Just finished it in 3 hours 58 min it would have been shorter but i guess i was moving too fast and the game kept me in some rooms in the house of reckoning for like 5 minutes each before unlocking the doors. also my audio broke maybe cause i kept skipping the cutscenes so only the sounds that worked were on the pause menu would work until i restarted my xbox
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thank you for reinforcing my point that this game tells us the story instead of showing it
the opening cutscene is lasky telling us what has been happening. also the game has117 audio logs telling us what happened in each of the levels, instead of CEA, H2A, and H4âs animated terminals thatâs show us on a side note i miss the art style of those terminals
didi it? all i remember is Cortana telling us we would be doing truth a favor
the only mention of reach was keys asking Cortana how did the covenant track them all the way from reach.
Iâve just finished the story. I see youâve added the spoiler tags - thank you for that (for posterity), and I apologize on my end; I should have been more clear that I wasnât done with the Campaign.
But wow.
I have to completely and fully disagree, that was an amazing story. Anything that can immediately make me feel so much pity for the Jiralhanae is so far from a bad story. Was there a cliffhanger? Most certainly. But what we got was definitely a story. Now, I will admit, I am not crazy about Cortanaâs off-screen death. It was still very touching. However there was quite a bit of depth to what we got.
I remember it being spoken of before, elsewhere, questioning why Atriox suddenly seemed to detest Humans, and permit the Banished to wage this war. We got the startling answer; the complete destruction of Doisac at the hands of Cortana, a Human construct. I myself wondered why Atriox attacked the Infinity, and by the end it made sense; he âkilledâ the Master Chief to wound Cortana. The Banished wished to take control of the Ring as not only a new home, but as a means to release the Xalanyn; a goal Atriox gained after learning further of the lies of the Forerunners.
It was worded best by the Weapon (who I suspect will take the name Cortana) that the Jiralhanae have nothing left to lose. Such is the terms of this war; an enemy who wishes to make humanity bleed for loosing the Created on the galaxy, and resulting in the complete annihilation of Dosiac and all 12.5 billion Jiralhanae.
We learned as well of massive losses to the UNSC; HIGHCOM in Sydney, as well as Laconia Station and all 75 Spartans aboard. As well, with losses, we see John continue to struggle with the loss of Cortana, having been beaten by self-blame into the stoic loner again, and progressing to learn to trust his fellow soldiers and AI again.
The story can be summarized as a vie for power. The Banished seek to control the Ring, and having nothing left to lose release an ancient power that promises to give it to them. A power that seeks to rebuild the ring and free her own people, and shatter the Forerunnerâs lies. Opposing this, the Master Chief fights to regain a UNSC foothold on the Ring, discover why the Weapon was not deleted as intended, and stop the Banished from unleashing war on the Galaxy.
Contrasting this, with the example of Halo: Combat Evolved, it can be summarized as brief discovery. And I donât mean that dismissively, there is just not a lot there to begin with. The UNSC finds Halo, and following a brief battle crash land on the Ring. The mission becomes Gather UNSC forces, finding out that Halo is a Superweapon, and deny the Covenant control of it. Then itâs discovered that Halo kills all life in the Galaxy (inexplicably, at that point), and so it is destroyed, leaving the Chief stranded in space. âFind Ring, Find out about Ring, Destroy Ring.â
That is a very fair criticism, and I found myself wondering the same. At the very least he should have suffocated, as the MJOLNIR systems canât supply that much oxygen. Halo is no stranger to oddities like that, and I donât know if itâll ever be explained.
Itâs factually not. Especially if youâre measuring it by speed running it.
Yes, the âCardinal Sinâ that you mention, while still ignoring that almost every single Halo game has done this. As I continued to state: To consider this as âdetracting from the gameplayâ puts having to hunt down the Halo novels to figure out what the hell is going on in Halo: CE and Halo 2 under the exact same scrutiny and criticism. One cannot be criticized and the other pardoned; they are the same.
What has been happening elsewhere, not quite things that are happening strongly relevant to the plot at that point. Showing that would have spoiled the mystery of just what was happening at those destruction sites. Osiris isnât there at that moment to figure out whatâs happening; Osiris is there to extract Dr. Halsey, who contacted the UNSC after those events.
After reading transmissions talking about sparing Regret a âpublic display of their contemptâ for his singular action, indicating Regretâs ambition and willingness to act independently of the other Hierarchs, and Truthâs desire to eliminate him, barely kept in check by Mercy.
