Great overview on Race X! Just a few additional points worth noting: - The reason Race X originally discovered Earth is because they detected the portal storms caused by the resonance cascade. This also happens to be identical to the later given reason why the Combine discovered Earth. - Spore Launchers are initially found in containment tubes in Black Mesa, meaning the science team had encountered at least this form of Race X before the incident. Because it's also specified they had never encountered any later seen Race X species prior, it's implied these Spore Launcher specimens must have been collected from Xen which follows the notion that numerous alien collectives pass through the borderworld (like the Combine). - The wording in the guide (page 122) makes it clear that there are multiple Gene Worms in existence as they're simply a tool used by the race to assimilate resources, not a leader figure. The intelligent military component of Race X falls to the Shock Troopers. - You say at 7:42 that we never visit the Race X home world. However, the final scene with the G-Man in the Osprey as seen at 6:08 depicts Adrian flying through a black dimension with Sprites flying alongside the aircraft. Since we just saw a massive formation of Sprites travel through and charging the Gene Worm's purple portal gate moments before, we can infer Adrian is now drifting through the dimension the Sprites had just entered, i.e. where the Gene Worm was coming from. And on a side note, I hope you don't mind, but I coincidentally also happen to be finishing up the production on my Pit Drone Overview video which is coming up in a few days.

@PurpleColonel

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! I'm looking forward to your video :)

@emilyraven2990

2 жыл бұрын

The legend himself is here

@simplisticminimalistic868

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for reviewing Marphy!

@thealandude9146

2 жыл бұрын

can't wait for the video

@Gravity_studioss

2 жыл бұрын

I would like to add a possible reason for their weird disappearance: The endboss of opposing force has some sort of Portal orb thing in his stomach. What if he is the nihilant of race X? He is the one that opened the race X portals, and his death caused it to close again, which left one half of race X in their dimension and the other half to get nuked by the Black ops warhead

My personal headcannon for Race X has always been that they're kind of a multi-species alliance of inter-dimensional pirates who jump into any world where things go wrong and try to grab as many resources as they can and get out before the Combine show up.

@nfwrambo

2 жыл бұрын

That’s amazing, I am bogarting that head cannon immediately

@xxfalconarasxx5659

2 жыл бұрын

That can't be true. Given that the purpose of the Gene Worm is to terraform worlds, it would seem that Race X intended to settle Earth permanently. Most likely what occurred is that shortly after the Resonance Cascade, Race X saw an opportunity to invade Earth using Xen as a relay. We know that Race X had a small presence on Xen, as their sprites and portals can be found there. They were probably informed of the Resonance Cascade through outposts on the borderworld. It's possible that the sprites act as messengers of sorts. Why they invaded is anyone's guess, but given that they attempted to terraform Earth, I would assume they were looking for a new homeworld or a colony to settle. Perhaps their original homeworld was unsustainable, or maybe threatened by the Combine, or perhaps Race X are just staunch imperialists. Whatever the case, the invasion failed with the defeat of the Gene Worm by Adrian Shepard, and the remaining stragglers were probably wiped out by either the nuclear bomb that went off at Black Mesa or the later Combine invasion. We don't see any Race X survivors in later Half Life titles, so it seems that they are either extinct, critically endangered, or the Combine had the remnants relocated away from City 17. Or maybe they are just no longer canon, but I think that explanation is really underwhelming.

@nfwrambo

2 жыл бұрын

@@xxfalconarasxx5659 aww damn, I didn’t think of that, but that is a fair point about the gene worm. I mean unless they terraform a planet as a way to fortify it and slow the combine down a bit while they haul off their loot, but that idea’s a bit of a stretch. I guess my mind heard “extra dimensional space pirates” and immediately wanted it to be true :( .

@xonxt7479

2 жыл бұрын

@@xxfalconarasxx5659 they are capable of personal teleportation, which means they ran away before the combine got to them, becuase their whole things is teleportation

@nicocarrero5953

2 жыл бұрын

@@xxfalconarasxx5659 What if they're just trying to terraform Earth into a base?

