GringoSuave89
Banned
If the main MGS story had the Snake Stories in their correct places, instead of being a separate campaign, I think people would have been more forgiving.
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Halo 5 Guardians: #huntthetruth
- Thread starter Wario64
- Start date
If the main MGS story had the Snake Stories in their correct places, instead of being a separate campaign, I think people would have been more forgiving.
BigEvilTurtle
Banned
The Gregorian chants! <3
Ascenion
Member
Does that bullet look like it has different words on it? or is it just me?
Edit: Never mind. I'm super late apparently it does.
dancrane212
Member
I'd be for it if you weren't playing another Spartan. The idea that you are the same as the "hero" character in terms of skillset was my beef with MGS2 and others. It makes that original character a little less special.
Now if they do something special with the MC parts of the game to stand out from Locke? I'm much more interested.
Poodlestrike
Banned
I think it'll be the other way around; Locke will play like a Spartan in Multi, while Chief will retain his traditional skillset. But even if they don't differentiate them much mechanically, thematically they're still very different due to their backstories. I think there's enough to present a compelling contrast.
dancrane212
Member
I really hope 343 can pull it off. The split worked well enough for the Arbiter/MC split in Halo 2 but I don't know if Locke's story could be as remotely interesting as getting a first look into the Covenant.
If I'm just playing catchup to what the MC is doing, catching glimpses of the things he's up to, I'll be pretty disappointed.
Welfare
Member
It is.
wesleyshark
Banned
Halo 4 will be hard to top, as it was the best game in the series thus far imho.
wesleyshark
Banned
Wait, who were we talking about again? I already forgot.
GringoSuave89
Banned
Cortana
User 73706
Banned
Halo 3
wesleyshark
Banned
(ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ ┻━THE JOKE━┻
(^_-)-b
No, but it all seriousness, it would be really silly for Cortana to not come up in conversation and/or character action/reaction given the events of Halo 4 and the Escalation comics, at the very least.
SenjutsuSage
Banned
exactly! I've felt from the onset after playing enough of and then ultimately beating Halo 4 that it was the new singleplayer campaign benchmark for the series. I felt almost immediately that it was going to be a tough effort to surpass in a followup. I don't believe for a second that they outclass that game simply by just giving us larger battles or fights against scarab sized enemies. I want to see the same or better amazing presentation and story, as well as the same overall quality in the handling of important characters. No game in the series, at least not since Halo 2, has done the characters more justice than Halo 4 did. And seeing how as far as the games are concerned no two characters have ever been more important than Cortana and Master Chief, it is in that specific regard that Halo 4 easily surpasses the prior titles. But it doesn't stop there for me. It also excels in areas that I commonly see it get attacked, such as the gameplay. I don't know about anyone else, but there is no Halo game where I've actually had more fun actually fighting against the various enemies and using the different lineup of weapons. The Prometheans were a great addition. And the game's sound design was incredible. That's another issue I've always had with Halo, but it especially became an even bigger nag for me once the series hit the 360. Halo 4 finally got it right.
prob will be this trailer
This looks sweet, what's it from?
This I cannot comprehend.
Welfare
Member
wesleyshark
Banned
The story was absolutely amazing. It was a culmination of 6 novels, other extended media, and the previous video game titles. It brought a lot of story arcs into the fold and then expanded on the universe as a whole in many exciting ways. Overall, I found it to be the most comprehensive and lore-driven Halo title to date, not to mention it being visually stunning and founded on a strong backbone of voice acting and character development.
Do you guys think 343 will retcon the Reach ending and kill off Halsey (maybe not in 5 but eventually)? I doubt Chief would be killed anytime soon, and if anyone were to die it would probably be Halsey way before he would even be considered. I mean they had no issue retconning the Humans being Forerunners thing, so I figured maybe this was possible.
I'd rather no one be killed off just for the sake of it or to force character development, but just speculating.
I'd rather no one be killed off just for the sake of it or to force character development, but just speculating.
wesleyshark
Banned
The only deaths for main characters in Halo are meaningful ones. If it's her time, it's her time, but I highly doubt that it'll be her time anytime soon.
