Feedback on Serial Narrative

Games Halo Infinite
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41

Just playing Devil’s advocate here, but it does say they prefer to work alone and not that they work alone as a hard rule. My family’s a military family and if there’s one thing the military’s good at, it’s making sure your preference is ignored when it’s not convenient to the military lol.

I’m OK with the idea of small team/solo Spartans - reconnaissance necessitating a small footprint makes sense, logically, to me. That being said, the name “Lone Wolves” doesn’t bother me - I’d be equally OK with Headhunters.

This is the only part I found odd - not quite cringey, but odd. I get that they want her to be a friendly face for new players, since that’s the whole idea behind the Academy, but she was unusually chipper when one of her Spartans - a friend no less - was in dire straits.

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42

Personally I felt like it was the writing moreso than the character. But it certainly does feel like they are acting like we know and love these characters when we really don’t.

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I think it’s cringier to not let new things happen.

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44

Ehm.
Spartans operating behind enemy lines come from Halo: Reach / Bungie era. Back then they were called “Headhunters”, so, all in all it’s a re-used concept made a long time ago under a different name ( we know a certain company loves to distance itself with its own new concepts.)

Look up Halo Headhunters, there’s a nice digital comic available on youtube.

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BTW have you guys seen the outro video when you complete the challenges?

Doesn’t add much, just says that he’s in a stable condition and you’ve done something to make the AI more manageable. He’s also ominously able to rant and rave in the bases systems. Red lightning. Another day in the office.

For a top secret base that exists because an AI destroyed your previous base and where you’ve been Battlestar Galactica mode for at least a year; they’re being very relaxed about bringing an AI into the heart of their operation. :eyes:

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46

I think of it as a homage to Noble Six.

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Yup! read headhunters when it came out, aware it’s not a new concept (hence why I mention headhunters and other bungie era stuff, like Halo Reach.) Still feel like this application of it/use of the name “Lone Wolves” is super cringey and weak.

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48

Is that the only argument you have? That it’s cringe?

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I mean, it also sucks? Like, there are arguements that people are making here beyond the cringe aspect.

My criticism is that I dont care about any of these characters. I dont care about my Create-a-Spartan, I dont care about the forgettable Lone Wolves and I dont care about Commander Whats-Her-Name. I guess they’re going to develop it over time, and I can accept that, but I’m pretty much entirely here for the rewards and not whatever else is going on because it doesn’t matter.

The other criticism is that the story has absolutely nothing to do with the gameplay.

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50

I’m not going to lie but I think that’s a you problem. I think Agryna’s pretty cool. I want to know more about Dinh and Eklund and I think the narrative is interesting.

It’s mostly just extra flavoring for everything.

EDIT: The not caring about your spratan thing btw, is 100% a you problem. They’re your Spartan. Start making up a story about them. You know who my Spartan is?

A former fighter pilot who was a first wave Spartan IV, with a grudge to bear about a shipmaster that raided her planet for a Forerunner artifact - and she was saved by a Spartan who lost her squad, who ended up keeping the Shipmaster occupied long enough for my Spartan-to-be to evacuate what citizens and such she could off world.

After that, Thrace, the spartan-to-be, ended up joining the ODST corps to try and live up to the example that Spartan, 362, set for her so long ago. She was even present at the battle of Earth, but taking on Covenant occupiers in Texas instead. After that, Thrace settled down until she was approached by Jun some year or two later due to her outstanding record and noted fixation on 362, to join. Get a chance to fill those Battleplated boots.

So she did. Led a squad, led a couple really, got good at it, but ended up making mistakes, lost most of her squad when assigned to go take on Created forces after all that happened and was present six months ago aboard Infinity, escaping with the rest to the Academy, where she’s been honing her skills for this duration.

That’s not even getting into her complex relationship with Sangheili, her thirst for dueling them 1-1, how she collects their swords as trophies and has been hungering for vengeance against that shipmaster.

And this is all a truncated version.

If you’re waiting for the game to give that to you, you aren’t going to get it.

You have to make up your own story for your Spartan, this isn’t a Noble Six situation. They’re Yours.

Do something with them.

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My one is a ruthless killer who’s missing an arm.

as for the seasonal narrative, its alright as far as starts go, things are certainly happening, though i find Iratus, the distant relative of the late Uka-Uka from Crash Bandicoot neat, Agryna needs more to chew on, as for the new characters…they exist, like Agryna they need more to chew on.

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But none of these characters have character. Argyna is a nothing burger who hasn’t done anything yet. Dinh is a dude that’s in a coma. Eklund is… Uh… There. In order for me to be invested into these characters, I need to more about them than the most boiler-plate information and characteristics possible.

