Hopefully no time travel or alternate dimensions..

Games Halo Infinite
1

I’m a big story guy y’know? I’m all about dat sweet sweet narrative and what have you.

One of my biggest pet peeves is… actually you know what? It’s not a pet peeve, it’s a major ****ing grievance alright?

TIME TRAVEL/DIMENSION HOPPING

Oof.

If ever there was a major turn off for me when it comes to story it’s anything that involves the aforementioned tropes, ESPECIALLY in stories in which they do not belong. I really, really, REALLY hope 343i don’t feel the need to… “complexify” their story by adding unnecessary, mind-bending, reality-warping shenanigans. Hopefully I needn’t explain why.

And no, going backwards in time to undo certain events from past games as an excuse to bring on the nostalgia while, ironically, undermining the franchises established legacy would be no excuse for this kind of storytelling. No alternate universe Cortanas or Chiefs, no undoing two decades worth of established story, and no existential dread caused by overdosing on several layers of meta-narratives by which point one stops caring if only for the sole purpose of avoiding having to do all of this trigonometry to figure out just how many drugs the writers had to take to write it.

HOPEfully, you all understand and appreciate the simplicity of what I am advoca-- well, no, HOPING for here (the core theme of Infinite being HOPE as it were ((HOPEFULLY I’ve used the word HOPE enough times to get the idea across))).

Halo, plain and simply, doesn’t need meta-narratives. Never has, never will. I prefer my ingame time to be linear and one-dimensional thank you. A simple A to B plot, like God himself intended it.

P.S.
Please don’t misunderstand, it’s not that I dislike this kind of storytelling because I’m unable to comprehend it. Quite the contrary, in fact. It’s because my stone-cold, always sober brain can’t help do anything BUT understand it and be absolutely, positively, deeply offended by it for reasons I don’t really care to go into detail with since it would require a novel.

P.P.S.
It’s also not because it’s an overused trope. Keep guessing.

2

That’s quite unlikely in my opinion. The most distant I see the entire franchise going is by the extent of the Precursors and how “alien” they feel in a game full of aliens.

3

> 2533274870308953;2:
> That’s quite unlikely in my opinion. The most distant I see the entire franchise going is by the extent of the Precursors and how “alien” they feel in a game full of aliens.

I know the chances are pretty slim at this point and I have faith considering how 343 are choosing to market Infinite, but there’s that tiny part of me that won’t let me rest until I know for sure.

4

The gremlin part of me absolutely wants this to happen because good or bad, some folks would go absolutely ballistic and that would be a sight to see.

A good story doesn’t necessarily need airtight logic to be worth experiencing. A story featuring those conceits don’t have to end up as nostalgia ridden mess nor does it necessarily mean that everything that came before is suddenly meaningless.

Naturally this isn’t always easy to do, but at the same time never say never.

5

> 2533274819446242;4:
> The gremlin part of me absolutely wants this to happen because good or bad, some folks would go absolutely ballistic and that would be a sight to see.
>
> A good story doesn’t necessarily need airtight logic to be worth experiencing. A story featuring those conceits don’t have to end up as nostalgia ridden mess nor does it necessarily mean that everything that came before is suddenly meaningless.
>
> Naturally this isn’t always easy to do, but at the same time never say never.

My contention here is that this method tends to fail more often than not, and only tends to succeed in places where meta-narratives are the whole point of the piece, but even then rarely. Writers often become romantically enthralled with the idea of Whovian storytelling, without actually understanding what makes those kinds of stories special.

I should point out that I am not a fan of the direction Bioshock chose to go into with its title of the same name which, now that I think about it, might be the reason why this fear overcame me to begin with. I don’t want a repeat of that, yet part of me knows that there is an audience out there that would eat this kind of thing up, like they did with Bioshock Infinite. I could argue all I want about why I consider it to be the wrong choice for most storytelling formulas, but the facts don’t change. Bioshock Infinite isn’t the only example, but it may well be the most relevant one, consider how closely it and Halo are related in terms of genre.

