As one of Spec Ops: The Line devs, all I can say is THANK YOU for creating this. I will make sure that the whole team see this video on Monday. Keep up the good work!
...Woah. Just... Thank you. Seriously, thank you for the appreciation, and thank you all and congratulations for making that amazing game. You've just made my day.
Spec Ops is a game game all about strange juxtapositions and dissonance, gamey elements over dark and serious subject matter. Your use of such a light, cartoony medium to portray the most sober and dramatic scene, with the amount of work you obviously put in to make such an accurate shot-for-shot recreation, is just about the best tribute to Spec Ops that I could think of.
First off, thank you for the comment; I really feel that a well thought-out word is worth a lot. I'm not really sure what made me think of the idea, just that I'd had it for a while before even starting. I think you're right: The juxtaposition of cartoonish characters and the very dark, sombre tone of the story just captivated me, that feeling of slight discomfort and, as you said, dissonance. It means more to me than you think when you mentioned that it looked like I'd put a lot of effort into it. I suppose this was my first (and, as of yet, only) "proper" foray into SFM, and it's really uplifting to know that through all the slap-dash technique, bodged quick-fixes (seriously, that "fade" at 1:08 took hours to get to that stage) and all the bloody *crashes*, it was worth it. It's interesting that you use the word "dramatic" to describe the ending. Not that I'm disagreeing with you at all (more playing Devil's advocate), but I feel that sobering is more the word. I find that the drama comes before the ending: The intense battle with that unmistakable music, Lugo's reappearance, and that nigh-on bloodthirsty rampage with the AA-12 that he drops delivers all the intensity and drama. In contrast, the ending itself is relatively low-key, which in my opinion makes it all the more sobering and quite deeply unsettling, particularly considering the idea that Konrad is talking to the player themselves.
+TamiyaGuy This game makes you think about the enemies that you're mindlessly killing not even thinking about they're humanity This game makes you relive that
When you said "you use such a light and cartoony medium to portray the most sober and dramatic scene" I actually thought it was an insult lol. Guess not
+Brian Ngo I certainly didn't take it as such, it was exactly the feel I was going for. That uncomfortable kind of juxtaposition between light and fun and this very sombre narrative.
Shit, I'm so, so sorry for spoiling things for you. Honestly, though? Even then, I would hail this as one of the best gaming experiences ever made, and would highly recommend it to you. As a game technically, it's actually very average, but it uses that, combined with the things you've done in videogames for decades, to say something about you, as a human being. Watching the ending is one thing, but experiencing it, with context, is something very different. Hope I didn't ruin too much, and I hope that, if you choose to play it, you enjoy it. And hate it.
***** nah, it was my will to watch it with full intention of seeing spoilers, so don't be sorry. I didn't actually have the intention of playing the game. I guess if I get interest I might play it, but this definitely puts the game in perspective
Fair enough, but it's still worth an apology. I'd honestly say that The Line is a game that needs to be played by the sort of people who enjoy FPSs, in particular modern military shooters. That's not to say that they want to play it; if this rendition is any indication, the game is not a barrel of laughs. I'd recommend waiting until it's on sale, it's well worth £5-10. While I'm here, I gotta say thank you ever so much for your build guides for Payday 2. They've been amazingly helpful.
he didn't spoil too much if anything this is a tease for the game..........ISH. Play the game it is maybe an hour to three-length runtime but again its the best story mode game I've ever seen since half-life. Yes I'm bold to claim that and yes I'll die with that comparison don't like it - HITE me I DARE YOU! >_>
Damn. I have never seen such an accurate representation of Spec Ops: The Line in my life. You capture the grim darkness of The Line with the normally very cartoonish assets of TF2 so excellently. I can't imagine how much effort has been poured into this, and the sheer accuracy of it all just baffles me. You've done a great job here, Tamiya. You've earned a farewell to arms.
Thank you ever so much for the kind words. For some reason, I found the juxtaposition between the cartoony characters of TF2 and the very sombre, dark narrative of The Line most fascinating. I dare say that compared to a few SFM creators, this video shrivels in comparison, but I truly appreciate your comment about me putting effort into this (you're sure as hell not wrong). Out of curiosity, which video did you choose?
+TamiyaGuy A Farewell To Arms. The only real ending that I feel truly makes sense of Walker's journey. His suicide is for me his acceptance of what he's done, and as a warrior, there is only one ending for him, and that's death. He lives a warrior, and a warrior cannot do anything but destroy. Death is the best possible outcome for him, as tragic as it is.
This is excellent. The fact that you managed to make this hold as much emotional weight as the actual scene is impressive. You even animated Walker's lips moving when Conrad was speaking. Awesome job.
The little grin the Spy/Konrad gives when he says "Maybe it's in mine!" is a perfect little touch that makes me come back to this. A mix of the cartoony TF2 with the dark, somber narrative of The Line is perfect!
***** The casting was also perfect. Lugo sounds EXACTLY like the Scout, especially when he shouts. It's actually hard to believe they aren't both voiced by Nathan Vetterlein.
I found the two characters very similar as well, at least for the parts of each that are shown. Both Lugo and the Scout are jokey, cocky youngsters who want to show the world how it's done. I guess we've never seen how the Scout reacts when everything starts to break down, so there's no real comparison to be made between the two after The Gate.
Thank you so much for the kind words. It's times like this when I begin to realise that all the hard work and effort was worth it. So, of course, I have to ask, which one did you choose? And more importantly... why?
***** I mirrored my choice in game, and had Walker attempt to deny the reality, going for the closest thing to a "good" ending SpecOps has (the ending in which Walker surrenders to the Patrol). There are no perfect choices. In the end, we solely have to choose that which lays out before us. Walker fucked everything up. He will pay for his crimes. But no more blood needs be spilled. Not today.
A very interesting choice, I'd say. Although I'd hesitate to use the word "good" in that ending. I mean, it's an ending where Walker goes home a broken shell of a man, where the main character himself *wishes* he was dead ("Survivors: One too many..."). I remember one commenter that stuck with me, who actually said he chose that ending so that Walker could suffer more. He figured that the death endings would be an easy way out, so he forced Walker to live through what he's done, for every remaining day of his broken life. Interesting how a little change in perspective can change a scene's meaning drastically, eh?
Indeed. I'd agree with the "Go Home" ending being somewhat cruel in that Walker needs to live with what he's done, but at the same time, that's Walker's burden to bear. In many ways, it reminded me of of Platoon, one of my favorite movies. That SpecOps can provoke this much thought and introspection long after it came out is a testament to its quality, and it will likely be spawning discussion over many things in it - analysis of the endings, things left intentionally ambiguous (such as some things *in* the endings), and so on, for years to come.
7 years later still hits as strong as it did the first time I've watched it. All the small details make up for overall amazing end quality. You should rightfully enjoy all the praising comments, cheers.
Holy crap, and thank _you_ for your comment. You know, for all the crap I've put on TH-cam over the years (and there has been a lot of crap), this is one of only two videos that I remain proud of to this day. So comments like those do mean a lot to me, even today. Thanks.
Fun fact, Soldier actually went on a huge rampage, lasting even after world war 2 had ended. So Soldier being the standin for the main character works so well.
Not really . Soldier is actually bat sh*t crazy in Tf2 lore. He went even crazy after the lead traced water incident. Potentially I can see this being alternative ending to Soldier's timeline. He never joins mercs, maybe he finally gets some friends in the military after he miraculously joins the military then his friends in the military wake up his empathy and he slowly starts to regret his decisions
Soldier doesn't feel any remorse killing mercs throughout the game, thinking they'll just respawn. In the end he finds the respawn machine... Broken. He killed all those men permanently
Using the Citadel as the tower is honestly really neat. I understand it's an SFM issue but I like how everything is replaced with its Source equivelant (replacing the Juggernaut with the Pyro was incredibly clever) just adds to the scene way more I absoloutely adore it, so glad I was able to find it again all these years later
10 years ago...we got this transmission: "This is Colonel John Konrad, United States Army. Attempted evactuation of Dubai ended in complete... failure. Death toll... too many..."
This is fucking amazing. Every little detail is right, you actually have the soldier shoot himself in the head, you actually have him talking to himself when it shows the reality of it, and how he's not actually with the Spy. My god man. I can't believe how detailed and absolutely amazing this video is, it truly captures the essence of SO:TL to a T!!
I really felt like it was the little details that made the original scene, so I wanted to go out of my way to (attempt to) recreate them. It's awesome to see that I succeeded, thanks ever so much for the comment.
***** Oh, no problem. I have to give credit where it's most definitely needed. This is so underrated it's sad. :C However, I have an explanation; It's Konrad. He did it. All of it.
"You're not real... this is all in my head" - Denial "No... everything... all this... it was your fault" - Anger "I didn't mean to hurt anybody" - Sorrow "..." - Depression Suicide - Acceptance
Hm. So does that mean that if you choose to shoot Conrad, it represents regression back to denial? "It takes a strong man to deny what's right in front of him."
The fact that using the more cartoony TF2 art style to re-enact this scene does not lessen its impact on you at all really speaks of how well it is put together, both the original devs and the person who made this clip, I mean.
That's kind of the reason I worked on this project, to be honest. I really like that juxtaposition between the overly-cartoony TF2 models and the very dark, sombre themes that The Line explores, that weird feeling when you combine silly visuals with a very serious subject matter. You could almost say I wanted to evoke that same dissonance that The Line creates through its very "gamey" gameplay and the damning criticism it gives to the player. But that's not doing nearly enough justice to the source material.
Hey TamyaGuy - also worked on Spec Ops - thanks a lot for this, brings back goose bumps every single time. Great work, so much love to detail...you just got it right. Can't thank you enough. Cory Davis Miss Walker's voice...and yours
Holy... I swear, I don't deserve any of this from you guys! There's gotta be way better fanmade content out there than this bastardisation of your amazing work. Honestly, though, I should be thanking you. Spec Ops: The Line is, without doubt, one of the finest gaming experiences I have ever had (I feel that "best game" doesn't do it justice). One of the reasons I made this was to show my appreciation for this incredible game that has utterly gripped me and refuses to let go of my mind. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much for the comment. Weird how I look back on this and see all the little imperfections in it. Though it's just the nature of having worked on something for a while, I'm still really pleased with how it came out.
Dude, that's a really good recreation. I have a question though, is this all original audio, or were some parts revoiced? At 1:54 and 2:09 the Scout really sounds like, well, the Scout.
