Throwing everything that made Halo away.

Games Other Halo
1

This post has been edited by a moderator. Please refrain from making non-constructive posts.

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

This is just me showing my opinion on Halo 4. Nothing more, nothing less.

I am talking solely about the Halo 4 singleplayer here. Don’t even get me started on the multiplayer.

Killing Cortana? Showing MC’s face? And this is the first Halo by 343? They have taken everything that made Halo great and thrown it out the window.
And even when I thought it couldn’t get worse.

“Thanks for trusting us with the universe you love-”

Screw you 343. Don’t try and fix what isn’t broken by making it worse. And especially don’t rub it in my face by forcing me to “trust” you with it.

Halo ended with 3.

2

I know it’s just opinion but:

Cortana had it basically coming from a long time, with the Rampancy and her life-span. They only showed Chief’s eyes, not too much to be impressed or stressed

3

I agree

4

> This is just me showing my opinion on Halo 4. Nothing more, nothing less.
>
> I am talking solely about the Halo 4 singleplayer here. Don’t even get me started on the multiplayer.
>
> Killing Cortana? Showing MC’s face? And this is the first Halo by 343? They have taken everything that made Halo great and thrown it out the window.
> And even when I thought it couldn’t get worse.
>
> “Thanks for trusting us with the universe you love-”
>
> Screw you 343. Don’t try and fix what isn’t broken by making it worse. And especially don’t rub it in my face by forcing me to “trust” you with it.
>
> Halo ended with 3.

Doing what they did allowed Halo to grow beyond the strict limitations Bungie put on it; with Bungie, the universe would never have evolved, nor would the characters. They killed Cortana because it was thematically relevant (and inevitable, because of Rampancy, an idea older than you think). It gave Chief the first true sense of defeat, proved to him that he can’t always win and save everyone. They showed his face as a way to visually depict his growth as a human, that he has come out of his shell and realized his humanity for the first time. Hence, showing his face.

Wanting Halo to stay stuck in its rut from a story perspectives is extremely childish. Only the best stories evolve and have their characters evolve with them. Yet between you and 343i, 343i seems to be the only one who recognizes this.

5

> Killing Cortana? Showing MC’s face? And this is the first Halo by 343? They have taken everything that made Halo great and thrown it out the window.

Because god forbid we have any sort of character drama. Had they kept Cortana around, I would have grown insanely annoyed with her. In fact, I think that having her cope with her own mortality was what kept her engaging and bearable in Halo 4, and from the beginning, I didn’t expect her to come out alive.

Though John’s face is only shown in the Legendary ending, it was a good move. Though nothing beyond his eyes should be shown, 343 did a great job in Halo 4 that there’s a pretty decent character inside all that armor.

I wasn’t aware that the Chief’s anonymity and the existence of Cortana were what made Halo great.

6

I think that the immersion level would have increased a 1000 fold if 343 didn’t make the terminals an optional objective, but rather included their information within the main storyline (and not going to an external source to view them.)

And if we were to speak in terms of a replayability perspective, I don’t see any. Lack of scoring and theater just being some of the reasons.

7

When I have to look for story using the pyramid scheme layout they set out for Halo 4 got on my nerves. (I don’t desire reading books, I desire games)
But when it comes to Cortana expiring I feel that a mistake was made. (More crazy ramblings in my head!)
Another thing about Halo 4 I disliked was making John more human. (I don’t want to feel guilt for ones and zeros)
Of course when it comes to characters I like to have a puppet that I can shape with my mind. (The imagination a human can have is stronger than you can think)
But of course some may not agree with my views, but that’s ok as they are allowed to have their own. (Keep on voicing your words)

8

> They only showed Chief’s eyes

Bungie had the franchise for a decade and NEVER showed ANY of Chief’s face. That was one of the points of mystery behind the Chief. I didn;t agree with 343 doing this.

9

> > They only showed Chief’s eyes
>
> Bungie had the franchise for a decade and NEVER showed ANY of Chief’s face. That was one of the points of mystery behind the Chief. I didn;t agree with 343 doing this.

So? Their story must advance at some point, or else their characters will remain plain.

Put some humanity on the machine and you have something to relate to. The Chief can’t just be the “Do this, do that” kind of guy forever, because he’s much more tan that. And that change starts with at least showing there is something beneath the walking tank.

10

The story was advancing, in case you hadn’t noticed. The dynamic between Chief and Cortana in Halo 4 is nothing like the first 3 games.

Chief went from being a war machine out to save the galaxy, to a man out to save his only real friend from “death”. I’d say that’s plenty of “humanity” and shows plenty beneath the “walking tank”.

