The Mist vs Half-Life

[Mr. Pink]

As we know, one of the main influences in the history of Half-Life, has been Stephen King's novel, The Mist
Now, in your opinion, what phenomenon is more deadly for humanity: the portal storms or the mist?
Note that Combine Empire or Race X are not included in this, as they can be categorized as different threats. Rather, I refer to the inhabitants of Xen, including its fauna and civilization. As for the mist, we can take aspects of both continuities, that of the novel and its cinematographic adaptation (but not of the TV series, since it is also a different concept)
It's hard for me to give a clear answer, because the points of comparison are many and quite broad. But I would like to discuss it with whoever is interested.

[-$ilver-]

I am interested, but I only know briefly of the TV series, as in highlights and explanations on Youtube. And I did not know Mist was a main influence in HL2. I am not sure what the mist it self does, but portal storms actually wreak havoc and destroy things on their own, not to mention to also spread Xen alien life around. If the worst thing the mist by itself can do is have you not see a few feet or inches in front of your face, portal storms has it beat. And I was also going to do a VS thread a well, but I was on the fence about it. I might as well do it now. ^_^

[Sovereign]

Is there any actual evidence that the Mist was a major influence on HL? I don’t remember any of the devs ever mentioning it or Stephen King.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally posted by -$ilver-:

I am interested, but I only know briefly of the TV series, as in highlights and explanations on Youtube. And I did not know Mist was a main influence in HL2. I am not sure what the mist it self does, but portal storms actually wreak havoc and destroy things on their own, not to mention to also spread Xen alien life around. If the worst thing the mist by itself can do is have you not see a few feet or inches in front of your face, portal storms has it beat. And I was also going to do a VS thread a well, but I was on the fence about it. I might as well do it now. ^_^

Well, I think that very limited vision within the fog is already an important factor to consider. Because he thinks that this is not the same as simply being in a dark place, where a flashlight would already be useful for you to see, or some night vision glasses. Here you would not see a hostile creature approach until you had it a little over a meter away, adding that they can detect you inside the thicket.
Another aspect that is very important to take into account, and that for some reason was omitted in the movie and TV series, is the strange property of the mist to deform the acoustic. You see, in the novel it is mentioned several times that the sounds inside the fog can be heard very far even if they are at a little distance, or also the other way around. And this also affects communications, as described at the end with radio frequencies.
And on the creatures themselves, you can find that there are beings equal or even more lethal than the fuana de Xen. To give an example, a scorpion-fly, a small nocturnal plague that lives in the fog, can kill a human being of only one of its poisonous stings, and there can be hundreds of thousands hovering during the night.

I think you could read the novel or watch The Mist movie to draw your own conclusions. And I'd be happy to know what your VS is :3

[Mr. Pink]

Originally posted by Sovereign:

Is there any actual evidence that the Mist was a major influence on HL? I don’t remember any of the devs ever mentioning it or Stephen King.

Well "major influence" is a way of saying. Rather it is just one of them, like so many other works before HL.
At least on each website I visited I saw The Mist cited as one of the influences for the Half-Life storyline, which Valve's team is supposed to declare at some point. If this is false it was never denied, but the similarities do exist. In itself, the idea of an experiment to open doors to other dimensions that go wrong and ends with our world being invaded by dangerous alien creatures.

Although regardless of whether one work influenced the history of the other, which do you consider the greatest threat? If you know The Mist as much as HL :b

[Sovereign]

Originally posted by Quiver:

Originally posted by Sovereign:

Is there any actual evidence that the Mist was a major influence on HL? I don’t remember any of the devs ever mentioning it or Stephen King.

Well "major influence" is a way of saying. Rather it is just one of them, like so many other works before HL.
At least on each website I visited I saw The Mist cited as one of the influences for the Half-Life storyline, which Valve's team is supposed to declare at some point. If this is false it was never denied, but the similarities do exist. In itself, the idea of an experiment to open doors to other dimensions that go wrong and ends with our world being invaded by dangerous alien creatures.

Although regardless of whether one work influenced the history of the other, which do you consider the greatest threat? If you know The Mist as much as HL :b

Yeah the similarities are definitely there, I've just never heard the devs refer to King as a major influence like they did with Frank Herbert or George Orwell ,and the Mist itself is blantantly influenced by the works of H. P. Lovecraft anyway.

As for which phenomenon is more dangerous. It depends on whether or not we're talking about the mist from the book or from the movie. In the film the mist is ultimately "defeated" by the military, so it's obviously not that dangerous, but in the book it's left far more ambiguous. If we're only talking the book mist and are only talking about the phenomena themselves then I'd say the mist since it works in basically the same way but also messes with your sight, hearing and comms, making the creatures it brings far harder to deal with (though the portal storms do cause limited structural damage).