Holy hell, a comment from the king of SFM animation himself? Honestly, thanks so much for the kind words. Stuff like this really makes the hours put in worthwhile. All the audio is from the original ending, with some very minor tweaks to remove unnecessary sounds, etc. Lugo is quite similar to the Scout both in voice and in nature, serving as the team's quick-witted back-chatter. At least for the first part of the game. Thanks again for the comment, Max, much appreciated.
The expression you did for soldier/walker when he discovered the corpse was spot on to the expression of walkers face in game. It was exact. A fantastic job well done!
You really did love how this last part of the game was executed, and I literally could see in your eyes how strongly it affected you when I watched your webcam reaction in the video. You definitely did this with outstanding dedication and passion, and that's exactly the kind of stuff that deserves all the views, comments and positive ratings. Congratulations! You've made a lovely art peace.
Thank you, man, really. It feels incredible to know that other people realise that I did put a lot of effort into this, surprisingly. It's really bittersweet hearing some nice comments about this unpleasant video.
You did an amazing job at replicating the animations. Very accurate. Well done. Impressive. (I would've gone for the other ending, where Walker shoots Conrad; but that's just my choice :D )
It's been years since I've revisited the game and I've been wondering how I came to discover it. Turns out it was your video that brought this hidden gem of an experience to me back when I was binge watching SFM shorts in my college days. This video just popped up in the recommendations back then and everything changed for me ever since. For that, I am truly grateful. Keep it up.
"Do you remember when shooters were about killing demons from hell? Those were good days. Perhaps this is an inevitable part of gaming growing up, as our childish fantasies are torn from us and we are forced to confront consequences in an unfair, unforgiving, and unavoidable world of hatred, misery, and death." - Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw
Why I prefer this version over the original from Spec Ops is because some of the actions look a lot more pronounced, it's subtle but the most noticeable is to compare scout's gesture's to Lugo's when they say "HE TURNED US I TO FUCKING KILLERS!"
You know, the juxtaposition you were talking about in the comments of the shoot soldier ending around 9 years ago reminds me of Emesis Blue now since it's basically the same premise, take the cartoonish art style of tf2 and contrast it with something very dark Glad I was able to find these videos again!
Holy shit, the fact that this ten-year-old mess of a crappy SFM video even gets to be mentioned in the same _sentence_ as Emesis Blue... Just, wow, thank you. It's given me another reason to watch that again, actually...
I would honestly like to think that before the time when he worked with the other mercs in the timeline of Redmond and Blutarch, Soldier did stuff like this for his duty to america and her people. And that made him question his loyalties and sanity down the line, and after shooting his subconscious like Walker did with Konrad and went back home a broken man. He goes crazy after some time passes, and his patriotism for America sky-rocketed because that was all he knew before, that and his appreciation of the team lol
This is glorious. Not only you managed to keep the mood of the actual game with TF2 characters (which is no easy task since they're so whacky), you also added a few hilarious moments (Medic and Heavy as the mother and daughter, the pyro as lugo/heavy). Great video. I think I watched it 3 times already :^)
I've always had a thing for juxtaposition, in particular blending the comical and whacky with the sombre and dark. Guess this just sorta formed naturally from that fascination. The response to the Heavy/Medic scene has been... interesting, seems that a fair few people thought of it more as a comical snippet than I was intending. I'm not quite sure whether it's because of the subject matter (while the Heavy/Medic combo in place of the mother & daughter was meant to be a little comical "nod", I didn't really want it to make the moment _itself_ funny) or just my lack of Source Filmmaker/modelling knowledge (I wasn't able to edit the models to remake the horrific corpses seen in The Line, so I kinda went with the cop-out route of burning their eyes out and applying a flame texture). Either way, thanks for the comment, I do always find it fascinating hearing people's thoughts on a, let's face it, rather bizarre remake of a brilliant scene.
the facial expressions are so on point especially for walker like you can see the sadness on his face i can't beleive you can do such an amazing job just amazing 10/10
I do find it amazing that, even after four years of other people releasing far, _far_ better animations than this, I still get the occasional compliment saying that I captured the "feeling" of The Line in this. And for that, I can only say "thank you".
"Você precisava jogar a culpa em alguém, então você jogou em mim. Um homem morto." Essa frase... Esse jogo... Obra de arte! Alías, a sua animação ficou muito boa, meus parabéns!
this amazing animation just sold me the game. I beat it, I chose the ending. And returned back to rewatch the video with which my journey had begun. I am grateful, good job
You nailed it. Holy shit did you nail it. I thought maybe I'd chuckle at the skeleton, but nope. This is amazing, from the recreation of the burning Burj Khalifa to even the little things like Soldier/Walker's facial expressions and him talking to himself when flashing back to reality.
Thanks so much for your comment, it really does mean a lot. My only real goal with this was to do justice to the source material since my _god_ it's a brutal, emotionally wracking scene. It sounds like I at least partially succeeded, so honestly, thank you. Yeah, the Burj Khalifa part is probably one of my favourites - I learned a lot about the SFM particle editor while making that, and actually found it pretty damn fun to mess around with it as well.
Shot for shot, I'm amazed. It's really subtle, but I love how you got the little movements that Conrad makes whilst Walker is looking in the mirror perfectly.
I always felt that, in the original scenes, it was the little things that Konrad and Walker did that said so much about them. I suppose I just tried to recreate that feeling. Thanks for letting me know I at least partially succeeded.
I guess I feel that the original cutscene was made so much more effective from the little details. I wanted to try and do the source material some kind of justice, so I wanted to try and include as many of them as I felt I could reasonably.
I'm very very late, but I fell compelled to say this, spec ops the line may be one of the best experiences we're ever gonna get, and this was absolutely on point, good work
I just replayed the game again after 3 years, and then saw this... I wasn't expecting this recreation in SFM to be good at all, but this is almost as incredible as the actual scene and I can tell you put a LOT of time and effort into this to recreate the scenes in this game, everything from the animations to the background scenery... Well done, this is amazing.
nearly 5 years later, this still is in my mind. this game is so memorable and the ending is... I don't even have words for it. my man this is one of the greatest SFM videos I have seen, the amount of detail you have put into it
Genuinely, it's comments like this that make the time, effort, learning and endless SFM crashes worthwhile. _The Line_ is one of those games that I will forever tout whenever the "Can games be art" question comes up, not just because of its harrowing and, unfortunately, still relevant message, but because it only works as a game. It needs the interactivity that a video game provides in order to deliver its message. There are plenty of games that have artistic worth, and even moreso that are simply amazing narrative experiences. But 2012 always seemed to me a landmark moment in gaming history, where even AAA titles began to embrace the medium's awkward young adulthood of self-reflection, self-critique and even self-parody.
Also another thing, now that annotations are gone because youtube is ran by 74 year olds out of touch with this generation, now the endings are ungettable, which is a big ass Oof
I got you, mate. Links are now in the description. Shame that it removes that layer of interactivity of actually choosing who to shoot, but better this than letting those videos be lost to time.
An absolutely superb tribute to one of the best video game endings. Honestly, I instantly favourited this video because it matched everything but by bit. Even the small details that made up that ending you put in. Absolutely brilliant work, bravo.
It's really weird to know that almost seven years later, I'm still getting people saying that they enjoyed this - all I ever hoped was to do the source material some justice. Thanks ever so much for your comment.
Thank you for the comment. Honestly, I more went for each character's playstyle and representation, rather than their actual voices. Guess you could call it happy coincidence.
I do think that a game like The Line deserves to have some recognition for its work. And whether that recognition comes in the form of a 20-minute Let's Play or a six-month long animation project, what's it matter?
Im glad this video appeared in my algorithm again! I love the facial expression and how real it was Spec ops the line changed my perception to games and this is basically one of my favorite sfms, combining two of my favorite games
Hell, thank you for the comment. In the ten years since I've played Spec Ops: The Line, I'm amazed at how much its story and message have stuck with me. All I hoped to do here is do the original game the justice that I think it deserved.
I don't usually reply to these kinds of things (a Like gets the message across just as easily), but I feel that that won't cut it here. This is amazing work. It managed to capture the spirit of the original so well, and it made me want to replay the game for what has to be a fourth time. You managed to recreate what is arguably the 'Heart of Darkness' of our generation in what is our generation's Looney Tunes AND STILL MADE IT WORK. You have my respect, and gratitude for making me relive one of my favourite moments in gaming history.
Honestly, that was the exact reason I made it in the first place, I really liked the idea of TF2 and The Line together, this kinda juxtoposition of a very grim, serious story and the obviously cartoony characters. I just... I dunno, that's what all this stemmed from, I guess. Also, play the game again, seriously. I've played it nine times so far, and every time I've played it, I've found something new. Just before *the scene*, you come across a large tree. Pass the tree, then look back.
***** Juxtaposition, that's the word I couldn't think of. Well, if that was your intention, you succeeded gloriously. I'll play the game again when I can. Busy schedule at the moment. And I knew about the tree. :)
Ah damn, and here I was thinking that the tree was relatively unknown. Subtle, that's for sure, and pretty interesting, considering it actually comes before the twist.
***** There's other suggestions too, of course. Stuff you attribute to buggy gameplay and so on. His vocalizations, some of his killmoves, his facial animations (he'll sometimes lapse into a thousand-yard stare in the midst of combat).
Thomas Bambust I guess thats an interesting thing to look at with regards to walkers kill moves and his general tendency to lapse into the thousand yard stare whenever seriously injured. My thoughts on the kill animations though, I was honestly left kind of horrified by some of them. One time the guy litterally took his rifle, pointed it at a guys crotch and fired a few dozen rounds. While I admit I at times could be a jerk in other games, coming from a character who generally only capped people in the head much earlier in the game in such moves left me very disturbed.
Another SpecOps dev here. I love this video, thank you for creating this. I feel honored that someone would put so much love and effort into creating something based on our game!
It was my pleasure, it truly was. Ever since I finished the game in late 2012, I've been wanting to do something like this, just to give a bit of credit and to show a little appreciation for, in my opinion, one of the most important video games of this generation. I'm still terrified, though, that I just haven't done your work justice. There's a certain... a certain power, or atmosphere, that I don't think I've been able to capture. Still, though, thank you so very much for your kind words.
FUCK YES!!! OOOH MY GOD! I seriously had this very idea planned as a Source Filmmaker video myself. You beat me to it, and I could not be happier!! I'm so sad to see that this has so few views, but part of the issue is that I hope people don't spoil the ending to this game without playing through it themselves - the impact is very different.
