So I just watched the new gears of war trailer and low and behold the new badguy in gears of war is…wait for it, robots woohoo how creative. In a universe that was dark, and gritty and complex in that all of the characters were diverse and had motives, the best they could come up with was prometheans, I mean robots, even down to the watchers in the sky. I may be a sick and twisted individual but when I take a life in the halo campaigns or I read a book I truly imagine that I’ve murdered a sentient being hellbent on the destruction of mankind, this alien has lived a meaningful life an truly believes in what they are doing for the betterment of their species, or in the case of the grunts they just want to live one more day. The covenant were very interesting, and it wasn’t just because of their game play mechanics. They had a history and like the human you are, they bleed sweat and feel fear just like you do. When I kill a promethean soldier, It doesn’t have the same impact, they are just machines, bits of metal ran by an rudimentary AI, which is directed by a one dimensional bad guy in most cases unless you read extended fiction. Why are all these game developers moving towards robots as bad guys they are boring and have zero personality, hence robots. I’m tired of these walking bullet sponges that go pew pew pew teleport pew pew die.
Is it to conserve rag doll physics? Is it to keep the ratings low, because there is no blood and gore? Is it because writers are getting lazy?
Promethean Soldiers are boring, they look and resemble Humans too much, to the point that they can drive vehicles and use UNSC weapons like us. They don’t even feel like Forerunner creations.
I think 343 have put themselves in a bad place with the reclaimer saga. forerunners, a part of the Halo story, they are stuck with telling this story. They HAVE to include the Promethians because of the reclaimer saga.
It’s weird for me to think that there is a zombie element to Promethean’s. The souls or whatever.
The robots in gears literally look like a security force for a specific area which most likely get turned off. They are the same design of the mechs you see the characters getting in so saying they are the new baddy makes no sense at all.
Any way the AI within each knight (and soldier I believe) are humans who have been digitized and basically enslaved into fighting, killing a knight is basically killing another individual, I think thats pretty dark.
I never understood the bullet sponge complaint because that is every single enemy you have ever faced in a shooter. Elites go pew pew, jump, pew pew. Grunts go pew pew, run, pew pew. They all go pew pew until you put enough rounds into them until they die. They are all bullet sponges (not to the extent of the division of course)
Ya their personality is bland, but the only enemy that doesn’t really have a bland personality in halo are grunts and thats just because they are comedic relief.
Im ignoring the walk through parts of H5 cause thats not really gameplay, more of an interactive cutscene which is the only time there is really any personality given to any enemy.
Their design is simple and relatively uninteresting, I will agree with you on that.
I think humanizing the Prometheans would go a long way towards making them interesting, they are essentially humans re purposed for war. Could you imagine finding a artifact that made them regain all of their memories, only for them to realize they aren’t even human anymore, that would be so heart breaking. Then watch them selflessly fight alongside humanity against the flood! sacrificing themselves, and then you as a player finally find wherever their consciousness is being stored and destroy it, freeing the trapped humans.
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> The robots in gears literally look like a security force for a specific area which most likely get turned off. They are the same design of the mechs you see the characters getting in so saying they are the new baddy makes no sense at all.
>
> Any way the AI within each knight (and soldier I believe) are humans who have been digitized and basically enslaved into fighting, killing a knight is basically killing another individual, I think thats pretty dark.
> I never understood the bullet sponge complaint because that is every single enemy you have ever faced in a shooter. Elites go pew pew, jump, pew pew. Grunts go pew pew, run, pew pew. They all go pew pew until you put enough rounds into them until they die. They are all bullet sponges (not to the extent of the division of course)
>
> Ya their personality is bland, but the only enemy that doesn’t really have a bland personality in halo are grunts and thats just because they are comedic relief.
>
> Im ignoring the walk through parts of H5 cause thats not really gameplay, more of an interactive cutscene which is the only time there is really any personality given to any enemy.
>
> Their design is simple and relatively uninteresting, I will agree with you on that.
I think the best definition of a bullet sponge I can think of is an enemy that doesn’t react to taking fire. If I hit an enemy in the head it should do bonus damage, and on top of that the enemy should react to a shot in the head, an covenant soldier either takes the hit with shields and his head fly’s back and if he has no shields, he dies instantly. machines just shrug it off without reacting, in fact most of the time they don’t even seek cover, where elites will dodge fire and fight around obstacles. I used to criticize gears of war for their boring enemies, how is it possible to take an entire magazine of 5.56 rounds to the face and shrug it off especially when they aren’t wearing armor. Halo 5 went the distance with trying to make promethean soldiers interesting to fight, unfortunately, a backstory that say’s they used to be humans isn’t enough, it’s sad but that story line hasn’t impacted gameplay in an interesting or meaningful way.
