So, Chief’s armor has changed significantly from the last time we saw him. I chocked this up to “artistic license” and was willing to move on. But then, I just unlocked the Mk-VI armor for War Games. Now I am really confused. The War Games is meant to be a simulator for S-IVs, no? Then why do they have Mk-VI armor that looks nothing like it did in game? And it isn’t like the armor Chief is wearing has any actual explanation, like Cortana somehow managing to upgrade his suit while he was in cryo. Because, at the beginning of the game, they showed him during the height of the Covenant-Human war, and he was wearing the armor we see now. So, can someone make sense of this, or did 343 just dun goofed?
“Typically, from Halo to Halo, the Master Chief’s armor has changed and adapted, and there have been fictional reasons why,” 343 said. “With Halo 4, we’re taking a different approach and focusing on the storytelling aspects of art from the design standpoint. We don’t do that everywhere in the game, but we wanted to take this opportunity to really focus on him as a human being.”
So to sum up, no, there isn’t a lore-friendly explanation for the changes, it’s simply artistic license.
Full article here.
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I’ve made a post which explains all of that here
It’s a total retcon, basically.
And you know what, it’s the one BIG failure that 343 have done, in my books at least.
Remember that flashback in the prologue, where it shows all the Spartan IIs? Notice how they ALL wear the same armour as Chief.
The same armour that Chief didn’t get until he was issued the Mk VI in Halo 2, meaning it’s physically impossible for any of the other Spartans to be wearing that pre-Reach!
The Covenant changes I suppose I can live with, but there’s a difference between ‘making it look like we want’ and ‘running roughshod over visual continuity and canon lore.’ Bad form, guys, bad form.
> It’s a total retcon, basically.
>
> And you know what, it’s the one BIG failure that 343 have done, in my books at least.
> Remember that flashback in the prologue, where it shows all the Spartan IIs? Notice how they ALL wear the same armour as Chief.
>
> The same armour that Chief didn’t get until he was issued the Mk VI in Halo 2, meaning it’s physically impossible for any of the other Spartans to be wearing that pre-Reach!
>
> The Covenant changes I suppose I can live with, but there’s a difference between ‘making it look like we want’ and ‘running roughshod over visual continuity and canon lore.’ Bad form, guys, bad form.
Exactly, I just thought about this. Why the hell are they wearing Mk-VI? I can swallow a retcon of the design of enemies, vehicles, and the characters, but that was just poor lore consistency. My only possible head-canon was that the flashback was from the interrogators POV, and Halsey was feeding him wrong information.
I was given the impression that the Mk VI that Chief is wearing was heavily customized by Cortana.
> I was given the impression that the Mk VI that Chief is wearing was heavily customized by Cortana.
But they showed in the opening of the game other Spartans wearing the same armor as the Chief. Those SPARTANS were either MIA or KIA way before the MJOLNIR Mk-VI came out. So that head-canon doesn’t work.
Apparently, the Mark VI had Nano-bots that can greatly modify the suit’s outer appearance. I believe the reason why you see the armor appear in the opening cutscene is because 343i had not prepared a MJOLNIR Mark V/IV CGI model, so they had to make due with what they had.
Sorta like how Fred in FuD wore the Mark V helmet, even though it shouldn’t exist at that point. They’re just re-using assets.
> Apparently, the Mark VI had Nano-bots that can greatly modify the suit’s outer appearance. I believe the reason why you see the armor appear in the opening cutscene is because 343i had not prepared a MJOLNIR Mark V/IV CGI model, so they had to make due with what they had.
>
> Sorta like how Fred in FuD wore the Mark V helmet, even though it shouldn’t exist at that point. They’re just re-using assets.
[/quote]
So, the reason the lore got screwed up, was because they’re lazy?
> > Apparently, the Mark VI had Nano-bots that can greatly modify the suit’s outer appearance. I believe the reason why you see the armor appear in the opening cutscene is because 343i had not prepared a MJOLNIR Mark V/IV CGI model, so they had to make due with what they had.
> >
> > Sorta like how Fred in FuD wore the Mark V helmet, even though it shouldn’t exist at that point. They’re just re-using assets.
[/quote]
So, the reason the lore got screwed up, was because they’re lazy?
[/quote]
Or they just didn’t have enough time or budget. Cutscenes like that cost a lot.
> > > Apparently, the Mark VI had Nano-bots that can greatly modify the suit’s outer appearance. I believe the reason why you see the armor appear in the opening cutscene is because 343i had not prepared a MJOLNIR Mark V/IV CGI model, so they had to make due with what they had.
