I’d Kiev to see him as a leader of a small rebel sect using the pcv vest, and giving Gordon his personal deagle, hell as he hands him tye deagle he says “This laser was incredibly epointed at an enemy…that enemy will now kill a common enemy, good luck freeman, don’t surrender”
even a small cameo would be great, I would like seeing him leading a small resistance group into battle in the background, or maybe just him in general running with his wrench.
After the ending of Alyx... It is partly confirmed that there will be another Half Life, and I hope they have something planned for Adrian there... If there could be anyone who could stand up alongside Gordon when it comes to kicking alien ass, its Adrian.
Yea it would Skylion and onigi but it would be impossible due to freeman and barney not knowing hes alive there would be confusions and even destruction of the revolution (probably) the only people who could saw adrian would be the rebels and the combines and g-man would not even know if he escaped. So yea you can make the mod no one is stopping you so yea (the escape could be an deployement with gman knowing).
@SHOOK ENGIE either that or a command and Conquer campaign where it's one story through the eyes of two different people. Have the Gordon story and the Adrian story
Ever since I played OpFor, I couldnt help but notice, G-Man calls him a "witness" and puts him where He "Could do no harm, and where no harm will come of" him.
I like to think Shephard will only have seconds in the void, where as to use its been decades waiting for his return to the Half Life franchise. As scifi time distortion works like that at times, being out of the loop of time and all that. Gman would pop in, Shephard would be like "Forgot something?"
Not only that, whenever Valve makes their next game, it's suppose to be revolutionary for the time, pushing the limits of technology and coding. They really want to surpass expectations, which is why it takes a long time to produce more games, when the expectations by fans and by most gamers in general, are just expecting better and better. So, valve, just works on making a groundbreaking story driven game. As realistic and limit breaking as possible.
@@smugplushyeah but the reaction was still a little excessive, we knew that they were working on new half life stuff so why did we flip our shit at a harmless card game
Shephard returning as a recurring boss like Vergil from DMC or Kuze from Yakuza in a future game is a dream of mine, it makes so much sense too; Having replaced Gordon, G-Man seeks to tie up loose ends and awakens Shephard, reminds him of Gordon's role in Black Mesa, then supplies him with countless weapons and drops him off not too far from Gordon and Eli's location. It could serve as a reminder that while Gordon is a survivor and a badass, he's not a killing machine like Shephard.
I can imagine a possible boss fight where gordon fights Shephard With shepard having the weapons he acquired in the past probably sent by gman as a way to test gordon. Phase one would be on the ground with him ducking and moving from cover to cover firing at gordon. Phase two he would use the grapple barnacle to cling to walls while firing at a distance with you having to fire at the appendage of the barnacle several times to bring him down. The final stage could have him rushing you down with an smg and combat knife in a last ditch attempt to take gordon down.
@@TheSandwhichman108 i like your idea. the first stage could have the outlandish weapons like the shock roach and spore launcher, next stage he'd use the more normal heavy armaments, and finally he'd charge Gordon man to man, no fancy guns, just a standard issue ass kicking
@@JacobVonRoker yeah plus it would be interesting to see how players would fight an enemy that’s on equal footing to gordon in power. Would probably be the second to last boss so that way your at full power when you fight them.
I came in really early to this video, and so I wanted to finally state my appreciation not only to the fictional character, Adrian Shephard, but to you. Your way of narrating and expressing your thoughts it's actually very unique and special in my opinion, your speech lets me concentrate into the themes of your videos and also goes for a slowed down but at the same time fast paced narration, unlike some people going on way too fast in these kind of videos. This character is really interesting and my heart really believes Adrian has his place in the post-Half-Life 1 Universe. It would be nonsensical to remove his canonicity entirely or confirm it directly rather than putting him into a game to give a little spark of surprise, but the mistery that Half-Life has between games as to whether they are canon stories viewed by the vision of the protagonist is really interesting and intriguing. That said, both topics are an excellent addition to Half-Life, your voice and way of speech, and Half-Life itself. Thanks.
This comment is the best thing I have read all week. I really appreciate the kind words of support. I would pin this but I thought I'd leave something to boost the engagement and RUclipsy stuff! Narration is a huge thing and it's taken well over a year to get it just right. I like to do these lore videos as a documentary kinda thing where we're actually in the universe with them and how it's effected the world. I'm glad you picked up on that. I agree with everything you've stated about Adrian and the world and I thank you for taking the time to comment. It's made me day (as well as this video being the best performing video I've had in the first few hours of posting) Thanks again!
@@hayro252 Grease lord Randy can go f*ck himself with a dragon dildo. If i remember correctly screenshot literally shows a HECU marine who's is in the room that fills with toxic waste. You know, the room we visited during the early levels of Opposing Force.
I never thought about how sinister the implications were that the HECU was preparing for a Resonance Cascade. The G-Man had it all planned out this far in advance.
it was not prepared the author of the video made it up lol there so many things wrong or misleading he said in this video and he also forgot to mention the most important plot point in the whole game that's about race X
@xyzbeats except Shepard's Journal, reveals they were being trained for the Black Mesa incident months before it even happened, and the G-Man was there watching them, Adrian in particular
I didn’t even realize that the situation in which Adrian spots Gordon is supposed to be that Adrian could kill Freeman or let him go, I just thought it was a cool cameo where it’s like “let me follow yo-AHHHHHhhhhhh..”
The fact that 'Return to Ravenholm' was going to be a thing, tells me not only does Valve acknowledge the existence of Cpl. Adrian Shephard, but they were going to add him into a Half Life game!!
I think one thing that makes adrian special is his relationship with gman. He KNOWS gman planned it all, he has seen him for a long time, and he had multiple direct interactions with him. and in the end, gman took adrian as a souvenir. if there is another adrian shephard game, they definitely should build upon this. we could get a lot of insight into gman, and his powers.
Personally i always found opposing force to be the best half life game. Gordon and his adventure is cool and all and so was blue shift...but not cooler than Adrian
@Hazzmati Good thing we have Azure Sheep to make up for Blue Shift’s shortcomings, and with the canon of the series largely being left up to the players’ interpretations, then “Just Barney” and his lover Kate successfully managed to escape the Black Mesa Research Facility in a company vehicle along with a renegade Vortigaunt that they found along the roadside.
Honestly, yeah. I prefer the sandbox of HL 1, but Adrian is just such a fun character. Also OF's depiction of Black Mesa is really cool, Race X expands the universe a lot, and the Spore Launcher is my best friend.
For years I've wanted a revisit of Adrian's story. I love this video and it's great to see others recognize how cool he is. I've never questioned his canonical role in the events. Thanks for the vid, Sky!
I think the Gman has been using him for his nefarious needs throughout the multiverse, who knows what he’s seen and done in that time. Or maybe he’s stuck in a loop, plying through the Black Mesa incident over and over again, stuck in his own purgatory for 20 years. Poor guy.
@@19kp. When you play the game you can't, well not conventionally, so I think the same limitations are with poor old Shepard. Try as he might, he can never break out of that prison he is in... Until, that is, the great being known only as Valve releases him!
He's not conscious, he's like frozen, time has passed but he didn't, when he returns he'll still look 22 and won't know what happened (pretty much what episode 4 was going to be)
...Well, this video was a godsend. I'm planning to do a roleplay-style playthrough of Opposing Force that characterizes Shephard, complete with my own backstory, to fill in the gaps that Gearbox and Valve left out. I was literally about to write a character profile when I saw this video in my suggestions. The timing on this _could not_ have been a coincidence.
I just recently discovered your channel and have been watching all the half-life related stuff. Your pronounciation, wording and timing of your script is so fitting for the half-life universe for some reason. It sounds really authentic. You're doing an amazing work here and should be much more popular in my opinion
I wish that Opposing Force properly told Adrian what his orders were, it would have been a completely new experience if you were forced to kill scientists to follow your orders to help you sympathize with the soldiers better. Then maybe, as the situation devolves into chaos later in the game and the chain of command is destroyed you are given the option to spare or help scientists
From what I have heard, that's the point. Since he never receives order to kill, none of the Black Mesa personnel are considered hostile+ really helpful when it comes to opening doors and stuff like that
I really like these lore videos! They're so interesting and I like how they tell the lore more as a story than as a recounting; as if it's being told as a campfire story or history lesson to members of the Resistance! Excellently done, sir!
