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[Fuchsdh]

HuntTheTruth is still a pretty gripping tale.

My question at this point is—who are these people talking about? It seems like the number of people involved, and the details and verisimilitude and emotion behind the stories people mean that to some degree, they are real. So did ONI co-opt another dead soldier's story and apply John to those stories? It seems bizarre all these separate people would have such detailed stories for a ghost that never was there.

And some of the oversights in ONI's story seem particularly egregious (unless I guess you hired Rolling Stone to do your story ) Kind of makes you wonder like some have said possibly here or on HBO if this is some sort of calculated ploy by ONI to leak the info by letting Giraurd find things out for himself.

 

[wesleyshark]

HuntTheTruth is still a pretty gripping tale.

It's crazy how well done this has been thus far. Honestly, this really steps up the whole ARG experience to another level.

 

[Fuchsdh]

It's crazy how well done this has been thus far. Honestly, this really steps up the whole ARG experience to another level.

Eh, I don't know how well it fits the ARG mold, just because there's not much in the way of user interaction with the game (speaking of which, it just occurred to me—how hard would ILB be to run now? There aren't payphones anywhere these days!) But as a piece of "alternate" or "native marketing", I think it's functioned quite well.

 

[Bsigg12]

HuntTheTruth is still a pretty gripping tale.

My question at this point is—who are these people talking about? It seems like the number of people involved, and the details and verisimilitude and emotion behind the stories people mean that to some degree, they are real. So did ONI co-opt another dead soldier's story and apply John to those stories? It seems bizarre all these separate people would have such detailed stories for a ghost that never was there.

And some of the oversights in ONI's story seem particularly egregious (unless I guess you hired Rolling Stone to do your story ) Kind of makes you wonder like some have said possibly here or on HBO if this is some sort of calculated ploy by ONI to leak the info by letting Giraurd find things out for himself.

ONI is pretty damn thorough with things they do so it does seem odd that they would leave obvious leads out of the fabricated story. Unless this was an intern led operation, this does seem calculated to have Ben find out the truth about the John and by extension Spartan IIs and expose it thus vilifying Halsey to the public and propping up the Spartans even more as the kidnapped children who saved everyone. At least that's how I'm seeing it.

There's a lot of ways this could role and we're still 9 weeks out from E3, so there's potential for a lot to happen.

 

[Captain Zyrain]

ONI is pretty damn thorough with things they do so it does seem odd that they would leave obvious leads out of the fabricated story. Unless this was an intern led operation, this does seem calculated to have Ben find out the truth about the John and by extension Spartan IIs and expose it thus vilifying Halsey to the public and propping up the Spartans even more as the kidnapped children who saved everyone. At least that's how I'm seeing it.

There's a lot of ways this could role and we're still 9 weeks out from E3, so there's potential for a lot to happen.

The only thing I'm wondering, is if it's a designed plan to get the SII info out there, ONI is making itself very visibly involved in the cover up attempt. I would assume they'd find some more back-door method to getting him the info, because at the end of the day Benjamin is still going to see ONI was responsible for the BS he's been fed.

I guess ONI could still 'come clean' down the road and blame Halsey/Vilify the SII's etc but a fair amount of blood will clearly be on their hands, I like to think they're supposed to be smarter than that!

Flip of the coin.. if they really are trying to sell the fake story, they should also be smarter than to allow all these extra pieces floating around, so I really don't know which is more plausible at the moment!

From the latest audio.. Dvorjak (or whatever) is mysteriously unavailable in the field and unreachable... off on Spartan-IV missions perhaps??

Loving the whole thing so far, stoked we get another couple months of this too!

 

[Fuchsdh]

The only thing I'm wondering, is if it's a designed plan to get the SII info out there, ONI is making itself very visibly involved in the cover up attempt. I would assume they'd find some more back-door method to getting him the info, because at the end of the day Benjamin is still going to see ONI was responsible for the BS he's been fed.

I guess ONI could still 'come clean' down the road and blame Halsey/Vilify the SII's etc but a fair amount of blood will clearly be on their hands, I like to think they're supposed to be smarter than that!

Flip of the coin.. if they really are trying to sell the fake story, they should also be smarter than to allow all these extra pieces floating around, so I really don't know which is more plausible at the moment!

From the latest audio.. Dvorjak (or whatever) is mysteriously unavailable in the field and unreachable... off on Spartan-IV missions perhaps??

Loving the whole thing so far, stoked we get another couple months of this too!

Is it confirmed we're getting the campaign through to E3?

 

[Poodlestrike]

Is it confirmed we're getting the campaign through to E3?

I think it's pegged at 11-12 episodes, which would have us wrapping up right around E3.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

There's plenty of stuff to read, but since there's so much, it might be best to read on a subject you're into. What do you dig about Halo that you want to know more about? Humans? Covenant? Forerunner? Spartans?

I guess about the conflict between humans, covenant and forerunners.
Also, everything more related to Master Chief's life and Locke's conflict.

