343i comitted a huge mistake

Games Other Halo
1

…by naming the Storm as the Covenant.

Recently, I’ve been playing Halo 4 for a while. As you may know (or not) I stopped from playing Halo 4 months ago. I didn’t understand anything about the new Halo story so I started to learn about it by reading the new novels and reading the Halo Wiki. A few weeks ago, thanks to DecepticonCobra, I found that the “Covenant” fought in Halo 4 is NOT the actual Reach-3 Covenant. Probably many of you already know that, but for me, a HUGE Halo fan who created this franchise since its roots, it was just so confusing at the beginning. When the first Elite attacked me in Halo 4, I was so freaking disappointed because I thought 343i gave a -Yoink- about the mankind-Elite truce, but when I knew all this, I understood right away.

My point is: many people got confused with this lack of explanation from 343i. They should’ve included a video or terminal showing that the Storm are not the same Covenant, but a new faction created by Jul’ Mdama, the Hand of Didact. This is one of the main reasons why I hated Halo 4’s campaign, but now, I’m starting to like it since 343i’s Frank O’Connor already hinted something about the Arbiter for Halo 5.

343i committed a lot of mistakes, but this one is unfogivable in campaign terms. They did too many things to the Halo lore in less than two years, that encouraged fans to read other stuff rather than playing the games itselves. I’m starting to lose my hope, but I know Halo is no longer about the Great Journey or about actual Halo rings.

2

> …by naming the Storm as the Covenant

Well… Luckily for 343, they aren’t called the Storm.

3

> > …by naming the Storm as the Covenant
>
> Well… Luckily for 343, they aren’t called the Storm.

What do you mean? Explain me!

4

It’s just one more of a series of huge mistakes 343 made while making Halo 4.

I don’t mind reading book based on good source material. I read every Halo book up until the Ghosts Of Onyx. I enjoyed them. I enjoyed the story of the Halo games and enjoyed the books since they increased background depth of the halo universe.

However, I should not have to read outside material in order to be explained main plot elements.

Then 343 made another mistake by making terminal videos accessible through Waypoint only. Which means in order to further the plot of the game the player is forced to shut the game down, boot up an outside website service and then watch the videos there. To add insult to injury, Waypoint was suffering issues at the release of Halo 4 and I couldn’t even watch the terminal videos I had found in game. So I watched them on youtube.

I see this inter-connectivity forced upon us by 343 as a result of market pressures to push outside media influences into areas they haven’t previously reached.

Personally, I found this encroachment irritating.

Soon enough were going to have to sign up for Twitter feeds to hear the UNSC real-time response to the ongoing issues prevalent in Halo 5. But that is only after you LIKE Halo 5 on Facebook so you can be spoon fed Tag-Lines from the marketing folks at Mountain Dew.

I digress.

Keep it simple. That is what 343 failed to do in their newest game.

Heck, they failed at making a game where the entire plot actually unfolds while playing the very game you paid for! You have to go out and buy subsidiary material just so the Diadact doesn’t come off as some corny saturday morning cartoon bad guy, “Humannzzz are Bad. I kill you nowwwwwwwwww!”

TL:DR 343 fails at game making because they force you to go outside the game in order to further their game’s main plot.

5

The reason for the lack of explanation is simple: Chief has been unconscious for 4 years, 7 months, and 10 days … you play as Master Chief; you know as much as he does and you learn along the way just as he and Cortana do.
He knows about the truce. He doesn’t know about the Covenant Remnant (Storm Covenant), He doesn’t know about the Spartan IV program … he knows nothing since the end of Halo 3. And neither do you.
They never give a grand laying out of the full story or a recap … Chief presumably got that during his debrief, and more is explained in the books and comics (343 really wanted to integrate the games with other mediums.)
More will be explained in the next installment and I’m sure even more questions will be brought up and left unanswered to keep us interested in the franchise.

