Halo 5 should take itself less seriously.

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

It seems as if Halo 4 was being overly serious throughout the entire game, like Reach. In the previous Halo games it wasn’t always so heavy, at moments the game was light hearted to break the tension, and didn’t take itself too seriously. This was even more apparent in Halo 3, given the hilarious and silly dialogue the enemies had during the course of the game, including in Halo 2/CE; There was a self aware quality to each game. This was lost in Halo 4 and Reach.

So essentially I think 343 should focus more on a lighthearted approach to the game, which the others had. Even the best stories have their comic relief, otherwise it just feels bogged down by seriousness.

2

Kinda hard for Halo Reach to be lighthearted when millions of innocent lives are lost and humanity are on the brink of extinction.

As for Halo 4, You have a Insane, Genocidal Forerunner wanting to exterminate all Humans and Chief losing his only real companion. Again, Lightheartedness isn’t exactly something that should be there.

I do agree that there should be some more funny dialogue from the Marines and Grunts, But Halo’s story is not lighthearted. It’s dark, Deep and downright depressing at points.

By the sounds of things, Halo 5 is going to be very serious and dark. So I guess your wish will be unfulfilled.

3

If you wanted some lightheartedness in Halo 4, then I recommend Spartan Ops. The fire teams are plenty of Goofy… (Ughh)

Only joke we got in Halo 4’s Campaign was when Palmer thought chief would be taller, but I didn’t laugh ._.

I think Guardians will return English language, so the masses know what the hell Te Alienz are saying.

4

> Kinda hard for Halo Reach to be lighthearted when millions of innocent lives are lost and humanity are on the brink of extinction.
>
> As for Halo 4, You have a Insane, Genocidal Forerunner wanting to exterminate all Humans and Chief losing his only real companion. Again, Lightheartedness isn’t exactly something that should be there.
>
> I do agree that there should be some more funny dialogue from the Marines and Grunts, But Halo’s story is not lighthearted. It’s dark, Deep and downright depressing at points.
>
> By the sounds of things, Halo 5 is going to be very serious and dark. So I guess your wish will be unfulfilled.

I never said the story should be light hearted, I said there should be more comic relief within the game, it can be little things which make a big difference. For example, in Halo 2 when the gravemind teleports the Chief, he says “boo” to a grunt, it scampers away in a frightened state. Or in Halo CE, when the pillar of autumn was about to explode, and Johnson hugs an elite saying “this is it baby, hold me”. Things like this. Halo has never had a lighthearted story, but its characters and some of the moments in the game have been.

5

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, leave humorous dialogue and all that with the IWHBYD skull. I had my immersion ruined on my first run-through of H3’s “The Ark” because of a random sleeping grunt line.

As for in cutscenes in the story itself itself, I’d rather the game feel consistent. In H3, you could be chasing babbling grunts around one minute and watching a marine mutate before your very eyes the next. It was a tad schizophrenic.

And H5 itself’s story has been already stated to be the darkest Halo yet, so…

6

I liked the tone in reach and odst. Very serious, but you ended up with humor in the dialogue plenty.

H4 had one joke? Something about clearing LZs… Lame.

7

> I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, leave humorous dialogue and all that with the IWHBYD skull. I had my immersion ruined on my first run-through of H3’s “The Ark” because of a random sleeping grunt line.

If one sleeping grunt is all that is needed to ruin your immersion, then your opinion on this isn’t valid. Really just being picky, and that’s being generous.

> It was a tad schizophrenic.

There’s a difference between schizophrenic and having some parts of a game which are different to its other parts. That’s like saying that Half Life 2 is schizophrenic, because all of a sudden it goes into a full on horror type setting in Ravenholm. If all games were completely homogeneous, they’d be boring.

> I liked the tone in reach and odst. Very serious, but you ended up with humor in the dialogue plenty.
>
> H4 had one joke? Something about clearing LZs… Lame.

Very little to no humor in Reach, a decent amount in ODST though.

8

> > I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, leave humorous dialogue and all that with the IWHBYD skull. I had my immersion ruined on my first run-through of H3’s “The Ark” because of a random sleeping grunt line.
>
> If one sleeping grunt is all that is needed to ruin your immersion, then your opinion on this isn’t valid. Really just being picky, and that’s being generous.

I’m not the one who started a thread about it. TBH, it’s hard to feel like the Covenant are on the brink of destroying humanity when their soldiers are snoozing in a pile, sleep-talking about getting the Fist of Rukt for Christmas.