Those three Forerunner novels + Halo 4 is money. Everything that happens in Halo 4 is basically a culmination of those novels. I wish they had put more into the game itself instead of it being in the books, but if you read those it fills A LOT of holes.

As soon as possible I'll definitely take a look at these books!

I guess my best bet is to:
-Listen the podcasts;
-Watch Forwordo Unto Dawn;
-Read the Forerunner's trilogy;
-And watch Halo Nightfall.

That's about right?

 

[Captain Zyrain]

Really make sure you read "The Fall of Reach" it's really great and sets the groundwork for the whole Halo universe.

It was the first material released, and still one of the best I feel.

 

[GringoSuave89]

I guess about the conflict between humans, covenant and forerunners.
Also, everything more related to Master Chief's life and Locke's conflict.


As soon as possible I'll definitely take a look at these books!

I guess my best bet is to:
-Listen the podcasts;
-Watch Forwordo Unto Dawn;
-Read the Forerunner's trilogy;
-And watch Halo Nightfall.

That's about right?

The all of Reach/First Strike has a bunch of Chief goodness. Locke is only in Nightfall so far. HtT has the cliffnotes version of the Spartan Program so far. Those will be as good a place as any to start.

Forerunner Trilogy is good to make sense of H4, but they can wait. Same with the Kilo Five Trilogy. Pre Halo 1 stuff like Cole Protocol is good, and Contact Harvest is okay. FUD is a great miniseries, so I'd watch that just for the fun of it.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

Really make sure you read "The Fall of Reach" it's really great and sets the groundwork for the whole Halo universe.

It was the first material released, and still one of the best I feel.

The all of Reach/First Strike has a bunch of Chief goodness. Locke is only in Nightfall so far. HtT has the cliffnotes version of the Spartan Program so far. Those will be as good a place as any to start.

Forerunner Trilogy is good to make sense of H4, but they can wait. Same with the Kilo Five Trilogy. Pre Halo 1 stuff like Cole Protocol is good, and Contact Harvest is okay. FUD is a great miniseries, so I'd watch that just for the fun of it.

Thank you all!! I think I have a good idea what to read and when then!
I'll try to take a look at everything recommended as soon as I can! =D

 

[Poodlestrike]

I maintain that Fall of Reach remains the GOAT Halo story. Forerunner Trilogy was good, the other Nylund stuff was good, assorted other media was good, the games were good (well, in terms of story, maybe not 3), but Fall of Reach... damn.

 

[Captain Zyrain]

I maintain that Fall of Reach remains the GOAT Halo story. Forerunner Trilogy was good, the other Nylund stuff was good, assorted other media was good, the games were good (well, in terms of story, maybe not 3), but Fall of Reach... damn.

I don't know where my copies got off to, but now I want to read it again.. but it's more expensive to order it now on Kindle ($8.99) than paperback ($6.61)!

Grr.

 

[Fuchsdh]

I maintain that Fall of Reach remains the GOAT Halo story. Forerunner Trilogy was good, the other Nylund stuff was good, assorted other media was good, the games were good (well, in terms of story, maybe not 3), but Fall of Reach... damn.

Ehhh, I think looking back what sours me on it (besides the stuff they had to retcon, because I don't really blame Nylund for too much of that) is the portrayal of Chief. It's ironic to me that the most often maligned Halo book, The Flood, does a better job to me of presenting Chief both as he is portrayed in the games, and also funneling into a more interesting character.

 

[Toa TAK]

The Flood did something right after all.

 

[Poodlestrike]

The Flood did something right after all.

Most underrated book. Yeah, a lot of it is just retreading CE, but the original stuff is quite good.

 

[Fuchsdh]

Most underrated book. Yeah, a lot of it is just retreading CE, but the original stuff is quite good.

You really just probably need to gut 30 to 40 pages of combat stuff to make it shine. I love how even Dietz just gives up in the Library though, and gets as close to "Chief killed guys, they got the Index" as he can.

But yeah, just the little things like how there was a Reclaimer 343GS recruited before Chief, the hell of Jenkins' last days, and tying up what the hell the rest of the humans were doing on the ring are all great bits. Plus we got that excellent bit with Keyes' interrogation which they turned into a CEA terminal.

 

[daedalius]

Broken Circle was really amazing.

Also the implications set up for the current timeline seemed pretty great. Broken Circle would be a neat place for a cutscene to happen, maybe meet Enduring Bias.

 

[TacticalFox88]

You really just probably need to gut 30 to 40 pages of combat stuff to make it shine. I love how even Dietz just gives up in the Library though, and gets as close to "Chief killed guys, they got the Index" as he can.

But yeah, just the little things like how there was a Reclaimer 343GS recruited before Chief, the hell of Jenkins' last days, and tying up what the hell the rest of the humans were doing on the ring are all great bits. Plus we got that excellent bit with Keyes' interrogation which they turned into a CEA terminal.

People don't give Dietz enough credit.

How he managed to turn the stuff from the game into a legitimate novel without overuse of filler to pass the time by (unlike say LOTR's infamous endless walking) I'll never quite comprehend.

