Maybe this is a Mandella effect thing, but I could have sworn back on the original Xbox that the Spec Ops Commander in Halo 2 held his energy sword in his left hand. I remember thinking he was unique for it and even noticed his left-handedness before noticing his maimed mandibles. Now when I load Halo 2 up via the Master Chief Collection, his sword is in his right hand.
My question is, is this an MCC / Halo 2 PC issue, or did I imagine him being left-handed?
Anyone else have any other similar things you could have sworn was different in the original game?
No, you’re not wrong. On OG Halo 2 on the Xbox, R’tas definitely wielded his energy sword in his left hand. At least he did in the cinematic before the gondola part of Quarantine Zone. You can still see it if you watch the scene in classic graphics.
Nah, he was left-handed. I believe this issue and the one where Elites can’t dual wield are tied to one another. 343i has said they will address it in the future, but it’s not that easy to fix so it will take some time.
I decided to look into some YouTube videos from before the release of MCC to verify, as I had always thought he was right-handed in gameplay. Sure enough, as shown in this play-through of Sacred Icon, he was right-handed in the original, at least as far as gameplay encounters go.
However, from this cutscene in Quarantine Zone, we can see him using his left hand to wield his sword. It is likely that Bungie made him left-handed in at least some of the cinematics, but used the right-handed animations for him in gameplay (to avoid having to remake them all for a left-handed Elite).