I love ODST. I think it’s one of the better stories that Bungie has written overall. That being said, I just can’t seem to understand why you don’t fight any Elites during the game at all. ODST’s story only takes place over one night. The game starts off right as the Prophet of Regret makes a slip space jump out of the city you crash land and wake up a few hours later in your drop pod. It’s not like anything really drastic has been able to occur within that time frame.
Was it a complete oversight in the story arch of the game? Or was it the technical issue of using Halo 3’s engine to make a game that was originally meant to be nothing more than an expansion? Did they just not have time enough to rework the elites and integrate them as hostile AI?
Storywise, the Brutes jumped the few Elites that were left in New Mombasa. Technically, I think it had something to do with the Elites being coded as allies in Halo 3, thus not begin able to be enemies.
> Yeah, you’ll find plenty of bodies. The Brutes killed them all, because this was happening as the Brutes started murdering the Elites on Delta Halo.
The problem with that train of thought is, that would imply that by the time you’ve ejected from your drop pod, just 6 hours after regret made the jump to Delta Halo, that 6 hours has been more than enough time for the Prophet of Regret to make it to Halo, for Master Chief to kill him, and the Arbiter to find the index. Keep in mind the last two items on that list couldn’t possibly have happened within in that 6 hours you’re unconscious in your drop pod, because slip space travel isn’t instantaneous, it takes days to make it from point A to point B.
What about Buck? Buck’s first mission is just a couple of minutes after Regret makes his slip space jump, and you see elite bodies all over the street even then.
I’m thinking it was just the technicalities of using the Halo 3 engine, in which elites were programmed as friendly AI.
> > Yeah, you’ll find plenty of bodies. The Brutes killed them all, because this was happening as the Brutes started murdering the Elites on Delta Halo.
>
> The problem with that train of thought is, that would imply that by the time you’ve ejected from your drop pod, just 6 hours after regret made the jump to Delta Halo, that 6 hours has been more than enough time for the Prophet of Regret to make it to Halo, for Master Chief to kill him, and the Arbiter to find the index. Keep in mind the last two items on that list couldn’t possibly have happened within in that 6 hours you’re unconscious in your drop pod, because slip space travel isn’t instantaneous, it takes days to make it from point A to point B.
>
> What about Buck? Buck’s first mission is just a couple of minutes after Regret makes his slip space jump, and you see elite bodies all over the street even then.
>
> I’m thinking it was just the technicalities of using the Halo 3 engine, in which elites were programmed as friendly AI.
I’m pretty sure that their team association could easily be changed.
There’s a discrepancy on The Covenant involving auto-turrets and Guilty Spark (where the former fires at the latter) as well as on Halo, involving auto-turrets (they actually become your enemy right after the Gravemind moment. If sentinels outside aren’t removed if they are brought into the control room, then it’s likely that they will become enemies after the Gravemind moment).
It was a great story. You just have the think of the story arch, and when things took place. Halo 2 took place only over like 2 days. Play through Halo 2 again. You’ll see that Elites fell from the Prophet’s side pretty early.
> slip space travel isn’t instantaneous, it takes days to make it from point A to point B.
>
> What about Buck? Buck’s first mission is just a couple of minutes after Regret makes his slip space jump, and you see elite bodies all over the street even then.
Again, there is a descrepancy in the time lines. Regardless of how long Halo 2’s story lasts, you find dead elites on the street 10 minutes after Regret makes the jump to Delta Halo. I promise you Halo 2’s story wasn’t 10 minutes long…
Maybe Truth ordered the Brutes to begin the assassinations of the Elites before Regret’s jump, but the order wasn’t in action on Delta Halo until Regret, a prophet with a deep friendship with the Elites, was eliminated. Or those Elites are just the consequences of some hippies in New Mombasa who happened to find a gun on the ground and went trigger happy. Who knows?
I suppose that is one possibility. It just really irritates me how Bungie pulls that crap though. You find Elites bodies all over the place, and all Dare tells you is, “It’s classified.” It’s like a get out of jail free card. They never explain it beyond that. So why even put them in there at all? It’s freakin’ bull crap.
Im pretty sure it is due to the engine, which sucks, anyway who says the brutes killed those elites? For all we know it was humans that did it. I mean if Master chief killed a jackal and a grunt and later on an odst sees them dead next to each other should he assume they killed each other? no, i think that was just bad thinking on bucks part.
Yeah but an ODST can tell the difference between plasma burns and spiker damage, and just normal bullet damage. Hence the line, “It looks like some sort of family feud.” Even Dare knows about it, hence, “It’s classified.” I just think it was bad story telling on Bungie’s part…
I’ve always wondered why they couldn’t just make the Elites from Halo 3 into enemies for ODST. After all, you get to kill Elites in Halo 3 multiplayer, so why not in Campaign? Sure, they may have needed to do a little work on the Elite AIs, but I think it would have been worth it.
> Im pretty sure it is due to the engine, which sucks, anyway who says the brutes killed those elites? For all we know it was humans that did it. I mean if Master chief killed a jackal and a grunt and later on an odst sees them dead next to each other should he assume they killed each other? no, i think that was just bad thinking on bucks part.
The engine can handle a lot of AI not to mention has more consistent physics (less accidental splatter yet splattering enemies is easy yet CE physics traits are retained). There has to be another reason. We know that Bungie didn’t deviate from Halo at this point. With Reach, that’s where they fell.
> I’ve always wondered why they couldn’t just make the Elites from Halo 3 into enemies for ODST. After all, you get to kill Elites in Halo 3 multiplayer, so why not in Campaign? Sure, they may have needed to do a little work on the Elite AIs, but I think it would have been worth it.
Brute AI is nearly identical to Elites. They’re just slower and do their own version of the Elite’s trademark evasive sidestep maneuver slower. At least they’re not reckless like H3 Elites (except for the hammer Brutes). Odd thing is, H3 Elites had a big melee range like CE Elites.
So I’m pretty sure it was possible to reintroduce Elite enemies.