That line from 343 has been going around in my head for a while. Halo 5 is rated T and has no flood, so how could this be the darkest of them all? I don’t expect any major deaths this time around, but maybe someone will get injured or MIA (but not killed).
You can’t have the darkest halo without flood, all while being rated T, that’s weak. What do yall think, or is 343 going to have to back track on what they stated?
Edit: Ok it’s possible, but I still don’t think it will be that easy, but guess we’ll have to wait and see. Edit 2: It was not my intention to come off as if you need blood and gore to be considered Dark. At the time, I just couldn’t see a dark Halo game surpassing such a galactic threat such as the flood.
Not at all. Gore & violence and dark are not the same thing. The story line could easily be the darkest without needing to see blood. The flood are not the only enemy capable of causing chaos and death so yes, you can have a dark halo without them.
Good question but dark doesn’t have to mean violent.
Josh Holmes said that there is a scene in the game that brought tears to his eyes.
And what we know of the soundtrack sounds much more serious and melancholic.
I think Locke will learn the hard way what it means to be a Spartan - to give everything including your life for the wellbeing of others that might never find out.
Plus the Cortana thing could turn out really sinister and 343i teased that although the Flood are out there might be another dark surprise.
Typical. “It can only de dark and gritty and edgy if there’s a lot of blood and death”.
Wrong. With good writing, anything is possible. You don’t need blood or death to make a dark story. In fact, you can make a much deeper and higher quality story without those things, because they’re often just cliché gimmicks to make a story seem dark/deep on the face of it, when it’s actually not. Without those things, you have to rely on your narrative to pack the emotional punch, not a random bloody death of a main character.
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> Not at all. Gore & violence and dark are not the same thing. The story line could easily be the darkest without needing to see blood. The flood are not the only enemy capable of causing chaos and death so yes, you can have a dark halo without them.
I believe we can, but it’s kinda hard to picture that. The lack blood is all the more reason why it’s fishy. I simply can’t see it happening. Keyes struggling to be assimilated by flood or High charity being overran in a few days is not easy to top, besides Cortana’s death to some.
It’s like saying it’s easy to top what we’ve seen before, all while being rated T, which I don’t think it’s that easy. Kinda a slap in the face to think so.
> 2533274821174589;1:
> That line from 343 has been going around in my head for a while. Halo 5 is rated T and has no flood, so how could this be the darkest of them all? I don’t expect any major deaths this time around, but maybe someone will get injured or MIA (but not killed).
>
> You can’t have the darkest halo without flood, all while being rated T, that’s weak. What do yall think, or is 343 going to have to back track on what they stated?
Dark does not equal blood/gore.
You can have an emotional and thrilling dramatic game without having a single death or any blood/gore and you don’t need an M rating for that to happen. Limbo is rated T for Teen and it’s plenty dark, gripping, sad tale and no words are ever spoken.
Once you understand this mindset, you’ll come to appreciate every type of entertainment regardless of its rating.
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> > 2533274906745123;2:
> > Not at all. Gore & violence and dark are not the same thing. The story line could easily be the darkest without needing to see blood. The flood are not the only enemy capable of causing chaos and death so yes, you can have a dark halo without them.
>
>
> I believe we can, but it’s kinda hard to picture that. The lack blood is all the more reason why it’s fishy. I simply can’t see it happening. Keyes struggling to be assimilated by flood or High charity being overran in a few days is not easy to top, besides Cortana’s death to some.
>
> It’s like saying it’s easy to top what we’ve seen before, all while being rated T, which I don’t think it’s that easy. Kinda a slap in the face to think so.
There was never really a reason for Halo to be rated M in the first place. The blood in CE and Johnson smoking on screen in 2 and 3 are about the only things I can think of that might have pushed it to an M rating.
Keyes being infected by the Flood wasn’t emotional at all for me. Since playing CE was my first exposure to the Halo universe and the game did a poor job of fleshing out characters and generally making me give a crap about them, his death meant relatively little to me compared to the deaths of Johnson, Miranda, and especially Cortana. Cortana’s death was easily the most emotional, so I have no doubts that 343 will deliver on their promise of Halo 5 being the darkest Halo yet.
> 2533274906745123;2:
> Not at all. Gore & violence and dark are not the same thing. The story line could easily be the darkest without needing to see blood. The flood are not the only enemy capable of causing chaos and death so yes, you can have a dark halo without them.
Was just about to point this out. Good writing, story pacing, and character development can equal the darkest Halo.
Assuming a teen rating is equal to our german 16 rating there could still be a lot of blood and such stuff into it. Halo CE and the MCC were rated 16 here in Germany. I think it’s just that the standards are changing, games become more violent with each year passing by so after a time mild violent games like halo drop down a stage without changing their amount of violence inside the game.
Also as others have stated even without blood and gore stories could drive tears in your eyes, I have seen some movies rated 6 or 12 that did so and I’m an adult after all. Stories could be written dark without heads rolling and body parts laying around
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> > 2533274821174589;1:
> > That line from 343 has been going around in my head for a while. Halo 5 is rated T and has no flood, so how could this be the darkest of them all? I don’t expect any major deaths this time around, but maybe someone will get injured or MIA (but not killed).