Adrian Shephard should have been in Half Life 2. He should had been a leading role in the cut faction, the Conscripts. He should have been there, Freeman surrounded by striders, coming out of nowhere and destroying them. He... Shoulda been there...
I just want to see Adrian Shephard on Combine controlled Earth. I can't even begin to imagine the levels of motivated anger one would feel from coming fresh after the victory straight into some alien race taking over the planet.
imagine if there was a two player co-op half life game with Barney and Adrian being the 2 playable characters, set sometime after the combine invasion either before or after the events of Gordon's arrival.
Imagine if they made a somewhat short new game to get people ready for Half Life 3 with Adrian being released out of stasis and either having a solo outing or working with resistance members like Barney to discover the current location of Gordon or a new weapon that could help take down the combine, or hell just finding information about where the Borealis is to pass down to Freeman, any of these options would be amazing and as long as Half Life 3 is promised and the game moves the plot atleast somewhat further I know fans will love it, just look at Half Life Alyx, all it had was a few references to Gordon and that final scene and fans lost their shit, even though the game was a huge departure from Valve's standard games with a gimmick that you either love or hate
If Gordon is the sword, then perhaps Adrian could be the shield. I can see Gman using Adrian to safeguard other important characters through the events of HL2 and interfering with fate as it were.
I'm calling it now. My fave boot boy Adrian is gonna be the protagonist in Portal 3. I know it sounds stupid, but I got a feeling Valve would do some funky stuff like that.
@@petra080171 It's never explicitly said how long Portal 2 is after Half-Life 2 but the Earth being completely pristine suggests the Combine have been kicked off Earth. So you are right in that front by if you're referring to the specific 500,000 years figure. That's never mentioned in-game only in ancillary material and ancillary material has been retconned before. The PS2 guide for Half-Life says Gordon has only been at Black Mesa for a very short time but Half-Life 2 has it mentioned he's been there for some time.
i think they didn't because Adrian wouldn't know people. He would just drop in the combine controlled earth having 1) no allies 2) no friends 3) no direction and gman isnt the kinda character to just give you a direction, right? Gordon and Alyx on the other hand, have friends, allies and are quickly given directions by them. But I honestly want Adrian to come back, such a badass character cant just be put indo indefinite stasis
I think gman chose Alyx because she could've been nurtured into becoming exactly what the gman needs. Someone who isn't susceptible to outside influence like how Gordon was in hl2ep1. Maybe he thought shepard was susceptible too?
@@teehubruum6844 yeah, if you see the ending to opposing force, the Gman employer never wanted Adrian but he convinced them to keep Adrian because of his skill much like Gordan but know that Adrian wouldnt do what he and his employer wanted so instead detain Adrian rather than hired him like Gordan. Gordon only start to defy Gman with the help of the Vortiguarts as we progress through HL2. Thus changing timeline and picking a younger Alyx would be the better choice for the Gman.
Adrian Shephard coming back as a side character where he has that marine vocoder(?) voice from the original half life would be so cool to see. Having him as character you play as is cool, but a side character where we see him get more fleshed out with the little personality he has would be amazing. Either way I'd love to see my favorite character back in the franchise, but I hope they do it correctly.
I think Opposing Force is fully canon. We know based on later HL games that Black Mesa did in fact got nuked... And the only place we hear about that nuke is in Opposing Force, therefore it can kinda confirm that Opposing Force is part of the original story. People say its non-canon because no one else faced Race X aliens at Black Mesa except Adrian and some other HECU soldiers. However, as it was explained here... Race X only started to arrive after the portal was complete and the gene worm had finally arrived. All of this happened shortly after Gordon teleported to Xen, so he simply couldn't have faced Race X aliens sense he never saw them arriving. Also when Return to Ravenholm was developed by Arkane, its known that Valve took an interest to make it canon to the story... So it would only make sense that Opposing Force would be canon as well as we know Adrian is the guy we were supposed to play in Return to Ravenholm. The one thing I wish about Return to Ravenholm is that it would have come out in any matter there is... The game looks truly gorgous and it definitely can stand up to Valve's standards.
That's what I have been thinking too. Blue Shift ends quite early when put in the original Half Life timeliness, somewhere around the moment Gordon is captured by HECU and thrown into the pit about to be crushed As for Opposing Force however we seem to finish the game at the same moment HL1 is finished, perhaps bit earlier or later but still while Gordon is already on Xen without coming back we are still fighting inside Black Mesa so that's fair to think Race X appeared later but that would mean aside from Xen, Combine we have another threat which was not exploited later in Half Life 2 or its episodes, maybe I am wrong though. As for Adrian himself, while we may see him returning and people hope it will happen I think he was just put in the void forever. GMan never made him any offer like with Gordon case. He says he will be put somewhere he can't do no harm nor any harm will be done to him. IMHO that's way worse than just getting killed and in process shut down following the no witnesses rule
Fucking wild that Gman goes through the effort of changing the timeline and causing, honestly, quite a large nudge just to get Alyx... When he had Adrian Shepard in his back pocket! What a wild guy.
unless he didn't have adrian in his back pocket. there's always the possibility that shepard escaped when the vortigaunts broke gordon out of Gman's deep-freeze. a potential opening for a game starring Adrian shepard could have him awaken in the osprey that opposing force ended on, which is on a crash course, before passing out and waking up after the osprey crashed, climbing out of the wreckage and then collapsing. he could end up being found by some resistance fighters and taken in for questioning. this would allow for his Powered Combat Vest to be modified to accept power from combine technology by one of the resistance scientists such as kleiner, although he wouldn't get it back until he proves to them that he can be trusted.
@@badideagenerator2315when vortiguants broke Gordon out if Gmans void? In og Half Life 2 its GMan who wakes Gordon up from stasis and the fact that we end half life 1 in a train and begin hl2 in a train too makes me believe it was just the matter of minutes, perhaps hours while in fact it was about 20 years for humanity. Think about black hole and the way it works for people inside it and outside of it. As for Adrian, would he be in the same void Gordon was? Or the void is like multidimensional prison and if whenever two people would be put in stasis by G Man simultaneously, they wouldn't meet anyways? In that case would Vortiguants affect Adrian's fate and rescue him out of void?
If Adrian ever appears in HL3, I think it’ll be as an antagonist to Gordon. With the ending to Half Life Alyx, it seems that the series is gonna go in the direction of Gordon turning against the G-man. Because Adrian is in the G-man’s arsenal. It could be possible that he pit’s the two together. It would also sort of harken back to HL1 with Gordon fighting against the HECU.
