I asked this with Halo 4 awhile back, but now I’m asking it with Halo 5 as I’ve read that Halo’s Lore is much more important here. Anyway… What do I need to read/watch to fully understand what is going on in Halo 5? I’ve had the game since launch, but I’ve avoided the campaign because I knew I would be lost if I tried to jump right in. As it stands this is everything I’ve seen/played/read.
Games:
Halo CE
Halo 2
Halo 3
Halo 3: ODST
Halo Reach
Halo 4
Novels:
Fall of Reach
The Flood
Watched:
Fall of Reach
Forward Unto Dawn
Halo Legends
Currently I’m planning on going through Halo Wars, and I also plan on beating Reach once I finish reading the 3rd novel (which I’ve also started). I’m also working on Spartan Ops, and I’m about 1/3rd of the way done.
So, is there anything else that I really must read/see before I start up Halo 5? Or will I be fine with what I currently have?
Thanks guys
You should be good to go. The only major thing you left out was the comics.
Read this after you’ve played the H5 campaign.
I’m so sorry, I’m so very, very sorry.
Honestly… There is nothing to prepare for. Anything in the past has been ignored in 5 for the most part. Even Halo 4 has little with 5.
You want the truth? You really can’t fully understand what is going on in the story, no matter how much of the lore you know. Its just kinda a jumbled mess
You don’t need to know anything because it almost completely treats the lore like it doesn’t exist. There’s no mention to previous halos and
The domain which is how cortana is alive was destroyed so halo 5 shouldn’t have happened.
Don’t bother. Whoever wrote it decided the lore wasn’t worth it.
Literally all you need to know is mentioned in-game. Which is seriously LAME
Watch Halo Nightfall and read Halo New Blood… They will help some.
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> Don’t bother. Whoever wrote it decided the lore wasn’t worth it.
> Literally all you need to know is mentioned in-game. Which is seriously LAME
Actually this isn’t true…
How Buck became a Spartan is in the book Halo New Blood.
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> I’m so sorry, I’m so very, very sorry.
David Tennant, is that you? :o
As the others have said, you don’t really need to know anything going in despite 343 releasing an infographic about the expanded universe material. Hell, Halo 4 isn’t really needed to know what is going on.
OP… most here don’t seem to know as much about the Halo story as they think they know. Granted not much is needed but as I mentioned above there is stuff out there that will help. The H5 campaign gets more hate than it deserves. Yeah it didn’t match the advertising leading up to the game but it still told a decent story.
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> OP… most here don’t seem to know as much about the Halo story as they think they know. Granted not much is needed but as I mentioned above there is stuff out there that will help. The H5 campaign gets more hate than it deserves. Yeah it didn’t match the advertising leading up to the game but it still told a decent story.
Is New Blood critical to understanding Halo 5? Not the main story. It might shed light on why Buck may not be leading Osiris, but that isn’t essential to understanding Halo 5’s narrative. Same with Nightfall, you’ll get perspective on Locke and his moral compass, but you can easily gauge the same things in Halo 5 itself. If you are going to accuse people of not knowing the Halo story you need to be more convincing that that.
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> > 2533274816788253;11:
> > OP… most here don’t seem to know as much about the Halo story as they think they know. Granted not much is needed but as I mentioned above there is stuff out there that will help. The H5 campaign gets more hate than it deserves. Yeah it didn’t match the advertising leading up to the game but it still told a decent story.
>
>
> Is New Blood critical to understanding Halo 5? Not the man story. It might shed light on why Buck may not be leading Osiris, but that isn’t essential to understanding Halo 5’s narrative. Same with Nightfall, you’ll get perspective on Locke and his moral compass, but you can easily gauge the same things in Halo 5 itself. If you are going to accuse people of not knowing the Halo story you need to be more convincing that that.
Both still help with understanding Halo 5. People complain there is “no character development” in the game. When there is some character development it’s just outside the game.
Halo Escalation has stuff in it that happens between Halo 4 and 5 as well.
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> Halo Escalation has stuff in it that happens between Halo 4 and 5 as well.
Pretty much the only thing you need to know from Escalation is that
Palmer and Halsey are besties now for some stupid -Yoink- reason given by the poor narrative of Brian Reed which is why they aren’t neck and neck in Halo 5.
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> > 2533274812652989;12:
> > > 2533274816788253;11:
> > > OP… most here don’t seem to know as much about the Halo story as they think they know. Granted not much is needed but as I mentioned above there is stuff out there that will help. The H5 campaign gets more hate than it deserves. Yeah it didn’t match the advertising leading up to the game but it still told a decent story.
> >
> >
> > Is New Blood critical to understanding Halo 5? Not the man story. It might shed light on why Buck may not be leading Osiris, but that isn’t essential to understanding Halo 5’s narrative. Same with Nightfall, you’ll get perspective on Locke and his moral compass, but you can easily gauge the same things in Halo 5 itself. If you are going to accuse people of not knowing the Halo story you need to be more convincing that that.
>
>
> Both still help with understanding Halo 5. People complain there is “no character development” in the game. When there is some character development it’s just outside the game.
But that doesn’t make the complaint of no character development in-game wrong. Nor would I have to say that knowing anything about the characters in the expanded media really helps much in Halo 5. The only things I can think of are Hunters in the Dark for Vale and Tanaka’s arc in Escalation, but the game itself tells us Vale learned Sangheili at an early age and that Tanaka was an outer colonist and understands the mindset of the folks at Meridian Station. Does anything from Hunters mission to the Ark come into play? No. Does Tanaka’s living on a glassed planet and then saving people on a glass planet from Kig-Yar matter in Halo 5? No. These are fine events on their own, but they are not essential to Halo 5’s story.