I’m not opposed to funny dialogue in general, some of the grunt lines in H3 were not just comedy gold, but comedy diamond-encrusted platinum. I just think that the first play through isn’t really the place for it if you want to stay immersed in the story. Or if you want to keep it serious entirely, just keep the skull off. This way, everyone wins.

9

> > > I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, leave humorous dialogue and all that with the IWHBYD skull. I had my immersion ruined on my first run-through of H3’s “The Ark” because of a random sleeping grunt line.
> >
> > If one sleeping grunt is all that is needed to ruin your immersion, then your opinion on this isn’t valid. Really just being picky, and that’s being generous.
>
> I’m not the one who started a thread about it. TBH, it’s hard to feel like the Covenant are on the brink of destroying humanity when their soldiers are snoozing in a pile, sleep-talking about getting the Fist of Rukt for Christmas.

Don’t you see? That’s what makes it funny!

> I’m not opposed to funny dialogue in general, some of the grunt lines in H3 were not just comedy gold, but comedy diamond-encrusted platinum. I just think that the first play through isn’t really the place for it if you want to stay immersed in the story. Or if you want to keep it serious entirely, just keep the skull off. This way, everyone wins.

If that ruins immersion, then you’re going to hate this game called Halo. All of the Halo games from 1 - 3 (and ODST) had comedic elements. Even in Halo CE, the grunts were comical.

10

Halo 5 needs to be a dark, serious game. I don’t want funny dialogue. Leave that for the MCC and be done with it. Also, the covenant or any aliens should definitely NOT speak ENGLISH.

11

> > > > I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, leave humorous dialogue and all that with the IWHBYD skull. I had my immersion ruined on my first run-through of H3’s “The Ark” because of a random sleeping grunt line.
> > >
> > > If one sleeping grunt is all that is needed to ruin your immersion, then your opinion on this isn’t valid. Really just being picky, and that’s being generous.
> >
> > I’m not the one who started a thread about it. TBH, it’s hard to feel like the Covenant are on the brink of destroying humanity when their soldiers are snoozing in a pile, sleep-talking about getting the Fist of Rukt for Christmas.
>
> Don’t you see? That’s what makes it funny!
>
>
>
> > I’m not opposed to funny dialogue in general, some of the grunt lines in H3 were not just comedy gold, but comedy diamond-encrusted platinum. I just think that the first play through isn’t really the place for it if you want to stay immersed in the story. Or if you want to keep it serious entirely, just keep the skull off. This way, everyone wins.
>
> If that ruins immersion, then you’re going to hate this game called Halo. All of the Halo games from 1 - 3 (and ODST) had comedic elements. Even in Halo CE, the grunts were comical.

Guess that’s why I like H4’s campaign the most, then. :stuck_out_tongue: Look, I enjoy the campaigns regardless, but I don’t want to hear about a Brute’s love life whilst I’m smashing his skull open. It’s a bit annoying. I tend to keep IWHBYD off when I want intensity, but occasionally one slips through. Black humour or jokes that serve a purpose in cutscenes don’t bother me as much, but I’m looking forward to a darker Halo. Good day to you, sir.

12

^ this.

13

> Halo 5 needs to be a dark, serious game. I don’t want funny dialogue. Leave that for the MCC and be done with it. Also, the covenant or any aliens should definitely NOT speak ENGLISH.

So it’s OK to just crap on the previous Halo trilogy’s legacy? I really doubt you’re a Halo fan if you really think it’s a necessary element for the next Halo game to be constantly dark and serious, when literally all the other games in the previous trilogy were not. Actually, it makes me doubt you’ve even touched any of the previous games at all. Sure, it had the serious elements in the story, but the other aspects of the game not so much. Grunts were comical for example, and there were many cutscenes that were funny, such as the scene with Johnson in the legendary ending. Not to mention almost every previous Halo game has had the aliens speaking English. You must be new here. Halo has never been about being dark and serious, and that shouldn’t be a main focus. Halo has always been self aware and light hearted at its core, even though the story does get dramatic and dire at points.

When a game takes itself too seriously, I can’t take it seriously either, ironically.

14

If H5 is “going back to its roots”, then I expect to hear funny grunt dialog like I did in CE-3.

I see people offer serious dialog by default with IWHBYD for funny dialog, but I’ve never seen them suggest the opposite. I think IWHBYD would be better for turning on serious dialog, while funny dialog is default.

15

> So it’s OK to just crap on the previous Halo trilogy’s legacy?

The previous trilogy can still be its own thing while the Reclaimer Saga can be its own. Halos 1-3 don’t arbitaraily change before of Halo 4, 5 and so on.