Spoilers for the entire Half Life franchise ahead, be warned. Opposing Force is, story-wise, perhaps the most unique title in the Half Life franchise offering us a protagonist with motivations that are radically distinct from those of all other main characters in the broader lore, while presenting it in a well known and successful format that has over the years become an iconic classic of the peak era of the GoldSrc engine. Of all the Half Life original characters, Shephard is the only one that consistently fights against the G-Man, although mostly for completely tangential reasons, and the only one that actually makes him sweat a tiny bit to achieve his goals. Barney does not really ever interact with the G-Man directy and I always felt that Freeman is following the G-Man's script to the letter, regardless of how aware he is of the prophetic fullfiling of his predetermined destiny, which is something that is pretty strongly hinted throughout Half Life 2 and its sequels. Even during that brief moment of hesitation atop of the Citadel at the end of Episode 1 Freeman is not really the one defying the G-Man, he's simply the primary beneficiary of a situation mostly out of his immediate control. Compare that to Shephard during the entire story arc of Opposing Force and you get the complete opposite feeling. Shephard is a constant nuisance for the G-Man from the moment he crash lands into Black Mesa: his accidental ignorance of the cleanup plan causes the unplanned death of many a soldier ultimately forcing the intervention of Black Ops and the deployment of the nuclear warhead which wouldn't have been needed had the cleanup plan worked as intended, the unexpected deactivation of the nuclear warhead by Shephard shows us the only time in the entirety of the Half Life franchise when the G-Man has to perform the dirty manual work himself by being forced to reactivate the warhead himself, and on top of that there are many instances of the G-Man having to detour from his duties simply to halt Shephard's unintended progress like when he locks the hangar door leading to the extraction point towards the middle of the game. I would argue that In Opposing Force you can definitely feel that you are pissing off the G-Man to certain extent, something that you do not really see in any other Half Life game even in the GoldSrc era games where the G-Man is less cryptic and philosophical. The best part of Shephard's character is that he is not even doing it out of spite, for goodwill, or conviction; he's just an eager freshman soldier straight out of the academy that finds himself in the middle of Earth's worst moments and understandably just wants to save his closest friends and go home, as most people would in that situation. Shephard is by far the most relatable, believable and down-to-earth character of all three main protagonists of the original GoldSrc era story arc and the only one that isn't presented to the player as a hero or messiah destined to save the day, he is simply an average Joe that just happens to have the appropriate set of skills and enough luck to survive for another day. Shephard never shows any desire or ambition to save the world like Freeman and Barney do and while unlike some of the other soldiers he does not seem to have any personal ill sentiment towards the Black Mesa employees, all interactions and side lore scattered throughout the game point towards him only really caring for his fellow soldiers. The employees he ends up saving during his time at the facility are simply part of what he guesses to be his orders having missed the real ones and even then, as with the other GoldSrc era Half Life games, the canonicity of most of those cases is debatable due to the freedom the player is given, specially so in Opposing Force which distinguishes itself from the rest in the fact that there aren't any progression roadblocks requiring the help of a scientists. Opposing Force being the last of the Gearbox expansions to be developed and the last official GoldSrc era Half Life game, it benefitted greatly from the storytelling and technical lessons learnt from Half Life and Blue Shift, and it definitely shows in the superb polish of the end product having essentially no significant progression blocking bugs on release, as well as the slightly more mature and concise arc it tells. Unfortunately while Barney is all but destined to eventually return in the new RTS/FPS hybrid Half Life game being developed to promote the Steam Deck, I have a hard time seeing Shephard ever returning to the franchise considering two decades have come and gone since its last appearence in official cannon and the fact that Opposing Force wraps up its take on the Black Mesa incident much tighter than the other two GoldSrc era titles, not really requiring a sequel to understand the broader story of the game unlike Half Life and Blue Shift, both of which I feel hinted towards a potential follow-up sequel much more than Opposing Fronts does. Half Life offers the player a decisive choice at the end of the game with no definitive knowledge at the time as to which path was the correct one, while Blue Shift on the other hand simply ends up with Barney alive and well on the surface prepared to continue his newly found resolve as the unsung saviour of Black Mesa, presenting the player with no stasis shenanigans and a solid prospect of seeing Barney again in futures entires in the franchise. Opposing Force on the other hand simply ends with Shephard forcefully restrained in the void and a speech by the G-Man that implies Shephard is facing that destiny simply because the G-Man is mildly amused by Shephard's capacity to always end up disturbing his schemes as if the cosmos had conjured Shephard with the sole intention of causing him a headache. At this point I honestly feel there are higher chances to see Gina and her partner in crime being reintroduced into the modern lore than Shephard and while I definitely have a soft spot for him in my heart, having played through Opposing Force significantly more times than the other GoldSrc era games, I believe the two characters from Decay fit into the philosophy of today's Valve much better than Shephard, since them being minor characters in a somewhat niche side mode in an officially to this day PS2 exclusive console port means they don't really wage any risk of severely upsetting the fans. We have almost complete certainty that Freeman's story has permanently been foreclosed as a result of the fear that same perceived risk imposes onto Valve, a fear that took them 11 years and a massive retcon of the whole Half Life lore to just barely overcome, and sadly I don't think neither Valve nor the broader, more casual Half Life fanbase care enough about Shephard's character for Valve to gamble with that risk, specially so in a day and age in which Valve do not have any need whatsoever to develop games anymore, at least financially. The only games produced by Valve in the last 15 years each had the deliberate goal to boost a mostly unrelated service or device: CS:GO and Dota 2 helpped Valve position themselves as the lead in competitive gaming and eSports, the Valve Index demolished the sale figures of its contemporary VR headsets mostly thanks to Alyx alone, and in the close future Half Life: X is intended to boost the sales of the Steam Deck beyond the somewhat marketing-wise lackluster incentive it otherwise offers in game library portability. Unfortunately for us Shephard enjoyers, I'm afraid characters like Gina with a weaker, less established backstory suit this purpose much better than our favourite marine. Overall I rate this game 9/10 and I consider it a must-play classic for both hardcore Half Life fans and casual FPS players alike. Please for the love of Xen someone give this game the Black Mesa mod treatment, preferably without the 10 years of development hell and 2000s forum drama. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. I still think Gunman Chronicles is still the best commercial GoldSrc game and you cannot change my mind, cope.
I would like too see valvue make games like Half life Alyx, but more of the different characters like Father Gigori, Adrian Shephard I think that would be cool
I actually think we got g man wrong and that freeman was never supposed to be the hero cause g man interacted way more with other characters than freeman i think freeman turned to a hero by chance
I have a theory that the next time Adrian appears it will be to help Alex escape. Sence they are both in stasis it would make sense for them to some how meet and work togever to exit the stasis
I have a theory: in the HL2 beta that Deadwater played, the main character wasn’t Gordon, but someone named Gasmask Citizen 21, and who else wore a gasmask in the Half Life series and was playable? Adrian. Shepherd, So I think Adrian was originally going to be the main character of HL2
Sou apaixonado em half life Opposing force , faz parte da minha história e já zerei o jogo inúmeras vezes e não me canso ! Espero ansiosamente outro jogo sobre ele mesmo que se passe na Black mesa novamente
I think the issue Valve has had with Adrian isnt that they dont want to use him, rather they dont know what would require *his* use over Gordan's. In most situations, it would make more sense to use Gordan over using Adrian considering their similar skillset (though Gordon very likely having more intelligence). After all, even the Gman doesnt really know what to do with Adrian, only that he'd be more of use under his control than simply out in the wild. I could see Adrian possibly being used by the Gman to hinder or if possible kill Gordon in the new timeline created by HL Alyx wherein Eli and Gordon betray the Gman after he takes Alyx. Some sort of puppet of the Gman, maybe being a sort of third party that hinders both the rebellion and the combine from reaching the Borealis before the Gman would want either party to? Thats my best guess
Has anyone ever thought that Corporal Adrian Shephard could in fact be the G-man ?? Please note that the true face of Corporal Adrian Shephard is never revealed in the Half Life : Opposing Force like we know how Barney and Freeman look in Half Life : Blue Shift and Original Half Life game, but we do not know how Shephard looks. G-man may have travelled back in time and started off with the chain of events to occur which makes Corporal Shephard transform into the G-man in the future. Since in the final words to Shephard moments before detaining him and the end credit rolls, the G-man makes a particular statement which says that he reminds the G-man of himself, which could be a direct reference to the past when G-man was actually the marine Corporal Shephard but later got transformed into the G-man by the so called employers who are not yet revealed in the Half Life universe. I know many will say why didn't anyone recognize him in the past or why he didn't look like Corporal Shephard. He wasn't recognized by face maybe because he was transformed at a genetic level and altered his face and speech to be unrecognized as that Corporal Adrian Shephard. So no one really knew who he was. If thats true we now have to know how this transformation takes place when Corporal Shephard becomes the G-man. I'm eagerly waiting for this plot twist to be revealed since 1999.
Honestly missed opportunity to have the VR game be about Shepherd. Like seriously G-Man gets captured by combine and so he activates his one last wild-card.
i think what would be cool is that in a future half life game while playing freeman in an urban area hearing shepards M4 gun shots but not being able to see him , like thourgh a crack in a wall when he closes the door behind him (not being able to see him of course) is the best i can thing that they can add him with out acctully adding him
You know, I never understood why the black ops team was told to target the biohazard containment unit. Either the unit could be trusted with both the knowledge of what happened at Black Mesa and dealing with the cleanup or they couldn't. If they couldn't, why did you waste so much money on training them and why did you decide to send them in if you're going to have them all killed afterwards? Not to mention this also means a loss in black ops personnel so essentially you're just wasting assets all around. Remember that the military moved in with considerable hardware including tanks, attack helicopters, mortars, jets, APCs, a whole supply fleet, ospreys etc. That stuff is really fucking expensive to just throw away.