> 2533274809822501;1:
> So I just watched the new gears of war trailer and low and behold the new badguy in gears of war is…wait for it, robots woohoo how creative. In a universe that was dark, and gritty and complex in that all of the characters were diverse and had motives, the best they could come up with was prometheans, I mean robots, even down to the watchers in the sky. I may be a sick and twisted individual but when I take a life in the halo campaigns or I read a book I truly imagine that I’ve murdered a sentient being hellbent on the destruction of mankind, this alien has lived a meaningful life an truly believes in what they are doing for the betterment of their species, or in the case of the grunts they just want to live one more day. The covenant were very interesting, and it wasn’t just because of their game play mechanics. They had a history and like the human you are, they bleed sweat and feel fear just like you do. When I kill a promethean soldier, It doesn’t have the same impact, they are just machines, bits of metal ran by an rudimentary AI, which is directed by a one dimensional bad guy in most cases unless you read extended fiction. Why are all these game developers moving towards robots as bad guys they are boring and have zero personality, hence robots. I’m tired of these walking bullet sponges that go pew pew pew teleport pew pew die.
Because they are lazy and don’t want to/can’t flesh out anything interesting in characters any more.
In the case of the Promethean Knights they were once Forunners and other humans so you are killing someone but they have to include them, they are a big part now so like them or not there’s not a way to “humanize” them specially the Soldiers since they are actually robots and they look lame because they are supposed to be archaic by Forerunner standards unlike the Knights.
> 2533274845430275;10:
> In the case of the Promethean Knights they were once Forunners and other humans so you are killing someone but they have to include them, they are a big part now so like them or not there’s not a way to “humanize” them specially the Soldiers since they are actually robots and they look lame because they are supposed to be archaic by Forerunner standards unlike the Knights.
I know that they used to be human, that’s not the point. The point is that the average promethean has no thoughts nor feelings, they are just a tool to be used. tools are boring. My favorite halo moment is the covenant civil war in halo 2, the plot was so thick and juicy and it was amazing to watch all of this political strife and to see the covenant tear itself apart it was amazing. Whereas the prometheans do what prometheans do because of reasons. That’s it! thats all there is to it.
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> > 2533274845430275;10:
> > In the case of the Promethean Knights they were once Forunners and other humans so you are killing someone but they have to include them, they are a big part now so like them or not there’s not a way to “humanize” them specially the Soldiers since they are actually robots and they look lame because they are supposed to be archaic by Forerunner standards unlike the Knights.
>
>
> I know that they used to be human, that’s not the point. The point is that the average promethean has no thoughts nor feelings, they are just a tool to be used. tools are boring. My favorite halo moment is the covenant civil war in halo 2, the plot was so thick and juicy and it was amazing to watch all of this political strife and to see the covenant tear itself apart it was amazing. Whereas the prometheans do what prometheans do because of reasons. That’s it! thats all there is to it.
confused, tell me when an enemy besides a grunt really had any thoughts or feelings. Every once in awhile an elite would say you killed someone but I have also heard that from a soldier.
Im not considering any of the found intel or cutscenes as an example because those are not apart of gameplay
It makes some bit of logic for them to be robotic since their enemy who they should be treating all their foes as should is the flood.
They shouldnt even recognize the covenant or the unsc as “armored ones” We should all be treated as though we’re flood forms.
It would have brought a bit of life to the prometheans if they had anti flood mechanics that would seem bizzare and out of place but make 100% sense to use against the flood.
The knights are just a waste. Why introduce a “captured soul” zombie element to them if that has 0 presence in them?
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> > 2533274809822501;11:
> > > 2533274845430275;10:
> > > In the case of the Promethean Knights they were once Forunners and other humans so you are killing someone but they have to include them, they are a big part now so like them or not there’s not a way to “humanize” them specially the Soldiers since they are actually robots and they look lame because they are supposed to be archaic by Forerunner standards unlike the Knights.
> >
> >
> > I know that they used to be human, that’s not the point. The point is that the average promethean has no thoughts nor feelings, they are just a tool to be used. tools are boring. My favorite halo moment is the covenant civil war in halo 2, the plot was so thick and juicy and it was amazing to watch all of this political strife and to see the covenant tear itself apart it was amazing. Whereas the prometheans do what prometheans do because of reasons. That’s it! thats all there is to it.
>
>
> confused, tell me when an enemy besides a grunt really had any thoughts or feelings. Every once in awhile an elite would say you killed someone but I have also heard that from a soldier.