Whats more is all that was accomplished without showing us his face, then for no reason whatsoever, BAMM your looking at Chief’s face, or “eyes” as some people like to point out.

Likewise I feel I must point out the blatantly obvious, that a persons eyes are easily the most important feature on a face when it comes to recognizing that person and so really its no better than if they had shown his whole face.

I mean really at the point they did it, it was nothing more than a slap in the face to his image and to the past trilogy, as well as ODST and Reach I might point out.

11

Not to be that guy but… halo 1-3 was about the war and not chief. halo 4-6 is supposed to be delving into who chief is as a person among other things.

And before you flip more bricks this is all in the books that were written before the games.

12

If you think Cortana is gone forever, I’d put money on her being brought back in Halo 5 or Halo 6.

Also if you want to get technical, they have described and shown chief’s face in the comic books.

13

> The story was advancing, in case you hadn’t noticed. The dynamic between Chief and Cortana in Halo 4 is nothing like the first 3 games.
>
> Chief went from being a war machine out to save the galaxy, to a man out to save his only real friend from “death”. I’d say that’s plenty of “humanity” and shows plenty beneath the “walking tank”.
>
> Whats more is all that was accomplished without showing us his face, then for no reason whatsoever, BAMM your looking at Chief’s face, or “eyes” as some people like to point out.
>
> Likewise I feel I must point out the blatantly obvious, that a persons eyes are easily the most important feature on a face when it comes to recognizing that person and so really its no better than if they had shown his whole face.
>
> I mean really at the point they did it, it was nothing more than a slap in the face to his image and to the past trilogy, as well as ODST and Reach I might point out.

That’s called visual symbolism. With the death of Cortana, and her lasting message of “promise me you’ll figure out which of us is the machine,” Chief is beginning to realize that he can no longer be the detached super soldier anymore. This is visually symbolized in the “detached stoic” literally coming out of his shell and revealing his humanity for the first time; there was no thematically better way to have ended this chapter in the story. The Chief can no longer, as a character, afford to be some warrior guardian of humanity. He can no longer be the guy who “walks among us, but is not one of us.” The trials and tribulations he’s faced, and surly the many more to come, will force him to realize exactly what it means to be human and a soldier; “soldiers aren’t machines, we’re just people.” Everything has lead up to this; refusing to show his face at this point is honestly stupid. It serves no purpose than to blindly cling to tradition, which inherently results in intellectual stagnation for a story with otherwise so much potential.

> When I have to look for story using the pyramid scheme layout they set out for Halo 4 got on my nerves. (I don’t desire reading books, I desire games)
>
> The essentials for understanding Halo 4’s plot are largely explained enough to get by without having to go to an outside source.
>
> But when it comes to Cortana expiring I feel that a mistake was made. (More crazy ramblings in my head!)
>
> Which is an inherent aspect of rampancy, and something even Bungie knew was inevitable.
>
> Another thing about Halo 4 I disliked was making John more human. (I don’t want to feel guilt for ones and zeros)
> Of course when it comes to characters I like to have a puppet that I can shape with my mind. (The imagination a human can have is stronger than you can think)
> But of course some may not agree with my views, but that’s ok as they are allowed to have their own. (Keep on voicing your words)

The last one bugs me. It’s good to have an opinion, but said opinion has to make sense, otherwise you don’t have an opinion, you have a logical fallacy. That’s what this is. “I don’t want to feel guilt for ones and zeros.” …What does that even mean? Yes, the Chief is composed of ones and zeros as he is a videogame character, and Harry Potter is composed of ink and imagination, and John Mclain is formed of witty writing and film. That the Chief being made of ones and zeros somehow negates the capacity to still feel for him is completely stupid; it’s a failure to understand the fundamental point of fiction: that none of these characters are real, but they feel like real people. By your logic, fiction itself is a waste of time as feeling for what essentially amounts to an idea doesn’t work for you. Why then do you even bother talking about fictional stories? How is the Chief any less of a valid character than any other fictional character in human history?

14

My money’s on Cortana doing a Pinocchio for the last installment, they seemed to go to lengths to drop hints.

