The areas in those games felt a lot more well-designed and unique than Infinite’s.
It feels like for Infinite they just created a walkway or box, threw in a few broken pieces and called it a day.
There were bland areas in the first three games as well of course, but for every bland area, you usually had several interesting areas, as well as easter eggs.
For bosses, yeah, they weren’t very impressive most of the time, but the areas were unique and less box-like.
I didn’t say moving platforms.
I meant static platforms to jump to and fight on, areas that are dangerous, and unique enemies to avoid.
That said, Infinite and Halo 3 had falling platforms, but Halo 3 had it at the end, while Infinite had it at the beginning.
I’m fine with Cortana being replaced by the Weapon, and I think using some contrived tech to cure her rampancy would’ve been bad writing, but I agree about the Banished and fighting Cortana’s forces and possibly her.
Also, I think that in the process of defeating Cortana or afterwards, they should’ve found a way to prevent rampancy or at least stall it for a longer amount of time.
Halo’s campaigns have always been a highlight of the games.
Not to say that the gameplay and multiplayer haven’t been just as important however.
Well in Halo 4 they mentioned about it being possible to “recompile my neural matrix” if they got back to Halsey. Would merging with the Weapon have had this effect? It has been mentioned and Mendicant did overcome the Logic Plague.
Plus, you know, the Chiefs love pulling her back from the Darkness and all that. It’s just a little bit like Frozen when she sees Chief all mangled floating in space.
Well, if Cortana deleted all her own memories first, technically no. That wouldn’t be a lie per se, the Weapon would be a blank slate and Cortana would still be “dead”. In the sense that a person with complete amnesia is dead.
Think back to not long after we first meet the Weapon and then the audio log references of the Weapon.
Halsey audio log 4
“Does she know me?”
“No. She is a blank slate. No memories, no history”
—
“This…this is part of me. I don’t know why. I don’t know how, but it is me. It was the last part I remember being deleted”
“This is the framework I used to trap Cortana. It contains a copy of the activation index. At least fragments of it.”
Which then leads to a flashback of Cortana meeting Chief for the first time. The Weapon can’t have had that memory per Halsey and it being the last thing she remembers being deleted is very suspect.
One of the whispers in the Silent Auditorium Cortana says “I need to stop ruining your life”. So, when she says “he needs her” what she did was make herself a blank slate like the Weapon.
All this seems super unlikely. I felt like the plot of Infinite was a clear step to eliminate the storylines started in 4 and 5 and move to something new. We might see mendicant bias/logic plague stuff, and maybe a bit more about what happened to Cortana, but I can practically guarantee that we won’t go back to the created vs the galaxy plotline, it was so universally disliked that almost all of Infinite was just a rebuke of it.
Cut them out and left in the cold to die. Yes, that seems to be the implication.
That or it’s just a plot hole and the Weapon happened to have that memory.
Also after one of the visions it’s brought up that the Weapon feels whatever Cortana was feeling during these visions. When she absorbs that memory of first meeting Chief, the last part of herself she remembers being deleted, she clutches her heart in shock and collapses. As if reliving a traumatic moment in which Cortana died and had to part with that particular memory.
A clear step would be to have the Domain destroyed or reboot the series entirely. Those are the obvious ways of doing it. Infinite leaves a lot unclear and unanswered. They could just be shifting the narrative focus and changing the context.
You actually get a lot more of Cortana in Infinite than you did in 5 and they made the Created thing a major component in the Banished/Atriox. That’s not really the same as wiping the slate clean.
That’s fair, but I’m still doubtful that they would bring the focus back on the created. Personally I don’t think I would want them to.
I would support a reboot back to the end of Halo 3. They should have left Chief in space, kept the covenant with their iconic halo aesthetic, and maybe just gone back and made a new trilogy set in the 2530s. I dunno, at a certain point it just becomes untenable to make up newer and newer threats.
You mentioned Offensive Bias and the Logic Plague. Most sentient AI joined Cortana. If they’re all dead (Genocide BTW) then the Logic Plague wouldn’t be relevant as a story point. But if they still rule the Galaxy this is a massive threat.
Well, they never gave us a good insight into what the Created would look like as a faction. Apart from a name drop there’s not really very many details to go off. So you could do anything you wanted visually and gameplay wise.
I think Halo has a lack of enemies and conflicts generally. Compare it to Mass Effect for example. Making the decision that we aren’t going to touch anything AI related would only serve to narrow the scope of the story and be a case of cutting things out rather than building them up.
They said they like the mechanics, which is as good a reason as any to play it.
Not sure why they don’t like the campaigns though.
Halo’s stories have never been masterpieces or as interesting as role-playing games like Mass Effect, TES or Fallout, but I’ve always enjoyed the atmospheres and settings of the campaign levels in Halo, at least until Reach.
Now I’m curious. I’d definitely agree from the PS4 era onwards they’ve beat Microsoft at cinematic storytelling, hands down. You didn’t find say, Halo 2 Anniversary to be cinematic? Or Reach? Also are there games pre-PS4 that you think did a better job (I missed most of the PS3 era)?
I’m honestly curious, I always thought Halo 1-3 were exceptional in that regard.
So, I don’t remember if they’re all cinematic or story-focused, but here are PlayStation-exclusive (sort of) games I liked:
Click the arrow to see the list.
Demon’s Souls (sparse story-telling, but I liked the atmosphere and the way it looked in the original PS3 game)
Detroit: Become Human (an interactive story, and it’s quite cinematic)
Killzone (has a cinematic look, and the gameplay’s fun, at least the PS Vita game was)
Persona (JRPG with social simulation elements)
Shadow of the Colossus (has a cinematic look with sparse story-telling)
Soul Sacrifice (it gets repetitive, but I liked the story)
Uncharted (very linear but cinematic)
I think Xbox has a few games like some of those, but not many.
Gears of War, Halo, Bethesda’s games, Obsidian’s games and Fable.
Not sure I count Bethesda and Obsidian’s games though.
There are probably more for both Xbox and PlayStation, but I haven’t played many console games since the Xbox 360 and PS3.
Mostly handheld games.
The Last of Us was supposedly good and cinematic (I think), and the most recent God of War, as well as Horizon, but I haven’t played those.
The problem with the campaign is that everything interesting happened before the game even started and the game itself is padded with discount Ubisoft objectives.
The open world added nothing of value and main missions lack any memorable encounters. The only thing that comes close is the House of Reckoning which immediately wears out its welcome for a second wave arena that just highlights how bad the lack of co-op campaign or firefight hurts the experience. And we already saw a better more concise version of that idea years prior with Titanfall 2.
The story should have gone in a different direction.
*** They should have followed through with Cortana still being in charge of the created
*** They literally killed off wayyyyyy too many characters in Infinite. All the Spartans in the story so far are dead. INFINITY is dead/destroyed/missing. Cortana is dead. Atriox was dead ( now alive ) The monitor gets killed within 30 MINUTES OF BEING INTRODUCED.
That isn’t good story writing. It’s just them being edgy.
I don’t know if they’re iconic or not, but I really liked the intro where Master Chief goes into the ship with the Sidekick, and the part where you have to grapple on those falling structures.
I almost walked away from gaming because I was so bored on Xbox One and what it was offering. God of War pulled me back in, its the benchmark for cinematic story telling imo.
Horizon is a technical marvel, it came out in 2017 (I think) and puts “next gen” Halo to shame on just about every technical front. It’s pretty good story wise.
Xbox hasn’t set the industry on fire since the 360 days, they had some great titles back then. I have a PS3 and Killzone, I just have to find a six axis controller to play it lol.
