Halo: The Anniversary and Reach Culture

Games Other Halo
1

"NOTE: This thread is presented in the form of my own personal bias. I apologise if how I see things is different from your perspective so please forgive me if I offend anyone’s point of view…"
Halo since 2001 has always had a different view in everyone’s eyes. Some can see Halo as being a magical journey across a flawless universe while others can see it as being a tragic tale of constant failures from Humanity’s part with the Insurrection being a key moment in the UNSC’s History before the first encounter with the Alien Superpower “The Covenant”

After Bungie had created Halo 3, they were obligated by a final terms of agreement by Microsoft to complete and produce two more Halo Games within a 3-4 year period. Since Bungie had emphasised so much of their passion with the original Trilogy and were ready to start building anew, they were in a bit of a mishap. What ideas could they possibly do?

Simple. Bungie not only backtracked through the Timeline that they had created for 6 years but they had also decided to delve much deeper towards the Grim and Gloomy side of the Halo Stories with Isolation and Survival being the themes of Halo 3: ODST and Hope and Defeat being the themes of Halo: Reach. With these two-critically acclaimed games being released, Bungie could finally enjoy a team of peace and recuperation. It was their turn to start building again from scratch…

This is where the topic really starts to kick in…

With Reclaimer Company, 343 Industries (A Microsoft Game Studios Developer) possesing full-control over the Halo Franchise as of August 3rd, they had already started to make changes. The biggest of all which is Halo: Reach…

Halo: Reach tells the tale of a planet that fell during the Human-Covenant War and it was a pinnacle moment in the Halo History. A final turn-around point for the UNSC thanks to the brave crewmembers of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. Bungie however fearing that they would not be able to match the key theme of loss and defeat if they had set the story in a global-scale had decided to set it within a more personal level. We saw the Fall of Reach happen with our own eyes in a personal scale through the eyes of Noble Six. Not only had Bungie emphasised the Sacrifice and Ambitions of the UNSC and SPARTANs but they had also represented the SPARTAN-III’s as being in a self-conflict. A fight between official duty and personal views…

To also support the theme of damnation, Bungie had drastically changed the art-style of almost everything from Vehicles to the Covenant Soldiers. Those cuddly grunts would later be known as Anti-Sleep Drugs when their Methane Masks popped out. Armour Abilities and Weaker SPARTAN III traits also helped emphasised the weaknesses and the dependence of things for players. Players had to rely on cunning and situational awareness much more because of these said tools of trade. The tale of a dying planet and people would stick in people’s heads for a long time to come…

Until 343 Industries announced the Title Update (1.1) Settings and the 7 new maps…

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is the 10-Year Celebration of the entire Halo Series. 343 Industries, Sabre Interactive & Certain Affinity are taking the original Combat Evolved Engine and replacing the SFX and Art with higher quality versions found in both Halo: Reach and Halo 3 as well as some newer segments…

Deciding that Halo: Reach was still full of possible life and fearing they did not want to split the community between two existing Halo Games, they decided to skip Combat’s Evolved Multiplayer and include 7 of some of the most critically acclaimed maps in Halo’s History for Halo: Reach. 343 Industries were not negligant as to ignore the community craving for a Halo: Combat Evolved nostalgic multiplayer feel so they ultimately decided to drastically alter some of the existing playlists on Halo: Reach and include changes that were not possible (No Fall-Damage, No Bloom, Armour Lock Nerf) so as to attract those players to the Halo Franchise again…

Notice closely though…

All the re-made maps are either set on Halo, Forerunner Installations, Classic Covenant Structures or New Mombasa. The Title Update also brings back a sense of the original Halo Trilogy feel back into Halo: Reach. The two themes of Forerunner and Victory and re-emerging in Halo: Reach with these new maps and settings. The themes of Loss and Defeat in Halo: Reach I fear will be forgotten. With 343 Industries remaking Combat Evolved, MLG jumping back into the Halo Bandwagon and the later books expressing the same sense of the Halo Trilogy, it leads me to believe this…

"I believe that Halo: Reach’s is not dying but is simply being assimilated by the upcoming future culture of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. The themes of Defeat and Loss of the Planet Reach are slowly being forgotten as the themes of Victory and Forerunner are being further emphasised in later Halo Products"
So I guess that my only fear is that I would wish people not to forget the original culture that Reach had brought us as the Halo Community. It made the Human-Covenant War seem much more tragic and it was one of the only stories (Along with Dirt & Contact Harvest) that managed to capture the feel so well…

343 Industries.

I am Happy that you have decided to bring back the titular theme of the original Halo Trilogy back in our hearts but please do not shelf the themes of Halo: Reach away. Halo: Reach has been a big part of my Halo Story so please do not forget…

Remember Reach

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Wait, are you saying that the new multiplayer maps are ruining the feel of Reach? It’s multiplayer, bro. Multiplayer is just gameplay for fun, and has no story. Even if the maps have a backstory, I believe they are typicly non-canon. I do understand what you are saying about the feel of the maps, though, and to be honest, I missed the victory and forerunner themes from the original trilogy. That was what Reach was missing. Even ODST had “that Halo feel” that Reach does not have. Anyway, the new maps are meant for Halo CE gameplay, so they should reflect on the feel that Halo CE had.