 

[Tawpgun]

Cliff notes please

 

[Captain Zyrain]

Cliff notes please

Of the entirely of Halo lore?

....

Uh.. Precursors created Ancient Humanity, Forerunner (Halo building dudes), everything basically. A long long time ago. (In this Galaxy, not so far away)

Forerunners killed/drove off most/all of the Precursors because they were kinda dicks.

What Precursors remained eventually became the Flood Parasite, attacked ancient humanity. Ancient humanity fought off the Flood but also got involved fighting the Forerunners as well. Forerunners eventually won due to the humans fighting on two fronts. The leader of the Forerunner military was a being named the Didact, who hated ancient humanity with a passion.

The Flood then attacked the Forerunners and over a long while, eventually got to the point where they had almost destroyed the Forerunners completely. The Didact did what he could to win the war, but it looked to be impossible.

As a last ditch effort, the Forerunners developed the Halo array to kill all sentient life in the galaxy, thus depriving the Flood of food and effectively neutralizing it. This would kill all non-Flood as well (Humans, Forerunner, etc). To counteract this, a Forerunner named "The Librarian" developed a way to 'reseed' life to the galaxy after the Halo firing, so Humans/etc could live again. Some Forerunner deemed the humans the next "caretakers of The Mantle" since the Forerunners chose not to reseed themselves, and those who did not perish removed themselves from the galaxy to parts unknown.

Fast forward to 2500's and modern/future humanity (United Nations Space Command, UNSC) is out there among the stars, dealing with planetary insurrection/drama. The Spartan-II project is created to fight this insurrection, effectively creating Super Soldiers, stronger, faster, better in every way. These super soldiers were kidnapped at age 6 and trained and augmented for years to become the best fighting force in the galaxy*. Spartan-117 aka "The Master Chief" is one of these super soldiers.

Humanity also has developed seriously awesome A.I. beings, who are created based on a brain scan of a formerly alive human. They have a typical lifespan of about 7 years. One of the pinnacles of A.I. at the time is a construct named "Cortana".

Eventually, the USNC encounter the Covenant.. a group of hostile alien beings hellbent on the destruction of humanity at all costs. The Covenant believe the ancient Forerunners are their gods, and the relics they left behind are guides to help the Covenant on a "Great Journey" which is culminated in the firing of the Halo Array (again).

Lots of fighting ensues, the Spartan-II's win lots of wars, but the Covenant is too strong. Eventually the Halo rings are rediscovered by the UNSC and Covenant, the Flood (Dormant aboard the Halo rings for study) are released, culminating in a new plague sweeping the galaxy. Spartan-117 "Master Chief" is assigned the A.I. "Cortana" to help him with his missions, they become best buds.

Due to their fanatism, the Covenant want to fire the Halo Array again to go on the "Great Journey", but the UNSC does not want to, as they know it will just kill everyone again, human/Covenant/Flood alike.

Eventually, all of this comes to a head on "The Ark" an extra-galactic creation where the Halo Array is fired from. The Flood, the Covenant and the UNSC are all squaring off for the future of everyone. Spartan-117 manages to get an unfinished Halo ring to fire on The Ark, presumably killing all the flood, while the UNSC ships escape to Earth.

The Covenant is effectively destroyed, with the various alien races fighting each other. Some of the Covenant forces form a truce with the UNSC.

Spartan-117 "Master Chief" did not make it back to Earth, as his ship was left floating in the void of space for years. Cortana is left along while Master Chief goes into hibernation.

Eventually he was guided+ to a Forerunner construct planet named "Requiem". On Requiem, the Master Chief finds out that the Didact (see above) has been encased in hibernation for thousands of years. Once he is awoken, he immediately goes back to hating humanity and working towards their enslavement.

More fighting between the Didacts forces, the remaining enemy Covenant forces and the UNSC.

The Didact eventually reaches Earth and begins to enslave (by digitizing) humanity, the Master Chief and Cortana eventually stop him, destroy his ship and escape. However, Cortana used all her remaining power to get the Master Chief off the ship and she appears to be destroyed.

Master Chief returns to Earth, and continues to do missions for the UNSC, going wherever he is needed.

And I think that brings us mostly to where we are now. Lots of details were skipped but I tried to make this brief.. and failed!


* debatable I guess.
+ Allegedly


Edit: I just realized maybe you were asking for Cliff notes on "The Flood" novel. In that case, it's just a retelling of the Halo: Combat Evolved game, with more detail given to parts not shown in the game (What were the Marines doing? What were the Covenant doing? Etc).

 

[Tawpgun]

No for Broken Circle

 

[Poodlestrike]

Whelp, lol.

 

[CRIMSONxSERAPH]

Of the entirely of Halo lore?

....

Uh.. Precursors created Ancient Humanity, Forerunner (Halo building dudes), everything basically. A long long time ago. (In this Galaxy, not so far away)

Forerunners killed/drove off most/all of the Precursors because they were kinda dicks.

