Yeah but you had some ferking advance warning that the ending would not be resolved for two more movies yet. Phil Jackson didn't lead anyone to believe that the movie was complete in an of itself like the fools at Bungie did. And hell you had a timetable of when the story would continue, when's Halo 3 coming out? how many years? Frankly the ending pissed me off.
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I cannot be the only one feeling EXTREMELY let down by the story of Halo 2 (SPOILERS)
- Thread starter Mason
- Start date
(spoilers ahead... you shouldn't be reading this thread if you don't wanna see em)
My main problem is that the game, while very good, didn't live up to its promise in the story or the gameplay. The first couple of Earth levels were great, and then.... you know. You never actually get your feet back on the ground.
All the advertising was:
"EARTH WILL NEVER BE THE SAME"
That kind of implies a big battle to save Earth. We got some surprise attack that nobody seemed to really care about much, then left Earth soon after. Earth doesn't really change at all over the course of Halo 2.
"He has fought his way back a trillion miles across the void to protect the dearest prize of all. EARTH."
That's an awesome blurb and sounds exactly like what should be on the back of the box for HALO 3, because that's right where we left off.
My main problem is that the game, while very good, didn't live up to its promise in the story or the gameplay. The first couple of Earth levels were great, and then.... you know. You never actually get your feet back on the ground.
All the advertising was:
"EARTH WILL NEVER BE THE SAME"
That kind of implies a big battle to save Earth. We got some surprise attack that nobody seemed to really care about much, then left Earth soon after. Earth doesn't really change at all over the course of Halo 2.
"He has fought his way back a trillion miles across the void to protect the dearest prize of all. EARTH."
That's an awesome blurb and sounds exactly like what should be on the back of the box for HALO 3, because that's right where we left off.
Buggy Loop
Member
Having finished it last night, im also in the disapointed camp, for many of the reasons already stated in this thread and also because you finish the game with arbiter and not master chief, WHAT THE FUCK! The gameplay didnt disapoint, in fact i find myself going back to play certain levels, when i know it will get boring i reload another one and play my favorite moments, but the story, the flood, ugh.
Its not the only thing, halo 2 feels as if the single player was built in a matter of 6 months, as if everything that bungie had shown us before was carefully crafted and then thrown in the garbage, think of the graphics the original trailer had, that got scrapped (and for a far less cooler scene too), the different versions of the hogs, the quad, the city level at the E3 and the no texture popup found in that trailer. Were they forced by microsoft to hold things back for a "quick" halo 3 on xenon? It certainly feels like that, the way the story ends so abruptly, dont tell me that they didnt have concepts, maybe even the entire levels already made for the post ending for master chief, but was asked to keep that for halo 3, same with the vehicules, unless bungie gave a good reason why that was canned, because i havent kept up with bungie interviews one bit. But no matter the excuse, if you're going to show something and excite gamers with something, dont pull it out, more developers should do like rockstar, only show things when the game is about to be done, or if you know its in stone that what you show will be in the final package, tsk tsk @ bungie and lionhead.
I have to give props to bungie for 2 things though, the gameplay improved and the level design is much better than the original, but the indoor is still lacking, i dont know how to put it but you easily get disoriented, because some rooms barely have any noticable point of reference, sometimes i found myself going in the direction i just came from due to an intense battle, by looking at the room i have no real clue as to which door leads to the next or the previous. Its one of the only game that does that to me, i typically have a very good sense of orientation in an fps. For the most part, its only certain rooms in halo 2, rest of the level design was much superior to halo, cept some outdoor environments that werent exploited to their fullest, not enough hills for the warthogs's 4x4 and no snow level
I havent played on live yet and i dont think i will either, i took a glimse of the maps with split screen multiplayer and it didnt feel like i would bother too much playing it, multiplayer is more of a bonus to me, doesnt really affect my view of a game, i bought halo 2 for single player and thats how i'll judge it.
My favorite single player level was when you go after the prophet of regret on halo as master chief, the cutscene during the landing when we see the covenants had my jaw wide open, so beautiful
Its not the only thing, halo 2 feels as if the single player was built in a matter of 6 months, as if everything that bungie had shown us before was carefully crafted and then thrown in the garbage, think of the graphics the original trailer had, that got scrapped (and for a far less cooler scene too), the different versions of the hogs, the quad, the city level at the E3 and the no texture popup found in that trailer. Were they forced by microsoft to hold things back for a "quick" halo 3 on xenon? It certainly feels like that, the way the story ends so abruptly, dont tell me that they didnt have concepts, maybe even the entire levels already made for the post ending for master chief, but was asked to keep that for halo 3, same with the vehicules, unless bungie gave a good reason why that was canned, because i havent kept up with bungie interviews one bit. But no matter the excuse, if you're going to show something and excite gamers with something, dont pull it out, more developers should do like rockstar, only show things when the game is about to be done, or if you know its in stone that what you show will be in the final package, tsk tsk @ bungie and lionhead.
