Okay, so we’ve established that the Spartan Ops dialogue is pretty corny. Palmer reuses terms (ex: egghead) way too much, and Miller has 3-4 bland lines that are re-used almost every mission (“Lots of activity in your area Crimson, be ready for anything!”).
What really bugged me about it all was the glibness displayed by the Infinity commanders during SpOps missions. I mean, here’s Fireteam Crimson, on a 100,000 year old artificially constructed planet, surrounded by super advanced killing androids and drooling alien religious fanatics with tanks and dropships and the occasional starship all trying to kill them, and they’re fighting for their lives against odds that are almost impossible, even for Spartans…
…and meanwhile Miller and Roland are doing the equivalent of a broadway tap show with straw hats and canes on the commmunication frequency, and Palmer drops in occasionally to deliver a witty insult or one-liner. I can’t count how many times I’ve listened to them babble on and thought, “Wow, glad they’re having a good time up there” as I get shot in the face. Where’s the serious military-esque mission related chatter you find in games like CoD? We are supposed to be soldiers, after all…
I highly prefer Halo’s mechanics and gameplay to CoD or GoW, but I still play the other two series, mostly because they can pull off a more gritty and intense environment and feel. SpOps feels much more plastic and corny in comparison. They managed a much more serious tone in the campaign (and have in most of them). That’s what I liked about Reach - the feel was more military-like and grounded, as opposed to being a fakey sci-fi opera with no connection to reality at all.
I know they said Halo 5 was going to be much darker. I hope that will bring some of what I’m looking for here.
Sgt. Johnson needs to come back from the dead a second time to teach them how to be real soldiers. The Spartan IV’s we saw in SpOps were full of themselves, wisecracking, and other than Thorne don’t act like Spartans.
I really hope 343 addresses this in Season 2 or Halo 5, whichever comes first.
Thank you! I was starting to think I was the only one who found SpOps to be completely corny and juvenile. I’m really hoping that these characters never make their way into the main campaign. Or anymore SpOps in future Halo games for that matter, they just really make Halo look like it was designed for children, imo.
I agree with the wise-cracking Spartans, however it is quite overused. It was funny hearing the marine say “Come at me bro!” the first time on Ep. 1 Ch. 1, but every other time after that was just old. However, it is nice to try and trigger rare dialogue, such as the one time I heard a Spartan-IV in Spartan Ops say “Let’s finish this fight!”.
You know, if their is one character I rather hear more from, its Roland. he actually made some missions quite exciting.
Millar - Put me to sleep
Dalton - just plain annoying with “i can arrange that, Commander”
Palmer - Oh, i cannot stand her and her use of “eggheads, hingeheads, etc.”
I found the communications to be very sub-par as well.
When you say things like “Bad guys” instead of “hostiles”, “contacts”, “enemy forces” etc, it detracts from the experience for me.
Palmer was way too full of herself in the first half of SpOps, but I feel 343i toned her down to a bearable level post second half.
Dalton was alright for me. He could seem to be on repeat with quotes such as “You got it” or “I can arrange that”. Changing up the dialogue a bit helps things not feel so stale and redundant.
I see no error with Roland. In fact, I see him as a comic relief. I enjoy his sarcastic remarks, and don’t feel him to be a drain.
What would I like? If the novel’s dialogue could be integrated. While I understand that they mostly communicated via light flashes or hand signals, when they did speak, it wasn’t “Hey, there’s bad guys ahead.”
Roland is great and Dalton isn’t much of a presence for me to really comment, he never says something as frustrating as eggheads at least.
Palmer is the bane of my existence. Her, and I know this is somewhat of an oxymoron, bored enthusiasm is horrible to listen to. “give crimson some new toys, oh you like blowin stuff up lol, crimson eggheads nice work on explosions, I dual wield.”
Not a very sophisticated way of doing it, but it reflects the character I hate so very much.