> I really doubt you’re a Halo fan if you really think it’s a necessary element for the next Halo game to be constantly dark and serious, when literally all the other games in the previous trilogy were not. Actually, it makes me doubt you’ve even touched any of the previous games at all. Sure, it had the serious elements in the story, but the other aspects of the game not so much. Grunts were comical for example, and there were many cutscenes that were funny, such as the scene with Johnson in the legendary ending. Not to mention almost every previous Halo game has had the aliens speaking English. You must be new here. Halo has never been about being dark and serious, and that shouldn’t be a main focus. Halo has always been self aware and light hearted at its core, even though the story does get dramatic and dire at points.

Don’t break out the true fan BS, it only weakens your argument. Different people have different expectations and beliefs about the games. You want a lighthearted romp? Fine. Someone else wants a more serious adventure? Fine. Neither one of you are really any better than the other.

> When a game takes itself too seriously, I can’t take it seriously either, ironically.

And if a game is too wacky when dealing with heavy themes, I can’t exactly take it serious either. I have my grips with how Halo 4 handed some aspects, but I doubt I could take a lot of it seriously if Grunts were ranting about food -Yoink!- in perfect helium-voiced English.

16

Halo 2 and 3 took themselves EXTREMELY seriously. most of the humor came from how overwrought and dumb everything was. Halo 4 has humor in it, but the main events of the plot aren’t as goofy or overly complicated.

it was not “dark”.

17

Serious wouldn’t be the word I’d use. Darker, is the word, and I prefer that Halo 5 is said to be darkest story in the series.

18

There needs to be a good and appropriate mix of the two. Halo 3 does this the best I think, maybe a little heavy on the silly, but it definitely has its softer, more serious moments.

19

> The previous trilogy can still be its own thing while the Reclaimer Saga can be its own. Halos 1-3 don’t arbitaraily change before of Halo 4, 5 and so on.

What’s arbitrary about continuing some aspects of the previous games?

I could say it’s arbitrary for the next Halo games to significantly change to a more serious demeanor.

> Don’t break out the true fan BS, it only weakens your argument. Different people have different expectations and beliefs about the games. You want a lighthearted romp? Fine. Someone else wants a more serious adventure? Fine. Neither one of you are really any better than the other.

Well, your argument is BS, because it’s a straw man. I never made the “you’re not a true Halo fan so what you say is invalid” argument, it appears as you missed the entire point of what I was saying there. My main point was that’s what the previous games were like. If you call it ‘lighthearted romp’, then Halo 1 - 3 were ‘lighthearted romp’. You must really hate Halo 1-3 if you really think that. If that’s true, it’s hard to see how you’re a Halo fan either. But if you do like those games, that’s proof a game can have lighthearted elements while maintaining a serious story. And Halo 1, 2, and 3 have done just that.

> And if a game is too wacky when dealing with heavy themes, I can’t exactly take it serious either. I have my grips with how Halo 4 handed some aspects, but I doubt I could take a lot of it seriously if Grunts were ranting about food -Yoink!- in perfect helium-voiced English.

Halo has always had a good balance. If it’s too serious, with no comic relief, it becomes overbearing. All the greatest movies have comic relief, even when the overall story is more serious, sometimes even with really dark subject matters. I have a hard time seeing how anyone could take the grunts seriously at all. They’re small and feeble, and cower at the smallest sign of danger. Halo 4 felt too serious, there wasn’t any moments to break the tension. And again, if you really can’t take it seriously at all, then you must really dislike all of the previous Halo games. But I doubt that.

> There needs to be a good and appropriate mix of the two. Halo 3 does this the best I think, maybe a little heavy on the silly, but it definitely has its softer, more serious moments.

This is essentially ties into what I’ve said before. Appropriate balance is required, obviously. Too much serious, and the game becomes too overbearing. Too silly, and the game becomes… Too silly… I think the previous games had the perfect balance, Halo 4 on the other hand was way too serious.

20

It is possible to not be totally enamored with the more lighthearted aspects of Halos 1-3 and yet still like the games. Truth be told I think the books tell a better story than the games do, with perhaps the exception of Halo 4 at times, and they do have humor, but they tell a way more serious tale than the games. I prefer that. The games tend to have more in your face humor, ie the Grunts, some of the things the Covenant say, etc. The humor in the books is more passive and situational. Take this line from the Ur-Didact in Silentium:

“A restless unease in my gut warned me that gravity on these decks might fail at any moment. Very dangerous - gravity gradients are not to be ignored. I could be slammed up or thrown sideways, smashed to a pulp. As any warrior will tell you, unbalanced gravity is a (TT: expletive, possibly sacrilegious, untranslatable).”

I got a kick out of that more than I did a Grunt talking about his big blue balls for the seventh time.