I have to give props to bungie for 2 things though, the gameplay improved and the level design is much better than the original, but the indoor is still lacking, i dont know how to put it but you easily get disoriented, because some rooms barely have any noticable point of reference, sometimes i found myself going in the direction i just came from due to an intense battle, by looking at the room i have no real clue as to which door leads to the next or the previous. Its one of the only game that does that to me, i typically have a very good sense of orientation in an fps. For the most part, its only certain rooms in halo 2, rest of the level design was much superior to halo, cept some outdoor environments that werent exploited to their fullest, not enough hills for the warthogs's 4x4 and no snow level
I havent played on live yet and i dont think i will either, i took a glimse of the maps with split screen multiplayer and it didnt feel like i would bother too much playing it, multiplayer is more of a bonus to me, doesnt really affect my view of a game, i bought halo 2 for single player and thats how i'll judge it.
My favorite single player level was when you go after the prophet of regret on halo as master chief, the cutscene during the landing when we see the covenants had my jaw wide open, so beautiful
Do The Mario
Unconfirmed Member
Nobody knows what gravemind is, however you can speculate that its the leader of the flood judging by the way its engulfed the Halos Oracle and the prophet.Ecrofirt said:
Plus it just looks like something associated with the flood.
Halo 2 IMO was the best single play experience I have had this gen, the whole game didnt take place on earth and I dont care. The environments on Halo 2 were awesome how could youre jaw not drop when watching brutes and elites skirmish in a forest way out in the distance from the view of youre sniper rifle.
The Flood was handled very well in well in Halo 2(IMO), there A.I was vastly improved, and you didnt have to fight wave after wave ala Halo.
Yes a few of the indoor environments could have been better but its a very minor complaint.
deadlifter said:
Except that the tale Bungie is telling obviously couldn't be wrapped up in 'a final goddamn level', or they would've done so. With the groundwork they've laid for the upcoming battle, do you really think a single level would have done it justice? 'Master Chief saves the Earth in 20 minutes! Woo! Roll credits!' I damn sure would've felt cheated if the game had ended like that.
Azih said:
Um, yep.
It doesn't matter whether or not it was previously mentioned, it should still be obvious to you (unless you're too deeply in denial to see it) that this game is the middle of a three-part story arc, and that there's no way in hell they'd be able to wrap things up satisfactorily in the space of a single level. Not only that, but you're deluding yourself if you believe that Microsoft would intentionally release a less-than-complete game, then force people to subscribe to XBL if they wanted to see the real ending. Microsoft is becoming aggressive to a fault in promoting Live already, IMO, but I think even they would draw the line at that.
Black Deatha said:
We did see the characters achieve their short-term goal. And I love how people are treating what took place at the end of this game as anticlimactic.
'We've just prevented the Halos from firing and saved all sentient life in the galaxy from perishing, including humanity... Fuck that! That's nothing! I want to see Master Chief shooting up some Covenant on Earth! What a load of shit this is!'
PkunkFury said:
I disagree. I see this as a great trend, myself. I'd rather see developers create games with plots that span several installments than labor to make each game self-contained. Then you end up with these painfully-contrived stories where everything falls neatly into place at the end, save for one or two dangling plot threads that allow for a sequel. The way Halo 2 ended left me feeling that I'm in the middle of something epic, a picture that extends beyond the boundaries of the frame.
The problem is that people have forgotten what it means to have to wait.
I mentioned this before in the Halo 2 sticky thread, when I was talking about The Empire Strikes Back. Back when Empire was released, we had to wait years between sequels, not six months to a year, the way filmmakers are doing things nowadays. There was none of this 'shoot all your footage at once, then edit it into several movies' stuff then. Empire ended on a massive cliffhanger, and we were faced with the prospect of waiting several years to find out how things were going to turn out. Yet nobody I know started flipping out, bitching about how cheated they felt that they didn't get answers or leave the theatre with a sense of 'closure'. They settled in for the wait with excitement, speculating on what might happen next and looking forward to the day when the next film would finally be released.
I look back on that, then compare it to the reactions to some of you over this cliffhanger ending, and I can't help but think, 'Damn, what a bunch of impatient whiners.'
Here's how I would have ended the game.
We still have the final cutscene, but instead of cutting to credits, Master Chief jumps to Earth (or whatever) and lands in the middle of a big battle in a destroyed city. Waves after waves of the various enemies comes after you and the few standing soldiers. In the sky, you have civilian spaceships trying (without success) to escape the ennemy fire. We get the usual widescreen bars level introducing a new level with the name "Home Coming Party" or something
Then the whole place starts shaking with big, *boom* sound effects. Then, at the horizon, you see a squad of giant mechwarriors-type robots coming toward the city, using energy weapons to blow up whole blocks. Then, in a cutscene, coming out of nowhere, one of them teleports from a portal and lands right next to you. The Halo theme starts. A group of soldiers try to attach (or slowdown) the mechwarrior by using hooks shot from Scorpion tanks, without any success. The tanks get thrown around into building and soldiers. This is to show the incredible strength of the mechs.