In the original trilogy, in every game, there is always a scene where someone gets to explain the Halos (“They’re weapons … they don’t kill flood they kill their food … the rings will kill us all”) and it always seems out of place that the characters keep having to stop and explain this when they already know it, but it’s for the gamer to make sure they’re up to snuff on the details. 343 played it more like a TV drama where every little detail is crucial to understanding the story. Miss one line of dialog and you may be in the dark.
Halo 4’s story is a puzzle you have to piece together yourself. They aren’t doing it for you this time.
And again, Chief was just as confused as you were when he was attacked by that Elite, and that was intentional.

6

> It’s just one more of a series of huge mistakes 343 made while making Halo 4.
>
> I don’t mind reading book based on good source material. I read every Halo book up until the Ghosts Of Onyx. I enjoyed them. I enjoyed the story of the Halo games and enjoyed the books since they increased background depth of the halo universe.
>
> However, I should not have to read outside material in order to be explained main plot elements.
>
> Then 343 made another mistake by making terminal videos accessible through Waypoint only. Which means in order to further the plot of the game the player is forced to shut the game down, boot up an outside website service and then watch the videos there. To add insult to injury, Waypoint was suffering issues at the release of Halo 4 and I couldn’t even watch the terminal videos I had found in game. So I watched them on youtube.
>
> I see this inter-connectivity forced upon us by 343 as a result of market pressures to push outside media influences into areas they haven’t previously reached.
>
> Personally, I found this encroachment irritating.
>
> Soon enough were going to have to sign up for Twitter feeds to hear the UNSC real-time response to the ongoing issues prevalent in Halo 5. But that is only after you LIKE Halo 5 on Facebook so you can be spoon fed Tag-Lines from the marketing folks at Mountain Dew.
>
> I digress.
>
> Keep it simple. That is what 343 failed to do in their newest game.
>
> Heck, they failed at making a game where the entire plot actually unfolds while playing the very game you paid for! You have to go out and buy subsidiary material just so the Diadact doesn’t come off as some corny saturday morning cartoon bad guy, “Humannzzz are Bad. I kill you nowwwwwwwwww!”
>
> TL:DR 343 fails at game making because they force you to go outside the game in order to further their game’s main plot.

You do realize that in Combat Evolved it is never explained why Humanity is at war with the Covenant?
And that Cortana mentions “Reach” without any context … she doesn’t even tell you what it is. I didn’t know if was a planet until I read the book.
So … by your reasoning, Bungie also fails at making games by forcing the player to seek outside source material to fully understand the story.
Right?
And like I said above … Halo 4’s intention was for the player to be as clueless as Chief after his long nap and it’s up to you to piece the story together.

I do agree on the Waypoint thing though … it’s a bit overkill.

7

> > It’s just one more of a series of huge mistakes 343 made while making Halo 4.
> >
> > I don’t mind reading book based on good source material. I read every Halo book up until the Ghosts Of Onyx. I enjoyed them. I enjoyed the story of the Halo games and enjoyed the books since they increased background depth of the halo universe.
> >
> > However, I should not have to read outside material in order to be explained main plot elements.
> >
> > Then 343 made another mistake by making terminal videos accessible through Waypoint only. Which means in order to further the plot of the game the player is forced to shut the game down, boot up an outside website service and then watch the videos there. To add insult to injury, Waypoint was suffering issues at the release of Halo 4 and I couldn’t even watch the terminal videos I had found in game. So I watched them on youtube.
> >
> > I see this inter-connectivity forced upon us by 343 as a result of market pressures to push outside media influences into areas they haven’t previously reached.
> >
> > Personally, I found this encroachment irritating.
> >
> > Soon enough were going to have to sign up for Twitter feeds to hear the UNSC real-time response to the ongoing issues prevalent in Halo 5. But that is only after you LIKE Halo 5 on Facebook so you can be spoon fed Tag-Lines from the marketing folks at Mountain Dew.
> >
> > I digress.
> >
> > Keep it simple. That is what 343 failed to do in their newest game.
> >
> > Heck, they failed at making a game where the entire plot actually unfolds while playing the very game you paid for! You have to go out and buy subsidiary material just so the Diadact doesn’t come off as some corny saturday morning cartoon bad guy, “Humannzzz are Bad. I kill you nowwwwwwwwww!”
> >
> > TL:DR 343 fails at game making because they force you to go outside the game in order to further their game’s main plot.
>
> You do realize that in Combat Evolved it is never explained why Humanity is at war with the Covenant?
> And that Cortana mentions “Reach” without any context … she doesn’t even tell you what it is. I didn’t know if was a planet until I read the book.
> So … by your reasoning, Bungie also fails at making games by forcing the player to seek outside source material to fully understand the story.
> Right?
> And like I said above … Halo 4’s intention was for the player to be as clueless as Chief after his long nap and it’s up to you to piece the story together.
>
> And I believe having everything accessed through Waypoint was probably not 343’s call, but Micrsoft’s in order to sell more Windows 8 phones and tablets (looking at you, Spartan Assault)

