated them into its war machine.
"GENEbrother lives again to fuUCKing KiLLL" - Pit Drone 2023
How did the scientists get the crystals they needed to get to the zen dimension prior to the resonance cascade?
There's a point in the first game where gman
12:41 This door has to be a Star Wars reference. It looks just like the garbage compactor on the Death Star.
Good god that white haired scientist looked like a different species
Don't remember what they where saying, but they really gave their phrases meanings, it's not random gibbrish
Marry Christmas , Happy Honuka and whatever else is there
Thanks dude :) I hope yours was good too!
Time to replay Opposing Force!
be mistake having still opend my google translate feature me thinking race x is google
Imagine if in half life 3, the Race X have a comeback. It would be interesting.
Wonderful video
Many thanks
You’re basically the vaatividya of half life
What was the purpose of the anti mass spectrometer experiment?
so Race X manage to avoid the combine because the portal blow up
I found this video to be extraordinary interesting
Please make one of these about the gonarch
I'll add it to the list :)
Thank you
Merry xmas!!🎄🎅💙
I hope you had a great christmas :)
What a good fkn video.