Now that Atriox is back in the galaxy and the Keepers of the One Freedom, Veta Lopis and the Ferrets are on the Ark, is 90% sure that the Halo Wars 2 story will continue in a book.
While I understand why 343 choose to do this since Halo Infinite is suppose to be a reboot and they want Atriox to be the main antagonist of Halo Infinite or its sequel so they want him available in the galaxy but still I can’t help but to feel disappointed because if there is something I hate is a game story ended in a book.
Not just that, to me it seems that 343 really didn’t know how to finish the Halo Wars 2 story and probably decided to have the Banished as Halo Infinite main enemies at the last moment.
My point is that a story started in a game should never be resolve in a book because most of the people that played the games do not read the books and it will only bring confusion.
I think that 343 first should have release Halo Infinite with Escharum as the main villain and than release Halo Wars 3 where the players take control of the Banished and defeat the Sprit of Fire and after that Atriox can leave the Ark like he did in Shadows of Reach . I know I will take a lot of hate for saying this but the good guys can’t and shouldn’t always win and most importantly the Halo Wars 2 story would have been resolve in a game.
Waypoint doesn’t have downvotes, and I think a strong majority would agree that it is preferable for stories to be told within a medium, rather than bouncing between books, comics and games, though tie-ins, prologues and epilogues aren’t really the same thing.
Ex: The Fall of Reach is a prologue for Halo CE, and it works beautifully. There are several other books that cover events after the conclusion of Halo 3 which also work beautifully. But the Halo Escalation comics tell the second half of an in-progress story from a game, which doesn’t work as well with the expectations of fans.
I don’t think tying the Banished into Halo Infinite was a last-minute decision. When we got the first trailer for Halo Wars 2 going to the Ark, I was predicting that the story would cross with the main story, because the Infinity was fleeing Cortana, and the only place available to them that they knew of, which was beyond Cortana’s reach was the Ark.
That said, we’ll see how the game is when it comes out. There’s really not much to judge it on right now.
If there’s no overlap between mediums, there’s not really any point in having an expanded universe. What validates the novels is how they tie into the mainline game titles. The Forerunner Trilogy lead into Halo 4. Spartan Ops’ story was concluded in the comics. Atriox’s backstory was in the comics (don’t remember if those came out before Wars2 or not) and the Halo Wars 2 story jumped into the books before crossing over with the mainline games. Most of the references to Rampancy were in books/stories well before it was brought up in Halo4. Buck’s story has gone from games to books to games to books.
The mediums have always fed each other. Wishing that certain stories only stayed in one medium would only limit how you can experience a certain aspect of this universe.
> 2591580321307319;3:
> If there’s no overlap between mediums, there’s not really any point in having an expanded universe. What validates the novels is how they tie into the mainline game titles. The Forerunner Trilogy lead into Halo 4. Spartan Ops’ story was concluded in the comics. Atriox’s backstory was in the comics (don’t remember if those came out before Wars2 or not) and the Halo Wars 2 story jumped into the books before crossing over with the mainline games. Most of the references to Rampancy were in books/stories well before it was brought up in Halo4. Buck’s story has gone from games to books to games to books.
>
> The mediums have always fed each other. Wishing that certain stories only stayed in one medium would only limit how you can experience a certain aspect of this universe.
I agree that there has to be some overlap. Like you said, an EU isn’t relevant if it doesn’t tie in somewhere. The issue I have with too much overlap though is exemplified by what happened with H5. It’s perfectly fine to have ancillary material that is tangentially incorporated into the main story shown in the games. But if that ancillary material becomes integral to the main story, then that creates potential for narrative disaster. Most of the Halo fan base isn’t interested in the EU, and they shouldn’t be punished for that.
My favorite example of overlap being properly handled was a moment in H2. The gunnery sergeant in the beginning of H2 asked Johnson how he got off Installation 04. Johnson responded with “sorry Guns, it’s classified”. Those four words are literally an entire book. Those of us who bothered to read First Strike know what those four words mean, but everyone else can just move on with H2’s story without being completely confused.
I actually like the story going on between different types of media. That way it does keep Halo more than just a game. However I do think they should do a bit better at letting players know what happens between games in game some how. Or they should have something on Waypoint that tells players what media outside which games expands on their storyline. Yeah you can find that stuff if you research it but a nice easy to follow list would be nice.
