+G Brag A thumper is a giant Combine construction that creates vibrations that basically repel Antlions, basically to keep them out of said area. Used in the outlands mostly.
Terence the Horse^^^^^^^^^ in the game they make those big noises by hitting the ground and it keeps antlions away during the coast section. it also makes a cameo is episode 2 i think
Breen calling Gordon "just an ordinary man" almost has the exact opposite effect than what was intended. If he with his amazing accomplishments is just an ordinary man, just imagine what every other citizen could accomplish!
well, what he says is technically true, much of Gordon's merit is due to his HUV suit, that armor makes him a walking tank, as it allows him to be able to survive explosions. Not to mention, the suit provides him with extra strength that allows him to carry really heavy things like the rocket launcher or anti-gravity pistol.
Well no, the point of calling him a Ordinary man, is more of a insult directed at the Transhuman Overwatch, on how despite being one of the best Human Combine soldiers, A man in a outdated HEV suit with any weapons he can find are somehow outsmarting them and out gunning them. Besides the speech is directed in secret at Nova Prospect, so I doubt any Citizens would hear it.
I REALLY like Dr Breen as an antagonist. He’s no GLaDOS or Andrew Ryan, but he is a brilliant character, in large part because he isn’t particularly cruel or even powerful. You listen to his speeches to the populous of City 17 and it’s awkward, even slightly weak. He’s just a man forced into an terrible situation and who’s taken advantage of it to improve his own standard of living while the rest live in oppression and bondage. He also seems to acknowledge that humanity have little chance of overcoming the Combine and believes that humanity’s only future left is to become a slave species to the galaxy-conquering Universal Union. The man may seem powerful or threatening in some scenes but he is just that - an ordinary man - a puppet of forces far beyond his control. This is brilliantly shown in his speeches, especially those around the city, with a dialogue that even he doesn’t seem to believe, and within Nova Prospekt, wherein despite his authoritativeness around the soldiers, it’s clear he fears for himself and the rest of humanity, too, if they fail.
@@inktheone5933 knowing glados is aware of whats happening outside of aperture + breen's knowledge of the cascade and all thats happened on black mesa, he would know about the aperture's current condition
His "serve mankind" speech addressed to Gordon reveals a lot about him. He is a man who realizes just how powerful the Combine is and how pointless it is to try to fight them. And he is trying to convince the Combine that our species has value to them so that humanity can survive. It's not ideal but it's the only chance humans have to survive and Breen knows that. Whereas Freeman would throw all the progress Breen made away for his heroic quest of saving everyone. The writers even seemed to acknowledge this when Breen was talking about "magical thinking". Since if our planet was actually taken over by an interdimensional empire, fighting them would be just that, magical thinking and someone like Breen would be our only chance of survival. Of course though, in the game the Combine conveniently isn't able to teleport to other locations in the same dimension so that's the reason they give as to why we even have a chance as Gordon. But even if Gordon removes the Combine off of Earth, what is there to say that they won't find a method of teleportation and come back to take revenge? Humanity's days would be numbered but I guess you could argue that a bit of time spent being free is better than an eternity of slavery. I guess both sides have valid arguments but I really like Breen's character as he is way more interesting than the save everyone hero type like Gordon that we see almost everywhere. Good antagonists are rare and Breen is a really good one and he adds a lot of depth to the HL universe!
The day he dies, Steam put up an announcement on the Update News window that is normally used for announcing new games, sales. Not sure if I'm the only person who remember that?
@@nicholassciarappa9919 he meant it in the way he is talking to the player and what we see. A lot of thought went into his speeches, they aren't simplistic and dumb, they are actually trying to convince you and the citizens in that world (which sounds like it should)
+Slaver I don't think that's the case. He's probably referring to the fact that it's taken so long for Freeman to rise. Using this basically to say, "Why hasn't he done it sooner? Because he's been unable to until now"
+Capelett "I have good reason to believe that in the intervening years he was in a state that precluded further development of covert skills". It's so damn specific though. He knows he wasn't on this planet witnessing the aftermath of the black Mesa event. I'm sure the combine benefactors informed in.
+Capelett Plus there is his line later, when he has him in his office: "Are you aware that your contract is open to the highest bidder?" I'm fairly sure that Breen, like Eli, knew of the G-Man in some way or another. I mean, how could he not notice this man walking around the Black Mesa facility, being in places where he's not supposed to be?
Scott Ramage Before he asks that, he talks about how you chose wrongly to fight with the resistance, throughout the citadel and in his office, loosely. "I can't begin to share my disappointment in Eli Vance and Doctor Kliener."
+Kenan Komutan Its actually 2018 because if Half Life 1 was set in the year it came out (1998) it would be 2018. As its known 20 years has past since the black mesa incident
windows_x_seven What? Why would you wait so patiently to tell him something like that? 😂 I'm sorry, but this comment is too funny in being left alone unquestioned.
