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Halo |OT6| I will not allow you to leave this thread!

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Vire

Member
I hadn't realized Vire (aka DancingJesus) had acquired the Halo franchise.

Someone tell Frankie.

It was a joke, my point being that Glasslands was awful.

Blatant disregard to the source material. Didn't understand the universe, and it's not just the Hasley stuff.

Great quote from an Amazon review:

She goes out of her way to depict the SPARTAN-IIs and IIIs as a league of damaged man-children and shrinking violets instead of the hardened, stoic, veteran super-soldiers Nylund gave us. Typical bleeding-heart stuff.

Traviss also uses more contemporary jargon. They use credits. She uses dollars. They say holo-vids. She says movies. They say Smart AI. She just shortens it to AI. She also has the Sangheili occasionally using human phrases and expressions and verbally calling attention to the fact that they're using human phrases and expressions. That's downright cringe-worthy.

If you need to know how bad Karen Traviss is, just take a look at Gears of War 3's storyline, which she was at the helm of.


Halo 5 to be devolved by Rocksteady Studios confirmed.

lol nice.
 

L1NETT

Member
Another shot from RTX

WP_000135.jpg

The background to the assist medal.... very odd.
 

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
Once you finish Glasslands, you'll know what Halsey is up to.

It picks up directly after Onyx.

Yeah, I'm just wondering how the game will describe all the new stuff from the recent books to players who have never read them. Cryptum is almost necessary to understand who the Didact is and all about past humans/forerunners and the Librarian.
 

Omni

Member
If by terrible, you mean great, then yes.

Step out of your Halsey love-box.
Great? Hah!

She compared Halsey to Stalin and then said in an interview that she wanted readers to make up their own minds about her. Not to mention during the book no one seems to care about the hundreds of SIIIs that were sent on suicide missions... No, the kids that were recruited were asked first and "wanted" to get revenge and so it's all hunky dory.

But Halsey and those SIIs? Wow. She's out of control.

Riiiiiiiight
 

daedalius

Member
It was a joke, my point being that Glasslands was awful.

Blatant disregard to the source material. Didn't understand the universe, and it's not just the Hasley stuff.

Great quote from an Amazon review:

If you need to know how bad Karen Traviss is, just take a look at Gears of War 3's storyline, which she was at the helm of.

Wouldn't say that's a great Amazon review.

Credits vs dollars? Movies vs holo-vids? Really?

Also, pretty sure none of the Spartan IIs are portrayed as shirking violets; mentally damaged Spartan IIIs that are under the age of 18, I can believe.

Great? Hah!

She compared Halsey to Stalin and then said in an interview that she wanted readers to make up their own minds about her. Not to mention during the book no one seems to care about the hundreds of SIIIs that were sent on suicide missions... No, the kids that were recruited were asked first and "wanted" to get revenge and so it's all hunky dory.

But Halsey and those SIIs? Wow. She's out of control.

Riiiiiiiight

Halsey captured children, flash cloned them, then gave them back to their parents to quell her guilt; they then died months of years later from wasting diseases.

Little different than orphaned children who'd had their parents incinerated by the Covenant.

Halsey also cloned herself 3 times, took those brains and put them into the blender to make Cortana.

While the ends justified the means, that still doesn't make her less of a horrible person.
 
Yeah, I'm just wondering how the game will describe all the new stuff from the recent books to players who have never read them. Cryptum is almost necessary to understand who the Didact is and all about past humans/forerunners and the Librarian.
No? Everything is possible to explain to player. The information about the Didact are not necessary. Or did you know about Master Chief's past at the beginning of Halo:CE? The Human/Forerunner war is pretty easy to explain to a new group of players.
 

Vire

Member
I really dislike those medals.

I don't know how to explain why I don't but I hope they are changed.

I think it's partly the color scheme. It's a very limited color palette.

I understand what they are going for, (a sense of visual unity between all medals). But the bright cyan's and magenta's are a bit much.

It's okay I guess, not the worst thing in the world. *shrug*
 

a zoojoo

Banned

lol suddoth spotting

I think it's partly the color scheme. It's a very limited color palette.