The black best security guards. The HECU marines, and black ops were supposed to work together as an effective clean up image if they did as they were meant too.
If Half-Life 3 ever comes out and they do save Alex from stasis like its implied they will after the ending cutscene of Alex I hope they save Adrian as well honestly I just want to see interactions between Gordon and Adrian because seeing a HECU and a black Mesa scientist having to work together just sounds stupid funny to me
I've always thought it would be cool for Half Life 3 to announce with the 3 main characters on the front. Gordon in the middle, alyx on the left, shepherd on the right. Gman's hit-squad.
I see no reason why Adrian WOULDNT be canon. The beauty of half-life 1 is we see the same event from multiple perspectives: a scientist (Gordon freeman), security guard (Barney), and one of the marines sent to purge it of people and aliens. Heck, we see said marine risk his life to save those he can regardless of side and stop those who sought to wipe out all present.
Valve: decides to make another Half Life game Valve: wants to test the waters first and too scared to work on Half Life 3 Valve: has the option to expand on Shephard's story and put him in the middle of the 7 Hour War Valve: decides to make a game exclusive to VR, because -they want to sell VR products- you can to hold junk in your hands and "you are there!" and the only proper story content is G-Man at the end. His only purpose is to act as a retcon device for Valve and he breaks the fucking timeline while doing it, which never happened before in the series.
Yes the dude is capable of time travelling, dimension hopping, storing people in the void for decades, stopping your perception of time and communicate through thoughts but the player always had their timeline straight thanks to the writing. Now it's all fucked up. Valve tried to play safe and used G-Man to retcon the HL2EP2 ending but now they got multiple plot holes to fix. God I hope they don't come up with a bullshit explanation when Half Life: Barney on mobile releases, like "Alyx forgot about it," or "she vanished from the current timeline but people somehow still remember her." I really hope when the time comes at least this piece of G-Man's time fuckery is explained with an epic story.
Would love to see an Opposing Force 2 where you play as a Combine Soldier where you get mortally wounded and the Vorts pull you back from the brink and use you for the resistance
I remember this from back in the day. Such a good game. I'm on the side that this game is not canon because of it being Gearbox and also race X being such an oddity that, as far as I know, isn't mentioned again in the later games. It's more of a "what if" game to me.
We only see around 3 types of race x, being the shock trooper, the weird antalion guard looking thing, and the spikey guys. Majority of them appear after Gordon leaves. Adrian appears to wipe them out, or at least close the portal they were using to access earth. Adrian is probably real, seeing as the timeline of events fits. Along with that, Gordon is seen in opposing force, meaning half life 1 is canon to opposing force. It would make sense that it works the other way around, too. Plus, most npcs who encountered race x were wiped out in the explosion, or killed by the encounter. This is why it isnt mentioned in later games, and why race x doesnt reappear.
With Alyx now controlled by G-Man and Gordon and Eli out to find him, maybe G-Man could take Shepherd out of stasis to hunt Gordon down and manipulate him into thinking that the Resistance's actions could jeopardize everything his "employers" have worked to achieve. To this end, you'd fight both the Resistance and Combine, it's pretty clear G-Man isn't working with them.
Adrian needs his own game. Maybe he helps the resistance put up a fight in a different part of the world. We’d get Adrian and a look at a different part of the world. Best of both worlds!
We need Adrian Shephard back...even if he has a small role I would be happy to see him return
I'd love a small cameo. Even if it's just him standing in the distance like the g-man
@@Skyrionn same
I’d Kiev to see him as a leader of a small rebel sect using the pcv vest, and giving Gordon his personal deagle, hell as he hands him tye deagle he says
“This laser was incredibly epointed at an enemy…that enemy will now kill a common enemy, good luck freeman, don’t surrender”
Lol, yea, we'll see him in HL4.
even a small cameo would be great, I would like seeing him leading a small resistance group into battle in the background, or maybe just him in general running with his wrench.
Adrian: I wish I could get to see some action...
G-Man: Say no more.
Lol
Adrian: Ok, not THAT much action.
Solod: what wee miss shephend whaaattt
ADVENTURE TI-
OH dear.. Oh dear..
After the game
G-Man: alright no more action for 20 years
Adrian was sealed like Doomguy sealed by the seraphims lol "May we never need you again."
I Pray we do see him again
a du nguoi Viet Nam
I mean... The same exact thing happend to gordon so...
@@nikolasmtr umm Gordon returned in hl2
@@nike2136 this man living in the no half-life 2 timeline
I LOVE the idea of Father Grigori and Adrian Shephard teaming up to kick Combine ass together. Valve please, make it happen.
it was meant to happen in Episode 4.
@@Cxltyy nah it was meant to happen in Half life: ravenholm
It's cancelled lol
@@bredoffender Episode Four was the other name for it
@@PrisonMike196 in the meantime I actually learned that it's the same thing
Man was I ridiculously dumb 3 weeks ago
I would love to see Adrian Sheppard in a game where he fights side by side with Gordon Freeman.
Like some kind of 2 player co-op game. That'd be sick af.
Or against
since Gordon resist G-Man and now G-Man has both Alyx and Corporal to do his bidding
After the ending of Alyx... It is partly confirmed that there will be another Half Life, and I hope they have something planned for Adrian there... If there could be anyone who could stand up alongside Gordon when it comes to kicking alien ass, its Adrian.
And Barney as well
@@STAIR_WAY14 Alyx as well.. throw in Gregori and we have Half Life Avengers.
Man.. it would be cool seeing the three original protagonists (Gordon Barney and Shepherd) working together.
That would be fantastic
Yea it would Skylion and onigi but it would be impossible due to freeman and barney not knowing hes alive there would be confusions and even destruction of the revolution (probably) the only people who could saw adrian would be the rebels and the combines and g-man would not even know if he escaped. So yea you can make the mod no one is stopping you so yea (the escape could be an deployement with gman knowing).
Hey don’t forget about one of the half life decay heros
@@CouchFunny-he6tfGina is dead
@@thesmilingman7576what about other one
The vortigaunt
Adrian would be a breath of fresh air if they played HL3 like Halo 2, switching between Gordon and Adrian
That would be cool af
But that would take you of the immersion
It isn't a half life game without immersion
Thanks for reminding me about that game, I'm going to play it now.
I haven't had a good day today, that might make me feel better.
@SHOOK ENGIE either that or a command and Conquer campaign where it's one story through the eyes of two different people. Have the Gordon story and the Adrian story
Isn't that basically half life decay? (except the protagonists are different)
I'm so proud that the Half-Life community is still alive like never before
@Poor Quality Gameplay same, found the series while ago but learned so much in short time
The longest fan-base community as well - as long as 20-years, and still come out strong 💪
@@matsuhikotakagawa8060 too bad we aint getting a new game
Ever since I played OpFor, I couldnt help but notice, G-Man calls him a "witness" and puts him where He "Could do no harm, and where no harm will come of" him.
Its like he wasn't meant to survive in the first place
@@Just_a_happy_lil_guy what about the part where gman saves Adrian from dying?
@@shookengie370 when
@@MaxwellE985 The part where the radioactive water thingy starts to rise
@@shookengie370 ohhh right i forgot
0:38 "AH, HE SAID IT, HE SAID THE THING! ROLL CREDITS!"
I like to think Shephard will only have seconds in the void, where as to use its been decades waiting for his return to the Half Life franchise. As scifi time distortion works like that at times, being out of the loop of time and all that. Gman would pop in, Shephard would be like "Forgot something?"
Valve: We didn't think you'd want another game like this.
Everyone: NEVER ASSUME THAT!
Not only that, whenever Valve makes their next game, it's suppose to be revolutionary for the time, pushing the limits of technology and coding. They really want to surpass expectations, which is why it takes a long time to produce more games, when the expectations by fans and by most gamers in general, are just expecting better and better. So, valve, just works on making a groundbreaking story driven game. As realistic and limit breaking as possible.
@@kellmedd4925 Then there's Artifact lol
@@aluxhuro4569apparently that games not half bad now.
I think they must've been stung by the reactions.