Well player jokes aside, I think it’s kinda strange how OP Gordon is. He has the H.E.V. Suit, sure, and that can help him a small bit. Gordon really was just a theoretical physicist at Black Mesa. The Incident happens, and then he suddenly can use any weapon, gun metal or alien, with ease. I wonder if Gordon used shooting ranges or stuff before the Incident to learn how to use a gun, which could’ve helped. But he may not be a badass, but rather he’s partially scared. In Half-Life 1 is was likely clear that he was terrified for his life. In Half-Life 2 it’s hard to tell. But the thing is is how he quite literally a tank that tosses bug bait at Combine Soldiers and stuff. But I think one of the main reasons as to why he’s so difficult to get is because of allies. Several people have helped him on his mission, and the ant lions especially helped when going through the threatening Nova Prospekt. So as much as he was, essentially, a normal person, his past experiences and his bravery (alongside with his cowardliness and fear) essentially helped him figure out what to do. I guess when you’re used to it you can do it again and remember how to do it. And even then, it was the G-Man that sent him on that mission to stop the Combine (or as Dr. Wallace Breen refers to them as, “Our Benefactors”).
Breen knew how strong the combine forces were. Marc Laidlaw had created a draft storyline for Episode 3, in which it was revealed that the combine are so powerful (not the transhuman forces, but the actual combine military) that they control entire stars and use them as generators for producing military equipment, that they don't control just planets, but they control entire universes. The only reason Gordon had any chance, ANY CHANCE, was because the full might of the combine military was never brought to bear against him. He was fighting a relatively small force of augmented humans, he never contended with the combine war machine that lay waste to Earth in 7 hours. The main writers of Half Life intended to show this in Ep 3, but it was never shown - that, in their full might, fighting against the combine is as futile as trying to drain the ocean with a plastic pail. Kleiner even says this himself in Episode 2 - after the destruction of the Citadel, he warns that the combine are going to send a retaliatory strike force - and instead of laying waste to Earth in 7 hours, it will probabaly destroy everyone in 7 minutes. Their only hope was to close the portal. Breen knew the extent of combine might. He gathered (rationally) that trying to oppose them would likely be completely futile and result in the extinction of humanity. Gordon never lived through the 7 hour war. He never saw how close the combine came to completely eradicating humanity - and by all the lore given in the games, the easily could have. Any force that controls stars, builds dyson spheres and has the cability of tunnelling through the fabric of dimensions, as the combine can, could very likely destroy a planet - at the very least, they could probably drop bombs far more powerful than nuclear weapons on earth until it became uninhabitable. Breen is somewhat evil - he did more evil than he had to, but make no mistake, he GENUINELY thought his methods were the best methods to save and, indeed, even enhance humanity.
Yeah I mean it's clear that he doesn't actually possess that much power, his simply a puppet with a human face to make humanity feel a bit more comfortable. The ones really running the show are the advisors, with all the knowledge and power they possess. That's why Breen wants his consciousness implanted in an advisor grub body at the end of Half Life 2
Notice how the events seems very specific. How do you face suck force that crippled your planet in mere hours? you dont. Gman intention is to perform surgical strikes to weaken the combine training Freeman to be an unstopable killing machine or that it seems. We dont know for a fact what Gman is or wants, but Gordon did pissed off the big players and destroyed their portal, we dont know if he pissed the bigger players yet, as the Vortigaunts stood against Gman.
The combine have conquered multiple universes and galaxies within them, the forces on earth are a small faction that were converted from humans and not the forces that fought during the 7 hour war.
I like to believe Humans stood a chance since Portal 2 is set hundreds of years after Half life 2 and you clearly see the main character in the ending (yes this is a spoiler) exiting the facility and walking in a corn field which proves the Earth wasnt destroyed and humans might have survived
Honestly Breen isn’t a stone cold villain. He negotiated a peace deal and clearly wants humanity to survive, and he doesn’t actually consider himself part of the Combine; he serves as the intermediary between Earth and the Combine, and if he wasn’t around, who knows what would’ve happened to humanity. What makes him an antagonist is that he is too cowardly in a sense, he isn’t willing to fight back and thinks humanity has no hope, which would’ve been accurate had the super portals not been closed in Episode 2. I think he is a very interesting villain
He clearly doesn't care about humanity, he only uses his it as leverage to the combine. What he truly cares about is his own importance, he is selfish. He wants to be important to the combine, that's why he used his position as the administrator of Black mesa to surrender humanity to the combine, so they would see that he could be of use to them. If he cared about humanity, he wouldn't refer to the subjects of city 17 as "the rabble in the streets". Dr Breen is not a leader, he is a politician.
Don't forget the highest levels of Special Forces training. And the ability to use the most complicated and advanced technology known to man. Gordon is the furthest thing from being an ordinary man.
@@kennethchou4384 Atomizing the individual tends to fuck an empire. Until recently, the United States has pretended to be an empire. Now the illusion is collapsing. People want solid borders, not solid alliances with duplicitous entities...