Then the control comes back to the player. A soldier gives MC a gun outfitted with one of those special hooks with a comment like "Have a try,MC". The player has to run to the roof of one of the few remaining building. In a crazy action sequence, MC hooks himself up to the Mechwarrior and climbs inside the machine.
The last level consist in MC climbing up inside the robot, shooting random ennemies, until he gets to the control room, where he managed to hijack the control of the mech. Then the player starts destroying the other mech warriors. All this of course, to the sound of one of those epic sounding audio track. It sounds really dramatic and heroic.
Cutscene:
In another galaxy, we see one of the Prophet in a big white room saying "Enough of this, purify the whole area. The demon must be stopped". An alien voice is heard saying "But Prophet, many of our brothers are still fighting in the area" only to be cut by the Prophet saying something like "They will die for the cause, like martyrs"
So we get the typical 'death star loading up to shoot something'-type sequence. A big cannon mounted on a covenant ship fires this very large white laser ray toward Earth.
We then see the Master Chief sliding down a rope from his mechwarrior, with Marines celebrating the victory. As one of the sergent is saying "Earth has found a new hero, but the job is not ove-" he gets suddenly get cut by statics filling up their helmet radios "my god what is th--".
The whole screen goes white. We hear soldiers screaming thru their radios. then pure white noise for a few seconds.
The colors fades back in. There's not a single thing standing, only big piles of random building crumbles. Everything is covered in white dust; it looks like it snowing, but its just the white dust fallouts. The only thing we hear is the sound of ruins burning down and a strong wind
The camera pans slowly toward a pile of burning metal (aka the remains of the hijacked mech). As it zooms into it, we notice the the helmet and left arm of a very inconsious MC barely making it out of a pile of debris. Of course, heavily damaged. MC's visor is complely smashed in. The Green paint has pretty much melted off, because of the intense heat from the laser beam. As you start to expect MC to start moving, the camera cuts, credits.
Finishing the game at legendary gets you to hear the echo of MC's health warning going on and off in a very odd manner, as the camera zooms toward him.
The whole "is our hero dead?" angle always works well. Well it works better than ending it before the moneyshot
We still have the final cutscene, but instead of cutting to credits, Master Chief jumps to Earth (or whatever) and lands in the middle of a big battle in a destroyed city. Waves after waves of the various enemies comes after you and the few standing soldiers. In the sky, you have civilian spaceships trying (without success) to escape the ennemy fire. We get the usual widescreen bars level introducing a new level with the name "Home Coming Party" or something
Then the whole place starts shaking with big, *boom* sound effects. Then, at the horizon, you see a squad of giant mechwarriors-type robots coming toward the city, using energy weapons to blow up whole blocks. Then, in a cutscene, coming out of nowhere, one of them teleports from a portal and lands right next to you. The Halo theme starts. A group of soldiers try to attach (or slowdown) the mechwarrior by using hooks shot from Scorpion tanks, without any success. The tanks get thrown around into building and soldiers. This is to show the incredible strength of the mechs.
Then the control comes back to the player. A soldier gives MC a gun outfitted with one of those special hooks with a comment like "Have a try,MC". The player has to run to the roof of one of the few remaining building. In a crazy action sequence, MC hooks himself up to the Mechwarrior and climbs inside the machine.
The last level consist in MC climbing up inside the robot, shooting random ennemies, until he gets to the control room, where he managed to hijack the control of the mech. Then the player starts destroying the other mech warriors. All this of course, to the sound of one of those epic sounding audio track. It sounds really dramatic and heroic.
Cutscene:
In another galaxy, we see one of the Prophet in a big white room saying "Enough of this, purify the whole area. The demon must be stopped". An alien voice is heard saying "But Prophet, many of our brothers are still fighting in the area" only to be cut by the Prophet saying something like "They will die for the cause, like martyrs"
So we get the typical 'death star loading up to shoot something'-type sequence. A big cannon mounted on a covenant ship fires this very large white laser ray toward Earth.
We then see the Master Chief sliding down a rope from his mechwarrior, with Marines celebrating the victory. As one of the sergent is saying "Earth has found a new hero, but the job is not ove-" he gets suddenly get cut by statics filling up their helmet radios "my god what is th--".
The whole screen goes white. We hear soldiers screaming thru their radios. then pure white noise for a few seconds.