> >
> > You can’t have the darkest halo without flood, all while being rated T, that’s weak. What do yall think, or is 343 going to have to back track on what they stated?
>
>
> Dark does not equal blood/gore.
>
> You can have an emotional and thrilling dramatic game without having a single death or any blood/gore and you don’t need an M rating for that to happen. Limbo is rated T for Teen and it’s plenty dark, gripping, sad tale and no words are ever spoken.
>
> Once you understand this mindset, you’ll come to appreciate every type of entertainment regardless of its rating.
I know Darkness does not equal blood and gore. Limbo, imo should be rated M, because it’s still pretty gruesome with death and bleak the entire time.
I’m saying, the past Halo games had some story telling on top of blood and gore. Reach is Dark, not too much blood, but still had its deaths and gore with story telling. Halo 5 may have story telling, but Halo does well with deaths and gore as well. So why not take both of what it does best? I’ll might change my mind after playing the game, but I’m not quite taken by 343’s comment just yet, srry (from what I’ve seen so far).
Edit Bold: I already do, just adding the rating to the cause.
Reach was arguably darker than anything that actually happened in the original trilogy, and that didn’t have Flood. It’s rating was likely higher due to how much more violent some of the cutscenes were.
It’s worth pointing out that the rating board has eased up a bit in recent years. Other countries might give it a higher rating.
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> > 2533274795233660;8:
> > > 2533274821174589;1:
> > > That line from 343 has been going around in my head for a while. Halo 5 is rated T and has no flood, so how could this be the darkest of them all? I don’t expect any major deaths this time around, but maybe someone will get injured or MIA (but not killed).
> > >
> > > You can’t have the darkest halo without flood, all while being rated T, that’s weak. What do yall think, or is 343 going to have to back track on what they stated?
> >
> >
> > Dark does not equal blood/gore.
> >
> > You can have an emotional and thrilling dramatic game without having a single death or any blood/gore and you don’t need an M rating for that to happen. Limbo is rated T for Teen and it’s plenty dark, gripping, sad tale and no words are ever spoken.
> >
> > Once you understand this mindset, you’ll come to appreciate every type of entertainment regardless of its rating.
>
>
> I know Darkness does not equal blood and gore. Limbo, imo should be rated M, because it’s still pretty gruesome with death and bleak the entire time.
>
> I’m saying, the past Halo games had some story telling on top of blood and gore. Reach is Dark, not too much blood, but still had its deaths and gore with story telling. Halo 5 may have story telling, but Halo does well with deaths and gore as well. So why not take both of what it does best? I’ll might change my mind after playing the game, but I’m not quite taken by 343’s comment just yet, srry (from what I’ve seen so far).
>
> Edit Bold: I already do, just adding the rating to the cause.
If the narrative does not require blood and gore, then it’s not needed. If you have an emotional and gripping story line that is thrilling and tense, added in blood and gore on top of that won’t make it better if it’s unsuited and not necessary. It’s similar to having peanut butter and chocolate which go great together and then putting whipped cream on top.
You could have a death completely off screen or a death where there is no cuts/blood/holes/limbs lost (Johnson) that is super emotional and dark. Even though Mass Effect 3 was rated M, one of the most saddest and emotional deaths for me was when Mordin died and you don’t even see anything happen to him really.
If the story justifies the need for being dark, or having gore or having blood, then go for it, but if 343i can craft a dark and gripping story without violence or gore or blood then I’m all for it.
> 2533274848539555;15:
> Reach was arguably darker than anything that actually happened in the original trilogy, and that didn’t have Flood. It’s rating was likely higher due to how much more violent some of the cutscenes were.
>
> It’s worth pointing out that the rating board has eased up a bit in recent years. Other countries might give it a higher rating.
I don’t have a problem with Reach being the darkest yet, it’s very capable of holding that title.
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> > 2533274906745123;2:
> > Not at all. Gore & violence and dark are not the same thing. The story line could easily be the darkest without needing to see blood. The flood are not the only enemy capable of causing chaos and death so yes, you can have a dark halo without them.
>
>
> I believe we can, but it’s kinda hard to picture that. The lack blood is all the more reason why it’s fishy. I simply can’t see it happening. Keyes struggling to be assimilated by flood or High charity being overran in a few days is not easy to top, besides Cortana’s death to some.
>
> It’s like saying it’s easy to top what we’ve seen before, all while being rated T, which I don’t think it’s that easy. Kinda a slap in the face to think so.
It’s not a slap in the face to think so, it’s just narrow thinking. Those sequences in High Charity and Keyes assimilation were chilling but the flood are hardly the only beings (and situations) in the Halo universe to be able to elicit similar emotions; the description of the glassed planet in Hunt The Truth came close and they none of them involved blood. Plus, I never said it would be easy to top those but it’s certainly more than possible
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> > I’ve seen some pretty dark kids movies …
>
>
> The Secret of Nimh.
>
> I was a kid at the time and it was dark as hell.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was pretty disturbing to me when I was a kid. Then I saw “IT” by Stephen King. I’ll never watch that movie again.
But it goes to show you that you don’t need gore/blood to have dark themes and something scary in Halo 5.