@@scowler92 Paranoia and fear are symptoms of a deteriorating Empire falling into decadence. Borders have nothing to do with the issues that are pestering the dying Empire that is the USA.
His message to the Overwatch Human branch seems to suggest that the soldiers are 1. Self aware despite their condition 2. They're ultimately fighting for the survival of the very people they oppress.
Breen likely thought he was buying time for Humanity by facilitating their assimilation into the Combine's war machine. Until Freeman showed up, he was able to take his time dealing with the resistance (stalling in the hopes of a breakthrough?) but the Combine knew how dangerous Freeman was, so when Breen informed his Advisor of Freeman's return, they likely threatened to accelerate their depletion of Earth's natural resources and exterminate all Humanity, even the Overwatch and the Stalkers, if he didn't kill Freeman and crush the Resistance. In a way, Freeman's presence sabotaged the Resistance's efforts to undermine the Combine's hegemony. Sure they closed the portal in Europe, but the Combine have probably turned against the other sectors' Overwatch units elsewhere in the world, and are likely meeting stiff resistance in the Americas.
@@scowler92 well said. Just to remind everyone that the Combine could've, and most likely would've completely destroy the 7 hour war if they just had 2 extra hours, but those 2 extra hours were avoided because Breen himself negotiated with the Combine for their mercy. Breen basically took all the world's evil and burden on his shoulders, the man did more for humanity than Freeman ever did. Hell, had he not killed Nihillant, im sure Nih wouldve helped humanity, considering that Nihilant didnt invade because he wanted to, he had to, as the combine were on his ass.
City 17 Speech - 0:00 Welcome. Welcome to City 17. You have chosen, or been chosen, to relocate to one of our finest remaining urban centers. I thought so much of City 17 that I elected to establish my Administration here, in the Citadel so thoughtfully provided by Our Benefactors. I have been proud to call City 17 my home. And so, whether you are here to stay, or passing through on your way to parts unknown, welcome to City 17. It's safer here. Collaboration Speech - 0:42 It has come to my attention that some have lately called me a collaborator, as if such a term were shameful. I ask you, what greater endeavor exists than that of collaboration? In our current unparalleled enterprise, refusal to collaborate is simply a refusal to grow--an insistence on suicide, if you will. Did the lungfish refuse to breathe air? It did not. It crept forth boldly while its brethren remained in the blackest ocean abyss, with lidless eyes forever staring at the dark, ignorant and doomed despite their eternal vigilance. Would we model ourselves on the trilobite? Are all the accomplishments of humanity fated to be nothing more than a layer of broken plastic shards thinly strewn across a fossil bed, sandwiched between the Burgess shale and an eon's worth of mud? In order to be true to our nature, and our destiny, we must aspire to greater things. We have outgrown our cradle. It is futile to cry for mother's milk, when our true sustenance awaits us among the stars. And only the universal union that small minds call 'The Combine' can carry us there. Therefore I say, yes, I am a collaborator. We must all collaborate, willingly, eagerly, if we expect to reap the benefits of unification. And reap we shall. Gordon Freeman Speech - 2:16 We now have direct confirmation of a disruptor in our midst, one who has acquired an almost messianic reputation in the minds of certain citizens. His figure is synonymous with the darkest urges of instinct, ignorance and decay. Some of the worst excesses of the Black Mesa Incident have been laid directly at his feet. And yet unsophisticated minds continue to imbue him with romantic power, giving him such dangerous poetic labels as the One Free Man, the Opener of the Way. Let me remind all citizens of the dangers of magical thinking. We have scarcely begun to climb from the dark pit of our species' evolution. Let us not slide backward into oblivion, just as we have finally begun to see the light. If you see this so-called Free Man, report him. Civic deeds do not go unrewarded. And contrariwise, complicity with his cause will not go unpunished. Be wise. Be safe. Be aware. Addressing the Overwatch - 3:35 I have been asked to say a few words to the transhuman arm of Sector Seventeen Overwatch, concerning recent successes in containing members of the resistance Science Team. Let me say up front that I regret having to temper my heartfelt congratulations with a strong measure of disappointment. But I wouldn't be doing my duty as your Administrator if I didn't pass along the message I have received from Our Benefactors. The capture of Eli Vance is an event of major significance, make no mistake. And while it's true that conceivably we could have taken him at almost any time in the last several years, the manner of his capture may prove to have unexpected benefits. It cannot have gone unnoticed by all resistance members that Doctor Vance's capture coincided with the act of giving shelter to Gordon Freeman. This might cause other resistance members to think twice before harbouring Doctor Freeman. It might cause them to question his allegiance; even prompt some to turn him out, or turn him over to our cause. However, we cannot count on such developments. Doctor Freeman's reputation is such that other desperate renegades are likely to grant him a great deal of license in the spirit of spreading general chaos and terror. This brings me to the one note of disappointment I must echo from our Benefactors. Obviously I am not on the ground to closely command or second-guess the dedicated forces of the Overwatch, but this does not mean I can shirk responsibility for recent lapses and even outright failures on their part. I have been severely questioned about these shortcomings, and now