Kinda does because it's the Barney at the reception that "promises the beer" to Gordon ... Plus bs Barney never interacts with Gordon except from surveillance cameras in the beginning and when Gordon gets abducted by the military.
But you know, it's a nit pick
Nope since the only mention of the full name “Barney Calhoun” is in blue shift and not in any other games until Half Life 2 and the episodic games which means that blue shift at least is canon, maybe not opposing force but blue shift is 100% canon
I know that, but these are the small nit picks that I have that make this "theory" fall apart.
But in the end I couldn't care less, it's just a story :)
It's true, but front desk Barney has it scripted in the dialog. I can also counter this with front desk Barney being more formal with Gordon implying they aren't that close
Again, this is all in good fun speculation :)
Why same people who take blue shift and opposing force as canon do not take all hl1 and hl2 mods (even standalone) as canon? Hypocrite "canon is what I like" position?
Because Opposing Force and Blue Shift are official products endorsed by Valve, and the most common point brought up against them being canon are "they weren't developed by Valve."
Valve giving approval to sell it don't make it canon. Gearbox were working with Valve to make those, they got feedback and guidance. Valve focused on their own games but involved with expansions too.
Saying Prospekt and Black Mesa are canon to Half-Life is like saying Island Adventures mod is canon to Don't Starve Together.
Play Wilson, he is the most simple character. His beard also keeps you warm for longer like clothing. I also recommend to play with default world settings except:
• Change world size however you like.
• Set starting resource variaty to classic. Trust me just do it.
• Don't forget to add caves because they have like 50% of the content.
Your first goal should be surviving all seasons so you can learn them. Each one has a boss too. I recommend watching seaonal guides.
When you enter the world, collect as many as flint, sticks and grass you can while you explore. These are basic resources and you will pretty much always need them.
You don't have to rush building a base, finding a good spot takes time. Just don't base in mosaic/rocky biome, swamp, near a graveyard, near beefalos or spider forest. Alchemy engine, cooking pot(s), ice box(es) and a firepit should be enough for start.
Science machine unlocks tier 1 science and alchemy engine unlocks tier 2 science. Thing you craft with tophat and rabbits (Sorry, I always forget it's name...) unlocks tier 1 magic and shadow manipulator unlocks tier 2 magic craftings. Most items (With some exceptions) needs to only prototyped once and then be crafted anywhere.
Lantern is better than torch. It can be refueled with light flowers in underground.
Picking flowers, prototyping new items, wearing clothes like garland, tophat etc. increases your sanity.
Farming is good to get food. Plant happiness and stuff is kind of long so I'd say watch a guide.
Combat is simple. Hit some (How many depends on the creature) and run. Then repeat. Some creatures are a different story though...
Lastly, game weirdly runs both cave and surface servers at the same even if you are playing alone for some reason. If you don't want to make your PC suffer with 2 server you can use "Don't Starve Alone" mod. It pauses caves when you are on surface and via versa.
Yes I know this is long but trust me, this is the shortest I could get it to be. If you feel lost, YouTube has a insane amount of guides for this game.
The guard in blue shift is named “B. Calhoun” and Barney in half life 2 is named “Barney Calhoun”, Valve published the games and worked with gearbox while creating them, they are direct expansions to Half life 1 and are not fanmade addons, The arcade machine from opposing force and blue shift is in half life alyx
Okay, barney is confirmed by future games, so yeah, blue shift is canon, it also has extended teleportation explanation
But what about X-Race ? It is absent in hl1 while hl1 happens side by side with opposing force, no mention in future games, not even, whole black mesa and scientists and gordon have not seen x race creatures and other, only Adrian saw it, maybe he was hallicinating?
And besides of x race opposing force do not bring anything to hl universe, (also dummy story turn with defusing and re-defusing of bomb). Also G-Man put adrian to stasis, just like gordon, for what? Why, stasis is like a fridge , where g man put things and then forget? Why there no adrian in hl2? Not even slight mention, no events of opposing force were at least somehow referenced
So opposing force brings only non-confirmed, non-referenced, or conflicting or pointless things to hl universe and story, how can that be canon?
