So I’m slowly making my way through Halo 5, taking my time with it since everyone I’ve talked to said they didn’t like the story.
All those people I talked to though aren’t huge Halo nerds like me. Or… at least I was. Up until about Halo Reach I was reading every Halo book and interacting in every Halo medium that I could find… but then Halo 4 came out and my life just got too busy, so I only played the games. I didn’t even play online (am I missing much not having played Spartan ops?)
So now I’m hearing all these bad things about Halo 5 and I’m worried… is it true? What books should I read that will make me appreciate it more? What else besides books? Is there any videos I should watch that I might have missed?
Thanks!
(Also, yeah, Spartan Ops in Halo 4, did I miss much?)
P.S.
And since I’m asking…
Who’re Spartan Locke and his team?
I feel like I’ve missed so much, and my Halo nostalgia is killing me. I know a little bit about him, but not much.
Did I miss anything, or will it be revealed later in the game?
I’m kind of in the same boat as you. my consumption of lore slowed down drastically around the time of Halo 4, (I hated the Kilo-5 Trilogy and couldn’t get past glasslands, Traviss seems to -Yoink- on every universe she gets her hands on)
If there’s on recommendation i can make to you, pick up Last Light, It’s a brilliant addition to the universe, even if it’s not ridiculously important, it sets up some cool characters, tells you what happens to some of the SIIIs and blue team pre-Halo 4, and it’s packaged in a cool murder mystery format.
If you’ve read or watched any version of the Fall of Reach, most of the stuff about Blue Team should make sense. Halo 3: ODST is helpful in adding to Buck’s character, as is Halo: New Blood. The story makes more sense if you have read and watched most of the books and additional content, but it doesn’t necessarily suck if you haven’t.
To be honest, I feel more let down with the games after investing my time into the books.
The first two books in the kilo 5 trilogy are all about Jul and why hes important in the new universe… Just to kill him off on the first level? As a cut scene?
The Comic series ended up being completely filler, and had no effect on the story at large.
Hunters in the dark is worth your time though. Some stuff that made no sense (whats that sentient life on the Arc doing there…) but definitely enough to be worth it over all.
Honestly, it sucked even if you read the EU… no, it’s even worse if you do know your Halo EU knowledge. Because 343 said they would have all these tie-ins to the EU in Halo 5, but they didn’t deliver at all. So it was a massive letdown after the “rose colored glasses” wore off.
Pretty much no.
Each memeber of Osiris has a little bit of back story in one form or another, and Blue Team have several novels featuring them, but story wise you don’t really need to know anything going in to Halo 5.
They only taken from Halo 4 is the fact that Cortana died, and Jul who featured in Spartan Ops dies in the first level so…
If you want to know more about the characters of Blue Team and fireteam Osiris I would recommend to watch the Halo 5 Primer Series by Halo Canon on Youtube. It summed up everything I felt I needed to know about the characters when I did’nt have time to read several books.
PS: I’m not trying to advertise for the channel or anything, just trying to help you out with the characters.
Don’t let others be the judge of campaign for you - go in by yourself. Honestly if you listen to others’ opinions of something like campaign mode, you’re going to go into it already subconsciously biased. So at this rate you probably won’t enjoy it if you just base that off others’ opinions.
I for one enjoyed it more than most while still recognizing its flaws. I personally feel like I see some of the more vague connections, and I was a fan of some of 343i’s writing decisions. It’s also a fun campaign gameplay-wise. I struggled to truly love H4’s campaign at times because of the gameplay, not the story. Halo 5, on the other hand, is pretty fun to play!
While it is more important to find out for yourself, I will say that even with the books and the rest of the EU, it kind of disappoints you. Most of the EU is fantastic and sets up a lot of interesting plot points. Plot points that Halo 5 completely throughout for the sake of the longevity of the franchise. It’s a good campaign, it’s just, after reading books like Last Light and Silentium, it just doesn’t live up to them.
I was lost when I started playing Halo 5, thinking the first level with Blue team might of been a flashback to explain why John is labeled a traitor. But then there were Prometheans…
The “Hunt the truth” audio on waypoint (first season) explains why John is a traitor.
Nightfall(?) on waypoint explains who Locke is (not really needed).
The current comic series explains how John met back up with blue team and got them involved.
Spartan Ops explains what happened to Halsey and her arm.
So far, that was all I needed to look up to get back on track.
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> I was lost when I started playing Halo 5, thinking the first level with Blue team might of been a flashback to explain why John is labeled a traitor. But then there were Prometheans…
>
> The “Hunt the truth” audio on waypoint (first season) explains why John is a traitor.
>
> Nightfall(?) on waypoint explains who Locke is (not really needed).
>
> The current comic series explains how John met back up with blue team and got them involved.
>
> Spartan Ops explains what happened to Halsey and her arm.
>
> So far, that was all I needed to look up to get back on track.
As far as Osiris/Blue Team Members…
-Last Light primarily for Fred, but you see Linda and Kelly briefly throughout.
-Hunters in the Dark for Vale
-Escalation Comics (forget which issues) for Tanaka
-Halo 3: ODST and New Blood (book) for Buck
NOTE: Some of these are better than others in terms of characterizing the various protagonists. While they’re not integral to understanding H5’ story, it helps you understand some of the quirks of each character in campaign. Also the last campaign level refers back to life events of some of the characters which the books lend context to.
Thank you everyone for the many responses! And don’t worry, I didn’t think you were advertising the channel LeLegacyofTywin, in fact I was hoping someone had something like that.
