Future Halo Games Need To Be Independent

Games Other Halo
1

Unless you only follow the games, you probably won’t understand what I’m saying. Think of me as the representation of the general gamer.

I’m going to say right now that I never read the novels. I feel that if important story elements have to be told in a form of media outside of the main media, then that’s just a bad way to tell a story altogether.

I basically represent the average gamer. The average gamer that likes to play the games, but doesn’t get overly involved and obsessed (meaning collecting and reading every novel).

If the average gamer doesn’t read the novels, then it creates a huge problem in terms of storytelling. I see people commenting all around on these forums that things from Halo: Cryptum, etc. etc. will explain elements in Halo 4. But wait, unless I haven’t read Cryptum, I won’t know what in the world is going on! Who are these “Forerunners” and-- wait a minute, we already had this problem when Cortana mentioned something called “the Forerunners” in CE.

Don’t give me any crap about the Terminals in Halo 3 either, because that’s just pulling a Resident Evil. It’s equally just as bad because it was inserted into the game to tell a story, but it’s off to the side, and you have to READ it. Wouldn’t it be much better to ACTUALLY include all of that info throughout the course of the game?

For extra story elements, it’s fine, but for important ones like who the Foreunners are, or what’s going on in the Human-Covenant war, etc., it’s unacceptable.

This is 343’s chance to prove themselves. Halo 4 needs full introductions, and it can’t rely on the fact that the player may or may not have read the ongoing series of novels. If they can pull it off, then that’ll be great.

2

No Halo game required that you know the books story before you play the game. The books just explained more, and the subtle hints you see in the game from the books are a nod to those who have read them. Nothing that is required. Something the “average gamer” couldn’t care less about.

Also, people would understand who the “Forerunners are” if they paid any attention to Campaign dialogue in Halos 1-3.

3

I don’t feel that way, kids nowadays spend too much damn time on the internet to the point 3 paragraphs is “too long” but you can write and write pages and pages on deskface or whatever.

Reading is good regardless so anything against that is a no. the book are cheap and you can get audio versions if that is your taste.

Kids need to read more.

4

> I don’t feel that way, kids nowadays spend too much damn time on the internet to the point 3 paragraphs is “too long” but you can write and write pages and pages on deskface or whatever.
>
> Reading is good regardless so anything against that is a no. the book are cheap and you can get audio versions if that is your taste.
>
> Kids need to read more.

Everything you said was completely irrelevant to anything I’m saying.

5

> > I don’t feel that way, kids nowadays spend too much damn time on the internet to the point 3 paragraphs is “too long” but you can write and write pages and pages on deskface or whatever.
> >
> > Reading is good regardless so anything against that is a no. the book are cheap and you can get audio versions if that is your taste.
> >
> > Kids need to read more.
>
> Everything you said was completely irrelevant to anything I’m saying.

But you were proven wrong. You’ve never needed to read the books to understand how the Campaigns played out or what’s going on. The average gamer doesn’t care.

6

> > > I don’t feel that way, kids nowadays spend too much damn time on the internet to the point 3 paragraphs is “too long” but you can write and write pages and pages on deskface or whatever.
> > >
> > > Reading is good regardless so anything against that is a no. the book are cheap and you can get audio versions if that is your taste.
> > >
> > > Kids need to read more.
> >
> > Everything you said was completely irrelevant to anything I’m saying.
>
> But you were proven wrong. You’ve never needed to read the books to understand how the Campaigns played out or what’s going on. The average gamer doesn’t care.

He didn’t prove anything. He didn’t even acknowledge my point.
The universe depends on a series of novels to tell the story, rather than in the actual games which is what Halo is known for. The games.
How willing I am to read the books is irrelevant. When you actually look into it, Halo storytelling is scattered and is usually out of its place. (“Place” meaning the games)

And for the record of this topic, Halo shouldn’t have started with the battle of Installation '04, but rather, somewhere earlier in the war, explaining what was going on in the game NOT IN THE NOVELS OR THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL.