I need to see them in action, how they fight and what they’re struggling against. So far, I haven’t seen any of that. I’m also not going to write useless head canon for my MP character. Part of the reason Noble Six was good was because Noble Six did things - activated AA towers, blew up Wraiths, helped in the destruction of a corvette, flew a Sabre, so many other actions across the entirety of the Reach campaign. So far, all our multiplayer Spartan has done is stand around, push some buttons, and move some objects. The only actions taken so far, are in simulations. I need more than just the most basic of “tasks” and “They’re you, care about them” in order for me to be invested in those characters.

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53

in otherwords Noble 6 fought the covenant, we fought the covenant, our multiplayer spartan in infinite is still in wargames at summer camp

Halo 4’s fireteam crimson, its version of the infinite spartan had us fighting prometheans, dealing with the storm faction, keeping an eye on scientists, saving Infinity from a firey grave etc etc.

rn weve yet to really do anything other than wargames.

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54

The intro to season 2 is boring considering there isn’t even a single flashback to this intense and chaotic firefight these two Spartans endured.

Then the outro cutscene appears and honestly it would be better if they just didn’t do anything rather than have Agryna talk to you for 30 seconds.

You can tell it’s been put together quickly without any thought whatsoever. Anyway, I’ve finished the event and completed my weeklies and I’m not even that keen on the reward.

I’m going to have a break from the game until the next event or a good weekly comes along.

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55

See, you get it.

I don’t think you’re putting any effort for your character.

In fact I’m pretty sure your entire idea of a character is how much stuff they can blow up.

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I watched EP:7 IMHO It sucked! Sorry! :face_with_diagonal_mouth:

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If you actually read what I wrote, then you’d realize that I’m referring to a writing principle known as “Show don’t tell.” This comes with an asterisk of “A little explanation completes this,” but my point is that Noble Six is shown doing things. We can talk endlessly about how cool a character is, or how awesome their armor is, but the character needs to be shown doing things so that we can see how awesome that is in practice.

I’m presently playing SWTOR, and I’m playing as a Jedi Knight. There, I have the agency to determine how my character responded, as well as what actions the character takes, whether that’s Light Side or Dark Side, and I am an active participant in the events of the story - I have defeated a Sith Apprentice, taken on a Padawan, defeated a Sith Lord, and saved Nar Shadda as well as uncovered secrets about characters around me. I am an active participant in this story, not a casual observer that gets told “And then, this really cool Jedi swung his lightsaber around and defeated this Sith Lord, and man, it was so cool I wish you could have seen it.”

Halo suffers at the moment from a massive issue of telling us cool things are happening but not showing us cool things are happening (a problem that has extended beyond just the multiplayer narrative - Halo 4, 5 and Infinite have all suffered greatly from this), and this extends to all of the characters as well. The characters are boring because they don’t do anything. They don’t appear to have an agency or direction to what they’re doing, and instead exist to inform the player of what’s happening in the universe so that the player is not an active participant in that universe.

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No, no I read what you wrote.

I’m sure if I tell you that I’m a writer, you’ll insult writing of mine you’ve never seen and then say how much of a writer you are, and tell me stuff you’ve read and written, as if I haven’t been studying these subjects since I was 12…

But I’m just going to tell you, that we’re seeing different perspectives. It’s quite clear Dinh got into trouble given he’s basically comatose and has an alien AI in his head. It’s quite clear that Eklund cares a great deal about her partner. It’s very clear Agryna knows who these people are, even if we don’t, and doubly so that she’s leading operations here. We got told our objective, then we went and did it. Huzzah, wouldn’t you know, by the end of the pass we managed to secure Iratus and he’s completely contained, while Dinh is making a recovery.

Perhaps we’ll see them in the future. Maybe not. Doesn’t really matter to be honest.

You’re just not putting any legwork in. You want things to be presented to but can’t stand reaching conclusions or drawing connections yourself. Your entire process of engagement with entertainment is reactive, not proactive. SWTOR, your example?

You’re an active participant, yes. But you are not the driving force. Every single objective, every story beat, is another moment where you’re following a bread crumb trail and then things happen to you. Then you react to it. Sure, you’re making the decisions at the end of the day, when you get there… But you are not making the strides you believe you are.

Sometimes the audience has to take a step for the media they’re consuming. If they can’t? They should move on.

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I feel that only works if the media itself has given them a means/reason to invest their character into the world.

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60

I’m waiting and seeing, personally. So far things are interesting.

I do feel like the layman learning the term “Show don’t tell” is the worst thing to happen to literature and media in general ever, though, my Gods.