i saw interviews with the creators at Bungie and they said that they specifically made Master Chief a blank slate for the players, when to me he always came off as a real character with a personality when playing. how did everyone view Master Chief in their experience, because he was always a person to me. it especially seems clear that he becomes more human throughout the trilogy as Cortana brings out that side of him more and more. but maybe thats just how i saw it.
It’s important to separate lore from game play mechanics here. If you dive into the lore that was created even before CE released (interesting fact: Fall of Reach released before CE), the Chief has a rich military history and personality traits. But game play would have been bogged down in trying to insert these themes and ideas into the game. So much of that is left off and explained as Chief being a blank slate.
I rather like that idea. When you play the games, the Chief is whoever you want him to be. He can be you, even. But in the lore, if you so choose to take the plunge, the Chief is his own character. The two ideas can exist at once depending on if you are a lore fanatic or a casual player. I’m hoping 343 can find a way to rekindle that balancing act going forward.
Well, a minimal character in the game, In cutscenes it gives a general idea what sort of person he is while you need to read a book for further look into his life.
the blank slate happens when player gains control of the actions, as in during gameplay in where there is no continuous battle & let’s the players themselves experience the world, events, characters & so on without excess babbling in behalf of the character they control.
This in an way unifies the character & the player a bit.
And it’s something that was immediately changed in H4 & games after it, excluding Anniversary editions, separating the player more from the character they control.
So I wouldn’t say they become more human but rather they show more of the character & change the personality in some ways.
For I don’t think silent types are that different from the rest, they are humans too, the monologue just might happen in their minds, it doesn’t make them less human that they don’t speak everything they think.
And silent types work in games given games are experience based entertainment product whereas movies & books are more of those things where you just follow this linear path.
It’s true that Bungie intended the Master Chief to be a blank slate…to the point that they actually intended to cancel Nylund’s book, “The Fall of Reach”, before Eric Trautmann intervened…But even in Combat Evolved, we’re able to see at least some personality make its way through through the Chief’s mannerisms and one-liners. Halo 2 and 3 make expansions upon this (As far as I know), but overall, he is much closer to being a blank slate in the original trilogy than the books and the 343 games…something that I personally believe is actually to the detriment of the games. Even a little more carrying over of his mindset from the books would make the games a little more interesting…his thoughts on duty, the cost paid…a mixture of a few more lines, and some silent gestures (Gestures that could be like what the Slayer makes in Doom) would work. But he is still definitely a character. There is that much.
> 2533274890014309;3:
> Well, a minimal character in the game, In cutscenes it gives a general idea what sort of person he is while you need to read a book for further look into his life.
> the blank slate happens when player gains control of the actions, as in during gameplay in where there is no continuous battle & let’s the players themselves experience the world, events, characters & so on without excess babbling in behalf of the character they control.
> This in an way unifies the character & the player a bit.
>
> And it’s something that was immediately changed in H4 & games after it, excluding Anniversary editions, separating the player more from the character they control.
>
> So I wouldn’t say they become more human but rather they show more of the character & change the personality in some ways.
>
> For I don’t think silent types are that different from the rest, they are humans too, the monologue just might happen in their minds, it doesn’t make them less human that they don’t speak everything they think.
> And silent types work in games given games are experience based entertainment product whereas movies & books are more of those things where you just follow this linear path.
An interesting thought on Halo 4; Chief’s emotions and personality are directly drawn from the predicament that Cortana is in.
Regardless of the extended material, casual fans of the games have come to know her, and now share the Chief’s feelings of potential loss.
Basically what I’m saying is, that the emotions that 343 gave the Chief in Halo 4, line up with what the player would be feeling given the situation regarding Cortana.
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> > 2533274890014309;3:
> > Well, a minimal character in the game, In cutscenes it gives a general idea what sort of person he is while you need to read a book for further look into his life.
> > the blank slate happens when player gains control of the actions, as in during gameplay in where there is no continuous battle & let’s the players themselves experience the world, events, characters & so on without excess babbling in behalf of the character they control.
> > This in an way unifies the character & the player a bit.
> >
> > And it’s something that was immediately changed in H4 & games after it, excluding Anniversary editions, separating the player more from the character they control.
> >
> > So I wouldn’t say they become more human but rather they show more of the character & change the personality in some ways.
> >
> > For I don’t think silent types are that different from the rest, they are humans too, the monologue just might happen in their minds, it doesn’t make them less human that they don’t speak everything they think.
> > And silent types work in games given games are experience based entertainment product whereas movies & books are more of those things where you just follow this linear path.
>
> An interesting thought on Halo 4; Chief’s emotions and personality are directly drawn from the predicament that Cortana is in.
> Regardless of the extended material, casual fans of the games have come to know her, and now share the Chief’s feelings of potential loss.
>
> Basically what I’m saying is, that the emotions that 343 gave the Chief in Halo 4, line up with what the player would be feeling given the situation regarding Cortana.
Generally I would say yes, but I doubt anything can portray everyones feelings perfectly, though I doubt you would have implied that.
The grieving part is fine in a form that it was in the cutscene given the situation Chief is in, for he has time for that unlike something like Johnsons scene where he has more pressing matters so he needed to stay calm & collective to finish things happening around, the movement still showed silent sorrow, and silence during action can indicate emotional state.
But some dialogue just seemed a bit shoehorned in to create personal drama given H4 focused more on characters emotions in proportion of story & world happening around them.
And events themselves being again, something threatening humanity caused the monologue to be rather out of place at times.
Which is some of the strongsuits of silent character, the cutscenes give the situation & stakes at hand while in gameplay, where you already control the movement of the character, the player gets to react to the world & events (including Cortanas dialogue) by themselves, as in everyone, not just generally most people, everyone.