A sincere letter from an old Halo fan

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

343i, I know you’ve been doing a lot of work (story, lore changes, etc.) with all the novels, comics and books you recently released. That covers from Halo: Glasslands to the most recent Mortal Dictata.

Halo has already changed from being a videogame franchise, to a media franchise. People call it “a expanding universe”, others (like me) call it “milking” and I’m not ashamed of saying so. After Halo 4, the franchise simply took a direction I don’t encourage, but I’m the minority, so I have to get used to it.

The whole point of this thread is this: please make Halo 5 Guardians’ story original. Please, don’t commit the same mistakes as with Halo 4 of not explaining anything.

In Halo CE, we know the Master Chief was the last Spartan alive, we know that a planet called Reach was annihilated by the Covenant, but those things were irrelevant to the main story of the game. We were trapped on an unknown Forerunner ring and we know the Covenant are our enemy (the only thing we know about them is that they invaded Harvest) and that’s the main plot of the game. But apart from all that, nothing is fully explained within the game because it focuses on us, the Master Chief.

But in Halo 4, we don’t know why the Elites are attacking us, we don’t know who the Didact is or why does he hate the mankind. We don’t know what the composer is, we don’t know why are more Spartans or what are the Promotheans. We don’t know who Palmer or Del Rio are, we don’t know why the Infinity is so freaking overpowered. We can’t know all of these unless we read/watch all the other media introduced before Halo 4.

Why? I mean, I’m a hardcore Halo fan, and when Halo 4 was released, I thought I was playing a Star Wars game. With Bungie games, they were followed up by nothing than another game. Ghosts of Onyx, Contact Harvest or even The Fall of Reach are good stories to supply the Halo lore, not to make it part of the main storyline we’re supposing to follow. I even read DeMarco died? WTF?

So, pleases 343i, make Halo 5 Guardians original, sequel to Halo 4… not to any other novel or book. Not all hardcore fans (yes, being hardcore a fan means you love something with passion) have the same time/dedication to read other media that shouldn’t be related to the main story of the games. That’s the main reason we buy a Halo game: to know about the story AND to play multiplayer, but you, 343i, failed to do that in your previous game.

Don’t screw it this time. Sincerely, me…

2

Last time i checked petitions aren’t allowed on the forums

3

> Last time i checked petitions aren’t allowed on the forums

It’s not really a petition, though… so all is good.

I lost interest in the story after CE because it became, IMO, convoluted. I just don’t care anymore.

My request is to go back to being a great MP game. I may or may not play the campaign because if MP sucks, I won’t be buying it. The campaign has nothing to do with whether I purchase the game or not.
Yes, it’d be nice for the story to matter to me again, like in CE, but I doubt that will happen.

4

I absolutely get what you’re saying. And their … ploy, I suppose, worked on me.
I’ve read most of the books (still working on them) since I played Halo 4. I’m reading all the comics too. Mainly because when I play Halo 5, I don’t want there to be nearly as many “Wait, what?” moments where I need to do extensive research just to know what happened between two games even though they’re titled “3” & “4”.
I think the problem is that Chief was out of the picture for over 4 years, so obviously things had to happen, and when he woke, we were just as clueless as he was as to what the hell was going on.

Now, I enjoy the books because I like the subject matter, but as a literary snob, is it something I would otherwise read? No. (The newer books are decently written; a great improvement over “The Flood”.)

I think you’re right about the DeMarco death; probably shouldn’t kill off a character in between games.

5

What game where you playing because it does not sound like you played and listened to the narrative of halo 4.

6

> > Last time i checked petitions aren’t allowed on the forums
>
> It’s not really a petition, though… so all is good.
>
> I lost interest in the story after CE because it became, IMO, convoluted. I just don’t care anymore.

As Erik said, this Thread isn’t a petition, more so a letter which is why I ninja’d out the word petition :slight_smile: You are right sarge, petitions are not allowed on this forum. Please continue the discussion!

7

It doesnt really work to criticize anything in these forums. If you mention that you dont like the new direction, you are bombarded by people that would rather criticize you rather than stop and think of a better direction that could have been taken instead.

I dont think the new Halo universe is bad, but it’s not what i had imagined and maybe i would like it more if it had better characters than Thorne, Palmer, Glassman, etc.

And all of your points about not explaining anything is in the books. However, saying you need to read the books is a lame excuse as to why Halo 4 didnt properly explain most things.