What Precursors remained eventually became the Flood Parasite, attacked ancient humanity. Ancient humanity fought off the Flood but also got involved fighting the Forerunners as well. Forerunners eventually won due to the humans fighting on two fronts. The leader of the Forerunner military was a being named the Didact, who hated ancient humanity with a passion.

The Flood then attacked the Forerunners and over a long while, eventually got to the point where they had almost destroyed the Forerunners completely. The Didact did what he could to win the war, but it looked to be impossible.

As a last ditch effort, the Forerunners developed the Halo array to kill all sentient life in the galaxy, thus depriving the Flood of food and effectively neutralizing it. This would kill all non-Flood as well (Humans, Forerunner, etc). To counteract this, a Forerunner named "The Librarian" developed a way to 'reseed' life to the galaxy after the Halo firing, so Humans/etc could live again. Some Forerunner deemed the humans the next "caretakers of The Mantle" since the Forerunners chose not to reseed themselves, and those who did not perish removed themselves from the galaxy to parts unknown.

Fast forward to 2500's and modern/future humanity (United Nations Space Command, UNSC) is out there among the stars, dealing with planetary insurrection/drama. The Spartan-II project is created to fight this insurrection, effectively creating Super Soldiers, stronger, faster, better in every way. These super soldiers were kidnapped at age 6 and trained and augmented for years to become the best fighting force in the galaxy*. Spartan-117 aka "The Master Chief" is one of these super soldiers.

Humanity also has developed seriously awesome A.I. beings, who are created based on a brain scan of a formerly alive human. They have a typical lifespan of about 7 years. One of the pinnacles of A.I. at the time is a construct named "Cortana".

Eventually, the USNC encounter the Covenant.. a group of hostile alien beings hellbent on the destruction of humanity at all costs. The Covenant believe the ancient Forerunners are their gods, and the relics they left behind are guides to help the Covenant on a "Great Journey" which is culminated in the firing of the Halo Array (again).

Lots of fighting ensues, the Spartan-II's win lots of wars, but the Covenant is too strong. Eventually the Halo rings are rediscovered by the UNSC and Covenant, the Flood (Dormant aboard the Halo rings for study) are released, culminating in a new plague sweeping the galaxy. Spartan-117 "Master Chief" is assigned the A.I. "Cortana" to help him with his missions, they become best buds.

Due to their fanatism, the Covenant want to fire the Halo Array again to go on the "Great Journey", but the UNSC does not want to, as they know it will just kill everyone again, human/Covenant/Flood alike.

Eventually, all of this comes to a head on "The Ark" an extra-galactic creation where the Halo Array is fired from. The Flood, the Covenant and the UNSC are all squaring off for the future of everyone. Spartan-117 manages to get an unfinished Halo ring to fire on The Ark, presumably killing all the flood, while the UNSC ships escape to Earth.

The Covenant is effectively destroyed, with the various alien races fighting each other. Some of the Covenant forces form a truce with the UNSC.

Spartan-117 "Master Chief" did not make it back to Earth, as his ship was left floating in the void of space for years. Cortana is left along while Master Chief goes into hibernation.

Eventually he was guided+ to a Forerunner construct planet named "Requiem". On Requiem, the Master Chief finds out that the Didact (see above) has been encased in hibernation for thousands of years. Once he is awoken, he immediately goes back to hating humanity and working towards their enslavement.

More fighting between the Didacts forces, the remaining enemy Covenant forces and the UNSC.

The Didact eventually reaches Earth and begins to enslave (by digitizing) humanity, the Master Chief and Cortana eventually stop him, destroy his ship and escape. However, Cortana used all her remaining power to get the Master Chief off the ship and she appears to be destroyed.

Master Chief returns to Earth, and continues to do missions for the UNSC, going wherever he is needed.

And I think that brings us mostly to where we are now. Lots of details were skipped but I tried to make this brief.. and failed!


* debatable I guess.
+ Allegedly


Edit: I just realized maybe you were asking for Cliff notes on "The Flood" novel. In that case, it's just a retelling of the Halo: Combat Evolved game, with more detail given to parts not shown in the game (What were the Marines doing? What were the Covenant doing? Etc).

I gotta say, that's one epic condensed version of the overarching story of Halo to this point. Yeah, there are some things necessarily and understandably left out, but if someone was wanting to get into the Halo canonverse, I'd have them read that

 

[orichalcos]

Captain Zyrain:

OMG, that was awesome.

 

[wesleyshark]

No for Broken Circle

Just read it lol. It's great!

*snip*

Good Heavens, man! You win +10 Internets and a Flood Spore today.

 

[Fuchsdh]

No for Broken Circle

A long time ago some Elites broke away from the Covenant and hid in a shield world. After the dissolution of the Covenant some Elites and a Prophet find the shield world, which has decayed and turned into Space Rapture. Old and New Elites meet up, and there is cake.

From a consequence standpoint, Broken Circle doesn't necessarily add much (at least thus far), but I think it's a solid book. You really should read it. If you want a blow-by-blow you should check out Halopedia or listen to the FUDcast.

