It’s been quite some time since I have hosted a guest article; nine months to be exact. Today brings a piece written by Scott Bennett, a gamer that is no stranger to this site. At the beginning of the year he made some detailed requests in the form of The Halo Pro Gamer’s 2008 Wishlist. Some of you agreed with him, others of you did not. This time he tackles a completely different subject, his perceived flaws within the specifics of the Halo story line. Many of us hold this subject close to our hearts as these are characters we have spent years following. For the hardcore among us, this piece is sure to strike a chord. Whether you agree or disagree, enjoy the article. As always, opinions and respectful debate are welcome.
I love Halo. In my mind it is not only one of the most defining games of our generation, but possibly of all time. You will rarely see a top 100 games list without Halo somewhere on it (usually towards the top), and for good reason. One of my favorite elements that first got me into getting hooked on Halo: Combat Evolved had to be the main storyline. Multiplayer had always been a big boost for me, and I still play it very frequently to this day, but campaign mode offered something different; a deep, complex and captivating storyline with twists and turns of heroism and nonstop action.
It was truly like no other game I had played before. Right from the start, every cut scene had me mesmerized. Who was this mysterious soldier? What was his story? Who are the Covenant and why are we at war? Halo: Combat Evolved was like a really good novel – it threw you right into the middle of the action and inflated your curiosity about this strange new world that Bungie had dreamt up just for us. In fact, the storyline was so good that it launched several books which expanded the depth of the Halo universe: events before Halo: CE, events between Halo: CE and Halo 2, tales of the other Spartans, etc. However, something never sat well with me and it’s something I feel I need to discuss. The Halo community is numerous, strong, and loves a good discussion as much as I do, so I’m very curious to see if there are many people (or for that matter any at all) who agree with what I have to say concerning the world of the game we love so much.
My opinion is this: Bungie had the opportunity to create the single greatest story of all time and, for a lack of a better phrase, tripped at the finish line. Again, the Halo’s are some of my undisputed favorite games of all time, but certain elements were changed along the paths between Halo: CE, Halo 2, and Halo 3 that I thought did nothing more than hurt the storyline that I had loved so much from the beginning.
Unfortunately, I don’t know nor have ever spoken to anyone who works at Bungie. One decision they made that I’ve always wished I could get an explanation for was the changing of the Elites. Regardless of why they did it, the altering of the Elites, both physically and behaviorally, had a drastic effect on the overall storyline. In terms of physically, my theory always was this: Bungie heard a lot of fan feedback in terms of Halo: CE and decided that a huge request was to let the fans play as their favorite Covie, the Elite. How could this be accomplished though? The Elites in Halo: CE were towering, standing taller than the Chief (who stands 7 feet in his armor I may remind you) and bringing them back as playable characters in their current physical status would provide a great disadvantage for anyone who wished to battle as an Elite in multiplayer. After all, bigger targets are easier to kill. So Bungie decided to alter them physically – shorten them to Spartan height for a fair multiplayer experience (which was done by putting the head ‘in front’ of the shoulders rather than on top, widening the shoulders, shrinking the waistline and giving them a hunch-like appearance). In addition to this, Bungie decided that the Elites were going to be playable in campaign mode as well, so they drew up a storyline that took us into the heart of the Covie side of the war through the eyes of The Arbiter.
These were all decisions that I did not completely agree with. The Elites in Halo 1 were a tall, menacing presence. They were silent, stone cold killers of the Covenant army … the muscle, the iron fist. If you saw a Golden Elite in Halo: CE charging you with an energy sword drawn you were seriously frightened – you knew it would fearlessly chase you to the ends of the earth. And it made sense! That’s the exact action you would expect from a frontline warrior of a highly religious organization. Remember, the Covenant is an extreme religious cult that believes in accomplishing their God-given manifest through war and war alone. The Elites, strong as they were, were mere pawns duped into believing that their killing would earn them a VIP spot in heaven. They were NOT afraid to die. In Halo 2 however, Elites were overshadowed by the addition of the Brutes. In Halo: CE, we were lead to believe that the Elites were the muscle, the iron fist. Well if the Brutes had existed this entire time, then what are the Elites? Bungie changed it to the Brutes being the muscle, and the Elites being “the intelligent”. They were now thought of as the honorable, who would fight with valor and speak very highly. To me, that’s not a realistic portrayal of the religious fanatics we knew back in Halo: CE. I much preferred them running at me barking deep in an incomprehensible alien tongue than the chatter-boxed and human-like Elites in Halo 2 and 3, which spoke similarly to the Knights of the Round Table.
Turning the story towards the sides of both the humans AND the Covenant was also a move that I did not wholeheartedly agree with. Halo: CE we followed Master Chief and the humans the whole way through, and for that reason we sympathized with the human side of the war. They’re getting relentlessly slaughtered and it’s up to the Chief to save them. When Halo 2 came out however, our loyalty got switched via The Arbiter and the Covenant Civil War to lean our sympathy to both the humans AND the Elites. Whereas Halo: CE was all about the Chief, Halo 2 seemed … different. We weren’t rooting for the Chief as much, we only got to play as him half the time. Instead of being immersed in the action and it being up to you to save the human race, we instead were more ‘along for the ride’ in the middle of constantly unfolding storyline. The human struggle was toned way down, and it started to turn into more of a soap opera rather than a legendary fable of how we were losing a war.
While discussing this with a friend, I was told that the Civil War was vital to the story because without it the humans would not have won. Which is TRUE in the world that Bungie presented to us. In Bungie’s tale, humans have been losing this war for years and are a breath away from extinction. Winning would have been impossible without the Elites and Brutes fighting/separating from one another.
…says who? This is a fictional story! No matter how bleak things can get, you have to remember that this is a story and anything can happen if it’s written compellingly enough. Would it be so far-fetched to believe if Bungie had written the story in a different way, where the humans arose under the lead of the Chief with a new strategy, a secret weapon, or just sheer underdog will, the humans could have won on their own? In every great adventure story, no matter how bleak things get, the good guys can always end up on top. Bungie’s presentation of the Covenant Civil War was almost what’s known as “deus ex machina”, an ‘easy solution’ to a conflict in a told story. Take for example the movie Die Hard, where Bruce Willis overcomes all the odds through pure determination by taking on a group of terrorists who have seized control of a building in LA. Would the story have been as compelling if instead of defeating them himself, Bruce lost, ran into the bathroom to cry and while he did a plane conveniently fell out of the sky into the building and destroyed all the terrorists?
I would like to now present you with how I would have told the storyline of the Halo games, rather than the story provided to us by Bungie. This is not meant as an “I’m right, they’re wrong” sort of way, just a personal opinion for a story that I feel would have been more compelling. Hold on to your hats till the end, because in this I’m going to explain what I meant in the title.
First of all in MY storyline, Master Chief would be the only remaining Spartan. Now, before you get all uppity and march to my house with torches let me explain. For those of you who so loyally read the books (myself included), I know you have strong attachments towards Kelly and all the other Spartans who are currently “alive” in different storylines. However, if you had never heard or read about them in the first place, would you be so opposed to the idea of John being the last living Spartan? Think back to Halo: CE – you were fine with the idea then (because we didn’t know about the other Spartans), so why not now?
So here we are, John-117 is the last remaining Spartan (for the record, all of the background story involving the Spartan program creation in the book The Fall of Reach is perfect and should not be touched at all, aside from the fact that now John is the only living Spartan). All the others have gloriously died in battle, which is what the Spartans were born to do. I think it would be fair to say that my storyline is a combination of elements not known to every fan who did not read The Fall of Reach. The Spartans were created (trained since kids!) to be the perfect soldiers and serve as an anti-(human)pirate branch of the military … the Covenant didn’t exist back then! (Well they did, but they had not yet encountered humans). It was only when the Covenant appeared and launched a war on mankind that the Spartans truly had to stand up to the ultimate enemy. All of humankind united for the greater good to fight becoming extinct. This IS the destiny of the Spartans. What other purpose would the greatest soldiers who ever lived serve other than to defeat the greatest enemy who ever lived?
This leads me to my next and strongest argument. The Master Chief should have died. Yes, that’s right. John-117, our boy the Chief should have died at the conclusion of the Halo series in the battle against the Covenant (who did not ever experience a civil war, my storyline remember). Why? Because that’s the ending fitting of the world’s most legendary hero, that’s why. In my storyline, the Covenant experienced no Civil War, went all out against the humans, who with the help of the final Spartan, defeated all of the Covenant once and for all, and in doing so sacrificed himself. My perfect ending would be John, the tragic hero, sacrificing himself to defeat the greatest threat the world has ever seen. It’s his destiny; the final soldier of the most legendary military team ever, The Spartan-II’s, fulfilling his destiny by that’s right, FINISHING THE FIGHT once and for all and joining his fellow brother and sister Spartans that he fought so hard with in their great Valhalla-esque reward. Both the Spartans and the Covenant … gone, and mankind saved from the brink of extinction.
Since I have already explained previously that I think that the Covie Civil war was silly, then in this final battle of Human vs. Covie, ALL Covenant will have been defeated at the end of the war. If that was the case, and Master Chief lived, what would he do after the great war was over and the Covenant were defeated? Retire from the military and issue parking tickets for the state? Legendary heroes have to be let go and that’s the way it is! At the end of Halo 3, the ending we received was almost along the same lines, Master Chief puts himself in hibernation saying valiantly “wake me…when you need me”. Although cool and dramatic in its own right, ending on a mirror note to when we very first met the Chief in Halo: CE, I just don’t think it was as effective. Then in the ending sequence, their tiny vessel floats off towards an unknown glowing object as the old, familiar intense music plays – what is it they’re heading to? Does this mean there will be a Halo 4? If so, who is the enemy if not the Covenant? As much as I love the Halo series, all the sequels should have been on different storylines. Maybe prequels following the different Spartans, who knows? But purposefully keeping our legendary hero on ice seemed like a marketing cop out. If you keep the Chief alive for a new threat that isn’t the Covenant, doesn’t that seem like a move that would undermine the entire existence of the Covenant? They were supposed to be the strongest evil force that we’ve ever encountered! Bringing a new threat to the table would fall along the lines of a Dragon Ball Z cop out, “Oh hey! It’s a new enemy but the same thing this time around, but the only thing that’s different is they’re stronger! Looks like we’re all doomed … again!”
