Thoughts on Half-Life and Portal [SPOILERS]

Hey guys, i played Portal today (2hrs - but a damn fine 2 hrs!) and ive been looking for clues and thingies to connect it to the HL2 storyline.

First - Character

You're the silent protagonist, doing things while being 'guided' around a bit.

Second - Looks & Gameplay

It looks like Half-Life 2, it plays like Half-Life 2 and in those really large rooms with all the metal-like pillars and crates it has that good old Half-Life 1 feeling. "How the hell could someone ever build a place like this?" [:lol:]

Third - Other Clues

Twice in Portal you can see a presentation (first in a meeting room, second time somewhere near the end) where a businessplan is unfolded regarding the activities of the so-called Aperture Laboratories, and their aim to take 'marketshare' away from Black Mesa, indicating that they operate on a similar scientific terrain.

In the Half-Life storyline it's never made quite clear what caused the Resonance Cascade set in motion by Gordon in Half-Life 1. Speculations range from a true 'accident', to either Dr. Breen or the G-man intentfully manipulating the experiment.

I've got a new theory.

What if the events in Portal - with possible add-ons or sequels to come, preceeded those in Half-Life 1? What if the Black Mesa Research Facility was entangled in an economic battle with Aperture Laboratories for trillions of dollars of government money? What if this battle caused both of them to viciously try and undermine the credibility and success of the other?

Portals have played an important role on the Half-Life storyline - they are what brought the extraterrestrial races to earth after the first Resonance Cascade in the first place, and they are mentioned several times throughout the backstory, for example the Combine opening multiple Portals to earth to bring in reinforcements, and the extensive use of them back in Half-Life 1, on the planet Xen.

In Portal itself it's mentioned that the Portal technology relies on the manipulation of dimensions - the very thing that went horribly wrong in Half-Life 1!

What if Dr. Breen, or one of his accomplices, used to work at or had ties with Aperture Laboratories, and was 'hired' to cause a critical Black Mesa experiment to fail 'accidentially'. It wasn't called 'Unforeseen Consequences' without reason!

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Portal and Half-Life games are joined by a backstory like this - in fact, it would be super awesome!

If you play HL2 EP2, it unfolds a bit more as well. So if you haven't played EP2 yet do so you'll get even more back story into Apature Laboratories. As well if you look on the web theres some website, not sure how they found this or where its located in Portal but theres a history of how Apature Laboratories came to be as well.

Yep its all coming together nicely now

Sjaak said:

Hey guys, i played Portal today (2hrs - but a damn fine 2 hrs!) and ive been looking for clues and thingies to connect it to the HL2 storyline.

First - Character

You're the silent protagonist, doing things while being 'guided' around a bit.

Second - Looks & Gameplay

It looks like Half-Life 2, it plays like Half-Life 2 and in those really large rooms with all the metal-like pillars and crates it has that good old Half-Life 1 feeling. "How the hell could someone ever build a place like this?" [:lol:]

Third - Other Clues

Twice in Portal you can see a presentation (first in a meeting room, second time somewhere near the end) where a businessplan is unfolded regarding the activities of the so-called Aperture Laboratories, and their aim to take 'marketshare' away from Black Mesa, indicating that they operate on a similar scientific terrain.

In the Half-Life storyline it's never made quite clear what caused the Resonance Cascade set in motion by Gordon in Half-Life 1. Speculations range from a true 'accident', to either Dr. Breen or the G-man intentfully manipulating the experiment.

I've got a new theory.

What if the events in Portal - with possible add-ons or sequels to come, preceeded those in Half-Life 1? What if the Black Mesa Research Facility was entangled in an economic battle with Aperture Laboratories for trillions of dollars of government money? What if this battle caused both of them to viciously try and undermine the credibility and success of the other?

Portals have played an important role on the Half-Life storyline - they are what brought the extraterrestrial races to earth after the first Resonance Cascade in the first place, and they are mentioned several times throughout the backstory, for example the Combine opening multiple Portals to earth to bring in reinforcements, and the extensive use of them back in Half-Life 1, on the planet Xen.

In Portal itself it's mentioned that the Portal technology relies on the manipulation of dimensions - the very thing that went horribly wrong in Half-Life 1!

Click to expand...

Okay, let me clear a few things up.

Black Mesa was trying to develop intrauniversal teleportation technology (something the combine hasn't perfected, thus the whole Mossman/Nova Propekt scene), whereas Aperture was developing portal technology, a physical rip in space-time. I'm assuming Aperture got the government grant (they were competing, thus the hostility between BM and AS), and therefore finished the portal technology and released it at the end of Portal.

Wikipedia said:

It is revealed in Portal that Black Mesa is in direct competition with Aperture Science, Inc., as evidenced by PowerPoint-like presentations in meeting facilities, visible in the later half of the game. In the song at the end of the game there is also a hint to this rivalry. This rivalry is largely related to the fact that both organizations were both striving to produce portal technology for the Department of Defense, and led to the creation of Aperture's Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System (GLaDOS). The presentation also gives some extra insight into Black Mesa, such as its USDoD contracts and freedom from the Government performance and results act.

Click to expand...

Second, the Combine didn't open the portals - we did. Remember the missile launch in the middle of Half-Life? If you explored the facility, there was a hologram describing a "portal array". Now that the Combine (assumedly) has human teleportation technology, they opened a portal at the end of Half-Life 2, however, it required much more power (dark energy reactors) than Kliener's did (220v wall socket power), resulting in the partial destruction of the Citadel.

In the original Half-Life 2 Borealis (viewable in the mod Missing Information) there was a mention of a company on some cargo boxes, this may have been the original idea of Aperture Science, except that they were in fact not thinking with portals back then, so who knows what it was.

This would make such a good movie, but like so man before (Game ---> Moives) would probably just ruin it all.

Decided to find out out the person behind the character is For Alyx,

Merle Dandridge
http://www.merledandridge.com/

Looks pretty much like Alyx, but minus the whole HL2 drama lol.

its an understandeble theory. but if because the g man is there in any halflife game at all, there has to be a totally thought out story some where

I have played ep2 indeed..

My guess would be the G-man had nothing to do with the Resonance Cascade or the business between Black Mesa and Aperture, as he was only on-place after it had happened (see Half-Life 1).

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=609165

Some very good information in there..its a long read though.


Also Gman caused the Resonance Cascade. *Spoilers*



In EP2, when Alyx tells her father Eli, "Prepare for unforscene consequences. Eli freaks, and tells Alyx to go get him some tea. Then he talks to Gordon alone, and mentions that he never should have used that sample that our mutual friend gave me. I knew I shouldn't have when he said prepare for unforscene consequences. Now its speculation that at that point Alyx had been taken from Eli and Eli only did it to keep his daughter safe. Referencing the part when Gman says he picked Alyx from Black Mesa, most people didn't think t was a wise investment.

NsOmNiA91130 said:

In the original Half-Life 2 Borealis (viewable in the mod Missing Information) there was a mention of a company on some cargo boxes, this may have been the original idea of Aperture Science, except that they were in fact not thinking with portals back then, so who knows what it was.

Click to expand...

Hmmm I'll have to play that mod.