must put the question to you: How could one man have slipped through your force's fingers time and time again? How is it possible? This is not some agent provocateur or highly trained assassin we are discussing. Gordon Freeman is a theoretical physicist who had hardly earned the distinction of his Ph.D. at the time of the Black Mesa Incident. I have good reason to believe that in the intervening years, he was in a state that precluded further development of covert skills. The man you have consistently failed to slow, let alone capture, is by all standards simply that--an ordinary man. How can you have failed to apprehend him? Well...I will leave the upbraiding for another time, to the extent it proves necessary. Now is the moment to redeem yourselves. If the transhuman forces are to prove themselves an indispensable augmentation to the Combine Overwatch, they will have to earn the privilege. I'm sure I don't have to remind you that the alternative, if you can call it that, is total extinction - in union with all the other unworthy branches of the species. Let's not allow it to come to that. I have done my best to convince Our Benefactors that you are the finest the species has to offer. So far they have accepted my argument, but without concrete evidence to back it up, my words sound increasingly hollow even to me. The burden of proof is on you. As is the consequence of failure. I'll just leave it at that. Addressing Gordon Freeman - 6:57 I'd like to take a moment to address you directly, Dr. Freeman. Yes. I'm talking to you, the so-called One Free Man. I have a question for you. How could you have thrown it all away? It staggers the mind. A man of science, with the ability to sway reactionary and fearful minds toward the truth, choosing instead to embark on a path of ignorance and decay. Make no mistake, Dr. Freeman. This is not a scientific revolution you have sparked...this is death and finality. You have plunged humanity into freefall. Even if you offered your surrender now, I cannot guarantee that Our Benefactors would accept it. At the moment, I fear they have begun to look upon even me with suspicion. So much for serving as humanity's representative. Help me win back their trust, Dr. Freeman. Surrender while you still can. Help ensure that humanity's trust in you is not misguided. Do what is right, Dr. Freeman. Serve mankind.
@@EGeorgev New Mexican here: Yes, black Mesa is a real place but it’s basically just the middle of nowhere. Also, the Black Mesa facility is actually a real place on google maps. It’s near Santa Fe.
5:28: "I have good reason to believe that in the intervening years he was in a state that precluded further development of covert skills" Oh shit, he knows about GMan and Gordon being in stasis??? Just realised this...
Did you play half life 2? He talks [briefly] talks about gordon's contract with gman saying it was "negotiable". In the scene where you get transported into his office.
I feel bad for Breen because he wasn't a bad guy he was just a scared puppet that had a gun(advisors tongue:P) pointed at his head the entire time and at the end of the game he starts sounding worried and he panics when he's running so I still feel bad for him
Let me open your eyes about doctor Breen. Back in the days when infamous Wallace Breen was the administrator of the top security research facility Black Mesa he made an arrangement with a mysterious government man also known as G-Man and bought a rare specimen from him. That same specimen caused the Resonance Cascade that opened the way for the Universal Union called also The Combine to enter our dimension and begin their invasion on Earth. 7 hours later Earth is enslaved and Breen becomes "Earth's Administrator". Connect the dots.
Bill Nye The Soviet Spy I feel horrible for everyone in half life 2, combine, alien, zombie, and human alike. Everyone has it tough and part of me wish this game had a diplomacy option, after all, Gordon freeman is just a scientist, combat shouldn't be his forte let alone his only method of solving problems.
Screenwriters at Valve have extremely interesting ideas, even in simple speeches. Very stoic ideas. 6 years later-669 likes. Oooooooooooooooooooook. Half Life 3 confirmed. 7 years later-854... ok 9 years later-1044... ok... Still, HL3 confirmed.
He sounds helpless. But in a puppet manor he is hardly artificial. If he were. He wouldn't have emotion which is clearly displaced here but what should I say... Only degenerates can use two different topics that contradict each other.
I do believe that Breen was originally a hero for saving humanity, but the power that the combine gave him went over his head. That's why he isn't secretly trying to sabotage the combine and help the resistance, because he wants to stay in power.
In my opinion Dr Breen orchestrated the Black Mesa Incident with the help of Gman and that's how he landed himself into power. He was only just an asset that wasn't useful anymore to Gman by the time of HL2, hence he begs for his life in the teleport chamber before it explodes yet no one's there to save him. "YOU NEED ME!" Gman chose to save Gordon instead and left him to die.
@@damonnugent1993 I have theory that gman is not from earth universe. But he has power to Travel throught every universe even if they didnt make contact with xen. And he was observing people in Black messa. Choosed three people who could help him do what he would like to see from our universe. And then just watch, ofcourse but his plans are kinda ruined in episode 1. The way he get stopped just feel like something not from earth
I honestly don't believe that he was a villain in any way. When he orchestrated Earth's surrender at the end of the seven hour war, he was concerned about the wellbeing of his species. He honestly believed that he was doing the right thing for everyone. He believed that he was leading his species into a huge leap in evolution. Unfortunately, his methods were a little oppressive. But in the end, he truly believed that he was doing the right thing.
