Would Infinite benefit from a Codex/Timeline?

Community Halo Universe
1

As a fan of Mass Effect, I always appreciated the codex that allowed you to learn more about aspects of the game universe. I was pleased when CE Anniversary had a similar function, though it was wrapped up in a Kinect gimmick and ultimately ditched when the game came to MCC.

Then I saw the Timeline that Destiny added to the Directory, and liked it as a concept, but felt that there could be more to it, lore wise.
It gave me an idea for a mix of the two which would serve a place for players to ‘dip their toes’ into the expanded universe, and for us lore fans to see the wider EU get some acknowledgment in the games.

Imagine from the campaign main menu you select the Timeline, which takes you to a pleasing UI interface with a timeline broken into say 6 segments;

  • The Forerunner Era (unknown-100,000 BC)
  • Post Activation (100,000 BC - 2525)
  • Human Covenant War (2525 - 2552)
  • The Halo Event (2552 - 2553)
  • Post War Tensions (2553 - 2558)
  • The Created Empire (2558 - unknown)

Clicking on one would take you to an expanded look at that era of history, with key events dated along the line for you to scroll through. Each would have a brief description of the event that took place, but also as a footnote, with would tell you what book or comic you can read where the events are expanded upon.
But to go a step further, each one would have a brief voiceover by an in universe character.

For instance, inside the Post Activation section, there could be an point labeled John’s Conscription. It would tell you that he was abducted and replaced with a defective clone when he was 6, after a visit from Haley as a candidate for the Spartan 2 programme, and would be taken to Reach to begin training.
Bellow would be a note saying that this event can be found in the Fall of Reach novel, and maybe a little image of the cover art.
Over the top would be the voice of Halsey, giving a little more information on the selection process, and what drew her to John, and mentioning the coin game (maybe 40-60 seconds long).
Perhaps the voice overs could be unlocked by finding terminals or data pads on the campaign map?

Given there’s so much media outside the games, there would be a lot to cover, but it’s something that could be updated over time with new entries.

I think it would be nice to have something that allows us to see all the EU listed somewhere that isn’t on a 3rd part website, but also serves as a neat timeline of events, given were now in a 20 year franchise.

2

Are you talking about something in-game? Got the Mass Effect collection but haven’t played yet. Maybe if they gave CIA931 access to build out a library on the site that would be cool.

3

> 2533274832674094;2:
> Are you talking about something in-game? Got the Mass Effect collection but haven’t played yet. Maybe if they gave CIA931 access to build out a library on the site that would be cool.

Ideally yeah. Obviously the same thing could be pulled off for the Waypoint website, but I think it would be nicer in the games menu.

4

I believe there’s an even better option.
That would be a scan visor, just like Metroid prime. In every Halo game, we’ve always had AI companions with us in some capacity, and a scanner would be a perfect way to utilize that. You could scan weapons, enemies, and other stuff, and your AI (The Weapon/Cor2na) would give you a written logbook entry on what she thinks it is.
I think it would be an excellent way to characterize The Weapon or any other AI, just by the way they describe things and think.
It would also be an excellent mechanic for teaching new players things that Halo veterans should know, like quirks of each weapon and secondary uses for them. All the while improving the world building and environmental storytelling.

5

A codex type system would be very interesting and add a level of consistency to some outstanding questions. If I recall correctly, Infinite is supposed to have a sort of open-world format. Adding additional detail would be really cool and add depth. Even something like the audio logs would add some atmosphere besides what we are experiencing in game. Since this is feels like the wrap up for Chief’s mainline story, maybe they could focus on the aspects of his life outside of the gameplay. Similar to ODST’s final audio log section, what if we could find a hidden section or significant cutscene about Chief? I always like seeing the lore details on characters in which we are invested.

6

> 2533274925008371;4:
> I believe there’s an even better option.
> That would be a scan visor, just like Metroid prime. In every Halo game, we’ve always had AI companions with us in some capacity, and a scanner would be a perfect way to utilize that. You could scan weapons, enemies, and other stuff, and your AI (The Weapon/Cor2na) would give you a written logbook entry on what she thinks it is.
> I think it would be an excellent way to characterize The Weapon or any other AI, just by the way they describe things and think.
> It would also be an excellent mechanic for teaching new players things that Halo veterans should know, like quirks of each weapon and secondary uses for them. All the while improving the world building and environmental storytelling.