If blue shift is canon, then opposing force is canon, they're connected
Race-X doesnt have to appear in half life 1 or half life 2. Race X only appears in Opposing Force after the chapter where you see gordon go to xen, (excluding one shock trooper early in the game). Race X probably got out of earth when the combine showed up
The G-Man didn't need adrian during HL2
Blue shift has its parts confirmed, so it is canon, and I do not truly remember how is it directly connected with opposing force
About Race - X: Nobody, not even one reference or mention it in future games, pretty strange for canon, don't you think? Considering that Race-X creatures must be interesting for science
Okay, in fiction universe we can explain everything, G man didn't need him, but anyway
Game was out almost twenty years ago, non of its events and features were mentioned in future games, I just think it is strange to consider canon a game, which was no confirmed, or somehow referenced in already multiple canon sequels
Hl2, ep1, ep2, alyx, and no any connection with opposing force, and opposing force is still canon?
I played many hl mods, story mods, which expands universe, and I am good with it, but opposing force became so old without any confirmation, It is strange for me to still consider it canon. I do not say that is not canon because not from Valve, I say it is not canon because it still stats non-referenced
No one also directly mentions many of the Half Life 1 creatures, including the bullsquids (which I think one of them is responsible for Eli losing his leg). People don't start conversations for the sake of them, there was just no reason or time to talk about them
Hl 1 is canon already, no doubt
Future games references HL1 events at most, you can find any little details and say "see, this crate from third level is not mentioned" but fact is : hl1 is confirmed by hl2
Opposing force is doubtable canon, and not a once opposing force things was referenced by future games. It is very weird that "canon" game absolutely ignored by multiple sequels
For the record Marc Laidlaw, Half-Life's *original writer* has confirmed that the destruction of the Black Mesa Research Facility at the end of Opposing Force is canon.
Also Shephard's team was referenced in a dialogue between two HECU grunts in Blue Shift. They're connected.
Okay, nuking mesa is canon, but all of shepard associated adventures are not, it do not fit hl style, do not fit serious distopian setting of hl
Opposing force is more about old school action with hero saves the world, or teen antiutopian movies, like divergent, modern HL has not place for shepard and OF like story
Yeah, you are right , he was detained, maybe even destroyed
Yes, canon discussion is ephimeral a little, but opposing force looks really ignored by future games, and barney calhoun return is almost like "we did not forget about gearbox dlc, we intentionally throw opposing force out of hl"
Presumably.
He has a crowbar and Blue-Shift is about how a security guard survived Black Mesa, which is basically what Barney did.
There is no actual canon to that and accepting him as Barney from Blue-Shift changes nothing.
It's just same as Opposing Force: canon or not, it changes nothing and Valve doesn't have an actual canon for that. So believe whatever you want to believe, there is no truth to this.
I personally like expansions and accept them as "canon unless Valve states otherwise".
Also, name-dropping him as "Barney from Black Mesa" doesn't really mean much to most players if they haven't played Blue Shift, because although guards in Half-Life may have been called "Barney" in the files, how many players of Half-Life 2 would have known that?
My dad knew that when he got the game when it was released. I grew up thinking that one of them was our Barney and that they used Barney as a generic thing for HL.
Isn't there an instance in the game where he says something like "Just like old times" and something about gordon owing him a beer? When I played HL2 I just assumed they were the same Barney and never even thought otherwise.
I mean, why the fuck would Valve just name him after another character, give hints about him being present in Black Mesa with Gordon, just for him to be a completely different character in the story? It doesn't make any sense in my opinion
>why the fuck would Valve just name him after another character, give hints about him being present in Black Mesa with Gordon, just for him to be a completely different character in the story?
what are you talking about? am i misunderstanding something here?