I’d like to think that big bad Microsoft pushed my friends Bungie up into a corner and demanded that they left wiggle room at the end of the beloved Halo franchise, just in case they wanted to continue to make countless bank with never-ending Halo sequels. Ending the story the way my storyline panned out makes it a complete story, and the problem with complete stories are that they can’t continue, and therefore can’t continue to generate a profit. Regardless of reasons, the finished Halo campaign plot didn’t stand well with me. A quick summary of my vision would be keeping the sympathy/main story on the humans, no Covenant POV storyline and no Civil War, no addition of Brutes to undermine the threats we already came to know (goes hand in hand with the Civil War idea regardless, no Brutes no Civil War), ALL the evil Covenant (no Civil War = no good guy Covie revelation) are defeated at the end, and Master Chief, the lone Spartan, sacrifices himself to defeat the enemy. Cue entire Spartan memorial by the humans … the eternal farewell shrine to mankind’s greatest heroes … salute … sunset … roll credits.
I’d like to hear what the community has to say regarding the ‘ending’ of the campaign story in the Halo franchise. Do you agree? Do you think it was perfect the way it was and wouldn’t change a thing? Were there parts that didn’t appeal to you as well? Thanks to the entire community I love so much, and thank you Bungie for your creation of such an excellent game.
-by Scott Bennett (-S-)
Posted by Atomic on October 1, 2008 at 4:16 am
Wall….of text….cant…read….
Posted by Naepa34 on October 1, 2008 at 5:22 am
Well, in my opinion, I think fighting the same enemies and having the same allies for all 3 games wouldn’t be as dynamic. It would go to “Oh, there are more elites…again” Although it could be mixed up through simply different AI and animations, they’re still the same aliens. Adding the brutes and having the civil war brought depth and diversity to the enemies you were fighting. As for the ending, sure. The last thing any Halo fan wants is for the series to go downhill into a never ending spiral of sequels (Oh no! Its the Flood, AGAIN!!). Having the chief die would end his story, probably giving the series a bit more of a bang ending, instead of the slow trail off we got. It still leaves room for more Halo games, the chief isnt the only human left alive, and prequels are still an option. Wow, this is a long post.
Posted by M-L on October 1, 2008 at 5:33 am
I wouldn’t change a thing. There is one very major point you didn’t address in this article: the Flood. The Human-Covenant War ceased to be the focus of attention about halfway through Halo 1, when the Chief discovers Halo’s secret (the reason why the game is called “Halo”, and not “The Human-Covenant War”). It was one of the best plot twists in any videogame, and a superb plot twist in general story-telling. Without it, I think the story would become something of a cliché: Technologically superior aliens threaten to doom humanity; all hope is lost; all hope then rests with one man; said man prevails in the face of unstoppable odds and sacrifices himself to ensure the survival of the human race. A bit predictable, I think. Since the focus on Human-Covenant War lessened, the Civil War plotline was a great way to make the story even more complex, and thus more engaging.
That said, I can understand what you’re saying. Placing the player amongst the Covenant — specifaclly the Elites, at that stage the enemies of the humans — was quite a gamble, and I remember when I first played as the Arbiter I felt the start of a downhill run coming (in terms of both story and gameplay). But I think it definitely paid off in the end.
As for whether the Chief should have died… I fully expected it to happen, but since he didn’t, it meant the ending wasn’t predictable, and for that I’m glad. The “full-circle” plot device is much cooler anyway. Besides, for now he might as well be dead. Cortana’s prediction of “years” could very well be an understatement. Maybe he’ll remain forever frozen, a legendary relic of humanity’s great struggle, to be uncovered millennia later by space-faring adventurers… or something…
Posted by Legendary Blue on October 1, 2008 at 6:14 am
Yea I also feel as though fighting new enemies really brought depth and diversity to the game, not to mention just like in some of the books I think we were given a view into the convenant perspective so they didn’t just look like a bunch of retarded religous terrorists, they gave us a look at the covenant dealing with their own type of pirates, the heretics.
Not to mention I actually enjoy the Honor and Loyalty that the elites show, I feel as though they do and will rush into any battle if necessary but in the end the elites are an honorable race and Halo 2 and 3 really showed us that, after all they were the ones that wanted to accept humans into the covenant.
Lastly I can understand how you wanted the Chief killed off but Johnson was killed off moments earlier, do you really want a “perfect storm” type story where all the main characters die? Not to mention if the Chief single handedly helped humanity dominate the covenant without the civil war well, that just couldn’t have happened, one spartan is not that powerful to take out an entire group of species and their homeworlds. That to me would have just been slightly corny, just like Die Hard, while good was unrealistic and corny.
This is just my opinion and I would like to discuss this further with you if given the opportunity, I really enjoyed your insight of the storyline and respect what you have written, good stuff.
Posted by AusQB on October 1, 2008 at 6:34 am
Put simply, I can’t complain.
It might sound silly, but if Master Chief had died, perhaps in lieu of Sergeant Johnson, a million fanboys around the world would cry in horrible harmony. They need their hero, whether they can play as him or not.
Regarding Halo 2, the storyline was somewhat…messy. I loved the fact that they focused more on the Covenant side of the story, and I hope they continue to do so in the future, but it did disrupt the story from the player’s perspective. You can’t really get completely engaged if you swap character each mission.
Also, I hated the Brutes. I understand their place in the Halo universe, but they just seemed so caricatured. Before, you were fighting Elites, a menacing reptilian-like species. In Halo 2 you’re fighting big gorillas. It just seemed like something out of a comic book.
Overall, I think the progression of the story, just within the games, has been amazing. Other media such as the novels, the Uprising comics and the Halo Graphic Novel have expanded the story to such a surreal level. I think the Halo universe is the most popular and influential sci-fi franchise of our time, surpassing the likes of Star Wars and Star Trek.
Posted by BBJynne on October 1, 2008 at 6:40 am
you’re right about the elites in CE. they were by far more intimidating, mysterious (through their language being unknown), even a little bit respectable (i don’t know why but i did, but not the later ones… they were just textbook “noble”).
The ending that there was in Halo3 was good though imo except that the legendary part should have been left off unless bungie has some genius plan to do something with that.
Posted by AusQB on October 1, 2008 at 6:44 am
One other thing that bothered me in the games is that none of the Covenant species are referred to by their actual names (ie. Elites not Sangheili, Brutes not Jiralhanae, Prophets not San ‘Shyuum).
Posted by KGB Force on October 1, 2008 at 6:49 am
I agree with the comments above..
The brutes added a little more diversity to the Halo franchise.
One awful thing to do is let such a amazing game become repetitive with the same foes.
Also, I kind of agree to the different views of Halo CE & Halo 2 where you played on both sides of the spectrum. It let you more or less see how both forces operated so there wasn’t much guessing to be done. We saw through the eyes of the humans and the elites and obviously both views will be different. There are many sides to war.
Posted by Louis Wu on October 1, 2008 at 6:52 am
Hmm. I didn’t think the game was really about the humans vs the Covenant at all; it was really about the race to stop the Flood. Our war with the Covenant LOOKED important, at first… but it really wasn’t.
(And as for accepting that all the other Spartans are dead, I can’t accept this argument: “Think back to Halo: CE – you were fine with the idea then (because we didn’t know about the other Spartans), so why not now?”
Actually, Fall of Reach was released BEFORE the game came out; we (those of us who read the book) knew about the remaining Spartans BEFORE we played as MC. It was never really okay with me that he was portrayed as humanity’s last hope – because I knew there were a bunch of others just like him out there.
I’d have been okay with him dying, though, at the end of Halo 3 – leaving him alive leaves the door open for sequels that contain his character, but really, the story is over.
Posted by XerxdeeJ on October 1, 2008 at 7:55 am
It was their story to tell. I played my roll as an audience member, and I came along for their ride. I enjoyed the Covie Civil War. Those were not my favorite levels, but it added complexity and depth to the story. I cannot agree or disagree with you. Those are your opinions, and you are welcome to them. Personally, I don’t traffic in “This is how I would have done it” arguments. The stark reality is that you did not do it. They did.
And, I liked the fact that the Chief survived the story. It makes him a thing of Myth, floating through space. While it certainly more final to have him die, his survival sustains the legendary quality of his character.
Posted by Mizzy on October 1, 2008 at 8:05 am
Even religious fanatics have their hierarchies. The prophets and the elites were the first to find the Forerunner technology, hence why the Elites have such a higher place than the Brutes. Just because the elites were insanely good with a sword didn’t mean they couldn’t be smart. For all we knew, they were in charge of the whole shenanigan before we first saw the Prophets.
Higher-ups are always going to place the “brute-force but not smart” individuals below them in lesser guard type positions. The same thing could be said for the Hunters. One could take out a good number of Brutes, but they’re not that high up on the hierarchy.
One thing I would have really changed is how quickly the Brutes managed to get all that armour after Halo 2. Why didn’t they have that armour all along in 2?
The stop of all the Halos and the fact that M.C. is drifting towards a planet with a familiar-looking Forerunner symbol leads us to believe that the game will be referred to by some other name.
I would have also preferred of Cortana showed a bit more Rampancy and messed with the technology inside your suit. Or possibly even showing her green (like in Halo 1) in the end scene, leaving you with some sort of foreboding “M.C.’s really not out of this yet” kind of thing.
Lastly, I’d like to see what an elite homeworld looks like.
Posted by buttskunk on October 1, 2008 at 8:19 am
Good write up.
I agree with Louis, the story is over as far as making another Halo game, however people are pretty creative so we just don’t know what’s around the corner.
????????????
Speaking as a Halo junkie myself I just can’t see the story ending with the two main characters left to die in space, their just too important, I would like to see at least of all a book that deals with whatever remains of the Flood and Brutes.