Honestly, thank you so much for the comment. Coming from someone such as yourself, it really, really means a lot. I'm not too fussed about viewcount; if I was, I think I'd have given up video making a long time ago. I much prefer quality over quantity. If I really "get" to someone, just one person, then I'd say that my work was a success. Well, at least as much as I can think of my own stuff as a "success". You're always your own worst critic, y'know? Anyway, thanks. Comments like this are why I spent the god knows how long on this in the first place.
This brought back so many great memories. I really miss hearing Walker's voice everyday (even though throughout development the dev team began thinking his and mine were one in the same). Thanks for taking me back to that place.
Holy... wow. Thank you so much, both for the comment and for you and your team's amazing work on The Line. It might seem small, but getting this kind of attention from guys like you is a huge deal to me, I really feel like I don't deserve it. I just hope to the high heavens that I did your work a bit of justice. If I might ask, when you were designing The Line, was it a kind of "another day at the office" deal, or did you enjoy working on it and seeing how everything fit together? Did you expect/hope that the game would create the kind of "small but dedicated" cult following that it seems to have created? Still, though, thanks so much for the kind words, and thank you again for helping to create, in my eyes, one of the most profound video games of this generation.
***** I honestly enjoyed the animation - tons of character, great lip syncing... you even re-built some of the environments with quite a bit of precision! Regarding "another day at the office" - I don't think any of us at Yager had many of those. Everyday working on Spec Ops: The Line was a universe unto itself. We all put everything we had into the project, and sometimes that meant a wide range of emotions. I miss those days. Thanks for reminding me of them.
Cory Davis Thanks for the response! Well, with my (very) limited mapping skills, I tried to do the source material justice. Although it's just as well that you didn't see the parts of the map that weren't designed to be in the camera's view, they're, well, they're less polished than you guys' maps :P. Really interesting getting a little view on what working on The Line was like as well. You said a "wide range of emotions"... Does that mean that, well, I wouldn't go so far as to say that working on it affected you, but the atmosphere kind of changed over the course of development? Again, thanks so much, and I wish you all the best in your future projects.
Since a living Konrad is Walker's imagination and Walker is actually talking to himself, I'd imagine the conversation is a monologue that goes like this (Walker talking to his 'other conscience' and refers to Konrad as a third person): CPT Walker: It seems that reports of his... _survival_... have been greatly exaggerated. CPT Walker: This isn't possible. CPT Walker: Oh, I assure myself, it is. CPT Walker: _How?!_ CPT Walker: Not how. Why? I was _never_ meant to come here. CPT Walker: What happened here was out of my control. CPT Walker: Was it? None of this would've happened if I'd just _stopped_. But on I marched. And for what? CPT Walker: I tried to save him. CPT Walker: I'm no savior. My talents lie elsewhere. CPT Walker: This isn't my fault! CPT Walker: It takes a strong man to deny what's right in front of him. And if the truth is undeniable, man creates his own. The truth is, that I'm here because I wanted to feel like something I'm not: *A hero*. He's here because I can't accept what I've done. It broke me. I needed someone to blame, so I cast it on him, a dead man.
As you can see, Captain Martin Walker is senselessly muttering whenever Konrad is talking. While the words Konrad said came out coherently in his mind, he's likely not saying much that is legible in reality. He's too lost in his delusion.
Wow, that was amazing. The Line is a dark place to go when you're in a depression, but sometimes that's where you need to go. I sincerely hope you are feeling better, you have an amazing talent.
Thank you ever so much for the kind words, they are hugely appreciated. Playing through The Line felt sort of odd in a way. It didn't elicit as much emotion as I thought it might've, just a slow, empty, unfulfilled sensation. I remember when I finally reached the ending, I just sat there, slack-jawed, through the credits, before trudging downstairs and having a cold shower.
Holy shit. SFM has some really good stuff out there, but good god. That subtle shaking at 0:53, the perfectly done face at 0:58, all of the flashback scenes... All of my thumbs up. Favorited, Subscribed, I'll even share on Google+ even though it sucks so much. This is the first 10/10 I've ever given. You've earned it.
Seriously, thank you for the kind words. It's well thought-out comments like this that remind me just why I made this video in the first place. I really felt (still feel, really) that it was the tiny little details about the original scene that just "made it", and that's what I tried to repeat in this recreation. Good to know I succeeded.But please don't share it on Google+. Nothing deserves to be shared on Google+.
That was indeed worth watching, and u capture one of the best moments of the game, splendid I totally was submerged in the video. It remind me my first time I finally complete it
Alternate Ending: Platoon Leader: Squadron, ten-hut! Captain Walker, we're all that's left of the Dammed 33rd. We surrender sir. Dubai is yours. Walker: Where... Is... Konrad? Platoon Leader: Where he's always been. Upstairs, waiting for you. Konrad: Congratulations Walker. You've achieved what the storm could not. Destroyed the Dammed 33rd. Do you feel like a hero yet? Now that you're here, what did you think when you arrived in Dubai? When you had seen what I had done. Did you think it was the work of a "madman"? Walker: Yeah. I thought you lost your goddamn mind. Or at least I hoped so. Konrad: Oh yes? That would have made things better, but I wasn't so lucky. Walker: You sure about that? Konrad: I assure you: I'm as sane as you are captain. No matter how hard I'd tried, I could never escape the reality of what happened. That was my downfall. There. Finished. I hope you like it. Walker: The hell is going on? Konrad: Your eyes are opening for the first time. Hurts, doesn't it? Go on. Tell me what you think. Walker: You did this. Konrad: No. You did. Your orders killed 47 innocent people. Someone has to pay for your crimes Walker. So who's it gonna be? Walker: John? That you? Konrad: You tell me. Walker: I'm done playing games John! Konrad: I assure you: this is no game. It seems reports of my "survival" have been greatly exaggerated. Walker: This is impossible. Konrad: I assure you: it is. Walker: How? Konrad: Not "how" but why. You were never supposed to be here. Walker: (Flashes back) We have our orders: Leave the city and radio command from outside the storm wall. When they send in the cavalry, we go home. (Returns to reality) What happened was out of my control. Konrad: Was it? None of it would've happened had you just stopped. But on you marched... And for what? Walker: We tried to save you. Konrad: You're no savior. Your talents lie elsewhere. Lugo: This is your fault goddammit! Adams: That's enough Lugo! Lugo: He didn't listen! Adams: We didn't have a choice! Lugo: He turned us into fucking killers! Walker: THIS ISN'T MY FAULT! Konrad: It takes a strong man to deny what's in front of him. And if the truth is undeniable, you create your own. Adams: What the hell happened? Lugo: I don't know he just stopped breathing. Adams: Walker, snap out of it! Walker: I get it. We have to choose. Konrad: The truth Walker, is, that your here because you wanted to pretend to be something you're not: A hero. Walker: Lugo! Lugo: You left me to die! (Turns into the Pyro) Konrad: I'm here because you can't accept what you've done. It broke you. Walker: Colonel? Colonel, please! Konrad: You needed someone to blame. So you cast it on me: A dead man. I know the truth is hard to accept, Walker, but it's time. You're all that's left. And we can't live this lie forever. (Haunted by his past, Walker must make the hardest choice of his life: Find the strength to persevere, or give in to hatred and delusion.) I'm going to count to five, then I'm pulling the trigger. Walker: You're not real. This is all in my head. Konrad: Are you sure? Maybe it's in mine. One. Walker: No. Everything. All this. It was YOUR fault! Konrad: If that's what you believe, then shoot me! Two. Walker: I never meant to hurt anybody. Konrad: Nobody ever does, Walker. Three. Four. (BANG!) Konrad: It takes a strong man to deny what's in front of him. Walker: Stronger than you were. Konrad: Whatever you say, Walker. Whatever happens next, don't be too hard on yourself. Even now, after all you've done, you can still go home. Lucky you. Platoon Leader: What now sir? Walker: What? Platoon Leader: The men are asking: What do we do now? Walker: We finish our mission. Platoon Leader: What mission would that be sir? Walker: Just get me a goddamn... Radio? This is Captain Martin Walker. Requesting immediate evacuation of Dubai. Survivors: One too many. Commander: HQ this is Falcon One. Looks like we found him. Captain Walker! Soldier 1: He's armed! Soldier 2: It's OK. Hold your fire. I don't understand. What's he doing? Commander: Captain Walker. We are here to help. But first, I need you to lay down your weapon. Soldier 2: He's not complying! Commander: He's shell-shocked. Give him a minute. Just hand me your weapon captain. We're here to bring you home. Walker: It's over. Let's go home. Commander: You know, Captain. We drove through the whole city to find you. We saw things. If you don't mind me asking, what was it like? How'd you survive all this? Walker: Who says I did? The End
Wow! I'm right now emotionally touched :) Nice work from you rebuilding our Ending Cutscene. Had couple of Flashbacks in remembering the months we spent to build that beast of a Cutscene with all sorts of Flashbacks! Thanks!
Honestly, you are more than welcome. It was a real... Well, I wouldn't exactly say a "pleasure" in remaking the ending scene, but I found it well worth it in the end. I just hope I did your animation work a tiny shred of justice in this horribly amateur remake. I swear, I don't deserve recognition from you guys, this is just amazing. Thanks so much.
Truly amazing job. I would've never found out about this game if it weren't for this amazing animation. It spoiled the ending for me but that wont stop me from playing. Again you've done a great job. one of the best sfm videos ive ever seen.
Well, in that case I really apologise for ruining the ending for you. Bear in mind, though, that context is everything. It's one thing to see the ending as an outside observer, but it's quite another to experience it for yourself.
One thing I find interesting is that while the fade to whites indicate Walker is hallucinating, they are sometimes used to indicate a return to lucidity as well, such as when you die during the Heavy Lugo bit and you respawn to Walker shaking his head as though snapping out of it. The final ending where Walker gives up his gun to the soldier as him giving up his Konrad persona and coming back to himself as he gets in the car.
Now this is why I absolutely love _The Line:_ Ten years on from when I first played it, and I'm _still_ learning things about it, I'm _still_ seeing new and different interpretations of scenes. Genuinely, thank you. That take on the _The Road Back_ ending is a really interesting one. I've heard of the white fades to signify hallucinations, but never heard them interpreted as a return to lucidity _from_ a hallucination or delusion. It's an interesting thought, and the ambiguity of such an interpretation has actually helped me come to terms with the endings themselves a bit better! See, I always interpreted a fade to white to mean a hallucination, and thus interpreted _The Road Back_ as one too. It's probably the darkest way of considering that ending - that Walker's hallucinating the whole thing, and is still trapped in Dubai, alone and slowly dying of thirst - but trying to interpret the epilogue literally made no sense at all to me. Walker's reasoning throughout the whole game was that no-one would be able to rescue them because of the sandstorms, and yet a few days later, somehow a rescue team shows up when Walker doesn't even have a working radio? It's madness. So why does the alternate ending, _The Road to Glory,_ fade to _black?_ I don't have an answer. But the added ambiguity that your interpretation provides at least opens another potential door, another potential way of explaining how one thinks the ending plays out. So thank you, for helping me answer some of my disbelief over the endings by, ironically, opening up a bunch of other questions.
