I don’t want to go on too long about this topic. Elite aesthetics and playable elites are dead-horse topics in the community, but I guess I’m going to kick that corpse a couple more times.
Part of the reasons elites held so much appeal in Halo 2 that hasn’t really been recaptured since are their personalities. The way they emote and react in-character to things going on around them in the game world. The game made elites relatable, and that made playing as one feel even cooler. I think Halo 2 Anniversary’s “Blur Elites” express the character of elites very well in that their overall anatomy is sleek and nimble, while still being meaty and muscular. Their heads are small and their faces can express a wide array of emotions. You can clearly tell what an elite is feeling in the Halo 2 Anniversary cutscenes just by looking at their expressions. You can see the Arbiter furrow his brow or avert his gaze in shame, or widen his eyes in horror. This array of emotions cannot be expressed with the current elite phenotype depicted in Halo 4, 5, and 2A Multiplayer. The bulging eyes, oversized mandibles, chunky bodies, and bulky armor doesn’t allow elites to express themselves physically, and this is very important in a story-driven campaign. Dialogue is only as convincing as the animation will allow it to be. I hope, I really do hope, that 343 brings back the Halo 2 Anniversary campaign elite design…and since it was used in Fireteam Raven, well, let’s just say I have my dreams.
100% agree. The new Elites have never been able to capture the grace, personality, and lethality of the classic Elites. I believe the new design will be used as well. The feedback for the H2A Elites seems universally positive, HW2 used a very similar character model, and Fireteam Raven did as well (though I’ve yet to play it). Based on those statements and the fact that the demo showed classic marines and Chief with a touch of modern, I think it’s safe to say we’ll see a version of the H2A Elites in Infinite.
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> 100% agree. The new Elites have never been able to capture the grace, personality, and lethality of the classic Elites. I believe the new design will be used as well. The feedback for the H2A Elites seems universally positive, HW2 used a very similar character model, and Fireteam Raven did as well (though I’ve yet to play it). Based on those statements and the fact that the demo showed classic marines and Chief with a touch of modern, I think it’s safe to say we’ll see a version of the H2A Elites in Infinite.
I certainly hope so, dude. Aside from a few minor quibbles I have with their armor, their designs perfectly encapsulate the look and feel of what an Elite should represent.
I can say with almost certainty that we’ll get either the H2A elite design or the Halo Wars 2 design, both I think look amazing. 343 knows full well that one of the biggest problems with the new art style was the elites design and they knowhow much we loved h2a and halo wars 2 elites.
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> 100% agree. The new Elites have never been able to capture the grace, personality, and lethality of the classic Elites. I believe the new design will be used as well. The feedback for the H2A Elites seems universally positive, HW2 used a very similar character model, and Fireteam Raven did as well (though I’ve yet to play it). Based on those statements and the fact that the demo showed classic marines and Chief with a touch of modern, I think it’s safe to say we’ll see a version of the H2A Elites in Infinite.
I agree also, but I’d say I thought HW2’s Elites were the best mixture. They seem more modern while holding on to the classic designs.
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> That will happen, since classic art style is already coming back
To be fair…they’ve claimed it’ll be a “mix” of the styles. Which for the love of God I hope doesn’t mean 343 elites with classic-y armor (a la H2A Multiplayer). Needs to be the blur design.
I see the classic design returning and the H4/5 design being removed from the games and put into the EU and be used there only or being made non-canon. So either way the classic design elites will probably return and the new design will be gone.
As important as the body type is the sleek and imposing armors with bright colors. Though I remember that halo 2A elites had weird small feet so I hope that doesn’t return.
And I would like them to bring back the bright colorfulness of their armor colors.
When talking about the development of Halo: CE, an artist (I can’t remember who) said Jason Jones kept pushing for more color and brightness in the Elites until it “looked like you were fighting a rainbow.” The artist thought it looked stupid but to his surprise, Jason was right and the Elites were more fun to fight.
You could easily tell what rank each one was by their color. You might take on a few Elite minors without a second thought, but seeing a gold Zealot meant you were in a for a fight.
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> I agree.
>
> And I would like them to bring back the bright colorfulness of their armor colors.
>
> When talking about the development of Halo: CE, an artist (I can’t remember who) said Jason Jones kept pushing for more color and brightness in the Elites until it “looked like you were fighting a rainbow.” The artist thought it looked stupid but to his surprise, Jason was right and the Elites were more fun to fight.
>
> You could easily tell what rank each one was by their color. You might take on a few Elite minors without a second thought, but seeing a gold Zealot meant you were in a for a fight.
If you actually notice the elite armor edits in halo 5 you can see 343i tried to make the elites more colorful compared to halo 4 dark color elite armors. But since a majority of fans hate the H4/5 elites those edits to halo 5 elite armors probably got overlooked.
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> As important as the body type is the sleek and imposing armors with bright colors. Though I remember that halo 2A elites had weird small feet so I hope that doesn’t return.
Tbf the elites had smaller feet in previous games, but I get your point.
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> > 2533274815711361;11:
> > I agree.
> >
> > And I would like them to bring back the bright colorfulness of their armor colors.
> >
> > When talking about the development of Halo: CE, an artist (I can’t remember who) said Jason Jones kept pushing for more color and brightness in the Elites until it “looked like you were fighting a rainbow.” The artist thought it looked stupid but to his surprise, Jason was right and the Elites were more fun to fight.
> >
> > You could easily tell what rank each one was by their color. You might take on a few Elite minors without a second thought, but seeing a gold Zealot meant you were in a for a fight.
>
> If you actually notice the elite armor edits in halo 5 you can see 343i tried to make the elites more colorful compared to halo 4 dark color elite armors. But since a majority of fans hate the H4/5 elites those edits to halo 5 elite armors probably got overlooked.
I noticed but I feel like they didn’t go far enough. Probably because it wouldn’t have fit to their art style. That’s why I think they need to change their art style.
I get why the Elites in 4/5 are different from the Bungie games but that doesn’t mean I have to like them. If they’re changing the art style in H6 just for the hell of it, I hope the Elites are part of that.
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> > I want both types of them in game. It’d be cool to see them together in my opinion. More species diversity isn’t a bad thing.
>
> Resource management, lad.
It could still happen (though unlikely as it is). You never know.
In my opinion, the classic CE-Halo 3 elites just looked more intimidating, bad-a**, and more true to their culture of a regimented warrior society. Their designs were shown to be militaristic and even their actual bodies looked alien, where Halo 4 makes them look like space lizards. The combat harness covered their body, had a body glove similar to spartans, and just matched the general sci-fi aesthetic Halo was going for more. The covenant designs were sleek and uniform and the elites armor reflected that they were the prime military arm.
I remember being genuinely creeped out when the Arbiter first turns around in one of the first cutscenes from halo wars. If I saw that guy coming at me forget it.
Then you see Jul M’dama who honestly just looks like a space lizard and I just feel…meh. i get that we’re dealing with a splinter group, but even the arbiter’s design in Halo 5 was lackluster.
I’m hopeful for the return to the old art style, but I’m still reticent given 343’s track record.