So from what I gather, I should read/watch/listento the following: Last Light, New Blood, Hunters in the Dark, Halo 5 Primer by Halo Canon , Silentium, Hunt the Truth, Escalation. Is Escalation the name of the current comics or is there another series of comics as well?
Also, the Forerunner Trilogy, I bought the first one way back when it first came out, but that was right when I started not having time for the lore. Would it be worth reading, or no?
If you want just the basic info to understand the story and none of the fluff, I think all you need to listen to through “Hunt the Truth” is episode 8. And I think it’s within the first 5 minutes that they explain what happened.
> 2533274795510297;14:
> Thank you everyone for the many responses! And don’t worry, I didn’t think you were advertising the channel LeLegacyofTywin, in fact I was hoping someone had something like that.
>
> So from what I gather, I should read/watch/listento the following: Last Light, New Blood, Hunters in the Dark, Halo 5 Primer by Halo Canon , Silentium, Hunt the Truth, Escalation. Is Escalation the name of the current comics or is there another series of comics as well?
>
> Also, the Forerunner Trilogy, I bought the first one way back when it first came out, but that was right when I started not having time for the lore. Would it be worth reading, or no?
I’d recommend the Forerunner trilogy - great books, but be warned: It’s hard sci-fi, meaning (more so in the first two books than Silentium) that stretches of it can feel… sloggish or dull at times. Great information though, and they lend a lot of insight into understanding Halo 4’s Didact and to a lesser extent Halo 5’s antagonist.
If you can make it through the first 2/3 or so of Cryptum and the first 3/4 or so of Primordium, you’ll find the last sections of those two books move very fast and are incredibly intriguing. Silentium is a blast all the way through.
I’ve only read a couple of the books but I could still understand the story. Just know who blue team is, that fireteam Osiris is just a S4 fireteam, Jul M’dama is the leader of the storm faction (a faction of the covenant), and Halsey is working with Jul and got her arm cut off. Also, obviously, you need to have played the others. I recommend Spartan ops with 3 other friends because you’re your custom Spartan that has been “training” in the war games (multiplayer) for what feels like an eternity, and it is what happened between h4 and 5.
> 2533274864701588;16:
> > 2533274795510297;14:
> > Thank you everyone for the many responses! And don’t worry, I didn’t think you were advertising the channel LeLegacyofTywin, in fact I was hoping someone had something like that.
> >
> > So from what I gather, I should read/watch/listento the following: Last Light, New Blood, Hunters in the Dark, Halo 5 Primer by Halo Canon , Silentium, Hunt the Truth, Escalation. Is Escalation the name of the current comics or is there another series of comics as well?
> >
> > Also, the Forerunner Trilogy, I bought the first one way back when it first came out, but that was right when I started not having time for the lore. Would it be worth reading, or no?
>
>
> I’d recommend the Forerunner trilogy - great books, but be warned: It’s hard sci-fi, meaning (more so in the first two books than Silentium) that stretches of it can feel… sloggish or dull at times. Great information though, and they lend a lot of insight into understanding Halo 4’s Didact and to a lesser extent Halo 5’s antagonist.
>
> If you can make it through the first 2/3 or so of Cryptum and the first 3/4 or so of Primordium, you’ll find the last sections of those two books move very fast and are incredibly intriguing. Silentium is a blast all the way through.
It’s certainly not hard sci fi. It’s about as far as you can get from hard sci-fi.
> 2533274904944768;18:
> > 2533274864701588;16:
> > > 2533274795510297;14:
> > > Thank you everyone for the many responses! And don’t worry, I didn’t think you were advertising the channel LeLegacyofTywin, in fact I was hoping someone had something like that.
> > >
> > > So from what I gather, I should read/watch/listento the following: Last Light, New Blood, Hunters in the Dark, Halo 5 Primer by Halo Canon , Silentium, Hunt the Truth, Escalation. Is Escalation the name of the current comics or is there another series of comics as well?
> > >
> > > Also, the Forerunner Trilogy, I bought the first one way back when it first came out, but that was right when I started not having time for the lore. Would it be worth reading, or no?
> >
> >
> > I’d recommend the Forerunner trilogy - great books, but be warned: It’s hard sci-fi, meaning (more so in the first two books than Silentium) that stretches of it can feel… sloggish or dull at times. Great information though, and they lend a lot of insight into understanding Halo 4’s Didact and to a lesser extent Halo 5’s antagonist.
> >
> > If you can make it through the first 2/3 or so of Cryptum and the first 3/4 or so of Primordium, you’ll find the last sections of those two books move very fast and are incredibly intriguing. Silentium is a blast all the way through.
>
>
> It’s certainly not hard sci fi. It’s about as far as you can get from hard sci-fi.
Sorry, that was more incorrect English than anything.
What I meant is that although the Bear trilogy has a narrative and follows it, it’s just as much focused on building the world of the Forerunners as it is anything else - it spends much of its time delving into Forerunner society, history, and technology.
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> The first two books in the kilo 5 trilogy are all about Jul and why hes important in the new universe… Just to kill him off on the first level? As a cut scene?
At the very least he should’ve gone down at Sunaion, but screw climatic, satisfying resolutions for characters.
> The Comic series ended up being completely filler, and had no effect on the story at large.
“So here’s this ultra important key that unlocks a map showing the real time location of all Forerunner artifacts in the galaxy-- LOL JK we’re going to have it vanish into thin air after Halsey takes down a Contender-class ancilla with an iPad.”
> Hunters in the dark is worth your time though. Some stuff that made no sense (whats that sentient life on the Arc doing there…) but definitely enough to be worth it over all.
And Last Light, as another user said. I loved both of them.