Marshall Pétain, in France. He lived WW1 and was a hero of this war. He also made the french army surrender even if they were able to fight to prevent more suffering from citizen. He even deeply thought that Hitler would actually help France, leave the South of France (And the jews living there) alone and even actually (tried to) help jews who were imprisonned. He was also a beautiful propaganda person, with posters of him everywhere, his speeches on the radio and even songs of him every day by the children at school. But does that mean he isn't a villain ? He wasn't executed like Laval (But that was because of De Gaulle's grace, mostly because of his old age) he was a true war hero, who deeply wanted to help his people, but for me, he stays responsible for a lot of things. The French army could have at least won time, even if not the war, he could have given a greater fighting, he could have kept most of the racists away from Vichy France, he could have at least TRIED to do things. Even if by 1943 he was just a empty puppet without any power, he remain for me guilty of one thing : Weakness. And that led to a lot of innocent on the way to death camps... Pétain and Breen are the same type of people. Old persons, propaganda objects, not deeply villains but leaders of a horrible regime. And both of them are indeed guilty.
TomZanovich Breen had no choice, though. He wanted his species to live forever, and the combine could give him that--and if they didn't, they'd wipe them out. Plus, I'm a bit uncomfortable trying to compare a fictional character to a real dictator who was responsible for the deaths of millions.
Cranial Toxicity One of my grandparent (A child under Vichy France, who sang "Maréchal nous voilà" every day) argued that Pétain had no choice, that he wanted France has ally and that if he wasn't there, France would have just being destroyed. Pétain wasn't a dictator who caused millions of death. But he helped one (And actually, Breen was indeed inspired by Marshall Pétain, I am no inventing anything here) Now listen up. We know that Pétain at the begining liked Hitler, or at least thought they could work together (Just like Chamberlain who called Hitler a gentlemen). We know that Pétain and him did negociations to send the french army into Russia and the french navy against the brits (Look for the slaugther of Mers-Al-Kébir, caused by the Royal Army to make sure theses boats don't go for him), and by 1943 most of the old french administration was either made of defectors (Like Darlan) or racists bastards (Like Laval). Breen = Pétain. Both of them are guilty and both of them are responsible for the death they brought. Don't think of them as heroes, they are empty collaborators. It is better to die for something than live as a passive murderer.
Americans don't like voting for people who sound smart. Trump won because he appealed to one of the lowest common denominators in America and swept them up in a frenzy. Breen would appeal to academics, but the average citizen would be alienated by his mannerisms.
Not going to lie, I think there's certainly a way of reading Breen as a man who was once incredibly selfless. He surrendered on behalf of humanity, even though realistically he didn't have the authority to do that. He easily could've been killed (or likely much worse) if the combine had figured that out, but in doing so he halted the destruction of earth for the time being. He decided to put _his_ face on all the propaganda shown to earth. He's not just the ambassador to the combine, he's the one trying to sell all of their decisions to humanity, something he doubtless knew would make him incredibly hated by the humans who still had free will. In doing so he effectively gave the resistance a symbol to rally against. He's clearly very intelligent, he surely knows this. Given how strong even the combine's forces on earth are, he could also probably crush the resistance before the events of HL2 empowers them. My headcannon is that he started out essentially being a manipulator trying to protect humanity and give it plausible deniability while still giving them license to resist in small pockets, before more and more losing faith in humanity and trying desperately to save his species by essentially compromising with the Combine to let humanity live on as trans-human. He had left the resistance mostly alone figuring they didn't really matter much and they could prove useful later on. Unfortunately at some point he started to lose sight of what mattered and began to actually see the resistance as the enemy, though he still did believe he was working to save humanity. When he found out about the local teleportation discovery, he decided to work with Mossman to try and sell this invention to the combine, essentially as proof that humans are useful unmodified because of their creativity and ingenuity. When even this failed, as the combine essentially saw this as a fluke that wasn't going to be replicated, he began to actually despise the resistance, and went into full-on panic mode trying to dismantle the resistance and crush what remained of dissent within the citizenry. Because, however, it had been so long since he actually interacted with human peers face-to-face, he completely botched the response and ended up radicalizing a whole bunch of further resistance fighters in the process. In the end he became terrified of what the resistance would do to him, and essentially flung himself into the combine to avoid the consequences of his treachery, which obviously did not end up very well.