 

[wesleyshark]

and there is cake.

You had me at cake.

Spoiler

And that lost Luminary will be important I bet.

 

[Captain Zyrain]

No for Broken Circle

Haha sorry! Figures.

I gotta say, that's one epic condensed version of the overarching story of Halo to this point. Yeah, there are some things necessarily and understandably left out, but if someone was wanting to get into the Halo canonverse, I'd have them read that

Good Heavens, man! You win +10 Internets and a Flood Spore today.

Thank you.. it started as a joke and then I kinda just kept going. Could of used a little more polish but I tried to touch on the major plot points! Good test of what I could recall from memory too

 

[LordOfChaos]

...

No for Broken Circle

Eight hundred words shot down in four, that's cold man

Still a great summary, maybe should be quoted in the OP for others trying to figure out the convoluted wonders of Halo out.

 

[wesleyshark]

Halo: Spartan Strike is out!

Windows 8.1, Windows Phone, and iOS.

CLICKY

 

[Fuchsdh]

Halo: Spartan Strike is out!

Windows 8.1, Windows Phone, and iOS.

CLICKY

Will probably get this for iOS so I can figure out what the hell is going on with this "ONI simulation that takes place in 2552 but has Prometheans" business.

 

[wesleyshark]

Will probably get this for iOS so I can figure out what the hell is going on with this "ONI simulation that takes place in 2552 but has Prometheans" business.

I'm very confused by this as well. I downloaded it earlier but haven't had a chance to play yet.

 

[LordOfChaos]

https://haruspis.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/on-forerunner-architecture/

Pretty interesting take on forerunner architecture. If you think about it, they spanned millennia, so their architecture shouldn't stay the same.

 

[Bsigg12]

Halo: Spartan Strike is out!

Windows 8.1, Windows Phone, and iOS.

CLICKY

I can't get it to work on my Win 10 TP PC for the Windows Store version, I want the achievements...

 

[FyreWulff]

I can't get it to work on my Win 10 TP PC for the Windows Store version, I want the achievements...

You're gonna have to wait for Win 10 RTM for most things to work in Windows 10.

 

[Fuchsdh]

https://haruspis.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/on-forerunner-architecture/

Pretty interesting take on forerunner architecture. If you think about it, they spanned millennia, so their architecture shouldn't stay the same.

I do wonder what 343 sees as the meaning behind the Delta Halo ruins. I supposed according to Bungie's general intent, they could have been ancient human ruins of a people left on the ring.

As for their architecture, we've really only seen their military weapons from a specific time period, but I also don't necessarily think there's something wrong with their construction remaining the same for years and years and years and years. Kind of contributes to the theme of stagnation leading to their downfall.

 

[wesleyshark]

You're gonna have to wait for Win 10 RTM for most things to work in Windows 10.

I can't get it to work on my Win 10 TP PC for the Windows Store version, I want the achievements...

Yeah it's only for 8.1 currently. I doubt they'll push support for a preview version of 10.

 

[wesleyshark]

https://haruspis.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/on-forerunner-architecture/

Pretty interesting take on forerunner architecture. If you think about it, they spanned millennia, so their architecture shouldn't stay the same.

That's a complaint I've never understood. Architecture is never stagnant. It's an always evolving process and form, as those who build are also evolving.

Also, to step out of the canonical realm... Console technology advances over time, and the way things look and are represented change as more detail and intricacies can be added. The general Forerunner aesthetic carries the entire way through, but it's a mix of both canonical evolution and real world advancements.

 

[Tawpgun]

As a last ditch effort, the Forerunners developed the Halo array to kill all sentient life in the galaxy, thus depriving the Flood of food and effectively neutralizing it. This would kill all non-Flood as well (Humans, Forerunner, etc). To counteract this, a Forerunner named "The Librarian" developed a way to 'reseed' life to the galaxy after the Halo firing, so Humans/etc could live again. Some Forerunner deemed the humans the next "caretakers of The Mantle" since the Forerunners chose not to reseed themselves, and those who did not perish removed themselves from the galaxy to parts unknown.

To go back to this. I pretty much know the basics here. I stopped reading the books after Primordium put me to sleep and I didn't like where the Halo story was going.


The quoted is the part I'm trying to reconcile with Bungie's forerunners and 343's forerunners. Maybe I'm forgetting things or my not reading Silentium left stuff out.


So before 343's take, it was assumed that the Forerunners were these mysterious technologically advanced beings that took it upon themselves to be the guardians of life in the Galaxy. They came in contact with the flood which at the time was assumed to come from another Galaxy.

Forerunners tried their best to fight the flood but it was too strong. Their defensive line (forgot what this was called) held them off for a while, but eventually the flood corrupted Mendicant Bias who was in charge of forerunner defenses and turned them against the forerunners. Got into a fight with Offensive Bias I think. Or something.

Meanwhile the Forerunners knowing they were losing built the Halo array. Then for some ambiguous reason they chose NOT to save themselves (or so it seemed) and chose humanity to take on the Mantle because they saw potential in them.