@@TamiyaGuy123 There are a few interesting touches in the epilogue that leaves it feeling really ambiguous. The lighting is an interesting place to start. The palette, to me, is reminiscent of the white phosphorus scene, it has that really pale, muted, otherworldly feel that's not seen anywhere else in the game. You could interpret it as Walker still feeling like he's back in the encampment looking at the mother and her child, or maybe you could see it as him feeling detached from the situation the same way he did when he was processing what he'd done there. It's part of why I feel like he comes back to himself in _The Road Back._ The lighting once he gets in the car is very different from the way it looks outside of the car, much more vibrant. Then we have Walker in Konrad's outfit, with Konrad's nametag still on, which I personally see as, in an attempt to protect himself from the guilt he feels, becoming the persona he imagined for Konrad. A fearless, heartless monster capable of slaughtering thousands without feeling remorse, wielding two of the hardest hitting weapons in the game. He's teetering on the edge of permanent insanity. I think the 3 choices from there determine which way Walker falls. In _The Road to Glory_ ending he commits to the Konrad persona, and becomes the monster that stalks the ruins of Dubai thereafter, forever trapped in the delusion of Konrad the Monster, but safe from ever having to process the horror of what he's done. In _The Road Back,_ Walker lays down his arms, gets back into the car and goes home as himself. Sane, but forever scarred and changed by the events of the game and unable to find peace. This is the ending most similar to Spec Ops' inspiration, Heart of Darkness. Side note, but the actual fadeout of this ending is also a fade to black. It's the transition of Walker getting into the car that's a fade to white. As for the ending where Walker dies in the shootout, that's probably the most ambiguous one to me, because all you have to do to trigger it is fire a bullet, you don't actually have to kill anyone. The way I see it, Walker is still unable to live with what he's done, but rather than accepting it and taking responsibility for it (As in _A Farewell to Arms_) Walker provokes the military into killing him, allowing him to find some measure of peace in death. Didn't mean to write an essay for you lol, but this game is very much worth analyzing. Absolutely worth the time and money. EDIT: More Info Funnily, the way Walker was able to survive until the military got there actually made some degree of sense to me. If you pay attention scenery in the big tower where he realizes his own insanity, he's standing over a pool of water, and there are big water tanks in the bottom floor of the building. The leader of Dubai probably had private stores of water in case of a freak scenario like this.
Just... holy... wow. Thank you so much for the kind words. They really, truly mean a lot. Hell, I never expected anything like some of the actual devs commenting on this bastardisation of your work!
Ken Mayfield I... I swear, I don't deserve this kind of attention. Thank you so much for the comment. I'm just sorry I didn't do your amazing VFX work any justice at all.
2:05 HOLY SHIT HE WAS TALKING TO HIMSELF IN THAT SCENE. I mean I knew Walker was talking to himself in the scene when he's lying on the ground bleeding out after trying to kill the Delta Squad that came after him but not this scene
For me, it's a lot of the little things about this scene that hit the most. The faint movement of Walker's lips with Konrad's voice, the near-silent ambience as you can see Dubai burning in the background. That odd section right at the end, where Walker actually seems to hallucinate the entire "glass reflection" part. I mean, I couldn't see any head-high glass on that entire balcony with the view of Dubai as it was.
***** I actually did notice that there wasn't any glass there (but didn't realize how that was important). I have a theory about why the chair disappears if you shoot Konrad, and I'll try to make it short. Konrad's body disappears because Walker thinks he killed him recently, so he can't be rotting in a chair. The chair doesn't disappear if Walker faces the truth.
I might not've said "important", just an interesting little tidbit as to just how far Walker's gone. Or maybe it was all a cop-out so Yager Development could add in that aesthetically interesting finalé. I do like your theory about the chair. I mean, it also fits into the way that, as far as I can tell, the entire "good" ending is a hallucination. After the glass-eyed soldier disappears from view, the balcony becomes dilapidated and swamped with sand as Walker gives orders to a soldier whom he knows is a hallucination.
***** Actually, there was more to that theory (I was trying to keep it short lol). When the Delta Squad comes to kill you, the three options are to -Surrender, which is a hallucination (it's possible that you do go home, but to be tried for war crimes) -Kill everyone, which really shows how far Walker has gone off the deep end and thinks he's Konrad now (I really can't explain this. He might think they're part of the Damned 33rd) -Die in the shootout, in which Walker realizes that he can't go home, because he crossed the line (Spec Ops: *The Line*). While it may seem like it, he never does realize that he committed those atrocities
Oh man, all the feels I got from SO:TL... This up there with my most favorite SFM shorts now. Props to you. My favorite parts have got to be the skillfully synced flashbacks. Great job. :)
Dude , this was more than just dramatic , serious situation and great situation of soliders reality , the nostalgia for can't done something as expected , the costs of the lifes of the others , feel the fault , feel the pain of the others .... Man you have done a good job .
+Luke Skywalker Honestly, I'm not too fussed about the number of views per se. I remember that shortly after its upload, one of the devs who worked on Spec Ops: The Line saw it, complimented it, and said he'd show it to the office when he got the chance. That's when I figured that I had succeeded in what I set out to do - the other views were just a very welcome bonus. +Tony Koslowski It's been mentioned before many times, but it's not going to happen for several reasons. Apologies.
![Grand Theft Fortress [SFM]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/THrhVORyZ8E/mqdefault.jpg)
As one of Spec Ops: The Line devs, all I can say is THANK YOU for creating this. I will make sure that the whole team see this video on Monday. Keep up the good work!
...Woah. Just... Thank you. Seriously, thank you for the appreciation, and thank you all and congratulations for making that amazing game. You've just made my day.
*****
Isn't Baxa a cool cat? Guy's a famous translator as well, he translated all the "awesome series"!
Seriously? Dang, then I've got two things to buy him a beer for now.
PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE WORKING ON NEXT.
Yager is working on Dreadnought. I'm no longer part of the team.
It only took about 10 seconds for this to stop being funny and start being amazing.
Then my work here is done.
hotline miami
@@NeedyBoBeedy thick skin
@@iputapipebombintoyourmailb6210 grip
I love how when Konrad-spy disappears, soldier/walker can be seen mouthing whatever konrad is saying.
Well because all of it is in Walker's head, he's talkin to himself
The detail man
In the actual game in that scene he is also mouthing whatever Konrad is saying
@@chrisalejado1396 I missed that. Cool
Meet the war criminal
Meet the hero
Would be interesting to wonder what soldier's past must been since it leaves a lot of questions
"Gentleman, welcome to Dubai"
+Vicente Santiago "Gentlemen, welcome to 2Fort."
+Cpl Yakob "Gentlemen, welcome to tc_hydro"
+Ken Catus "Gentlemen, welcome to dustbowl"
Gentlemen, welcome to Rivia.
Gentlemen, welcome to VaLVE Headquarters.
"I didn't mean to hurt anybody."
"No one ever does, Walker."
*The road to hell is paved with good intentions.*
Spec Ops is a game game all about strange juxtapositions and dissonance, gamey elements over dark and serious subject matter. Your use of such a light, cartoony medium to portray the most sober and dramatic scene, with the amount of work you obviously put in to make such an accurate shot-for-shot recreation, is just about the best tribute to Spec Ops that I could think of.
First off, thank you for the comment; I really feel that a well thought-out word is worth a lot. I'm not really sure what made me think of the idea, just that I'd had it for a while before even starting. I think you're right: The juxtaposition of cartoonish characters and the very dark, sombre tone of the story just captivated me, that feeling of slight discomfort and, as you said, dissonance.
It means more to me than you think when you mentioned that it looked like I'd put a lot of effort into it. I suppose this was my first (and, as of yet, only) "proper" foray into SFM, and it's really uplifting to know that through all the slap-dash technique, bodged quick-fixes (seriously, that "fade" at 1:08 took hours to get to that stage) and all the bloody *crashes*, it was worth it.
It's interesting that you use the word "dramatic" to describe the ending. Not that I'm disagreeing with you at all (more playing Devil's advocate), but I feel that sobering is more the word. I find that the drama comes before the ending: The intense battle with that unmistakable music, Lugo's reappearance, and that nigh-on bloodthirsty rampage with the AA-12 that he drops delivers all the intensity and drama. In contrast, the ending itself is relatively low-key, which in my opinion makes it all the more sobering and quite deeply unsettling, particularly considering the idea that Konrad is talking to the player themselves.
+TamiyaGuy
This game makes you think about the enemies that you're mindlessly killing not even thinking about they're humanity
This game makes you relive that
When you said "you use such a light and cartoony medium to portray the most sober and dramatic scene" I actually thought it was an insult lol. Guess not
+Brian Ngo I certainly didn't take it as such, it was exactly the feel I was going for. That uncomfortable kind of juxtaposition between light and fun and this very sombre narrative.
+John Konrad hi conrad!
Damn, knowing nothing about the game this is pretty intense. I always heard the story was deep, but, just damn
Shit, I'm so, so sorry for spoiling things for you.
Honestly, though? Even then, I would hail this as one of the best gaming experiences ever made, and would highly recommend it to you. As a game technically, it's actually very average, but it uses that, combined with the things you've done in videogames for decades, to say something about you, as a human being. Watching the ending is one thing, but experiencing it, with context, is something very different. Hope I didn't ruin too much, and I hope that, if you choose to play it, you enjoy it. And hate it.
***** nah, it was my will to watch it with full intention of seeing spoilers, so don't be sorry. I didn't actually have the intention of playing the game. I guess if I get interest I might play it, but this definitely puts the game in perspective
Fair enough, but it's still worth an apology. I'd honestly say that The Line is a game that needs to be played by the sort of people who enjoy FPSs, in particular modern military shooters. That's not to say that they want to play it; if this rendition is any indication, the game is not a barrel of laughs. I'd recommend waiting until it's on sale, it's well worth £5-10.
While I'm here, I gotta say thank you ever so much for your build guides for Payday 2. They've been amazingly helpful.
he didn't spoil too much if anything this is a tease for the game..........ISH.