The colors fades back in. There's not a single thing standing, only big piles of random building crumbles. Everything is covered in white dust; it looks like it snowing, but its just the white dust fallouts. The only thing we hear is the sound of ruins burning down and a strong wind
The camera pans slowly toward a pile of burning metal (aka the remains of the hijacked mech). As it zooms into it, we notice the the helmet and left arm of a very inconsious MC barely making it out of a pile of debris. Of course, heavily damaged. MC's visor is complely smashed in. The Green paint has pretty much melted off, because of the intense heat from the laser beam. As you start to expect MC to start moving, the camera cuts, credits.
Finishing the game at legendary gets you to hear the echo of MC's health warning going on and off in a very odd manner, as the camera zooms toward him.
The whole "is our hero dead?" angle always works well. Well it works better than ending it before the moneyshot
Buggy Loop
Member
Maybe not in a final level but certainly could have been done with another 10 hours in the game, which it could have used badly considering how short it is. I would have sacrificed the multiplayer and even wait until fall 2005 for it, But i guess thats going to be the lenght of halo 3, cept we'll have to wait till xenon and maybe even later to see the conclusion.
You're right, its nothing for one of the most anticipated sequel of all time, its a thing we had done in the ORIGINAL halo, just on another halo ! woooooo. Thats like if half life 2 would end up on the alien world again and end with G-man again and end like that, ask any half life fans if thats what they would want.
You're right, its nothing for one of the most anticipated sequel of all time, its a thing we had done in the ORIGINAL halo, just on another halo ! woooooo. Thats like if half life 2 would end up on the alien world again and end with G-man again and end like that, ask any half life fans if thats what they would want.
Phoenix
Member
Tellaerin said:
Curious. How do you feel about the ending to HalfLife? Personally I hate abrupt endings. You can leave things open without stopping mid stream. There is something for building up to a cliffhanger. As a parallel, Matrix 2 was the worst cliff hanger in the history of movies. It was as subtle as running into a wall unexpectedly.
Bleh, I already posted in the general Halo 2 thread but I'll add my vote here; the ending sucked, the last level sucked, the premise for the entire climax sucked. They have a strong, identifiable character already; so what do they do? Dilute the story by adding a second character, end the #@$# game with him, and cut to credits at the pinnacle. Bullshit! Truth is, though, I wouldn't be so damned annoyed if I hadn't bought all the 'halo 2 is the revolution' crap. /sigh.
Game was great to the 3/4 point. Then it fell apart. Some wonderful gameplay, and I'm sure Live is great...but whoever wrote the story arc blew it.
Game was great to the 3/4 point. Then it fell apart. Some wonderful gameplay, and I'm sure Live is great...but whoever wrote the story arc blew it.
ArcadeStickMonk
Member
I suppose that is a cliffhanger too, but at least HL actually fully closed the current Black Mesa plot. Halo 2 not only doesn't finish it's own plot arc, but sets up it's sequel to start exactly where it itself did: Earth invasion.Phoenix said:
Word, and Halo2 even used that same instense building sound effect at the very end to be like "OMG! Bet you didn't see that shit coming!"
I hate that fucking effect and I hate that method. The next series of anything, movie, game, or TV series that plays that sound effect at a cliffhanger I am dropping right out and for good.
If anyone is reading this far then they obviously don't care about spoilers, so I'm not putting any spoiler tags.
I mean, The Two Towers (generally accepted as the weakest of the three LoTR movies) at least ended with one huge battle scene, Halo 2 got an End Boss Fight against a GIANT MONKEY. I mean sure the Giant Monkey is a hella cool sub boss. He even makes for a nice warm up second last Boss to a really climactic end struggle. But no, the Giant Monkey is IT. Beat the Giant Monkey and that's all she wrote for Halo 2!.
Edit: I also hated the ending of Diablo 2, for much the same reason. But at least Blizzard never hyped the Diablo 2 plot as much as Bungie/Microsoft did with the whole 'defend the earth' bullshit tagline.
Oh yes yes it does, I came into this damn campagin mode expecting an *ending*. What I got was the game cutting off just as things got interesting, no satisfying climax and everything hanging in freaking mid-air.
Oh it became obvious to me WHEN THE GAME ENDED. Which is not freaking good enough to keep from being completely god damn dissapointed. If Bungie wanted to make a three game arc, then kudos to them, but THEY SHOULD TELL ME TO EXPECT THAT BEFORE I START THE SECOND PART. Not leave me to figure it out while I stare at the screen in complete and utter confusion when the CREDITS START ROLLING. Hell titling it Halo: Episode 2 would have been enough, and even then there's much better ways to end the weak middle of a trilogy then whatever the hell crap ending Halo 2 got.
I mean, The Two Towers (generally accepted as the weakest of the three LoTR movies) at least ended with one huge battle scene, Halo 2 got an End Boss Fight against a GIANT MONKEY. I mean sure the Giant Monkey is a hella cool sub boss. He even makes for a nice warm up second last Boss to a really climactic end struggle. But no, the Giant Monkey is IT. Beat the Giant Monkey and that's all she wrote for Halo 2!.