Posted by disco on October 1, 2008 at 8:22 am
well written. Good job. I wasn’t bothered by the ending, only because there will be another game with spartan 117 in it and until then the verdict is still out for me. If it does turn out to be super lame then well that sucks, but it could be amazing. And if they don’t make another game that falls in the timeline after halo 3, well then yes the ending was terrible. Lets just hope next time we see the chief that it isn’t disappointing.
Posted by Fusbun on October 1, 2008 at 8:22 am
I think it was good that the Chief survived till the very end, it gave him the feel that he’s just doing his job, and that’s what makes him so professional in what he does and how he does it.
Besides, the Elites side of the story was fun, I always wanted to know more about them and even if there wasn’t a split in the storyline it made absolutely no-sense that a race as intelligent as the Elites would continue believing that the Halo’s transcended them till the very end, something had to be figured out.
Also, I think the Brute Maccabeus touched down pretty well with his final words on what Tartarus was. Tartarus and the other Brutes where just plain obedient, not faithful. The Elites where faithful to the prospect of the “Great Journey” whereas the Brutes where just lapdogs following the orders of the Prophets without question and believing that everything the Prophets say is correct.
The Elites where different (see: Heretic Elites), how many “Heretic” Brutes are there? At least some Elites found the truth in everything and splintered off but I kinda like the whole backstory that Truth was behind the entire war and that his whole plan backfired on him by keeping the Arbiter alive.
I also like the idea that the Arbiter and the Chief are now allies, as the Chief killed thousands of Elites and the Arbiter (most likely) lead the main assault on the planet Reach, killing a good bunch of Spartans.
Posted by Dakota the Wolf on October 1, 2008 at 8:37 am
Wow. I really agree with alot o wat u say… ill admit, the civil was was necessary, but instead of the elites siding with the humans, they shoulda just kept it as a three-way war, which would’ve left the covie factions weakend an distracted enough for the MC to slip on by and pull a miraculous victory out of his shiny mark-VI helmet… i mean, even if the covenant were in a civil war, what would make us think that the elites would just accept the humans as allies, when they had been fighting eachother tooth and nail fo almost 30 years….
the brutes werent entirely necessary either, they could’ve gone with the oft-mentioned grunt rebellion as fuel for a new civil war, plus im sure that the hunters wouldnt have minded leaving the covenant…. it would’ve made for a more interesting civil war, without forcing in new enemies like the drones or the brutes….
and, lastly, the flood does seem to throw a wrench into things, but why not have the ark as what most ppl thought it originally was- a place to survive the activation of the halos ON EARTH!! chief lures away mots of the covie armada from earth, and activates the halo’s, sacrificing himself to kill the covenant and the flood…..
Posted by DKTH3PUMA on October 1, 2008 at 8:40 am
And that wall of text is the reason you do not write stories. You basicaly described Every Sci-Fi movie, Book, Tv Show, or Story line that has Zero creativity. The story you described has been done over and over and over. Not even in the scifi universe but in pretty much every genre. Why would you want to have the same story rehasshed several diffrent times, Just in diffrent ? That just sounds boring and unfiting of bungies creativity. I was pissed that they didnt include more scenes fleshing out the arbitor.
Saying that you dont want to have the fleshing out of the covenant is stupid. Why wouldnt you want to know more about the things that are hell bent on your destruction. Why are they there to kill you? what do they beleive in. what caused all that. wiht out taking any of that into consideration, you jsut have some lame shoot’em up for people who have no brain what so ever and jsut liket o see flashy things with big explosions with big guns, that go boom.
But what can you expect, thats already half of what the game is. Multiplayer. Half of the population probably has no idea what is going on in the halo universe, they are just there to kill people, and make big explosions. If you want a stupid game like that go play your Run of the mill no story games because that is basically what you have described.
Posted by Dakota the Wolf on October 1, 2008 at 8:51 am
“Saying that you dont want to have the fleshing out of the covenant is stupid. Why wouldnt you want to know more about the things that are hell bent on your destruction. Why are they there to kill you? what do they beleive in. what caused all that. wiht out taking any of that into consideration, you jsut have some lame shoot’em up for people who have no brain what so ever and jsut liket o see flashy things with big explosions with big guns, that go boom”
i whole-heartedly agree with DKTH3PUMA, but unfortunately we dont really soo too much of this in the games… it is only really in the books that we learn of how the covenant works- the most interesting tidbit i got from the games about the covie religion wasnt even in tha game- it was one of the deleted scenes from the limited edition of H2….
Posted by Dakota the Wolf on October 1, 2008 at 8:59 am
note: my above comment was a response to the one above that =/
Posted by failedparachute on October 1, 2008 at 9:06 am
The overarching story of the trilogy achieves epic proportions. There are certainly parallels with the Iliad, though interestingly enough some of the roles are interchangeable. While I think most would argue the most obvious parallel is that John is akin to the best warrior of the time, Achilles, I feel that, at least as far as Halo CE is concerned, he is more like the Trojan’s Hector, being asked to defend his people (UNSC) and do the impossible of driving off the invading Greeks (Covenant). Hector is killed by Achilles while carrying out his task of defending the city and shortly after the city falls. John, however, does not fall in battle, though the perceptions of those he left behind is that he did fall defending their city. So from the point of view of the UNSC, they lost their Hector, but kept their Troy.
If one were to only view the scene right before the credits and subsequently skip the “final” scene (as I accidentally did on my first playthrough of H3) it would appear that John was lost to the turmoils of Slipspace. While we, the player, know that John is still alive it is unknown if anyone else knows of his survival. His final one liner, “Wake me, when you need me,” is an admission that his task is complete, the Covenant and Flood have been vanquished and humanity is safe. They no longer require the hero, and so he goes to sleep, possibly to never wake again. As for continuing Scott’s Valhalla metaphor if the planet John is drifting toward is Onyx, John may yet have his Valhalla with Dr. Halsey and the other Spartan IIs. In the end, John’s story has reached its climax and now follows the swift denouement.
If John is a hero like Hector, what does that make the Arbiter and his story? In comparison with the Homeric epics, the Arbiter is a much more Odyssean hero. He journey take him from glory to shame and eventually it takes him home. The war against the UNSC ends with the destruction of Installation 04, and he is set adrift having to overcome numerous tasks before he can finally come home at the end of Halo 3. The task of assassinating the heretic leader was his Cyclops, the betrayal of the Brutes akin to the Lotus Eaters, and his run in with the Gravemind and John his decent into Hades itself. And in the end the Arbiter, like Odysseus before him, survives to make it home.
And now for something completely different:
Personally, I enjoyed having the perspective of the Arbiter in Halo 2. It certainly gave us a greater look into the Covenant psyche more than Cortana’s translations in CE ever did, not to mention you see the effects of your own actions in CE on the Covenant. The Arbiter is scapegoated by the religion he serves so ardently, and seeks to redeem himself, surviving the tasks that are supposed to have killed him, ultimately to be betrayed by those who he served. Eyes torn open he is forced to join forces with both the Chief and the Flood (if only temporarily for the latter). To my eyes, Halo 2 did so much more for the story than any other game, in general, ever did. I can name few games that gave you both sides of the same plot that do not immerse you in it as much as Halo 2 does.
I’ve been torn over how I feel about the story in H3. On the one hand I enjoyed it, and the Terminals added even more depth to the universe, but I feel that are some questions that still need to be answered such as, why didn’t Cortana detonate In Amber Clad’s reactors? Doing so would certainly have taken a great deal of the Flood and the Covenant fleet with it. So what prevented her? Did the Gravemind interfere, disabling the reactors or disrupting her ability to destroy them, or did she simply choose not to detonate them? I’m also curious to find out where exactly Cortana got the information about the Ark (it’s been postulated elsewhere that perhaps she interacted with the remnant of Medicant Bias that was stored on the Forerunner dreadnought, but I personally would like to see/read that interaction for myself).
I hope that wasn’t too disjointed.
-failedparachute
Posted by Nokterne on October 1, 2008 at 9:07 am
What I find interesting is that I actually thought that the Master Chief had died at the conclusion of Halo 3, because I skipped the credits. It was extremely affecting emotionally, and I actually wish I hadn’t found out about Master Cheif surviving the collapse of the portal, as my temporary belief of his death enhanced for me just how much of hero he is.
If he had died, the ending of Halo 3 would have become one of the most epic conclusions in gaming history.
Posted by DKTH3PUMA on October 1, 2008 at 9:09 am
Yeah, not much of the deeper religious, and intracat details into the covenat story is in the games, But seeing it from their point of view was awesome, Playing as the arbitor for me in halo 2 made halo 2 better. I think why people hate on the arbitor so much is because they had to finish halo 2 as him and not as the cheif. Most people who follow the story of campagin anyways Have read the books. And most people who dislike and dont understand the story have not read the books( excluding the OP) But even Say that Cheif Was the last spartan, would you want to know why he is? Who were the people he was fighting for, keeping their names alive?
I just personally think youre taking a to generic approach to the ending, its like a cookie cutter for Sci Fi stories.
Posted by Adam Grumbo on October 1, 2008 at 9:20 am
You are absolutely right. Just like Spielberg did with Saving Private Ryan, we don’t wanna hear the covies speak english, we don’t want to sympathize with them, we don’t want to know about their lives (ahem, contact harvest!). We want to kill them and fight for our freedom!
You are certainly right on this topic.
Posted by Dakota the Wolf on October 1, 2008 at 9:20 am
brilliant post by failedparachute, though i find that much of the time, plaing as the covenant tends to be awkward =/ i mean, its good for plot at times, but i don think that it was a wise choice from a gameplay perspective…. could u find a balance between the intruige of the arbiter’s story and the amazingness of the cheif levels, i would be very content with H2. but in halo 3, the made a serious flaw in my opinion- thay gave us the arbiter, and took him away, putting him in more of a side roll, as a second sgt johnson- an invincible allie with no reall plot advancement… in short, i found H3 to be a bit of a mess compared to the other halo games… o_O
Posted by grantix on October 1, 2008 at 9:20 am
The Covenant Civil War, Chief’s survival (not only the end but throughout all the games and novels), the entire situation… it’s all connected with one over arching theme. The Chief is Lucky. And I think you fail to realize this in you analysis of the trilogy. The most important theme throughout all three games, through all the novels (with the chief in them) is that John is lucky.