15

> > This is just me showing my opinion on Halo 4. Nothing more, nothing less.
> >
> > I am talking solely about the Halo 4 singleplayer here. Don’t even get me started on the multiplayer.
> >
> > Killing Cortana? Showing MC’s face? And this is the first Halo by 343? They have taken everything that made Halo great and thrown it out the window.
> > And even when I thought it couldn’t get worse.
> >
> > “Thanks for trusting us with the universe you love-”
> >
> > Screw you 343. Don’t try and fix what isn’t broken by making it worse. And especially don’t rub it in my face by forcing me to “trust” you with it.
> >
> > Halo ended with 3.
>
> Doing what they did allowed Halo to grow beyond the strict limitations Bungie put on it; with Bungie, the universe would never have evolved, nor would the characters. They killed Cortana because it was thematically relevant (and inevitable, because of Rampancy, an idea older than you think). It gave Chief the first true sense of defeat, proved to him that he can’t always win and save everyone. They showed his face as a way to visually depict his growth as a human, that he has come out of his shell and realized his humanity for the first time. Hence, showing his face.
>
> Wanting Halo to stay stuck in its rut from a story perspectives is extremely childish. Only the best stories evolve and have their characters evolve with them. Yet between you and 343i, 343i seems to be the only one who recognizes this.

We understand that, but what he is trying to say is, Cortana is a main character. Its like killing clank in ratchet and clank series.

16

> If you think Cortana is gone forever, I’d put money on her being brought back in Halo 5 or Halo 6.
>
> Also if you want to get technical, they have described and shown chief’s face in the comic books.

Cortana cant come back, the librarian and requiem got destroyed in SPops.

17

The things people beg for before a game is released become the worst problems after it is released. Can you not keep your minds made up on what you want in Halo? Of course not. People complained Halo 3 was too much like Halo 2 then whine that 4 is too different and that they want another Halo 3. I’m really not getting how all of this is logical…

18

> Not to be that guy but… halo 1-3 was about the war and not chief. halo 4-6 is supposed to be delving into who chief is as a person among other things.
>
> And before you flip more bricks this is all in the books that were written before the games.

Bungie wrote the story for the games before any of the books came out to tarnish this universe. Get your facts straight.

19

While I agree that the story of the original Halo trilogy was vastly superior to Halo 4’s somewhat pathetic plot. You whacked your thumb with the hammer trying to explain why.

There are a number of reasons Halo 1-3’s plot was deeper, and more epic.

1: Humanity was in a struggle. In Halo 1-3, the Humans get slaughtered when the Covenant are around. They really make you feel like Master Chief is the only thing standing between Humanity and extinction.

2: You are the last of your kind, built for combat, bred for war. In Halo 1-3 you relished in the fact that you were unique. There were no other Spartans left to save humanity, and in that way you were both alone, and a hero. Now there’s an army of slap-stick Spartans at the UNSC’s disposal, and they don’t even take their enemies seriously.

3: The games were subtly epic. And that actually wound up making them MORE epic and less silly. In Halo 4, and pretty much every other fiction 343i has created for the Halo franchise, not only do regular humans never seem to have a problem with the Covenant. But Spartans are grossly more powerful than they were in the 2001-2007 era of Canon, to the point that they are apparently stunt-masters. Doing silly jumpflips, flying off of out of control vehicles “whoah cowboy!”, and seeming simply capable of too much. Every time Master Chief did something particularly epic in the original trilogy, they built a good reason why he had to do it, gave the player the impression that it was a huge risk, and when it worked, it seemed like there was a sense of great accomplishment around the action. Where in new Canon, the Spartans are basically invincible juggernauts and all the epic things they do are a cakewalk.

4: DETAIL DETAIL DETAIL. If there’s anything I’ve noticed about the environments, it’s that 343i got this very pretty graphics engine, and decided that the best use of that engine was flat matte gray/offwhite surfaces literally everywhere. Where is the lovely detail on Forerunner floors, walls, and other objects we saw in Halo CE Anniversary? How do the Covenant ships actually look graphically inferior to Halo 3, a game 5 years younger. And why did Halo somehow transform from a realistic take on the look of 2552, to a futuristic space cartoon? Artistic licence is one thing, franchise integrity is another.

20

> > Not to be that guy but… halo 1-3 was about the war and not chief. halo 4-6 is supposed to be delving into who chief is as a person among other things.
> >
> > And before you flip more bricks this is all in the books that were written before the games.
>
> Bungie wrote the story for the games before any of the books came out to tarnish this universe. Get your facts straight.

How absolutely fail this comment is. The plot for Halo CE and Fall of Reach were created at the exact same time, in fact the book Fall of Reach was released BEFORE Halo CE was. So the book with all the backstory on Master Chief was actually developed long before the plot to Halo 2 and 3.

However, this was back when Halo’s plot made sense, and wasn’t full of holes and contradictions.