I love how Otis bald spot deflected some bullets

@PurpleColonel

2 жыл бұрын

Someone forgot to get rid of his beta helmet

@unoriginalperson72

2 жыл бұрын

@@PurpleColonel someone forgot to recreate the model

@FanMentalOmegaVietnamRTS

2 жыл бұрын

He is Otis

@KinerfV4

2 жыл бұрын

@@PurpleColonel nope, he its just otis. Nothing beta here. He just can with the fact he’s Otis

@Sgt.SharkShock

2 жыл бұрын

@@KinerfV4 true words there otis is better than barney

I asked purple to buy the opposing force prima guide AS A JOKE, and this maniac actually burned 20 dollars for the benefit of Half life fans worldwide. Respect

@simplisticminimalistic868

2 жыл бұрын

You guys deserve a Valve item in your inventories!

@jpeg.600x2

2 жыл бұрын

lmao

@Bunny-ns5ni

2 жыл бұрын

Twenty dollars? I got the bundle with the original Half Life, Blue Shift, and Opposing Forces(also TF1, but everyone can forget that one) for around thirteen dollars. Dang, I guess I got a good deal lol

@isaackirwan5438

Жыл бұрын

@@Bunny-ns5ni they talking abt the guide

I think there is a very simple reason why Race X is absent in Blue Shift. Gordon and Barney are both in the incident as soon as it happens. Adrian is sent in a little bit later, a half hour or so before Gordon enters Xen. Race X appears long after Gordon is gone. But Barney, just before escaping, sees Gordon being taken away to the trash compactor. That was around two hours before Gordon went to Xen? So, what I'm saying is, Barney left looong before Race X got involved. Also, on an unrelated note, I realized Blue Shift is the only Half-Life game with a "happy" ending. Barney is the only one who escapes alive or without getting captured by G-Man.

@JamesTobiasStewart

2 жыл бұрын

Yep, Adrian & Gordon both get placed in the G-Man's freezer, while Gina & Colette's story just sort of stops (with only a corpse in an OP Xen section to hint at a possible fate for Gina) unresolved.

@connorgolsong290

2 жыл бұрын

@UCB8CUUsTtkH5mlMoKhR8MYg Randall S Pitchford III can go fuck himself. Gina Cross will not be dead in my soul until Valve says it's so.

@Breached18

2 жыл бұрын

Adrian is sent in when the other HECU soldiers are. Very early. He just wakes up during the later portions of surface tension and early forget about freeman

@anrykmapping6268

2 жыл бұрын

@@Breached18 yes. Adrian deployed in middle we've got hostilies chapter But their osprey attacked by a plane thing from the xen make adrian unconsious for long time into end the surface tension

@kabeam5643

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, Adrian is on the second day of the Black Mesa incident. When he woke up in the infirmary Gordon was in surface tension.

My theory why Race X didn't appear in future Half Life series: They retreated. I mean, would you think they have a chance against the Combine? Of course not. These guys are widely known for conquering multiple planets

@Leitis_Fella

2 жыл бұрын

Perhaps they realized the threat the combine posed and decided to go to another planet. Or, perhaps they were fleeing from the combine, not unlike what the Nihilanth was doing -- but ultimately failed because of Shephard.

@bikerman911

2 жыл бұрын

Or maybe they got the same treatment as the earth by the combine. So much possibilities, who knows.

@MrChickennugget360

2 жыл бұрын

or Race X was the Combine. The Combine we see in HL2 is not even a major Combine force. Or race X were contracted out by the Combine to probe earth.

@-Zakhiel-

2 жыл бұрын

@@MrChickennugget360 I don't really think the Combine are the kind of people who make contracts or deals. Aside for the advisors who main purpose seem to established a contact with other intelligence creatures, most of the Combine must be more or less like the borgs in Star Trek. A civilization of slaves enslaving other civilizations. As for them being part or simply being the Combine, they don't have any "technology". All they use are bio weapons and teleportations without any mechanical/electronic device. Even Vortigaunts use more technology than this guys (but you could argue that vort tech on Xen was what remained from a previous enslavement by the Combine and that Nihilant was only using it for his own purpose).

@Mr-Weiss

2 жыл бұрын

Combine also conquers other entire universes the engineer so its basically suicide for race x to attack combine

I like to consider Opposing Force canon - since frankly, "what is and isn't canon" for Half-Life really doesn't matter fuck all - in large part because of Race X. They don't merely foreshadow the Combine with some similar ideas on display, but their existence as a force unrelated to the Combine and only loosely connected to Zen implies this grander world going on in the Half-Life cosmos with multiple factions competing for resources and control.

@LordVader1094

Жыл бұрын

Agreed. Race X basically being a scavenger group is interesting enough to distinguish them from the monolithic Combine or the desperate refugees under the Nihilanth and adds to the setting rather than takes away.