@@smugplushyeah but the reaction was still a little excessive, we knew that they were working on new half life stuff so why did we flip our shit at a harmless card game
Shephard returning as a recurring boss like Vergil from DMC or Kuze from Yakuza in a future game is a dream of mine, it makes so much sense too; Having replaced Gordon, G-Man seeks to tie up loose ends and awakens Shephard, reminds him of Gordon's role in Black Mesa, then supplies him with countless weapons and drops him off not too far from Gordon and Eli's location. It could serve as a reminder that while Gordon is a survivor and a badass, he's not a killing machine like Shephard.
I can imagine a possible boss fight where gordon fights Shephard With shepard having the weapons he acquired in the past probably sent by gman as a way to test gordon. Phase one would be on the ground with him ducking and moving from cover to cover firing at gordon. Phase two he would use the grapple barnacle to cling to walls while firing at a distance with you having to fire at the appendage of the barnacle several times to bring him down. The final stage could have him rushing you down with an smg and combat knife in a last ditch attempt to take gordon down.
@@TheSandwhichman108 i like your idea. the first stage could have the outlandish weapons like the shock roach and spore launcher, next stage he'd use the more normal heavy armaments, and finally he'd charge Gordon man to man, no fancy guns, just a standard issue ass kicking
The dragon of black mesa
@@JacobVonRoker yeah plus it would be interesting to see how players would fight an enemy that’s on equal footing to gordon in power. Would probably be the second to last boss so that way your at full power when you fight them.
Gordon beats him pretty easy🎩👌
I came in really early to this video, and so I wanted to finally state my appreciation not only to the fictional character, Adrian Shephard, but to you.
Your way of narrating and expressing your thoughts it's actually very unique and special in my opinion, your speech lets me concentrate into the themes of your videos and also goes for a slowed down but at the same time fast paced narration, unlike some people going on way too fast in these kind of videos.
This character is really interesting and my heart really believes Adrian has his place in the post-Half-Life 1 Universe.
It would be nonsensical to remove his canonicity entirely or confirm it directly rather than putting him into a game to give a little spark of surprise, but the mistery that Half-Life has between games as to whether they are canon stories viewed by the vision of the protagonist is really interesting and intriguing.
That said, both topics are an excellent addition to Half-Life, your voice and way of speech, and Half-Life itself.
Thanks.
This comment is the best thing I have read all week. I really appreciate the kind words of support.
I would pin this but I thought I'd leave something to boost the engagement and RUclipsy stuff!
Narration is a huge thing and it's taken well over a year to get it just right. I like to do these lore videos as a documentary kinda thing where we're actually in the universe with them and how it's effected the world. I'm glad you picked up on that.
I agree with everything you've stated about Adrian and the world and I thank you for taking the time to comment. It's made me day (as well as this video being the best performing video I've had in the first few hours of posting)
Thanks again!
Interestingly there was one pre-release screenshot that shows Adrian Shepard without his Mask.
Must Google that one
It must be cursed af
Randy cleared that Guy is not Adrian but a maskless HECU Marine.
@@hayro252 Grease lord Randy can go f*ck himself with a dragon dildo. If i remember correctly screenshot literally shows a HECU marine who's is in the room that fills with toxic waste. You know, the room we visited during the early levels of Opposing Force.
@@hayro252 who?
“Adrian had seen the Gman for the first time.”
I never even knew that he was there.
wait was he actually there in the game
Yea he was, training in the camp is optionai so if you decide to roll straight into action you will see him in black mesa first
I never thought about how sinister the implications were that the HECU was preparing for a Resonance Cascade. The G-Man had it all planned out this far in advance.
it was not prepared the author of the video made it up lol
there so many things wrong or misleading he said in this video
and he also forgot to mention the most important plot point in the whole game that's about race X
@xyzbeats except Shepard's Journal, reveals they were being trained for the Black Mesa incident months before it even happened, and the G-Man was there watching them, Adrian in particular
I didn’t even realize that the situation in which Adrian spots Gordon is supposed to be that Adrian could kill Freeman or let him go, I just thought it was a cool cameo where it’s like “let me follow yo-AHHHHHhhhhhh..”
The fact that 'Return to Ravenholm' was going to be a thing, tells me not only does Valve acknowledge the existence of Cpl. Adrian Shephard, but they were going to add him into a Half Life game!!
Ratio
Playing Half-Life / Blue Shift(?): "Man, the G-Man is strange..."
Playing Opposing Force: "Man, the G-Man is a dick."
I think one thing that makes adrian special is his relationship with gman. He KNOWS gman planned it all, he has seen him for a long time, and he had multiple direct interactions with him. and in the end, gman took adrian as a souvenir. if there is another adrian shephard game, they definitely should build upon this. we could get a lot of insight into gman, and his powers.
Personally i always found opposing force to be the best half life game. Gordon and his adventure is cool and all and so was blue shift...but not cooler than Adrian
There was nothing cool about blue shift the most boring expansion ever. And you can’t be cooler than the og half life...
True!
@Hazzmati Good thing we have Azure Sheep to make up for Blue Shift’s shortcomings, and with the canon of the series largely being left up to the players’ interpretations, then “Just Barney” and his lover Kate successfully managed to escape the Black Mesa Research Facility in a company vehicle along with a renegade Vortigaunt that they found along the roadside.
Honestly, yeah. I prefer the sandbox of HL 1, but Adrian is just such a fun character. Also OF's depiction of Black Mesa is really cool, Race X expands the universe a lot, and the Spore Launcher is my best friend.
@@hazzmati Blue Shit was definitely a disappointment
For years I've wanted a revisit of Adrian's story. I love this video and it's great to see others recognize how cool he is. I've never questioned his canonical role in the events. Thanks for the vid, Sky!
I think the Gman has been using him for his nefarious needs throughout the multiverse, who knows what he’s seen and done in that time. Or maybe he’s stuck in a loop, plying through the Black Mesa incident over and over again, stuck in his own purgatory for 20 years. Poor guy.
He might stop the loop via doing it different and shoots the g man
@@19kp. When you play the game you can't, well not conventionally, so I think the same limitations are with poor old Shepard. Try as he might, he can never break out of that prison he is in... Until, that is, the great being known only as Valve releases him!
@@L1mJahey sv_cheats 1
Adrian is now perfecting his any% speedrun, skills that will prove quite useful to the G-man and his mysterious employers.
He's not conscious, he's like frozen, time has passed but he didn't, when he returns he'll still look 22 and won't know what happened (pretty much what episode 4 was going to be)
...Well, this video was a godsend.
I'm planning to do a roleplay-style playthrough of Opposing Force that characterizes Shephard, complete with my own backstory, to fill in the gaps that Gearbox and Valve left out.
I was literally about to write a character profile when I saw this video in my suggestions. The timing on this _could not_ have been a coincidence.
the right video in the wrong time can make all the difference in yhe world
Adrian is just a overall chad. Man faces Race X, Xen aliens, and Black operations and lives
The true Chad
TRUE LEGEND
We need more Adrian! Thanks for doing this video on him, honestly even tho Gordon is the main hero of the overall story i think Adrian is just cooler.
I just recently discovered your channel and have been watching all the half-life related stuff. Your pronounciation, wording and timing of your script is so fitting for the half-life universe for some reason. It sounds really authentic. You're doing an amazing work here and should be much more popular in my opinion
I wish that Opposing Force properly told Adrian what his orders were, it would have been a completely new experience if you were forced to kill scientists to follow your orders to help you sympathize with the soldiers better. Then maybe, as the situation devolves into chaos later in the game and the chain of command is destroyed you are given the option to spare or help scientists
Yeah but scientists have their own uses, considering how much of a pain opposing force really is
From what I have heard, that's the point. Since he never receives order to kill, none of the Black Mesa personnel are considered hostile+ really helpful when it comes to opening doors and stuff like that
Chances are he figured out what his original orders were and decided to be willfully ignorant.
Nah it would be impossible to do this in 1999
don't you mean kill or help
I really like these lore videos! They're so interesting and I like how they tell the lore more as a story than as a recounting; as if it's being told as a campfire story or history lesson to members of the Resistance! Excellently done, sir!
Adrian Shephard should have been in Half Life 2. He should had been a leading role in the cut faction, the Conscripts. He should have been there, Freeman surrounded by striders, coming out of nowhere and destroying them. He... Shoulda been there...
