Oxygen in Beta

[LegAz]

Hello, recently I wondered from where does the oxygen come?
Ocean is dried up and there are no trees or plants, that can produce oxygen.
Maybe there can be any artificial ways of getting it, and if so, are they expensive enough?

[Bruner]

Which specific iteration of the beta?

[LegAz]

I ask in general, so it's not important

[Bruner]

I ask in general, so it's not important

Well the air exchange was responsible for converting most (if not all) of Earth's remaining oxygen to poisonous gas. With everything dead, there's most likely no new oxygen being created. Consul dialogue suggests that oxygen is very scarce at the moment, and that citizens have to conserve as much remaining oxygen they can.
I'm not sure it's confirmed if the Combine themselves need oxygen or not, but if they do (or did in the beta) they're probably preserving fresh oxygen for themselves. Since they're harvesting all of Earth's resources, they could care less if humans get oxygen. After all, that's the point of the air exchange.
Instead of the suppression device slowly killing off human life, it's the slow decline of oxygen.

I apologize for so many edits. 

[LegAz]

If so, can I please get this Consul dialogue? And, again, how oxygen can be produced, if we assume Combine need it? Also, can Xen’s flora generate it or not?

[Bruner]

If the Combine provide themselves with their own oxygen, they probably don't produce it themselves. I'm sure they've got some way to collect large amounts of already existing oxygen they've poisoned and filter out all the nasty.
(That is if Combine do breathe air, which is likely since they also wear air-filtering masks)
No clue if Xen flora produces oxygen, but considering Gordon and Barney can travel through Xen with no issue, I'd guess Xen flora does produce oxygen, or at least something extremely similar to it.

You can find and download all the Consul dialogue on the Combine Overwiki. There isn't a whole lot.

[LegAz]

Ok, but I mean that irl most of the oxygen is being produced by forests and ocean creatures, but in Beta there are none of them.

[Bruner]

Ok, but I mean that irl most of the oxygen is being produced by forests and ocean creatures, but in Beta there are none of them.

All forests and ocean creatures are absent because of the Combine harvesting a good majority of Earths resources. Hence why there's almost no new oxygen being created.

[LegAz]

Ok, thanks for the answer.

[SoJa]

Ocean wasn't all dried up, there were Borealis and Kraken Base in the ocean. Anyway, the whole oxygen thing wasn't ever that pivotal, Valve seemingly abandoned the gas masks pretty soon into development.

[Bruner]

I'll be honest, It's pretty hard to keep track of what elements of the beta are in which iterations.

[gasmasksamuel42]

Ok, but I mean that irl most of the oxygen is being produced by forests and ocean creatures, but in Beta there are none of them.

Not to be nerdy, but phytoplankton actually produce most oxygen.