@michaelalanbaker7339

6 ай бұрын

I like the idea that they're a force like the Combine, but instead of conquering worlds for territory, resources, and to enslave and modify organisms found there for more units, they're just this commando-like invasion force, unlike the hammer the Combine employs, that gets in, sets up a Gene Worm, and goes full on Tyrranid resource-harvesting before the native population realizes what's going on.

Honestly when I played Opposing Force back in the day I never thought Race-X was a separate faction. I just figured they were more Xen aliens that Gordon just didn't happen to run into. Just like how he didn't see Engineers or Medics for fat security guards.

@WeAintJokinHere

11 ай бұрын

Hey he is not fat >=(

@xelinxbb7290

7 ай бұрын

yeah exactly, me too

Race X feels like a prototype for what would become the Combine, an alien race non-native to Xen that detects the resonance cascade and uses it as an opportunity to invade a new world. Half Life Alyx's newspapers specifically mentioned that the alien races that started appearing during the portal storms were hostile to one another, and the idea of terraforming planet earth to be more suited to the invading race is very similar to the Half Life 2 beta concept of the air exchange.

@PurpleColonel

2 жыл бұрын

I was going to point that out in the video but I started to feel like it's likely just a coincidence using the same sci fi concepts and a natural extension of what happens in HL1.

@thisnameisbad3609

3 ай бұрын

no aliens are naitive to xen actually... it's a well known fact but where was this stated? was it in Alyx? I don't have vr...

"Got Turnip"/"Snacking"/"Ow" I immediately visualized a Shock Trooper reporting on a turnip it stole from the Black Mesa food court, then being only mildly annoyed by the grenade that interrupted it before it got the chance to dig in

@kotikvtanke2349

2 жыл бұрын

It's actually RaceXese. "Ku Kur Ku" "Kss Kyur Kiml"

@rfichokeofdestiny

2 жыл бұрын

@@kotikvtanke2349 KZread actually put a “translate to English” link on this. Which does absolutely nothing, but it rarely works on human languages. Including English itself, which is where I usually see the link. 😏

There is an unused dialogue in Half-Life 2 Episode 2 where Eli mentioned Black Mesa being destroyed by a nuclear bomb

The biggest mystery of Race X - What happens when you say the name out loud, but replace the R with a G?

@bonniegem_

2 жыл бұрын

LMFAO

@bottomtempo

2 жыл бұрын

aha but-

@badideagenerator2315

Жыл бұрын

You end up describing what i had with your father.

@Gulliblepikmin

Жыл бұрын

For a second there I misinterpreted it as Race Gex.

@mysteryY2K

Жыл бұрын

@Mialisus wtf is ligma?

Yeah my thought has always been that Race X's appearance was less a carefully planned offensive, than it was moving to exploit a developing situation while everyone else involved appeared to be in chaos (the Black Mesa staff were no longer organised outside of the Lambda facility, the HECU were already trying to retreat, the Xenians soon had their hands full trying to stop Freeman's counterattack & the Black Ops hadn't arrived yet). They were opportunists thinking they could run in and claim the prize while the other factions duked it out and when they encountered stiffer resistance than they'd expected; they cut there losses and got out of there. If the Combine was a known factor to them then I would expect the merest hint of their approach to give Race X all the reason they need to make a full retreat.

@xonxt7479

2 жыл бұрын

A race of opportunistic cowards, sounds cool, I love those guys

@literallyglados

2 жыл бұрын

race X battle plan: show up, realize youre screwed if you stay, and leave.

@dontoverthink4766

2 жыл бұрын

plus there ace in the hole the giant worm thingy (sorry i forget its name) has been defeated so they're extra vulnerable to the combine

@quakethedoombringer

2 жыл бұрын

So they are basically space pirates that went in for some Earth resource and then noped out as soon as they realized that the Combine is coming for everyone's ass

@Roebloz

11 ай бұрын

​@@quakethedoombringerWell hey, if anything they are the most effective at avoiding the Combine, since they can teleport at will.