TacticalFox88
Banned
If anyone needs to die, it has to be Palmer, Parangosky, or any of ONI to be honest.
Don't mind Senjutsu. He always drops into Halo threads and says he loves Halo 4. That's mostly his only post in these threads.
SenjutsuSage
Banned
You say it in a more articulate way than I can, but it's really as simple as that. I felt this was the Halo title finally made for people that love the books. Previous titles always seemed to be in some kind of power struggle against the books, and Halo 4 was the game that finally embraced it all.
Say what you will, but I always defend my point of view. Dismiss it as nonsense if you wish, but it's the truth as far as I'm concerned. I don't have to rehash most of my arguments, because I've pointed out in great detail how I felt titles like Halo 3 overpromised on the character development front and then horribly under-delivered. I made countless complaints about how I felt this desire or obsession with bigger and bigger open spaces using the power of the 360 was leading to gameplay sections that felt, to me, thrown together and less carefully crafted to fit better into the overall story narrative of the games. Halo 4 made those gameplay sections and story sections fit and feel like they were one cohesive unit. Halo Reach was much better than Halo 3, but it was still a stepdown from Halo CE and Halo 2. I believe Halo 3 to be the worst executed game in the series, when in fact it should have been the easiest to bring in for a safe landing.
No, she's already missing an arm and in with the Covenant. I'm sure they have a pretty significant storyline planned for her in 5 considering she's wanted by ONI and she is template for Cortana, well her brain at least. There is a lot that could spun around all that.
This. The perfect opening scene to Halo 5 would be Palmer taking her helmet off to do her usual smack talking on the battlefield, then taking a jackals overcharged plasma pistol to the face. On to the next attempt at replacing sgt Johnson.
All wrapped up in a bunch of terribly boring linear gameplay with no real memorable set pieces or moments. And I laughed at your reasoning mostly because wrapping up stories from "6 novels" that hardly anybody has read and making a bunch of discrete/obscure references does not give you the most "comprehensive" Halo story to date, not even close.
Yeah I don't want her killed tbh, just worried they might feel compelled to kill someone off just to give us a reason to really hate ONI.
Lol I definitely agree with you. But I highly doubt they would ever get rid of Palmer. If anything, she will probably be reduced to tertiary character and kind of fizzle away. Hopefully.
Leyasu
Banned
Apart from the bullet sponge knights, I also enjoyed Halo 4. As to the multiplayer. With the drops now removed in the MCC, I think that it is the best one on there! The legendary slayer is great...
GringoSuave89
Banned
Bullet sponge Knights and "Press the Button" missions were the only issues I had with the single player. Solid entry otherwise. The MP though....
wesleyshark
Banned
Yes! Halo 4 was the definitive title for us novel-addicts. It was the perfect companion to everything that happened in the Forerunner trilogy and the Kilo-Five trilogy.
I don't understand the dislike for Palmer. Not only does she have a great VA (Hi femshep!), but her bristle and gristle is a welcome foil. I like her. *shrugs*
They chased a certain crowd with 4's multiplayer and it bit them in the ass. Post-beta, 5 seems to be heading in the right direction.
You are correct with this statement!
GringoSuave89
Banned
Palmer is just a hodgepodge of random characteristics that 343 tried to call a character. If she had a side that humanized her better, I wouldn't dislike her so much. Spartan Assault's bonus mission F kinda helped, showing her respect and admiration for Davis, but otherwise, she's far from noteworthy.
User 73706
Banned
"Halo 4 was great! I mean, it wasn't a fun game to play, but I mean... check out how this thing looks, though!"
That's exactly what he said.
wesleyshark
Banned
John-117 Wick.
Important events in the Halo universe should never ever be left strictly in the books and extended media. That was a huge reason why many people were lost during Halo 4. Hell even as someone who kind of kept up with the lore before H4 came out, I still found myself a bit confused with what was going on, and even worse there were no throwbacks or points of reference to anything in the previous Halo campaigns.
