Let’s look back to the older Halos for a second here. Sentinels have a forerunner art and feel that I don’t really see in Halo 5. Don’t get me wrong here, the architecture does look forerunner, but I can’t imagine the place that crawlers have as a forerunner creation. While I don’t really like Prometheans to begin with, as long as they are fun to fight in the next Halo I’ll be okay, but I really don’t get crawlers, they are just robot dogs that don’t seem to have a place in my opinion. What should be done with crawlers and Prometheans in general in the next Halo game?
From a lore perspective, they were created with the intention of using swarm tactics to overwhelm enemy positions. Against the Flood, they were sent in to soften up a Flood horde before Knights were brought in to clear the rest out.
From Halopedia:
> The Ur-Didact originally designed the Crawlers for his Prometheans to use against a number of infantry threats, and, eventually, the Flood. They were created to target and destroy organic matter, overcoming their enemies with numbers.[7] It has also been theorized that they were sent into Flood strongholds to soften their infantry numbers before more valuable assets were sent in.[1]
Oh okay I did not know that
As I said for the design of the Promethean (ever since Halo 4) it is like they took the sentinels and the flood and just smashed them together. The Promethean crawlers use the swarm tactics of the infection forms and just rush towards you. Promethean Knights have the teleport in place of the flood leap, and the Watcher just gives the Prometheans their flood resurrection.
> 2535435902217648;2:
> From a lore perspective, they were created with the intention of using swarm tactics to overwhelm enemy positions. Against the Flood, they were sent in to soften up a Flood horde before Knights were brought in to clear the rest out.
>
> From Halopedia:
>
>
> > The Ur-Didact originally designed the Crawlers for his Prometheans to use against a number of infantry threats, and, eventually, the Flood. They were created to target and destroy organic matter, overcoming their enemies with numbers.[7] It has also been theorized that they were sent into Flood strongholds to soften their infantry numbers before more valuable assets were sent in.[1]
The lore is not a restriction since Disney has proven that any fiction can be rewritten. Instead of using the same swarm tactics that the flood use they could make use of their crawling and use it to approach at unexpected angels much like how drones and sentinels fight. But since 343 got rid of the flood (understandably as they were taken out in H3) 343 needed a stand in for that alien enemy that swarms you in hordes. The crawlers were that enemy but as I said again it doesn’t feel right for forerunner units. I know feeling is all subjective, but halo had already established the flood and the forerunners (before 343 retconed in the Prometheans) and we expect the flood to mindlessly swarm in and charge as they are the horror element of the game and the forerunner were the cold calculating machines. If you bring a Necron army, you don’t play them as Tyranids.
Lore created by 343i does explain the general idea of why the Crawlers look the way they do, and 343i does incontrovertibly have full liscence to alter the lore in whatever ways they see fit at their whim. That’s all settled, solid, legal fact and it’s not worth arguing about.
What I believe is fair to argue is that the Crawlers do not resemble the Forerunner aesthetic established in the Bungie years. They aren’t the only thing, I’d argue that more than one Promethian class doesn’t really resemble what most players of Halo 1-3 would’ve expected Forerunner automatons would look like based on the visual presence of the Forerunners in those games. The Knights look pretty ridiculously top-heavy and graceless in a way that I’d never have called “Forerunner” if the lore hadn’t stepped in to legitimize it in the same way that the Crawlers do appear to be weirdly scrappy and angled.
It’s all a moot point due to the fact that these classes are Forerunner, because 343i said so and they own the rights (someone above mentioned Disney and Star Wars, same thing there unfortunately) . But I agree that the visual influences established before don’t necessarily lend credibility to the idea. On the bright side I do think Watchers and Soldiers have a pretty cool Forerunner look that’s more in line with the original Halo trilogy!
> 2533274951974119;1:
> Let’s look back to the older Halos for a second here. Sentinels have a forerunner art and feel that I don’t really see in Halo 5. Don’t get me wrong here, the architecture does look forerunner, but I can’t imagine the place that crawlers have as a forerunner creation. While I don’t really like Prometheans to begin with, as long as they are fun to fight in the next Halo I’ll be okay, but I really don’t get crawlers, they are just robot dogs that don’t seem to have a place in my opinion. What should be done with crawlers and Prometheans in general in the next Halo game?
Bring back sentinels use soldiers as support for them, crawlers just need to die and knights should be as rare as hunters.
> 2666640315087182;4:
> As I said for the design of the Promethean (ever since Halo 4) it is like they took the sentinels and the flood and just smashed them together. The Promethean crawlers use the swarm tactics of the infection forms and just rush towards you. Promethean Knights have the teleport in place of the flood leap, and the Watcher just gives the Prometheans their flood resurrection.
>
> Instead of using the same swarm tactics that the flood use they could make use of their crawling and use it to approach at unexpected angles much like how drones and sentinels fight.
Swarm tactics are basic for most infantry i.e. Grunts, Jackals, Skirmishers, Drones, etc. It’s just not very obvious with Grunts/Jackals since they move slow/camp. What you’re suggesting is that 343i build on this mechanic for Crawlers, but I wouldn’t give every Crawler this ability to freely camp from a distance, that’ll make them as annoying as Ranged Forms (recall the H3 mission Cortana shudders). There should be a limit to how many crawlers can take up these positions at one time (similar to how infection forms in H3 will refrain from attacking if there are enough combat forms nearby).