Since half life 3 will be the most perfect game of all time, I am sure we will see race x in it, hopefully the hydra too

@turmspitzewerk

2 жыл бұрын

half life alyx doesn't have race x in it though smh

@vladimirmuca849

2 жыл бұрын

@@turmspitzewerk you win some, you lose some

@noddy1973

6 ай бұрын

​@@turmspitzewerk kinda hard to fit them in in what is a combine centered game

@BoeBins

3 ай бұрын

And the cremator of course

I like to think that the reason why Race X doesn't appear in the later games is because they didn't manage to become part of Earth's ecosystem. They arrived rather late to the chaos and by that point the Xen aliens and Black Ops soldiers had already managed to overrun the facility. By the time the G-Man sets off the nuke and blows up the facility, not many Race X aliens managed to get away in time and were destroyed by the blast. Any stragglers in the outskirts were probably picked off by local fauna, humans, Xen aliens and ultimately the Combine before they could breed, thus bringing the species on Earth to a quick and early extinction.

@coastalvan1978

Жыл бұрын

I wouldn't say Extinction like most broke people would say putting all your eggs in one basket is a bad idea. Putting all your numbers in one planet would be horrible Zen didn't do it and they looked quite desperate for a new home. I feel like they give up on the project once they realize the combine was there. So they stopped the invasion and left the numbers to fend for themselves.

@jessegauthier6985

Жыл бұрын

@@coastalvan1978 He literally specified "on Earth" can you read

@taddad2641

Жыл бұрын

Think its simply a case of them failing to invade properly and stepping back. Something that can seemingly terraform planets, is probably quite a rival to the the Combine. They tried to take earth befor the combine but they were pushed back. Might not even be they are 'malicious' in nature, simply trying to outcompete the Combine so they aren't attack too.

@lordswagimusii8222

10 ай бұрын

Not to mention the gene worm which was the lynchpin of the invasion as it allows them to terraform earth was forced back before it could arrive on the scene.

i always like to think that the reason Race X never returned is that after Shepard beat the gene worm and Black Mesa got destroyed, their invasion force falls apart, so they briefly tried to regroup and plan out a new invasion while all the portal storms are going on still, then the combine showed up and the 7 hour war happened (since that event was only days after the end of half-life). Race X sees that go down and nopes out of that, they're not even gonna try and fuck with those guys, they can have that planet. so why don't we see Race X? cause the bigger fish showed up and stole their catch.

@jorgegames7066

4 ай бұрын

Maybe the Race X disappeared because after Shepherd killed Geneworm Race X creatures went extinct because Geneworm was probably making these Race X creatures. When you fight Geneworm it sometimes shoots out a portal teleporting shock troopers

The chumtoad could potentially be part of Race X, more specifically related to the shock trooper. They both have hoofs on the back, a redish eye, and spikes on their backs. Furthermore, they're both a type of frog or toad. Shock trooper infants look most like tadpoles, however. Perhaps chumtoads are like the opposite of axolotls, being born into their adult form. Or maybe they just don't grow very large.

@Bunny-ns5ni

2 жыл бұрын

I like this idea

@_ham4127

Жыл бұрын

this is cannon to me, especially because the chumtoads in blueshift have purple teleportation particles

10:33 *You look at the Shock Roach and think about how delicious it would be...*

Great video as always Purple! I always viewed the Half-Life series as two different series and two different universes-the only game shared between the two being the original Half-Life. - There is the Half-Life 2 universe, which includes Half Life, Half-Life 2, Episode 1, and Episode 2. - And there is the Half-Life 1 universe, which includes Half-Life, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, and Decay. One's focus is the story of Gordon Freeman, and the other's focus is the story of the Black Mesa incident. I feel this is the simplest and most effective way to comprehend the franchise. By the way, I disagree with your statement about G-Man's appearances in Opposing Force being negligible. I would consider G-Man's appearances in Opposing Force the most tangibly "canon" parts of the game, as they were the only part of the game that Marc Laidlaw insisted on playing an active role in the writing of. IIRC, Laidlaw wrote the entirety of Mr. Man's op4 dialogue. Lots of great new info in this video that I didn't know about, especially with the Drill Instructor manual and the RTSL interview w/ Randy at the end. I'll warn you though that those prima guides are considered dubiously canon and sometimes conflict with established plot -- the HL2 one says Grigori "sought after" Ravenholm when every other official source writes that he lived their prior to the invasion. They're sort of a secondary source-I think a lot of it was improvised riffing based on notes that the devs gave to the guide writers. But keep it up, not enough content like this around nowadays and it makes me happy to know someone other than me still gives a damn about these games.