It annoys me that they're doing this shit again, especially with
.
It annoys me that they're doing this shit again, especially with
Blue Team. I always envisioned Chief meeting up with his old team again would make for a fantastic post-mission cutscene in the game
The story relies far too heavily on the books though. Major aspects of the were very clumsily handled and a lot of the story relied on the assumption that the player had read the books and other secondary lore. This made it extremely difficult to follow for those who hadn't.
Take the reveal of the Didact for example; Cortana and the Chief somehow immediately know who he is and don't seem even slightly surprised that they discovered a living Forerunner, a race thought to be long gone. It's clear he hates humans, it's clear he's a powerful Forerunner and it's very clear he's the bad guy. Somehow every character seems to know all this yet it's never explained to the player. The player is left completely in the dark about so many story details that it seems like the only reason we're fighting this guy is because he has glowing armour and a scary voice. It almost feels like 343 skipped a cutscene somewhere. It's just poorly written and badly handled.
Another aspect which was badly done was the Librarian cutscene. Unless you had a deep knowledge of Halo's lore almost all of that cutscene was complete gibberish. Who is this Librarian? What's her connection to the Didact? What is the mantle? Apparently the humans fought the Forerunners years ago? What the hell is a genesong? So much stuff is thrown at the player in the space of only a few minutes with very little explanation. It's just not very good.
Even if you had read the books some aspects were a bit rubbish. Cortana and the Chief were immediately ready to risk everything in taking the Didact down, even though they knew almost nothing about him. The human characters showed absolutely no surprise in finding the assumed dead Chief on a random Forerunner planet. Del Rio and Palmer are both shoddily written and lackluster characters.
All that said, I really enjoyed 4. I'm one of the few steadfast defenders of the game in HaloGAF. However a lot of its plot is pretty weak.
wesleyshark
Banned
343 has said many times and in many numerous ways that their approach to the material post-bungie would be expanded and more encompassing of expanded literature and other mediums that are incorporated into the story. For them, video games aren't enough, nor should they be, in telling the tales of the Haloverse. They definitely have been upfront about their goals with Halo, and thus far, they've stuck with that and it's working extremely well. They've brought a cohesiveness to the story that has never been this tightly handled. The novels that have been out under their purview have been nothing short of phenomenal, especially the Forerunner trilogy. As a big fan of hard sci-fi romps, those books hit the spot, and it became all the sweeter when those themes and elements showed up in Halo 4 in huge, unexpected ways.
"Great story" like Captain Del Rio who is really mad at you for absolutely no other reason than to make Lasky look like the good guy that got your back. Sarah "Egghead" Palmer. And a narrative that made little to no sense if you didn't read 5+ expanded universe novels, find EVERY hidden terminal, or pay attention during 4-5 minute cutscene that explains thousands of years of history.
I don't agree with this take. Halo is first and foremost a video game and a video game's narrative, much like that of a movie, is expected to explain itself within its own running time. If they can't achieve that? If they expect people to have read even as many as one novel to understand the story presented in their game? They've made a mistake. Books are a nice addition, they're nice to flush things out. But no single game should be dependant on mediums outside of their own to explain the narrative in the primary product.
I'm not denying any of that. I read the books, I really enjoyed Halo 4's story. However I also recognize it had some seriously weak points and was badly handled for anyone who wasn't familiar with the extended lore.
The main video game plots should be front and centre. Extended media should serve to add to the lore or at most supplement the main plots. They shouldn't be required reading to understand such basic plot points such as who the bad guy actually is. There's no harm in using the themes and story arcs from the books. However explain the basics of those aspects in the game as well. Don't leave players out in the dark because they haven't read the novels. In doing so they cut out the vast majority of their audience from enjoying the game fully.
There are also issues beyond the requirement of reading the extended lore.
K
kittens
Unconfirmed Member
Opinions and all, but calling 343's handling of the lore extremely well done or phenomenal is ludicrous to me. Almost everything they've put out has been bad, or mediocre at best. There's some great new characters and ideas, but the larger archs and direction have been terrible.
It all makes sense now.