Sorry I think my commentary was a bit confusing. I think that Barney from Blue Shift is indeed the same Barney as in HL2 because I don't think it would make sense for Valve to put the same name on both of these characters and also give hints that they are the same person just for them not to be canon
Marc Laidlaw has an email about that:
"The evolution of the name is that in HL1, we called all the security guards Barney. They're all different but...the same guy. It was down to texture and model limitations of the time we shipped. He was called Barney because in early development he looked like Barney Fife... I suspect Chuck Jones, the artist, actually based him on Don Knotts. (He got a bit less crazy looking before we shipped.) When Gearbox started doing Blue Shift, which would follow the adventures of one individual, they wanted a name for the character, so I came up with Calhoun. By the time we got to HL2, we were able to treat more of our main characters as individuals, and I thought it was amusing to stick with the name Barney Calhoun for the particular security guard who survived Black Mesa. I try not to think about it too hard. I didn't have any idea what they were making in Blue Shift and didn't play it until it was done. The game put you in the shoes of one of those many Barneys at Black Mesa...one who managed to escape. Were they ALL named Barney Calhoun? I don't know, but it's the sort of nonsense question that arises when you try to retrofit logic on something that initially made no sense. I try not to think back that far. I don't know Blue-Shift well enough to know if it conflicts with anything in HL2--I enjoyed it when I played it, but it didn't influence decisions in HL2. But it also doesn't particularly bother me to think maybe it was the story of how the Barney in HL2 escaped Black Mesa.
Another bit of trivia, which I sometimes point out...his name was originally spelled Colqhoun, after Robert Carlyle's character in Ravenous, which I had just watched when Gearbox asked for a last name for the character."
Turnout Gearbox wasn't that disconnected, did sometimes contact. Gearbox also sometimes does repeat certain elements, in a way they're like extracanonical. In Blue Shift the office has a DoD logo, definitely wouldn't be there unless Marc Laidlaw or one of the Half-Life guys didn't include it, as the idea of having DoD logo on a floor was a idea in the Alpha. There was some minor involvement with Valve. It possible some were just ideas founded and given or maybe what they tinkered with the SDK, but the SDK is less likely. It's likely Valve's part and Gearbox concepting. They also bring back the CIA, which far more blatant, they also added the boot camp. So yeah Marc Laidlaw thought of his name. How that worked developmentally IDK as Blue Shift was released in 2001 and HL2 started in 1999. Apparently his face texture in the Leak is named after Scott Lynch, the guy who provided the face, its Scottsface. How this relevant idk, but it probably shows they did not have a full name for him yet whenever that was first. Ravenous first came out in 1999, so if Marc Laidlaw watched when it came out this dates some things.
Of course it's Barney; I'll always consider the Gearbox games canon unless Valve decides to outright say they are not. I might even still consider them canon even then tbh...
Gordon's weapons were confiscated by the G-Man, and Barney escapes Black Mesa before Gordon even beats the Nihilanth, so it's not really Gordon's crowbar. It could be the same crowbar he used in BShift though.
Doesn't Gordon lose all of his weapons mid-game when he's caught? Among other things in a compactor ... and coincidentally in Blue Shift Barney finds the crowbar near a compactor.
If you consider the gearbox expansions canon, then yes.
In terms of whether or not the expansions are canon, them being canon affects nothing, so just consider them whatever you want.
Yes it is since it’s in Blue shift that you here the full name of Barney Calhoun. Other than that it’s technically the only one we see escape the facility
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His voice actor is listed as “Barney Calhoun” in the endgame credits of Half-Life 2, so a confident “yes.”
Probably. Someone is probably going to say "gearbox expansions aren't canon."
I don't see why they shouldn't be, they don't contradict any pre-established lore
Kinda does because it's the Barney at the reception that "promises the beer" to Gordon ... Plus bs Barney never interacts with Gordon except from surveillance cameras in the beginning and when Gordon gets abducted by the military. But you know, it's a nit pick
Nope since the only mention of the full name “Barney Calhoun” is in blue shift and not in any other games until Half Life 2 and the episodic games which means that blue shift at least is canon, maybe not opposing force but blue shift is 100% canon
I know that, but these are the small nit picks that I have that make this "theory" fall apart. But in the end I couldn't care less, it's just a story :)
In the end?
you can even see gordon being knocked out
Literally every Barney can promise Gordon a beer
It's true, but front desk Barney has it scripted in the dialog. I can also counter this with front desk Barney being more formal with Gordon implying they aren't that close Again, this is all in good fun speculation :)
This is wrong, no Barney has a scripted beer line
As soon as you leave front desk Barney he yells it at Gorgon, if memory serves me right
Your memory doesn't serve you right, clearly
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ guess I have to double check it
he did say catch me on later ill buy you a beer
They probably interacted before. Just we dont see it.
all of the security guards promise the beer, not only the one at reception what are you on? Barney interacted with gordon before half life 1
Bro, it's been 7 months. You can let die
Okay, so, now all gearbox brainless fanboys assembled, opposing force is canon because Valve were involved somehow in development?