@JamesTobiasStewart

2 жыл бұрын

May I just say, I really liked the way you put it there with the 2 universes; though I prefer to personally treat the expansions as part of my own canon, I can certainly see the thematic point on this. Because as you said, the 2 do go in different directions. The HL2 universe is about a person (even when he isn't playable HL: Alyx treats retrieving him as a major part of the plot and he is viewed as important) & the difference he makes, as the right man in the wrong place. Gordon's personal story only goes forward, even his brief playable section in Alyx obeys this, jumping the narrative forward to the ending of HL2 Episode 2 before putting us in Dr Freeman's shoes. Meanwhile the HL1 Universe is about an event and it's consequences, all the HL1 protagonists are dealing with the results of the Resonance Cascade in one way or another, whether they are trying to contain it or simply escape it. The story of the incident will double back on itself, showing the same event from multiple perspectives. We see Gordon, Gina, Colette & Barney all experience the moment of the Resonance Cascade to one degree or another. Gordon is an important part of the Incident and it's consequences, but this universe is an ensemble piece shown from 5 different perspectives.

@julesisafanofbendy8011

Жыл бұрын

Holy shit it’s the Gmod arg guy

@ieatchuall

Жыл бұрын

Interesting way of putting it. I also think how almost every other security guard in HL1 looking identical to Barney really adds to this divide in the series.

@circleinforthecube5170

7 ай бұрын

@@ieatchuall i think we shouldn't count identicals as lore, its just a hardware limitation.

"To win the game you must kill me, Randy Pitchford" Sounds like no-one's actually beaten Opposing Force yet. A shame.

@jessegauthier6985

Жыл бұрын

I dunno if I'd call that a 'shame'

I believe the best explanation of why Race X is gone after Opposing Force is a sarcastic quote from Jolly Wangcore: “Right, they took a quick vacation on a _hostile alien planet_ and then left when they got bored”

There are a few defining features present in most Race X creatures. Nearly every Race Xian has hard or hoofed feet, combined with a brownish skin, multiple moving mouth pieces, but most importantly, amphibian or insect likeness. But they are not the only one in the series to possess these features. Antlions follow this exact description. Therefore, I like to imagine Antlions coming from Dimension X (or the vortigaunt homeworld). This is further supported by the voltigore likeness to the antlion guard, both having about the same size and colour, and baring coloured stiped on its backs. The same can be said about houndeyes, however I think this is mostly converted evolution. The grubs als bare some likeness to the shock roach.

@ewanb1086

Жыл бұрын

That’s a cool theory

So who else is excited for the eventual Operation: Black Mesa release one of these days, would love to see Opposing Force given the same Source treatment as Half Life

@TheDalekCaan_

2 жыл бұрын

Eh, no point in being excited for mods. I've been waiting for that to see the light of the day since 2012. When it's done, it's done.

From what I recall reading from somewhere, I think Gabe/valve and Pitchford/GB didn't really see eye to eye on some things, and that's why they aren't really talked about anymore.

@PurpleColonel

2 жыл бұрын

I assume Gearbox getting upset at Valve's monopoly is a recent development but I haven't really looked into it.

@UpToSpeedOnJaguar

2 жыл бұрын

@@PurpleColonel if was definitely back when the two companies were still small-time devs, but I think it had something to do with Valve not really liking the direction GB originally wanted to take with their expansions and/or Valve being pretty restrictive on their creativity and timelines. Been a minute since I read about it, but I believe those were the issues that kind of caused some fallout between the two.

If an Opposing Force remake ever gets finished, I hope they'll implement that worm chase part

Colonel: "Where did they come from? Where did they go? Why haven't they ever returned" Me: "cotton eyed joe"

@badideagenerator2315

Жыл бұрын

Yep, i thought this too.

6:34 I just realised that's an early version of the black drill instructor model, the same one found in the recent opposing force press demo.

My Headcannon is that they are an empire that is a foil to the combine. This is because they supposedly are very good at local teleportation but apparently need some things to happen to access other universes, while the Combine is the contrary. It would make sense that they might not have many universes, but the ones they do are very fortified and strong against any Combine invasion.

Otis had a helmet much like the Barney’s However it was cut from the game This explains why his top part of his head sometimes uses the metal impact

Where did you come from? Where did you go? Where did you come from, Race X Joe?

Another big mystery from Opposing Force is when did Headcrab Zombies lose the ability to evolve into Gonomes lol

@MyUsersDark

6 күн бұрын

Probably when the Combine genetically modified them so that they wouldn't get out of control when they used them as weapons

You acknowledging Shepherd’s Mind gives me life :p

Clicked faster than Freeman could say "......."