Play the game it is maybe an hour to three-length runtime but again its the best story mode game I've ever seen since half-life. Yes I'm bold to claim that and yes I'll die with that comparison don't like it - HITE me I DARE YOU! >_>
@@GeneralMcBadass fancy seein you here
Damn. I have never seen such an accurate representation of Spec Ops: The Line in my life. You capture the grim darkness of The Line with the normally very cartoonish assets of TF2 so excellently. I can't imagine how much effort has been poured into this, and the sheer accuracy of it all just baffles me. You've done a great job here, Tamiya.
You've earned a farewell to arms.
Thank you ever so much for the kind words. For some reason, I found the juxtaposition between the cartoony characters of TF2 and the very sombre, dark narrative of The Line most fascinating. I dare say that compared to a few SFM creators, this video shrivels in comparison, but I truly appreciate your comment about me putting effort into this (you're sure as hell not wrong).
Out of curiosity, which video did you choose?
+TamiyaGuy A Farewell To Arms.
The only real ending that I feel truly makes sense of Walker's journey. His suicide is for me his acceptance of what he's done, and as a warrior, there is only one ending for him, and that's death. He lives a warrior, and a warrior cannot do anything but destroy.
Death is the best possible outcome for him, as tragic as it is.
@@LanceDragonov I agree even five years later
This is excellent. The fact that you managed to make this hold as much emotional weight as the actual scene is impressive. You even animated Walker's lips moving when Conrad was speaking. Awesome job.
Honestly, thank you so much. It's comments like this that remind me of why I made this in the first place.
1 of the most unforgettable endings ever
+UsurperKingZant Found ya again.
+SOKorhal Are you a stalker? ^.^
+UsurperKingZant Seeing that I'm playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat lately.... yeah :P
UsurperKingZant which one? a fall of arms? the road home? the road to glory?(death and or survival)
All of them
The little grin the Spy/Konrad gives when he says "Maybe it's in mine!" is a perfect little touch that makes me come back to this. A mix of the cartoony TF2 with the dark, somber narrative of The Line is perfect!
Wow, all the little details are spot-on. This must've taken forever but it was worth it, fantastic job.
Thank you so much for the kind words. Yeah it did take a fair while. Good to see that all the pain and crashes were worth it.
***** The casting was also perfect. Lugo sounds EXACTLY like the Scout, especially when he shouts. It's actually hard to believe they aren't both voiced by Nathan Vetterlein.
I found the two characters very similar as well, at least for the parts of each that are shown. Both Lugo and the Scout are jokey, cocky youngsters who want to show the world how it's done. I guess we've never seen how the Scout reacts when everything starts to break down, so there's no real comparison to be made between the two after The Gate.
***** "After BONK!-ing fifty innocent civilians to death in a cola-induced rage, Scout was never quite the same."
Mr. Antler Source Filmmaker, Graph Editor, bit of tweaking in the Motion Editor, and a *lot* of time and effort (dare I say so myself).
One of the most fucking brilliantly-done versions of this ending. The interactivity just makes it even more amazing. Fucking *incredible*.
Thank you so much for the kind words. It's times like this when I begin to realise that all the hard work and effort was worth it.
So, of course, I have to ask, which one did you choose? And more importantly... why?
*****
I mirrored my choice in game, and had Walker attempt to deny the reality, going for the closest thing to a "good" ending SpecOps has (the ending in which Walker surrenders to the Patrol).
There are no perfect choices. In the end, we solely have to choose that which lays out before us. Walker fucked everything up. He will pay for his crimes. But no more blood needs be spilled. Not today.
A very interesting choice, I'd say. Although I'd hesitate to use the word "good" in that ending. I mean, it's an ending where Walker goes home a broken shell of a man, where the main character himself *wishes* he was dead ("Survivors: One too many...").
I remember one commenter that stuck with me, who actually said he chose that ending so that Walker could suffer more. He figured that the death endings would be an easy way out, so he forced Walker to live through what he's done, for every remaining day of his broken life. Interesting how a little change in perspective can change a scene's meaning drastically, eh?
Indeed.
I'd agree with the "Go Home" ending being somewhat cruel in that Walker needs to live with what he's done, but at the same time, that's Walker's burden to bear. In many ways, it reminded me of of Platoon, one of my favorite movies. That SpecOps can provoke this much thought and introspection long after it came out is a testament to its quality, and it will likely be spawning discussion over many things in it - analysis of the endings, things left intentionally ambiguous (such as some things *in* the endings), and so on, for years to come.
Jaimas That scene *never happened*.
Apparently it was a hallucination.
Well, I guess the best ending is kill the patrol.
7 years later still hits as strong as it did the first time I've watched it. All the small details make up for overall amazing end quality. You should rightfully enjoy all the praising comments, cheers.
Holy crap, and thank _you_ for your comment. You know, for all the crap I've put on TH-cam over the years (and there has been a lot of crap), this is one of only two videos that I remain proud of to this day. So comments like those do mean a lot to me, even today. Thanks.
To quote Kurtz from "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad: "The horror! The horror!"
Fun fact, Soldier actually went on a huge rampage, lasting even after world war 2 had ended.
So Soldier being the standin for the main character works so well.
Technically, Soldier is exact opposite of Walker
unlike Walker who denies his true nature, Soldier relish violence. so yeah, doesnt suit very well.
@@Iwanwahid1969 the worst part would be the fact, that one time he had beaten the crap out of a random German tourist just for being German
Soldier is Walker Conrad
Not really .
Soldier is actually bat sh*t crazy in Tf2 lore.
He went even crazy after the lead traced water incident.
Potentially I can see this being alternative ending to Soldier's timeline.
He never joins mercs, maybe he finally gets some friends in the military after he miraculously joins the military then his friends in the military wake up his empathy and he slowly starts to regret his decisions
"Gentlemen, wolcome to 2fort"
"Do you feel like a merc yet?"
"It takes a strong mann to deny what's in front of him"
"Welcome to Dustbowl, Soldier"
"To kill for yourself is murder, to kill for your government is heroic, to kill to capture the point is harmless."
Soldier doesn't feel any remorse killing mercs throughout the game, thinking they'll just respawn. In the end he finds the respawn machine... Broken. He killed all those men permanently
@@toastergaming7783Spy would be in his head becouse he would lie to himself that he had the dead ringer
Even in TF2 it gives me chills . . .
Then my work is done.
Thank you.
Then cover up. A jacket or a big blanket should warm you up.
Using the Citadel as the tower is honestly really neat. I understand it's an SFM issue but I like how everything is replaced with its Source equivelant (replacing the Juggernaut with the Pyro was incredibly clever) just adds to the scene way more
I absoloutely adore it, so glad I was able to find it again all these years later
10 years ago...we got this transmission: "This is Colonel John Konrad, United States Army. Attempted evactuation of Dubai ended in complete... failure. Death toll... too many..."
This is fucking amazing. Every little detail is right, you actually have the soldier shoot himself in the head, you actually have him talking to himself when it shows the reality of it, and how he's not actually with the Spy. My god man. I can't believe how detailed and absolutely amazing this video is, it truly captures the essence of SO:TL to a T!!
I really felt like it was the little details that made the original scene, so I wanted to go out of my way to (attempt to) recreate them. It's awesome to see that I succeeded, thanks ever so much for the comment.
***** Oh, no problem. I have to give credit where it's most definitely needed. This is so underrated it's sad. :C
However, I have an explanation;
It's Konrad. He did it. All of it.
You mean "To the line"?
Bonnie1020Production Ba dum _tssh_
"You're not real... this is all in my head" - Denial
"No... everything... all this... it was your fault" - Anger
"I didn't mean to hurt anybody" - Sorrow
"..." - Depression
Suicide - Acceptance
Hm. So does that mean that if you choose to shoot Conrad, it represents regression back to denial? "It takes a strong man to deny what's right in front of him."
I shot Konrad then let the US troops kill me to me that’s the Canon ending.suicide by combat so Walker has someone else punish him
damn
Ñop, you suicide you tell a lie.
You truly accept your deeds when you are willing to punish alive
@@johnolmos8670 "gentleman welcome to Dubai"
The fact that using the more cartoony TF2 art style to re-enact this scene does not lessen its impact on you at all really speaks of how well it is put together, both the original devs and the person who made this clip, I mean.
That's kind of the reason I worked on this project, to be honest. I really like that juxtaposition between the overly-cartoony TF2 models and the very dark, sombre themes that The Line explores, that weird feeling when you combine silly visuals with a very serious subject matter. You could almost say I wanted to evoke that same dissonance that The Line creates through its very "gamey" gameplay and the damning criticism it gives to the player. But that's not doing nearly enough justice to the source material.
Soldier's pointing gesture at 3:18 is frighteningly accurate to Walker's real scene. I don't know why but it really impressed me.
Hey TamyaGuy - also worked on Spec Ops - thanks a lot for this, brings back goose bumps every single time.
Great work, so much love to detail...you just got it right. Can't thank you enough.
Cory Davis Miss Walker's voice...and yours
Holy... I swear, I don't deserve any of this from you guys! There's gotta be way better fanmade content out there than this bastardisation of your amazing work. Honestly, though, I should be thanking you. Spec Ops: The Line is, without doubt, one of the finest gaming experiences I have ever had (I feel that "best game" doesn't do it justice).
One of the reasons I made this was to show my appreciation for this incredible game that has utterly gripped me and refuses to let go of my mind. Thank you so much.
A bloody masterpiece lad
Thanks for the kind words - much appreciated.
Beautiful, so smoothly animated and adapted perfectly. truly this is a masterpiece!
Thank you very much for the comment. Weird how I look back on this and see all the little imperfections in it. Though it's just the nature of having worked on something for a while, I'm still really pleased with how it came out.
You ever gonna animate again?
This is probably the best SFM:Game remake I've ever seen.
6 people were cod players
19
Now 49
Love the attention to detail. Like when Soldier’s mouth moves like Walker’s when you cant see Konrad/Spy.
Mumbling to himself.
Dude, that's a really good recreation. I have a question though, is this all original audio, or were some parts revoiced? At 1:54 and 2:09 the Scout really sounds like, well, the Scout.
It's all original audio. The voice actor of Lugo just happens to sound a lot like Scout during those parts.
Holy hell, a comment from the king of SFM animation himself? Honestly, thanks so much for the kind words. Stuff like this really makes the hours put in worthwhile.