> 2535435902217648;4:
> > 2591580321307319;3:
> > If there’s no overlap between mediums, there’s not really any point in having an expanded universe. What validates the novels is how they tie into the mainline game titles. The Forerunner Trilogy lead into Halo 4. Spartan Ops’ story was concluded in the comics. Atriox’s backstory was in the comics (don’t remember if those came out before Wars2 or not) and the Halo Wars 2 story jumped into the books before crossing over with the mainline games. Most of the references to Rampancy were in books/stories well before it was brought up in Halo4. Buck’s story has gone from games to books to games to books.
> >
> > The mediums have always fed each other. Wishing that certain stories only stayed in one medium would only limit how you can experience a certain aspect of this universe.
>
> I agree that there has to be some overlap. Like you said, an EU isn’t relevant if it doesn’t tie in somewhere. The issue I have with too much overlap though is exemplified by what happened with H5. It’s perfectly fine to have ancillary material that is tangentially incorporated into the main story shown in the games. But if that ancillary material becomes integral to the main story, then that creates potential for narrative disaster. Most of the Halo fan base isn’t interested in the EU, and they shouldn’t be punished for that.
>
> My favorite example of overlap being properly handled was a moment in H2. The gunnery sergeant in the beginning of H2 asked Johnson how he got off Installation 04. Johnson responded with “sorry Guns, it’s classified”. Those four words are literally an entire book. Those of us who bothered to read First Strike know what those four words mean, but everyone else can just move on with H2’s story without being completely confused.
Nowadays 343 expects the players to have read all their books to understand what the heck is going on in their games.
> 2535426515273563;6:
> > 2535435902217648;4:
> > > 2591580321307319;3:
> > > If there’s no overlap between mediums, there’s not really any point in having an expanded universe. What validates the novels is how they tie into the mainline game titles. The Forerunner Trilogy lead into Halo 4. Spartan Ops’ story was concluded in the comics. Atriox’s backstory was in the comics (don’t remember if those came out before Wars2 or not) and the Halo Wars 2 story jumped into the books before crossing over with the mainline games. Most of the references to Rampancy were in books/stories well before it was brought up in Halo4. Buck’s story has gone from games to books to games to books.
> > >
> > > The mediums have always fed each other. Wishing that certain stories only stayed in one medium would only limit how you can experience a certain aspect of this universe.
> >
> > I agree that there has to be some overlap. Like you said, an EU isn’t relevant if it doesn’t tie in somewhere. The issue I have with too much overlap though is exemplified by what happened with H5. It’s perfectly fine to have ancillary material that is tangentially incorporated into the main story shown in the games. But if that ancillary material becomes integral to the main story, then that creates potential for narrative disaster. Most of the Halo fan base isn’t interested in the EU, and they shouldn’t be punished for that.
> >
> > My favorite example of overlap being properly handled was a moment in H2. The gunnery sergeant in the beginning of H2 asked Johnson how he got off Installation 04. Johnson responded with “sorry Guns, it’s classified”. Those four words are literally an entire book. Those of us who bothered to read First Strike know what those four words mean, but everyone else can just move on with H2’s story without being completely confused.
>
> Nowadays 343 expects the players to have read all their books to understand what the heck is going on in their games.
That seems to be most peoples complaint about Halo 5’s reliance on books. Honestly, I don’t see how the ancillary materials really benefit Halo 5. There’s that one story that shows Cortana arriving at the Domain, but doesn’t really answer what we need. We don’t know exactly how she got there and why the Didact did not. We don’t know why she wants to control the galaxy.
As far as Happy Place mentioned, basic acknowledgement of books seems to be enough. But the stories that were sufficient enough to tell backstory of the new characters don’t really give us much more information required than how they interact in the campaign. If Chief asked Cortana why she was evil and she replied with “Sorry, John, it’s classified.” Would that really be sufficient enough of a nod?
I understand that 343i has not put enough exposition into the campaigns, but Bungie really didn’t either. A simple nod to First Strike pushes Johnson’s survival under the rug, but doesn’t tell us anything. I don’t really remember how Chief ended up in the ship at the ending of 2 and how he was falling out of the sky at the beginning of 3. Was there another under-the-rug nod to whatever happened there or did Bungie just determine it didn’t really matter and needed boots on the ground?
