For the record, this post is not meant to be critical of Bungie or 343, I am just very curious about the inconsistencies between their Forerunner designs.
In Halo 4, 343 introduced two major components of technology to the Forerunner design. These are the floating and phasing technologies. Floating objects and objects that can phase in and out of existence, both of which I think are awesome. However, why weren’t these pieces of technology in the original trilogy?
In the original trilogy, we visit Halo rings and the Ark. These places, despite being arguably the most crucial things the Forerunners ever built, are full of relatively primitive technology such as gondolas and elevators, and you basically never see floating aspects in any structures, nor are any structures able to phase. The constructs in charge of defending these places such as Sentinels and Enforcers simply break apart when destroyed, but on Requiem Sentinels are able to utilise slipspace and of course the Prometheans phase out of existence when killed. To reach the activation index for Halo you simply need to ride a gondola. However, on Requiem, Genesis, Meridian and Sanghelios, we see much more advanced technology, including many floating objects and phasing technology.
One explanation I have heard is that the more advanced technology of the newer trilogy is Warrior-Servant technology and the original trilogy is Builder. However I see two flaws with this argument, one is that Genesis is a Builder facility, and two is that the Builders were much higher ranking in the caste system than the Warrior-Servants, so why would they use more primitive technology?
So while I do welcome this new aesthetic change, why is it that the Halo rings and the Ark have such primitive technology while places such as Genesis and Sanghelios have extremely advanced floating and phasing technology? Is there an explanation or is it supposed to be an art style change that retcons the more primitive aesthetic of the original trilogy?
Well I think in on the Halo the technology is so simple because Halo is an weapon and simpel technique is easier to repair.
And for requiem and genesis both were meant to live there so it is meant to be more luxurious.
Also there has been an topic about this theme and someone has bring a really good explain for this maybe some of the following writers know it completly I have simply for get it.
Corrections and personnal views are welcome
It’s just an artistic update/change combined with better gaming technology that can better display the floating/phasing structures. I think we’re just meant to go along with the aesthetic change. I mean, on a different scale, just look at the Chief’s armor, it changes nearly every game. Obviously Bunige and 343 gave some backstory for why the armor changed, but in reality, it’s an artistic change as well as a technological change (game engine can provide more armor detail than the previous iteration). But if you’re looking for a canonized explanation for the architectural change, I haven’t seen anything.
I’m sure there’s some wishy-washy explanation in some canon fodder or something
But basically, Bungie had a forerunner design aesthetic (Well, multiple), 343i decided to ignore it and substitute it’s own like it has for everything in regards to art design
Technically the gondolas in bungie era weren’t primitive, they’re openly defying gravity as they move.
But yeah, overall its just a result of the change of studios.
I’m still waiting for a good explanation from 343 too OP, this has always bothered me since Halo 4. If the changes are purely aesthetic then it simply shows that 343 has no respect for Halo’s legacy and the franchise as a whole. Their poor storytelling since Spartan Ops and their unnecessary and ridiculous redesigns of pretty much everything in the Halo universe ruined it for me.
343 seems like the type of studio that would redesign everything in Star Wars with no canonical explanation whatsoever if they were given control over the franchise.
This was explained years ago. The Halos were in disrepair due to being neglected by their monitors for thousands of yours. lots of the technology was dormant. Requiem was in full working order.
Because it’s extremely difficult to conceive that a species that spanned 3 million worlds might have had multiple aesthetic style in terms of architecture depending on era, rate, place, individual preferences, and other factors.
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> Because it’s extremely difficult to conceive that a species that spanned 3 million worlds might have had multiple aesthetic style in terms of architecture depending on era, rate, place, individual preferences, and other factors.
Fair point but why the sarcastic/hostile tone?
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> Because it’s extremely difficult to conceive that a species that spanned 3 million worlds might have had multiple aesthetic style in terms of architecture depending on era, rate, place, individual preferences, and other factors.
Which is exactly why it’s bizarre that, after watching Tron: Legacy, they painted all of their stuff bright blue and gave every object they could find an extra dose of Orange ADHD-induced lens flares - almost like they were desperately trying to be “hip” and “in” with the rest of conventional science-fiction.
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> > Because it’s extremely difficult to conceive that a species that spanned 3 million worlds might have had multiple aesthetic style in terms of architecture depending on era, rate, place, individual preferences, and other factors.
>
>
> Which is exactly why it’s bizarre that, after watching Tron: Legacy, they painted all of their stuff bright blue and gave every object they could find an extra dose of Orange ADHD-induced lens flares - almost like they were desperately trying to be “hip” and “in” with the rest of conventional science-fiction.
At least the original Tron had bright accent colors to begin with, so Legacy wasn’t that far away from the aesthetic, just turned the weird off-white color of the original to black. But I definitely see how people compare the new Forerunner look to Tron: Legacy.