All the audio is from the original ending, with some very minor tweaks to remove unnecessary sounds, etc. Lugo is quite similar to the Scout both in voice and in nature, serving as the team's quick-witted back-chatter. At least for the first part of the game.
Thanks again for the comment, Max, much appreciated.
The expression you did for soldier/walker when he discovered the corpse was spot on to the expression of walkers face in game. It was exact. A fantastic job well done!
“I have done nothing but relive my mistakes for three days.”
love how u include the detail of walker mouthing the words conrad is saying when he disappears at around 2:01
Hard to imagine it been 10 years since this came out
Very gripping, hits you right where it hurts, just like the source material. Subscribed.
It's scary how good this is....The accuracy is crazy
You really did love how this last part of the game was executed, and I literally could see in your eyes how strongly it affected you when I watched your webcam reaction in the video.
You definitely did this with outstanding dedication and passion, and that's exactly the kind of stuff that deserves all the views, comments and positive ratings.
Congratulations!
You've made a lovely art peace.
Thank you, man, really. It feels incredible to know that other people realise that I did put a lot of effort into this, surprisingly. It's really bittersweet hearing some nice comments about this unpleasant video.
You did an amazing job at replicating the animations. Very accurate. Well done. Impressive.
(I would've gone for the other ending, where Walker shoots Conrad; but that's just my choice :D )
Thank you for the comments, the kind words are much appreciated.
this game has one of the best soundtracks and story ever and this video brings back the memories of this game
damn it hurts but it hurts so good
The Battle. Just... The Battle.
00:01 Damn. I remember when we had annotations on TH-cam. Time flies fast...
Genuinely a really fun little feature - remember the choose-your-own-adventure type videos?
@@TamiyaGuy123yes
This is the most perfect video i've ever saw on the internet. Merry Christmas to you pal.
Likewise. And seriously, thank you so much for the kind words.
+TamiyaGuy How long did this take you to make?
On and off, about a hundred hours.
Why does this work so well
"Th-This.. is Colonel John Konrad.. Attempts to evacuate the Dustbowl have been a.. Colossal failure.. Death toll.. Too many."
It's been years since I've revisited the game and I've been wondering how I came to discover it. Turns out it was your video that brought this hidden gem of an experience to me back when I was binge watching SFM shorts in my college days. This video just popped up in the recommendations back then and everything changed for me ever since. For that, I am truly grateful. Keep it up.
The voice really fits the spy.
,,Attempted update of TF2...ended in complete failure....bot accounts...too many"
(and then the bots start to invade the whole world. And terminator begins)
"Do you remember when shooters were about killing demons from hell? Those were good days. Perhaps this is an inevitable part of gaming growing up, as our childish fantasies are torn from us and we are forced to confront consequences in an unfair, unforgiving, and unavoidable world of hatred, misery, and death."
- Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw
Why I prefer this version over the original from Spec Ops is because some of the actions look a lot more pronounced, it's subtle but the most noticeable is to compare scout's gesture's to Lugo's when they say "HE TURNED US I TO FUCKING KILLERS!"
>Please enable video annotations for best experience
It's a damn shame TH-cam threw that all away after all this time...
I like how he also animated the lip syncing as part of the hallucination. Details!
Brilliant choice of characters
Martin soldier, Lugo Scout, CIA Sniper, Konrad Spy
Plus scene with bullets and gun - perfect
Thank you very much for the kind words.
Casting, man
Gould ???
You know, the juxtaposition you were talking about in the comments of the shoot soldier ending around 9 years ago reminds me of Emesis Blue now since it's basically the same premise, take the cartoonish art style of tf2 and contrast it with something very dark
Glad I was able to find these videos again!
Holy shit, the fact that this ten-year-old mess of a crappy SFM video even gets to be mentioned in the same _sentence_ as Emesis Blue... Just, wow, thank you.
It's given me another reason to watch that again, actually...
RIP the actual soldier in irl.
This acutally really fits as an convergent ending for Emesis Blue solider.
I would honestly like to think that before the time when he worked with the other mercs in the timeline of Redmond and Blutarch, Soldier did stuff like this for his duty to america and her people. And that made him question his loyalties and sanity down the line, and after shooting his subconscious like Walker did with Konrad and went back home a broken man. He goes crazy after some time passes, and his patriotism for America sky-rocketed because that was all he knew before, that and his appreciation of the team lol
Damn, this was....
..............really well done.
Thanks, man. It's really appreciated.
"Do you feel like a hero yet"
This is glorious. Not only you managed to keep the mood of the actual game with TF2 characters (which is no easy task since they're so whacky), you also added a few hilarious moments (Medic and Heavy as the mother and daughter, the pyro as lugo/heavy). Great video. I think I watched it 3 times already :^)
I've always had a thing for juxtaposition, in particular blending the comical and whacky with the sombre and dark. Guess this just sorta formed naturally from that fascination.
The response to the Heavy/Medic scene has been... interesting, seems that a fair few people thought of it more as a comical snippet than I was intending. I'm not quite sure whether it's because of the subject matter (while the Heavy/Medic combo in place of the mother & daughter was meant to be a little comical "nod", I didn't really want it to make the moment _itself_ funny) or just my lack of Source Filmmaker/modelling knowledge (I wasn't able to edit the models to remake the horrific corpses seen in The Line, so I kinda went with the cop-out route of burning their eyes out and applying a flame texture).
Either way, thanks for the comment, I do always find it fascinating hearing people's thoughts on a, let's face it, rather bizarre remake of a brilliant scene.
Once you actually go through the phosphorus scene it's never funny because you are still reminded of what you actually did
the facial expressions are so on point especially for walker like you can see the sadness on his face i can't beleive you can do such an amazing job just amazing 10/10
I do find it amazing that, even after four years of other people releasing far, _far_ better animations than this, I still get the occasional compliment saying that I captured the "feeling" of The Line in this.
And for that, I can only say "thank you".
you deserve it is all i gotta say
"Você precisava jogar a culpa em alguém, então você jogou em mim. Um homem morto." Essa frase... Esse jogo... Obra de arte! Alías, a sua animação ficou muito boa, meus parabéns!
vai brasiliam
this amazing animation just sold me the game. I beat it, I chose the ending. And returned back to rewatch the video with which my journey had begun. I am grateful, good job
You nailed it. Holy shit did you nail it. I thought maybe I'd chuckle at the skeleton, but nope. This is amazing, from the recreation of the burning Burj Khalifa to even the little things like Soldier/Walker's facial expressions and him talking to himself when flashing back to reality.
Thanks so much for your comment, it really does mean a lot. My only real goal with this was to do justice to the source material since my _god_ it's a brutal, emotionally wracking scene. It sounds like I at least partially succeeded, so honestly, thank you.
Yeah, the Burj Khalifa part is probably one of my favourites - I learned a lot about the SFM particle editor while making that, and actually found it pretty damn fun to mess around with it as well.
Shot for shot, I'm amazed. It's really subtle, but I love how you got the little movements that Conrad makes whilst Walker is looking in the mirror perfectly.
I always felt that, in the original scenes, it was the little things that Konrad and Walker did that said so much about them. I suppose I just tried to recreate that feeling. Thanks for letting me know I at least partially succeeded.
Never seen SFM used so dramatically. It's so effective too.
I can't believe how well made this was. The attention to detail is stunning. Even the tiniest things like that little gun shake at 1:08
I guess I feel that the original cutscene was made so much more effective from the little details. I wanted to try and do the source material some kind of justice, so I wanted to try and include as many of them as I felt I could reasonably.
I'm very very late, but I fell compelled to say this, spec ops the line may be one of the best experiences we're ever gonna get, and this was absolutely on point, good work
I just replayed the game again after 3 years, and then saw this... I wasn't expecting this recreation in SFM to be good at all, but this is almost as incredible as the actual scene and I can tell you put a LOT of time and effort into this to recreate the scenes in this game, everything from the animations to the background scenery... Well done, this is amazing.
nearly 5 years later, this still is in my mind.
this game is so memorable and the ending is... I don't even have words for it.
my man this is one of the greatest SFM videos I have seen, the amount of detail you have put into it
Genuinely, it's comments like this that make the time, effort, learning and endless SFM crashes worthwhile. _The Line_ is one of those games that I will forever tout whenever the "Can games be art" question comes up, not just because of its harrowing and, unfortunately, still relevant message, but because it only works as a game. It needs the interactivity that a video game provides in order to deliver its message.
There are plenty of games that have artistic worth, and even moreso that are simply amazing narrative experiences. But 2012 always seemed to me a landmark moment in gaming history, where even AAA titles began to embrace the medium's awkward young adulthood of self-reflection, self-critique and even self-parody.
Also another thing, now that annotations are gone because youtube is ran by 74 year olds out of touch with this generation, now the endings are ungettable, which is a big ass Oof
I got you, mate. Links are now in the description. Shame that it removes that layer of interactivity of actually choosing who to shoot, but better this than letting those videos be lost to time.
An absolutely superb tribute to one of the best video game endings. Honestly, I instantly favourited this video because it matched everything but by bit. Even the small details that made up that ending you put in. Absolutely brilliant work, bravo.
It's really weird to know that almost seven years later, I'm still getting people saying that they enjoyed this - all I ever hoped was to do the source material some justice. Thanks ever so much for your comment.
One of the best SFM TF2 videos I've seen. Extremely well done. And it surprisingly fits well with Spec Ops: The Line. So emotionally powerful.
All the characters's voice seemingly fit with the tf2 versions. This is a masterpiece you made here. Truely beautiful, hats off to you good sir
Thank you for the comment. Honestly, I more went for each character's playstyle and representation, rather than their actual voices. Guess you could call it happy coincidence.
That... Was... Amazing.
I never thought anyone would make an SFM version of the ending of Spec Ops, but thankfully, you proved me wrong.
I do think that a game like The Line deserves to have some recognition for its work. And whether that recognition comes in the form of a 20-minute Let's Play or a six-month long animation project, what's it matter?
Im glad this video appeared in my algorithm again! I love the facial expression and how real it was
Spec ops the line changed my perception to games and this is basically one of my favorite sfms, combining two of my favorite games
Hell, thank you for the comment. In the ten years since I've played Spec Ops: The Line, I'm amazed at how much its story and message have stuck with me. All I hoped to do here is do the original game the justice that I think it deserved.
@TamiyaGuy123 This is far and away your best work. Even in 2014, this was so far ahead of it's time in terms of SFM quality.
I don't usually reply to these kinds of things (a Like gets the message across just as easily), but I feel that that won't cut it here. This is amazing work. It managed to capture the spirit of the original so well, and it made me want to replay the game for what has to be a fourth time.
