Looking through the years of Halo, we’ve seen the Master Chief do some pretty extraordinary things; from self guiding a Covenant warhead back to the sender to literally hitting the button on a nuke held in the palm of his hands. As the series turns to the next couple of chapters, does it necessarily have to get this dark? I understand that the Chief’s road is coming to an end, but does it have to be a sad and dramatically-over the top depressing one? For a legendary warrior with a rep sheet as long as all of our real nation’s army’s combined, doesn’t the guy deserve a better ending, a happier ride out into the sun?
Since the closing chapters of Halo 3, we’ve seen Cortana (probably the coolest AI-Human pairing ever introduced into a game, maybe outside of Portal’s little AI duo) go insane, Dr. Halsey become a villain, and 117 hunted down for war crimes…wait what? I’m not ripping the story, for creativeness I’d give it a B-, it just feels like everything fans have come to love and expect as a normalcy, has been flushed out, almost in an attempt to say; Well that was Halo 10 years ago, this is what Halo is now, dark and gritty.
John’s ending should be glorious, and to be honest, why does he have to die? (If that’s the case anyway.) Is that the only way to cap such a drastic downturn from the series original premise? It seems like so many of the original characters have either been killed off or redirected from their original forms that Halo’s core is entirely made new for a different generation, apparently one which doesn’t like good things.
But no, in all honesty, is this theme needed to complete the Halo franchise, ultimately, John’s end?
Remember Halo 5 is rated T.
Not dark enough, and certainly not more than it ever was. I actually prefer dark and mature storytelling, though, so I’m a bit biased here.
> 2535461287427665;1:
> Looking through the years of Halo, we’ve seen the Master Chief do some pretty extraordinary things; from self guiding a Covenant warhead back to the sender to literally hitting the button on a nuke held in the palm of his hands. As the series turns to the next couple of chapters, does it necessarily have to get this dark? I understand that the Chief’s road is coming to an end, but does it have to be a sad and dramatically-over the top depressing one? For a legendary warrior with a rep sheet as long as all of our real nation’s army’s combined, doesn’t the guy deserve a better ending, a happier ride out into the sun?
> Since the closing chapters of Halo 3, we’ve seen Cortana (probably the coolest AI-Human pairing ever introduced into a game, maybe outside of Portal’s little AI duo) go insane, Dr. Halsey become a villain, and 117 hunted down for war crimes…wait what? I’m not ripping the story, for creativeness I’d give it a B-, it just feels like everything fans have come to love and expect as a normalcy, has been flushed out, almost in an attempt to say; Well that was Halo 10 years ago, this is what Halo is now, dark and gritty.
> John’s ending should be glorious, and to be honest, why does he have to die? (If that’s the case anyway.) Is that the only way to cap such a drastic downturn from the series original premise? It seems like so many of the original characters have either been killed off or redirected from their original forms that Halo’s core is entirely made new for a different generation, apparently one which doesn’t like good things.
> But no, in all honesty, is this theme needed to complete the Halo franchise, ultimately, John’s end?
Guilty spark requests that Master Chief be decapitated and disposed of in the first game.
And that’s on top of Master Chief literally crushing Captain Keyes’s skull in after he has been taken over by a space parasite that bores into your chest and feeds on you from the inside.
When was this game not dark?
…
> 2614366390834061;4:
> > 2535461287427665;1:
> > Looking through the years of Halo, we’ve seen the Master Chief do some pretty extraordinary things; from self guiding a Covenant warhead back to the sender to literally hitting the button on a nuke held in the palm of his hands. As the series turns to the next couple of chapters, does it necessarily have to get this dark? I understand that the Chief’s road is coming to an end, but does it have to be a sad and dramatically-over the top depressing one? For a legendary warrior with a rep sheet as long as all of our real nation’s army’s combined, doesn’t the guy deserve a better ending, a happier ride out into the sun?
> >
> > Since the closing chapters of Halo 3, we’ve seen Cortana (probably the coolest AI-Human pairing ever introduced into a game, maybe outside of Portal’s little AI duo) go insane, Dr. Halsey become a villain, and 117 hunted down for war crimes…wait what? I’m not ripping the story, for creativeness I’d give it a B-, it just feels like everything fans have come to love and expect as a normalcy, has been flushed out, almost in an attempt to say; Well that was Halo 10 years ago, this is what Halo is now, dark and gritty.