Still wondering whatever happened to Gonomes. It was a good concept IMO. Maybe something to do with that weird field the Combine used to prevent human procreation also interfered with the headcrab process on the host's body? Also where did the Black and Fast Headcrabs come from? I mean we don't see even a single one on HL1, Combine genetical enhanced Headcrabs? Spontaneous evolution?

@badideagenerator2315

Жыл бұрын

Mabye the different climate on earth created different selection pressure, which led to the random mutations which were undesirable on xen becoming desirable on earth, thus making headcrabs with these mutations more common.

@lordswagimusii8222

10 ай бұрын

Gonomes would be lit in half life 2 and I agree I think the combine engineered new headcrabs for added pain.

I like Race X and the other exclusive content in Opposing Force. I know Gearbox did this to add more content to the game, but I find it silly that they became completely irrelevant afterwards. Considering the fact they could have created a more diverse amount of enemies and weapons in future games like Half-Life 2, or at least could have deepened the (already rabbit hole) lore of Half-Life. Despite that Race X's intentions and their reasons are very loose and vague in my opinion.

@lordswagimusii8222

10 ай бұрын

It is an assumption on my part but because the Gene Worm is described as being a terraforming siege beast, my thoughts are that they were there to simply expand their empire and possibly co-opt humanity into it with genetic modification perhaps.

@circleinforthecube5170

7 ай бұрын

@@lordswagimusii8222 imagine if they weren't as brutal as the combine, slavery or cultural integration could be a thing, if they think like us and have emotions and can communicate with us then the relationship would be much much different from the combine, they also seem nowhere as near as technologically advanced

Now THIS is a half life video I’ve been wanting. More opposing force stuff would rule.

"having their monster mash get graveyard smashed" is a new permanent part of my vocabulary, also 8:57

I think the earth must be a really strategically important position in the multiverse, with 3 different alien factions (possibly 4) fighting for control over it.

@meem6154

11 ай бұрын

No, I believe the resonance cascade was like a beacon throughout the universe that allowed for significantly easier teleportation to Earth from Xen, so every race that could get to Xen could get to Earth and found our already highly domesticated environment easy pickings. Also where’s the fourth?

@uppishcub1617

11 ай бұрын

@@meem6154 Gman's employers. I listed them as a maybe because they might have only wanted xen.

@meem6154

11 ай бұрын

@@uppishcub1617 I believe his first group of employers, that we know of, didn’t care about Earth, since control over the border world is much better for them.

@xelinxbb7290

7 ай бұрын

3? what 3? isnt it just xen and race x

@user-en6px3og2l

7 ай бұрын

@@xelinxbb7290the combine

9:22 My favorite moment! something tells me someone is going to clip that!

@zfilms4858

Жыл бұрын

clipped it: kzread.infoUgkx4-E1dkGZOpy7ZMal1OtsWa7rghaGYDeq

when i first saw the antlions i assumed they were members of race x that bred and were too hard to exterminate so the combine just left them and set up the thumpers to stop them from getting in the way

We all know why Race X was dropped. Valve just knew how good Gearbox was at writing stories. They're not very good at all.

"Where did they come from, where did they go?" Where did they come from HEV Joe!

I never realised while playing through Op4 that the sprites were living things, looking back I really wonder why they didn't confuse me more because they seem so out of place without the context of them being alive

The sprites are pretty cute if you ask me, it's a shame they summoned a giant worm monster

I really thought race x made opposing force extremely memorable and fun

The shock roach is a sub par weapon? Get your head examined.

Glad to be so early. I really enjoy this series. I also always come back to your Black Mesa Video. But these (Cascase Series) never fail to entertain me^^

I personally liked race x and would like to see them come back.. some day if ever. EXCEPT THAT DANG CRAB

Yes. I come home from work and this comes up straight away. Made my evening :)

"It's okay, sir! I can take 'em!" *ZAP* "ARGH-Well, I got hit pretty ba-" *ZAP ZAP ZAP*

my headcanon is that Gordon left before the full forces of race x came in, so he never met them, and then when Adrian killed the Gene Worm singlehandedly race x was like "oh shit these guys are strong" and got the fuck out of there before the Combine came in

TLDR Adrian stopped them, they said fuck it and go home

1:04 I was really expecting a cotton eye joe joke there

@PurpleColonel

2 жыл бұрын

I couldn't work it in without being awkward lol

I have been waiting aong time for this, your long form videos help me live man

This is actually some amazing content. Idk I just love it. Super interesting and funny good work

I see race X as a sort of rival to the zen forces. Xen and race X could have had conflict with each other or at least been aware of each other’s existence with race X invading earth to undermine the Nihilanth ambition and retreated when the Nihilanth was defeated and all other objectives failed.

