Earlier today, the famed video game developer, renowned for having co-created the Gears of War franchise, lambasted Halo 4’s narrative direction. He specifically states that because he has not read any of the Halo novels, he found some of the elements of Halo 4’s storyline to be confusing.
> “Cortana had these great little moments where she’s like, ‘You wouldn’t lie to a girl, would you?’ You’re just like, ‘Wow.’ That was a great, sincere little moment. But by the end of the game, I was like, ‘Wait, what is going on?’ I haven’t read the books.
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> If I were to make another franchise, the goal would be to make it in such a way so that the player can still understand the story in a nutshell without having to read the books or play the previous games. Moreover, ‘Halo’ fans are so absorbed in their own universe and franchise that sometimes they leave a couple of the Muggles like myself behind.”
So how do you feel about this sentiment, Halo 4’s storyline, along with the newly introduced “expanded universe” elements within it? Personally I didn’t have a problem with content from the books being included into Halo 4, and I think they were explored fairly well within the game. Even if I have read the books, none of my friends reported a problem with it, and they weren’t left utterly confused.
I read the first 3 books (written by Eric Nylund) way back and they were amazing. After I beat Halo 4 I was very very confused about the whole Librarian and Diadact thing. Never explained well at all. I’ve heard that I should read Glasslands and the other book to get a better idea. And I’ve also heard that people who have read those books still didnt get a complete explanation about things.
I shouldn’t have to read a book before I play a game to get an idea of the backstory or whats going on. And I obviously read lol. I think that Cliff’s comments are completely justified and not “attacking” Halo in any way, but saying that many things were confusing especially if you didnt read the books which is true. I’m not even a big Gears fan but thought 3’s campaign was AWESOME. Very surprised by it. And you know who wrote Gears of War 3, Eric Nylund. Should’ve kept him with Halo when you guys had the chance.
I agree with the statement, if one doesn’t read the novels or hasn’t played some of the previous games (and being aware of their chronological order), H4 does have a few plotholes to say the least. But honestly as for myself that’s actually exactly why I love the Halo universe. I like the fact that its a multimedia experience. The novels, terminals, terminal videos, FUD, easter eggs, SOps storyline etc.
I can extrapolate for paragraphs, which I have done in the past, but I’m going to keep this short. As I mentioned, I can’t argue with the quoted statement, however, the final cutscene between Laskey and MC seems to blast the point of the game in a person’s face. Regardless of confusion about the covenant, Didact, forerunner history etc, the game boiled down to a soldier who had lived nearly his entire life as just that, developing a mindset that he was more machine than human, and it took a computer (Cortana) to make him realize that he could just be as emotionally fragile as any other person.
I want so bad to back 343 up on this! It is possible for nearly every player who hasn’t read the books to get the story however, this requires that they find every terminal throughout the campaign and watch them right after they are found. otherwise, major details are missed and are blatantly left out of the story. this is a problem for many ‘campaign casuals’ that I have talked to about this because they have never heard of waypoint and have no real reason to use it…
I’ve never read any of the books, I looked everything up in my spare time and my friends have all of them collectively so it’s cool to trade back and forth what we know, Honestly if anyone is confused they should grab a computer or laptop and start reading, then replay the games. makes stuff alot clearer.
Love how the humans had the “cure” for the flood infection and then the diadact was like “lets send them back to the stone ages as punishment”…wonder how he felt afterwards…hopefully like an -Yoink-.
> Thanks for that. He actually had a number of positive things to say about Halo as well. The OP gave me the impression it was another rant on Halo.
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> > Here is the actual source, instead of an article quoting a different article
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> > I agree with him completely. I think it would have helped if the terminal videos were shown in game.
I never once suggested that Cliff Bleszinski has nothing positive to say about the game. Though I only wanted to discuss his criticism of Halo 4 supposedly requiring knowledge of books lore to understand, because I thought it would make for a more interesting discussion. I’m sorry if I only gave you a false impression of his views by doing so.
> Thanks for that. He actually had a number of positive things to say about Halo as well. The OP gave me the impression it was another rant on Halo.
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> > Here is the actual source, instead of an article quoting a different article
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> > I agree with him completely. I think it would have helped if the terminal videos were shown in game.
Ya, i read this yesterday and thought people should see it.
Thanks for the actually article… was a nice read, nice to know he has problems with kids on COD to, lol… but nonetheless seems like he has feedback on a few games and the only one he really dissapproved of was RE 6.
