Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 03 - Freeman Pontifex [Hard]

Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex
After their theft of the Larval Extract, Gordon and the Vort head to the surface with a freshly resuscitated Alyx, where they find out that a massive group of Combine are mobilizing to White Forest in order to put a stop to their plan to launch the rocket. In order to get on the right track to the base, our trio must first face off against a very angry Antlion Guardian (alongside a regular Guard) who has pursued them to the surface, deal with a warehouse complex full of zombies. and solve an elaborate see-sawing bridge puzzle.
Playlist with all completed chapters:
• Half-Life 2: Episode T...
Notes:
- The car Gordon drives in this game is a heavily modified and stripped-down second generation 1969 Dodge Charger. It is also called the "Muscle Car" (referring to American muscle cars) by fans, as well as "The Jalopy", a reference to the codename Valve used for the Volkswagen Beetle in older builds that looks a lot more run-down. Fun fact, Valve redesigned the Jalopy because playtesters were disappointed rather than excited when they first saw the car
- The emergency lights on the Muscle car were added by Valve to help players find it more easily
- The Antlion Guardian will no longer apply a toxin effect on Gordon if it lands a hit on him
- If Gordon is in a location where the Guards cannot ram into him, they will instead punt objects towards Freeman's direction (as seen at 3:44)
- The pickaxe at 6:15 is extremely bugged. If Gordon jumps on it, it will launch him in a random direction, which allows for interesting map exploits (watch Desinc's video)
- The G-man's first re-appearance since the start of HL2:EP1 at 7:41
- If Gordon stays on the platform at 15:05, the Zombies will eventually knock it down
- Sawblades are available on the walls for Gordon to use during the big zombie fight at 15:10
- The only ammo crate in any Half-Life game that offers unlimited SMG grenades (19:35)
- Gordon can get the car across the first section of the bridge before the Portal Storm damages it if he is fast enough (22:35)
Trivia:
- The term "Pontifex" is defined as follows, from Wiktionary: "Often interpreted as a compound originally meaning “bridge-maker”, from pōns (“bridge”) +‎ -fex (“suffix representing a maker or producer”), either metaphorically “one who negotiates between gods and men” or literally if at some point the social class which supplied the priests was more or less identical with engineers that were responsible for building bridges"
- The above definition is very fitting for the chapter considering Freeman deals with a massive bridge in order to jump the car back to the correct side. Metaphorically, Freeman is also "building a bridge" so that our heroes can successfully get to White Forest
- Although Gunships are also seen mobilizing with the rest of the troops at 0:09, they are not encountered at all in the final battle of the game (though they were supposed to be fought in earlier iterations of the battle)
- The Guards will start "bleeding" when critically injured, as seen briefly at 3:08. This feature was not in any of the previous games
- The first time a Combine sniper rifle is seen in-person in any of the games (8:27)
- Fun fact: A playtester was so scared of the noises at 9:44 that he refused to enter the room
- If Gordon retreats into the first room at 9:58, the Poison Zombie will break the wall and keep chasing him
- If Gordon manages to detonate an explosive (grenade, SMG grenade) where Alyx is using the sniper rifle, a Combine corpse will fly out (10:33) as Valve had simply programmed a Combine sniper AI to target enemies but not Freeman
- First time a Zombie is seen being capable of operating doors at 11:56
- Fast Zombies (and zombies in general) are shown to be quite curious creatures, as a Fast Zombie can be observed dumpster diving at 12:10
- First appearance of a Fast Zombie torso in any Half-Life game at 17:21
- The chair, SMG and beers and nearby SMG grenade ammo crate at 19:49 are meant to imply that Resistance members used to lob grenades at the Zombies in the pit below for fun
- Alyx is actually supposed to fully kiss the Vort on the cheek at 26:04 instead of doing whatever the hell she did do in this video

[@Redgomotor]

And so we say goodbye to one of the most badass Vorts ever.

[@Sexy_Nutella]

He was definitely my favourite one. Having him accompany Freeman throughout these first few chapters was a great choice by Valve.

[@outerspacedoggo471]

If you look at Alyx long enough after (and every time) you get in the car, she winks at you.

[@Damicske]

@9:02 (after she unlocked the combine forcefield) Alyx is going thru her hair, she never did that so it's must be female body language ;)

[@pileofwit]

She must have gotten grapefruit juice in her eye.

[@ahmadnajmiroslan]

*23:33**-**24:02**-This is what I'm looking for...thanks sir...the devs sure put an effort into this*

[@erlienfrommars]

Mankind lost so much during the 7 hour war, but also gained invaluable allies with the vorts.

[@Sexy_Nutella]

True that! The Vorts as allies are invaluable.

[@BlackLion-nb8fm]

So that's the meaning of pontifex... Huh... 11:56 Yee! I got surprised too when I saw the Zombine opening the door! It was Hilarious. 12:10 So Fast Zombies are like... Cats? They even throw away the grenade you put in on there. 19:49 Not only resistance members... Me when I played this, I used to stay there for a moment and play with the grenades, launching them towards the zombies or everywhere else. 26:04 Yep... About that... Maybe she kinda got a bit disgusted when touched the vort skin, and its eye is not such a cute thing, they're cute to see, not to touch, lmao.