The debate during the Bungie years post Halo 3 was what humanities relationship was to the forerunners. Some speculated that humanity was created by the forerunners. Some thought humanity WERE the forerunners that were driven back to stone ages because of the Halo array (this would explain Guilty spark's "you are forerunner" and why the forerunners didn't reseed themselves, because they did as Humanity ) And some (me included) thought that Humanity and the forerunners were somehow related. The librarian pre 343 said something along the lines of Humanity was interesting, saw something in them, they could teach us more about ourselves.

I don't think humanity were actually real forerunners because we have canon art of forerunner machines building the ark while an african tribesman looks on.

I always thought humanity could have been evolved from the same common ancestor of the forerunners but they somehow got separated. Regardless the librarian chose humanity to be the new mantle holders and FOR UNKNOWN REASONS forerunners decided they were done.


I kinda rambled but whatever. My point is, in the Bungie years no one knew why humanity was chosen (other than us being really cool) and why the forerunners decided to not reseed/flee/die/hide.

I was wondering what the 343 explanation was. To my knowledge the Librarian had a thing for humanity, saw their potential. But to a more important extent she knew that they held the answers for defeating the flood since they were able to do so. The main thing I don't get is why the forerunners didn't reseed themselves. Did they all willingly die? Did something get fucked up?

 

[Fuchsdh]

To go back to this. I pretty much know the basics here. I stopped reading the books after Primordium put me to sleep and I didn't like where the Halo story was going.


The quoted is the part I'm trying to reconcile with Bungie's forerunners and 343's forerunners. Maybe I'm forgetting things or my not reading Silentium left stuff out.


So before 343's take, it was assumed that the Forerunners were these mysterious technologically advanced beings that took it upon themselves to be the guardians of life in the Galaxy. They came in contact with the flood which at the time was assumed to come from another Galaxy.

Forerunners tried their best to fight the flood but it was too strong. Their defensive line (forgot what this was called) held them off for a while, but eventually the flood corrupted Mendicant Bias who was in charge of forerunner defenses and turned them against the forerunners. Got into a fight with Offensive Bias I think. Or something.

Meanwhile the Forerunners knowing they were losing built the Halo array. Then for some ambiguous reason they chose NOT to save themselves (or so it seemed) and chose humanity to take on the Mantle because they saw potential in them.

The debate during the Bungie years post Halo 3 was what humanities relationship was to the forerunners. Some speculated that humanity was created by the forerunners. Some thought humanity WERE the forerunners that were driven back to stone ages because of the Halo array (this would explain Guilty spark's "you are forerunner" and why the forerunners didn't reseed themselves, because they did as Humanity ) And some (me included) thought that Humanity and the forerunners were somehow related. The librarian pre 343 said something along the lines of Humanity was interesting, saw something in them, they could teach us more about ourselves.

I don't think humanity were actually real forerunners because we have canon art of forerunner machines building the ark while an african tribesman looks on.

I always thought humanity could have been evolved from the same common ancestor of the forerunners but they somehow got separated. Regardless the librarian chose humanity to be the new mantle holders and FOR UNKNOWN REASONS forerunners decided they were done.

I kinda rambled but whatever. My point is, in the Bungie years no one knew why humanity was chosen (other than us being really cool) and why the forerunners decided to not reseed/flee/die/hide.

I was wondering what the 343 explanation was. To my knowledge the Librarian had a thing for humanity, saw their potential. But to a more important extent she knew that they held the answers for defeating the flood since they were able to do so. The main thing I don't get is why the forerunners didn't reseed themselves. Did they all willingly die? Did something get fucked up?

It seems like Bungie had internal ideas that weren't fully expressed in the media, because yeah the H3 Terminals and the ARG would lead any reasonable person to assume Human ≠ Forerunner, but we've gotten explicit confirmation from Bungie staffers on HBO (Tupolev/Uberfoop would have the link handy) that they were intended to be the same—hence how you could read Mendicant Bias' discussion in Contact Harvest as explicitly stating "humanity are the Forerunners."

Reading through the H3 terminals, I think a more accurate description is that humanity was some sort of long-lost branch of the Forerunners—something like the extragalactic Forerunners in Silentium. The Librarian's research and later the importance of humanity was borne out by that connection.

As for why the Forerunners didn't recede themselves, I think you could see it as a lot of possibilities. One is penance—breaking the Mantle to uphold it meant they weren't fit for the role again. Another is practicality—for all we know, all that's left of the Forerunners are the Iso Didact and the Lifeworkers who reseeded. There could only have been mere hundreds of Forerunners left after the destruction of the Greater Ark and purging of the Galaxy with the Array. So maybe the Forerunners are quietly playing backgammon on a shield world somewhere, minding their own business.

 

[Tawpgun]

It seems like Bungie had internal ideas that weren't fully expressed in the media, because yeah the H3 Terminals and the ARG would lead any reasonable person to assume Human ≠ Forerunner, but we've gotten explicit confirmation from Bungie staffers on HBO (Tupolev/Uberfoop would have the link handy) that they were intended to be the same—hence how you could read Mendicant Bias' discussion in Contact Harvest as explicitly stating "humanity are the Forerunners."