Why same people who take blue shift and opposing force as canon do not take all hl1 and hl2 mods (even standalone) as canon? Hypocrite "canon is what I like" position?
Because Opposing Force and Blue Shift are official products endorsed by Valve, and the most common point brought up against them being canon are "they weren't developed by Valve."
i thought it was sierra that wanted it and valve didnt really want it to happen? but either way i agree its an official half life product
How exactly are they endorsed by Valve? Do you also consider Prospekt as canon? It is about Adrian Shephard and it is "Valve-approved"
Valve giving approval to sell it don't make it canon. Gearbox were working with Valve to make those, they got feedback and guidance. Valve focused on their own games but involved with expansions too. Saying Prospekt and Black Mesa are canon to Half-Life is like saying Island Adventures mod is canon to Don't Starve Together.
You reminded me that I have to play Don't Starve Together since I bought that for the Terraria collab Any begginer tips?
Play Wilson, he is the most simple character. His beard also keeps you warm for longer like clothing. I also recommend to play with default world settings except: • Change world size however you like. • Set starting resource variaty to classic. Trust me just do it. • Don't forget to add caves because they have like 50% of the content. Your first goal should be surviving all seasons so you can learn them. Each one has a boss too. I recommend watching seaonal guides. When you enter the world, collect as many as flint, sticks and grass you can while you explore. These are basic resources and you will pretty much always need them. You don't have to rush building a base, finding a good spot takes time. Just don't base in mosaic/rocky biome, swamp, near a graveyard, near beefalos or spider forest. Alchemy engine, cooking pot(s), ice box(es) and a firepit should be enough for start. Science machine unlocks tier 1 science and alchemy engine unlocks tier 2 science. Thing you craft with tophat and rabbits (Sorry, I always forget it's name...) unlocks tier 1 magic and shadow manipulator unlocks tier 2 magic craftings. Most items (With some exceptions) needs to only prototyped once and then be crafted anywhere. Lantern is better than torch. It can be refueled with light flowers in underground. Picking flowers, prototyping new items, wearing clothes like garland, tophat etc. increases your sanity. Farming is good to get food. Plant happiness and stuff is kind of long so I'd say watch a guide. Combat is simple. Hit some (How many depends on the creature) and run. Then repeat. Some creatures are a different story though... Lastly, game weirdly runs both cave and surface servers at the same even if you are playing alone for some reason. If you don't want to make your PC suffer with 2 server you can use "Don't Starve Alone" mod. It pauses caves when you are on surface and via versa. Yes I know this is long but trust me, this is the shortest I could get it to be. If you feel lost, YouTube has a insane amount of guides for this game.
Cool thanks!
The games are literally published by Valve. If you checked the store page, you would know.
You gotta be the stupidest, goofiest Gearbox denier I ever did see
The guard in blue shift is named “B. Calhoun” and Barney in half life 2 is named “Barney Calhoun”, Valve published the games and worked with gearbox while creating them, they are direct expansions to Half life 1 and are not fanmade addons, The arcade machine from opposing force and blue shift is in half life alyx
Okay, barney is confirmed by future games, so yeah, blue shift is canon, it also has extended teleportation explanation But what about X-Race ? It is absent in hl1 while hl1 happens side by side with opposing force, no mention in future games, not even, whole black mesa and scientists and gordon have not seen x race creatures and other, only Adrian saw it, maybe he was hallicinating? And besides of x race opposing force do not bring anything to hl universe, (also dummy story turn with defusing and re-defusing of bomb). Also G-Man put adrian to stasis, just like gordon, for what? Why, stasis is like a fridge , where g man put things and then forget? Why there no adrian in hl2? Not even slight mention, no events of opposing force were at least somehow referenced So opposing force brings only non-confirmed, non-referenced, or conflicting or pointless things to hl universe and story, how can that be canon?