>
> Im not considering any of the found intel or cutscenes as an example because those are not apart of gameplay
Obviously we are fighting against Programs instead of paid actors so it’s kinda hard to give them personality from a game play standpoint, halo 1 does a great job of explaining how close humanity is to extermination, and the elites and covenant as a whole are painting as a war mongering yet religious group of people, the elites are not supposed to be charming or funny, they are a proud and noble race of warriors hellbent on waging war with the enemy, and even inspire the grunts to face impossible odds, only when they die do the grunts flee from battle, the jackals are ferocious birdlike predators who are very agile and great marksman who’s allegiance is not earned but bought. The grunts are a cowardly race, but when pushed to the edge, almost destroyed the covenant single handedly until brought to heel by a noble and ruthless arbiter. The brutes are an ambitious race of primates who want nothing more than to almost literally be on top of the food chain. Their ambition is only exceeded by their ruthlessness in combat, and eventually it was their ambition that lead to the downfall of the covenant. The history behind these various races is beautifully written, and even the history behind the prometheans is neat, but at the end of the day they are just robots, almost no different than fighting an army of sentinels. They have no directive other than to serve, and that’s it.
What seems to be the case is that game designers are having a hard time thinking of new and interesting sub plots and enemy types and just go… BLAM! it and somehow write robots into the mix. I understand that they explain it and it kinda sorta makes sense. But from what we know, promethean soldiers as we know them were only used by the diadect against the flood, (which didn’t go very well for him I might add) and not used by the Guardians who policed worlds, so why are there so gosh darn many of them?
> 2533274809822501;11:
> > 2533274845430275;10:
> > In the case of the Promethean Knights they were once Forunners and other humans so you are killing someone but they have to include them, they are a big part now so like them or not there’s not a way to “humanize” them specially the Soldiers since they are actually robots and they look lame because they are supposed to be archaic by Forerunner standards unlike the Knights.
>
>
> I know that they used to be human, that’s not the point. The point is that the average promethean has no thoughts nor feelings, they are just a tool to be used. tools are boring. My favorite halo moment is the covenant civil war in halo 2, the plot was so thick and juicy and it was amazing to watch all of this political strife and to see the covenant tear itself apart it was amazing. Whereas the prometheans do what prometheans do because of reasons. That’s it! thats all there is to it.
I see no way to naje them more than tools, after the defeat of the Covenant there really aren’t any other enemies out there. What do you suggest they do?
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> > 2533274809822501;11:
> > > 2533274845430275;10:
> > > In the case of the Promethean Knights they were once Forunners and other humans so you are killing someone but they have to include them, they are a big part now so like them or not there’s not a way to “humanize” them specially the Soldiers since they are actually robots and they look lame because they are supposed to be archaic by Forerunner standards unlike the Knights.
> >
> >
> > I know that they used to be human, that’s not the point. The point is that the average promethean has no thoughts nor feelings, they are just a tool to be used. tools are boring. My favorite halo moment is the covenant civil war in halo 2, the plot was so thick and juicy and it was amazing to watch all of this political strife and to see the covenant tear itself apart it was amazing. Whereas the prometheans do what prometheans do because of reasons. That’s it! thats all there is to it.
>
>
> I see no way to naje them more than tools, after the defeat of the Covenant there really aren’t any other enemies out there. What do you suggest they do?
Progress for the sake of progress is kinda lame, That’s how media is ruined. I’ve stopped watching alot of shows because they just keep it going without end and actually end up bittering the intellectual property. People get paid good money to make these decisions, and are entrusted with these storys. They are meant to care for them and build upon them in an interesting manner. I’m very interested in what they are doing with the halo wars storyline with Atriox, and the Banished, and honestly hunt the truth was amazing and really started to show just how horrible and corrupt the UNSC ONI was. I honestly think Locke should have been given his own game and created a separate series of games outside of the traditional games. Then brought those characters back into main line halo when we actually care about them. Human on human conflict may seem taboo for a halo game, but locke is an assassin, he is no hero which would have made the “hunt the chief” thing so very interesting. Locke only cares about getting the mission done at any cost, and isn’t above sacrificing lives to do it, whereas chief will do everything he can to save even one life. There is so much they can do with these story lines it drives me insane.
I’m already tired of Prometheans. Give me Brutes or the Flood. Just something else, please.
They really aren’t fun to fight, but honestly I’m more disappointed that the fact the Knights are composed humans tragically converted to AIs and forced to be war machines was not a concern expressed at all by anybody, even Cortana, in Halo 5. It’s sad to see that narrative flushed away.
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> They really aren’t fun to fight, but honestly I’m more disappointed that the fact the Knights are composed humans tragically converted to AIs and forced to be war machines was not a concern expressed at all by anybody, even Cortana, in Halo 5. It’s sad to see that narrative flushed away.
I think the worst thing a game developer can do is throw a bunch of bad guys at you just to watch you senselessly murder them without giving it a second thought, It should be painful knowing full well that these tortured spirits are basically slaves, and for all we know they are conscious? how is that any different from the flood parasite? That’s horrible? and nobody cares. At the moment, Cortana an AI who’s one prime directive is to destroy the covenant at all costs and to serve the advancement of the human race, is using human slave robots to do her bidding. I really wish they told us why she is the way she is. Halo 2 answered so many of our questions. The first game should ask questions, the second game should answer questions, and the third game should conclude the story and tie up lose ends.