> > >
> > > Sorta like how Fred in FuD wore the Mark V helmet, even though it shouldn’t exist at that point. They’re just re-using assets.
[/quote]
So, the reason the lore got screwed up, was because they’re lazy?
[/quote]
Or they just didn’t have enough time or budget. Cutscenes like that cost a lot.
[/quote]
Yeah, but this is Halo we’re talking about. Why skimp on a game that people have been waiting years for? Why cut-back on the start of your new trilogy?
I think the one in War Games is a newer version of the Mark VI than Chief’s one.
> > > > Apparently, the Mark VI had Nano-bots that can greatly modify the suit’s outer appearance. I believe the reason why you see the armor appear in the opening cutscene is because 343i had not prepared a MJOLNIR Mark V/IV CGI model, so they had to make due with what they had.
> > > >
> > > > Sorta like how Fred in FuD wore the Mark V helmet, even though it shouldn’t exist at that point. They’re just re-using assets.
[/quote]
So, the reason the lore got screwed up, was because they’re lazy?
[/quote]
Or they just didn’t have enough time or budget. Cutscenes like that cost a lot.
[/quote]
Yeah, but this is Halo we’re talking about. Why skimp on a game that people have been waiting years for? Why cut-back on the start of your new trilogy?
[/quote]
Who knows. The game itself feels really rushed, what with Theater and Scoring not being available for any game mode outside of War Games, Custom options are insanely restrictive, and each level in Spartan Ops is just re-used from the Campaign.
> > > > To be honest, I’d rather they fix all of these issues before moving on to better cutscenes.
> > > > > Apparently, the Mark VI had Nano-bots that can greatly modify the suit’s outer appearance. I believe the reason why you see the armor appear in the opening cutscene is because 343i had not prepared a MJOLNIR Mark V/IV CGI model, so they had to make due with what they had.
> > > > >
> > > > > Sorta like how Fred in FuD wore the Mark V helmet, even though it shouldn’t exist at that point. They’re just re-using assets.
[/quote]
So, the reason the lore got screwed up, was because they’re lazy?
[/quote]
Or they just didn’t have enough time or budget. Cutscenes like that cost a lot.
[/quote]
Yeah, but this is Halo we’re talking about. Why skimp on a game that people have been waiting years for? Why cut-back on the start of your new trilogy?
[/quote]
Who knows. The game itself feels really rushed, what with Theater and Scoring not being available for any game mode outside of War Games, Custom options are insanely restrictive, and each level in Spartan Ops is just re-used from the Campaign.
> > > > > To be honest, I’d rather they fix all of these issues before moving on to better cutscenes.
[/quote]
I agree with most of those points, except for the Spartan Ops one. It would be unfeasible to make totally new maps for every mission. The way it is a pretty nice idea, and I could hardly tell what campaign mission they came from. Now if only it didn’t lag so bad…
> > > > > > Apparently, the Mark VI had Nano-bots that can greatly modify the suit’s outer appearance. I believe the reason why you see the armor appear in the opening cutscene is because 343i had not prepared a MJOLNIR Mark V/IV CGI model, so they had to make due with what they had.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Sorta like how Fred in FuD wore the Mark V helmet, even though it shouldn’t exist at that point. They’re just re-using assets.
[/quote]
So, the reason the lore got screwed up, was because they’re lazy?
[/quote]
Or they just didn’t have enough time or budget. Cutscenes like that cost a lot.
[/quote]
Yeah, but this is Halo we’re talking about. Why skimp on a game that people have been waiting years for? Why cut-back on the start of your new trilogy?
[/quote]
Who knows. The game itself feels really rushed, what with Theater and Scoring not being available for any game mode outside of War Games, Custom options are insanely restrictive, and each level in Spartan Ops is just re-used from the Campaign.
> > > > > > To be honest, I’d rather they fix all of these issues before moving on to better cutscenes.
[/quote]
I agree with most of those points, except for the Spartan Ops one. It would be unfeasible to make totally new maps for every mission. The way it is a pretty nice idea, and I could hardly tell what campaign mission they came from. Now if only it didn’t lag so bad…
> > > > > > **
[/quote]
Well, it’s not like levels in Spartan Ops are that large. Perhaps I wouldn’t mind similar aesthetics (that way, they can re-use pallets), as long as the layout is different.**
But the layout is different then the campaign? I mean, I have feeling one of the next missions will take place on Infinty, and it will be a re-purposed version of the mantis run.