I understand what they are going for, (a sense of visual unity between all medals). But the bright cyan's and magenta's are a bit much.

It's okay I guess, not the worst thing in the world. *shrug*

Adaptation, Ladies and Gentlemen.
 

Vire

Member
You're arguing against a point I have not made. I took issue with your declaration of its canon status simply because you don't like it.

That's all.

I think you were taking the original statement seriously, while I wasn't.

Of course it's canon. I just think it's a terrible addition.

Shame that Nylund didn't continue writing them, I enjoyed Ghost of Onyx a lot.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I don't understand the "bleeding heart" criticism. Soldiers aren't stoic, emotionless creatures. Nylund certainly didn't portray them that way, I don't see how Traviss does any more beyond putting us in the head of one of them.

I hated BSG for the bitching whiners that made up virtually every single character in that show, but Glasslands is a far far cry from that.
 

daedalius

Member
I don't understand the "bleeding heart" criticism. Soldiers aren't stoic, emotionless creatures. Nylund certainly didn't portray them that way, I don't see how Traviss does any more beyond putting us in the head of one of them.

I hated BSG for the bitching whiners that made up virtually every single character in that show, but Glasslands is a far far cry from that.

It was a bad amazon review, and that person is wrong.

Simple as that.

They certainly weren't portrayed as emotionless voids in Onyx, or Reach, or First Strike... etc etc.
 

eeblogue

Neo Member
So the way the scoring system works now it’s possible to win a slayer game having less kills than the opposing team?

Also can someone confirm if you get hit-markers for grenades?
 

BigShow36

Member
I hope they add back the Damage Dealt stat. Also I hope those post game screens get redone to look good.


So the way the scoring system works now it’s possible to win a slayer game having less kills than the opposing team?

I think your individual score only counts towards personal ordinance drops. The team score, which is what determine's victory, goes up by 10 only when someone gets a kill.
 

Trey

Member
I think you were taking the original statement seriously, while I wasn't.

Of course it's canon. I just think it's a terrible addition.

It doesn't add anything inherently bad to the canon.
Net effect of Glasslands is Elite Civil War, Infinity, S4s, Halsey banished, and multi-species hodgepodge extremist planet.

Not bad. But it was so wastefully told that the storyline suffers accordingly.
 

daedalius

Member
It doesn't add anything inherently bad to the canon.
Net effect of Glasslands is Elite Civil War, Infinity, S4s, Halsey banished, and multi-species hodgepodge extremist planet.

Not bad. But it was so wastefully told that the storyline suffers accordingly.

I guess I and all the other people who enjoyed it just have terrible taste.

Shame on me.
 

Vire

Member
I guess I and all the other people who enjoyed it just have terrible taste.

Shame on me.

Yep.

Your allowed to enjoy it just as much as I'm allowed to dislike it. Agree to disagree.

My hate for Karen Traviss goes beyond what she did with Hasley. Her Star Wars books and the treatment of Mandalorians was infuriating and the Gears of War books are absolute drivel. She's just a bad author.
 

a zoojoo

Banned
It doesn't add anything inherently bad to the canon.
Net effect of Glasslands is Elite Civil War, Infinity, S4s, Halsey banished, and multi-species hodgepodge extremist planet.

Not bad. But it was so wastefully told that the storyline suffers accordingly.

I'm sure a lot will be cleared up in The Thursday War.
 

Omni

Member
Halsey captured children, flash cloned them, then gave them back to their parents to quell her guilt; they then died months of years later from wasting diseases.

Little different than orphaned children who'd had their parents incinerated by the Covenant.


Halsey also cloned herself 3 times, took those brains and put them into the blender to make Cortana.

While the ends justified the means, that still doesn't make her less of a horrible person.
I honestly don't care that Halsey can be considered immoral; after all, she did some pretty bad things. But how is sending 600+ children to their deaths any better than kidnapping 300?

It annoys me that people who developed and controlled the SIII program were made to take the moral high ground when what they were doing was just as bad. The book was essentially ~200 pages of "Halsey is bad!" and another ~200 pages of things that weren't relevant.