> >
> > John’s ending should be glorious, and to be honest, why does he have to die? (If that’s the case anyway.) Is that the only way to cap such a drastic downturn from the series original premise? It seems like so many of the original characters have either been killed off or redirected from their original forms that Halo’s core is entirely made new for a different generation, apparently one which doesn’t like good things.
> >
> > But no, in all honesty, is this theme needed to complete the Halo franchise, ultimately, John’s end?
>
>
> Guilty spark requests that Master Chief be decapitated and disposed of in the first game.
>
> And that’s on top of Master Chief literally crushing Captain Keye’s skull in after he has been taken over by a space parasite that bores into your chest and feeds on you from the inside.
>
> When was this game not dark?
>
> …
Good point. It’s always been pretty dark.
Don’t forget Miranda Keyes’ death, or the Arbiter plunging a sword through the Prophet.
Dark? What was that ridiculous marvel-tier mountain run? If anything 343i has taken Halo in a less realistic science-fantasy direction.
> 2535461287427665;1:
> Looking through the years of Halo, we’ve seen the Master Chief do some pretty extraordinary things; from self guiding a Covenant warhead back to the sender to literally hitting the button on a nuke held in the palm of his hands. As the series turns to the next couple of chapters, does it necessarily have to get this dark? I understand that the Chief’s road is coming to an end, but does it have to be a sad and dramatically-over the top depressing one? For a legendary warrior with a rep sheet as long as all of our real nation’s army’s combined, doesn’t the guy deserve a better ending, a happier ride out into the sun?
>
> Since the closing chapters of Halo 3, we’ve seen Cortana (probably the coolest AI-Human pairing ever introduced into a game, maybe outside of Portal’s little AI duo) go insane, Dr. Halsey become a villain, and 117 hunted down for war crimes…wait what? I’m not ripping the story, for creativeness I’d give it a B-, it just feels like everything fans have come to love and expect as a normalcy, has been flushed out, almost in an attempt to say; Well that was Halo 10 years ago, this is what Halo is now, dark and gritty.
>
> John’s ending should be glorious, and to be honest, why does he have to die? (If that’s the case anyway.) Is that the only way to cap such a drastic downturn from the series original premise? It seems like so many of the original characters have either been killed off or redirected from their original forms that Halo’s core is entirely made new for a different generation, apparently one which doesn’t like good things.
>
> But no, in all honesty, is this theme needed to complete the Halo franchise, ultimately, John’s end?
I see what you’re saying.
Although I kind of wish it turned out that they really WERE hunting down Chief for war crimes, but, you know… advertising. Instead they’re “hunting” him because he simply didn’t come right home after the party. He stayed out late and the humies are all upset. Good plot direction.
I’m being facetious, but you know what I’m saying.
> 2533274806711091;5:
> > 2614366390834061;4:
> > > 2535461287427665;1:
> > > Looking through the years of Halo, we’ve seen the Master Chief do some pretty extraordinary things; from self guiding a Covenant warhead back to the sender to literally hitting the button on a nuke held in the palm of his hands. As the series turns to the next couple of chapters, does it necessarily have to get this dark? I understand that the Chief’s road is coming to an end, but does it have to be a sad and dramatically-over the top depressing one? For a legendary warrior with a rep sheet as long as all of our real nation’s army’s combined, doesn’t the guy deserve a better ending, a happier ride out into the sun?
> > >
> > > Since the closing chapters of Halo 3, we’ve seen Cortana (probably the coolest AI-Human pairing ever introduced into a game, maybe outside of Portal’s little AI duo) go insane, Dr. Halsey become a villain, and 117 hunted down for war crimes…wait what? I’m not ripping the story, for creativeness I’d give it a B-, it just feels like everything fans have come to love and expect as a normalcy, has been flushed out, almost in an attempt to say; Well that was Halo 10 years ago, this is what Halo is now, dark and gritty.
