Looking through the forums, I haven’t noticed anyone talking about this.
in Halo 3 and Halo CEA, Bungie, and then 343 created terminals (Reach had Data Pads, and ODST had audio files, which were basically the same thing). Do you think 343 will include something similar to the terminals in Halo 4, and if so, what form do you think they will take? Text, video? Audio? something entirely new? What do you expect/want to see in the terminals, if they are included?
I think it will be some sort of terminals.
Remember the terminals in Halo 3 only beeing on the arch, on a forerunner building? So, if the Shield World is a forerunner planet, there will be something like a terminal.
It’s always fun, if there are some side-story’s.
If there are terminals in Halo 4 (and I hope there will be), I’d like to see them hew to the Halo 3 terminals rather than those found in Anniversary. I think simple text is far more effective at conveying a sense of the artificial and the alien than is video, which tends to lack the necessary subtlety. It was nice having two characters (the Didact and the Librarian) without voices or appearances, whom we could envision in our own way. They were (as a very excellent article on the old Ascendant Justice website once asserted) archetypes of the Forerunner species at large, and (to diverge for a moment) I think that that’s precisely what the recent books have failed to grasp, making them instead into isolated characters when they were never meant to be such.
But a very emphatic “yes” to the inclusion of terminals in Halo 4.
> If there are terminals in Halo 4 (and I hope there will be), I’d like to see them hew to the Halo 3 terminals rather than those found in Anniversary. I think simple text is far more effective at conveying a sense of the artificial and the alien than is video, which tends to lack the necessary subtlety. It was nice having two characters (the Didact and the Librarian) without voices or appearances, whom we could envision in our own way. They were (as a very excellent article on the old Ascendant Justice website once asserted) archetypes of the Forerunner species at large, and (to diverge for a moment) I think that that’s precisely what the recent books have failed to grasp, making them instead into isolated characters when they were never meant to be such.
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> But a very emphatic “yes” to the inclusion of terminals in Halo 4.
I have to disagree with you. The terminals in Halo 3 had a boring text which nobody was reading(I read them all). The termials in CEA had video, which everybody watched.
There are pros and cons to both ways. 343i could even come up with something completely different that we haven’t thought of yet. it is even possible that the terminals hold more significance than they have in the past, with one of halo 4’s major (anticipated) themes being forerunner.
The best way to include them, IMO, would be a few of each: audio, video, and text. some stories would work better in one format, and some stories would work better in another format…
> The best way to include them, IMO, would be a few of each: audio, video, and text. some stories would work better in one format, and some stories would work better in another format…
I actually really like that idea. I would also personally like to see uncovering the terminals have more significance than in past games. the most terminals ever got you before is a bit of backstory and a few gamer-score. I’d like to see them actually affect the campaign somehow (not in a huge way). I think it’s likely that at least part of the story will involve the Chief and Cortana learning about the Forerunners, as this is part of the “Reclaimer Trilogy.” Interesting to see how it actually turns out.
I hope they follow the design direction of Anniversary. That one just had it right and was the most complete.
After all: audio messages can easily be put in a video/animated short, same can be done with text.
But what would really make them awesome: some interactivity. Kind of like the easter eggy stuff you get when you accidentally move a stick during a cutscene and something unexpected shows up (ODST monkey during final cutscene, or Chief in cryo in Reach). Maybe go even further for those who own Kinect…
Anyways, some sort of interaction which would make Terminals act more as investigative and informative breaks in gameplay would be awesome.
Halo 4 is almost guaranteed to have terminals.
They were very successful from halo 3 through to Halo CEA and added depth to the story.
as how they should be, I believe something that implements both what GhostofLiberty and DonVinzone had said.
A type of terminal system that has video, audio, and text while making them interactive somehow (whether it be from moving the stick at certain angles or Kinect).
I have a feeling there will be terminals, and I hope they are in the Anniversary style.