I believe Adrian is supposed to be a secret weapon against Gordon should he go AWOL.
@@rickelgrim7974 wait didn't g-man say gordon was unwilling.
Dont worry he will be in HL3
@@fausthanos08 I wish there is HL3
@@aristonmain Half life 3 will release in like 2090 but it will release
I just want to see Adrian Shephard on Combine controlled Earth.
I can't even begin to imagine the levels of motivated anger one would feel from coming fresh after the victory straight into some alien race taking over the planet.
In Civvie11's playthrough:
"Hey, that's a nice machine gun"
*kills friendlies*
I miss this soldier like you wouldn't believe.
Hopefully we'll see him again soon
@@Skyrionn he has been sent away by the gman we will never see him again
imagine if there was a two player co-op half life game with Barney and Adrian being the 2 playable characters, set sometime after the combine invasion either before or after the events of Gordon's arrival.
That'd be amazing
Half life Decay exists.
Imagine if they made a somewhat short new game to get people ready for Half Life 3 with Adrian being released out of stasis and either having a solo outing or working with resistance members like Barney to discover the current location of Gordon or a new weapon that could help take down the combine, or hell just finding information about where the Borealis is to pass down to Freeman, any of these options would be amazing and as long as Half Life 3 is promised and the game moves the plot atleast somewhat further I know fans will love it, just look at Half Life Alyx, all it had was a few references to Gordon and that final scene and fans lost their shit, even though the game was a huge departure from Valve's standard games with a gimmick that you either love or hate
I love the way you weave in good morals in question form, thank you Skyrionn, subbed.
I try to add more to it than just lore. Something I'm learning to do! Thanks for the subscription!
"Adrian rescued as many of the Black Mesa staff as he could"
...
**Not in my playthrough**
I’m planning a “good soldiers follow orders
Not in my Gordon run
If Gordon is the sword, then perhaps Adrian could be the shield. I can see Gman using Adrian to safeguard other important characters through the events of HL2 and interfering with fate as it were.
This channel needs way more attention
Opposing force was always my favorit HL game and Adrian is a true hero he is the one saved us all you can easily attach to his charachter
I’m starting to think they’re going to use Shephard as a contingency plan for Freeman. Ya know, in case Freeman goes awol.
Think that’s Alex now
@@BlargTheEnderman Maybe the Gman has kidnapped Alyx for forcing Freeman to 1v1 against Shephard. Maybe?
I'm calling it now. My fave boot boy Adrian is gonna be the protagonist in Portal 3. I know it sounds stupid, but I got a feeling Valve would do some funky stuff like that.
And somehow, Valve would make it really plausible.
Uhm... portal 2 takes place QUIET SOME TIME after hl2
@@petra080171 It's never explicitly said how long Portal 2 is after Half-Life 2 but the Earth being completely pristine suggests the Combine have been kicked off Earth. So you are right in that front by if you're referring to the specific 500,000 years figure. That's never mentioned in-game only in ancillary material and ancillary material has been retconned before. The PS2 guide for Half-Life says Gordon has only been at Black Mesa for a very short time but Half-Life 2 has it mentioned he's been there for some time.
"Opposing forces" I see what you did there.
Thought I'd throw a few references in there so people know I mean business 😂 😂
"This is punchmaster 1 to dicknuts actual, you are clear to reinforce this position, over." -Shepard's Mind
HL Alyx spoilers
Gman should have chose Adrian over Alyx to be honest, I REALLY wish Valve can bring him back, I hope they do!
i think they didn't because Adrian wouldn't know people. He would just drop in the combine controlled earth having
1) no allies
2) no friends
3) no direction
and gman isnt the kinda character to just give you a direction, right?
Gordon and Alyx on the other hand, have friends, allies and are quickly given directions by them.
But I honestly want Adrian to come back, such a badass character cant just be put indo indefinite stasis
I think gman chose Alyx because she could've been nurtured into becoming exactly what the gman needs. Someone who isn't susceptible to outside influence like how Gordon was in hl2ep1. Maybe he thought shepard was susceptible too?
@@teehubruum6844 yeah, if you see the ending to opposing force, the Gman employer never wanted Adrian but he convinced them to keep Adrian because of his skill much like Gordan but know that Adrian wouldnt do what he and his employer wanted so instead detain Adrian rather than hired him like Gordan. Gordon only start to defy Gman with the help of the Vortiguarts as we progress through HL2. Thus changing timeline and picking a younger Alyx would be the better choice for the Gman.
Adrian Shephard coming back as a side character where he has that marine vocoder(?) voice from the original half life would be so cool to see. Having him as character you play as is cool, but a side character where we see him get more fleshed out with the little personality he has would be amazing. Either way I'd love to see my favorite character back in the franchise, but I hope they do it correctly.
The panel of possible scenarios with Adrian Shepard is BIG but unfortunately not exploited
Hopefully that changes soon!
Sees Adrian Shepard with an MP5
“Wait a second that’s not right.”
What
He carries colt 727 in game which is he reskin of mp5
I think Opposing Force is fully canon. We know based on later HL games that Black Mesa did in fact got nuked... And the only place we hear about that nuke is in Opposing Force, therefore it can kinda confirm that Opposing Force is part of the original story. People say its non-canon because no one else faced Race X aliens at Black Mesa except Adrian and some other HECU soldiers. However, as it was explained here... Race X only started to arrive after the portal was complete and the gene worm had finally arrived. All of this happened shortly after Gordon teleported to Xen, so he simply couldn't have faced Race X aliens sense he never saw them arriving.
Also when Return to Ravenholm was developed by Arkane, its known that Valve took an interest to make it canon to the story... So it would only make sense that Opposing Force would be canon as well as we know Adrian is the guy we were supposed to play in Return to Ravenholm. The one thing I wish about Return to Ravenholm is that it would have come out in any matter there is... The game looks truly gorgous and it definitely can stand up to Valve's standards.
That's what I have been thinking too. Blue Shift ends quite early when put in the original Half Life timeliness, somewhere around the moment Gordon is captured by HECU and thrown into the pit about to be crushed
As for Opposing Force however we seem to finish the game at the same moment HL1 is finished, perhaps bit earlier or later but still while Gordon is already on Xen without coming back we are still fighting inside Black Mesa so that's fair to think Race X appeared later but that would mean aside from Xen, Combine we have another threat which was not exploited later in Half Life 2 or its episodes, maybe I am wrong though.
As for Adrian himself, while we may see him returning and people hope it will happen I think he was just put in the void forever. GMan never made him any offer like with Gordon case. He says he will be put somewhere he can't do no harm nor any harm will be done to him. IMHO that's way worse than just getting killed and in process shut down following the no witnesses rule
Fucking wild that Gman goes through the effort of changing the timeline and causing, honestly, quite a large nudge just to get Alyx...
When he had Adrian Shepard in his back pocket! What a wild guy.
unless he didn't have adrian in his back pocket.
there's always the possibility that shepard escaped when the vortigaunts broke gordon out of Gman's deep-freeze.
a potential opening for a game starring Adrian shepard could have him awaken in the osprey that opposing force ended on, which is on a crash course, before passing out and waking up after the osprey crashed, climbing out of the wreckage and then collapsing.
he could end up being found by some resistance fighters and taken in for questioning.
this would allow for his Powered Combat Vest to be modified to accept power from combine technology by one of the resistance scientists such as kleiner, although he wouldn't get it back until he proves to them that he can be trusted.
@@badideagenerator2315when vortiguants broke Gordon out if Gmans void? In og Half Life 2 its GMan who wakes Gordon up from stasis and the fact that we end half life 1 in a train and begin hl2 in a train too makes me believe it was just the matter of minutes, perhaps hours while in fact it was about 20 years for humanity. Think about black hole and the way it works for people inside it and outside of it.
As for Adrian, would he be in the same void Gordon was? Or the void is like multidimensional prison and if whenever two people would be put in stasis by G Man simultaneously, they wouldn't meet anyways? In that case would Vortiguants affect Adrian's fate and rescue him out of void?
Can't wait for Operation Black Mesa⛰ to come out on steam.
I'm looking forward to it!
@@Skyrionn Shepherd's story needs closure.
