A large issue that I have with the promethians mainly (knights, crawlers, and watchers) is that they don’t look like something that the forerunners would build/use/be part of their society. Focussing solely on art style choices, take into account the forerunner monitors and sentinels. They are sleek, look futuristic, but are not over designed and look like they would fit into the general art style of the forerunners. Now take a look at the knights, they look very clunky, heavy, almost insect like, they have tiny t-rex arms, and generally don’t look sleek and smooth in accordance to the rest of the established forerunner art style. The same can be said about the watchers, and crawlers. They arent recognizable as forerunner.
That being said completely restyling the promethians would be a very difficult task, so all I am proposing is to change the art style of the promethians to fit with the sleek, smooth, and clean look that resembles forerunner architecture, monitors, and sentinels.
I’m in total agreement about the look of the Forerunner enemies in Halo 4 and 5 seeming out of place next to the Forerunner automatons and architecture as seen in Halo 1-3 and Reach.
Unfortunately, I would have a problem with them changing it too dramatically at this point for the similar reason that doing so would create a continuity problem with their current established design.
As much as I don’t really care for the explanation, the most logically sound one that I’ve heard or come across is that Forerunner society in general, including the Builders who created most of what we’ve seen in the older Halo games, is a distinct and different piece of the Forerunner military apatatus run by the Didact. It might make sense for the Forerunner military to employ less sleek and more intimidating (not withstanding that Crawlers, Watchers, and Knights certainly don’t particularly resonate as intimidating with many players on a personal level, myself included) designs.
On the bright side, I always thought that the Halo 4 and 5 Forerunner weapons looked great- if only they had blue variants that were usable in game, they’d look pretty darn Forerunner to me by any standard.
> 2533274861158694;2:
> I’m in total agreement about the look of the Forerunner enemies in Halo 4 and 5 seeming out of place next to the Forerunner automatons and architecture as seen in Halo 1-3 and Reach.
>
> Unfortunately, I would have a problem with them changing it too dramatically at this point for the similar reason that doing so would create a continuity problem with their current established design.
>
> As much as I don’t really care for the explanation, the most logically sound one that I’ve heard or come across is that Forerunner society in general, including the Builders who created most of what we’ve seen in the older Halo games, is a distinct and different piece of the Forerunner military apatatus run by the Didact. It might make sense for the Forerunner military to employ less sleek and more intimidating (not withstanding that Crawlers, Watchers, and Knights certainly don’t particularly resonate as intimidating with many players on a personal level, myself included) designs.
>
> On the bright side, I always thought that the Halo 4 and 5 Forerunner weapons looked great- if only they had blue variants that were usable in game, they’d look pretty darn Forerunner to me by any standard.
Continuity is not a huge deal I mean take a look at all the art style changes from 3-4. Im not saying completely redesign them but remove some things like remove the t-rex arms on the knights, and make the watchers look more like sentinels. However I do agree with you on the promethium weapons, and I think if they were blue they would fit in very nicely
I actually really like the soldier design in Halo 5, apart from the face. If they tweak that to make it look more robotic like a sentinel and remove the floating spikes that shoot out from its shoulders, it’d look perfect. The chaste itself is extremely sleek and the lines work well with the Forerunner architecture.
The crawlers and watchers need some work, though.
> 2533274888477235;3:
> > 2533274861158694;2:
> > I’m in total agreement about the look of the Forerunner enemies in Halo 4 and 5 seeming out of place next to the Forerunner automatons and architecture as seen in Halo 1-3 and Reach.
> >
> > Unfortunately, I would have a problem with them changing it too dramatically at this point for the similar reason that doing so would create a continuity problem with their current established design.
> >
> > As much as I don’t really care for the explanation, the most logically sound one that I’ve heard or come across is that Forerunner society in general, including the Builders who created most of what we’ve seen in the older Halo games, is a distinct and different piece of the Forerunner military apatatus run by the Didact. It might make sense for the Forerunner military to employ less sleek and more intimidating (not withstanding that Crawlers, Watchers, and Knights certainly don’t particularly resonate as intimidating with many players on a personal level, myself included) designs.
> >
> > On the bright side, I always thought that the Halo 4 and 5 Forerunner weapons looked great- if only they had blue variants that were usable in game, they’d look pretty darn Forerunner to me by any standard.
>
> Continuity is not a huge deal I mean take a look at all the art style changes from 3-4. Im not saying completely redesign them but remove some things like remove the t-rex arms on the knights, and make the watchers look more like sentinels. However I do agree with you on the promethium weapons, and I think if they were blue they would fit in very nicely
I agree that 343i hasn’t treated continuity as a huge deal in the past, I just wish they would have and hope they will in the future. One of my single biggest problems with Halo 4 is how inconsistent it is visually with Halo 3- not that I have an issue with better graphics over time or new and different models of weapons/vehicles/armor from prior games. I just have a problem when something changes without any lore reason to.