That's actually how I see Breen too. In the beginning he may have had delusions about being some sort of deep cover resistance, working to delay and mitigate the Combine genocide under the guise of collaboration. Black Mesa East being literally next to a Combine outpost isn't a coincidence, it's a hint that Breen was trying hard to look the other way. Ironically, Freeman's arrival not only forced his hand in crushing the resistance, but also caused the Combine to reevaluate both Breen's worth and humanity's by extension. The fact that he casually calls his bosses 'Combine' at the end hints that to some extent he doesn't fully buy into his technocratic rhetoric, even if it's because of selfishness rather than altruism. I think a prequel game showing Breen's perspective during the 7 Hour War could be legitimately more provocative and interesting than any spinoff pertaining to the heroes. Its worth noting that the world was already devastated by the resonance cascade by the time the Combine made their debut, so imagine if the Combine actually initially presented themselves as liberators in a world overrun by alien wildlife and increasingly broken human governments. It could make for a real gut punch to have a young Breen initially help the Combine take over, only to discover once they're in power that they're the greater evil and that he's dug himself too deep to back out...
The only reason Breen was the one doing the bargaining (and the only reason he was able to get to the bargaining table in the first place with a K3 civilization) is because Breen was the one in charge of the only thing the combine cared about: the xen-based local teleportation tech that Black Mesa had for years. We know from Mossman in HL2 that the combine somehow have not achieved this tech on their own but in HL1 we see in the Lambda labs that scientists could easily teleport from one place to another in the same universe instantly before the combine ever arrived. Realistically, if GLaDOS didn't bunker down and keep Aperture a secret from the combine, Breen's plan to sell humanity as a useful slave race with high technology aptitude would lose all leverage because the combine could now just take the tech for their own and humanity would've likely been destroyed and the earth consumed for resources. We know this is true because Breen admits they've been letting Eli and his team work for years without capturing him, even though though they absolutely couldve at any time. Only once Freeman shakes the Combines trust in Breen's control does he decide to finally just take Eli and hand him to the combine as last ditch bargaining chip. He just wanted to drag out the occupation to buy his scientists time to perfect their tech and use it to defeat the combine, which could be supported by how seemingly betrayed Mossman feels when she realizes he's not on her side. At some point he must've actually realized the severity of the situation (the combine have dyson spheres, a rogue shu'ulathoi has released Gordon Freeman from stasis with the prime directive of killing you) and decided fuck this, I will literally sell out every human on Earth and transfer my body into a space grub if it means saving my own ass. Long story short, Breen was never the good guy, he just held a great hand. Well, up until the end at least when GMan showed a royal flush.
Tell me, Valve, if you can... The past few years, you have sold so much. What is it, exactly, that you have created? Can you name even one thing? I thought not.
To be honest I don't see how killing Breen will help humanity. He is the only reason that the Combine haven't completely purged humankind. Even though he is a bit of a jerk, people need him to keep the combine from rampaging throughout the Earth as they once did.
What will the Combine do? Choose a new leader? Breen leads the Combine. (i'm pretty sure anyways) And I THINK he decides the law and what the CCA, MPF, ETC do.
Logan Harris No, he doesn't lead the Combine. His role is the Earth Administrator to the Combine. As far as I know, the Combine Advisers or someone higher up than them lead the Combine.
Silver Plaze Killing Breen was more of a larger symbol. The topple of Breen and the Citadel of c17 was a message to the combine that the Resistance is a force not to be taken lightly, and that such a force will fight them off the planet.
And then I actually LISTENED to the story and laughed at how retarded my comment was. The Universal Union pretty much just goes, "They infiltrated the entire citadel? And made it explode? Fu-uuu-ck that shit. I'll just go and take advantage of the suppression field going away."
i love the small pause in the first speech "i thought so much of city...17" its like he's trying to make a speech about the center that he "adores" but can barely remember its designated number. love the half life series
His speeches are pretty good, but once you finally meet him he's all...creepy and annoying. I hate the way he waves at Alyx when he escapes on the elevator.
that's because he's a coward, he's very comfortable speaking from his office with his ass in a leather seat, but when you confront him he shits his pants
@@radilime Truth to be told: he forced the events in Half-life 1 which led to the Resonance Cascade, and Xen pouring all over Earth. He was rotten to the core from the very start.
My god, these script are epic: - 3:26 Be wise, be safe, be....aware! - 5:00 You have plunged humanity into free fall, how could one man have slipped through your force's fingers time and time again?
"I'd like to take this moment to break the 4th wall and address you directly Gabe Newell. Yes, I'm talking to you. The so called "lord and saviour", yes I have a question for you: how could you have thrown the franchise all away? It staggers the mind. A man of computer science with the ability to sway reactionary and fearful minds toward the PC Master Race! Choosing instead to embark on a path of petty cosmetic updates and useless card games! Make no mistake Gabe Newell, this is not a gaming revolution you've sparked, this is broken dreams and lost hopes! You have plunged gamers into a declining spiral. Even if you offered an Episode 3 now I cannot guarantee that our gamers would accept it. At the moment I fear they have begun to even look upon new platforms for better games. So much for serving as the pinnacle of PC gaming. Help me win back their trust Gabe Newell, release Half-Life 3 while you still can. Help ensure gamers' trust in you is not misguided. Do what is right Gabe Newell: release Half-Life 3!" P.S: Yes, i'm aware Valve is now making a new Half-Life game. No, it still isn't Half-Life 3.