Seems like some will find any small amount of info to make Halo look bad, but now I know my first hr of AC 3 is going to be boring as hell thanks OP.
> > Thanks for that. He actually had a number of positive things to say about Halo as well. The OP gave me the impression it was another rant on Halo.
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> > > Here is the actual source, instead of an article quoting a different article
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> > > I agree with him completely. I think it would have helped if the terminal videos were shown in game.
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> I never once suggested that Cliff Bleszinski has nothing positive to say about the game. Though I only wanted to discuss his criticism of Halo 4 supposedly requiring knowledge of books lore to understand, because I thought it would make for a more interesting discussion. I’m sorry if I only gave you a false impression of his views by doing so.
I didn’t think that was your intention, but I thought it was a good interview and people would want to read it.
> Thanks for the actually article… was a nice read, nice to know he has problems with kids on COD to, lol… but nonetheless seems like he has feedback on a few games and the only one he really dissapproved of was RE 6.
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> Seems like some will find any small amount of info to make Halo look bad, but now I know my first hr of AC 3 is going to be boring as hell thanks OP.
He also didn’t really have much good to say about Battlefield 3
All Halo’s have unclear story lines - by design. It was a bit of a hallmark of Bungie that it created dense and unclear plots. It goes all the way back to Marathon (and yes I’m dating myself here). I think this strategy has two (intended) effects 1) it intrigues some people - they want to look into what happened and figure it out. Figuring it out makes them feel rewarded and they develop a deep affinity for the game. 2) For others they just ignore it and concentrate on the action. They don’t care about story, so no harm no foul.
I have to agree with CliffyB here. I read the books so I was prepared, but 343i had a habit of saying that was not necessary to get the story. The only reason anyone had an idea that the Didact was the ancient evil, an overblown marketable term it may be, was because people had read the books. The game expects you to know who he is, who Jul 'Mdama is, what happened in the five years between Halo 3 and Halo 4 and so on.
Not to say Gears of War 3 didn’t have it’s faults. Sort hoped for a Locust and COG team up against the Lambent seeing as how the Locust Queen asked Adam Fenix to help the Locust with that threat, but no, giant laser beam that kills all of the Locust and Lambent at the end. Rather disappointing ending, but it was written by Karen Traviss, so there you go.
> this requires that they find every terminal throughout the campaign and watch them right after they are found. otherwise, major details are missed and are blatantly left out of the story.
I’m not a casual by any means, but I never watched them during a real playthrough of the Campaign. Only when I was looking for them then quit the level and on to the next one. It probably makes a lot more sense if you actually play and find the terminals during. But they should be easier to find, not loaction-wise but a waypoint and Cortana saying something
Yeah, you know after playing all the Bad Company campaigns… BF3’s actually wasn’t that great, sure the graphics were amazing, you got to stab a rat… but you lost the humour, didn’t get to blow up every building you saw. The online for 3 seemed good, I myself was to lazy to earn everything, lol, I wanted a damn vehicle then and there, wouldn’t cared if it was a jeep. In the end, I found the Bad Company campaigns had alot replay to them, while BF3, well its still still sitting on my shelf.
> I read the first 3 books (written by Eric Nylund) way back and they were amazing. After I beat Halo 4 I was very very confused about the whole Librarian and Diadact thing. Never explained well at all. I’ve heard that I should read Glasslands and the other book to get a better idea. And I’ve also heard that people who have read those books still didnt get a complete explanation about things.
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> I shouldn’t have to read a book before I play a game to get an idea of the backstory or whats going on. And I obviously read lol. I think that Cliff’s comments are completely justified and not “attacking” Halo in any way, but saying that many things were confusing especially if you didnt read the books which is true. I’m not even a big Gears fan but thought 3’s campaign was AWESOME. Very surprised by it. And you know who wrote Gears of War 3, Eric Nylund. Should’ve kept him with Halo when you guys had the chance.
Karen Traviss wrote the story for Gears 3. She also wrote Glasslands and The Thursday War.
> Yeah so in Halo 4, the story was alright, but the characters arms weren’t jacked enough. I mean, shouldn’t every game’s protagonist be super beefy and be in peak muscular condition?
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> If MC or Cortana introduced more protein to their diets, they could probably be as ripped and heroic as characters in my game, Gears of War, you know, an actual game.
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> Players want muscles, not story.