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> > > 2533275014949226;8:
> > > Because it’s extremely difficult to conceive that a species that spanned 3 million worlds might have had multiple aesthetic style in terms of architecture depending on era, rate, place, individual preferences, and other factors.
> >
> >
> > Which is exactly why it’s bizarre that, after watching Tron: Legacy, they painted all of their stuff bright blue and gave every object they could find an extra dose of Orange ADHD-induced lens flares - almost like they were desperately trying to be “hip” and “in” with the rest of conventional science-fiction.
>
>
> At least the original Tron had bright accent colors to begin with, so Legacy wasn’t that far away from the aesthetic, just turned the weird off-white color of the original to black. But I definitely see how people compare the new Forerunner look to Tron: Legacy.
Forerunner structures, indeed, the tropes surrounding their entire art style, are best used as an abstraction for the state of the species as a whole. In the trilogy, everything is in - not disrepair perse - but stained in history, taking on a monolithic quality as the only ruins of a dead civilization large enough to survive the eons. The imagery is artistically reminiscent of the Egyptian Pyramids, a primordial civilization so old and incomprehensible our only relatable tether to it are basic geometric shapes. Rings. The Libraries are practically built from 45 degree angles. The effect is supposed to be akin to wandering an elephant’s skeleton - picked clean and only distinguishable from the surroundings because of how unnatural it is, save the few globs of decaying puss clinging to the ribcage i.e. The Flood, the last fleeting image of what this beast was like in its heyday.
Come 343 and suddenly things are breathing. Alive. Pulsating. Throbbing. Glowing. Hovering. Dancing. Materializing. Dematerializing. The Forerunners are back, you hear?
Except they aren’t, as by the end of Halo 4 as the Didact is calmly destroyed having achieved literally nothing and failing to be the driving conflict in that game of tiny emotional stakes but MASSIVE visuals. The influence of the Didact dominates your visual space, but fails to amount to anything in the narrative. The Rings were the plot of the trilogy. The Didact is a means to an end - namely the death of Cortana.
Haven’t spent any time in Halo 5’s campaign, but it seems very much the same. The Forerunners are still gone but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the stuff they left behind. The control of the Prometheans changes hands continually yet there’s no artistic indication of this. Are the AI intended to be the Forerunner’s…what? Reincarnation?? That’s the only way such an art style makes any sense to me. The Forerunners are still dead. Moreover, the toys left behind by their civilization at it’s “prime” do nothing to drive a conflict and only support it. The discovery of the derelict Rings they built with their last gasp and dwindling resources as the blight ripped across their worlds has done more to shake the narrative than the unearthing of their perfectly preserved, physics defying, bloodthirsty, loyal, very much alive army they constructed at the height of their power. They’re simply shock troopers for the various factions already fighting each other. How -Yoink–backwards is that?
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> > > > 2533275014949226;8:
> > > > Because it’s extremely difficult to conceive that a species that spanned 3 million worlds might have had multiple aesthetic style in terms of architecture depending on era, rate, place, individual preferences, and other factors.
> > >
> > >
> > > Which is exactly why it’s bizarre that, after watching Tron: Legacy, they painted all of their stuff bright blue and gave every object they could find an extra dose of Orange ADHD-induced lens flares - almost like they were desperately trying to be “hip” and “in” with the rest of conventional science-fiction.
> >
> >
> > At least the original Tron had bright accent colors to begin with, so Legacy wasn’t that far away from the aesthetic, just turned the weird off-white color of the original to black. But I definitely see how people compare the new Forerunner look to Tron: Legacy.
>
>
> Forerunner structures, indeed, the tropes surrounding their entire art style, are best used as an abstraction for the state of the species as a whole. In the trilogy, everything is in - not disrepair perse - but stained in history, taking on a monolithic quality as the only ruins of a dead civilization large enough to survive the eons. The imagery is artistically reminiscent of the Egyptian Pyramids, a primordial civilization so old and incomprehensible our only relatable tether to it are basic geometric shapes. Rings. The Libraries are practically built from 45 degree angles. The effect is supposed to be akin to wandering an elephant’s skeleton - picked clean and only distinguishable from the surroundings because of how unnatural it is, save the few globs of decaying puss clinging to the ribcage i.e. The Flood, the last fleeting image of what this beast was like in its heyday.
>
> Come 343 and suddenly things are breathing. Alive. Pulsating. Throbbing. Glowing. Hovering. Dancing. Materializing. Dematerializing. The Forerunners are back, you hear?
>
> Except they aren’t, as by the end of Halo 4 as the Didact is calmly destroyed having achieved literally nothing and failing to be the driving conflict in that game of tiny emotional stakes but MASSIVE visuals. The influence of the Didact dominates your visual space, but fails to amount to anything in the narrative. The Rings were the plot of the trilogy. The Didact is a means to an end - namely the death of Cortana.