> 2591580321307319;7:
> > 2535426515273563;6:
> > > 2535435902217648;4:
> > > > 2591580321307319;3:
> > > > If there’s no overlap between mediums, there’s not really any point in having an expanded universe. What validates the novels is how they tie into the mainline game titles. The Forerunner Trilogy lead into Halo 4. Spartan Ops’ story was concluded in the comics. Atriox’s backstory was in the comics (don’t remember if those came out before Wars2 or not) and the Halo Wars 2 story jumped into the books before crossing over with the mainline games. Most of the references to Rampancy were in books/stories well before it was brought up in Halo4. Buck’s story has gone from games to books to games to books.
> > > >
> > > > The mediums have always fed each other. Wishing that certain stories only stayed in one medium would only limit how you can experience a certain aspect of this universe.
> > >
> > > I agree that there has to be some overlap. Like you said, an EU isn’t relevant if it doesn’t tie in somewhere. The issue I have with too much overlap though is exemplified by what happened with H5. It’s perfectly fine to have ancillary material that is tangentially incorporated into the main story shown in the games. But if that ancillary material becomes integral to the main story, then that creates potential for narrative disaster. Most of the Halo fan base isn’t interested in the EU, and they shouldn’t be punished for that.
> > >
> > > My favorite example of overlap being properly handled was a moment in H2. The gunnery sergeant in the beginning of H2 asked Johnson how he got off Installation 04. Johnson responded with “sorry Guns, it’s classified”. Those four words are literally an entire book. Those of us who bothered to read First Strike know what those four words mean, but everyone else can just move on with H2’s story without being completely confused.
> >
> > Nowadays 343 expects the players to have read all their books to understand what the heck is going on in their games.
>
> That seems to be most peoples complaint about Halo 5’s reliance on books. Honestly, I don’t see how the ancillary materials really benefit Halo 5. There’s that one story that shows Cortana arriving at the Domain, but doesn’t really answer what we need. We don’t know exactly how she got there and why the Didact did not. We don’t know why she wants to control the galaxy.
>
> As far as Happy Place mentioned, basic acknowledgement of books seems to be enough. But the stories that were sufficient enough to tell backstory of the new characters don’t really give us much more information required than how they interact in the campaign. If Chief asked Cortana why she was evil and she replied with “Sorry, John, it’s classified.” Would that really be sufficient enough of a nod?
>
> I understand that 343i has not put enough exposition into the campaigns, but Bungie really didn’t either. A simple nod to First Strike pushes Johnson’s survival under the rug, but doesn’t tell us anything. I don’t really remember how Chief ended up in the ship at the ending of 2 and how he was falling out of the sky at the beginning of 3. Was there another under-the-rug nod to whatever happened there or did Bungie just determine it didn’t really matter and needed boots on the ground?
You bring up a good point that a lot of the ancillary H5 material didn’t even accomplish its intended goal. I will say though that one of 343s biggest problems is the fact that they put too much exposition into the games. They tell us instead of show us things that have or are happening. It’s a fundamental issue of 343s approach that has treated all lore as equal. They get narratively tied down to the myriad of authors, illustrators, and other artists that have worked on some part of Halo. Then they have to tie a bunch of EU lore into the game because the EU lore is seen as equal to the game lore.
The reason Bungie didn’t need to exposit much was the fact that they didn’t really care about the EU material. It was a fun add on, but the games were most important. And I think their resounding success with literally every game they made is evidence of the fact that their approach was likely the better one. I’ll grant you that ODST stirred up controversy when it released as a stand-alone and Reach stirred up major controversy with the changes in game play, but they were still incredibly popular games and still are to this day.
As for the change over from H2 to H3, there is a comic that explains that transition. But you don’t need to read it. The end of H2 is him on the ship after it went through slip space and appeared over Earth. The beginning of H3 is him jumping off it and coasting in on a piece of hull plating (which can be seen in the background lying on the ground after the Chief lands).