However the storms in HL weren't the actual threat, the Combine was, and the storms are what attracted the Combine. So if we take that into account the Portal storms are actually far more dangerous.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally posted by Sovereign:

Originally posted by Quiver:

Well "major influence" is a way of saying. Rather it is just one of them, like so many other works before HL.
At least on each website I visited I saw The Mist cited as one of the influences for the Half-Life storyline, which Valve's team is supposed to declare at some point. If this is false it was never denied, but the similarities do exist. In itself, the idea of an experiment to open doors to other dimensions that go wrong and ends with our world being invaded by dangerous alien creatures.

Although regardless of whether one work influenced the history of the other, which do you consider the greatest threat? If you know The Mist as much as HL :b

Yeah the similarities are definitely there, I've just never heard the devs refer to King as a major influence like they did with Frank Herbert or George Orwell ,and the Mist itself is blantantly influenced by the works of H. P. Lovecraft anyway.

As for which phenomenon is more dangerous. It depends on whether or not we're talking about the mist from the book or from the movie. In the film the mist is ultimately "defeated" by the military, so it's obviously not that dangerous, but in the book it's left far more ambiguous. If we're only talking the book mist and are only talking about the phenomena themselves then I'd say the mist since it works in basically the same way but also messes with your sight, hearing and comms, making the creatures it brings far harder to deal with (though the portal storms do cause limited structural damage).

However the storms in HL weren't the actual threat, the Combine was, and the storms are what attracted the Combine. So if we take that into account the Portal storms are actually far more dangerous.

That's true. Although as you say, the portal storm is rather the "bridge" that the Combine needed to access our dimension and invade the Earth.
Perhaps the correct comparison of this versus was The Mist vs. Xen. Because in reality if in the HL story we exclude the Combine from the equation that led to the world that we know is coming to an end, I think the result would be very different.
That is, the Nihilanth armies did not have the Black Mesa battle dominated all the time, but only took the advantage at a very advanced point in the conflict. And I have no idea how big their legions were, but if they entered into an open battle against the entire planet Earth, I would dare to say that in that case Nihilanth would be at a disadvantage. Its main advantages rather would be to have the Xen fauna to wreak havoc first, especially with the Headcrabs and the Antlions, to then send their troops being able to control the portals with which they move.

[Sovereign]

Originally posted by Quiver:

Originally posted by Sovereign:

Yeah the similarities are definitely there, I've just never heard the devs refer to King as a major influence like they did with Frank Herbert or George Orwell ,and the Mist itself is blantantly influenced by the works of H. P. Lovecraft anyway.

As for which phenomenon is more dangerous. It depends on whether or not we're talking about the mist from the book or from the movie. In the film the mist is ultimately "defeated" by the military, so it's obviously not that dangerous, but in the book it's left far more ambiguous. If we're only talking the book mist and are only talking about the phenomena themselves then I'd say the mist since it works in basically the same way but also messes with your sight, hearing and comms, making the creatures it brings far harder to deal with (though the portal storms do cause limited structural damage).

However the storms in HL weren't the actual threat, the Combine was, and the storms are what attracted the Combine. So if we take that into account the Portal storms are actually far more dangerous.

That's true. Although as you say, the portal storm is rather the "bridge" that the Combine needed to access our dimension and invade the Earth.
Perhaps the correct comparison of this versus was The Mist vs. Xen. Because in reality if in the HL story we exclude the Combine from the equation that led to the world that we know is coming to an end, I think the result would be very different.
That is, the Nihilanth armies did not have the Black Mesa battle dominated all the time, but only took the advantage at a very advanced point in the conflict. And I have no idea how big their legions were, but if they entered into an open battle against the entire planet Earth, I would dare to say that in that case Nihilanth would be at a disadvantage. Its main advantages rather would be to have the Xen fauna to wreak havoc first, especially with the Headcrabs and the Antlions, to then send their troops being able to control the portals with which they move.