>
> Haven’t spent any time in Halo 5’s campaign, but it seems very much the same. The Forerunners are still gone but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the stuff they left behind. The control of the Prometheans changes hands continually yet there’s no artistic indication of this. Are the AI intended to be the Forerunner’s…what? Reincarnation?? That’s the only way such an art style makes any sense to me. The Forerunners are still dead. Moreover, the toys left behind by their civilization at it’s “prime” do nothing to drive a conflict and only support it. The discovery of the derelict Rings they built with their last gasp and dwindling resources as the blight ripped across their worlds has done more to shake the narrative than the unearthing of their perfectly preserved, physics defying, bloodthirsty, loyal, very much alive army they constructed at the height of their power. They’re simply shock troopers for the various factions already fighting each other. How -Yoink–backwards is that?
What I bolded in there certainly are things that I feel quite strongly about. I guess that the Didact did end up being fairly useless in many respects in the games themselves, brought in not only to seal the “death” of Cortana as you pointed out, but also to allow a Forerunner army to be unleashed. It still seems like quite a cop-out to me, though I am unsure if that’s the right word. 343i just seemed to be grasping for new enemies to throw in…and now the “Created” nonsense is invented.
Although the “new” Forerunner architecture (going back on topic) is visually impressive…in the end I still prefer the “old” architecture from Halo CE-Halo 3. There’s just something about those buildings that I love. Especially the old, crumbling ruins on Delta Halo, compared to the sleek yet ominous metal buildings of CE’s Halo.
I see it in one of two ways, first is that the Halo rings were simply weapons, at their core they are weapons so the usual Forerunner architecture we see in Requiem and onward wouldn’t be as necessary as the Halo rings weren’t designed to be lived upon by the Forerunners. Second would be that the Forerunners are a species that spanned millions of years, there is always a chance that throughout the years their architecture and aesthetic shifted.
When it comes to the differences between Prometheans and the forerunner enemies we see on the rings and Ark is the Didact. The Didact created the prometheans, and as such probably designed them to fit not only his preference but also designed to be intimidating by his standards.
And I’m not gonna lie, for me the shift from Halo 3 UNSC and Halo 4 onward UNSC in those 8 years does feel natural, especially in cases such as armour like the scout or recon. Spartan 4s are more sleek and futuristic by design that the more classic look. Which aesthetic you prefer is up to you.
The only thing I can’t explain in my head is the master chief’s armour change in Halo 4, I know 343i said something nano bots or whatever but that will always be a plot hole that will bug me.
The Halo rings and the Ark are for pure efficiency - so no hardlight decorations. (“hardlight” is the objects that phase in and out of existence; it’s light made to LOOK like a real object, but it can be changed on a dime. Most of the time Forerunner structures have hardlight shells projected over them for decoration purposes and the Prometheans are also composed almost entirely of hardlight.) The Halo rings lack that, and almost all Forerunner structures look like that without the shell - we’re just seeing the structure and supports themselves. (And the floating parts are specific to the Warrior-Servant architecture; just like how different human cultures deign structures differently, so do the Forerunners).
Furthermore what we saw in Halo 4 and 5 was built at the height of Forerunner power where technology, resources, and time were plentiful. The rings and the Ark were made during much more desperate times where they needed to make it quickly and had limited resources.
Since what we see in Halo 5 is made by the same culture that made the rings and the Ark, there are a lot of similarities that Halo 4’s structures lacked; in Halo 5, the structures have less glowing parts, simpler, smoother surfaces and sharper angles, fewer floating parts, spires and struts, confirming it is in fact a canonical differentiation.
the truth? theres no canon reasoning, creative freedom
Slightly off topic but going from Halo 1 to Halo 2, putting graphics aside, you can see differences the Forerunner designs and layout of the rings themselves.
I like to think of the differences between each of the Halo rings as differences between the creators and monitors who were put in charge of the design of each of the 7 rings. The Halo rings were tools but also great works of art, each with their own feel to them. In my own head, I imagine it like each ring had it’s own architect in charge of it’s design. Part of the variation in terms of functionality like what happens when you activate Installation 05 versus Installation 04b could also be a result of a slightly different process for a different part of the galaxy to create the same devastating effect. On the artistic side, different creators, different temple designs.
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> the truth? theres no canon reasoning, creative freedom
There’s always canon reasoning. That’s the very spirit of science fiction.
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> > 2535406833481471;16:
> > the truth? theres no canon reasoning, creative freedom
>
> There’s always canon reasoning. That’s the very spirit of science fiction.
For fans sure thats very much true, it is fiction after all. I just mean it is easy to justify something new, such as a design, after the fact as canon while during development is just fun and cool.
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> For fans sure thats very much true, it is fiction after all. I just mean it is easy to justify something new, such as a design, after the fact as canon while during development is just fun and cool.
Nothing wrong with that, though. A lot of canon is made just to open up possibilities. The earliest example was the idea of energy shields, which were created as an excuse for early TV shows to not have to change their physical filming-models to show damage.