John’s armor and all the weapons on FWD at the beginning of Halo 4 shouldn’t be different than they were at the end of Halo 3. I know there’s sort of a retcon for why his armor changed, but there’s no canonical excuse for why latest- model BR’s, Magnums, etc. would be available onboard a ship that hadn’t been an active part of any UNSC action for years.
That’s a bit of an offbeat example given your subject of Promethian designs, but my point overall is that I’m more than okay with change if it is explained well. I just worry given 343’s past that they won’t address a lot of changes that they make. They’d better at a minimum explain why Master Chief is wearing that sweet MkVI vibe armor instead of his Halo 4-5 set. If they change the Promethians, I’ll just want to know why in-lore they look different.
> 2535418288909351;4:
> I actually really like the soldier design in Halo 5, apart from the face. If they tweak that to make it look more robotic like a sentinel and remove the floating spikes that shoot out from its shoulders, it’d look perfect. The chaste itself is extremely sleek and the lines work well with the Forerunner architecture.
>
> The crawlers and watchers need some work, though.
I agree that Soldiers were a huge step up in Promethian design and need a lot less revision than any other of the enemy class. It’s just a shame they weren’t designed in time to be part of Halo 4- I think that game really could’ve benefited from an intermediary between Crawlers and Knights in terms of intimidation and challenge.
I could get on board with this, but it’s pretty low down my list of priorities for Infinite.
> 2533274874872263;7:
> I could get on board with this, but it’s pretty low down my list of priorities for Infinite.
True id rather have the core halo elements nailed down
If they were to go with the idea that the Prometheans(and Requiem) are just Warrior Servant designs, then I don’t really have a problem with them looking the way they do. My issue has always been applying that same look across all Forerunner design which was the big problem I had Halo 5 and Halo Wars Forerunner designs. It was also the only thing that rubbed me the wrong way about the Infinite teaser, though to be fair we didn’t get an up close look.
Honestly I’ll be happy of we just don’t have the same flat silver texture plastered onto every surface. Though I also wouldn’t mind if we got something similar to those SPV3 concepts.
I’m also hoping for a Promethean design revamp. As of now they look cool… but they don’t look like something that should be in Halo to me, they almost feel like something from a different universe.
I’d rather them just remove the Prometheans as a whole tbh
> 2533274881560701;12:
> Promethean Watcher:
> - Remove the little monster baby face, replace it with a single glowing eye like the Monitor. - Remove the little knobby feet and excessive protrusions that serve no purpose.Promethean Soldier:
> - Make the chest and helmet a little more sleek with less emphasis on floaty bits. - Have the helmet be smooth with something like a single large glowing slit where the eyes are. Reduce the embellishments on high ranking officer helms.Promethean Crawler:
> - I can’t really think what else to do with them because I really just feel like they need an overhaul. For a war construct, a dog-thing doesn’t feel very…advanced imo. I don’t know how to retain the dog-form yet make it better.Promethean Knights:
> - Again, less floaty bits. - Redesign their outer helmet. The lore around them justifies their inner skull face (in my opinion) but the outer helmet should feel more forerunner-ish instead of a snarling robo-face.
I agree with you on this one
> 2533274881560701;12:
> Promethean Crawler:
> - I can’t really think what else to do with them because I really just feel like they need an overhaul. For a war construct, a dog-thing doesn’t feel very…advanced imo. I don’t know how to retain the dog-form yet make it better.
Could have them have more sharp, angular lines to match up with old Sentinels. They can stay dog-like and mobile, but having harder lines and a more durable and less organic appearance would visually distinguish them from 343i’s previous fixation on organic-ized Forerunner enemies.
The latter part (Redesign for smooth and hard lined blocks) can go with all of it, really. I always felt like sharp and hard lines and larger, flatter surfaces were kind of the Forerunner thing compared to the bulkhead and plating architecture of the UNSC and the smooth, curved purple metal architecture of the Covenant.
Are you all forgetting that the metal monsters we know as the Prometheans are technically illegally made creations? They’re abominations that came from the Composer which was meant to bridge the physical and digital realms and failed. Of course none of it is going to look like it belongs in the Forerunner arsenal; because it’s NOT their normal creations. It’s all a terrible accident they discovered while trying to become literally immortal.
When it failed they stopped using it and retired it so it could not be used again, but the Didact saw it as an opportunity to crush two birds with one stone. To humiliate and defeat their enemy, which was mankind at first and then to use the conscripted to fight the enemy humanity was running from.
Their entire form was designed to make them look like they started out as something the Forerunners would create, but quickly snowballed out of control. They are once living creatures encased in hardlight and metal.
I understand that their design may not be to everyone’s liking, but I’m more than sure they didn’t just slap a few ideas together to make their forms. The Librarian gave us a quick history lesson on what it was the Didact was after and why he was seeking it. And during this, we saw a few visual instances that was most likely the process that was used during the change.