They already implemented this mechanic in Halo 4, unfortunately it was only available to the Kinect master race.

7

> 2533274849782428;6:
> > 2533274925008371;4:
> > I believe there’s an even better option.
> > That would be a scan visor, just like Metroid prime. In every Halo game, we’ve always had AI companions with us in some capacity, and a scanner would be a perfect way to utilize that. You could scan weapons, enemies, and other stuff, and your AI (The Weapon/Cor2na) would give you a written logbook entry on what she thinks it is.
> > I think it would be an excellent way to characterize The Weapon or any other AI, just by the way they describe things and think.
> > It would also be an excellent mechanic for teaching new players things that Halo veterans should know, like quirks of each weapon and secondary uses for them. All the while improving the world building and environmental storytelling.
>
> They already implemented this mechanic in Halo 4, unfortunately it was only available to the Kinect master race.

Hold up, what? I’m googling this, and I can’t find anybody talking about kinect compatibility. I think you may be thinking about Halo Anniversary, which I found has a scan feature.
I didn’t know that game had any kinect features, and they seem really weird; letting you change your settings, pause, throw grenades, and reload with your voice. Crazy to remember all the hype about voice controlled nonsense back in the day.
The scan though, looks kinda interesting. Thing is though, it appears to pretty much only give you a tidbit of lore and fun facts, and you can only read it on the main menu. It’s definitely not bad, but also not really something I see many people using either (Why the heck was this kinect locked, anyway?). I would definitely love something of the sort to come back, but greatly improved; being accessible on the pause screen, giving you more useful info, and ideally stuff like I mentioned in my previous post.

9

> 2533274810945725;1:
> As a fan of Mass Effect, I always appreciated the codex that allowed you to learn more about aspects of the game universe. I was pleased when CE Anniversary had a similar function, though it was wrapped up in a Kinect gimmick and ultimately ditched when the game came to MCC.
>
> Then I saw the Timeline that Destiny added to the Directory, and liked it as a concept, but felt that there could be more to it, lore wise.
> It gave me an idea for a mix of the two which would serve a place for players to ‘dip their toes’ into the expanded universe, and for us lore fans to see the wider EU get some acknowledgment in the games.
>
> Imagine from the campaign main menu you select the Timeline, which takes you to a pleasing UI interface with a timeline broken into say 6 segments;
> - The Forerunner Era (unknown-100,000 BC)
> - Post Activation (100,000 BC - 2525)
> - Human Covenant War (2525 - 2552)
> - The Halo Event (2552 - 2553)
> - Post War Tensions (2553 - 2558)
> - The Created Empire (2558 - unknown)
>
> Clicking on one would take you to an expanded look at that era of history, with key events dated along the line for you to scroll through. Each would have a brief description of the event that took place, but also as a footnote, with would tell you what book or comic you can read where the events are expanded upon.
> But to go a step further, each one would have a brief voiceover by an in universe character.
> For instance, inside the Post Activation section, there could be an point labeled John’s Conscription. It would tell you that he was abducted and replaced with a defective clone when he was 6, after a visit from Haley as a candidate for the Spartan 2 programme, and would be taken to Reach to begin training.
> Bellow would be a note saying that this event can be found in the Fall of Reach novel, and maybe a little image of the cover art.
> Over the top would be the voice of Halsey, giving a little more information on the selection process, and what drew her to John, and mentioning the coin game (maybe 40-60 seconds long).
> Perhaps the voice overs could be unlocked by finding terminals or data pads on the campaign map?
>
> Given there’s so much media outside the games, there would be a lot to cover, but it’s something that could be updated over time with new entries.
>
> I think it would be nice to have something that allows us to see all the EU listed somewhere that isn’t on a 3rd part website, but also serves as a neat timeline of events, given were now in a 20 year franchise.