Either way, the only leg I have left to stand on is to say that this kind of thing wouldn’t be what Halo is about fundamentally, and could risk muddying its soul even further, rather than reinvigorating it. If they did choose to add some kind of time travel/parallel reality aspect to it, I hope they use it VERY SPARINGLY rather than having it completely overshadow everything else.

6

I doubt that this would ever be the case because time travel or alternate dimensions aren’t featured in the Halo series from what we know. So no need to worry since that’s a rather zero chance to happen.

7

> 2535469072044761;6:
> I doubt that this would ever be the case because time travel or alternate dimensions aren’t featured in the Halo series from what we know. So no need to worry since that’s a rather zero chance to happen.

There is actually one very tiny bit of supposed time travel (more of a closed time loop) that occurs in First Strike. It’s analyzed, and Cortana (while discussing the matter with Halsey) scoffs at the idea, even if the given data matches that conjecture. It was all due to a single Forerunner artifact that, at the end of the story, was destroyed, and never spoken of again.

Pretty sure time travel won’t factor into Halo at all by this point, considering that story point was around since just after H:CE.

8

Time travel is such a cop out answer in my opinion. If a writer puts characters in a mess that requires them to time travel (in a story not based around time travel) it’s just the least interesting way to retcon a bad move (or what the writer thinks is a bad move.)

9

Umm I’d be fine with time travel or alternate dimensions. Halo needs to avoid being linear…I still remember Halo 1-3 being a bit more open with a bit more of exploring while 4,5 forced linear routes and lead to a frustrating campaign where freedom to explore was heavily restricted, was not fun.

10

I like time travel in movies like Terminator, and some franchises are bringing the alternate dimensions because they have ruined there story like Star Wars sequel trilogy.

11

> 2535419393377481;1:
> I’m a big story guy y’know? I’m all about dat sweet sweet narrative and what have you.
>
> One of my biggest pet peeves is… actually you know what? It’s not a pet peeve, it’s a major ****ing grievance alright?
>
> TIME TRAVEL/DIMENSION HOPPING
>
> Oof.
>
> If ever there was a major turn off for me when it comes to story it’s anything that involves the aforementioned tropes, ESPECIALLY in stories in which they do not belong. I really, really, REALLY hope 343i don’t feel the need to… “complexify” their story by adding unnecessary, mind-bending, reality-warping shenanigans. Hopefully I needn’t explain why.
>
> And no, going backwards in time to undo certain events from past games as an excuse to bring on the nostalgia while, ironically, undermining the franchises established legacy would be no excuse for this kind of storytelling. No alternate universe Cortanas or Chiefs, no undoing two decades worth of established story, and no existential dread caused by overdosing on several layers of meta-narratives by which point one stops caring if only for the sole purpose of avoiding having to do all of this trigonometry to figure out just how many drugs the writers had to take to write it.
>
> HOPEfully, you all understand and appreciate the simplicity of what I am advoca-- well, no, HOPING for here (the core theme of Infinite being HOPE as it were ((HOPEFULLY I’ve used the word HOPE enough times to get the idea across))).
>
> Halo, plain and simply, doesn’t need meta-narratives. Never has, never will. I prefer my ingame time to be linear and one-dimensional thank you. A simple A to B plot, like God himself intended it.
> P.S.
> Please don’t misunderstand, it’s not that I dislike this kind of storytelling because I’m unable to comprehend it. Quite the contrary, in fact. It’s because my stone-cold, always sober brain can’t help do anything BUT understand it and be absolutely, positively, deeply offended by it for reasons I don’t really care to go into detail with since it would require a novel.
>
> P.P.S.
> It’s also not because it’s an overused trope. Keep guessing.

I get that and kinda agree. My pet peeve (that I thought Sci Fi had suitably moved on from), was making a universe completely “humanity vs machines” kinda thing. It’s been so ridiculously overdone SO many times, is never really that great (Mass Effect aside), and yet people keep dragging it up.

Needless to say, I wasn’t a fan of H5’s direction lol. So many directions they could have gone at the end of that game to really set things up amazingly for Halo 6/ Infinite…so many different storyline and characters that have existed mostly or solely in the EU that could have been brought into the fold…that would make absolute sense…and they did that. Like WTAF.