There’s no way humans could have defeated the Covenant unless there was a civil war, and John was lucky enough that there was one.
There’s no way that John should have survived the end of Halo 3… but he was lucky.
There’s no way John should have even survived the beginning of Halo 3… but he’s lucky.
I guess it isn’t explained enough, or you just missed it… but that is THE central theme. If there is anything you should take away from this… it’s that John is one lucky ass bastard… which is why he was the greatest soldier.
He wasn’t great because of super strength, super agility, his kickin’ suit, or his awesome weapons… he was great because he was lucky.
Posted by hob-la-hey on October 1, 2008 at 9:21 am
I agree with all that ….. Spartans: no greater glory than death in battle… however the idea of playing a halo game without master chief to me, just seems like an epic bummer… as him or beside him that is ….i mean without war he doesn’t serve a purpose…. perhaps branching out to nintendo and a cooking mama-esk game where chief is flipping burgers is in the cards for bungie??… “KEEP IT CLEAN”….. nothing is supposed to be cleaner than a fast food kitchen right?
http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/rr52/hoblahey/VG.jpg
Posted by Dakota the Wolf on October 1, 2008 at 9:26 am
well, i find that the ending of H3 was a bit messy… the multitude of plot twists, the just plain freaky things goin on (rampant guilty spark, anyone?), and the lack of backknowledge for ppl playing the games dissapointed meh… ill admit, i never read the novels. ive only read about them, and from what i hear, theyre amazing. most of what know about the back story of halo comes from frequent reading of halopedia…. the terminals served their purpose, but left alot of questions unanswered… and as for the whole “portal to the ark” thing, i was just lost….. why couldnt the ark be on earth?
Posted by KaiserKold on October 1, 2008 at 9:29 am
I think chief should be the only Spartan and he should have died.
I like what they did with the elites.
The Brutes are physically tougher than Elites (though they were kept down because of they were feared), but I don’t believe that a Brute will always win a fight versus an Elite. Even hand to hand combat. Elites are ruthless and intelligent.
I like the Covenant civil war, too.
Posted by Bry on October 1, 2008 at 9:31 am
While its also good to have ideas an opinions, I think the main problem I have with the story line Scott is presenting is that it becomes almost completely cliché and rather less original, complex and even daring on Bungie’s part.
It would be a overall situation and story line that would be uncomfortably similar to the one that was presented to us in Wing Commander 1-3, just substituting the Terran Confederation for the UNSC and the Kilrathi for the Covenant, then telling it from the point of view of a super soldier on the ground rather than a figher pilot in space.
Or the plucky and determined Rebel Alliance, at the brink of annihilation (at Yavin AND Endor), beating the Galactic Empire in Star Wars.
In the end though, the Chief living or dying doesn’t strictly have a very significant impact on the ending because, as far as the UNSC are concerned, he did indeed die in the ultimate sacrifice, as did Johnson. The UNSC also considers all the other Spartans dead rather than trapped.
Our ending sequence would be exactly the same, minus the presence of the Arbiter.
While we the players know he is alive, no one in-universe does.
Its always good to keep ones hopes up.
Going back to Wing Commander, you would have thought that the story ended in Wing Commander III with the destruction of the Kilrathi homeworld via the Tembler bomb and the victory of the Terran Confederation.
However Wing Commander IV, freed from the more straightforward plotline of Humans = good and Cats = bad is probably my favourite game and story in the whole series. I would call it epic and hold it right up there, if not even beyond, Halo.
Posted by lol wat on October 1, 2008 at 9:37 am
This is the most ridiculous thing to come out of the Halo fandom that I have ever seen. The writer appears to have the misguided conception that the Halo universe, or possibly any universe, is divided between Good and Evil, and pushes for something “more realistic” while simultaneously saying that “anything can work because it’s fiction”. I thought we broke out of that in the ’60s. The entire purpose of the Covenant Civil War was not to give the human race an easy way out but to show that despite their fanatical adherence to their religion, not everything was as simple and streamlined as it seemed. Hell, most of the members of the Covenant weren’t there by choice, but forcibly converted! You can’t possibly expect that not to come up at some point in the storyline. Moreover, the Elites failed to protect an extremely important holy artifact (Halo). That they would face more than just a stern reprimand is common sense. If the Covenant was just a seamless force of evil versus the “good” humans, and if the Elites were just hulking alien monsters that shot at the player, the plot would be as thin as Gears of War (I’m not saying GoW is a bad game, but the plot didn’t have me quite as compelled). For me, one of the best parts of Halo 2 was seeing this disgraced ex-commander narrowly avoid death after being sent on suicide mission after suicide mission, and then, in an ironic twist of fate, lead his entire race to mutiny and eventual freedom.
Now, I certainly would have preferred a less gorilla-oriented design for the Brutes, but I felt the change of perspective towards the Elites from “crazed” to “noble” was a good move. If you look at our own history of crusades, those who persecuted others didn’t consider themselves as evil, but as enlightened. It’s the same thing for the Elites, and Bungie needed something to better contrast them. Thus, we have the Brutes, which are not so much designed to be the sole source of muscle in the Covenant but, as their name implies, more “brutish” and primitive than the Elites. The Elites clearly consider the Brutes as inferior, and it angers them that such inferior creatures are gaining more and more respect and importance over their much more “civilized” race. If that isn’t a good spark for civil war, I don’t know what is.
I am also somewhat disappointed over the physical changes to the Elites, though. While I don’t think anything was physically changed, in Halo 2 they certainly hunched over quite a bit more in battle. While this wasn’t too much of a problem, in Halo 3 it was really compounded by the change from sleek to ridiculously bulky armor. I know it makes sense canon-wise, but if anything it negates the entire purpose of making the Elites seem more “noble”. Not only that, but all of the non-main Elites (i.e. anyone not Half-jaw or the Arbiter) had much more gravelly voices in Halo 3, making them seem more like monsters and less like a civilized alien race (though in the writer’s case I would assume this was exactly what he was looking for). I missed the poetic nuances of some of Halo 2’s Elites. Not that it really matters, though, since we only play alongside them twice (which is super lame). In terms of multiplayer, I feel they could have compensated for the larger target by giving the models a speed or health boost.
Finally, if you’re really going for a corny ending, then having Master Chief die striking the killing blow against the Covenant is exactly what you want, not to mention it doesn’t solve the problem of the Flood whatsoever. I was a little disappointed that all we saw of the Covenant forces after killing Truth was their flood-infected bodies (remember the grunt being chased by an armless combat form in Halo 1?), but on the whole I think it really brought home that the war wound up unleashing something far more important and deadly than the war itself. The Covenant were the enemy, yes, but the Flood were the ultimate enemy; the one Halo was really about. Don’t fool yourself otherwise. I thought the ending to Halo 3 was excellent, and I think it’s far more likely that Chief will wind up becoming the hero of another culture locked in an unending dispute than just find some “new powerful evil” on whatever planet he was orbiting around. Really, wouldn’t that be a far better ending to his saga? Becoming a legend in two cultures?
I think it’d be hilarious if he dropped out mid-slipstream and that wound up being the Elite’s homeworld though. Maybe Bungie will release a video where he lands and winds up attending a few thousand extremely awkward funerals.
I’m sure I sound like a raging fanboy in this post, but for what it’s worth I want to say that I’m not. The Halo games were far from perfect and there were quite a few things I’d change, but this article takes it to an unnecessary level. Rewriting the entire script? Come on. You might as well turn Chief into a furry while you’re at it or something.
Posted by Matoro3311 on October 1, 2008 at 9:39 am
Great read, bs angel. Eyes are still sore….must have conjunctivitis now… :P
~Matoro3311
Posted by Dakota the Wolf on October 1, 2008 at 9:40 am
btw, congrats to scott bennett for an amazing write-up…. brings back fond memmories of the huge theory fabricated by mr. bannanas, in terms of actually gettin meh thinkin bout the halo plot…. http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive27.pl?read=791609
Posted by Lee on October 1, 2008 at 9:45 am
I do not think there should have been a Halo 2. I think Bungie was pressured into making it into a trilogy. When Halo 2 was announced all of the first videos pointed to the covenant invading earth (watch all of the videos). Bungie had to come up with something to stretch out the story line and we got all the stuff that you do not like. Halo is a sad story. It could have turned out so much better. I do not think that the last remaining Spartan had to die at the end, but then he could too. I think it could end well either way. Also I thought that the legendary ending was the best scene in all of Halo since Halo CE.
Posted by Socket on October 1, 2008 at 9:46 am
If they had taken the approach of “Heroic Good guy, good guy loses, good guy sacrifices himself and is dead, other good guys win, and bad guy loses, and then everyone starts crying because original good guy died” Which is essentially what you are saying, then it would have been like EVERY OTHER story.
Bungie needed something unexpected, something new and fresh like the “elites” and brutes and the uprising, the civil war and other things to make Halo “different”
yeah…
Posted by CrazedOne1988 on October 1, 2008 at 9:55 am
Good analysis. I agree on some points, but disagree on others. While halo 2 did kind of distract from the chief, and constantly switching between characters and stories didn’t let you really get into it, I overall enjoyed the whole halo trilogy.
Posted by David Delgado on October 1, 2008 at 10:04 am
This is a great article. Some good points are raised concerning what made the original game and the book The Fall of Reachgreat, in which I wholeheartedly agree. However, I have some things I disagree with the author, and that plot points that Bungie could have perhaps…. not entirely ditched, but worked them out to fit the Halo: CE feeling.
-I would have wanted, indeed, that the Elites pertained their alien speech — even if canon had the Chief and the Elites meet.
-I think it would’ve been far better for the storyline to focus only on the Master Chief, let the Elites fight with Alien speech, and allow the Brutes to join…
…but as a race that joins the Covenant around…. 2545 or something. That the Prophets ditch the Elites (who would have probably questioned what was happening anyway) for a more idiotic and blind species as soon as they found them, -and not since the beginning of the war, virtually unused-.
-As for me, I believe the Covenant Civil War was justified: Their Holy Ring was destroyed, the Prophets needed a scapegoat or more… But that whatever we got to see of their civil war, would have been witnessed only through the Master Chief’s eyes.