Now ~20 years later the franchise is coming out of stasis to bring people hope and overthrow the oppressive order of free to play open world battle royale games.
Dr Breen's voice actor died from a heart attack in 2010. This is probably why Valve did not release Half Life 2 Episode 3, as he had a lot of dialogue to do for Episode 3. He had possibly the best lines in the entire HL saga.
@@prodrt1 That is complete BS. Episode 3 lacked the innovation and excitement of a Half Life game, so they decided to work on Source 2 to ship it with the game they would've developed by then. However, it was forgotten... Until HL:A dropped a bombshell on us
Breen is arguably the only reason humanity isn't extinct by the time frame of Half-Life 2. Humanity has no chance against the Combine. Their resources are too great, their technology too advanced. The Resistance might decimate the Combine garrison on Earth, but a retaliatory strike would likely annihilate all opposition on the planet. Breen just tried to keep peace and maintain the human species' survival. He has a very valid reason to hate Gordon, as his support of the Resistance threatens to destroy the peace between the Combine and humanity, and by extension destroy the human race. His propaganda might make it seem like he prefers the Combine government to what we had before the Black Mesa incident, but that's just it. It's propaganda. He has to look at the bright side, and he has to convince others to look at the bright side. It's the only way to maintain the peace, and thereby the only way to maintain humanity's survival.
consider this: why would the combine see fit to appoint an ambassador in the first place if they possessed the power to outright annihilate any form of resistance in the first place? it's because they cant. the entire plot of hl2 is proof to the contrary. you say that "breen just tried to keep the peace." wow, you fell for it hook, line and sinker. breen's purpose to the combine is to provide the illusion of peace to the public. his speeches and related propaganda are not his earnest beliefs, and nor are they descriptive of the combine's actual intentions. breen is a necessary tool for the combine. he is used to give the impression that collaboration is an option, and that it isn't just a one way ticket to slavery and eventual extermination. in order to "maintain the peace," there must be peace to begin with. "peace" is not what you see in city 17 or nova prospekt (furthermore, earth as a whole), it is devastating oppression. the resistance isn't just some disruptive offensive force, it's a survivalist DEfensive one. their main function is to save lives. the existence of the underground railroad isn't being used to topple the combine, it's being used to escort humans to relative safety. gordon's primary role is exactly what you describe breen's as: "maintain the human species survival." his arrival and subsequent intervention is the closest thing that humanity has seen to genuine hope since before black mesa. the one free man. breen is a wolf in sheep's clothing, a worthless sellout, a puppet. if you sincerely think that breen had humanity's best interest in mind, then you definitely need to reassess the subtext (hell, just the text, fullstop) of the game.
I'm sorry, what? The Combine, an inter-dimensional empire, unable to quell a resistance? The Earth Garrison can't, but the whole Empire can. We haven't even seen 1/1000000000 of what the Combine have to offer in terms of military strenght. They establish these 'ambassadors' to control the population a little more effectively, for they see the value of a person of the conquered species 'representing' their interests in the Universal Union. And why don't they just leave a stronger force to guard the planet, you ask? Simple: It would tie down a little too much of their forces, which they must have split up over a thousand times already. They use garrison forces to control planets, whilst the primary force just goes and keeps on conquering. I simply wanted to point that out, but as for the rest, I must agree with you, albeit I have some of my doubts. Sorry to be a bother
@@SuperGman117 Considering the relatively lackluster military response to Freeman, the Combine were likely crippled themselves by the end of the war. I like the to think the Combine were still struggling to conquer the Americas when Freeman returned. Calls to surrender were met with the opening of remaining armories. Any nukes that weren't launched were dismounted and used to sabotage Combine installations. While the war was over in hours, the insurgency had been going strong for twenty-five years. That's why there are so few soldiers in Freeman's way.
"Tell me doctor Freeman, if you can. You have destroyed so much, what is it exactly that you can create?" this line was always odd to me because i don't even know who is right here I mean most rebel deaths during half life 2 are gordon's fault in some way He did destroy most creatures living on xen He keeps destroying combine shit But yet it was him who created the resistance Not him as a whole but just his actions during the black mesa incident was what made the resistance
you have to be in gordon shoes, you go to work and have to survive all that shit straight in 2 days, he doesnt have the time to think or the choices, he is just a puppet.
That’s because, Citizen, I am being sincere. We must all be safe not only from dangers unknown but also from the dangers of magical thinking. Most of all that of instinct and it’s inseparable twin, superstition.
I love the kind of villainy that valve created with Breen. the way his silver tongue tries to direct you away from the blatant inhumanity of the situation.
@@jamescorden4922 You were correct. When they capture him they're (nominally) interrogating him and Alyx about connections to other "anticitizen activity" in their housing block, if I remember correctly.