Sure they could. It just takes a little imagination.
Well you do get 2 months free with the game, and the XBL theory was a sarcastic attempt to come up with some reason why Microsoft/Bungie could *EVER* think that what they did to finish off the campaign was acceptable or tolerable let alone worthy of a game of this caliber.
Edit: I also hated the ending of Diablo 2, for much the same reason. But at least Blizzard never hyped the Diablo 2 plot as much as Bungie/Microsoft did with the whole 'defend the earth' bullshit tagline.
heckI would have preferred the game doing nothing more than flashing
CONGRATURATION
THIS STORY IS HAPPY END.
THANK YOU
in giant letters as soon as the Giant Monkey goes down for the count. Because at least that would have been funny. Hell throw in "A WINNER IS YOU" in there for added measure.
CONGRATURATION
THIS STORY IS HAPPY END.
THANK YOU
in giant letters as soon as the Giant Monkey goes down for the count. Because at least that would have been funny. Hell throw in "A WINNER IS YOU" in there for added measure.
When it comes to ESB, we, at the very least, are not right back to where we started. When the first Halo was destroyed, we at least knew that it could never harm Earth again and an entire Covenant fleet was wiped out by the MC. Though there were more Halos out there as well as the Covenant, you knew that the others would have to be found first before you'd have to worry about them at all and the Covenant just suffered a big fucking blow so they probably wouldn't be knocking on your door for a few months. The threat is by no means over, but at least you accomplished something big.
When Halo 2 ends, no threats have been curtailed, no problems solved, Earth is worse off then when you left it as a large fleet of Covenant are attacking it again from orbit, the Halos can still be activated by these extremist Covenant soldiers, Cortana is millions of miles away on the Covenant homeworld (or was it on one of the Halos?) discussing junk with this giant plant thing, and your main powerful allies, namely the Arbiter, is also millions of miles away and no more interested in saving Earth as he would be willing to destroy it to make sure the other Covenant never touch the Ark. I just don't get how people think that's a great ending.
When Halo 2 ends, no threats have been curtailed, no problems solved, Earth is worse off then when you left it as a large fleet of Covenant are attacking it again from orbit, the Halos can still be activated by these extremist Covenant soldiers, Cortana is millions of miles away on the Covenant homeworld (or was it on one of the Halos?) discussing junk with this giant plant thing, and your main powerful allies, namely the Arbiter, is also millions of miles away and no more interested in saving Earth as he would be willing to destroy it to make sure the other Covenant never touch the Ark. I just don't get how people think that's a great ending.
Fixed2BeBroken
Member
lockii said:
belive it or not, unlike you and I, evidently alot of people play Action/FPS games for the story.
The last level was great (the last level includes basically all the stuff with the Arbiter after the last MC level, according to the stage select in campaign mode). It's just the ending that sucked.Gorey said:
And how does adding a second character with a completely different perspective on what's going on "dilute" the plot? Not to mention that the second character was a FAR superior character than "generic faceless engineered supersoldier #117."
Whatever. Yes, the ending was a let-down and a cop-out. Yes, it would be nice to have a conclusive and more instantly gratifying ending. But at least we actually know Halo 3 is coming now. And at least we know that it's going to throw you right into some awesomeness right off the bat. So it's not all bad.
Oh well, in the end, I guess I just enjoyed the gameplay more than the story and didn't get as worked up over a silly sci-fi video game plot as some other people did.
The key means nothing to your objective. The Halos have already been activated, you just merely halted the process temporarily. The covenant extremists are on their way to Earth to activate this Ark. It's why the Prophet actually went to Earth in that big ass ship and didn't bother to monitor the Brute's progress on the Halo ring. He knew he would fail. So he went straight to the source and trigger it himself.
If Halo didn't setup an already great universe with its first game, 2 excellent books which expanded on the origins of the MC and happenings between the first game and the second, and an already hyped up single player game in Halo 2 which was, from what we were told, "a closely guarded secret" by Bungie, none of us would care about the story I suppose. But it's there, and we do.
If Halo didn't setup an already great universe with its first game, 2 excellent books which expanded on the origins of the MC and happenings between the first game and the second, and an already hyped up single player game in Halo 2 which was, from what we were told, "a closely guarded secret" by Bungie, none of us would care about the story I suppose. But it's there, and we do.
lockii said:
Yup - it ends with two of them.
I just beat the game a few minutes ago.
Loved the ending.
How is it different from Halo's ending? In Halo, the story threads to be resolved were the following:
1) The Covenant's motivations were unknown.
2) The Covenant's leaders were shrouded in mystery.