And? What is Reach? Why was it so important, and why did the Pillar of Autumn have to make a random jump from it? Yes, Halo: CE only mentions Reach in that one line, yet itâs another instance of us being told something, rather than shown something. In fact, weâre told about the importance of Reach for nine years before we ever get to be shown it. (And no, I donât consider one brief scene of the Autumn fleeing a burning planet truly being shown the Fall of Reach.)
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if atriox is such a brilliant military leader you would think that he would understand the old adage of âthe enemy of my enemy is my friend.â he had to of known the UNSC was in the same predicament as he was, fighting a losing war with the created. why not make alliance instead of earning their (UNSC) ire. that plot point makes no sense what so ever and is one of the major flaws in this game
pity? for brutes? WTF they eat humans (so do grunts and jackals BTW), they are monsters that deserve no mercy. I was actually happy when we saw Cortana destroy their home world and rather disappointed she didnât get them all. Well more work for the chief I guess.
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The campaign has some issues, but overall its so much fun. The story overall is great, and I especially love that they have every style of enemy, from Halo 1 to Halo 5. I canât believe how much fun I had in my first play through, and I canât believe Iâm having just as much fun after beating the game, and immediately starting a legendary playthrough. They need to release DLC for the campaign, I canât wait.
Iâve never enjoyed reading such a long wall of text until now. You literally hit every point spot on.
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If you understood more of the story, how during the Peak of the Covenants reign, while the Banished were in power, they did not attack humanity as they saw no need to or viewed them as a threat. It was only until Atriox defied following a false god (Cortana) that the AI humanity created destroyed their home world. Itâs a really clever premise when you just think about it for a second
Amazing writeup btw, just had to chime in and say that dude. Made some really good points!
Ergo, his alliance with the Harbinger. I am more than certain that Atriox knew well that the UNSC - as with most of the galaxy - was in a very rough spot. However, as he also knew well, the UNSC ideologically and militarily opposed him in everything. There was no peace to be had, not even with the Created threat, which was above all Humanityâs fault. Fault that resulted in the complete destruction of Doisac and a significant blow to his species. (Additionally, the Spoiler function is there, USE IT. Especially for such a big spoiler.)
Atrioxâs actions make perfect sense. His new hatred of Humanity is justified. His refusal to parley with the UNSC is understandable.
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Please stop being so toxic by telling me Iâm stupid without actually saying it, in every thread you tell me âyou dont understandâ or âyou dont get itâ . Iâm starting to think your paid to to promote this game as thatâs how you respond to all of my negative criticism.
Once again i understand the story and no its not clever its pathetic. whoever made this convoluted mess of characters and plot twists never read the art of war (this is a game about war after all). The brutes were weakened severely by their defeat at the hands of Cortana, they should have formed an alliance with the UNSC against their common enemy (the created) and once that enemy was defeated then they should have broken their alliance and made war on the UNSC (it would have made for a much better story that way). But no they just decided to go straight for revenge on the âcreatedâsâ creators. Its weak, and makes no sense. Itâs like going to a car dealership after you pick up a nail and saying they sold you a car with faulty tires. Iâd expect something like this in COD not Halo.
As far as i can tell atriox just wanted a new enemy for the banished (terrible name BTW like seriously youâd think that theyâd come up with a better name for themselves, The Banished sounds like a failed 80âs metal band) to fight now that the covenant and the created (343 might as well have ret-conned all of H5) are defeated.
that begs the question why didnât they form an alliance with the UNSC to defeat the covenant, the answer is they are cowards who hide from their enemies and only prey on those weaker than them.
halo wars stuff has never been cannon in the main line shooter maybe in the EU (iâm only now trying to catchup on the EU and Iâm halfway through Broken Circle) it is, but this game is 343 trying to tie the two together and oil and water dont mix. at least we had a reason to fight the covenant, but 343 had to come up with a new enemy because all of the backlash they got from H4 and H5âs Prometheans so here we are fighting the covenant 2.0 who has 0 motives to fight us other than revenge for something the UNSC didnât even do.
I want, really, really want to like this game but I cant from its poor writing (move Staten from creative director to Creative writer) poor game play, and drab bland open world I just canât
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Please, do explain this.
Well at least we can agree on something
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I thoroughly enjoyed it as well. I thought they masterfully wrapped up some of the major narrative beats from Halo 5 yet still included them thoroughly and purposefully left some to be continued on in this new narrative arc we find ourselves.