> > >
> > > John’s ending should be glorious, and to be honest, why does he have to die? (If that’s the case anyway.) Is that the only way to cap such a drastic downturn from the series original premise? It seems like so many of the original characters have either been killed off or redirected from their original forms that Halo’s core is entirely made new for a different generation, apparently one which doesn’t like good things.
> > >
> > > But no, in all honesty, is this theme needed to complete the Halo franchise, ultimately, John’s end?
> >
> >
> > Guilty spark requests that Master Chief be decapitated and disposed of in the first game.
> >
> > And that’s on top of Master Chief literally crushing Captain Keye’s skull in after he has been taken over by a space parasite that bores into your chest and feeds on you from the inside.
> >
> > When was this game not dark?
> >
> > …
>
>
> Good point. It’s always been pretty dark.
>
> Don’t forget Miranda Keyes’ death, or the Arbiter plunging a sword through the Prophet.
I think anyone would’ve done that Arbiter just got there first
He is the epitome of a soldier, and as such he needs a war. Chief will probably die in order to create peace or some other thing. Halo is a story about a genocidal war where literally tens of billions of people are slaughtered. Where do you see the sunshine ending in that?
It’s becoming more kid-friendly if anything… it’s like an intergalactic, robot-fighting, Power Rangers space-romp anymore lol.
Bring back the original tone and feel of the CE/H2 campaigns 343!
My issue with 343’s storytelling is that there is very little to no humor at all. There are no marines delivering funny lines. We finally got the Grunts back in Halo 5, but I honestly can’t remember anything in particular that they say.
Even in ODST, Buck had some pretty hilarious lines. In Halo 5? Not any that I can remember.
Halo has definitely started taking itself a little too seriously. Especially when you get into what they’re doing with the Master Chief. He used to be a silent badass that let his actions do the talking. He was like an 80’s action hero. Shoot first, ask questions later. Now? He’s all about his feelings and who he is as a person and all that touchy-feely crap. That’s not the Master Chief I became a fan of and that’s not the reason I fell in love with the franchise.
I loved the action, I loved when Master Chief would deliver his one liners. Some of them still give me chills to this day when I replay through the campaigns. Ever since Halo 4, though, I can’t remember anything he says that sticks out.
> 2533274873580796;10:
> It’s becoming more kid-friendly if anything… it’s like an intergalactic, robot-fighting, Power Rangers space-romp anymore lol.
>
> Bring back the original tone and feel of the CE/H2 campaigns 343!
Agreed, through and through. The first game was dark as hell and fairly mean spirited - and I LOVED that.
I feel in a way, they’ve over exposed the Master Chief, from the very start of Halo 4, you actually see him at a weak point, “broken at his core.” I think the last few titles haven’t really explored why Chief is legendary throughout the galaxy, it seems like it’s shifted to why his name is scorned instead.
And when I say it’s become too dark and gritty, I think it’s become less about the War for Humanity’s survival which was really the basis for the first trilogy to now the struggling mental deficiencies of the main hero? Like, get back to the dropping out of the sky into a pit of Brutes with a plasma grenade ready to be eaten. I’m tired of watching these long winded cut scenes about some random dude named Locke, staring into space wondering if Chief’s the same guy still.
This isn’t Batman where John watched his parents die in front of him and has to fight off crime and wars in order to cope with that traumatizing childhood event; this is a guy ripped from his home as a child, beaten into a man, and carved up the galaxy single handed, give the guy some power, some pride, some bang if he’s gunna go out, not a down trodden folded flag salute!
Halo Reach was the darkest of them all. I didn’t even get to hear grunts say funny stuff thanks to them speaking their alien language.
> 2533274814289862;11:
> My issue with 343’s storytelling is that there is very little to no humor at all. There are no marines delivering funny lines. We finally got the Grunts back in Halo 5, but I honestly can’t remember anything in particular that they say.
>
> Even in ODST, Buck had some pretty hilarious lines. In Halo 5? Not any that I can remember.
>
> Halo has definitely started taking itself a little too seriously. Especially when you get into what they’re doing with the Master Chief. He used to be a silent badass that let his actions do the talking. He was like an 80’s action hero. Shoot first, ask questions later. Now? He’s all about his feelings and who he is as a person and all that touchy-feely crap. That’s not the Master Chief I became a fan of and that’s not the reason I fell in love with the franchise.