If Adrian ever appears in HL3, I think it’ll be as an antagonist to Gordon. With the ending to Half Life Alyx, it seems that the series is gonna go in the direction of Gordon turning against the G-man. Because Adrian is in the G-man’s arsenal. It could be possible that he pit’s the two together. It would also sort of harken back to HL1 with Gordon fighting against the HECU.
Spoilers for the entire Half Life franchise ahead, be warned.
Opposing Force is, story-wise, perhaps the most unique title in the Half Life franchise offering us a protagonist with motivations that are radically distinct from those of all other main characters in the broader lore, while presenting it in a well known and successful format that has over the years become an iconic classic of the peak era of the GoldSrc engine.
Of all the Half Life original characters, Shephard is the only one that consistently fights against the G-Man, although mostly for completely tangential reasons, and the only one that actually makes him sweat a tiny bit to achieve his goals.
Barney does not really ever interact with the G-Man directy and I always felt that Freeman is following the G-Man's script to the letter, regardless of how aware he is of the prophetic fullfiling of his predetermined destiny, which is something that is pretty strongly hinted throughout Half Life 2 and its sequels. Even during that brief moment of hesitation atop of the Citadel at the end of Episode 1 Freeman is not really the one defying the G-Man, he's simply the primary beneficiary of a situation mostly out of his immediate control.
Compare that to Shephard during the entire story arc of Opposing Force and you get the complete opposite feeling. Shephard is a constant nuisance for the G-Man from the moment he crash lands into Black Mesa: his accidental ignorance of the cleanup plan causes the unplanned death of many a soldier ultimately forcing the intervention of Black Ops and the deployment of the nuclear warhead which wouldn't have been needed had the cleanup plan worked as intended, the unexpected deactivation of the nuclear warhead by Shephard shows us the only time in the entirety of the Half Life franchise when the G-Man has to perform the dirty manual work himself by being forced to reactivate the warhead himself, and on top of that there are many instances of the G-Man having to detour from his duties simply to halt Shephard's unintended progress like when he locks the hangar door leading to the extraction point towards the middle of the game.
I would argue that In Opposing Force you can definitely feel that you are pissing off the G-Man to certain extent, something that you do not really see in any other Half Life game even in the GoldSrc era games where the G-Man is less cryptic and philosophical.
The best part of Shephard's character is that he is not even doing it out of spite, for goodwill, or conviction; he's just an eager freshman soldier straight out of the academy that finds himself in the middle of Earth's worst moments and understandably just wants to save his closest friends and go home, as most people would in that situation.
Shephard is by far the most relatable, believable and down-to-earth character of all three main protagonists of the original GoldSrc era story arc and the only one that isn't presented to the player as a hero or messiah destined to save the day, he is simply an average Joe that just happens to have the appropriate set of skills and enough luck to survive for another day. Shephard never shows any desire or ambition to save the world like Freeman and Barney do and while unlike some of the other soldiers he does not seem to have any personal ill sentiment towards the Black Mesa employees, all interactions and side lore scattered throughout the game point towards him only really caring for his fellow soldiers. The employees he ends up saving during his time at the facility are simply part of what he guesses to be his orders having missed the real ones and even then, as with the other GoldSrc era Half Life games, the canonicity of most of those cases is debatable due to the freedom the player is given, specially so in Opposing Force which distinguishes itself from the rest in the fact that there aren't any progression roadblocks requiring the help of a scientists.
Opposing Force being the last of the Gearbox expansions to be developed and the last official GoldSrc era Half Life game, it benefitted greatly from the storytelling and technical lessons learnt from Half Life and Blue Shift, and it definitely shows in the superb polish of the end product having essentially no significant progression blocking bugs on release, as well as the slightly more mature and concise arc it tells.
Unfortunately while Barney is all but destined to eventually return in the new RTS/FPS hybrid Half Life game being developed to promote the Steam Deck, I have a hard time seeing Shephard ever returning to the franchise considering two decades have come and gone since its last appearence in official cannon and the fact that Opposing Force wraps up its take on the Black Mesa incident much tighter than the other two GoldSrc era titles, not really requiring a sequel to understand the broader story of the game unlike Half Life and Blue Shift, both of which I feel hinted towards a potential follow-up sequel much more than Opposing Fronts does. Half Life offers the player a decisive choice at the end of the game with no definitive knowledge at the time as to which path was the correct one, while Blue Shift on the other hand simply ends up with Barney alive and well on the surface prepared to continue his newly found resolve as the unsung saviour of Black Mesa, presenting the player with no stasis shenanigans and a solid prospect of seeing Barney again in futures entires in the franchise. Opposing Force on the other hand simply ends with Shephard forcefully restrained in the void and a speech by the G-Man that implies Shephard is facing that destiny simply because the G-Man is mildly amused by Shephard's capacity to always end up disturbing his schemes as if the cosmos had conjured Shephard with the sole intention of causing him a headache.
At this point I honestly feel there are higher chances to see Gina and her partner in crime being reintroduced into the modern lore than Shephard and while I definitely have a soft spot for him in my heart, having played through Opposing Force significantly more times than the other GoldSrc era games, I believe the two characters from Decay fit into the philosophy of today's Valve much better than Shephard, since them being minor characters in a somewhat niche side mode in an officially to this day PS2 exclusive console port means they don't really wage any risk of severely upsetting the fans.
We have almost complete certainty that Freeman's story has permanently been foreclosed as a result of the fear that same perceived risk imposes onto Valve, a fear that took them 11 years and a massive retcon of the whole Half Life lore to just barely overcome, and sadly I don't think neither Valve nor the broader, more casual Half Life fanbase care enough about Shephard's character for Valve to gamble with that risk, specially so in a day and age in which Valve do not have any need whatsoever to develop games anymore, at least financially.
The only games produced by Valve in the last 15 years each had the deliberate goal to boost a mostly unrelated service or device: CS:GO and Dota 2 helpped Valve position themselves as the lead in competitive gaming and eSports, the Valve Index demolished the sale figures of its contemporary VR headsets mostly thanks to Alyx alone, and in the close future Half Life: X is intended to boost the sales of the Steam Deck beyond the somewhat marketing-wise lackluster incentive it otherwise offers in game library portability.
Unfortunately for us Shephard enjoyers, I'm afraid characters like Gina with a weaker, less established backstory suit this purpose much better than our favourite marine.
Overall I rate this game 9/10 and I consider it a must-play classic for both hardcore Half Life fans and casual FPS players alike.
Please for the love of Xen someone give this game the Black Mesa mod treatment, preferably without the 10 years of development hell and 2000s forum drama.
Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
I still think Gunman Chronicles is still the best commercial GoldSrc game and you cannot change my mind, cope.
Gunman, man i remember that. Highly underrated. I do think Shepard is a 50/50 given his fan favourite status. Gina is just a budget freeman.
All your HL lore videos are top notch. Many thanks for your input and hard work. Cheers.
I loved Opposing Force and I like to think it's canon. Hope to see Adrian again one day.
its more canon than half life 2
Man I just can't get enough of half life lore. Awesome video
Thank you :D
Can't wait for the next half life to be "Half-life: Adrian"
I'm down for that
Half life: Shepard is a better name
@@fla5hbin142 agree
Adrian is love, Adrian is life.
G-man, PLEASE let me sit in a more comfortable chair than this yeeyee ass Osprey seat.
I would like too see valvue make games like Half life Alyx, but more of the different characters like Father Gigori, Adrian Shephard I think that would be cool
I'm down for that
Can’t wait to see him in HL3
same
I actually think we got g man wrong and that freeman was never supposed to be the hero cause g man interacted way more with other characters than freeman i think freeman turned to a hero by chance
I think he was just interviewing a bunch of people in that situation and seeing which one performed the best.
I have a theory that the next time Adrian appears it will be to help Alex escape. Sence they are both in stasis it would make sense for them to some how meet and work togever to exit the stasis
Found this channel last night and subbed. Great channel!!
Thank you! I really appreciate it
I have a theory: in the HL2 beta that Deadwater played, the main character wasn’t Gordon, but someone named Gasmask Citizen 21, and who else wore a gasmask in the Half Life series and was playable?