So THAT'S the scene that alfabusa was making a reference to on his latest video!

I love Cascade videos dude.. keep em up.

My theory for race x is like what happened to other aliens from half life 1 that dont return, where they still exist but just dont appear in the games

Awesome video. Very informative, and the references and jokes are great.

Gotta say that I really enjoyed Opposing Force, the new enemies and weapons are a fresh take on the whole half life franchise, at least during that time. I kinda wish that they would bring all the alien species from the old games to some future half life game, if it ever comes out.

7:18 Holy shit Never knew that, thank you for telling us that I want that canon now too lol

0:09 "Yeah, sooner or later..." BOOOOOOOM

ah yes, Day9, my favorite "most important person"

@indieblue5246

2 жыл бұрын

I had a Leonardo pointing at the screen moment

@monobryn64

2 жыл бұрын

Well, he's the president of e-sports, is he not?

You fools, Race X IS the combine! Also chumtoads must be Race X because they teleport away with a purple glow in that one Blue Shift easter egg.

@alphadios2003

Ай бұрын

While evidence is undeniable i'll say Chumtoads are too cute to be Race X.

how i see it is that the way the race X can teleport is also thru Xen, but instead of tech making it possible is the genome final boss , a behemoth treated like cattle and used for transport

I love these Half-Life analysis videos and the deeper look they give into the lore. It's so intriguing

I love how the Black Ops guys who talk are literally just Barney and Otis but talking with a darker imflection.

Thinking a lot about how KZreadrs used to talk to their own videos.

Personally, I think Race X was the strike force used by the Combine - while the Nihilanth went for a direct assault on Black Mesa itself, the Combine tried to set up something of a FOB to use in the 7 hour war, as well as to keep the Nihilanth's forces in Xen. Gordon and Barney never encounter any because they never went into places actually controlled by the Combine, they just stayed in Xen invasion territory. Race X can teleport, but only to a certain degree, and only biologically, whereas Humans can teleport with Technology.

I personally think the Race X are likely a rival faction to the Combine, but only way less powerful since the Combine have many, many worlds and species in their vices. The reason why they show up is because they saw a good chance to get new territory and went for it. The gene worm gets the planet nice and "alien'y" while everyone else are at eachother's throats. As for why they're not in the other games, assuming that they didn't just pack up and leave when their terraformer was killed, they at the very least got out when the Combine got involved. I wouldn't stick around for the crossfire and aftermath if a war broke out between some small-time military and an intergalactic space empire.

@user-ol7bt4wp1j

Жыл бұрын

I feel like race X is a hivemind like pirate multi organism Similar to a Man O War Which is why the Gene worm looks like the tentacle alien Because it’s actually a cousin species but that species lives in a symbiotic hivemind like the other race X creatures Which is why they avoid the combine.

@bruhgod123

7 ай бұрын

i would say that the race X are just invading dimensions to take technology to have a chance against the combine

Why the hell do players like to kill friendly npc's??? Like, they're there hoping you'd help them and putting their trust on you but you end up killing them without thought. Wow.

@WeAintJokinHere

11 ай бұрын

In opposing force, I try my best to get more HECU Squad to fight against black ops and race x, zen, etc AND When one of them dies, I LOAD The game again and try getting all of them alive without losing a single member

@xelinxbb7290

7 ай бұрын

tbh, it's fun lol

Clicked faster than Freeman defeating the Nihilanth

@WeAintJokinHere

11 ай бұрын

Clicked faster than Adrian defeating the gene worm

@davidnewhart2533

3 ай бұрын

Clicked faster than Calhoun escaping Black Mesa.

the voltigore scared the crap out of me when I first encountered it

6:46 WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT THE *DRONES!!* WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT THE *SHOCK TROOPERS!!* WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT THE *PIT WORMS!!* WE'RE .. WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT THE *GENE WORM!!* AND ... AND WE ARE DEFINITELY GOING TO DO A LOT OF TALKING ABOUT THE *SPRITES!!*

I always figured race X was a less intelligent but well adapted form of alien that would be treated like a difficult to remove pest by other aliens.