>
> I loved the action, I loved when Master Chief would deliver his one liners. Some of them still give me chills to this day when I replay through the campaigns. Ever since Halo 4, though, I can’t remember anything he says that sticks out.
This. Halo was always a good balance of fun and dark, like many of the better classic action movies. I like having a bit more darkness and depth, but as the other guy said it’s like in Halo 4, 343 went out of their way to turn Halo on its head and make everything serious, dark, and “deep”, to the point of being depressing.
ONI went from being shady to just downright evil, Chief is breaking down over an AI (Cortana is amazing and all but let’s be real), Forerunners didn’t just sacrifice themselves but instead fought a bloody war with humans, Halsey is a war criminal, no funny/wisecracking allies, etc.
Halo 4 was just SO much more of a downer than even Reach, and 5 had no idea what it even wanted to be.
> 2533274846978810;3:
> Not dark enough, and certainly not more than it ever was. I actually prefer dark and mature storytelling, though, so I’m a bit biased here.
Very much agreed. I’ve been hoping Halo would go darker for some time now. Reach was a pretty good start to that, killing every single main character and all. Not that I necessarily want main characters to die, but I love dark and gritty stories. Halo’s art style is generally rather cartoonish, but some of the content of the story doesn’t really match it. I mean look at it when it’s super simplified:
You control a futuristic super soldier kidnapped at the age of 6 by the military and forced not only into duty, but you were basically tortured by being genetically augmented to make you a superhuman. This was done for only one purpose, killing anyone part of the insurrection who refused to surrender to the government’s power. But a twist was put into that plan when a genocide against the human race was begun by an extremely religious extremist group of aliens, who came around and started burning the entirety of human occupied planets, killing billions of people. You then go on an epic conquest to save your people while also obliterating thousands of these aliens in your path, destroying unfathomably large galactic super weapons designed to kill EVERY ounce of life in the galaxy because of a parasite which exists only to infect and take over its hosts.
That’s obviously the extremely simplified version of the first trilogy, but does ANY of that sound like it isn’t dark and targeted to a more mature population? In actuality, Halo has always been pretty dark. It’s just that the games haven’t always reflected that.
Honestly, one of the reasons why I love Batman so much (and the Arkham games, especially Arkham Knight) is because of how dark and gritty the story line is. Not only that, but the environments of the games capture that darkness perfectly. That’s something that Reach did very well, putting you in the shoes of a Spartan on a doomed planet and even letting you play out the final skirmish of that Spartan’s life while your planet is in the process of being destroyed. That’s some pretty powerful stuff when you think about it, but I feel as if 343 hasn’t quite embraced the dark side of Halo yet.
> 2594261035379451;14:
> Halo Reach was the darkest of them all. I didn’t even get to hear grunts say funny stuff thanks to them speaking their alien language.
This! I loved Reach so much because of the hardcore stance they took on the presentation. I want the enemies to be scary and threatening. I want to feel like this war is an oppressive environment. I don’t want my enemies running around wailing like babies and talking in “comical” dummy falsettos or writing notes/ recording voice journals in ENGLISH. Reach made the Elites believable and intimidating, huge in stature, impressively adorned (with all of the appropriate ranks possessing their own distinct armor, weapon loadouts, capabilities, etc) sporting more and more impressive mounted head dresses, respective to their importance. And they finally made them seem intelligent again, the way their AI impressed me when I first played CE. Halo 5 didn’t seem too serious to me… In fact, it didn’t seem serious to me at all. It just felt strange and joyless, rather than depressing. Not to mention the somewhat cartooney art style and color palette/ contrast-shift they swapped in. Oh and let’s make the game Teen and remove all but the slightest hints of blood. What?!
Halo 5/4 and dark? 
Spartan, please
> 2533274846978810;3:
> Not dark enough, and certainly not more than it ever was. I actually prefer dark and mature storytelling, though, so I’m a bit biased here.
Yeah, I agree… not nearly dark enough.
Power Rangers: Spartan Charge is not dark at all friendo. 343 Guilty Spark in Halo CE alone is darker.