Well considering the Nihilanth's forces are an actual organized army with access to technology, strategy and teleportation, while the creatures in the Mist are just mindless animals that even attack each other, I'd say Xen has the advantage.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally posted by Sovereign:

Originally posted by Quiver:

That's true. Although as you say, the portal storm is rather the "bridge" that the Combine needed to access our dimension and invade the Earth.
Perhaps the correct comparison of this versus was The Mist vs. Xen. Because in reality if in the HL story we exclude the Combine from the equation that led to the world that we know is coming to an end, I think the result would be very different.
That is, the Nihilanth armies did not have the Black Mesa battle dominated all the time, but only took the advantage at a very advanced point in the conflict. And I have no idea how big their legions were, but if they entered into an open battle against the entire planet Earth, I would dare to say that in that case Nihilanth would be at a disadvantage. Its main advantages rather would be to have the Xen fauna to wreak havoc first, especially with the Headcrabs and the Antlions, to then send their troops being able to control the portals with which they move.

Well considering the Nihilanth's forces are an actual organized army with access to technology, strategy and teleportation, while the creatures in the Mist are just mindless animals that even attack each other, I'd say Xen has the advantage.

It is certainly another factor to consider. Which makes me think that in fact maybe we've seen very little of both worlds, and I'd love to know that other creatures could be out there somewhere.
Oh, and the animals of Xen also attack each other and Nihilanth's own soldiers, so they are equal in that regard. Although it makes the idea of a complex ecosystem in both dimensions more credible in my opinion.

[Sovereign]

Originally posted by Quiver:

Originally posted by Sovereign:

Well considering the Nihilanth's forces are an actual organized army with access to technology, strategy and teleportation, while the creatures in the Mist are just mindless animals that even attack each other, I'd say Xen has the advantage.

It is certainly another factor to consider. Which makes me think that in fact maybe we've seen very little of both worlds, and I'd love to know that other creatures could be out there somewhere.
Oh, and the animals of Xen also attack each other and Nihilanth's own soldiers, so they are equal in that regard. Although it makes the idea of a complex ecosystem in both dimensions more credible in my opinion.

Xen fauna attack each other, the military doesn't. The mist world doesn't have a military, their all just animals.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally posted by Sovereign:

Originally posted by Quiver:

It is certainly another factor to consider. Which makes me think that in fact maybe we've seen very little of both worlds, and I'd love to know that other creatures could be out there somewhere.
Oh, and the animals of Xen also attack each other and Nihilanth's own soldiers, so they are equal in that regard. Although it makes the idea of a complex ecosystem in both dimensions more credible in my opinion.

Xen fauna attack each other, the military doesn't. The mist world doesn't have a military, their all just animals.

Yes, I know that.

Although speaking only of Xen, actually creatures like headcrabs and antlions if they attack Vortigaunts, for which I do not see that they could not do the same with Grunts and Alien Controlers to give themselves the opportunity. Maybe HL1 does not happen because of the limitations when it comes to programming artificial intelligence, although if you think about it, Nihilanth soldiers almost never fight along with other wild beasts of Xen. Of course, that does not mean that they have no way to control them, as is the case of the Pheropod to lead the antlions.
It's a complicated thing. What do you think about it?

[Sovereign]

Originally posted by Quiver:

Originally posted by Sovereign:

Xen fauna attack each other, the military doesn't. The mist world doesn't have a military, their all just animals.

Yes, I know that.

Although speaking only of Xen, actually creatures like headcrabs and antlions if they attack Vortigaunts, for which I do not see that they could not do the same with Grunts and Alien Controlers to give themselves the opportunity. Maybe HL1 does not happen because of the limitations when it comes to programming artificial intelligence, although if you think about it, Nihilanth soldiers almost never fight along with other wild beasts of Xen. Of course, that does not mean that they have no way to control them, as is the case of the Pheropod to lead the antlions.
It's a complicated thing. What do you think about it?

The Nihilanth's forces do appear to make use of headcraps, they also make use of snarks as weapons, the rest seem to just be animals like the mist creatures.

[-$ilver-]

Originally posted by Sovereign:

If we're only talking the book mist and are only talking about the phenomena themselves then I'd say the mist since it works in basically the same way but also messes with your sight, hearing and comms, making the creatures it brings far harder to deal with (though the portal storms do cause limited structural damage).

However the storms in HL weren't the actual threat, the Combine was, and the storms are what attracted the Combine. So if we take that into account the Portal storms are actually far more dangerous.

From the many discussions I have had with others, the portal storms are cited and recited many times as the main reason humanity surrendered as a whole in a measly seven hours to the Combine. As if the Combine had the power, or the illusion, to somehow create these storms in the first place.

However both statements can not be true, either the portal storms were really that horrific that people left all areas to go into the cities (Why the hell would you do that? That means you are more concentrated and easier to attack. Huge buildings come falling down on top of you and you are screwed. Strength in numbers? I don't think so.) and was the or one of the driving forces to surrender in 1/3rd of a single day... Or the portals were really not that bad in the first place.

