Halo: A Telltale Game Series

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

After the success of The Walking Dead, and The Wolf Among Us, Telltale has begun to expand their horizons to include game series based upon Borderlands and Game of Thrones.

If they continued with this track, would a Halo Telltale series be too far of a stretch to imagine? Would it work?

The way the series have currently planned out is that they establish new characters and locations in an already existing universe-not interrupting the main stories in anyway apart from some rather awesome references. They work because they can effectively have freedom in their writing and have so far proved very successful.

Would a Telltale series based upon Halo work? Possibly. They could create a series upon completely new characters, or add story to some under-appreciated characters.

For example:

A series based upon Sgt. Stacker set between Halo 3 and Halo 4. What missions did he undertake? What squad was under their command? Did they find something kept secret?

They could have the freedom to expand upon characters we love, while still allowing 343i to carry on the franchise into the future.

If Borderlands will work, it’s not too far of a stretch to imagine Halo: A Telltale Game Series to be in the pipeline.

Discuss.

2

> After the success of The Walking Dead, and The Wolf Among Us, Telltale has begun to expand their horizons to include game series based upon Borderlands and Game of Thrones.
>
> If they continued with this track, would a Halo Telltale series be too far of a stretch to imagine? Would it work?
>
> The way the series have currently planned out is that they establish new characters and locations in an already existing universe-not interrupting the main stories in anyway apart from some rather awesome references. They work because they can effectively have freedom in their writing and have so far proved very successful.
>
> Would a Telltale series based upon Halo work? Possibly. They could create a series upon completely new characters, or add story to some under-appreciated characters.
>
> For example:
>
> A series based upon Sgt. Stacker set between Halo 3 and Halo 4. What missions did he undertake? What squad was under their command? Did they find something kept secret?
>
> They could have the freedom to expand upon characters we love, while still allowing 343i to carry on the franchise into the future.
>
> If Borderlands will work, it’s not too far of a stretch to imagine Halo: A Telltale Game Series to be in the pipeline.
>
> Discuss.

Firstly awesome idea… and speculation. People that should be revisited are the unnamed ODST squad in Halo 3: ODST, Sergeant Stacker.

But…

IT ALL DEPENDS ON MICROSOFT! 343 Industries would “happily” allow them to attempt an episodic story… probably something like Spartan Ops but with alot more focus… they have branched out to other companies before… Saber Interactive, Microsoft Studios, Certain Affinity.

3

Honestly, as great as Telltale games can be, I don’t think that they’re right for a Halo game developer. But they’re making a Borderlands game, and since Borderlands is a first-person shooter too, it means that making a Halo game is just fine, right? As much as I wish that were true, it isn’t.

The thing is, the setting in which we find Borderlands is vastlydifferent than the one Halo belongs to. While Halo is a galaxy at war, where most interesting stories touch the big Covenant-Human war, Borderlands is more of a whacky environment with a lot more human intereaction, therefore it creates a much more personal story.

In Halo, you never stop to talk to people and solve their little problems, you’re always focused on the big picture of saving humanity. Even in a more personal game, ODST, the goal involved saving the rest of humanity. In Borderlands? There are often missions where you’ll do stuff like find somebody his booze or a weapon, or you’ll go find some bloke to help you take out Handsome Jack. The story has a lot more socialization, and more importantly, the rest of humanity on other planets really would never get affected by what happens on Pandora. Both stories are great in their own regard, but they’re very different. Halo is not suited for small personal stories, just as Borderlands is not well suited for big epic stories.

From what I can tell, Telltale games excel on focusing on small-problem personal stories rather than big epic masterpieces. That’s why, unfortunately, I have to say no to this idea.

4

I love Telltale. Just finished Episode 3 of Wolf Among Us, but I’m going to have to say no to this at least until I see how Tales from the Borderlands does in terms of story and gameplay.