I think we got a single line from [Mendez?] saying how he regretted his actions, but apart from that it wasn't mentioned again.
 

Vire

Member
Speaking of the books:

Title, Cover Art and Date announced for Greg Bear's third...

http://halo.xbox.com/blogs/Headline...se-Date-of-Third-Halo-Novel-By-Greg-Bear.aspx
HALO: SILENTIUM will release in hardcover from Tor on January 8, 2013 alongside simultaneous audio and e-book editions.

The final installment in the New York Times bestselling Forerunner Saga

New York, NY – July 11, 2012 - Tor Books, an imprint of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC—the largest publisher of science fiction in the world—is thrilled to reveal the title, cover, and release date for the third novel in the New York Times bestselling Halo Forerunner Saga, HALO: SILENTIUM, written by legendary science fiction author Greg Bear. The first two books of the Forerunner Saga, Halo: Cryptum and Halo: Primordium are currently available in trade paperback, e-book, and audiobook. This newest book in the series, HALO: SILENTIUM will release in hardcover from Tor on January 8, 2013 alongside simultaneous audio and e-book editions.

The New York Times bestselling Halo series of novels, based on the hugely successful Halo videogame franchise, has sold millions of copies, and is part of a global phenomenon that has dominated the science fiction landscape over the last decade.

In Halo: Cryptum, Greg Bear began a three-book arc set in the era of the Forerunners, the ancient and enigmatic creators and builders of the Halos, which continued in Halo: Primordium. Now, in the last years of the Forerunner empire, chaos rules. The Flood—a horrifying shape-changing parasite—has arrived in force, aided by unexpected allies. Internal strife within the ecumene has desperately weakened Forerunner defenses.

Only the Ur-Didact and the Librarian—a husband and wife pushed into desperate conflict—hold the keys to salvation. Facing the consequences of a mythic tragedy, one of them must now commit the greatest atrocity of all time—to prevent an unmatched evil from dominating the entire universe.

Tor Books has proudly partnered with Microsoft and 343 Industries to publish every book set in this iconic universe. Along with the books of the Forerunner Saga, Tor also publishes another all-new Halo trilogy penned by New York Times bestselling author Karen Traviss that explores the Halo Universe in the wake of the final events of Halo 3. Traviss’s first novel, Halo: Glasslands, came out in 2011, with Halo: The Thursday War due out in October 2012.

The Halo franchise is an award-winning collection of properties that have grown into a global entertainment phenomenon. Beginning with the original Halo: Combat Evolved for Xbox in 2001, the rich fiction of the franchise has since inspired a series of blockbuster Xbox and Xbox 360 video games, New York Times best-selling novels, comic books, action figures, apparel and more. The Halo franchise has sold more than 42 million copies to date, with franchise sales eclipsing $3 billion over its lifetime. Halo 4 marks the beginning of a new saga in the iconic franchise, as Master Chief returns to confront his own destiny and an ancient evil that threatens the fate of the entire universe. Developed by 343 Industries exclusively for Xbox 360, Halo 4 will release on Nov. 6, 2012.
image.axd
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
The medals in that build are truly horrendous. Probably designed by the same guy who designed the armor, the sniper scope and the Halo ring in Anniversary.

you can be kind of a dick - but that literally made me LOL (nearly spitting my coffee out in the process)
 
Did we meet Thomas Lasky already?

iWGFPEw20rTMD.jpg


Frankie said that the main character of FUD (Thomas Lasky) plays an important role in Campaign and Spartan Ops. Today he posted in the FUD thread that the cadets won't become Spartans or ODST. They will be "the scions of elite military brass". The dude is briefing the Spartan IVs for their upcoming mission, and I think he plays a big role in the Spartan Ops campaign. If he is the mind behind the Spartan Operations, then I think he is Thomas Lasky.

Pretty shitty assumption. I let my imagination speaking.
 

daedalius

Member
I honestly don't care that Halsey can be considered immoral; after all, she did some pretty bad things. But how is sending 600+ children to their deaths any better than kidnapping 300?