8

> It doesnt really work to criticize anything in these forums. If you mention that you dont like the new direction, you are bombarded by people that would rather criticize you rather than stop and think of a better direction that could have been taken instead.
>
> I dont think the new Halo universe is bad, but it’s not what i had imagined and maybe i would like it more if it had better characters than Thorne, Palmer, Glassman, etc.
>
> And all of your points about not explaining anything is in the books. However, saying you need to read the books is a lame excuse as to why Halo 4 didnt properly explain most things.

Agreed.
I shouldn’t have to read the books in order to follow the story properly, or to even be interested.

9

to be honest, it is hardly to imagine that you had had
such a great problem with this.

in my eyes, it’s just marketing - smart marketing.
and actually i like those game-novel crossovers.

some of the books & comics offer great stories & feature charismatic
characters, and to be honest, it would be a waste to leave them only in the books.

some of them got great potential for example Blue Team, which never
had a video game appearance, unfortunately.
but they’re nonetheless a bunch of awesome spartans & it’s a shame theye
were not featured in a “main storyline”.

(which will hopefully change in the next few years.)

10

H4 and H:CE are comparable in what you knew and didn’t know going in. In both, you fight an enemy you find out that you have been fighting for a long time. In both, a new enemy is presented roughly a third of the way into the game. In both, you are presented with characters that your character (John) is familiar with, but you the player don’t know.

Who are all these people and what are all these new things? How do I find out more about them? The answer was the same to both games: read the books. IF you don’t want to, fine. You will still have those questions. I can tell you that if you want every question answered, then I would not read the books at all. I’m afraid they raise far more questions than they answer and if you are this opposed to having unknowns, then they will certainly disappoint.

11

I’m not worried about it. The lack of explanation of the context of Halo 4’s story was a mistake that 343i specifically admitted to making during the 2013 GDC. I don’t think they’d make the same mistake twice after acknowledging the first.

12

The story is no longer subjugated to the games which kept it very limited (though gameplay elements are still limiting it). This is good because Halo’s story can now expand more. What Halo 4 did wrong though was made it so other media limited the games potential. There needs to be a nice balance between both the expanded universe and the games. This is one of the few things I have faith in 343.

> After Halo 4, the franchise simply took a direction I don’t encourage, but I’m the minority, so I have to get used to it.

I would argue that you are not in the minority. But, that is another discussion unto itself.

13

> What game where you playing because it does not sound like you played and listened to the narrative of halo 4.

I played a game called Halo 4. Why?

14

I like the way things have gone and are going. I’ve always found the Halo story is like a puzzle and those pieces are the games, books, comics, movie, videos, etc. I agree that the games need to make good sense by themselves…but leave you interested in learning more. I agree that Halo 4 was hard to understand sometimes…but the Forerunners (and the precursors) are just simply complicated :). I think the Halo story is in a difficult period which is full of deep ideas and explanations, but I’m thankful they are taking them on…pretty well considering…but could do better. Personally, I started out playing the games for the games, but now play the games because of the books and other media…keeps you interested and digging…good stuff.

15

I just want to say, yes they should improve on explaining things. This is where I stop agreeing with you though.

  1. Chief was not the last Spartan. If they said that then it was misinformation. Did you mean the last known living Spartan?

  2. Well what was Reach? Why was it important? I never knew anything about Reach until I read the books. Also, where did they mention Harvest in the games (unless you are referring to Halo Wars)?

  3. While it could be better, they did touch on the Didact in the terminals and with the Librarian.

  4. The Original Trilogy did not just follow the games though. First Strike explains things that were never mentioned in the games. If I did not read them, how would I know how Chief got back to Earth or how Johnson was still alive? Also, Uprising went through John’s journey on the Dreadnought. I would have loved to play that instead.

I understand your concern Net, but what you mention is nothing new. While I admit we have never seen it to a scale like this, this problem has always existed. You may not have time to read everything, but you can still look it up. Halopedia is quite a good source. It is condensed and gives you all the necessary information you need.

16

Nothing personal there OP, but the direction they’re taking Halo by making games and other media’s story lines intertwine and mean something to each other is good for it.

YES, it feels like you need to read the books in order to understand what’s going on, BUT that means #1 You’re curios of the lore, thus you’re more likely to dig into it by either asking, or picking up a book and reading! #2 People are more likely to read the books and/or comics, which are all very good, and well done, thus causing 343i/Microsoft making more money, thus more money for more projects which could include a larger Halo project, IE an actual Hollywood Halo Movie. #3 The Books and Comics can help get more people hooked on Halo as a story based game, and not just a shoot’em up game like COD, people that’d other wise avoid video games because of it being nothing but violence to them.