Originally posted by Quiver:

Originally posted by Sovereign:

Xen fauna attack each other, the military doesn't. The mist world doesn't have a military, their all just animals.

Yes, I know that.

Although speaking only of Xen, actually creatures like headcrabs and antlions if they attack Vortigaunts, for which I do not see that they could not do the same with Grunts and Alien Controlers to give themselves the opportunity. Maybe HL1 does not happen because of the limitations when it comes to programming artificial intelligence, although if you think about it, Nihilanth soldiers almost never fight along with other wild beasts of Xen. Of course, that does not mean that they have no way to control them, as is the case of the Pheropod to lead the antlions.
It's a complicated thing. What do you think about it?

Also the only things to attack each other were really just the bull-squid to the headcrab. I have never seen a headcrab attack a bull-squid, although does a zombie ever attack a bull-squid? That would be karma justice! ^_^ Also those tree looking things just don't care and swing at anything that comes near them as I am sure the tentacles do as well.

But we never see (I have not at least.) a headcrab attack anyone, but humans and later Combine. You would think they would attack the Alien Grunts as well, especially if the headcrabs are just mindless animals unless they could not pry off the helmets or they were purposely never encountered together, but only from a gameplay perspective. Or the Alien Grunts keep them as pets like domesticated (attack) dogs. And snarks never attack their alien counter parts either, always chasing after you. Even the ones you release if not spot on they will still come after you instead, even with enemies near by. I wonder if that was gameplay limitations or the aliens just knew how to handle the snarks better.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally posted by -$ilver-:

Originally posted by Sovereign:

If we're only talking the book mist and are only talking about the phenomena themselves then I'd say the mist since it works in basically the same way but also messes with your sight, hearing and comms, making the creatures it brings far harder to deal with (though the portal storms do cause limited structural damage).

However the storms in HL weren't the actual threat, the Combine was, and the storms are what attracted the Combine. So if we take that into account the Portal storms are actually far more dangerous.

From the many discussions I have had with others, the portal storms are cited and recited many times as the main reason humanity surrendered as a whole in a measly seven hours to the Combine. As if the Combine had the power, or the illusion, to somehow create these storms in the first place.

However both statements can not be true, either the portal storms were really that horrific that people left all areas to go into the cities (Why the hell would you do that? That means you are more concentrated and easier to attack. Huge buildings come falling down on top of you and you are screwed. Strength in numbers? I don't think so.) and was the or one of the driving forces to surrender in 1/3rd of a single day... Or the portals were really not that bad in the first place.

Originally posted by Quiver:

Yes, I know that.

Although speaking only of Xen, actually creatures like headcrabs and antlions if they attack Vortigaunts, for which I do not see that they could not do the same with Grunts and Alien Controlers to give themselves the opportunity. Maybe HL1 does not happen because of the limitations when it comes to programming artificial intelligence, although if you think about it, Nihilanth soldiers almost never fight along with other wild beasts of Xen. Of course, that does not mean that they have no way to control them, as is the case of the Pheropod to lead the antlions.
It's a complicated thing. What do you think about it?

Also the only things to attack each other were really just the bull-squid to the headcrab. I have never seen a headcrab attack a bull-squid, although does a zombie ever attack a bull-squid? That would be karma justice! ^_^ Also those tree looking things just don't care and swing at anything that comes near them as I am sure the tentacles do as well.

But we never see (I have not at least.) a headcrab attack anyone, but humans and later Combine. You would think they would attack the Alien Grunts as well, especially if the headcrabs are just mindless animals unless they could not pry off the helmets or they were purposely never encountered together, but only from a gameplay perspective. Or the Alien Grunts keep them as pets like domesticated (attack) dogs. And snarks never attack their alien counter parts either, always chasing after you. Even the ones you release if not spot on they will still come after you instead, even with enemies near by. I wonder if that was gameplay limitations or the aliens just knew how to handle the snarks better.

Well actually the headcrabs and zombies, if they are hostile to Vortigaunts in HL2 and its episodes, as seen in the Victory mine, in addition to the other games you can see that they are natural enemies of the antlions, facing each other every time they meet. And about the alien Grunts, I imagine that while they never interact, the zombies (or headcrabs directly) could attack them like any other creature, but without being able to infect them.
I think a lot of the inconsistencies in the behavior of the enemies if that is a result of the lack of programming. Or you may have your motive in the games, but it has not been explained.
And about the portal storms ... well, I do not think they were the direct cause that people should concentrate on cities. Rather than the Xen fauna that they dragged, and that humans did not have at that time the knowledge to face them. Because especially with beings like antlions, it is already clear that they can spread like fire for the planet, without there being much to do to stop them. Think about how they could invade City 17 with great ease after the fall of the Combine defense system, and even the Overwatch does not have anything simple to make them back

[Sovereign]

Originally posted by -$ilver-:

Originally posted by Sovereign:

If we're only talking the book mist and are only talking about the phenomena themselves then I'd say the mist since it works in basically the same way but also messes with your sight, hearing and comms, making the creatures it brings far harder to deal with (though the portal storms do cause limited structural damage).