/Rant

TL;DR Yeah I kinda get it, just being the Precursors , Flood & Mendicant in and be done with it tbh.

12

The only way time travel or alternative dimensions would make sense is in the context of the Precursors. But even then, I think of them kinda like tralfamadorians where perceptions of time and space are wrapped into one universal understanding, or some nonsense like that.

How cool would it be to see chief travel back in time to save sgt Johnson, first pump halo 3 chief, then together they shut down the entire spartan 4 program so Locke never becomes the abomination of a spartan? Then Johnson commanders a Guardian and uses it to tame the flood. Halo 6 is then a next-gen Sim Ant, where we get to manage flood colonies and guide them away from lawnmowers and big spiders. Cortana just kinda goes away

13

The only drastic timeline alteration I would accept would be deleting halo 5 and/or the kilo 5 books. Other than that I agree with you… that would be cheap coming from infinite.

14

You must have hated avengers endgame then :confused:

15

Halo is a Sci -fi fps but we never did have any proof that there were alternate dimensions or time travel.I just don’t think halo is that type of game.

16

> 2533274829873463;9:
> Umm I’d be fine with time travel or alternate dimensions. Halo needs to avoid being linear…I still remember Halo 1-3 being a bit more open with a bit more of exploring while 4,5 forced linear routes and lead to a frustrating campaign where freedom to explore was heavily restricted, was not fun.

Agreed. I was thinking along similar lines so it was easier to just quote you :wink:I would be interested in time travel or alternate dimensions if it lead to more non linear gameplay, or alternate time lines. It’s a sci fi game after all, there are many directions that 343i can explore.

17

> 2533274930223782;14:
> You must have hated avengers endgame then :confused:

I wasn’t much of a fan tbh, for reasons beyond even the time travelling. Not a fan of Marvel movies in general, I like only a few of them.

18

> 2592250499819446;16:
> > 2533274829873463;9:
> > Umm I’d be fine with time travel or alternate dimensions. Halo needs to avoid being linear…I still remember Halo 1-3 being a bit more open with a bit more of exploring while 4,5 forced linear routes and lead to a frustrating campaign where freedom to explore was heavily restricted, was not fun.
>
> Agreed. I was thinking along similar lines so it was easier to just quote you :wink:I would be interested in time travel or alternate dimensions if it lead to more non linear gameplay, or alternate time lines. It’s a sci fi game after all, there are many directions that 343i can explore.

That would be a very very very bad idea.

19

I hear what your saying, but honestly if it takes time travel to fix this mess of a story of Halo 4/5 then I would welcome it.

Not to bash on 343I here, but there story writing hasn’t been great in my opinion. The way that they go about telling there stories is poor, in both games. Players shouldn’t have to go to outside sources to understand things fully. There character development isn’t great at all. I can say a lot of things but I’ll just stop there.

So for me, if time travel would fix all these things that I would welcome it.

Personally, I would also be fine too if they made it so most of the events of Halo 4 5 we’re almost dream like of the chiefs and he’s found and woken up after the events of 3 to a new threat, The banished.

20

> 2535419393377481;18:
> > 2592250499819446;16:
> > > 2533274829873463;9:
> > > Umm I’d be fine with time travel or alternate dimensions. Halo needs to avoid being linear…I still remember Halo 1-3 being a bit more open with a bit more of exploring while 4,5 forced linear routes and lead to a frustrating campaign where freedom to explore was heavily restricted, was not fun.
> >
> > Agreed. I was thinking along similar lines so it was easier to just quote you :wink:I would be interested in time travel or alternate dimensions if it lead to more non linear gameplay, or alternate time lines. It’s a sci fi game after all, there are many directions that 343i can explore.
>
> That would be a very very very bad idea.

Why ? We all have different opinions, I would prefer non linear and time travel or alternate dimensions could help with that, depending on how it’s done of course. It doesn’t mean it will happen, but I’m definitely open minded about new ideas in games, and I preferred the more non linear approach of Halo CE.