> Halo Escalation has stuff in it that happens between Halo 4 and 5 as well.
Yet little of it has any actual relevance to Halo 5. The peace talks on Ealen VI? No. The Chief and Blue Team fighting the Didact? No. Thorne and Ray’s pursuit of a bioweapon that gets into the hands of Kig-Yar pirates? No. The whole Janus Key and Absolute Record arcs? No. In fact, the only explicit thing in halo 5 that I remember from Escalation was a mention of Oban and the new Knights being seen there.
You’re going to have to play Destiny and Destiny: The Taken King to fully understand anything having to do in Halo 5. Afterwards you should be all good to go. That game does a decent job shedding some light on what the Guardians are. Oh, and Buck was a machine at one point. It also shows what the Spartan IVs do on there spare time which is collect shiny glimmer and play dress up with all their RNG “loot” drops or REQs as they like to call them nowadays…
I’m just kidding, there’s not much you can do to get insight on Halo 5 narrative. Everything important was relinquished in new extended media. Halo 5 literally contradicts its own universe. Characters will change and have different personalities. (Except Buck and Halsey, thank god they’re some of my favorites.) and important arcs like the Janus Key are diminished to nothingness.
Like others have said, you can read some extra things to get insight on characters. Like TFoR or New Blood. But it’s pointless, because characters have little to no character development in-game or are shallow versions of themselves…
But if you’re big and I mean BIG on lore and already brushed up I mean. REALLY brushed up on the lore here’s a small guide of what to expect. If not, disregard this last section. (It’s spoiler free. I put a spoiler around it to save room lol.)
-EDIT- Fixed Spoiler Tag.
ACT I
- The end of the first mission? No… Just no… My eyes! What they saw cannot be undone!!
- Chief is hallucinating? Cool. Seems like an epic startup.
ACT II
- Why is everyone on the Infinity yelling?
- Osiris getting missions back-to-back with little Intel? Yeah. Nothing can go wrong.
ACT III
- Glassed planets… Have bad… Security measures…
- AI governing a colony? Sweet.
ACT IV
- Oh flips. If the Prometheans didn’t already look like “Bayformers” already. You get to fight a real life sized one! Looks exactly like Megatron!
- Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice
- Bayformers metroplex is leveling the city! Let’s accuse Chief and his team!
ACT V
- Arbiter… Nuff’ said.
- Bayformers Megatron is back… As Galvatron!? “What the hell is that doing here? Thought we killed it!”
ACT VI
- Wow. There goes Halo 4…
- What the yoink is going on!?
ACT VIII
- Cutesy, Loveable, and… Very Exuberant!
- Enter Warden. Part three. The epic conclusion of the Trilogy that started it all.
ACT IX
- It’s Skynet. It’s taking over!
- Did… Did we do it…? Did we… Did we save them?
ACT X
- It took this game long enough…
- Sir… Finishing this Fight!!! (Sequel bait) (Legendary)
In my opinion you missed the Forerunners saga (novels): Halo Cryptum - Halo Primordium - Halo Silentium
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> > > 2533274812652989;12:
> > > > 2533274816788253;11:
> > > > OP… most here don’t seem to know as much about the Halo story as they think they know. Granted not much is needed but as I mentioned above there is stuff out there that will help. The H5 campaign gets more hate than it deserves. Yeah it didn’t match the advertising leading up to the game but it still told a decent story.
> > >
> > >
> > > Is New Blood critical to understanding Halo 5? Not the man story. It might shed light on why Buck may not be leading Osiris, but that isn’t essential to understanding Halo 5’s narrative. Same with Nightfall, you’ll get perspective on Locke and his moral compass, but you can easily gauge the same things in Halo 5 itself. If you are going to accuse people of not knowing the Halo story you need to be more convincing that that.
> >
> >
> > Both still help with understanding Halo 5. People complain there is “no character development” in the game. When there is some character development it’s just outside the game.
>
>
> But that doesn’t make the complaint of no character development in-game wrong. Nor would I have to say that knowing anything about the characters in the expanded media really helps much in Halo 5. The only things I can think of are Hunters in the Dark for Vale and Tanaka’s arc in Escalation, but the game itself tells us Vale learned Sangheili at an early age and that Tanaka was an outer colonist and understands the mindset of the folks at Meridian Station. Does anything from Hunters mission to the Ark come into play? No. Does Tanaka’s living on a glassed planet and then saving people on a glass planet from Kig-Yar matter in Halo 5? No. These are fine events on their own, but they are not essential to Halo 5’s story.
>
>
>
>
> > Halo Escalation has stuff in it that happens between Halo 4 and 5 as well.
>
>
> Yet little of it has any actual relevance to Halo 5. The peace talks on Ealen VI? No. The Chief and Blue Team fighting the Didact? No. Thorne and Ray’s pursuit of a bioweapon that gets into the hands of Kig-Yar pirates? No. The whole Janus Key and Absolute Record arcs? No. In fact, the only explicit thing in halo 5 that I remember from Escalation was a mention of Oban and the new Knights being seen there.
Well without knowing exactly the OPs intent, knowledge and just how much he wants to know about Halo it’s tough to say what he should read. Does he want detailed information or does he just want the cliff notes so to speak.