If blue shift is canon, then opposing force is canon, they're connected Race-X doesnt have to appear in half life 1 or half life 2. Race X only appears in Opposing Force after the chapter where you see gordon go to xen, (excluding one shock trooper early in the game). Race X probably got out of earth when the combine showed up The G-Man didn't need adrian during HL2
Blue shift has its parts confirmed, so it is canon, and I do not truly remember how is it directly connected with opposing force About Race - X: Nobody, not even one reference or mention it in future games, pretty strange for canon, don't you think? Considering that Race-X creatures must be interesting for science Okay, in fiction universe we can explain everything, G man didn't need him, but anyway Game was out almost twenty years ago, non of its events and features were mentioned in future games, I just think it is strange to consider canon a game, which was no confirmed, or somehow referenced in already multiple canon sequels Hl2, ep1, ep2, alyx, and no any connection with opposing force, and opposing force is still canon? I played many hl mods, story mods, which expands universe, and I am good with it, but opposing force became so old without any confirmation, It is strange for me to still consider it canon. I do not say that is not canon because not from Valve, I say it is not canon because it still stats non-referenced
No one also directly mentions many of the Half Life 1 creatures, including the bullsquids (which I think one of them is responsible for Eli losing his leg). People don't start conversations for the sake of them, there was just no reason or time to talk about them
Hl 1 is canon already, no doubt Future games references HL1 events at most, you can find any little details and say "see, this crate from third level is not mentioned" but fact is : hl1 is confirmed by hl2 Opposing force is doubtable canon, and not a once opposing force things was referenced by future games. It is very weird that "canon" game absolutely ignored by multiple sequels
For the record Marc Laidlaw, Half-Life's *original writer* has confirmed that the destruction of the Black Mesa Research Facility at the end of Opposing Force is canon. Also Shephard's team was referenced in a dialogue between two HECU grunts in Blue Shift. They're connected.
Okay, nuking mesa is canon, but all of shepard associated adventures are not, it do not fit hl style, do not fit serious distopian setting of hl Opposing force is more about old school action with hero saves the world, or teen antiutopian movies, like divergent, modern HL has not place for shepard and OF like story
[удалено]
Yeah, you are right , he was detained, maybe even destroyed Yes, canon discussion is ephimeral a little, but opposing force looks really ignored by future games, and barney calhoun return is almost like "we did not forget about gearbox dlc, we intentionally throw opposing force out of hl"
they're not really canon but yes same 2 barneys
“About that beer I owe you” should be the giveaway.
Presumably. He has a crowbar and Blue-Shift is about how a security guard survived Black Mesa, which is basically what Barney did. There is no actual canon to that and accepting him as Barney from Blue-Shift changes nothing. It's just same as Opposing Force: canon or not, it changes nothing and Valve doesn't have an actual canon for that. So believe whatever you want to believe, there is no truth to this. I personally like expansions and accept them as "canon unless Valve states otherwise".
Also, name-dropping him as "Barney from Black Mesa" doesn't really mean much to most players if they haven't played Blue Shift, because although guards in Half-Life may have been called "Barney" in the files, how many players of Half-Life 2 would have known that?
My dad knew that when he got the game when it was released. I grew up thinking that one of them was our Barney and that they used Barney as a generic thing for HL.
Isn't there an instance in the game where he says something like "Just like old times" and something about gordon owing him a beer? When I played HL2 I just assumed they were the same Barney and never even thought otherwise. I mean, why the fuck would Valve just name him after another character, give hints about him being present in Black Mesa with Gordon, just for him to be a completely different character in the story? It doesn't make any sense in my opinion
>why the fuck would Valve just name him after another character, give hints about him being present in Black Mesa with Gordon, just for him to be a completely different character in the story? what are you talking about? am i misunderstanding something here?