I mean, when you think of advanced yet ancient monstrosities…what DO you think of? I think the designs they chose fit it perfectly for the direction they were taking Halo. A much more serious, slightly darker tune because we were going to lose Cortana. These things are a reminder that this being has dominated against humanity and killed/conscripted many of Chief’s and mankind’s (as a whole) ancestors just because he could not put what happened behind him and come to terms that mankind was not seeking a war with the Forerunners. They were merely trying to keep a parasitic organism that was spreading at an extremely alarming rate from getting ahead of them once again.
So when I think of that, I think of misshapen, clunky looking monsters that looked like they would be from the future. Which again, I think was executed rather well with the designs we were given.
Perhaps it is just me who feels this way, I’m not going to say you’re wrong, it’s your opinion. I just think it’s a bit silly to say they don’t fit well for a Forerunner entity when they’re not exactly something the Forerunners created intentionally. (as far as is known anyway, I’m purely going off of what Halo 4 presented us.)
> 2533274879757912;15:
> So when I think of that, I think of misshapen, clunky looking monsters that looked like they would be from the future. Which again, I think was executed rather well with the designs we were given.
>
> Perhaps it is just me who feels this way, I’m not going to say you’re wrong, it’s your opinion. I just think it’s a bit silly to say they don’t fit well for a Forerunner entity when they’re not exactly something the Forerunners created intentionally. (as far as is known anyway, I’m purely going off of what Halo 4 presented us.)
I completely disagree with the direction they went with, but I suppose I can see the angle you are coming from with the artistic direction being inspired by accidental monsters. My problem with Promethean design is more that they flung far too deep into comically distorted; The awkward hunchbacks of the Knights combined with tiny little arms just doesn’t do the build of what they were in, say, Halo 5, justice. Watchers are just… Stupid looking overall. And Crawlers just look annoying, nevermind actually fighting them.
As it stands, however, Cortana seems to be wanting to turn the Prometheans into an effective fighting force, and frankly, a role/redesign would be called for even if it never fit the original goal of what the Prometheans were at one point. The “Peace through superior firepower” route tends to lend itself a more professional and less bestial appearance than the horde of organic and spindly looking Prometheans we have now.
> 2533274881560701;12:
> Promethean Watcher:
> - Remove the little monster baby face, replace it with a single glowing eye like the Monitor. - Remove the little knobby feet and excessive protrusions that serve no purpose.Promethean Soldier:
> - Make the chest and helmet a little more sleek with less emphasis on floaty bits. - Have the helmet be smooth with something like a single large glowing slit where the eyes are. Reduce the embellishments on high ranking officer helms.Promethean Crawler:
> - I can’t really think what else to do with them because I really just feel like they need an overhaul. For a war construct, a dog-thing doesn’t feel very…advanced imo. I don’t know how to retain the dog-form yet make it better.Promethean Knights:
> - Again, less floaty bits. - Redesign their outer helmet. The lore around them justifies their inner skull face (in my opinion) but the outer helmet should feel more forerunner-ish instead of a snarling robo-face.
I wouldnt replace the Soldier’s face like that. It removes their human-like construction. Knights have their inner skull face, so keeping the soldier’s head is paralleling or adding symmetry with them.
They need to be invisible and underground for the entirety of the game if you catch my drift.
> 2535462145233570;16:
> > 2533274879757912;15:
> > So when I think of that, I think of misshapen, clunky looking monsters that looked like they would be from the future. Which again, I think was executed rather well with the designs we were given.
> >
> > Perhaps it is just me who feels this way, I’m not going to say you’re wrong, it’s your opinion. I just think it’s a bit silly to say they don’t fit well for a Forerunner entity when they’re not exactly something the Forerunners created intentionally. (as far as is known anyway, I’m purely going off of what Halo 4 presented us.)
>
> I completely disagree with the direction they went with, but I suppose I can see the angle you are coming from with the artistic direction being inspired by accidental monsters. My problem with Promethean design is more that they flung far too deep into comically distorted; The awkward hunchbacks of the Knights combined with tiny little arms just doesn’t do the build of what they were in, say, Halo 5, justice. Watchers are just… Stupid looking overall. And Crawlers just look annoying, nevermind actually fighting them.
>
> As it stands, however, Cortana seems to be wanting to turn the Prometheans into an effective fighting force, and frankly, a role/redesign would be called for even if it never fit the original goal of what the Prometheans were at one point. The “Peace through superior firepower” route tends to lend itself a more professional and less bestial appearance than the horde of organic and spindly looking Prometheans we have now.
Yeah, we weren’t able to see much of what Cortana envisions her army to look like in her ‘Utopian’ Galaxy because she may have had control over the Domain on Genesis, but she only just got a physical form and was most likely trapped in the Domain until we reached her while she got her new form.
But yes, the hunch backs, the tiny arms, the whole thing was more to point to the fact they never fully worked out the whole issue with the Composer. We expected more ‘professional’ looks in appearance when it came to the army of the Forerunners.
None of the forerunner stuff looks like the original forerunner style. But then again even the elites seem to have spent to much time I the reactor room.