Reading through the H3 terminals, I think a more accurate description is that humanity was some sort of long-lost branch of the Forerunners—something like the extragalactic Forerunners in Silentium. The Librarian's research and later the importance of humanity was borne out by that connection.

As for why the Forerunners didn't recede themselves, I think you could see it as a lot of possibilities. One is penance—breaking the Mantle to uphold it meant they weren't fit for the role again. Another is practicality—for all we know, all that's left of the Forerunners are the Iso Didact and the Lifeworkers who reseeded. There could only have been mere hundreds of Forerunners left after the destruction of the Greater Ark and purging of the Galaxy with the Array. So maybe the Forerunners are quietly playing backgammon on a shield world somewhere, minding their own business.

Cool. DIdn't know about extragalactic forerunners. Never read silentium so im in the dark there. But yeah I always believed humanity was somehow connected to the forerunners. But not exactly them.

I find that to be a much more interesting story than that ancient humanity garbo that makes no sense and just overcomplicated everything.


While some idea of precursors existed prior to 343 and theories of them being the flood.... I don't like the idea of precursors CREATING life. Kinda cheapens everything imo.

Precursors can naturally evolve but everything else was created is kinda lame.

 

[AlStrong]

we've gotten explicit confirmation from Bungie staffers on HBO (Tupolev/Uberfoop would have the link handy) that they were intended to be the same—

http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive36.pl?read=1070818

 

[LordOfChaos]

As for why the Forerunners didn't recede themselves, I think you could see it as a lot of possibilities. One is penance—breaking the Mantle to uphold it meant they weren't fit for the role again. Another is practicality—for all we know, all that's left of the Forerunners are the Iso Didact and the Lifeworkers who reseeded. There could only have been mere hundreds of Forerunners left after the destruction of the Greater Ark and purging of the Galaxy with the Array. So maybe the Forerunners are quietly playing backgammon on a shield world somewhere, minding their own business.

Have you read Silentium, and the chapter after it narrated by Greg Bear? It's called Halo Rebirth, if you've read Silentium give it a read.

http://www.halopedia.org/Halo:_Rebirth

Spoiler

Forerunners left the galaxy to us, but they're still kicking out there somewhere.

 

[wesleyshark]

It seems like Bungie had internal ideas that weren't fully expressed in the media, because yeah the H3 Terminals and the ARG would lead any reasonable person to assume Human ≠ Forerunner, but we've gotten explicit confirmation from Bungie staffers on HBO (Tupolev/Uberfoop would have the link handy) that they were intended to be the same—hence how you could read Mendicant Bias' discussion in Contact Harvest as explicitly stating "humanity are the Forerunners."

Reading through the H3 terminals, I think a more accurate description is that humanity was some sort of long-lost branch of the Forerunners—something like the extragalactic Forerunners in Silentium. The Librarian's research and later the importance of humanity was borne out by that connection.

As for why the Forerunners didn't recede themselves, I think you could see it as a lot of possibilities. One is penance—breaking the Mantle to uphold it meant they weren't fit for the role again. Another is practicality—for all we know, all that's left of the Forerunners are the Iso Didact and the Lifeworkers who reseeded. There could only have been mere hundreds of Forerunners left after the destruction of the Greater Ark and purging of the Galaxy with the Array. So maybe the Forerunners are quietly playing backgammon on a shield world somewhere, minding their own business.

http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive36.pl?read=1070818

Have you read Silentium, and the chapter after it narrated by Greg Bear? It's called Halo Rebirth, if you've read Silentium give it a read.

http://www.halopedia.org/Halo:_Rebirth

Spoiler

Forerunners left the galaxy to us, but they're still kicking out there somewhere.

I think some initial planning was for humans = Forerunner but the long game that Bungie was playing had some further revelations on the matter to contradict 343GS' miscalculation, and in which the groundwork was already being laid via the Halo 3 terminals. That being said, I think that the route 343 took it is a much deeper story than humans just being long and forgotten descendants of older humans aka Forerunners. But YMMV on that.

From earlier in this thread, and then from Stinkles himself:

Didn't they kind of do something similar with the whole "Ancient Humanity were the Forerunners" thing? It seemed like they had seriously hinted at that being the case, right up until the terminals in Halo 3 said "lol no they're nothing alike". I mean, what was the point of that, really? If you didn't even read the terminals, Guilty Spark's whole "You ARE Forerunner" quote would give you the impression humans were the Forerunners after all.

I think that's where Bungie was going with that initially... That humans were actually Forerunners. 343 expanded and expounded and deepened things when they took over, and made it a much richer chain of histories.

The direction of some of that stuff was carried directly in deference to ideas from forward thinking fiction folks at Bungie. That's not to say it was a consensus, just stuff from conversations and ideation.