In Halo:CE you can ascertain EVERY single plot point from the main story itself. From the description of the Covenant’s actions through Cortana you can begin to see the psyche of the Covenant unfold throughout the game.

At the end of Halo:CE you had a full understanding of the story from the Covenant to the Flood. Some things, like the Forerunners, were kept in secrecy due to the lack of explanation available to the players and to keep some mystery involved.

However, I was not forced into reading outside exposition through some other media to understand all the involved parties in Halo:CE and what their drives and goals were.

8

> The reason for the lack of explanation is simple: Chief has been unconscious for 4 years, 7 months, and 10 days … you play as Master Chief; you know as much as he does and you learn along the way just as he and Cortana do.
> He knows about the truce. He doesn’t know about the Covenant Remnant (Storm Covenant), He doesn’t know about the Spartan IV program … he knows nothing since the end of Halo 3. And neither do you.
> They never give a grand laying out of the full story or a recap … Chief presumably got that during his debrief, and more is explained in the books and comics (343 really wanted to integrate the games with other mediums.)
> More will be explained in the next installment and I’m sure even more questions will be brought up and left unanswered to keep us interested in the franchise.
>
> In the original trilogy, in every game, there is always a scene where someone gets to explain the Halos (“They’re weapons … they don’t kill flood they kill their food … the rings will kill us all”) and it always seems out of place that the characters keep having to stop and explain this when they already know it, but it’s for the gamer to make sure they’re up to snuff on the details. 343 played it more like a TV drama where every little detail is crucial to understanding the story. Miss one line of dialog and you may be in the dark.
> <mark>Halo 4’s story is a puzzle you have to piece together yourself. They aren’t doing it for you this time.</mark>
> And again, Chief was just as confused as you were when he was attacked by that Elite, and that was intentional.

Pal, I don’t mind a bit of legwork ingame to shore up plot points. But when the main villian’s explanation besides, “He hates humans…RAAWWRR!” come in the form of a 45$ book trilogy, that is just ridiculous.

It doesn’t matter if Chief had been in stasis for 400 years or not at all. He could have arrived on the infinity just like the rest of the humans in Halo 4.

Would it have affected the story AT ALL? Besides having to do a little story editing changing chief arriving in his wrecked ship to him doing the first scouting mission on the new planet?