-….BUT, I would have preferred that, in Halo 2, rather than going to another Halo, that we still had to fight to protect Earth, and that we slowly received hints of what was happening to the Covenant.
-Concerning the fate of the Spartans… In my opinion, I think that their current status is okay. In Halo 1, John believes he could be the last one; In Halo 2, he knows his comrades are alive and actually has Linda, Will, and Fred with him, but doesn’t know if there are more survivors; In Halo 3, when things are going to hell in a handbasket for humanity, that John truly believes he is the last one alive, and in the fight.
-Finally, for John-117’s final fate: Prior to Halo 3, I thought he’d make a badass last stand prior to winning the war, (a la BELIEVE Halo 3 Advertisement Campaign), and that would’ve been one hell of a way to go. According to Bungie’s traditions with storyline, however, I believe it was adequate for him to be an immortal hero: Only sleep, and wait to be awaken for another adventure – be it months until he crashes into the planet, or even centuries.
Posted by Das Kalk on October 1, 2008 at 10:12 am
Although you raise some interesting points angel, I have to say that I don’t mind the physical redesign, although I didn’t like the whole “play as the Arbiter” in H2, nonetheless, an excellent post!
Posted by Faren22 on October 1, 2008 at 10:12 am
Exactly what Socket said. If you want to see the last surviving Spartan sacrifice himself for his people before a (seemingly) undefeatable enemy, GO WATCH 300!
It has exactly what I described. Halo is not 300. Nor will it ever be, because Bungie has more creativity than that.
Posted by KingHIppp0 on October 1, 2008 at 10:15 am
Good article, and I agree with some of it. I miss fighting Elites in Halo: CE, they were such formidable opponents. However, I like the twists and turns, the uneasy alliances, and the fact that the Sanghelli had to turn their religion upside down and join their former enemies to save the galaxy. I’m torn.
Yeah the Chief should have gone away, let him die already.
But you didn’t mention the flood at all! Surely the flood storyline would have been affected without the Covenant civil war?
Posted by Dakota the Wolf on October 1, 2008 at 10:24 am
well, as far as the flood goes, i think they probably would’ve progressed just the same, with or without the covie civil war… just think about it: they spread by killing everything they meet. their spread, while aided by the human-covenant war, is mostly indifferent to the covie civil war…..
Posted by SonGoharotto on October 1, 2008 at 10:25 am
I pretty much like the story as-is. I like Elites the noble warrior race. I like the Covenant Civil War.
(In fact, I would like to play as an Elite in a game about the Covenant Civil War! Maybe the reclamation of Sanghelios from Brute oppression?)
If there’s one thing I would change, I might give Truth some ulterior motive. He seems like a schemer in H2, but comes across as a mere believer in H3. Only in Contact Harvest do we get any real depth to his character, which is sorely lacking in the games.
I also would have liked one genuine boss battle in Halo 3. Imagine having Arbiter driving you around in a ‘hog while you blast away at Gravemind with the Gauss canon! I know he wouldn’t be so easy to destroy, but the satisfaction alone would be immense–much more so than pressing a button and assuming that Halo does the job for you.
Posted by Dakota the Wolf on October 1, 2008 at 10:25 am
hey, BS Angel, what’s ur take on this?
Posted by bs angel on October 1, 2008 at 10:46 am
Generally speaking, I did not enjoy playing as The Arbiter in H2, not because of how it affected the story line either. I found changing characters in the middle of the story made it less engaging. It greatly affected the immersion aspect for me personally.
As far as having Master Chief die, that’s a tough one. The regular ending for H3 was emotional enough before watching the final cut scene, … I’m not sure how I would feel if he really died. Am I ready for the book to close on him? I just don’t know. But even if he died, we can just do the whole Star Wars thing. It doesn’t have to mean the end of the series. :)
Posted by Vash on October 1, 2008 at 10:49 am
Scott never really touched on what would happen with the Flood.
Anyone, I liked where the story was going in Halo 2. But we should have finished the fight in Halo 2.
When I think about what Halo 3 could have been if Bungie had been able to properly finish Halo 2, it kinda makes me sad. We could of had somthing much better. And Halo 2 itself would have been much better.
I really think Bungie should have finished up the Halo 2 saga before moving on to the next game. Maybe put out those last missing levels as an expansion or somthing.
As for Halo 3, it was good, but it left much to be desired. If anything it lacked surprise and emotion. Man kind didn’t really feel like it was at the brink of extinction. And none of the game really cuaght me by surprise aside from the short segment where you team up with the Flood.
And the entire series just failed at boss fights. The scarabs in Halo 3 were nice and Tartarus in Halo 2 was okay. But the Scarab in Halo 2, the Prophet of Regret and Guilty Spark were all terrible bosses.
And I can’t beleive we didnt get the chance of fighting the Gravemind. I was practically banking on there being a Gravemind boss fight. It was terribly disapointing.
And I was expecting somthing bigger to happen for the chief. Like him taking his helmet of for once or his death.
The campaigns could have been longer in Halo 2 and 3 as well.
Posted by RIFT on October 1, 2008 at 10:53 am
I agree with everything. Actually, my friend and all have been talking about the same thing for years now. Such as; why did the Covenant “end” when the prophets were killed??? It makes no sense why a super-intelligent, space fairing race, once ruled by people other than the prophets would just say, “Damn, the Demon killed our last prophet, Truth…. guess we’re all dead.”
I don’t know why there were so many stupid things done with the story. It pisses me off really. I can’t understand why Bungie’s writers would do that.
Posted by Rayg on October 1, 2008 at 11:12 am
So you’re just going to pretend the Flood doesn’t exist then. Alright.
And Rift, they were already all dead by that time. Remember how their main city got taken by Flood? That’s the bulk of the fighting Covenant force right there. Combine with the destroyed fleet of Truth, the amount of Covies killed in the Unyielding Heirophant, and so on and so forth, and you end up with a legion of enemies whose backbone is broken. The individual species still exist, but there is no more cohesion. You can’t kill every leader in a country and expect it to still function.
Posted by Stixxx on October 1, 2008 at 11:14 am
Its a buddy movie.. with a cowboy ending… i loved it
War against the biggest threat ever,
finding out there’s an bigger threat to all of existence..
your enemy becoming your friend to combat the new threat, (hence the buddy movie feel)
Finding out your new enemy has a consciousness, honestly gravemind in h2 was utter WTF!? i mean sure its a Viri.. but that’s like saying theres a master cold bug out there plotting all our doom’s… anyway i digress
you and your new found friend go after your old AI who just happens to hold the key to kicking the snot outta the Flood.. but if Cortana didnt have the key for Halo installation 04.. you and Arbiter would have still went for her.. shes the h
you end up victorious over insurmountable odds… and ride of into the sunset.. (call it what you will but i always thought ofthe ending as MC n Cortana riding off into the sunset .. future endeavors ahead or not its still the classic cowboy ending..)
Posted by Stixxx on October 1, 2008 at 11:16 am
oops fragmented thought above
you and your new found friend go after your old AI who just happens to hold the key to kicking the snot outta the Flood.. but if Cortana didnt have the key for Halo installation 04.. you and Arbiter would have still went for her.. “shes the heroine after all”
Posted by PhillySpartan on October 1, 2008 at 11:22 am
I completely agree with you about the changes between Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2. The Elites were feared by all players controlling the heroic Master Chief. Even in that Mark VII Mjolnir armor we all knew the Elites could and would cut us up into shreds! That fearsome presence was completely lost. The last time I feared an Elite was on Cairo Station battling a silver Elite while trying to defuse the bomb. While the Brutes were an nice addition to the Halo saga storyline, they did not present the same furiousity that the Elites did in Halo: C.E.. But I think Bungie dropped the ball by not including the “lost” Spartans within the actual games. Why play as the Arbiter, when we could have played as either a faster or stronger Spartan. And the Covenant finding Earth should have never happened, period. But to have them and then the Flood reach the human mother world was awful to the storyline and to the protocols that were presented to us in both the game and books. And the Prophets should have remained a mysterious figure within the Haloverse. And don’t get me started with the Gravemind….
Posted by Dakota the Wolf on October 1, 2008 at 11:24 am
RIFT says:”why did the Covenant “end” when the prophets were killed??? ”
well, i think i have a competent answer for ya- the prophets were more then just leaders- they were religious figures, symbolic of the covie religion, and the voices of authority in the covenant. it all really reminds me of the fall of the third reich- with Hitler (the 3 prophets) dead, the nazis (the covenant) are left leaderless and disorganized, collapsing under the presssure of the allies (the humans/elites) and eventually becoming all but extinct.
in a completely unrelated topic, whatever happened to the grunts and hunters siding with the elites? they did in H2, why not in H3? there are more than enough creative ways to work around the lack of grunt-and-hunter-like enemies- sheildless jackals, perhapse, and mabysome brutes with the hunter-like sheilds, or something…..
Posted by -S- on October 1, 2008 at 11:42 am
Wow there’s way more feedback here than I expected! Thanks for all the interesting discussion guys, all the comments are great. A few points of interest -
Legendary Blue: “Lastly I can understand how you wanted the Chief killed off but Johnson was killed off moments earlier, do you really want a “perfect storm” type story where all the main characters die?”
This was something I was going to touch on in the article but totally blanked, thanks for reminding me! I personally feel that Bungie knew deep down that a tried and true formula for more dramatic storytelling is ‘killing off lead characters’…but instead of offing the Chief, carried out one of the most random actions in plot history by killing off Sgt. Johnson. I feel his death in the story was unnecessary and could have only been added for ‘death shock’ value towards the end of the trilogy.
DKTH3PUMA: “The story you described has been done over and over and over.”
Think for a minute about the ACTUAL plotline of Halo 3…enemies become friends and join forces to defeat a greater foe. How many times has that story-line been done before? I’m recommending a book for you called “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”…it’s a pretty good read on the re-telling of stories that we would never ever guess to be similar but all follow a similar fundamental structure.