When I was younger, I really didn't like Breen, he really urked me. But now that I'm older I see...dude was only "evil" because he had to be the NECESSARY Evil in a sense, he had to work with the combine, he had to work as Earth's Representative. He saved humanity as best he could. He still isn't a hero, but in his own sense, he isn't really a villain either. He was forced into a situation that was never going to end well, and he did it for humanity's sake.
I don't to sound like a schizo nerd but seriously, what a fucking masterpiece. Transhumanism, scientist dictators, interdimensional beings holding our government by the balls? The people who wrote that script seemed to know a lot, all I'm saying.
5:26 I can't wait to see Gordon's reaction to that in Freeman's Mind. "You too!? You're officially at the top of my list. I GRADUATED FROM MIT! I didn't graduate to watch Innsbruck with their fingers up their asses when Kleiner told me that Black Mesa was making better progress. That's it, I'm using these bugs to take over Breen's position. People will bow down to the Freeman as their new ruler!"
Ah yes, Dr. Wallace Breen from the hit video game from 2004, "Half-Life™ 2" the vicious dictator of Earth and the main component of the Combine's takeover.
I wonder what would happen is humanity just went along. I mean this is an super empire and the combine accepted breens statement of humans being the best species. I think humans would of had it alright once they began trusing us and lowered the suppression field. I wouldnt think it would be that bad.
The Combine have done some questionable shit That isn't going off what they WERE going to do in HL2 Beta Manhacks were supposed to be controlled by humans because they thought it was a "video game" Cremators were supposed to be built by children.
The combine are draining earths resources, notice how there isn't much water in the boat levels? and how in beta the ocean was supposed to be gone and replaced with a lifeless wasteland due to lack of water.
Breen stated that the only Overwatch soldiers were the best of the best. And what a great fate awaited them for their skills; complete brainwashing and physical mutilation. The one's who were not deemed worthy to be warriors became Stalkers, an even more grusome parody of a human being. The CMB don't care for any species they conquer and modify. What did the Striders, Hunters and Gunships look like before the Combine completely changed their anatomy and ripped their life of any more value than that of a war machine? Even if humans went along, they would become nothing more than walking weapons along the countless rank of the Combine armies. There's no bright future for any civilisation annexed by the CMB. Only subjugation. Only the Advisors reap any benefits from the "Union".
I love the Nova Prospekt speech, and he is talking to some Combine Elite, but the thing is he's broadcasting the whole message to the whole Sector-17 Unit, in which he's humiliating the leader in front of EVERY unit in the field.
Childhood is when you idolise Gordon Freeman. Adulthood is when you realise Dr. Breen was a massive dumbass, lol. He really thought that the Combine were going to let him into their homeworld and transfer him into a host body, as if that would have had any benefit to the Combine's cause. When the Citadel was beginning to be destroyed, Advisors were already being evacuated and sent out across the world. Teleporting him to the homeworld is just the excuse they told him in order to get Breen to start the process of opening the portal: at that point they were already starting to take matters into their own hands. They didn't need Breen anymore. The fact that Gordon killed him was merely incidental: the atmosphere of the Combine homeworld would have killed him anyway. They would have had to have transfered Breen's body _before_ teleportation, not _after._ For both the Combine and Dr. Freeman, the focus at that very moment was in the Combine wanting the portal to open, and Gordon wanting the portal to close. Closing the portal meant that the Combine then had to create the Superportal from scratch, whereas if the original portal had remained open, the Combine would have been able to simply 'widen' it, as Dr. Kleiner described. At that point, it wasn't Gordon versus Breen, as Wallace had deluded himself into thinking - it was Gordon versus the Combine, and they were only fighting for... well... *Time.*
5:51 when Breen says "How can you have failed to apprehend him?" when addressing the Overwatch, I think this is the only time you hear him break character and show his frustration, or any 'unscripted' emotion. He knows his ass is on the line for Overwatch's successes and failures. And it is made clear a number of times through inference that the Combine does not tolerate failure. Breen is a super interesting character, and I love that you hear from him in such an indirect and unique way through these recordings. HL2 really is a masterpiece, and Valve truly are master storytellers.
I fucking love the one speech where he starts talking about how could they let Freeman defeat them and that he's just a MIT graduate. it gets me so hype.
Posted the entire Breencasts in my school work online from Google Docs in health class about nutrition since i didn’t give a shit about nutrition lol Edit as of May 1 I got a 0 from it. It seems like my health teacher isn’t a collaborator to the combine ;-;
I wish there would have been a point in the story where some citizens invite you into their shelter and actually betray you and try to give you to the combine. Like they tell you there’s supplies in the basement and when you go down they lock the door behind you. And you can hear them talking upstairs and then the combine show up. And you have to solve a puzzle before all the talking upstairs finishes and escape out a window. You’d think Breen would have convinced at least a few people it’s not worth helping Gordon
"Dangers of magical thinking" yet he says "our true sustenance awaits us amongst the stars" ; and he decries Freeman/etc as reactionary yet he is reactionary in his reinforcement of the Combine invasion