I also really love that they continued to lean into the themes set by Halo 4 but did this and the above encapsulated in the âHalo feelâ of Halo CE-Reach that the vocal portions of our community regularly requested.
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i didnât spoil anything, its the opening cutscene, and all of halo wars 2, oh wait you mean destroy the planet well no one cares about the brutes, I actually cheered when I saw her do that.
and no if weâre all here talking about the campaign i can only assume by now all of the people reading this thread have already beaten it or watched it on youtube.
Well, thatâs thoroughly rude and assumptive.
And you still havenât explained your quip about The Art of War.
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Firstly, Iâm glad that you enjoyed the Campaign despite my error.
Secondly, I completely disagree. XD
Okay, so, sympathy for the Brutes. Yeeaah, I didnât really feel much. Before that scene, I didnât know what their planet was even called. Weâve never been there, and we donât know any characters from the planet particularly well. Until I just read the population, thereâs absolutely no detail in the game that says that, nor if they have any colonies. The best known Brutes are Tartarus, Atriox, and Escharum, and I only have interest in two of them. One of them is dead. As much as I knew at that point, both were dead. Without any ties to the planet, sure, I could feel somewhat bad, but I didnât really care. It wasnât Earth, Reach, or Sanghelios. I cared as much as I did when Lasky told Osiris a bunch of Human colonies went dark (which was later known to be as a result of the Guardians), because I hadnât seen them either. In both cases, thereâs just no attachment.
I couldâve sworn it was 50 Spartans lost on the station (just played through that section again while completing the game on Legendary in 8 hours), but again, I didnât know any of them. If it was Osiris, I would have cared somewhat, and if it was Blue Team or Red Team (still have no idea where they are), then I would have definitely cared. But 50/75 unknown Spartan IVs? I donât even know how many Spartan IVs there are â I think a few hundred.
EDIT: Escharum says 50, but then Cortana says 76 later on.
My biggest problem is that the story youâve described is simply a premise. We havenât played that story yet, so how can I enjoy it? Iâm definitely curious to learn more, and see more, but with whatâs there? Itâs just a prologue. I havenât waited 6 years for a prologue, which also disregards the previous three games. I understand for 5, and somewhat for 4, but for Halo Wars 2? I canât accept that. Iâm sure answers will come, but they arenât here now. If anything, all the interesting parts seemed to happen while Chief was unconscious in space for 6 months, or prior to the battle above the Ring. Infinite is just the level Halo, with some promises of a story later down the line with an expansion.
Land on Ring. Find out about Ring. Stop Ring being rebuilt. See, I really donât get what you mean. You can simplify nearly any story, if you really wanted to. Halo 3 becomes: find Ark; find Cortana; destroy Covenant and Flood. Heck, most Harry Potter stories become: go to Hogwarts; learn magic; stop Voldermort. Halo CE is simple, and so is Infinite, but CE was a complete story. This isnât. Like Iâve said, this is just a prologue that promises a good story. But until we get it, we donât have anything else to judge. I didnât have any interest for Escherum, nor any of the Spartan Killers/Lieutenants â just as is mostly the case for the Covenant in CE. I didnât come to care for the Covenant until we saw their side through the Arbiter in Halo 2. Without the connection, Iâm being told to care, which is definitely an element lost in Halo 3 by comparison. In fact, since Halo 2, thereâs been barely any insight into the enemy faction. Itâs partially why I found Halo Wars 2 to be a breath of fresh air.
However, or thirdly, I completely agree about Chief and the Weapon. I thought they were done well, and I appreciated this look at Chief. Itâs a better follow-up to Halo 4 than 5, as he was just soâŚstoic, despite being around those he would consider family (Fred, Kelly, and Linda) â even though Chief was the best part about Halo 5 too. It feels consistent, and his lack of faith is a direct consequence of prior events with Cortana. Itâs the only solid through-line that connects all three games. With everyone else missing, that canât be too surprising.
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That wouldâve made for a very boring game mate.
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He listed off a bunch of points about the story that doesnât make sense to him. They made it pretty clear in the story the Banished motivations for attacking humanity. Seems to have flown over peoples head.
Man I wanted to drop a message like this, just to say that, regardless of the criticism, this game is amazing and has been and will be for the coming years, a go to for multiplayer and single player fun. Thank you!