However the storms in HL weren't the actual threat, the Combine was, and the storms are what attracted the Combine. So if we take that into account the Portal storms are actually far more dangerous.

From the many discussions I have had with others, the portal storms are cited and recited many times as the main reason humanity surrendered as a whole in a measly seven hours to the Combine. As if the Combine had the power, or the illusion, to somehow create these storms in the first place.

However both statements can not be true, either the portal storms were really that horrific that people left all areas to go into the cities (Why the hell would you do that? That means you are more concentrated and easier to attack. Huge buildings come falling down on top of you and you are screwed. Strength in numbers? I don't think so.) and was the or one of the driving forces to surrender in 1/3rd of a single day... Or the portals were really not that bad in the first place.

The initial portal storms were a side effect of the Resonace Cascade, later storms were caused by the Combine's invasion portals as seen in Ep2. The storms definitely didn't help matters but they were hardly the main reason for the 7 Hour War, it was the Combine who decimated Humanity, not Xenian fauna. The Combine don't create the storms on purpose, their a side effect of larger portals or teleport events.

People fled to the cities for better protection from the Xenian wildlife that was infesting Earth due to the storms, strength in numbers, increased military presense etc. No one knew the Combine were coming so being "easier to attack" likely didn't cross anyone's mind. The couple of storms we see in Episode 2 were only able to wreck already unstable, heavily damaged structures so there is no evidence to suggest they could literally topple skyscrappers, especially early on.

[Sovereign]

Originally posted by Quiver:

Originally posted by -$ilver-:

From the many discussions I have had with others, the portal storms are cited and recited many times as the main reason humanity surrendered as a whole in a measly seven hours to the Combine. As if the Combine had the power, or the illusion, to somehow create these storms in the first place.

However both statements can not be true, either the portal storms were really that horrific that people left all areas to go into the cities (Why the hell would you do that? That means you are more concentrated and easier to attack. Huge buildings come falling down on top of you and you are screwed. Strength in numbers? I don't think so.) and was the or one of the driving forces to surrender in 1/3rd of a single day... Or the portals were really not that bad in the first place.



Also the only things to attack each other were really just the bull-squid to the headcrab. I have never seen a headcrab attack a bull-squid, although does a zombie ever attack a bull-squid? That would be karma justice! ^_^ Also those tree looking things just don't care and swing at anything that comes near them as I am sure the tentacles do as well.

But we never see (I have not at least.) a headcrab attack anyone, but humans and later Combine. You would think they would attack the Alien Grunts as well, especially if the headcrabs are just mindless animals unless they could not pry off the helmets or they were purposely never encountered together, but only from a gameplay perspective. Or the Alien Grunts keep them as pets like domesticated (attack) dogs. And snarks never attack their alien counter parts either, always chasing after you. Even the ones you release if not spot on they will still come after you instead, even with enemies near by. I wonder if that was gameplay limitations or the aliens just knew how to handle the snarks better.

Well actually the headcrabs and zombies, if they are hostile to Vortigaunts in HL2 and its episodes, as seen in the Victory mine, in addition to the other games you can see that they are natural enemies of the antlions, facing each other every time they meet. And about the alien Grunts, I imagine that while they never interact, the zombies (or headcrabs directly) could attack them like any other creature, but without being able to infect them.
I think a lot of the inconsistencies in the behavior of the enemies if that is a result of the lack of programming. Or you may have your motive in the games, but it has not been explained.
And about the portal storms ... well, I do not think they were the direct cause that people should concentrate on cities. Rather than the Xen fauna that they dragged, and that humans did not have at that time the knowledge to face them. Because especially with beings like antlions, it is already clear that they can spread like fire for the planet, without there being much to do to stop them. Think about how they could invade City 17 with great ease after the fall of the Combine defense system, and even the Overwatch does not have anything simple to make them back

To be fair they didn't really "invade" C17, they just moved in when the thumpers went down. The Overwatch was already damaged and evacuating so they weren't actually trying to stop them. Antlions are very dangerous but they can't literally go toe-to-toe with a full Combine garrison.