You managed to recreate what is arguably the 'Heart of Darkness' of our generation in what is our generation's Looney Tunes AND STILL MADE IT WORK.
You have my respect, and gratitude for making me relive one of my favourite moments in gaming history.
Honestly, that was the exact reason I made it in the first place, I really liked the idea of TF2 and The Line together, this kinda juxtoposition of a very grim, serious story and the obviously cartoony characters. I just... I dunno, that's what all this stemmed from, I guess.
Also, play the game again, seriously. I've played it nine times so far, and every time I've played it, I've found something new. Just before *the scene*, you come across a large tree. Pass the tree, then look back.
***** Juxtaposition, that's the word I couldn't think of. Well, if that was your intention, you succeeded gloriously.
I'll play the game again when I can. Busy schedule at the moment. And I knew about the tree. :)
Ah damn, and here I was thinking that the tree was relatively unknown. Subtle, that's for sure, and pretty interesting, considering it actually comes before the twist.
***** There's other suggestions too, of course. Stuff you attribute to buggy gameplay and so on. His vocalizations, some of his killmoves, his facial animations (he'll sometimes lapse into a thousand-yard stare in the midst of combat).
Thomas Bambust I guess thats an interesting thing to look at with regards to walkers kill moves and his general tendency to lapse into the thousand yard stare whenever seriously injured. My thoughts on the kill animations though, I was honestly left kind of horrified by some of them. One time the guy litterally took his rifle, pointed it at a guys crotch and fired a few dozen rounds. While I admit I at times could be a jerk in other games, coming from a character who generally only capped people in the head much earlier in the game in such moves left me very disturbed.
Another SpecOps dev here. I love this video, thank you for creating this. I feel honored that someone would put so much love and effort into creating something based on our game!
It was my pleasure, it truly was. Ever since I finished the game in late 2012, I've been wanting to do something like this, just to give a bit of credit and to show a little appreciation for, in my opinion, one of the most important video games of this generation. I'm still terrified, though, that I just haven't done your work justice. There's a certain... a certain power, or atmosphere, that I don't think I've been able to capture.
Still, though, thank you so very much for your kind words.
damn looks like i was 9 years late to see this masterpiece
well better late than not
This is amazing.
The recreation of the scenes from the game, the facial animations, everything was stunning.
Well done, Tamiya, truly well done!
Well, I try, y'know. My single goal when making this was to do the original scene a tiny bit of justice.
FUCK YES!!! OOOH MY GOD!
I seriously had this very idea planned as a Source Filmmaker video myself. You beat me to it, and I could not be happier!! I'm so sad to see that this has so few views, but part of the issue is that I hope people don't spoil the ending to this game without playing through it themselves - the impact is very different.
Honestly, thank you so much for the comment. Coming from someone such as yourself, it really, really means a lot. I'm not too fussed about viewcount; if I was, I think I'd have given up video making a long time ago. I much prefer quality over quantity. If I really "get" to someone, just one person, then I'd say that my work was a success. Well, at least as much as I can think of my own stuff as a "success". You're always your own worst critic, y'know?
Anyway, thanks. Comments like this are why I spent the god knows how long on this in the first place.
This brought back so many great memories. I really miss hearing Walker's voice everyday (even though throughout development the dev team began thinking his and mine were one in the same). Thanks for taking me back to that place.
Holy... wow. Thank you so much, both for the comment and for you and your team's amazing work on The Line. It might seem small, but getting this kind of attention from guys like you is a huge deal to me, I really feel like I don't deserve it. I just hope to the high heavens that I did your work a bit of justice.
If I might ask, when you were designing The Line, was it a kind of "another day at the office" deal, or did you enjoy working on it and seeing how everything fit together? Did you expect/hope that the game would create the kind of "small but dedicated" cult following that it seems to have created?
Still, though, thanks so much for the kind words, and thank you again for helping to create, in my eyes, one of the most profound video games of this generation.
***** I honestly enjoyed the animation - tons of character, great lip syncing... you even re-built some of the environments with quite a bit of precision!
Regarding "another day at the office" - I don't think any of us at Yager had many of those. Everyday working on Spec Ops: The Line was a universe unto itself. We all put everything we had into the project, and sometimes that meant a wide range of emotions. I miss those days. Thanks for reminding me of them.
Cory Davis
Thanks for the response! Well, with my (very) limited mapping skills, I tried to do the source material justice. Although it's just as well that you didn't see the parts of the map that weren't designed to be in the camera's view, they're, well, they're less polished than you guys' maps :P.
Really interesting getting a little view on what working on The Line was like as well. You said a "wide range of emotions"... Does that mean that, well, I wouldn't go so far as to say that working on it affected you, but the atmosphere kind of changed over the course of development?
Again, thanks so much, and I wish you all the best in your future projects.
Since a living Konrad is Walker's imagination and Walker is actually talking to himself, I'd imagine the conversation is a monologue that goes like this (Walker talking to his 'other conscience' and refers to Konrad as a third person):
CPT Walker: It seems that reports of his... _survival_... have been greatly exaggerated.
CPT Walker: This isn't possible.
CPT Walker: Oh, I assure myself, it is.
CPT Walker: _How?!_
CPT Walker: Not how. Why? I was _never_ meant to come here.
CPT Walker: What happened here was out of my control.
CPT Walker: Was it? None of this would've happened if I'd just _stopped_. But on I marched. And for what?
CPT Walker: I tried to save him.
CPT Walker: I'm no savior. My talents lie elsewhere.
CPT Walker: This isn't my fault!
CPT Walker: It takes a strong man to deny what's right in front of him. And if the truth is undeniable, man creates his own. The truth is, that I'm here because I wanted to feel like something I'm not: *A hero*. He's here because I can't accept what I've done. It broke me. I needed someone to blame, so I cast it on him, a dead man.
Nice theory!
I think this is what he actually says but in his minds he processes it as the real cutscene.
As you can see, Captain Martin Walker is senselessly muttering whenever Konrad is talking. While the words Konrad said came out coherently in his mind, he's likely not saying much that is legible in reality. He's too lost in his delusion.
Do I feel like a hero yet?
Wow, that was amazing. The Line is a dark place to go when you're in a depression, but sometimes that's where you need to go. I sincerely hope you are feeling better, you have an amazing talent.
Thank you ever so much for the kind words, they are hugely appreciated. Playing through The Line felt sort of odd in a way. It didn't elicit as much emotion as I thought it might've, just a slow, empty, unfulfilled sensation. I remember when I finally reached the ending, I just sat there, slack-jawed, through the credits, before trudging downstairs and having a cold shower.
We cannot escape pootis. It is what we are
Holy shit.
SFM has some really good stuff out there, but good god. That subtle shaking at 0:53, the perfectly done face at 0:58, all of the flashback scenes...
All of my thumbs up. Favorited, Subscribed, I'll even share on Google+ even though it sucks so much. This is the first 10/10 I've ever given. You've earned it.
Seriously, thank you for the kind words. It's well thought-out comments like this that remind me just why I made this video in the first place. I really felt (still feel, really) that it was the tiny little details about the original scene that just "made it", and that's what I tried to repeat in this recreation. Good to know I succeeded.But please don't share it on Google+. Nothing deserves to be shared on Google+.
1:53 you could have used Ms. Pauling and the young girl for more of an impact but honestly medic and heavy do the job quite well
I find it a bit funny too
That was indeed worth watching, and u capture one of the best moments of the game, splendid I totally was submerged in the video. It remind me my first time I finally complete it
Alternate Ending:
Platoon Leader: Squadron, ten-hut! Captain Walker, we're all that's left of the Dammed 33rd. We surrender sir. Dubai is yours.
Walker: Where... Is... Konrad?
Platoon Leader: Where he's always been. Upstairs, waiting for you.
Konrad: Congratulations Walker. You've achieved what the storm could not. Destroyed the Dammed 33rd. Do you feel like a hero yet? Now that you're here, what did you think when you arrived in Dubai? When you had seen what I had done. Did you think it was the work of a "madman"?
Walker: Yeah. I thought you lost your goddamn mind. Or at least I hoped so.
Konrad: Oh yes? That would have made things better, but I wasn't so lucky.
Walker: You sure about that?
Konrad: I assure you: I'm as sane as you are captain. No matter how hard I'd tried, I could never escape the reality of what happened. That was my downfall. There. Finished. I hope you like it.
Walker: The hell is going on?
Konrad: Your eyes are opening for the first time. Hurts, doesn't it? Go on. Tell me what you think.
Walker: You did this.
Konrad: No. You did. Your orders killed 47 innocent people. Someone has to pay for your crimes Walker. So who's it gonna be?
Walker: John? That you?
Konrad: You tell me.
Walker: I'm done playing games John!
Konrad: I assure you: this is no game. It seems reports of my "survival" have been greatly exaggerated.
Walker: This is impossible.
Konrad: I assure you: it is.
Walker: How?
Konrad: Not "how" but why. You were never supposed to be here.
Walker: (Flashes back) We have our orders: Leave the city and radio command from outside the storm wall. When they send in the cavalry, we go home. (Returns to reality) What happened was out of my control.
Konrad: Was it? None of it would've happened had you just stopped. But on you marched... And for what?
Walker: We tried to save you.
Konrad: You're no savior. Your talents lie elsewhere.
Lugo: This is your fault goddammit!
Adams: That's enough Lugo!
Lugo: He didn't listen!
Adams: We didn't have a choice!
Lugo: He turned us into fucking killers!
Walker: THIS ISN'T MY FAULT!
Konrad: It takes a strong man to deny what's in front of him. And if the truth is undeniable, you create your own.
Adams: What the hell happened?
Lugo: I don't know he just stopped breathing.
Adams: Walker, snap out of it!
Walker: I get it. We have to choose.
Konrad: The truth Walker, is, that your here because you wanted to pretend to be something you're not: A hero.
Walker: Lugo!
Lugo: You left me to die! (Turns into the Pyro)
Konrad: I'm here because you can't accept what you've done. It broke you.
Walker: Colonel? Colonel, please!
Konrad: You needed someone to blame. So you cast it on me: A dead man. I know the truth is hard to accept, Walker, but it's time. You're all that's left. And we can't live this lie forever. (Haunted by his past, Walker must make the hardest choice of his life: Find the strength to persevere, or give in to hatred and delusion.) I'm going to count to five, then I'm pulling the trigger.
Walker: You're not real. This is all in my head.
Konrad: Are you sure? Maybe it's in mine. One.