Adrian. Shepherd,
So I think Adrian was originally going to be the main character of HL2
Sou apaixonado em half life Opposing force , faz parte da minha história e já zerei o jogo inúmeras vezes e não me canso ! Espero ansiosamente outro jogo sobre ele mesmo que se passe na Black mesa novamente
I think the issue Valve has had with Adrian isnt that they dont want to use him, rather they dont know what would require *his* use over Gordan's. In most situations, it would make more sense to use Gordan over using Adrian considering their similar skillset (though Gordon very likely having more intelligence). After all, even the Gman doesnt really know what to do with Adrian, only that he'd be more of use under his control than simply out in the wild.
I could see Adrian possibly being used by the Gman to hinder or if possible kill Gordon in the new timeline created by HL Alyx wherein Eli and Gordon betray the Gman after he takes Alyx.
Some sort of puppet of the Gman, maybe being a sort of third party that hinders both the rebellion and the combine from reaching the Borealis before the Gman would want either party to? Thats my best guess
Barney was also canon in all HL 1 to Episode 2 since HL: Blue Shift released.
Has anyone ever thought that Corporal Adrian Shephard could in fact be the G-man ??
Please note that the true face of Corporal Adrian Shephard is never revealed in the Half Life : Opposing Force like we know how Barney and Freeman look in Half Life : Blue Shift and Original Half Life game, but we do not know how Shephard looks.
G-man may have travelled back in time and started off with the chain of events to occur which makes Corporal Shephard transform into the G-man in the future. Since in the final words to Shephard moments before detaining him and the end credit rolls, the G-man makes a particular statement which says that he reminds the G-man of himself, which could be a direct reference to the past when G-man was actually the marine Corporal Shephard but later got transformed into the G-man by the so called employers who are not yet revealed in the Half Life universe.
I know many will say why didn't anyone recognize him in the past or why he didn't look like Corporal Shephard. He wasn't recognized by face maybe because he was transformed at a genetic level and altered his face and speech to be unrecognized as that Corporal Adrian Shephard. So no one really knew who he was.
If thats true we now have to know how this transformation takes place when Corporal Shephard becomes the G-man.
I'm eagerly waiting for this plot twist to be revealed since 1999.
I guess hunt down the freeman IS also cannon if we go with Valves logic
Adrian is cannon due to Barney being cannon since he appears in HL2.
Ehhh I want Adrian and Gordon to have a bhop glitch race to see who's better at it
11:20 "and then he became the Postal Guy"
Honestly missed opportunity to have the VR game be about Shepherd. Like seriously G-Man gets captured by combine and so he activates his one last wild-card.
Watch the G-man be a creation of the human in the future tasked with the up keep of the time line
Just imagine
I like to imagine that he's playing cards with Alyx in the stasis void after the events of hl alyx
fantastic video mate ^_^ Adrian Shephard is the best
Thank you! He really is.
i think what would be cool is that in a future half life game while playing freeman in an urban area hearing shepards M4 gun shots but not being able to see him , like thourgh a crack in a wall when he closes the door behind him (not being able to see him of course) is the best i can thing that they can add him with out acctully adding him
I just want Return to Ravenholm man, i need to see more of my boy Shephard.
if Shephard was born in 1978 and was 22 at the time of the Black Mesa incident, it must have happened in either 2000 or 2001
I thought that too. It's difficult with Valve retconning a lot of info
My like and comment. replaying the whole series again and glad to watch this. The 25 minuets of this video flew by
You know, I never understood why the black ops team was told to target the biohazard containment unit. Either the unit could be trusted with both the knowledge of what happened at Black Mesa and dealing with the cleanup or they couldn't. If they couldn't, why did you waste so much money on training them and why did you decide to send them in if you're going to have them all killed afterwards? Not to mention this also means a loss in black ops personnel so essentially you're just wasting assets all around. Remember that the military moved in with considerable hardware including tanks, attack helicopters, mortars, jets, APCs, a whole supply fleet, ospreys etc. That stuff is really fucking expensive to just throw away.
The black best security guards. The HECU marines, and black ops were supposed to work together as an effective clean up image if they did as they were meant too.
If Half-Life 3 ever comes out and they do save Alex from stasis like its implied they will after the ending cutscene of Alex I hope they save Adrian as well honestly I just want to see interactions between Gordon and Adrian because seeing a HECU and a black Mesa scientist having to work together just sounds stupid funny to me
I've always thought it would be cool for Half Life 3 to announce with the 3 main characters on the front. Gordon in the middle, alyx on the left, shepherd on the right.
Gman's hit-squad.
I see no reason why Adrian WOULDNT be canon. The beauty of half-life 1 is we see the same event from multiple perspectives: a scientist (Gordon freeman), security guard (Barney), and one of the marines sent to purge it of people and aliens. Heck, we see said marine risk his life to save those he can regardless of side and stop those who sought to wipe out all present.
Valve: decides to make another Half Life game
Valve: wants to test the waters first and too scared to work on Half Life 3
Valve: has the option to expand on Shephard's story and put him in the middle of the 7 Hour War
Valve: decides to make a game exclusive to VR, because -they want to sell VR products- you can to hold junk in your hands and "you are there!" and the only proper story content is G-Man at the end. His only purpose is to act as a retcon device for Valve and he breaks the fucking timeline while doing it, which never happened before in the series.
Yes the dude is capable of time travelling, dimension hopping, storing people in the void for decades, stopping your perception of time and communicate through thoughts but the player always had their timeline straight thanks to the writing.
Now it's all fucked up. Valve tried to play safe and used G-Man to retcon the HL2EP2 ending but now they got multiple plot holes to fix. God I hope they don't come up with a bullshit explanation when Half Life: Barney on mobile releases, like "Alyx forgot about it," or "she vanished from the current timeline but people somehow still remember her."
I really hope when the time comes at least this piece of G-Man's time fuckery is explained with an epic story.
I miss Shepard more than my Grandpa.
Mr Shephard……is it that time again? Great Half-Life video. Can’t wait for the next one. I hope you’re feeling better. From being under the weather.
great vid , thx for this lore !! 💥
Thanks for watching ☺
Would love to see an Opposing Force 2 where you play as a Combine Soldier where you get mortally wounded and the Vorts pull you back from the brink and use you for the resistance
That is a game I would play
@@Skyrionn love this channel btw! I recently zoomed through all the games, I’m glad I’m not the only one who has been thinking bout Half Life lately
I remember this from back in the day. Such a good game. I'm on the side that this game is not canon because of it being Gearbox and also race X being such an oddity that, as far as I know, isn't mentioned again in the later games. It's more of a "what if" game to me.
gordon was in xen while adrian was fighting race x though
We only see around 3 types of race x, being the shock trooper, the weird antalion guard looking thing, and the spikey guys. Majority of them appear after Gordon leaves.
Adrian appears to wipe them out, or at least close the portal they were using to access earth.
Adrian is probably real, seeing as the timeline of events fits.
Along with that, Gordon is seen in opposing force, meaning half life 1 is canon to opposing force.
It would make sense that it works the other way around, too.
Plus, most npcs who encountered race x were wiped out in the explosion, or killed by the encounter.
This is why it isnt mentioned in later games, and why race x doesnt reappear.
I feel if Valve ever does do HL3, Shephard would come in as a fellow companion like Barny.
2:11 “Located within the New Mexico desert of Arizona.”
Me: *Brain stops working*
whoops
My man's only 22 and saved earth from Race X, but funi glasses goatee man failed to kill 1 old man.
With Alyx now controlled by G-Man and Gordon and Eli out to find him, maybe G-Man could take Shepherd out of stasis to hunt Gordon down and manipulate him into thinking that the Resistance's actions could jeopardize everything his "employers" have worked to achieve. To this end, you'd fight both the Resistance and Combine, it's pretty clear G-Man isn't working with them.
Half Life 3 can wait, I’m ready for Opposing Force 2
I learned so much about half-life from your channel. Thank you!
Adrian needs his own game. Maybe he helps the resistance put up a fight in a different part of the world. We’d get Adrian and a look at a different part of the world. Best of both worlds!
Really love all your content man, it's fucking superb.
Only Adrian Shephard, survivor of the Black Mesa incident, could stop them.
_But, when the world needed him most, he vanished..._