On the subject of the flood: That’s a whole separate issue that would take a lot of time discussing…I think the storyline could’ve continued to do well in the Halo: CE premise: the humans and the covenant “teaming up” (in the sense that they both wish to destroy the flood) but while at the same time still waging war with one another.
Also: asking Angel on this subject is difficult, because she would never want the man to die who provides her with so many humorous cod-piece-only images around Christmas time (or any time)
Posted by -S- on October 1, 2008 at 11:43 am
about this subject* ….post fail
Posted by Deadguy on October 1, 2008 at 11:48 am
I thought a fullfilling ending might have been to kill off the masterchief, but in a manner similar to what happened in Halo 3. Have the Arbiter return to Earth saying “He was trapped in the other Galaxy. He went into hibernation for the very long trip home. He instructed Cortana to wake him when he’s needed.”
So that leaves the Arbiter and the Earth beleiving in his “legend” of returning one day, adding to the tragic truth known only by the player, and closes the storyline. Perhaps it also leaves an opening for another Spartan to assume the role, masquerading as the chief as the return of a legendary hero if a sequel was attempted. (as it will.. M$ wouldn’t be happy otherwise)
I agree with what was written above. I think if they’d left the Elites as they were, Halo 2 could have featured those Elites as being better adapted to dealing with the humans they fought. Much like they’d learned from past dealings and improved their strategies. It would have changed them enough to make it feel less like the same enemies. Plus the addition of Brutes would have also helped with that.
For those that complained about that.. did you get bored with the grunts? I didn’t.
As for the language thing.. I was under the impression that we understood what they were saying because the Masterchief’s onboard computers were learning to translate them, but no.. everyone just understands them now.
In Halo 3, the covenant COULD have been forced to join forces with the UNSC to destroy the flood and then perhaps promised to leave the humans alone.. for now.
Just because the Flood story was over, it didn’t mean we needed to dispose of the Covenant too.
Brutes? I’d agree that those guys were too caricatured in appearance. I often feel like I’m fighting some kind of cartoony elephant apes. Perhaps they might have served a role in part 2 as being “added squads” Then in Part 3, they might have helped us against the Flood in a sort of slow-brain fashion. The Elites were always our sworn enemies and probably should have stayed that way. I think we’ve killed enough of each other to hold a grudge.. I know I certainly held a grudge against a certain Gold Elite in Halo 1.
Oh and to answer why we never heard the covenant races being called by their true names.. Humans weren’t told their true names.. “grunts” etc were what the humans called them, they had no option to use the proper names. The prophets used the proper names for the races, but it seemed to fall apart at times as Grunts mentioned Jackals sometimes in their many lines of dialogue.
Posted by Mizzy on October 1, 2008 at 11:51 am
@Dakota: I don’t think the Grunts sided in Halo 3 possibly because the prophets threatened them in some way. It’s possible the ones that followed the Arbiter were only doing so because the prophets told them to, and only continued to remain so because being with the Arbiter gave them more of a chance at living than trying to betray him and have a nice plasma sword in their methane tanks. If the Arbiter died, they could simply claim cowardice and didn’t want to get killed.
As for the Hunters, who knows.
Posted by Zack on October 1, 2008 at 11:52 am
Actually, I pretty much agree with you
Remember those ads “Believe”?
They showed something that could be a great story ending
A massive battle, MC gives himself to the Covenant and throws a desicive, sacrificial, plasma ‘nade and ends the war
People ceremoniously bury him (since his body was desintegrated) and the battle site becomes a mark in human history forever
Posted by Dakota the Wolf on October 1, 2008 at 11:56 am
hmmm… i think Bungie should have put Cpt. Price in H3. His moustachioed-ness would have made it just that much greater xD
Posted by Dakota the Wolf on October 1, 2008 at 11:59 am
lol… and i agree with Mizzy, but as for the hunters? the only thing i can think of is that they waere split between the covenant an the elites, an that the ones fighting for the elites just didnt have a chance to make a guest appearence in H3….
Posted by DKTH3PUMA on October 1, 2008 at 12:57 pm
-S-
““The story you described has been done over and over and over.”
Think for a minute about the ACTUAL plotline of Halo 3…enemies become friends and join forces to defeat a greater foe. How many times has that story-line been done before? I’m recommending a book for you called “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”…it’s a pretty good read on the re-telling of stories that we would never ever guess to be similar but all follow a similar fundamental structure.”
Yes that is a plot line within the last half of Halo 2 and Halo 3. But that is not the Major plot line. The major plotline is the Flood and the eradication of life as a whole.
Also one thing that you seemingly forgot to mention was that fact that Dieing in battle for the spartans was not a glorious thing. John always battled his demons for letting his comrades die (ie SAM, Joshua, Fijhad, and so one. Failure was never an option for John, Death is a failure for the spartans. Ie Spartans never die, and he also never marked his Spartans as KIA Only MIA Giving them the mythology of being immortal warriors.
Who wants stories to end anyways..
Now granted there are things i would have changed with the story. nothing drastic but i want to know as much as i can about this universe. The universe you are proposing end with the death of the cheif.
If you wanted a a game where a hero rises up and just beats the bad guys into pulp your welcome to go play any world war II game out or any of the other first person shooters with generic heroes in it.
Bungies is actually taking a creative standpoint and not taking the easy route of just good vs evil
Posted by Jillybean on October 1, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I disagree a lot with this article. Lots of the points have already been commented on by the others in the thread. If I forget about my lit review long enough, I may post my counter argument :)
Posted by tobias grey on October 1, 2008 at 1:59 pm
The thought of mankind being able to defeat the entire Covenant is a little outlandish. Mankind was fighting a war against a numerically and technologically superior enemy whose origin was unknown. The only viable way manind would have been able to win the war was with a weapon like Halo itself which would have eradicated us as well. It would be different if we had made first contact and stired up the hornets nest but we didn’t. We were found and were attacked in a zealotous war that never allowed us to launch a broad counteroffensive of anykind.
The Elites in Halo CE should have been more extremist than in H2 or 3. At the time they were the undisputed gaurdians of the Covenant who were fighting for a relic that was the culmination of the quest that was started when the Covenant was founded. Of course they are going to be near suicidal in their attacks. By the time Halo 2 unfolded the Elites no longer held the same status as they had before.
I know you would have liked to completely discard the Civilwar but in an extremist society like the Covenant when a group fails, as completely as the Elites did, to uphold the tenants of the society they are frequently discarded altogether.
In reality to completely overhaul the dynamic of the story as you suggested I think it would require an complete redesign of the Human/Forerunner link. With the rapid discovery of so many major Forerunner artifacts, including the Monitors that know the true design of the Forerunner weapon plan, it would be impossible to keep the entire Covenant from discovering the lie that Truth had created in order to wage war on humanity. All fundementalist groups have some within their ranks that are not completely brainwashed and incapable of questioning the leadership. Especially when presented with evidence provided directly from a higher power.
While I will admit that it would have been conceivable for mankind to find a way to turn the tide of the war and fight back the Covenant with a drastic story change and the introduction of an advanced captured/discovered military technology that could be rapidly introduced and implemented in a wide scale to human naval forces. It would have taken decades if not ceturies to hunt down and eradicate the Covenant infastructure without the civil war. We would have needed to destroy every Phophet controlled installation throughput Covenant controlled space. Without the civil war all the Chief would have been able to provide would have been a major turning point in the war. Without the civil war any major human victory would just provide more fuel for the Covenant war machine to retaliate against mankind.
Finally in order for mankind to turn the tide the Flood could never have been introduced beyond Instalation 04. The Flood defeated the Forerunner the most advanced and dominant force that had existed in the galaxy. That was the story as presented in Halo CE. What chance would mankind have with the Flood still being in the story beyond Halo CE? To write the Flood out of the story would have required either never revisiting a Halo ring during the Covenant war or changing it so that the Flood were destroyed in Halo CE and the allusion at the end of the game would have been wrong in regards to the war being over with the Flood.
Posted by Scotty on October 1, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Well I agree with all the civil war being stupid stuff but one thing I would like to change in the entire story line is that it would explain more… Sometimes I feel so lost in the Halo Universe… I wish I could know more of what was happening and why!
Posted by CYBRFRK on October 1, 2008 at 3:14 pm
All good, really great, stories find an ending. A real stake in the ground ending that doesn’t shift with time nor end up reinventing itself. None of use (well some reading) were in the rooms as the stories were created, altered, and edited. We don’t know the real time-line for how events were “to-be”, so this is all hindsight and guesstimation.
The cliff-hanger (Halo2) was crafted only after being unable to finish the story the way Bungie wanted to. Altering the elites did not bother me as much as playing as one did.
Focus did shift, as Louis Wu stated, to the Flood and as such the other plot lines became secondary. To me this meant that the halo universe lost it’s appeal. The story building and player expansion was placed on hold in order to battle the ultimate evil, one driven by instinct alone.
At this point, to change anything would be pointless. It is what it is and the rest of the story fits around it. John should have drifted off, helmet separated, face unseen, exposed to the vacuum of space.
The ultimate hero gives the ultimate sacrifice!
My favorite ending of any show is the one presented by Michael Bay’s Armageddon. Microsoft and Bungie should have taken a page from that book.
Posted by Fezzer on October 1, 2008 at 4:29 pm
The ending of H3 was awesome. Emotional and compelling to any fan of the series.
I must say that I disagree with most of you POV. Your version is just not compelling or unique.
I think killing MC would have lost Bungie quite a chunk of fans. And to imply that Microsoft dictated the ending of H3 is going a little overboard. The story is the intellectual property of Bungie, not Microsoft. They ultimately decided what turns the story takes.
Posted by RC Master on October 1, 2008 at 4:30 pm
The Chief dying? Thats a ridiculous idea!
The only way to really ensure that the covenent were stopped in killing the humans while killing himself would be to activate the Halo rings. Number 1 thats stupid because thats what the Covenant have wanted all along, and number 2 that kills off all the other humans as well, which its John’s job to protect.
There are at least 7 species that make up the Covenant, with at least half a dozen home worlds. Billions and billions of members of each species! Unless you’re proposing that MC just went around completing obliterating all their homeworlds (counter genocide, awesome) no single act would stop the covenant.