Plus, like Yiazmat012 has stated, the story is no longer limited by the game and it’s gameplay. I don’t mind it when games have books that connect to it’s story, in fact as long as it’s not a crappy game, or a crappy book, I LOVE IT! Let’s take Mass Effect for example, before Mass Effect’s release, there was a Mass Effect book, that directly connected to the game, and guess what, it explained a lot, and ended up being the deal breaker for me that ended up getting me hooked into the game.

If done right, a book connected to a game’s campaign can do wonders for the story.

17

> What game where you playing because it does not sound like you played and listened to the narrative of halo 4.

I disagree with the OP’s overall point but I disagree with this as well.

Nothing in Halo 4 was really explained in the game(s). The little that is relies on the player taking the initiative to find secret terminals and read or decipher them (i.e. fairly cryptic or unexplained). Everything I know about the expanded universe I know from Halopedia (which I’m still not entirely caught up on), not from game playthroughs.

Who is the Didact? Doesn’t show up until Halo 4, not even mentioned in the game’s cutscenes or missions in any game before Halo 4. What is a Promethean Knight? What is a Promethean? -Yoink- if I know just stepping into the game with out any prior knowledge. Who is Mendicant Bias and why is he talking to me? Better study the books or sidetrack and read even more terminals to piece it all together.

That said, you can’t expect them to cram all the lore into the game either. Outside sources are a necessity. But they could’ve done better.

18

OP you stated you lost interest in the story after CE and just wanted a great mp game. Now I might be understanding you wrong so I apologize if I am, but CE didn’t have a great MP; it didn’t have MP at all.

The story and the Lore are what make so many people come back to Halo, MP is just what people do after they have played the game. Now are their people whom this doesn’t apply to of course, but with out the story there would be no Halo.

So I am sorry if you don’t like how vast the story has become, but it has to in order to sustain its self. I wouldn’t call it milking at all, there is a fan base out there that wants more story arc and the books and comics are the best way to give it to them. There is only so much you can tell in a game. Would you think that Startrek or Star Wars are milking it because they have such an expanded EU, no because the massive fan base demands it, same here for Halo.

Yes in H4 you needed to have read the books to be able to understand some of the game. Seeing as a large portion of Halo fan buy the books and those that don’t can find the info almost anywhere I don’t see if as a bad thing that they did it like that. 343 has made everything canon which is a good thing because now it is one continual universe than just a bunch of writers adding what ever they want to the universe even if it makes a book a few years old not matter.

As I said before 343 isn’t milking it, they are going where the fan demand and we want more Halo. If that’s not the direction you want the series to go in then I am sorry but its something you will have to get used to.

19

“In H4 you needed to have read the books to be able to understand some of the game.”

I haven’t read any of the books (apart from from The Fall Of Reach, which isn’t relevant) and I understood it just fine. You’re not seriously saying Halo 4 was too complicated for you?

20

> OP you stated you lost interest in the story after CE and just wanted a great mp game. Now I might be understanding you wrong so I apologize if I am, <mark>but CE didn’t have a great MP; it didn’t have MP at all</mark>.
>
> The story and the Lore are what make so many people come back to Halo, MP is just what people do after they have played the game. Now are their people whom this doesn’t apply to of course, but with out the story there would be no Halo.
>
> So I am sorry if you don’t like how vast the story has become, but it has to in order to sustain its self. I wouldn’t call it milking at all, there is a fan base out there that wants more story arc and the books and comics are the best way to give it to them. There is only so much you can tell in a game. Would you think that Startrek or Star Wars are milking it because they have such an expanded EU, no because the massive fan base demands it, same here for Halo.
>
> Yes in H4 you needed to have read the books to be able to understand some of the game. Seeing as a large portion of Halo fan buy the books and those that don’t can find the info almost anywhere I don’t see if as a bad thing that they did it like that. 343 has made everything canon which is a good thing because now it is one continual universe than just a bunch of writers adding what ever they want to the universe even if it makes a book a few years old not matter.
>
> As I said before 343 isn’t milking it, they are going where the fan demand and we want more Halo. If that’s not the direction you want the series to go in then I am sorry but its something you will have to get used to.

Oh, yes; it did… and it was wonderful dreamy-eyed.
Some of the most hardcore and skillful MP to grace the face of the earth.

Quite possibly my favorite MP, but I think Halo 5 should be more like Halo 2.