 

[Monocle]

That's a complaint I've never understood. Architecture is never stagnant. It's an always evolving process and form, as those who build are also evolving.

Also, to step out of the canonical realm... Console technology advances over time, and the way things look and are represented change as more detail and intricacies can be added. The general Forerunner aesthetic carries the entire way through, but it's a mix of both canonical evolution and real world advancements.

I understand the complaint perfectly well, because I'm one of those fans who find the stylistic changes in Halo 4's Forerunner architecture very jarring. (Opinion incoming.)

It's simple: the monolithic design language of the Forerunner stuff in Halo 1 - 3 just looks better. It's vast and solid and ancient looking, almost primitive with its blocky angular forms, yet unmistakably sophisticated. Bungie's whole Forerunner aesthetic is like an oblique reference to Ancient Greek notions of geometrical perfection. It has a stark grandeur that's completely absent from the overdesigned, ultra-detailed nonsense in Halo 4. Even if you push subjective preferences aside, it's obvious that Bungie's original designs defined Halo. How absurd to pull out some limp post-hoc excuse about architectural advancement. This is a fictional world, a designed world, and there was no good reason for 343 to throw away its identity in some cockamamie attempt to put their studio's own stamp on the series. The lack of respect is frankly revolting.

None of this is to demean 343's exceptional artists. (Hi Sparth & pals.) They should know better than anyone why an IP's characteristic design language should be conserved as the franchise evolves. Why is everyone losing their shit over the new Star Wars teaser trailer? Nostalgia. More specifically, the settings and tech and tone are intimately connected to the Original Trilogy: the trailer presses all the buttons that say STAR WARS to dedicated fans. Notice how the Stormtroopers are new, the vehicles are new, the Sith dude is new, and yet they all fit perfectly within Star Wars' established aesthetic. That's how you evolve a series. You make modest, thoughtful changes that lie not too far outside your series' characteristic style. You don't pull a Prequel Trilogy and shake everything up just because you can.

That's why Halo 4's Forerunner architecture catches flak from old school fans.

 

[Toa TAK]

I understand the complaint perfectly well, because I'm one of those fans who find the stylistic changes in Halo 4's Forerunner architecture very jarring. (Opinion incoming.)

It's simple: the monolithic design language of the Forerunner stuff in Halo 1 - 3 just looks better. It's vast and solid and ancient looking, almost primitive with its blocky angular forms, yet unmistakably sophisticated. Bungie's whole Forerunner aesthetic is like an oblique reference to Ancient Greek notions of geometrical perfection. It has a stark grandeur that's completely absent from the overdesigned, ultra-detailed nonsense in Halo 4. Even if you push subjective preferences aside, it's obvious that Bungie's original designs defined Halo. How absurd to pull out some limp post-hoc excuse about architectural advancement. This is a fictional world, a designed world, and there was no good reason for 343 to throw away its identity in some cockamamie attempt to put their studio's own stamp on the series. The lack of respect is frankly revolting.

None of this is to demean 343's exceptional artists. (Hi Sparth & pals.) They should know better than anyone why an IP's characteristic design language should be conserved as the franchise evolves. Why is everyone losing their shit over the new Star Wars teaser trailer? Nostalgia. More specifically, the settings and tech and tone are intimately connected to the Original Trilogy: the trailer presses all the buttons that say STAR WARS to dedicated fans. Notice how the Stormtroopers are new, the vehicles are new, the Sith dude is new, and yet they all fit perfectly within Star Wars' established aesthetic. That's how you evolve a series. You make modest, thoughtful changes that lie not too far outside your series' characteristic style. You don't pull a Prequel Trilogy and shake everything up just because you can.

That's why Halo 4's Forerunner architecture catches flak from old school fans.

Well said.

 

[Fuchsdh]

On a macro scale I think I prefer the more regimented and monolithic Bungie stuff, but on a micro scale I think with H3 they had gone too baroque and it was nice to dial back the texture. H2A might be my favorite flavor of Forerunner, actually, because I think it mates the best of the Tronrunner and classic looks.

 

[Toa TAK]

On a macro scale I think I prefer the more regimented and monolithic Bungie stuff, but on a micro scale I think with H3 they had gone too baroque and it was nice to dial back the texture. H2A might be my favorite flavor of Forerunner, actually, because I think it mates the best of the Tronrunner and classic looks.

Tronrunner.

That's what I'm calling it now.

 

[wesleyshark]

On a macro scale I think I prefer the more regimented and monolithic Bungie stuff, but on a micro scale I think with H3 they had gone too baroque and it was nice to dial back the texture. H2A might be my favorite flavor of Forerunner, actually, because I think it mates the best of the Tronrunner and classic looks.

My two favorite "Forerunner Architecture Reveal" moments are:

Halo 3: When the key ship is unlocking the buried structure that will then open to the portal to the Lesser Ark. The sense of scale was spellbinding to me.

Halo 4: After you fight the first groups of Covies and come out of the cliffside and out into the expansive valley beyond with massive forerunner structures above and below you and the music swells and ah man...so good.