Kat's Death: Most poorly written death ever

Games Other Halo
1

When a character I like dies suddenly, it needs to be believable. This one wasn’t. As we all know, a Needler Rifle can’t one-shot someone with shields. The characters made no mention of their shields being down and they weren’t shown to be down. In-game, when a Spartans shields are down, they have that crackling effect. In the cutscene, this wasn’t the case.

Furthermore, when a Needler Rifle does headshot someone who’s shields are down, the Needle round doesn’t pass clean through. It sticks in and then explodes a few seconds latter. That didn’t happen. I mean, even if you head-canon some reason as to why her shields were down, you still have to try and explain this.

The problem is, it feels like they gave no thought to this. After hearing the commentary, I have an idea of what happen. They were originally going to have her die on the Scarab mission, but due to time constraints they had to cut it. So they had to make up her death in short notice, and this is what we were stuck with.

If I could change that scene, I would have:

1: Shown their shields break and crackling as if hit by a Plasma Pistol Overcharge.

2: Had the characters mention the beam frying their shields. Something along the lines of

Jun: Damn, my shields are all scrambled, anyone elses working?
Emile: Mine are toast too. I guess that’s what a big–Yoink- laser beam will do.
Carter: Focus Noble team.

3: When she gets shot, she would’ve stumbled, gasped a few times, and then we’d hear the Needle explode. She’d fall down face first, and we’d see a Half-Dollar sized hole in the back of her head.

PS: I don’t think this is a spoiler to anyone anymore. The games been out for nearly 2 years now. So if you still haven’t played through the campaign and are surfing the forums, then chances are you were never going to play it anyways.

2

Actually a needle rifle needs three shots for an explosion.

3

I’d say the latest Red Faction game did a worse job.

4

I was personally happy to just see the end of her.

5

I enjoyed her death. It was dramatic, just as much as any other of Noble. I think it really sucked to see her go. In cinematics, she was a brilliant character.

6

> Actually a needle rifle needs three shots for an explosion.

For a super-combined one, yes. But all Needle rounds naturally explode no matter what, albeit with a pitifully weak explosion.

> I enjoyed her death. It was dramatic, just as much as any other of Noble. I think it really sucked to see her go. In cinematics, she was a brilliant character.

I’m sorry, but I have to disagree. It wasn’t dramatic, it was contrived and sloppy. It completely violated the games canon. Kat was a good character, but the death they gave her was just good old fashioned bad writing. Also, it’s made doubly bad when you compare it to every other one of Noble teams death scenes.

Jorge manually detonates a slipspace bomb, taking out a SDV-class heavy corvette and a CSO-class supercarrier. Carter takes out a Scarab by ramming it with the Pelican he was flying. Emile gets stabbed in the back with an Energy Sword while defending the POA using a MAC gun and yet he stills manages to kill the Elite who stabbed him. And Noble Six can vary depending on how good the player is and what difficulty he/she is on. Last time I played it I was able to take out nearly 20 Elites (including Zealots, Generals, and Ultras), 3 Wraiths, and countless Grunts and Jackals. Not to mention the fight he/she puts up in the cutscene.

7

The shields wernt just down, they were off. And then the EMP hit suddenly, so they stayed off.

I think kats death was meant to convey that even spartan supersoliders can be taken at any time, and the futility of her death was deliberate. The crass futility of war. What annoyed me more is that they couldnt sync the cutscene up properly. That broke the immersion for me.

8

> The shields wernt just down, they were off. And then the EMP hit suddenly, so they stayed off.
>
> I think kats death was meant to convey that even spartan supersoliders can be taken at any time, and the futility of her death was deliberate. The crass futility of war. What annoyed me more is that they couldnt sync the cutscene up properly. That broke the immersion for me.

I agree. Around that point in the game, you start to get the feeling that Noble Team knows how things are most likely going to turn out in the end. Like they were starting to come to terms with their helplessness of the situation. Yet they still fought on.

It reminds me alot of this scene from the original "Predator" film

We’re All Gonna Die

9

Kat’s death captured me,
And i didnt see it coming,
Very dramatic,
Just seemed slightly rushed.

PeacE
ShadEO9

10

> Kat’s death captured me,
> And i didnt see it coming,
> Very dramatic,
> Just seemed slightly rushed.
>
>
>
> PeacE
> ShadEO9

Definitely. it was very unexpecting. First time i played campaign, I thought she was gonna die from a vehicle explosion.

11

The death of Kat was a relief.

12

I think Kat’s death was superbly timed.

I just didn’t care about Kat in any way, because they hired a terrible V.O. actress for her. And the game never even attempts to characterize her in a way that would make me sad that she died. And none of the other characters, not even Carter, seem at all phased or interested that their comrade just got brained.

If the game doesn’t care, why should I?

13

> The shields wernt just down, they were off. And then the EMP hit suddenly, so they stayed off.

Again though, how do you explain the needle round going through her head? And since when did Spartans have to manually turn on shields? I guess this is one of those times when not being the analytical type is a blessing.

> I think Kat’s death was superbly timed.
>
> I just didn’t care about Kat in any way, because they hired a terrible V.O. actress for her. And the game never even attempts to characterize her in a way that would make me sad that she died. And none of the other characters, not even Carter, seem at all phased or interested that their comrade just got brained.
>
>
> If the game doesn’t care, why should I?