> 2535435902217648;8:
> > 2591580321307319;7:
> > > 2535426515273563;6:
> > > > 2535435902217648;4:
> > > > > 2591580321307319;3:
> > > > > If there’s no overlap between mediums, there’s not really any point in having an expanded universe. What validates the novels is how they tie into the mainline game titles. The Forerunner Trilogy lead into Halo 4. Spartan Ops’ story was concluded in the comics. Atriox’s backstory was in the comics (don’t remember if those came out before Wars2 or not) and the Halo Wars 2 story jumped into the books before crossing over with the mainline games. Most of the references to Rampancy were in books/stories well before it was brought up in Halo4. Buck’s story has gone from games to books to games to books.
> > > > >
> > > > > The mediums have always fed each other. Wishing that certain stories only stayed in one medium would only limit how you can experience a certain aspect of this universe.
> > > >
> > > > I agree that there has to be some overlap. Like you said, an EU isn’t relevant if it doesn’t tie in somewhere. The issue I have with too much overlap though is exemplified by what happened with H5. It’s perfectly fine to have ancillary material that is tangentially incorporated into the main story shown in the games. But if that ancillary material becomes integral to the main story, then that creates potential for narrative disaster. Most of the Halo fan base isn’t interested in the EU, and they shouldn’t be punished for that.
> > > >
> > > > My favorite example of overlap being properly handled was a moment in H2. The gunnery sergeant in the beginning of H2 asked Johnson how he got off Installation 04. Johnson responded with “sorry Guns, it’s classified”. Those four words are literally an entire book. Those of us who bothered to read First Strike know what those four words mean, but everyone else can just move on with H2’s story without being completely confused.
> > >
> > > Nowadays 343 expects the players to have read all their books to understand what the heck is going on in their games.
> >
> > That seems to be most peoples complaint about Halo 5’s reliance on books. Honestly, I don’t see how the ancillary materials really benefit Halo 5. There’s that one story that shows Cortana arriving at the Domain, but doesn’t really answer what we need. We don’t know exactly how she got there and why the Didact did not. We don’t know why she wants to control the galaxy.
> >
> > As far as Happy Place mentioned, basic acknowledgement of books seems to be enough. But the stories that were sufficient enough to tell backstory of the new characters don’t really give us much more information required than how they interact in the campaign. If Chief asked Cortana why she was evil and she replied with “Sorry, John, it’s classified.” Would that really be sufficient enough of a nod?
> >
> > I understand that 343i has not put enough exposition into the campaigns, but Bungie really didn’t either. A simple nod to First Strike pushes Johnson’s survival under the rug, but doesn’t tell us anything. I don’t really remember how Chief ended up in the ship at the ending of 2 and how he was falling out of the sky at the beginning of 3. Was there another under-the-rug nod to whatever happened there or did Bungie just determine it didn’t really matter and needed boots on the ground?
>
> You bring up a good point that a lot of the ancillary H5 material didn’t even accomplish its intended goal. I will say though that one of 343s biggest problems is the fact that they put too much exposition into the games. They tell us instead of show us things that have or are happening. It’s a fundamental issue of 343s approach that has treated all lore as equal. They get narratively tied down to the myriad of authors, illustrators, and other artists that have worked on some part of Halo. Then they have to tie a bunch of EU lore into the game because the EU lore is seen as equal to the game lore.
>
> The reason Bungie didn’t need to exposit much was the fact that they didn’t really care about the EU material. It was a fun add on, but the games were most important. And I think their resounding success with literally every game they made is evidence of the fact that their approach was likely the better one. I’ll grant you that ODST stirred up controversy when it released as a stand-alone and Reach stirred up major controversy with the changes in game play, but they were still incredibly popular games and still are to this day.
>
> As for the change over from H2 to H3, there is a comic that explains that transition. But you don’t need to read it. The end of H2 is him on the ship after it went through slip space and appeared over Earth. The beginning of H3 is him jumping off it and coasting in on a piece of hull plating (which can be seen in the background lying on the ground after the Chief lands).
I was going to mention the exact same thing, about the time between H2 and H3. I didn’t need to know anything about that story to enjoy either game to its fullest. The same was true for the time between CE and H2. However, the EU material between those games was very enjoyable. That’s how it should be done, if material from games is going to cross over into other media.
I like how 343i is committed to making EU material, but I don’t like how they don’t treat the games as the main point of reference for everything. I enjoyed reading the EU material for H4 and H5, but it was forced on me since I had no clue what the heck a Knight was nor how the hell 3 other S-II’s suddenly appeared from nowhere.
I think Bungie did a great job telling those types of stories in the past.