> > > Halo 4 for best story up against games like The Walking Dead, The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite?
> > >
> > > Yeah, no. Not happening.
> > >
> > > Halo 4 had a good story, with the relationship betwee John and Cortana being at an all-time high, allowing us to see the Chief’s human side for once. <mark>But there were so many elements that were unexplained for those who didn’t read the books. Who were these Covenant attacking us? Who the hell is the Didact and why is he angry at us? Who are these new Spartans and where did they come from?</mark>
> >
> > Oh don’t act like that’s new to Halo:
> > Halo CE: Who are the Covenant? How does a Halo destroy life? What is this flying lightbulb? What is the Flood?
> > Halo 2: Why are there new Covenant species? What is a Gravemind? How did the Covenant find Earth? How did Chief outrun a glassing beam and be protected by water?
> > Halo 3: How does Cortana communicate with John? How did the Sangheili manage to keep High Charity, a planetoid, in quarantine? Why was there a portal to the ark on earth? How did High Charity jump to the Ark?
>
> Halo 1 : It was explained that the Covenant were a group of aliens that were trying to destroy humanity. That much was clear, and didn’t confuse anybody. As for the Halo, its exact method of destroying life isn’t necessary, we just knew that it did so. As for 343 Guilty Spark, he explained who he was : The Monitor of Installation 04, whose main task is to stop the Flood from destroying all life. And the Flood? They were mysterious, but we knew that the Forerunners were performing tests on them and that they led to their downfall through the Activation of the Halo. If my 10 year-old self could understand that, anybody else could.
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> Halo 2 : The new Covenant species were always there, just not seen. Once again, that’s something simple to understand, and nobody really had trouble with it. The Gravemind? A big Flood thing who speaks as though he is the Flood, it’s a no-brainer to know that it controls the Flood. As for John outrunning a glassing beam, that’s for cinematic effect. What is there there to not understand and not explain?
>
> Halo 3 : Cortana talking to the Chief was also very evident. She was on High Charity. CCS class Battlecruiser full of Flood was being sent to Earth. She left a message on that ship when she saw that it was going to leave. Simple? Simple. The Shangheili did not manage to keep High Charity in quarantine. The Flood escaped from it and found Earth, all while infesting everybody on the station. The Portal being on Earth was explained as well through a little web comic released before Halo 3, as well as through the Terminals. And High Charity getting to the Ark? It went through the Portal that’s on Earth.
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> You never needed to read any of the books to explain anything that happened in any of Bungie’s games. They were self-explanatory, and while some elements were a bit more vague, you could figure it out pretty simply. As for Halo 4, they tried to tie in the story with the novels, which is good, but they went way too far. Every single person whom I’ve talked to that played the game without reading the novels was very confused with Halo 4, and asked those exact questions. They had absolutely no problems with any other Halo games.
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> And some things just aren’t explained at all. In Halo 2, Master Chief gets new armour. The first scenes of the game explain to us that it’s Mark VI armour, brand new. Halo 4? We wake up, and Cortana tells us that she upgraded our firmware. Ok, but what about the armour itself? Those of us who read the Bulletins will know that Cortana used nanobots to upgrade it. Those who don’t read them? Maybe they’ll think that it’s just a visual difference. But no, wait, classic Mark VI armour is in multiplayer. So he got a new suit then? How would he do that? Maybe Cortana did something? How would she do that, she can’t go and touch him physically. Would it have been so hard for her to just say “I upgraded your suit when you were out, some of the ship’s nanobots were still active after the ship was torn. I figured your suit could use a bit of a patch up. A girl’s gotta keep herself busy somehow after 5 years, no?” See? Simple and effective.
So, all you need to know for the Covenant is that they want to kill Humans. The Didact is a Forerunner that wants to kill Humans, and we even get a peek into his motives. Whats the problem?
I think he was referring to Cortana moments. Those weren’t explained a bit.
The Didact is explained through Terminals and other stories. Whats the problem?
Tell me, how did High Charity get to the Portal? The Dreadnought supplied its power, High Charity was dead. If it had other methods, were they really enough to send a gigantic station accurately through slipspace? High Charity wouldn’t even fit through the Portal. If it entered Earth’s atmosphere we would have heard of it, and peices would have broken off and infested Earth. Not to mention it appeared in a wildly different spot than everyone else who used the Portal. High Charity did not use the Portal, and it couldn’t have used its own drives due to time and lack of knowing where the Ark is due to factors like stellar drift.
Cortana sat there for more than 4 years. She had plenty of time to tinker with sleeping beauty’s suit through various methods. And if Chief surviving a glassing is fine for cinematic reasons, then new armor is fine for artistic reasons.
The Gravemind got even less of an introduction than the Didact, so thats no excuse. Halo 4 did rely more on the novels, but you could understand what was needed. When you try to follow the plots to their roots, of course you’d have issues without other knowledge.
