Why do all Combine soldiers wear respirators 24/7?

They are no longer human and have all kinds of pipes and tubes in them.

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I always interpreted this as some bootlicker's opinion that the Combine are the next step in evolution

post-combine earth is polluted to all hell

The Combine soldiers were more human in the Beta. The metrocops were always human.

Actually, the OP image is a human. Metrocops haven't undergone the combinification surgery yet.

True Combine grunts are heavily modified humans. It happens at Nova Prospect. We know the Combine like to tinker with human biology when we get to see the Stalkers too.

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Brainlet

what about these guys?

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guessing masking their actual identities has something to do with it since they have voice modulators, might just be them being like "fuck it, if we have to wear masks we might as well give them some actual functions"

because gasmask were cool in the mid 2000s so now their design is stuck with them

Now that we have alternate timelines can we get Half Life 2 Beta as an actual game?
Please?

>doesn't know combine soldiers are human

He smoked too much

Oh yea, that totally makes sense. Fucking retard.

too much alyx farts?

thats just the Drug Dealer from darkrp

The combine enslaves different species and modifies them for their own use, they probably gave humans respirators so they can survive all different types of environments.
They probably also use humans for their other wars in other dimensions too, which likely don't have much breathable air

That is a overwatch soldier I think who is undergoing surgery to get more modified if I remember correctly.

>unnecessary gas mask that will get hot and sweaty in like ten seconds after running around
>carries pistol but no holster for said pistol
>only a single magazine pouch for said pistol
>uncomfortable looking thick coat that also looks like it would make you hot and sweaty

this looks like a 10 year olds airsoft loadout

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>muh reelizm
Fuck off, nofun fag.

Not enough.

Nazis wore respirators 24/7?

so they don't have to do different faces

Look at the skull shape though. The combine profile is more simian. The implication is that it's a step backwards, not forwards.

Yes

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Woah

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that was in the beta the air isnt toxic in the finish product, they wear them because of off world planet shit if they mess up or some shit

WOAH

Earlier concepts of half life 2 had earth being a lot more apocalyptic of a setting, there was also concept art of city 17 civilians wearing gas masks and hazmat like suits. Most likely they decided to just keep the gas mask design of the combine soldiers and overwatch because it gives off an intimidating and de-humanizing element to the enemy.

That's just because of the mask giving the appearance that the rest of the head is protruding back.

They're more like communists.

That's Gary, he has CAYNCER

Yeah, Valve had good artists working on HL2.

I understand that. It's a visual metaphor.

>Yeah, Valve had good artists working on HL2.
Except that one guy who was a one trick pony and worked on Dishonored lol

>Except that one guy who was a one trick pony
What did he make?

for metrocops its to make them more intimidating as most of them are still regular human who took the job to get some advantages
for all the other combines however they go under heavy modification as well as full memory wipe that make it unable for them to remove it from their face as they bassicaly not human anymore under it

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This guy
half-life.fandom.com/wiki/Viktor_Antonov#Half-Life_2_.282004.29

I remember seeing the cover on GameInformer years ago and reading the article about how he worked on HL2 and how much of it "inspired" Dishonored, and the similarities are uncanny. It was definitely noticeable when playing the game

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Air pollution since the combine are strip mining the planet a lot of nasty gasses are probably being released into the atmosphere along with dealing with aliens that could carry dangerous diseases. Alyx infact hints more towards this with the cp agents removing invasive Zen wildlife from city blocks.

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where from, i am question

Giving a man a mask and a voice modulator makes it easier for him to be a sadistic tyrant to his fellow man.

Corpes of combine found midgame.

what even is this

Yeah, it also makes it harder for him to breathe.

It's sexual. The Combine respirators are designed to invoke arousal, look at the way their filters are arranged-- two vertically aligned orifices-- AKA the anus and vagina. The human population is sex-starved because of the suppression field, The Combine place the most powerful sex symbols they know right on their soldiers' faces in order to coax admiration from the suppressed human race.

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All art directors have their own look, what are you fucking talking about.

Listen to the Overwatch voice lines and you'll hear a lot of medical jargon (inoculate, contain, sterilize). The Combine sends their forces across different planets and dimensions fighting all kinds of weird aliens, they've probably had to deal with a lot of diseases infecting their various thrall species.
Ironically, our own cops might end up wearing similar masks soon.

that's exactly what i'm talking about. don't get so buttmad

Regular troopers are but CP is just regular humans.

This is actually the best explanation I've heard.

is an excuse so programers don't have to make different models

its also a big used trope so that it dehumanize the ennemies making them easier to kill for peoples

Pretty sure it was just a matter of the beta having the whole disease thing and it was just a leftover of that.
The only actual native combine we've seen that isn't a genetically modified being from different universes are Advisors.

> Combine are the next step in evolution

Why would you even reach to that conclusion? Its a known fact that the combine are modifying their human troops to perform their duties without questioning the orders instead of turning them into super soldiers.

>first time eating the ass