I feel like Halo is too fast paced and action heavy compared to what Telltale has done in the past for them to do a Halo adventure game

5

> Honestly, as great as Telltale games can be, I don’t think that they’re right for a Halo game developer. But they’re making a Borderlands game, and since Borderlands is a first-person shooter too, it means that making a Halo game is just fine, right? As much as I wish that were true, it isn’t.
>
> The thing is, the setting in which we find Borderlands is vastlydifferent than the one Halo belongs to. While Halo is a galaxy at war, where most interesting stories touch the big Covenant-Human war, Borderlands is more of a whacky environment with a lot more human intereaction, therefore it creates a much more personal story.
>
> In Halo, you never stop to talk to people and solve their little problems, you’re always focused on the big picture of saving humanity. Even in a more personal game, ODST, the goal involved saving the rest of humanity. In Borderlands? There are often missions where you’ll do stuff like find somebody his booze or a weapon, or you’ll go find some bloke to help you take out Handsome Jack. The story has a lot more socialization, and more importantly, the rest of humanity on other planets really would never get affected by what happens on Pandora. Both stories are great in their own regard, but they’re very different. Halo is not suited for small personal stories, just as Borderlands is not well suited for big epic stories.
>
> From what I can tell, Telltale games excel on focusing on small-problem personal stories rather than big epic masterpieces. That’s why, unfortunately, I have to say no to this idea.

So stop me now if I’m wrong, but Telltale’s games sound similar to Bioware’s games (Kotor, Mass Effect etc.). If that’s the case, I’m not really sure I see the problem. Star Wars was a series all about the “bigger picture” and very little about personal character building dilemmas. Whether it was the books, movies or games the bigger picture was always stop the Sith and save the galaxy.

Despite that, Biowares “Knights of the old Republic” was very successful. It was focused almost entirely on character relationships and filled with solving little problems for various characters (something that wasn’t in the previous games like Jedi Knights) while working towards Star Wars bigger picture of stopping the Sith.

So I’m curious as to why you think the same couldn’t apply to Halo. Granted I’ve never seen or played a Telltale game so I wouldn’t really know.

6

> > Honestly, as great as Telltale games can be, I don’t think that they’re right for a Halo game developer. But they’re making a Borderlands game, and since Borderlands is a first-person shooter too, it means that making a Halo game is just fine, right? As much as I wish that were true, it isn’t.
> >
> > The thing is, the setting in which we find Borderlands is vastlydifferent than the one Halo belongs to. While Halo is a galaxy at war, where most interesting stories touch the big Covenant-Human war, Borderlands is more of a whacky environment with a lot more human intereaction, therefore it creates a much more personal story.
> >
> > In Halo, you never stop to talk to people and solve their little problems, you’re always focused on the big picture of saving humanity. Even in a more personal game, ODST, the goal involved saving the rest of humanity. In Borderlands? There are often missions where you’ll do stuff like find somebody his booze or a weapon, or you’ll go find some bloke to help you take out Handsome Jack. The story has a lot more socialization, and more importantly, the rest of humanity on other planets really would never get affected by what happens on Pandora. Both stories are great in their own regard, but they’re very different. Halo is not suited for small personal stories, just as Borderlands is not well suited for big epic stories.
> >
> > From what I can tell, Telltale games excel on focusing on small-problem personal stories rather than big epic masterpieces. That’s why, unfortunately, I have to say no to this idea.
>
> So stop me now if I’m wrong, but Telltale’s games sound similar to Bioware’s games (Kotor, Mass Effect etc.). If that’s the case, I’m not really sure I see the problem. Star Wars was a series all about the “bigger picture” and very little about personal character building dilemmas. Whether it was the books, movies or games the bigger picture was always stop the Sith and save the galaxy.
>
> Despite that, Biowares “Knights of the old Republic” was very successful. It was focused almost entirely on character relationships and filled with solving little problems for various characters (something that wasn’t in the previous games like Jedi Knights) while working towards Star Wars bigger picture of stopping the Sith.
>
> So I’m curious as to why you think the same couldn’t apply to Halo. Granted I’ve never seen or played a Telltale game so I wouldn’t really know.

Unfortunately, they aren’t really like Bioware’s games. They’re more personal stories that have a slower pace rather than fast action-based “pic picture” stories.

Knights of the Old Republic I and II were amazing games, as are the Mass Effect games, and I love them very much, and Telltale games are great too, but the two definitely do not mix.

7

Telltale games don’t do physical conflict well.

Halo is about Marines fighting in wars, very little social interaction.
A series like Walking Dead or Sam and Max is all about social interaction.

You can’t really make a Halo (or any military series, for that matter) telltale game work because most of a Marine’s time is spent shooting and not talking. A Marine is dug in the trenches killing people, not spending his time walking around town conversing with people.

> So stop me now if I’m wrong, but Telltale’s games sound similar to Bioware’s games (Kotor, Mass Effect etc.). If that’s the case, I’m not really sure I see the problem

Similar to Mass Effect but also different on many levels. Telltale games are all point and click linear adventures as far as I know, where as in Mass Effect you can move around not just the room but also the Galaxy as you see fit.