9

> It’s just one more of a series of huge mistakes 343 made while making Halo 4.
>
> I don’t mind reading book based on good source material. I read every Halo book up until the Ghosts Of Onyx. I enjoyed them. I enjoyed the story of the Halo games and enjoyed the books since they increased background depth of the halo universe.
>
> However, I should not have to read outside material in order to be explained main plot elements.
>
> Then 343 made another mistake by making terminal videos accessible through Waypoint only. Which means in order to further the plot of the game the player is forced to shut the game down, boot up an outside website service and then watch the videos there. To add insult to injury, Waypoint was suffering issues at the release of Halo 4 and I couldn’t even watch the terminal videos I had found in game. So I watched them on youtube.
>
> I see this inter-connectivity forced upon us by 343 as a result of market pressures to push outside media influences into areas they haven’t previously reached.
>
> Personally, I found this encroachment irritating.
>
> Soon enough were going to have to sign up for Twitter feeds to hear the UNSC real-time response to the ongoing issues prevalent in Halo 5. But that is only after you LIKE Halo 5 on Facebook so you can be spoon fed Tag-Lines from the marketing folks at Mountain Dew.
>
> I digress.
>
> Keep it simple. That is what 343 failed to do in their newest game.
>
> Heck, they failed at making a game where the entire plot actually unfolds while playing the very game you paid for! You have to go out and buy subsidiary material just so the Diadact doesn’t come off as some corny saturday morning cartoon bad guy, “Humannzzz are Bad. I kill you nowwwwwwwwww!”
>
> TL:DR 343 fails at game making because they force you to go outside the game in order to further their game’s main plot.

To be fair, the Covenant in Halo 4 aren’t that integral to the main plot. They are entirely an annoyance to the Chief while he is awakened by and then tricked into freeing the Didact. His main objective is first escape and then to stop the Didact. So Halo 4 is essentially Master Chief against the Didact and the Covenant are just along for a ride - the Didact’s personal troops, in the end. I would also just like to point out that the only reason the Covenant continuity even bugs you is because you have already enjoyed material ancillary to the Halo 4 campaign in playing Halo: Reach through Halo 3. To players who are fresh to the franchise, the appearance of the Covenant is easily be explained by that one line Cortana says. What was it; “A lot can happen in four years”? That line is enough for players who aren’t thinking, “I thought I defeated these guys four years ago”.

But I realize that’s unfair to previous players. So I agree that they should have been explained better and were definitely mishandled.

10

The Didact is in Halo 3 you know. And the Librarian. I’ve known about them since 2007 and I’ve only read Fall of Reach.

Also, they are making more Halo games. Each game like a new season of a TV drama. There are always questions left unanswered; it’s open-ended for a reason.

Oh, and they want to trick you into buying other Halo things by not giving you the full story. I mean, this is Microsoft we’re talking about.

11

> It’s just one more of a series of huge mistakes 343 made while making Halo 4.
>
> I don’t mind reading book based on good source material. I read every Halo book up until the Ghosts Of Onyx. I enjoyed them. I enjoyed the story of the Halo games and enjoyed the books since they increased background depth of the halo universe.
>
> However, <mark>I should not have to read outside material in order to be explained main plot elements.</mark>

This!

> The reason for the lack of explanation is simple: Chief has been unconscious for 4 years, 7 months, and 10 days … you play as Master Chief; you know as much as he does and you learn along the way just as he and Cortana do.

That’s no excuse. People buy Halo games to learn about the story, to play the multiplayer and 343i does everything wrong. If Halo would be some kind of book series, I believe you so, but this is a videogame franchise. If 343i will make games irrelevant to the Halo main story, then they should stop from developing games at all.

But of course, Halo prints money, right?. 343i doesn’t care about this kind of rants from players that have been there since their studio even existed in the very frist place.

12

> > It’s just one more of a series of huge mistakes 343 made while making Halo 4.
> >
> > I don’t mind reading book based on good source material. I read every Halo book up until the Ghosts Of Onyx. I enjoyed them. I enjoyed the story of the Halo games and enjoyed the books since they increased background depth of the halo universe.
> >
> > However, <mark>I should not have to read outside material in order to be explained main plot elements.</mark>
>
> This!
>
>
>
> > The reason for the lack of explanation is simple: Chief has been unconscious for 4 years, 7 months, and 10 days … you play as Master Chief; you know as much as he does and you learn along the way just as he and Cortana do.
>
> That’s no excuse. People buy Halo games to learn about the story, to play the multiplayer and 343i does everything wrong. If Halo would be some kind of book series, I believe you so, but this is a videogame franchise. If 343i will make games irrelevant to the Halo main story, then they should stop from developing games at all.