Wow. Sierra had a heck of a good run in the 90s: The Incredible Machine, Betrayal At Krondor, King's Quest, Quarky and Quaysoo's Science Olympiad, the Dr. Brain series---they deserve a better ending than they got!

Ain't the scientist at Blast Pit from Half Life said that Gordon should kill the Tentacles before it grows any larger, maybe the Gene Worm ones are the Tentacles that has evolved into a next stage

@xelinxbb7290

7 ай бұрын

i don't think so, tentacles and gene worm are from completely different universe, and even if they did evolve into a gene worm then how would they be from a different universe, i feel like they're 2 different creatures, they look familiar probably because the developers didnt wanna spend too much time making a new boss so its inspired by tentacles, i don't feel like it has to do anything with the story, this is just what i think

yooo the long awaited x)

I always headcanoned that the combine and Race X were the same, given the similarities in their motivations we never really see any 'Alien' Combine forces other than the synths so

wake up babe, new purplecolonel video!

I love that their description of why the cut the tunnel chase could just be someone describing choo choo charles

I love these two black ops voice acting

"Where did they come from, where did they go? Why is he called "Big Hat Logan"?"

Subscribing cuz u got the book man i respect that

I always loved the sprites, they felt like bugs or something coming through and turning Black Mesa into a nest of theirs, really giving the feeling that the facility is being repurposed by aliens in the hours just before it's nuked

Hi, this is an amazing video. Thanks for talking about this great game series. Have you plans to make a video about Blue Shift?

In love with this channel.

Great video!

I *LOVE* Race X! And I do hope they return in a future game! Honestly, they dodged a bullet by losin' Earth! They missed the Combine.

@xelinxbb7290

7 ай бұрын

they probably didn't miss combine, which is probably why they're gone now, i feel like they couldn't handle something as strong as the combine so they just retreated

@ShadeMeadows

7 ай бұрын

@@xelinxbb7290 Fair... or they noticed the combine's interest in earth and xen, and just gave up.

That Day[9] cameo, at 7:07, is golden.

My favorite thing about opposing force is how we both got another super cover up from the goverment and another super alien invasion from race x

Hearing kleiner and barney join the SF is amazing

As someone who played OpFor first (my computer at the time was so uniquely bad that Half-Life 1 and Blue Shift would often crash in between loading levels but had no problem loading OpFor's levels and running Half-Life 2 at minimal settings), I never really knew there was a difference between Xen and Race X aliens and just referred to them as "aliens" until I did my research.

@DeathBringer769

2 жыл бұрын

Wait, you could run HL2 but couldn't run HL1? That's just bizarre, lol.

@RainingMetal

2 жыл бұрын

@@DeathBringer769 HL1 could run, but it would also crash in between level loading screens (some more than others). For some inexplicable reason this could be bypassed by me swinging the crowbar during this process.

For the record, Half Life takes place in 200X, which means that unless you believe the game took place in 2000 (like I do), the president was most likely Bush 43.

@PurpleColonel

2 жыл бұрын

Half Life Alyx and various things around Portal indicate 1998 as the year it takes place. Most people consider it a mistake but it's worth noting

@connorgolsong290

2 жыл бұрын

@@PurpleColonel Well, nothing in Half Life has ever been certain. But 1998 is also a perfectly valid year for the level of tech we see in the series, so who knows?

@TheArkman360

2 жыл бұрын

@@connorgolsong290 Marc Laidlaw said the date was 200X but since he's no longer the writer of Half-Life that could change

@connorgolsong290

2 жыл бұрын

@Jotaro97 Well, Marc Laidlaw said it was 200X, which is backed up by the PS2 manual, which is considered to be mostly Canon.

Hey mate, seriously underrated chanel. Thanks for the upload. Any chance you can do Half Life 2 or Alyx stuff?

@PurpleColonel

2 жыл бұрын

I have plenty planned!

I’m surprised that HDTF didn’t just use Race X for the Combine’s initial forces, sure it doesn’t fit the Combine’s bio-mechanical technology….but it would have made more sense than the **** they did include.

I literally beat Opposing Force and forgot about it and Race X entirely until I watched this video.

1:04 I appreciate you not making a Cotton eye Joe joke. That must have took some restraint.

Ah, the Combine before the Combine.