7

> The average gamer doesn’t care.

8

> > The average gamer doesn’t care.

Actually, you just agreed with me.
The average gamer doesn’t care. They don’t care about reading a bunch of novels, they want their full story in the game they buy.

9

> > I don’t feel that way, kids nowadays spend too much damn time on the internet to the point 3 paragraphs is “too long” but you can write and write pages and pages on deskface or whatever.
> >
> > Reading is good regardless so anything against that is a no. the book are cheap and you can get audio versions if that is your taste.
> >
> > Kids need to read more.
>
> Everything you said was completely irrelevant to anything I’m saying.

How did i not answer your point?

Halo being in other media encourages reading other than playing a video game for hour and hours.
Thus if the games were fully independant this would not be the case and then you can refer to my issue at hand.

the “average” gamer doesn’t want to read the books anyway so why should a game be the full lore source?

you do understand that games like red faction that do like you are askign are some of the best games with the best lore but it sucks that you only know about it from the games angle

10

> > > > I don’t feel that way, kids nowadays spend too much damn time on the internet to the point 3 paragraphs is “too long” but you can write and write pages and pages on deskface or whatever.
> > > >
> > > > Reading is good regardless so anything against that is a no. the book are cheap and you can get audio versions if that is your taste.
> > > >
> > > > Kids need to read more.
> > >
> > > Everything you said was completely irrelevant to anything I’m saying.
> >
> > But you were proven wrong. You’ve never needed to read the books to understand how the Campaigns played out or what’s going on. The average gamer doesn’t care.
>
> He didn’t prove anything. He didn’t even acknowledge my point.
> The universe depends on a series of novels to tell the story, rather than in the actual games which is what Halo is known for. The games.
> How willing I am to read the books is irrelevant. When you actually look into it, Halo storytelling is scattered and is usually out of its place. (“Place” meaning the games)

No, I proved you wrong. Not him. Again, you act like the average gamer cares. You don’t need to read the novels to understand the basics of what’s going on, unless you just didn’t pay attention to campaign dialogue.

What we learned from the games alone:

CE:
Forerunners created Halo
Covenant view Halo as their most sacred religious artifact
The Flood
Forerunners built Halo to stop the Flood
Chief blows it up
Covenant religion is a liee

2:
Covenant worship Forerunners
Covenant have a rigid caste system
Elites and Prophets run the show
Brutes are becoming more powerful
Covenant find Earth
Humans find the second Halo
Humans try to stop it from activating
Arbiter- a holy warrior
Brutes overthrow Elites
Elites join Humans in a temporary alliance
Chief and Truth head to Earth
The Ark
The Covenant religion is a lie
Gravemind leads the Flood

3:
The Ark will activate all Halos
Forerunners have a connection to the Humans
The war and religion is a lie
Chief is thought to be dead
War ends, rings don’t activate, Ark destroyed
Flood stopped
Chief is alive
Chief is heading towards some Forerunner-like planet (Legendary ending)

Really, what was hard to understand about that?

11

> > > The average gamer doesn’t care.
>
> Actually, you just agreed with me.
> The average gamer doesn’t care. They don’t care about reading a bunch of novels, they want their full story in the game they buy.

No, you are twisting words. The average gamer just wants to shoot -Yoink-. Story is secondary for them. I know plenty of people who will jump into multiplayer and not even try the campaign. That is your average gamer.

12

> No, you are twisting words. The average gamer just wants to shoot Yoink!. Story is secondary for them. I know plenty of people who will jump into multiplayer and not even try the campaign. That is your average gamer.

The average gamer plays the campaign to get achievements and THEN proceeds to shooting Yoink!.

13

> > No, you are twisting words. The average gamer just wants to shoot Yoink!. Story is secondary for them. I know plenty of people who will jump into multiplayer and not even try the campaign. That is your average gamer.
>
> The average gamer plays the campaign to get achievements and THEN proceeds to shooting Yoink!.