Thanks for sharing your oppinion.

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…I watched the campaign videos of Noble team’s deaths and I was like Oh my god… this is going to be so sad. Then I played the game and I was like -.- wow. I had no feelings for the characters, when I was watching those videos I understood that they would mean a lot to me had I played the game. I understood wrong and misplaced feelings accordingly.

4

…What is this? Multiplayer is completly separate from the single player, bro.

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You misunderstand…

What I am trying to say is that I personally think that Halo: Reach as a game and its culture is in danger of being assimilated by Halo Anniversary’s Future Prospects…

All Multiplayer Maps to come with Anniversary will be set on Forerunner Structures, New Mombasa and Covenant Facilities. There will not be a map that is set on the Planet Reach…

MLG (Major League Gaming) has already started to intergrate Title Update 1.1’s settings into its Gametypes. Which ignores the prospects and usage of Armour Abilities. I can expect them to use Anniversary Maps instead as well…

343 Industries talks bodly of the new Anniversary Maps and not Halo: Reach as a game…

So far, Anniversary’s Map Packs and TU 1.1 are killing the Vulnerable and Despair feel of the game. Soon Halo: Reach will be recognised as being a Victory, Forerunner Themed Game.

I don’t want Halo: Reach to be recognised as such…

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Have you seen how breakneck was designed? It looks like a war zone. Personally I think the maps are just fine and so is the style of Reach.

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That was a spectacularly written post until where you said that the Multiplayer maps would make people lose sight of Reach’s original mood. I don’t think any of that makes logical sense. The feelings of hopelessness, desperateness, and loss was captured by the campaign. You can still go into the campaign and load up New Alexandria to see what I mean. The opening cutscene where Noble 6 is alone in the back of the Pelican just surveying all of the destruction and mourning the loss of Jorge is still very powerful. “Sorry I came alone” is one of the simplest yet most memorable quotes of the campaign to me.

I consider the multiplayer and campaign to be almost 2 completely separate games. I don’t take anything from the campaign and bring it into matchmaking. The multiplayer of Reach isn’t based around anything in the story. The closest thing you can get is Invasion, and even that’s nothing like the story. The story and multiplayer really don’t tie into each other at all. The inclusion of old maps and more classic settings have nothing to do with the themes and moods of Reach’s campaign.

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> You misunderstand…
>
> What I am trying to say is that I personally think that Halo: Reach as a game and its culture is in danger of being assimilated by Halo Anniversary’s Future Prospects…
>
> All Multiplayer Maps to come with Anniversary will be set on Forerunner Structures, New Mombasa and Covenant Facilities. There will not be a map that is set on the Planet Reach…

Well the only future prospect (project?) that we have seen is Halo Anniversary which is supposed to take us back to more of the original Halo feel and themes b/c they are based on the original game. You have to treat Halo Anniversary maps as a separate game, not just new maps that don’t go with Reach’s theme. Yes, you can play them in Reach, but that is only b/c they’re using the Reach engine to make the game.

> MLG (Major League Gaming) has already started to intergrate Title Update 1.1’s settings into its Gametypes. Which ignores the prospects and usage of Armour Abilities. I can expect them to use Anniversary Maps instead as well…
>
> 343 Industries talks bodly of the new Anniversary Maps and not Halo: Reach as a game…

This is b/c Anniversary is a separate game from Halo Reach. MLG will likely be using Anniversary maps as well as new settings b/c that is the latest content that is coming out and they need to keep up with the times, not to forget about Reach.

> So far, Anniversary’s Map Packs and TU 1.1 are killing the Vulnerable and Despair feel of the game. Soon Halo: Reach will be recognised as being a Victory, Forerunner Themed Game.
>
> I don’t want Halo: Reach to be recognised as such…

It won’t be b/c Reach will forever be unchanged. The campaign, maps, settings, etc. are going to stay the way they are. The TU and Anniversary maps are a part of Halo Anniversary, but just so happens to use Reach’s engine and makes them playable through Reach. Anniversary maps and settings are only playable through separate Anniversary playlists though. You’ll still be able to play Reach multiplayer unaltered and w/o the new maps or TU changes.

I completely see what you’ve been saying, but I don’t agree. You’re treating Anniversary like an add-on to Reach when it is supposed to be it’s own game. They just so happen to use the same engine making them playable through each other. Reach will have it’s own playlists unaltered, Anniversary will have it’s own as well. This will keep the two separate from each other, but for those who want to take advantage of the fact that we got two games in one multiplayer suite then we’ll likely see some playlists that mix and match the best of each (which I don’t agree with).