It annoys me that people who developed and controlled the SIII program were made to take the moral high ground when what they were doing was just as bad. The book was essentially ~200 pages of "Halsey is bad!" and another ~200 pages of things that weren't relevant.

I think we got a single line from [Mendez?] saying how he regretted his actions, but apart from that it wasn't mentioned again.

Oh ffs.

"Halsey is bad" argument. I don't know if Paraongosky trying to clean out all the skeletons from her long career before she dies/retires is the same as 'taking the moral high ground for sending 600+ child soldiers to their deaths'

And what, you wanted Mendez to dwell on how he felt awful for so many of his charges dying? I don't know if he is the kind of character to go on a long diatribe about his personal issues.

And really, weren't relevant? Sanghelli civil war not relevant? Human colonist recidivists trading with rogue factions of Jackals and Elites not relevant? Give me a fucking break.

Did we meet Thomas Lasky already?

iWGFPEw20rTMD.jpg


Frankie said that the main character of FUD (Thomas Lasky) plays an important role in Campaign and Spartan Ops. Today he posted in the FUD thread that the cadets won't become Spartans or ODST. They will be "the scions of elite military brass". The dude is briefing the Spartan IVs for their upcoming mission, and I think he plays a big role in the Spartan Ops campaign. If he is the mind behind the Spartan Operations, then I think he is Thomas Lasky.

Pretty shitty assumption. I let my imagination speaking.

Wouldn't surprise me if he was Lasky.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Speaking of the books:

Title, Cover Art and Date for Greg Bear's third...

http://halo.xbox.com/blogs/Headline...se-Date-of-Third-Halo-Novel-By-Greg-Bear.aspx

HALO: SILENTIUM will release in hardcover from Tor on January 8, 2013 alongside simultaneous audio and e-book editions.

image.axd

Looks nice. I have the second book on the way from Amazon; they had the hardcover on sale for less than the upcoming paperback issue was listed at.

Interesting that it's releasing after Halo 4, I had assumed it would land before.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
Is this recon? Looks really good! Digging that armor design.

the video posted yesterday going through some of the armor customizations really sold me. there is a lot of really great looking helmets/pieces that up to that point didnt really come across well in still pictures. the spartans look VERY detailed too, much more so then reach's.
 

daedalius

Member
Looks nice. I have the second book on the way from Amazon; they had the hardcover on sale for less than the upcoming paperback issue was listed at.

Interesting that it's releasing after Halo 4, I had assumed it would land before.

I'm sure the end of Silentium will tie into the end of Halo 4 to hype us even more for the events on Halo 5.
 

Omni

Member

Not even going to bother arguing. It's not going to change anything; I simply disliked the fact that the characters seemed to be completely oblivious as to what they did with the SIII project but were just dandy in comparing Halsey to Stalin for the SIIs.
 
Did we meet Thomas Lasky already?

http://i.minus.com/iWGFPEw20rTMD.jpg

Frankie said that the main character of FUD (Thomas Lasky) plays an important role in Campaign and Spartan Ops. Today he posted in the FUD thread that the cadets won't become Spartans or ODST. They will be "the scions of elite military brass". The dude is briefing the Spartan IVs for their upcoming mission, and I think he plays a big role in the Spartan Ops campaign. If he is the mind behind the Spartan Operations, then I think he is Thomas Lasky.

Pretty shitty assumption. I let my imagination speaking.

Solid theory. Would be a pretty neat way to tie the two together; they've certainly implied a strong connection between FUD and the game.
 
What? (Feel free to spoiler tag)

I love the cover art on these books, absolutely stunning stuff. Hopefully Halo 4, delivers on these concept art pieces.
The Orb.

Looks nice. I have the second book on the way from Amazon; they had the hardcover on sale for less than the upcoming paperback issue was listed at.

Interesting that it's releasing after Halo 4, I had assumed it would land before.
I think Frankie said that the third book is going to answer some question, people will ask after they finish Halo 4. So it definitely contains Halo 4 spoilers. Especially since Frankie had to show Bear the whole game.
 
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