3) The true purpose of Halo was unknown
4) The fate of the Forerunner was unknown
5) The entire Covenant War was left unresolved
Let's see what Halo 2 addressed:
1) Their motivations are largely made clear
2) The leadership and Covenant hierarchy is laid out clearly
3 The purpose of Halo is clear
4) The fate of the Forerunner is resolved
5) The war goes on
There were several plot threads in Halo 2 that are not resolved:
1) The battle for Earth
2) What the fuck does Gravemind plant to ask Contana, and what is she willing to tell?
3) What is the exact nature of Gravemind, and the Flood (though I think it's pretty clear, it's not spelled out)
What this means is there will be a sequel. For that I am happy.
From a purely videogame standpoint, how can you not know that was going to be the end? This huge showdown with a boss, the fate of the universe at stake, tons of shit going down left and right. It was clearly the climax of this chapter.
The game ended right.
I'm going to ignore all other posts in this topic, because it seems largely split into those who love it and those who hate it. I'll pipe in on other topics where a real discussion is going on.
The game rocked so hard - best action game, ever. I've been lusting for this game since I first played Halo, and had expectations of epic proportions.
They were exceeded by a large margin. Brilliant game.
Mike Works
Member
To Bungie's credit, Phil Jackson was, in all likelyhood, too busy coaching the Lakers to get that opportunity.Azih said:
Yeah, this is true; having just finished it 20 minutes ago I think I'm just stuck in initial shock mode. The arbiter is a pretty cool concept; but damnit, I wanted to finish the game as the Master Chief. As far as the last level goes, it was the boss fight. One of my favorite things about Halo 1 was the lack of 'real' boss fights.
Regardless I'll eat my own crow and say that I'm (mostly) being reactionary. I just wish we didn't have a god-knows-how-long wait for episode 3.
What I should have focused more on, in my earlier post, is that hype sucks. I got into the hype, read the books...blah blah. Microsoft marketing +1.
Personally, I really liked the plot. It showed alot of the internal stuff for the covenant and their internal politics, and shed alot of light on their religion. They also did something very important.. they added a second charachter that was a very big gamble that payed off in a very good way... they gave the covenant added intelligence (to the point where they are actually fun to fight, and not just cannon fodder), AND they put the covenant into internal disarray. This is important, because without this internal conflict and potential alliance between the elites, hunters, grunts and humans there is NO WAY that Earth could have survived the covenant in any believable fashion.
As far as the cliffhanger, it sucked, but the reason most people are pissed is because they want to see Chief kill the last prophet.. the thing is, most everyone assumes Chief is GOING to kill him on Earth and stop the countdown. Has anyone considered the possibility that Earth is the ark and not the ship the prophet is on? Considered the possibility that chief DOESNT kill the prophet right off? Everyone is pissed because they assume they know where the story is going, when it could head in a very different direction. We all thought that this game would begin with a full on assault on Earth, and the covenant being turned back by MC leading to an assault on the covenant homeworld by the humans.. the two options to end the story would be to not show MC heading towards Earth, or to do what they did.. either way people are left pissed off. Now, if the prophet of truth is killed 2 hours into Halo 3 and the ark turns out to be his ship and the halo rings are shut down in the second level, than all this bitching will be justified.
Another major problem is people remembering Halo 1 a bit too fondly. The story was far from perfect in it either, but was compelling enough to make you want to get to the next cut scene or get the next bit of info on Halo. I think Halo 2's story works this well also.. there are alot of games that I play where I cringe everytime a cut scene happens. The plot isnt perfect, neither is the gameplay.. but too many people decided that this game was going to be absolutely perfect in every way, were expecting an earth shattering plot that would leave them floored and gameplay without flaw. What you wound up with was a game that was extremely good at most things, but not perfect.. the hype for this game was to the point where NOTHING could live up to it.
As far as the cliffhanger, it sucked, but the reason most people are pissed is because they want to see Chief kill the last prophet.. the thing is, most everyone assumes Chief is GOING to kill him on Earth and stop the countdown. Has anyone considered the possibility that Earth is the ark and not the ship the prophet is on? Considered the possibility that chief DOESNT kill the prophet right off? Everyone is pissed because they assume they know where the story is going, when it could head in a very different direction. We all thought that this game would begin with a full on assault on Earth, and the covenant being turned back by MC leading to an assault on the covenant homeworld by the humans.. the two options to end the story would be to not show MC heading towards Earth, or to do what they did.. either way people are left pissed off. Now, if the prophet of truth is killed 2 hours into Halo 3 and the ark turns out to be his ship and the halo rings are shut down in the second level, than all this bitching will be justified.