Kill the leaders? they’ll just come after you harder in revenge!
All other possible eventualities just come off as pointless in my head (chief dies needlessly delivering proof to the covenant that the prophets are wrong and then we’re all friends?)
Plus, unless chief is there, still alive, after the act, how could he possibly know that his job was successful? He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t throw his life away just to kill a few a more. He certainly wouldn’t die intentially. And just dying accidentally sucks.
I mean, why would the UNSC, Cortana, or even the Chief himself send him on a suicide mission? He’s the best they’ve got, thats illogical.
Truth is, without the CCW, there was no hope in hell of the humans surviving for much longer. The Flood, the revelation of the true function of the Halo rings, this was needed to weaken the covenant from within. Then wipe out the brute and prophet leadership, and the Elites (now non-hosile) then seize control of the covenant (or whatever, just conjecture now).
In short: I disagree.
For me, the ending of Halo 3 was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Him, lying there in the drop pod, just as he was when we first saw him, it almost made me cry.
Sure, there are things along the way I would have changed, but the ending? not at all.
Posted by Torrent on October 1, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I agree that it would be a more dramatic, heartfelt moment if John had died. I would have even preferred this. His death would have left an indescribable feeling over the entire story.
The way Halo 3 ended felt much more intense to me, as though there was something we were missing. It didn’t feel quite as complete.
I also agree that we should have kept fighting against the elites. The brutes aren’t near as intimidating or intelligent, they felt more like a bullet sponge. The elites seemed to use advanced tactics, the ducking and weaving made them hard to hit, and even more challenging was the recharging energy shield. The brutes lack these features, they’re big, hulking apes with a lot of health.
Posted by Mondo Titan on October 1, 2008 at 5:04 pm
there are some really good points made in this discussion. i personally like that we were able to play as the Arbiter. i was always interested in the Covie side of things, and being Arby gave the prefect little peak into that world. in fact, some of my favorite parts of the books are when you get to see things from the p.o.v. of a grunt or Elite.
as for MC being alone: while one super-soldier is good, 4 are better. besides, why else do we play Co-op if not to have 2 MC’s going after an alien armada. kinda evens the odds alittle (from a buggillion to one, to half that)
“Well if the Brutes had existed this entire time, then what are the Elites?” -S-
it’s very possible that Bungie simply didnt expect the game to do as well as it did. the brutes were very likely an idea that was thought up one night while trying to make the game more interesting.
According to the storyline, they were simply the mussel that the Elites kept under foot until the first halo was blown up, and as someone said earlier, the Elites were used as a scapegoat. the Brutes would have jumped all over the idea of overtaking the Elites in a political role, giving more power to their race and allowing them to gain prestige (if you havent read Contact Harvest, please do. it offers much insight into the political structure of the Convenient, as well as the underdog role the Brutes had in the beginning of the war.) to echo something that was also said earlier, the Covies probably never expected the Humans to be that big of a threat on the first halo, so sending in the dumber underlings to try and stop the Humans was probably the plan they had. not the greatest plan, but they didnt see MC coming. :)
“Humans weren’t told their true names..”(with respects to the Alien names) -Deadguy
actually, the Naval Intelligence probably knew way more about the Covies then we’re ever lead to believe. For example, the second Halo. as far as we know, MC and the first group of Helljumpers were the first Humans to ever set foot onto that halo, and yet it is titled “Delta Halo”. this means that someone somewhere know a heck of a lot more about the Halos than poor Sgt. Johnson (chokes at the reference to a second halo). I would also think that the Humans would be trying to learn everything they could about the greatest enemy they had ever faced. the sheer thought of being able to translate messages, understand location references and know how many of what race would be where would be crucial to any attempt in fighting off an enemy.
and while the common soldier might not have know the actual names, it’s still easier to say “Elite” than “Sangheili” any day (especially in the middle of a fight). in fact, i would go so far as to bet that Covie weapons have some sort of strange sounding Covie name too (but we’ll probably never hear them).
Posted by bryan newman on October 1, 2008 at 7:07 pm
I think that the ending of H3 was perfect. I love the halos and Master chief is my favorite science fiction character of all time. If he had died i probably would have to go to therapy…Master chief anonymous or something like taht.
I think that the new story line for chief is that when the ship was ripped in half by the portal they somehow went backwards in time or some other science fiction bullshit.
Posted by uberschveinen on October 1, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Where were the Brutes for the first game? I think it can be explained well enough. You’ve got a massive ground war on Reach, with the traditional Covenant deployment of overwhelming force. Given the semi-guerilla nature of the fighting, the most tactically sensible thing to do would be to have the Brutes as the main ground forces, as they are extremely tough but not intelligent or fast, and the Elites as rapid-response backup. They’re faster and much more intelligent than the Brutes, making them far more suited to fighting the Spartans when they appear. Basically, Brutes storm the concentrations of defense the humans set up, Elites charge in whenever they’re needed. However, when the Pillar of Autumn escapes the Covenant armada, their response is, and must be, instant. There isn’t time to rally all their forces, and nor is it a sensible thing to do. They leave the ground forces, which are overwhelmingly Brutes, in place to finish off the resistance, and send a large portion of their fleet after the PoA, which would just so happen to contain the rapid response forces, the Elites. It may have even been intentional, I’m not sure if they knew John was on board. And then, before the slower-reacting Brute forces can arrive at Halo, it is destroyed. The events of the game take place over two or three days at most, and any large and unwieldy military force takes much longer than that to pack up and leave, advanced technology or not.
As for the Covenant Civil War plot, it is all a sensible follow-on from the events of Halo. I liked that there were extreme consequences for the loss of Halo, since it’s THE artifact in the Covenant religion, and evil or not they’re still going to be pissed off that it was destroyed. And then, a prophet is killed while under Elite guard. They’ve messed up horribly twice now, and their demotion is, while probably the result of political machinations as much as anything else, hardly an unexpected outcome. Their rebellion is also exactly what they would do when they are told their services are no longer required, and despite their centuries of tradition and successful guardianship, they are to be replaced by creatures they barely see as worth the air they breathe. In a culture where honour is everything, this is no less than a challenge to the honour of each and every living Elite. Could this have been told differently? I don’t see how you could tell this story without the Covenant perspective, and it makes it a more complete story rather than a generic one.
I would personally preferred had the Covenant schismed more realistically, though. No doubt some Elites would have continued to fight for the Prophet, and some of the other races would have split too. It is understandable that you don’t see Elites in Halo 3 fighting for the Covenant, as by then the loyalists could have been executed or imprisoned, as is common for psychotic fundamentalist groups. It still would have been nice to see one or two every level, just to offset the commonality of the Brutes. The Hunters you can understand why they don’t, since they only joined the Covenant for space travel and the Covenant controls the spaceways. The Grunts should have had plenty of rebels, given their rebellious nature, and that they undoubtedly appreciate the Elites that lead them. The Jackals would have had some that turned because they imagined the Elites would win and gambled on that.
The Flood storyline is the meat of the game, and I think it worked out well. The Gravemind is a magnificent bastard, always manipulating everyone he possibly can to further his ends. I imagine he even held off crushing the remaining forces of the enemies that defied him purely so they’d lead him to the Ark, the one way to stop him short of omnicide. You even see his at his egotistical best in Cortana, where he gets so angry he breaks his mask of overwhelming rationality and cold logic in sheer fury. The historical story presented in the terminals is quite excellent as well, following the overwhelming speed of a Flood infection, happening just as it does in the game. The Flood uses ambush tactics, sneaking into an area slowly and hopefully undetected, letting it be underestimated, then attacking and infecting from as many front at once, capturing as much of the enemy’s strength as it can, and using overwhelming force to deal with any actual threat. The tale of the Librarian is also interesting, though it pales in comparison to Mendicant Bias. The ultimate machine of war, built to eradicate the Flood, and coming very close to succeeding, until the Gravemind defeats it with the overwhelming logic of its position. You can’t wipe out the Flood, it will inevitably win. The difference between it winning now and later is an unknown number of omnicides versus merely one. The sheer simple logic of this position is so great the greatest AI ever built completely countermands its orders and its reason for existing to fight for it. The fight between the remainder of the Forerunner and Mendicant Bias as the Flood overwhelms the galaxy, and the Forerunner being forced to counteract their own morality and purpose in nurturing sentient life to save the chance that it may live in future. That, more than anything else, is what I believe killed the Forerunner. They could have rebuilt themselves, they had the numbers and the technology, but their racial imperatives have been horrifically subverted, their desire to protect the races of the galaxy ultimately being what doomed them. Bereft of a purpose and horrified at what they had done, necessary or not, they could no longer justify their own existence and chose to die. And finally, Mendicant Bias survives. He knows the logic of the Gravemind’s position, but having seen the horror of the Flood unleashed on world after world, and the desperation the sentient races go to survive, even preferring self-destruction to capture, he realises the extent of his betrayal and the suffering his actions have released. His atonement is to aid a warrior surprisingly similar to himself, but who has never betrayed his goals, to destroy the Gravemind and end, for now, the Flood threat.
I think John’s fate is, in fact, a better tragic end than merely death, especially when you consider the importance of Cortana as a character. John has saved the world, the human race, and the entire damned galaxy, and despite overwhelming odds, survived. But there are no victory parades, no celebrations and medals. Instead, what does the greatest hero of all time get as a reward for his heroism? He is lost in the darkness of space, trapped away from everything he fought for and protected, never to see how his actions have shaped the world. His fate is worse than mere death, because he is there to see it. Trapped at an unknown place between earth and the Ark, he will likely not be found for centuries, if indeed ever. He has been assumed dead, so they may not even be looking. And yet he doesn’t complain. He accepts this fate unquestioningly, and does his duty as a soldier, preserving himself to do his duty once more when that time has passed. He may be strong, smart, and ridiculously lucky, but John’s strongest character trait is his unflagging sense of duty. If his duty is to spend his life in the most harsh training environments man can create, so be it. If his duty is to charge, again and again, into situations so hopeless that suicide mission is an inadequate description, so be it. And if his duty is a living death, from which he may never awaken, so be it.