Irrelevant is a bit of a stretch, don’t you think? Requiem, the Didact, and the Librarian were all in Halo 3. Just because they dropped the ball on explaining the Covenant Remnant doesn’t make the game irrelevant to Halo. Yeah, it was confusing, but we all figured it out and I’m pretty sure (hopefully) that 343 learned from their mistakes.

13

Also, the games are not separate from the entire Halo Universe. That Universe exists in the games, graphic novels, short films like “The Mona Lisa”, the books, Movies, et all.
And that Universe continues to grow and is constantly devoured by dedicated fans who want to learn more and be a part of it. And the company that is in charge of the entire Franchise and the Entire Halo Universe shouldn’t have to pander to and release dumbed-down games that are completely lacking in all the substantial and relevant subject matter that is Halo just so they can lay out a simple story so people’s brains don’t hurt … I mean, they have to, to an extent anyway, but fans for years have been wanting that Universe expanded, not limited.
Most of the Halo universe now exists outside of the games. So much has taken place in the books (which out number the games, by the way) that it wouldn’t make sense to not mesh the two.

And going cross-media is a great way to make bank, of course. Why the hell else do you think they make video games?

14

I freaked out when the elite attacked me to. Once I finished the campaign I immediately dove into the forums and wikis to figure out why we were fighting the covenant. Once I learned it was just a small group who still believe in the Prophets and Great Journey I calmed down a bit but they really should have given us some explanation why we were fighting the covenant instead of just having an elite try to kill us at the elevator shaft.

15

> > > …by naming the Storm as the Covenant
> >
> > Well… Luckily for 343, they aren’t called the Storm.
>
> What do you mean? Explain me!

The name “Storm Covenant” was accidentally written in the description for the first series of Halo 4 action figures which included an Elite Zealot and a ‘Storm’ Grunt by journalists that weren’t a part of 343i and therefore weren’t given clear directions on what to write. However, given that the “Storm” didn’t have an official name at the time, the name “Storm Covenant” stuck.

The official name for the Covenant faced in Halo 4 is Covenant Remnant, or Covenant Cultists. Both will work.

16

> > > It’s just one more of a series of huge mistakes 343 made while making Halo 4.
> > >
> > > I don’t mind reading book based on good source material. I read every Halo book up until the Ghosts Of Onyx. I enjoyed them. I enjoyed the story of the Halo games and enjoyed the books since they increased background depth of the halo universe.
> > >
> > > However, <mark>I should not have to read outside material in order to be explained main plot elements.</mark>
> >
> > This!
> >
> >
> >
> > > The reason for the lack of explanation is simple: Chief has been unconscious for 4 years, 7 months, and 10 days … you play as Master Chief; you know as much as he does and you learn along the way just as he and Cortana do.
> >
> > That’s no excuse. People buy Halo games to learn about the story, to play the multiplayer and 343i does everything wrong. If Halo would be some kind of book series, I believe you so, but this is a videogame franchise. If 343i will make games irrelevant to the Halo main story, then they should stop from developing games at all.
>
> Irrelevant is a bit of a stretch, don’t you think? Requiem, the Didact, and the Librarian were all in Halo 3. Just because they dropped the ball on explaining the Covenant Remnant doesn’t make the game irrelevant to Halo. Yeah, it was confusing, but we all figured it out and I’m pretty sure (hopefully) that 343 learned from their mistakes.