This is a really good idea I think, especially considering that they want this game to be open to everyone including people who have no knowledge of any of Halo’s lore or in game history

10

> 2533274825120426;9:
> > 2533274810945725;1:
> > As a fan of Mass Effect, I always appreciated the codex that allowed you to learn more about aspects of the game universe. I was pleased when CE Anniversary had a similar function, though it was wrapped up in a Kinect gimmick and ultimately ditched when the game came to MCC.
> >
> > Then I saw the Timeline that Destiny added to the Directory, and liked it as a concept, but felt that there could be more to it, lore wise.
> > It gave me an idea for a mix of the two which would serve a place for players to ‘dip their toes’ into the expanded universe, and for us lore fans to see the wider EU get some acknowledgment in the games.
> >
> > Imagine from the campaign main menu you select the Timeline, which takes you to a pleasing UI interface with a timeline broken into say 6 segments;
> > - The Forerunner Era (unknown-100,000 BC)
> > - Post Activation (100,000 BC - 2525)
> > - Human Covenant War (2525 - 2552)
> > - The Halo Event (2552 - 2553)
> > - Post War Tensions (2553 - 2558)
> > - The Created Empire (2558 - unknown)
> >
> > Clicking on one would take you to an expanded look at that era of history, with key events dated along the line for you to scroll through. Each would have a brief description of the event that took place, but also as a footnote, with would tell you what book or comic you can read where the events are expanded upon.
> > But to go a step further, each one would have a brief voiceover by an in universe character.
> > For instance, inside the Post Activation section, there could be an point labeled John’s Conscription. It would tell you that he was abducted and replaced with a defective clone when he was 6, after a visit from Haley as a candidate for the Spartan 2 programme, and would be taken to Reach to begin training.
> > Bellow would be a note saying that this event can be found in the Fall of Reach novel, and maybe a little image of the cover art.
> > Over the top would be the voice of Halsey, giving a little more information on the selection process, and what drew her to John, and mentioning the coin game (maybe 40-60 seconds long).
> > Perhaps the voice overs could be unlocked by finding terminals or data pads on the campaign map?
> >
> > Given there’s so much media outside the games, there would be a lot to cover, but it’s something that could be updated over time with new entries.
> >
> > I think it would be nice to have something that allows us to see all the EU listed somewhere that isn’t on a 3rd part website, but also serves as a neat timeline of events, given were now in a 20 year franchise.
>
> This is a really good idea I think, especially considering that they want this game to be open to everyone including people who have no knowledge of any of Halo’s lore or in game history

That’s kind of what I was going for with the idea.
Infinite will be a jumping on point for a lot of new players, and there’s 20 years of stories that have led to this game. Having a timeline that roughly gives you an idea the scale of events that have taken place, and more importantly, context.

Most players are aware that the Elites got screwed over, and they flipped sides at the end of the war. But they probably aren’t aware that the Elites and the Prophets founded the Covenant almost 3500 years ago, themselves warring for almost 100 years before the Writ of Union was signed.
A Timeline that expands on major events would be really helpful and interesting.

11

So like in Halo wars 1 with a timeline of events.

12

They had a timeline that you could unlock pieces to in halo wars

13

> 2533274810945725;3:
> > 2533274832674094;2:
> > Are you talking about something in-game? Got the Mass Effect collection but haven’t played yet. Maybe if they gave CIA931 access to build out a library on the site that would be cool.
>
> Ideally yeah. Obviously the same thing could be pulled off for the Waypoint website, but I think it would be nicer in the games menu.

good idea

14

Yes! A codex would be awesome! I do think they will have once since I have seen screenshots, but honestly who knows now a days people are incredible lol

15

Something like the Halo Wars timeline? Yeah, it would be great. Mix that up with the codex in Mass Effect and I think it’s a wonderful idea.

16

This would be amazing. Alot of current Halo players are not well-versed in the Halo Universe and it’s intricacies, i’m sure there’s alot of people playing right now that still think Master Chief is a robot and his name is Halo…lmao

But it would really help people understand the game’s universe better without having to go back and read multiple novels, and especially any new players that either haven’t played in a long time or have never even heard of Halo. This would be a great opportunity to help new players ease into the universe at their own pace too. What’s a Wraith? What are those tall aliens with blue armor? What even is a Halo? Why is Master Chief special? There are more Halo rings? What’s a Forerunner? Why are the Spartans wearing armor, or are they just fancy robots? These are questions a new player or extremely clueless player might have, it’d be nice to have an in-game feature in the Academy that would answer these questions.