Technically, the Knight Battlewagon has the Flood leap. The teleport doesn’t really correspond with this ability.
What if recently revived Prometheans were temporarily raised in a berserk state, lashing out at anything that moves (including their allies)? Similar to how Ra’s Al Ghul is affected by the Lazarus pit. That’d make Watchers more analytical about the situation rather than rushing to revive a fallen Knight (predictable).
IMO it’s Watchers that need to die.
I’m fine with what crawlers themselves are I just don’t like how they look. I think Prometheans need a visual overhaul and more vehicles for Infinite.
> 2535469197642915;7:
> > 2666640315087182;4:
> > As I said for the design of the Promethean (ever since Halo 4) it is like they took the sentinels and the flood and just smashed them together. The Promethean crawlers use the swarm tactics of the infection forms and just rush towards you. Promethean Knights have the teleport in place of the flood leap, and the Watcher just gives the Prometheans their flood resurrection.
> >
> > Instead of using the same swarm tactics that the flood use they could make use of their crawling and use it to approach at unexpected angles much like how drones and sentinels fight.
>
> Swarm tactics are basic for most infantry i.e. Grunts, Jackals, Skirmishers, Drones, etc. It’s just not very obvious with Grunts/Jackals since they move slow/camp. What you’re suggesting is that 343i build on this mechanic for Crawlers, but I wouldn’t give every Crawler this ability to freely camp from a distance, that’ll make them as annoying as Ranged Forms (recall the H3 mission Cortana shudders). There should be a limit to how many crawlers can take up these positions at one time (similar to how infection forms in H3 will refrain from attacking if there are enough combat forms nearby).
>
> Technically, the Knight Battlewagon has the Flood leap. The teleport doesn’t really correspond with this ability.
>
> What if recently revived Prometheans were temporarily raised in a berserk state, lashing out at anything that moves (including their allies)? Similar to how Ra’s Al Ghul is affected by the Lazarus pit. That’d make Watchers more analytical about the situation rather than rushing to revive a fallen Knight (predictable).
>
> IMO it’s Watchers that need to die. Maybe instead of being deployed into a mobile flying unit, they should simply enhance the Knights that spawn with them by attaching themselves to the carapace (and it should be possible to shoot it off of the Knight’s back, like with the back armor of a Hunter). Armor abilities failed catastrophically for the player, but NPCs were able to make good use of it. Of course, then they shouldn’t have broken things like Armor Lock.
But grunts and jackals don’t aggressively charge you as the flood do, the crawlers do. There are different swarms tactics and the Promethean uses the same flood tactics that come straight at you, there is no wave assault, very little flanking that is only done by accident. It is a straight up f-type cluster charge.
> 2533274951974119;1:
> Let’s look back to the older Halos for a second here. Sentinels have a forerunner art and feel that I don’t really see in Halo 5. Don’t get me wrong here, the architecture does look forerunner, but I can’t imagine the place that crawlers have as a forerunner creation. While I don’t really like Prometheans to begin with, as long as they are fun to fight in the next Halo I’ll be okay, but I really don’t get crawlers, they are just robot dogs that don’t seem to have a place in my opinion. What should be done with crawlers and Prometheans in general in the next Halo game?
Great post!
I absolutely despise the look of every Promethean unit, weapon and vehicle, and I also dislike Halo 5’s take on Forerunner’s architecture (even Halo 4’s was much better although not classic as previous games).
First off I would like for every promethean unit, weapon and vehicle to look more like this: https://haloinfiniteexpectations.altervista.org/img/halo-infinite-artstyle/halo-infinite-prometheans.jpg
Then I would say that Crawlers should be able to walk on walls and roofs as they did in Halo 4, it makes no sense to me that they lost that ability - although maybe it is for the better in Halo 5 since the AI are so much dumb that on close range run to you without even worrying to get shot…
As for other Prometheans I don’t have any idea to improve them, I’m not a game designer ^_^" I really hope they’ll be more fun to play against in Halo Infinite if they’re in the game
I felt especially this way about the guardians in Halo 5. The one from the original MCC teaser looked great, dunno why they changed it. Otherwise, yeah. Crawlers seem somewhat overly… organic. Watchers, too, feel overly sculpted. But at the same time, they’re constructs of a totally different caste of Forerunner. That distinction is important.
The look cool to me.
I’m ok with crawlers , and promethians factions in general . We need stuff to shoot, fight and do battle with .
I guess it’s really a matter of opinion with aesthetics and play styles but weather it be brutes, Covenant, flood or promethian they all do a job for us the player to have different engagements and experiences ,
They don’t look like something Forerunner Builders would create, sure. Warrior-Servants on the other hand? Different story.
I believe this can be corrected just by changing the AI to have a different behavior. But I also know that some of the good things 343i did with H4 they took out in H5 (huh?). Light Rifle having different firing modes, crawlers moving along walls and ceilings. Those need to come back.
However they should use that advantage and not just blindly rush you. The forerunner has always been more on cold calculations while the flood was about insatiable hunger. Prometheans have the annoyances of the calculating machines and the frustration of the insatiable hunger.