By the way, the Didact seen in the Halo 3 terminals is not the Didact that was in Halo 4. They are two different individuals. (Which ironically makes things harder to understand)

17

> > > > …by naming the Storm as the Covenant
> > >
> > > Well… Luckily for 343, they aren’t called the Storm.
> >
> > What do you mean? Explain me!
>
> The name “Storm Covenant” was accidentally written in the description for the first series of Halo 4 action figures which included an Elite Zealot and a ‘Storm’ Grunt by journalists that weren’t a part of 343i and therefore weren’t given clear directions on what to write. However, given that the “Storm” didn’t have an official name at the time, the name “Storm Covenant” stuck.
>
> The official name for the Covenant faced in Halo 4 is Covenant Remnant, or Covenant Cultists. Both will work.

Whoa,whoa…

So the term “Storm” is wrong? Another shocking discovery for me! If that is correct, I wonder why the Storm Rifle has Storm on its name… Coincidence?

18

> The reason for the lack of explanation is simple: Chief has been unconscious for 4 years, 7 months, and 10 days … you play as Master Chief; you know as much as he does and you learn along the way just as he and Cortana do.

Except you don’t really learn much and what you do learn is never expanded upon. For example, do you learn about Jul 'Mdama and the origins of his Covenant? No. Do you learn that the Didact wanted to Compose all of humanity after an experience he had with the Gravemind that left him mentally scarred? No. You do know that humans and Forerunners once engaged in a war, but that is never fully explained or even explained in a way that makes sense.

That isn’t a creative way to tell the story, it’s just throwing out references and ideas without any sort of connecting structure.

> He knows about the truce. He doesn’t know about the Covenant Remnant (Storm Covenant), He doesn’t know about the Spartan IV program … he knows nothing since the end of Halo 3. And neither do you.

And why is that a good thing?

> They never give a grand laying out of the full story or a recap … Chief presumably got that during his debrief, and more is explained in the books and comics (343 really wanted to integrate the games with other mediums.)

They may have wanted to integrate it, but they specifically said you wouldn’t have to read or experience them and at the GDC, Josh Holmes said that this strategy proved to be problematic when explaining certain things, like the Didact.

So it is kinda hard to defend something 343 Industries said was problematic.

> More will be explained in the next installment and I’m sure even more questions will be brought up and left unanswered to keep us interested in the franchise.

Wouldn’t it be wise to give the players a solid foundation to stand on first before bombarding them with more questions?

> In the original trilogy, in every game, there is always a scene where someone gets to explain the Halos (“They’re weapons … they don’t kill flood they kill their food … the rings will kill us all”) and it always seems out of place that the characters keep having to stop and explain this when they already know it, but it’s for the gamer to make sure they’re up to snuff on the details. 343 played it more like a TV drama where every little detail is crucial to understanding the story. <mark>Miss one line of dialog and you may be in the dark.</mark>

And that isn’t a good sign for a good story.

> <mark>Halo 4’s story is a puzzle you have to piece together yourself. They aren’t doing it for you this time.</mark>
> And again, Chief was just as confused as you were when he was attacked by that Elite, and that was intentional.

Its a puzzle alright, a puzzle with half the pieces missing.

19

I did like how they had the terminal contains the chiefs service record and giving everyone a backstory that way. But I didn’t understand much the first time I played through and payed no attention to the storyline at all. But then the second time I played through something clicked into place and it all made sense.

20

So basically guys, 343i has terrible writers. I’m sorry but how can I defend 343i with all this? They make plotholes, confusing backstories and all doesn’t have a concrete explanation within the game itself.

Again, I’m losing my hopes for the next Halo game. Now, that bird… many say it is Mendicant Bias. What? What’s next 343i? The Gravemind was a Forerunner commander too? The Didact survives? The Arbiter is a human? WTF? Seriously, Halo is becoming a terrible franchise in story terms. Since Bungie’s departure, 343i started to treat the Forerunner as if they were alive just like that. They’re no longer that misterious unknown alien race everyone loved in Halo CE-3.

This is not Halo. I only can say that this franchise is becoming like the new Final Fantasy. Probably for Halo 7, the protagonist will be the Didact himself. Pathetic.