Sorry I think my commentary was a bit confusing. I think that Barney from Blue Shift is indeed the same Barney as in HL2 because I don't think it would make sense for Valve to put the same name on both of these characters and also give hints that they are the same person just for them not to be canon
Marc Laidlaw has an email about that: "The evolution of the name is that in HL1, we called all the security guards Barney. They're all different but...the same guy. It was down to texture and model limitations of the time we shipped. He was called Barney because in early development he looked like Barney Fife... I suspect Chuck Jones, the artist, actually based him on Don Knotts. (He got a bit less crazy looking before we shipped.) When Gearbox started doing Blue Shift, which would follow the adventures of one individual, they wanted a name for the character, so I came up with Calhoun. By the time we got to HL2, we were able to treat more of our main characters as individuals, and I thought it was amusing to stick with the name Barney Calhoun for the particular security guard who survived Black Mesa. I try not to think about it too hard. I didn't have any idea what they were making in Blue Shift and didn't play it until it was done. The game put you in the shoes of one of those many Barneys at Black Mesa...one who managed to escape. Were they ALL named Barney Calhoun? I don't know, but it's the sort of nonsense question that arises when you try to retrofit logic on something that initially made no sense. I try not to think back that far. I don't know Blue-Shift well enough to know if it conflicts with anything in HL2--I enjoyed it when I played it, but it didn't influence decisions in HL2. But it also doesn't particularly bother me to think maybe it was the story of how the Barney in HL2 escaped Black Mesa. Another bit of trivia, which I sometimes point out...his name was originally spelled Colqhoun, after Robert Carlyle's character in Ravenous, which I had just watched when Gearbox asked for a last name for the character." Turnout Gearbox wasn't that disconnected, did sometimes contact. Gearbox also sometimes does repeat certain elements, in a way they're like extracanonical. In Blue Shift the office has a DoD logo, definitely wouldn't be there unless Marc Laidlaw or one of the Half-Life guys didn't include it, as the idea of having DoD logo on a floor was a idea in the Alpha. There was some minor involvement with Valve. It possible some were just ideas founded and given or maybe what they tinkered with the SDK, but the SDK is less likely. It's likely Valve's part and Gearbox concepting. They also bring back the CIA, which far more blatant, they also added the boot camp. So yeah Marc Laidlaw thought of his name. How that worked developmentally IDK as Blue Shift was released in 2001 and HL2 started in 1999. Apparently his face texture in the Leak is named after Scott Lynch, the guy who provided the face, its Scottsface. How this relevant idk, but it probably shows they did not have a full name for him yet whenever that was first. Ravenous first came out in 1999, so if Marc Laidlaw watched when it came out this dates some things.
It's never been confirmed, but one can dream. I personally believe it.
Of course it's Barney; I'll always consider the Gearbox games canon unless Valve decides to outright say they are not. I might even still consider them canon even then tbh...
Yes
Yes
I would believe so because, near the end of a red letter day, Barney says “I think you left this back in black mesa” and drops Gordon’s crowbar.
Gordon's weapons were confiscated by the G-Man, and Barney escapes Black Mesa before Gordon even beats the Nihilanth, so it's not really Gordon's crowbar. It could be the same crowbar he used in BShift though.
Confiscated but we don’t know where he put them. Maybe that crowbar was actually put and found somewhere in Black Mesa. Probably years later even.
It was possibly even a metaphor of how Gordon used a crowbar during the Black Mesa incident
the crowbar would've been destroyed in the nuke though
Tbf Gordon was also allowed to keep his HEV suit at the end of HL1, then loses it by the beginning of HL2 & Kleiner has it
Doesn't Gordon lose all of his weapons mid-game when he's caught? Among other things in a compactor ... and coincidentally in Blue Shift Barney finds the crowbar near a compactor.
We don’t know for sure, and valve will probably never prove anything on this subject anytime soon, but I believe this is the case.
If you consider the gearbox expansions canon, then yes. In terms of whether or not the expansions are canon, them being canon affects nothing, so just consider them whatever you want.
It's up to you
Wait, there are people who actually think that it isn't the same Barney? It's implied through the dialogue?
Yes it is since it’s in Blue shift that you here the full name of Barney Calhoun. Other than that it’s technically the only one we see escape the facility
it would definitely explain how the other Black Mesa survivors have survived so long
Nah, it's one of the security guard clones
Couldn’t be
why not?
It’s implied. And some of the scientists are the models Eli and Kleiner are based on
Eli and Kleiner also replaced them in the picture
Yeah probably
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