Another major problem is people remembering Halo 1 a bit too fondly. The story was far from perfect in it either, but was compelling enough to make you want to get to the next cut scene or get the next bit of info on Halo. I think Halo 2's story works this well also.. there are alot of games that I play where I cringe everytime a cut scene happens. The plot isnt perfect, neither is the gameplay.. but too many people decided that this game was going to be absolutely perfect in every way, were expecting an earth shattering plot that would leave them floored and gameplay without flaw. What you wound up with was a game that was extremely good at most things, but not perfect.. the hype for this game was to the point where NOTHING could live up to it.
hello friends,
this is what happens when geeks who are obsessed with cut-rate sci-fi are allowed to build the stories to their own games without help or boundaries set by editors or other people with editor-like common sense. jj has been recycling this alien vs space marine + warring AI bullshit for years now.
this is what happens when geeks who are obsessed with cut-rate sci-fi are allowed to build the stories to their own games without help or boundaries set by editors or other people with editor-like common sense. jj has been recycling this alien vs space marine + warring AI bullshit for years now.
Hmm... Again, I disagree with this. We didn't build it up, they did. They released the books. They claimed the story would be so secretive and so good. What's wrong with wanting a good story? I just don't get that. So many people in here bitch about Metal Gear's story and yet so many in here are so willing to ignore Halo's. Is it because less emphasis is placed on the plot of Halo 2 that it *can* just be ignored? It just doesn't make any sense to me.
That's what I'm guessing it is as I stated in my previous post. I doubt the prophets would take the ark to Earth where their primary threat lies. I'm betting without a doubt the ark is on the Earth or IS the Earth entirely.
Particle Physicist
between a quark and a baryon
halo never had a good story. it was just a generic aliens hate us.. they are trying to wipe us out.. what will we ever do ? oh, whats that? a sole hero has risen to protect us!!! ---- story.
granted, i havent finished halo2 yet, but.. its pretty clichéd so far.
story sucks.. but the game is still pretty damn fun .
granted, i havent finished halo2 yet, but.. its pretty clichéd so far.
story sucks.. but the game is still pretty damn fun .
So what fps has a better story/setting than Halo?
It's a good enough story for a game, and is reasonably epic and does really makes you feel immersed with the excellent cutscenes.
I don't get what people consider a good story, I can't stand most of the convulted japanese rpg stories that are also very generic. There've been only a few games that have excellent stories and writing, and that is very very rare.
It's a good enough story for a game, and is reasonably epic and does really makes you feel immersed with the excellent cutscenes.
I don't get what people consider a good story, I can't stand most of the convulted japanese rpg stories that are also very generic. There've been only a few games that have excellent stories and writing, and that is very very rare.
I just don't understand why people write off the entire story just because it's a game. I highly doubt so many people would enjoy the first game if there was no purpose behind each level. Just try and imagine the last level of Halo without a time limit. If FPS games were meant to be nothing but generic games where you go through level by level shooting things, then Doom 3 would have gotten far more love then it did.
The Faceless Master
Member
i liked the ending because for some reason, i like well placed cliffhangers...
but after reading all the complaints, i LOVE the ending.. suck it down bitches... return the game if you don't like it! :lol :lol :lol
but after reading all the complaints, i LOVE the ending.. suck it down bitches... return the game if you don't like it! :lol :lol :lol
Exactly Ghost..
the story did something pretty good IMO.. it went from Generic aliens wanting to kill us for who knows what reason, to cult like aliens wanting to kill us because we stand in the way of their salvation. If Earth is in fact the 'ark', which I imagine it is, the entire plot will have just gotten a whole lot stronger in general.
In either case, the story in the first game nor this one are top notch Sci-fi, but both are compelling enough and create enough interest to carry you from level to level, and give you some purpose to the objectives.. the story is not strong enough to carry the game, but luckily the game does a good job of carrying itself.
Its not like we are talking about a plot failure on the level of Matrix reloaded, or anything as contrived as MGS2. Hell, people here are complaining about a lack of plot twists and the story being too straightforward, which is certainly not the main complaint leveled against MGS2s story. The only semblance to MGS2 is the control of another character, but the Arbiter is most definitely not Raiden.. not to mention the plot isnt thrown in your face via 30 minute long codec conversations in Halo 2.. much of the plot is revealed during gameplay, and the cut scenes are short and to the point. So even if you hate the story, its not in your face every 10 seconds like MGS2. I can see the plot being disappointing, and the ending in particular being aggravating but its not like its a complete cluster fuck of epic proportions.
the story did something pretty good IMO.. it went from Generic aliens wanting to kill us for who knows what reason, to cult like aliens wanting to kill us because we stand in the way of their salvation. If Earth is in fact the 'ark', which I imagine it is, the entire plot will have just gotten a whole lot stronger in general.
In either case, the story in the first game nor this one are top notch Sci-fi, but both are compelling enough and create enough interest to carry you from level to level, and give you some purpose to the objectives.. the story is not strong enough to carry the game, but luckily the game does a good job of carrying itself.