[@Sexy_Nutella]

All those timestamps you mentioned have a corresponding commentary node in the Developer Commentary mode of the game. It's awesome how much forethought Valve put into making even these tiny scripted sequences matter :)

[@doctorfaker391]

Probably my favorite chapter of Episode 2

[@Sexy_Nutella]

It's funny, when I was a kid playing through this I always hated it because of the zombies. I like it a lot more now haha. Though Riding Shotgun is still my favourite.

[@chezburger57]

3 years late but i just want to say I still HATE the zombies@@Sexy_Nutella

[@yourfellowducky2712]

Vorts are strong. I wonder if they were still on earth during the timeline of Portal 2. Maybe humans live in their homeworld too.

[@Sexy_Nutella]

Who knows! The timeline of Portal 2 is unknown. I wonder if the humans did eventually beat back the Combine and Portal 2 happens decades afterward

[@yourfellowducky2712]

@@Sexy_Nutella Pretty sure they did. Chell and Wheatley went on the moon, and the water is blue. Earth looks normal. The Combine drained resources from the Earth. In Highway 17 and Sandtraps, there are shipwrecks, meaning that they drained the water. At the end, there is wheat, which can go bad if not taken care of. GLaDOS also mentioned that she saw a deer and some humans. That means the Xen wildlife has disappeared. So the Combine is gone, or there is very little remaining.

[@aleksandarvil5718]

2:30 PRICELESS XD 😂🤣

[@Sexy_Nutella]

Two at once was an interesting spin on the Guard battle

[@omarandresorellano4142]

23:48 q manera matar demasiado zombies jeje! Buena jugada en el cap3 *Freeman pontifex* Sexy Nutella eres un genio ^^, esperare el siguiente cap👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻.

[@Sexy_Nutella]

¡Gracias como siempre! Sí, este capítulo fue como un mini-Ravenholm :)

[@omarandresorellano4142]

@@Sexy_Nutella si es verdad jeje

[@kirimorris5996]

17:44 REEEEEEEEEEEE *DED*

[@Vlumpty_Vonty]

7:10 i managed to skip most of this part with a good grenade placement

[@Greg_3613]

Lmao the part where you use the yellow vehicle to get up that room with the vent instead I jumped onto the pole of the platform and jumped

[@monberg1000]

In the video title, what does that symbol that comes after the "zero" and before the "hyphen" mean?

[@DogukanAyan87_]

Nice episode and vorts can kill advisors ?

[@Sexy_Nutella]

Yeah probably, though we don't see that happen. But Vort lightning is incredibly powerful, as shown in Half-Life Alyx

[@elijahgreybosh7882]

What is interesting, if you watch the ending to Half Life: Alyx.. (valves newest half life game release) The g-man gives you the choice to kill the advisor holding Eli Vance. Then the advisor is actually killed by something quite similar to vortigaunt lightning.

[@alex.g7317]

2:48 I can’t get past it, I don’t have enough ammo 😢 Never mind, did it!

[@aleksandarvil5718]

4 Years Ago...

[@mauroandresorellano398]

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@Ubeogesh]

23:00 Looks like the Irpin bridge Russian army is as bad as the combine.

[@Sexy_Nutella]

The parallels between the game and the things happening in real life over there are...disturbing to say the least

[@player2-lightwater914]

@@Sexy_Nutella The fact that Half Life 2 games is set in Eastern Europe which could possibly be Ukraine

[@AyoubJeljli-t7i]

and how you kill hem

[@AyoubJeljli-t7i]

HOW to you speed

[@RingingResonance]

I love HalfLife, but I really wish the character's dialog wasn't so patronizing. Barney and Alyx being the worst.

[@floridaman2011]

It was 2007, game dialog wasn't the best.

[@Sexy_Nutella]

How do you find it patronizing? I'm not trying to be sarcastic, just wondering which parts you are talking about :)

[@RingingResonance]

@@Sexy_Nutella The repeated "great work, Gordon" "Nice work, Gordon" "thanks Gordon" It feels over done. Don't get me wrong, the voice acting is great, but the dialog could be better for Barney in HalfLife2 as he sounds like an instruction manual in a few parts, and for Alyx in some parts of EP2 where she seems to thank you too much for the most mundane tasks during the beginning of the game. The Vort is okay, as it fits his character. Maybe I've just replayed this series way too much.

[@a_cats]

@@RingingResonance I only didn't like Barney's dialogue in Follow Freeman

[@fergal2424]

@@RingingResonance yeah it's childish and unrealistic. but it a good few years back now. video games are so often written to be aimed at younger audiences and it sucks how stupid the in game dialogue often is.

[@AyoubJeljli-t7i]

you hsker😡😡😡

[@chezburger57]

what