Like I said, I think a sudden death is a great plot device. It makes you feel like no one is safe. The problem I have with it is the fact that it is full of plot holes. And honestly, I don’t think it was the voice work that made me not care about Noble team. I think it was the fact that since we all knew what happened to Reach, there was no sense of drama or tension. All these characters were Doomed by Canon from the get-go.

On top of that, the game isn’t long enough for you to get attached to the rest of the team. This could be head-canoned by saying that Six is a lone wolf, and therefor wouldn’t get attached to a team he/she was just assigned to.

14

> I think Kat’s death was superbly timed.
>
> I just didn’t care about Kat in any way, because they hired a terrible V.O. actress for her. And the game never even attempts to characterize her in a way that would make me sad that she died. And none of the other characters, not even Carter, seem at all phased or interested that their comrade just got brained.
>
>
> If the game doesn’t care, why should I?

> Like I said, I think a sudden death is a great plot device. It makes you feel like no one is safe. The problem I have with it is the fact that it is full of plot holes. And honestly, I don’t think it was the voice work that made me not care about Noble team. I think it was the fact that since we all knew what happened to Reach, there was no sense of drama or tension. All these characters were Doomed by Canon from the get-go.
>
> On top of that, the game isn’t long enough for you to get attached to the rest of the team. This could be head-canoned by saying that Six is a lone wolf, and therefor wouldn’t get attached to a team he/she was just assigned to.

I’d say the real problem is that Reach is a Michael Bay Transformers movie. It’s just 100% shootey-bits performed by hollow meat-puppets with no personality or depth. There isn’t a second of slow, dramatic tension or character-building. There’s never any quiet moments where the main characters just shoot the breeze and get to know each other, or reveal things about themselves in ways that make them endearing. It’s all business, all the time.

A sudden death works wonders if the story makes even the most pathetic attempt at making me care about the person dying. But nope, I’m just expected to feel sad because the game told me to.

> SAD MUSIC IS PLAYING, ISN’T THAT SAD YOU GUYS?
>
> NO?
>
> WELL, BE SAD. DON’T STOP BEING SAD UNTIL I SAY TO STOP.

15

> I’d say the real problem is that Reach is a Michael Bay Transformers movie. It’s just 100% shootey-bits performed by hollow meat-puppets with no personality or depth. There isn’t a second of slow, dramatic tension or character-building. There’s never any quiet moments where the main characters just shoot the breeze and get to know each other, or reveal things about themselves in ways that make them endearing. It’s all business, all the time.
>
> A sudden death works wonders if the story makes even the most pathetic attempt at making me care about the person dying. But nope, I’m just expected to feel sad because the game told me to.
>
>
>
> > SAD MUSIC IS PLAYING, ISN’T THAT SAD YOU GUYS?
> >
> > NO?
> >
> > WELL, BE SAD. DON’T STOP BEING SAD UNTIL I SAY TO STOP.

Yeah…and the only really emotional parts are the ones that has nothing to do with the rest of Noble team. Like for me the scenes that actually made me feel anything was the on-rails section in Exodus, Noble Six denying evac to protect P.O.A, the remake of the opening of H:CE, and Lone Wolf. Exodus was a great example. Because no matter what, you can’t save all of the Marines. You try your hardest, but no matter what, alot of people are gonna die.

And you’re right about it being all action. In alot of Halo games they have just pure exposition and talk scenes. The only ones they had in Reach were pretty much “Blah Blah Blah Covenant, Military jargon, Blah Blah Blah”

I mean, compare that to the scene in the Phantom before the Arbiter level:

“You are the Arbiter, the will of the Prophets, but these are my Elites. There lives matter to me yours does not.”

“That makes two of us.”

“Hmmph.”

16

I’m not sure if this has been said, but she took her helmet off and then put it back on, wouldn’t the helmet being off take the shields offline, but not ‘break’ them?

17

> I’m not sure if this has been said, but she took her helmet off and then put it back on, wouldn’t the helmet being off take the shields offline, but not ‘break’ them?

That was never previously mentioned in the games canon. Again, that’s just pure bad writing if we have to make up stuff to fill the plot-holes. And again, even if you head-canon some reason as to why her shields were off, how do you explain the Needle round passing cleanly through? And yes, I have thought of the Prototype Beam Rifle theory. The problem with it being that it sounded exactly like a Needler Rifle and if you go into theater and play it in slow-mo, you can see that it’s a needle round.

18

Maybe Kat’s helmet wasn’t made very well?

19

Her death was one of my favorites, Jorge a close second.

20

This is just me, but I was aggravating they had shields period, they are all only Spartan III’s with the exception of Jorge who’s a II. They should have only had SPI armor with active camo, you could have used a health stamina system like ODST. (but I’d say shields would have to still be on your Spartan in Multiplayer for gameplay reasons)

Another thing that made me mad, was Dr. Halsey’ running into the Spartan III’s, if I’m not mistaken she doesn’t run into/find out about them till she gets to Onyx.

AAAAAnd the last mission was B.S, didn’t the Chief already have Cortana when the Covies arrived on Reach?

They NEED to stop rushing these games out for BS profit reasons and corporate deadlines, let the artists and creators take there time, it will make for a better game, can u imagine if they had more time with Halo2, You would have had to stay alive on the Dreadnought till it got to Earth then you would have had to make the great escape bailing on a ship entering orbit, that would have been one hell of a cliff hanger till we got our hands on Halo3