8

I would buy it. Maybe give us a look into the inner workings and politics of FLEETCOM and ONI?

9

…No, Halo would be completely ruined.

10

> …No, Halo would be completely ruined.

Because…?

11

> Honestly, as great as Telltale games can be, I don’t think that they’re right for a Halo game developer. But they’re making a Borderlands game, and since Borderlands is a first-person shooter too, it means that making a Halo game is just fine, right? As much as I wish that were true, it isn’t.
>
> The thing is, the setting in which we find Borderlands is vastlydifferent than the one Halo belongs to. While Halo is a galaxy at war, where most interesting stories touch the big Covenant-Human war, Borderlands is more of a whacky environment with a lot more human intereaction, therefore it creates a much more personal story.
>
> In Halo, you never stop to talk to people and solve their little problems, you’re always focused on the big picture of saving humanity. Even in a more personal game, ODST, the goal involved saving the rest of humanity. In Borderlands? There are often missions where you’ll do stuff like find somebody his booze or a weapon, or you’ll go find some bloke to help you take out Handsome Jack. The story has a lot more socialization, and more importantly, the rest of humanity on other planets really would never get affected by what happens on Pandora. Both stories are great in their own regard, but they’re very different. Halo is not suited for small personal stories, just as Borderlands is not well suited for big epic stories.
>
> From what I can tell, Telltale games excel on focusing on small-problem personal stories rather than big epic masterpieces. That’s why, unfortunately, I have to say no to this idea.

Read the books, the Unsc question people all the time, it becomes a personal experience like in Contact Harvest with the Insurrectionist, the Covenant then there’s the negotiations with the Arbiter with the Brutes after the disbandment of the Covenant.

Just because some games are about shooting doesn’t mean all of Halo is about that. ‘Small-problem’ stories do exist, you just have to know where to look for them.

12

> > Honestly, as great as Telltale games can be, I don’t think that they’re right for a Halo game developer. But they’re making a Borderlands game, and since Borderlands is a first-person shooter too, it means that making a Halo game is just fine, right? As much as I wish that were true, it isn’t.
> >
> > The thing is, the setting in which we find Borderlands is vastlydifferent than the one Halo belongs to. While Halo is a galaxy at war, where most interesting stories touch the big Covenant-Human war, Borderlands is more of a whacky environment with a lot more human intereaction, therefore it creates a much more personal story.
> >
> > In Halo, you never stop to talk to people and solve their little problems, you’re always focused on the big picture of saving humanity. Even in a more personal game, ODST, the goal involved saving the rest of humanity. In Borderlands? There are often missions where you’ll do stuff like find somebody his booze or a weapon, or you’ll go find some bloke to help you take out Handsome Jack. The story has a lot more socialization, and more importantly, the rest of humanity on other planets really would never get affected by what happens on Pandora. Both stories are great in their own regard, but they’re very different. Halo is not suited for small personal stories, just as Borderlands is not well suited for big epic stories.
> >
> > From what I can tell, Telltale games excel on focusing on small-problem personal stories rather than big epic masterpieces. That’s why, unfortunately, I have to say no to this idea.
>
> Read the books, the Unsc question people all the time, it becomes a personal experience like in Contact Harvest with the Insurrectionist, the Covenant then there’s the negotiations with the Arbiter with the Brutes after the disbandment of the Covenant.
>
> Just because some games are about shooting doesn’t mean all of Halo is about that. ‘Small-problem’ stories do exist, you just have to know where to look for them.

I have read the books, multiple times each. While there are more personal stories, they all tie into the large picture, being the war. Like Ramir3z pointed out, Telltale games are point and click, and rely a lot on social interaction. Halo, be it in the games, or books, rely a lot on action. Sure, there is a lot of talking in the books, of course, but the main driving force of them is still the action.

How would you even make a Halo Telltale game? You can’t really tell it from the point of view of a soldier, since they’re too busy going around shooting stuff to walk around a city and just chat. And if you were a civilian? What would be the point of making it a Halo game if it doesn’t tie into anything that makes Halo stand out? And there was your example of the Arbiter negotiating with the Brutes, which I recall rapidly becoming a firefight on its own.

Making a Halo Telltale game would be like making a Halo open-world RPG in the same vein as Mass Effect. It just would not work. The Halo universe isn’t built around the idea of traveling around to different planets, talking to people, and creating your own character, just as it isn’t built around the idea of being a point and click game.