True, however they only care about the basics, and the basics are explained in the games. The books aren’t required to understand the basics of what’s going on.

14

> I love how he never responded to my posts. XD

i know exactly how you feel.

and TBH i think the OP is a bit selfrighteous (yes i know i have been described the same way before, takes one to know one) and ignorant. yes the books DO have alot of story in them, BUT they are not required reading. i did not even know there were books till halo 3 had been released, i felt quite content that i understood the universe and story of the games. but when i found the book, i was compelled to buy it, i wanted to know more aout the fictional universe i liked. (the first book i found, luckily for me, was ‘the fall of reach’) after reading this book, i went to the local book store and looked into the other books in the series, bought them and my knowledge and understanding of the halo universe has been that much richer since then.

the casual/purist gamers who only care about having fun/ playing the game DO NOT need to read the books, i never had to read the books. but after i did, i did not feel that my previous experiance was any less important, the books give so much more perspective to the games which so far (other than ODST) only focus on jhon 117’s perspective of the universe. in H2 we had a view of the covenant from thel’ vadam’s perspective as the arbiter, and again in H3 we are given just the chief’s point of view.

if you dont like the fact that halo has a WHOLE universe of stories then go away, shoot people and get over it. if you care that much, why not read the books? your a gamer, save up some money and buy them, they are quite cheap. if reading isnt your thing, i belive there are audio books, you can listen to them instead of reading.

and why do you care if i have superior knowledge of the universe the game is set in? it has no effect on the gameplay, other than to make the story, which was already very immersive, all the more special for me?

obviously you are jealous of the fact that we have the time/inclination/imagination to read and enjoy a series of novels. i had my dad, a person who has never played the games, probably will never play the games, read these novels and he likes the characters and the stories almost as much as i do. the games DO NOT require the novels, and the novels DO NOT require the games. but together they make for a very enjoyable universe.

15

> > I love how he never responded to my posts. XD
>
> i know exactly how you feel.
>
> and TBH i think the OP is a bit selfrighteous (yes i know i have been described the same way before, takes one to know one) and ignorant. yes the books DO have alot of story in them, BUT they are not required reading. i did not even know there were books till halo 3 had been released, i felt quite content that i understood the universe and story of the games. but when i found the book, i was compelled to buy it, i wanted to know more aout the fictional universe i liked. (the first book i found, luckily for me, was ‘the fall of reach’) after reading this book, i went to the local book store and looked into the other books in the series, bought them and my knowledge and understanding of the halo universe has been that much richer since then.
>
> the casual/purist gamers who only care about having fun/ playing the game DO NOT need to read the books, i never had to read the books. but after i did, i did not feel that my previous experiance was any less important, the books give so much more perspective to the games which so far (other than ODST) only focus on jhon 117’s perspective of the universe. in H2 we had a view of the covenant from thel’ vadam’s perspective as the arbiter, and again in H3 we are given just the chief’s point of view.
>
> if you dont like the fact that halo has a WHOLE universe of stories then go away, shoot people and get over it. if you care that much, why not read the books? your a gamer, save up some money and buy them, they are quite cheap. if reading isnt your thing, i belive there are audio books, you can listen to them instead of reading.
>
> and why do you care if i have superior knowledge of the universe the game is set in? it has no effect on the gameplay, other than to make the story, which was already very immersive, all the more special for me?
>
> obviously you are jealous of the fact that we have the time/inclination/imagination to read and enjoy a series of novels. i had my dad, a person who has never played the games, probably will never play the games, read these novels and he likes the characters and the stories almost as much as i do. the games DO NOT require the novels, and the novels DO NOT require the games. but together they make for a very enjoyable universe.

starts clapping slowly

Well said, brother. I didn’t know about the books until after Halo 3 as well, and I understood what was going on perfectly. But once I found them, my knowledge of the universe as a whole grew. I love the books, I love the game. Together, they are the Halo Universe.