Its not like we are talking about a plot failure on the level of Matrix reloaded, or anything as contrived as MGS2. Hell, people here are complaining about a lack of plot twists and the story being too straightforward, which is certainly not the main complaint leveled against MGS2s story. The only semblance to MGS2 is the control of another character, but the Arbiter is most definitely not Raiden.. not to mention the plot isnt thrown in your face via 30 minute long codec conversations in Halo 2.. much of the plot is revealed during gameplay, and the cut scenes are short and to the point. So even if you hate the story, its not in your face every 10 seconds like MGS2. I can see the plot being disappointing, and the ending in particular being aggravating but its not like its a complete cluster fuck of epic proportions.
I initially compared the ending of Halo 2 to the Matrix 2 for a reason. Because they are both dramatic "ha ha, we just decided to end it here, come back in X number of months for the rest" type of endings, and because, I believe Halo 3 will be out in a fairly short amount of time.
Anyone who thinks MS will launch X-Box 2 without Halo 3 is kidding themselves. It's possible, BUT NOT VERY DAMN LIKELY. EGM had in the rumor section this month that the next Halo might be coming sooner than we expect. The EGM rumor page isn't exactly a reliable source, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's probably going on. Cliffhanger Halo 2 ending + X-Box 2 fall 2005 = Halo 3. And I bet it's only a matter of time before Bungie tries to play off the ending like they were intending to create this kind of reaction.
Also, I just want to say that too much emphasis has been put on the cliffhanger ending in this thread. That's not all I was referring to. The story starts out great, where you think the battle is immediately headed for Earth and this is going to be a personal thing. And then about 2 levels later, you begin a rehash of the first game on a different Halo. Whoopie damn doo. Honestly, because the whole "let's redo the first game all over again" plot thread was just wrapping up [at the point the game ends], I really thought Halo 2 was just getting started and the real story was about to begin when the credits started rolling. THAT'S why I'm pissed I paid $55.
Anyone who thinks MS will launch X-Box 2 without Halo 3 is kidding themselves. It's possible, BUT NOT VERY DAMN LIKELY. EGM had in the rumor section this month that the next Halo might be coming sooner than we expect. The EGM rumor page isn't exactly a reliable source, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's probably going on. Cliffhanger Halo 2 ending + X-Box 2 fall 2005 = Halo 3. And I bet it's only a matter of time before Bungie tries to play off the ending like they were intending to create this kind of reaction.
Also, I just want to say that too much emphasis has been put on the cliffhanger ending in this thread. That's not all I was referring to. The story starts out great, where you think the battle is immediately headed for Earth and this is going to be a personal thing. And then about 2 levels later, you begin a rehash of the first game on a different Halo. Whoopie damn doo. Honestly, because the whole "let's redo the first game all over again" plot thread was just wrapping up [at the point the game ends], I really thought Halo 2 was just getting started and the real story was about to begin when the credits started rolling. THAT'S why I'm pissed I paid $55.
Man. I'm really surprised at the inability for some of you to articulate exactly why the ending of Halo is disappointing. Cliffhangers are cool. Kill Bill had a cliffhanger. Empire Strikes Back Had a cliffhanger.
The difference is with Halo the story didn't crescendo. There wasnt a big swell in action; things didn't start to build to a fever pitch... it just stopped. The game just stopped and the special edition DVD tells you why.
The game was supposed to "Start on earth, go into space, then return to earth for a final battle" but they realized that they had to make some big cuts. One of those was the real ending of the game. They basically chopped off the entire last few levels of the game.
The game is outstanding in so many ways, I still say it's the game of the year, and I absolutely love playing it, but the ending is really bad.
The difference is with Halo the story didn't crescendo. There wasnt a big swell in action; things didn't start to build to a fever pitch... it just stopped. The game just stopped and the special edition DVD tells you why.
The game was supposed to "Start on earth, go into space, then return to earth for a final battle" but they realized that they had to make some big cuts. One of those was the real ending of the game. They basically chopped off the entire last few levels of the game.
The game is outstanding in so many ways, I still say it's the game of the year, and I absolutely love playing it, but the ending is really bad.
but it really wasnt halo 1 all over again.. the flood are not the same and were trying to work with Chief and the Arbiter (only to screw them), you had all the internal conflict which lead to a civil war within the Covenant. You had the humans and elites becoming allies to stop the prophets, and there was the whole kidnapping angle.. plus Halo wasnt being set off to try and kill the flood, it was being set off for religous reasons and by a different group of people.
other than the fact that there was a Halo in the game and someone was trying to set it off there is very little semblence.. plus you did have a battle on Earth and the trip back to the original Halo. There was a similarity to the first game, I will give you that.. but there was alot more going on.. and lets face it, if there wasnt a Halo in this game, people would have been pissed.
other than the fact that there was a Halo in the game and someone was trying to set it off there is very little semblence.. plus you did have a battle on Earth and the trip back to the original Halo. There was a similarity to the first game, I will give you that.. but there was alot more going on.. and lets face it, if there wasnt a Halo in this game, people would have been pissed.