Walker: No. Everything. All this. It was YOUR fault!
Konrad: If that's what you believe, then shoot me! Two.
Walker: I never meant to hurt anybody.
Konrad: Nobody ever does, Walker. Three. Four.
(BANG!)
Konrad: It takes a strong man to deny what's in front of him.
Walker: Stronger than you were.
Konrad: Whatever you say, Walker. Whatever happens next, don't be too hard on yourself. Even now, after all you've done, you can still go home. Lucky you.
Platoon Leader: What now sir?
Walker: What?
Platoon Leader: The men are asking: What do we do now?
Walker: We finish our mission.
Platoon Leader: What mission would that be sir?
Walker: Just get me a goddamn... Radio? This is Captain Martin Walker. Requesting immediate evacuation of Dubai. Survivors: One too many.
Commander: HQ this is Falcon One. Looks like we found him. Captain Walker!
Soldier 1: He's armed!
Soldier 2: It's OK. Hold your fire. I don't understand. What's he doing?
Commander: Captain Walker. We are here to help. But first, I need you to lay down your weapon.
Soldier 2: He's not complying!
Commander: He's shell-shocked. Give him a minute. Just hand me your weapon captain. We're here to bring you home.
Walker: It's over. Let's go home.
Commander: You know, Captain. We drove through the whole city to find you. We saw things. If you don't mind me asking, what was it like? How'd you survive all this?
Walker: Who says I did?
The End
We complete our mission, not finish. And one of the rangers says: something's not right.
Кирилл Барашев Rangers?
Wow! I'm right now emotionally touched :) Nice work from you rebuilding our Ending Cutscene. Had couple of Flashbacks in remembering the months we spent to build that beast of a Cutscene with all sorts of Flashbacks! Thanks!
Honestly, you are more than welcome. It was a real... Well, I wouldn't exactly say a "pleasure" in remaking the ending scene, but I found it well worth it in the end. I just hope I did your animation work a tiny shred of justice in this horribly amateur remake.
I swear, I don't deserve recognition from you guys, this is just amazing. Thanks so much.
TH-cam really butchered this video by removing video annotations, they will pay
Truly amazing job. I would've never found out about this game if it weren't for this amazing animation. It spoiled the ending for me but that wont stop me from playing. Again you've done a great job. one of the best sfm videos ive ever seen.
Well, in that case I really apologise for ruining the ending for you. Bear in mind, though, that context is everything. It's one thing to see the ending as an outside observer, but it's quite another to experience it for yourself.
no need to be sorry. and yes you're right. but still you did an amazing job and opened me up to a great game.
One thing I find interesting is that while the fade to whites indicate Walker is hallucinating, they are sometimes used to indicate a return to lucidity as well, such as when you die during the Heavy Lugo bit and you respawn to Walker shaking his head as though snapping out of it. The final ending where Walker gives up his gun to the soldier as him giving up his Konrad persona and coming back to himself as he gets in the car.
Now this is why I absolutely love _The Line:_ Ten years on from when I first played it, and I'm _still_ learning things about it, I'm _still_ seeing new and different interpretations of scenes. Genuinely, thank you.
That take on the _The Road Back_ ending is a really interesting one. I've heard of the white fades to signify hallucinations, but never heard them interpreted as a return to lucidity _from_ a hallucination or delusion. It's an interesting thought, and the ambiguity of such an interpretation has actually helped me come to terms with the endings themselves a bit better!
See, I always interpreted a fade to white to mean a hallucination, and thus interpreted _The Road Back_ as one too. It's probably the darkest way of considering that ending - that Walker's hallucinating the whole thing, and is still trapped in Dubai, alone and slowly dying of thirst - but trying to interpret the epilogue literally made no sense at all to me. Walker's reasoning throughout the whole game was that no-one would be able to rescue them because of the sandstorms, and yet a few days later, somehow a rescue team shows up when Walker doesn't even have a working radio? It's madness.
So why does the alternate ending, _The Road to Glory,_ fade to _black?_
I don't have an answer. But the added ambiguity that your interpretation provides at least opens another potential door, another potential way of explaining how one thinks the ending plays out. So thank you, for helping me answer some of my disbelief over the endings by, ironically, opening up a bunch of other questions.
@@TamiyaGuy123 There are a few interesting touches in the epilogue that leaves it feeling really ambiguous.
The lighting is an interesting place to start. The palette, to me, is reminiscent of the white phosphorus scene, it has that really pale, muted, otherworldly feel that's not seen anywhere else in the game. You could interpret it as Walker still feeling like he's back in the encampment looking at the mother and her child, or maybe you could see it as him feeling detached from the situation the same way he did when he was processing what he'd done there. It's part of why I feel like he comes back to himself in _The Road Back._ The lighting once he gets in the car is very different from the way it looks outside of the car, much more vibrant.
Then we have Walker in Konrad's outfit, with Konrad's nametag still on, which I personally see as, in an attempt to protect himself from the guilt he feels, becoming the persona he imagined for Konrad. A fearless, heartless monster capable of slaughtering thousands without feeling remorse, wielding two of the hardest hitting weapons in the game. He's teetering on the edge of permanent insanity.
I think the 3 choices from there determine which way Walker falls.
In _The Road to Glory_ ending he commits to the Konrad persona, and becomes the monster that stalks the ruins of Dubai thereafter, forever trapped in the delusion of Konrad the Monster, but safe from ever having to process the horror of what he's done.
In _The Road Back,_ Walker lays down his arms, gets back into the car and goes home as himself. Sane, but forever scarred and changed by the events of the game and unable to find peace. This is the ending most similar to Spec Ops' inspiration, Heart of Darkness. Side note, but the actual fadeout of this ending is also a fade to black. It's the transition of Walker getting into the car that's a fade to white.
As for the ending where Walker dies in the shootout, that's probably the most ambiguous one to me, because all you have to do to trigger it is fire a bullet, you don't actually have to kill anyone. The way I see it, Walker is still unable to live with what he's done, but rather than accepting it and taking responsibility for it (As in _A Farewell to Arms_) Walker provokes the military into killing him, allowing him to find some measure of peace in death.
Didn't mean to write an essay for you lol, but this game is very much worth analyzing. Absolutely worth the time and money.
EDIT: More Info
Funnily, the way Walker was able to survive until the military got there actually made some degree of sense to me. If you pay attention scenery in the big tower where he realizes his own insanity, he's standing over a pool of water, and there are big water tanks in the bottom floor of the building. The leader of Dubai probably had private stores of water in case of a freak scenario like this.
Yeah, hey, I also worked on Spec Ops: The Line, and the amount of detail and work you put into this is absolutely stunning! Great, great work, love it
I worked with this Johannes guy.... and I agree with what he says.
Just... holy... wow. Thank you so much for the kind words. They really, truly mean a lot. Hell, I never expected anything like some of the actual devs commenting on this bastardisation of your work!
Ken Mayfield
I... I swear, I don't deserve this kind of attention. Thank you so much for the comment. I'm just sorry I didn't do your amazing VFX work any justice at all.
***** Thank Mr. Zender for the VFX. You managed to skip over my ending ;)
Ken Mayfield
Oops, my bad. How do you mean "your ending", though, if I may ask? Did I forget something? :(
Still one of the best SFM of one of the best game to ever exist combine with another amazing game.
2:05 HOLY SHIT HE WAS TALKING TO HIMSELF IN THAT SCENE. I mean I knew Walker was talking to himself in the scene when he's lying on the ground bleeding out after trying to kill the Delta Squad that came after him but not this scene
For me, it's a lot of the little things about this scene that hit the most. The faint movement of Walker's lips with Konrad's voice, the near-silent ambience as you can see Dubai burning in the background. That odd section right at the end, where Walker actually seems to hallucinate the entire "glass reflection" part. I mean, I couldn't see any head-high glass on that entire balcony with the view of Dubai as it was.
***** I actually did notice that there wasn't any glass there (but didn't realize how that was important).
I have a theory about why the chair disappears if you shoot Konrad, and I'll try to make it short.
Konrad's body disappears because Walker thinks he killed him recently, so he can't be rotting in a chair. The chair doesn't disappear if Walker faces the truth.
I might not've said "important", just an interesting little tidbit as to just how far Walker's gone. Or maybe it was all a cop-out so Yager Development could add in that aesthetically interesting finalé.
I do like your theory about the chair. I mean, it also fits into the way that, as far as I can tell, the entire "good" ending is a hallucination. After the glass-eyed soldier disappears from view, the balcony becomes dilapidated and swamped with sand as Walker gives orders to a soldier whom he knows is a hallucination.
***** Actually, there was more to that theory (I was trying to keep it short lol).
When the Delta Squad comes to kill you, the three options are to
-Surrender, which is a hallucination (it's possible that you do go home, but to be tried for war crimes)
-Kill everyone, which really shows how far Walker has gone off the deep end and thinks he's Konrad now (I really can't explain this. He might think they're part of the Damned 33rd)
-Die in the shootout, in which Walker realizes that he can't go home, because he crossed the line (Spec Ops: *The Line*). While it may seem like it, he never does realize that he committed those atrocities
It's even freakier in that context at 3:01
If Spec Ops never existed, this'd make a good Emesis Blue alternate ending
Oh man, all the feels I got from SO:TL... This up there with my most favorite SFM shorts now. Props to you. My favorite parts have got to be the skillfully synced flashbacks. Great job. :)
47 innocent little heavies and their medics
Dude , this was more than just dramatic , serious situation and great situation of soliders reality , the nostalgia for can't done something as expected , the costs of the lifes of the others , feel the fault , feel the pain of the others .... Man you have done a good job .
Absolutely incredible, even when done in Source Filmmaker with TF2 models this game is still moving as fuck.
Awesome work!
Seriously, thank you for the kind words. Things like that remind me why I remade The Line's ending scene in the first place.
I am suprised this video didn`t get at least 1 000 000 views you know?
+TamiyaGuy It would be cool if you did another one of these for the ending where Walker slaughters the soldiers that came to rescue him.
+Luke Skywalker Honestly, I'm not too fussed about the number of views per se. I remember that shortly after its upload, one of the devs who worked on Spec Ops: The Line saw it, complimented it, and said he'd show it to the office when he got the chance. That's when I figured that I had succeeded in what I set out to do - the other views were just a very welcome bonus.
+Tony Koslowski It's been mentioned before many times, but it's not going to happen for several reasons. Apologies.
I absolutely love everything about this, it's so detailed you even did the gun pointing Walker's gun pointing at himself at the end, awesome job!!!