And this tragedy is even greater for Cortana. She has been instrumental in the fight against the Covenant and the Flood, and is at least if not more important than John. The two have worked together time and again to save the galaxy twice over, and she knowingly sacrificed herself to ensure the Flood’s destruction, only to fail at the very last. For her failure, she is captured by the Gravemind, and subjected for an unknown period of time to what is probably the AI equivalent of rape, but manages to hold out the crucial information, trusting that John will, somehow, rescue her, even though she knows there is little chance he will ever come. Her agonies are used to taught John as well, drawing him into a confrontation with the Gravemind just as it planned, but one that, against all odds, John survives and succeeds. Having held out so long so John could kill the Gravemind and stop the flood, and gone to heroic efforts to do so, she is now trapped in space, just as John is. Her fate is far worse, though, because she’s reaching the end of her lifespan as an AI, and for all she did for the galaxy, it has left her to fade into madness, alone in space, not even able to talk to the man who, in her own way, she loved. It is a bitter mirror-image of the end of the first Halo, the two flying, victorious, into the distance, except this time they’re not going home.
As for the story itself, it is not, in fact, a heroic saves-the-day story. If you have paid any attention, you’ll notice it is, in fact, a constant struggle for survival for mankind, than even when it wins, it loses more than it can afford. They fight successful rearguards for years to defend the colonies, but each time lose them, and countless men and women. They send the Spartans to fight, and each time they win, but each time it costs them the greatest fighters they have, and their only hope for the future. They fight on Halo, and manage a crushing victory and their first real win yet, a mere cruiser and crew wiping out an entire Covenant armada, but the cost has been the releasing of a threat far worse than the Covenant ever posed. Even now, at the hour of their greatest accomplishment, the Covenant shattered, the Flood destroyed, and an alliance with the Elites cemented in the fires of battle, they have lost more than ever. The Ark is crippled, and now cannot be reached for an unknown period of time. Any activation of the Halo system will now truly eradicate all sentient life, and without the immediate application of the Ark’s reseeding process, it may be forced to return naturally. More importantly, any activation now would be suicide, since there is no way to escape to the Ark. Why does this matter? The Flood are, without any doubt, still out there. Was it not strange that despite having captured multiple ships in the Battle of High Charity, the Gravemind only attacks with one ship, and High Charity itself? The simple logic, confirmed by the special edition bestiary, is that the Gravemind has, in fact, scattered the other superluminal ships across the galaxy, to find and infest other sentient races. They are spreading, they cannot be rooted out, and there is now only one way to stop them. The races as they are have nowhere near the might and genius of the Forerunner, and even they failed to beat the Flood in a straight fight. No, when the Flood come once again, there is only one option; to activate the rings. The galaxy is now in a race against time. The only chance the races have for survival is that it will take the Flood long enough to find enough sentient biomass to build a Gravemind, and subsequently to amass enough FTL-capable ships to mount a successful assault on humanity and the former Covenant races, that the Ark will be repaired, the portal can be accessed, and the galaxy reseeded afterwards. Anything else, and the races of the galaxy have to choose between being subsumed into the Flood, or wiping out themselves and everyone else, to stop the Flood again, and give sentient life the possibility of existing again. They aren’t even going to be in as good a position as the Forerunner were, as the million of years it will take for the new races to emerge, find spaceflight, and inevitably unleash the flood again, any warning they can create now will have long-since been lost.
This is, I believe, where the next Halo universe game should pick up. This will be a space fighting game, since there are never enough, Wing Commander style. It is less than a century into the future, and the surviving races are in conflict. All the client races of the Covenant have been left to determine their own destinies, and infighting has resulted. Humanity has bolstered its earth defenses as far as is possible, and recolonised as much as it can. There is now a strong alliance between then and the Elites, and the military force the two can bring has brought some measure of peace to the galaxy. However, there is another conflict. There is furious debate over dismantling many of the defenses around Earth, expensive as they are, over whether or not the Flood will return. They are the only threat that warrants their continued existence. Some say they won’t return, and they are a waste, others that by the time they return humanity will have been long extinct, or gone post-physical. Others argue that they will be back, and soon.
And then the first Flood are found.
An exploratory vessel finds a Flood-contaminated planet. It runs back to warn the galaxy, but is tracked by a Flood ship. The Flood ship is easily obliterated, but now it knows where its old enemies are hiding. The galaxy is embroiled in panic, as the races react. Some advocate banding together, namely the Elites, to defend the most defensible worlds and abandon all others. Others, that each race fights for itself, particularly the Lekgolo, who are not threatened by the Flood. Many argue for flight, because the Flood cannot be beaten. Humanity, of course, argues that the flood cannot be beaten or escaped from, and that the best hope for them all is to amass all their forces on Earth, and defend it until the Ark is repaired and the portal can be reopened. The conflict this causes spills over into violence, and then war. The battle for the superior method becomes fierce, and the Flood are forgotten, and this battle takes up most of the first game. Near the end of the first, the Flood assault proper starts, in overwhelming force, and the races of the galaxy realise how very wrong they have all been. The final mission of the game is an escape from a massive Flood attack, the vanguard of the true invasion.
The next game of the three starts months later, when the Flood have made massive headway. Most races have been pushed back to the very core of their civilisations, mercilessly pressed. They have banded together at last, but the losses from infighting have been telling, and they are losing, badly. The Humans and Elites have withdrawn completely to their homeworlds, most of their defenses focused on protecting Earth and the portal, which has still not opened. Some fear that the Ark is lost, and that the rings must be activated now, and many agree. Others have fled, or been slaughtered or captured. Halfway through the game, the Flood assault reaches the tipping point, and it becomes obvious loss is inevitable. Earth is the last stronghold, defended desperately by all the races, in the hopes the portal is reactivated. At this point John’s cryopod is at last found, and with it the only accurate record of the Ark’s actual location. A desperate plan is hatched, to break the impenetrable Flood siege of earth by putting the greatest ships together into two fleets, and sacrificing all defense and Earth to break them through the Flood lines. One flight, the larger ships, is loaded with the best and brightest survivors of all the races and all the information they have ever assembled, who will flee as fast as they can to the Ark, and eventually use it, once repaired, to reseed the galaxy. The other, the player one and more martially-oriented, is to charge through the Flood host, find the nearest ring, defeat the heavy Flood guard on it, and fire the rings.
I think the more appropriate ending, and the one with more finality, is for the flight to the ring to find that the flight to the Ark has failed. Either the ships were destroyed, or the Ark itself is lost. Then, the survivors of the mission must make the choice to sacrifice all life in the galaxy to give it the chance to grow once again. I’m not sure that’s a saleable ending for a game, though, since the entire medium is remarkably short on everybody dies endings, necessary sacrifice or not.
Posted by Cruji on October 2, 2008 at 12:25 am
its amazing how deep a story can move us, just reading this responses, makes me think of thanking even more to the masterminds in bungie, thanks guys!
by the way, the world domination is now almost at hand!
Posted by Dibs on October 2, 2008 at 5:50 am
Did the story really even end at all? I mean, the brutes are still out there. They’re missing a prophet, but still… they’re pretty ticked. Not to mention, that if they destroyed the arc and disabled the halos, how exactly does that stop the flood already on Earth? Earth was out of range anyway, so there’s still flood on earth, and the brutes are still out there… so we still have to finish the fight!
Posted by Ken Raves on October 2, 2008 at 7:14 am
While the inner gan of me wants to brutally murder this guy, I can’t help but agree. I kinda would have perferred it if chief died. If Johnson ad to die, Miranda, then the chief could have died just as easily. Nothing would have shown more that this was our last fight, then our hero falling.
And besides; it would have been a powerful cutscene. ;D
Posted by Ken Raves on October 2, 2008 at 7:14 am
WHY ARE PEOPLE SAYING THAT JOHN IS THE LAST SPARTAN!? HE ISN’T!
Posted by Chickenlittle on October 2, 2008 at 11:39 am
I agree with the gist of what you’re saying.
I also believe that not giving the player the chance to be the Arbiter would have been a benefit. However, it would also leave room for a Covenant Civil War to actually take place, with the Elites kicking the Brutes’ asses.
When Elites were changed and the Brutes were added, I felt disappointed, like you did. They were no longer these dominating, aggressive coldblooded killers, but your average enemy. The Brutes were just plain annoying, only dying by headshot or a ton of bullets.
Posted by Dan on October 2, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Your arguments are fallacious. In the Halo story line we could not have won due the humans being severely at a loss with technology and man power. A new super weapon would have been trite. The civil war was definitely not an easy way out.
Also, the screwed up the matrix with the hero dying to save everyone. The wachoski Bros. already admitted the ending should have been different because most people didn’t like. Why make that same mistake with MC? I agree MC should not be around but solely so MS can’t beat a dead horse.
Posted by Arithmomaniac on October 2, 2008 at 2:36 pm
A few disconnected thoughts…
I do have to agree with the sentiment that the Civil War was a cheap way out – the novels are littered with references to how human ingenuity was what they had over the Covenant – implying that they’d win the war this way.
But without a Covenant Civil War, what could a whole series be about? Halo 1 only worked as a one-sided conflict because it needed no resolution. But how would you make the Flood interesting without the Gravemind? If you have it, how would humanity defeat it while fighting the Covenant at the same time? Any plotline without Elite help would be hopelessly contrived in order to produce a victory.
Also, the Halo plot left so many questions open, it would have been a pity to turn it into more of a “space opera” than people already allege it to be. As anyone at Ascendant Justice could point out, it is the complexity and beauty of the plot – and not its straight save-Earth heroism – that makes it enjoyable.
Posted by SuicidalKanoka on October 2, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I have no problem with the exiting story line (other than the side emphasis on luck, but I don’t write the story), nor with MS continuing the series, so long as the story and game play are enjoyable. (I feel the Civil Wars were sufficiently justified and the parable of not blindly following a leader is valuable.)
As for the MC dying, some people die for their cause, others live for it. I think that Bungie wanted to write a story that is cause for inspiration, not a fable for the bookshelf. The end of one’s struggle should not be the end of one’s life; if you have accomplished your purpose, forge a new one.
Posted by Ghosty on October 2, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I never played the first halo game, but have done what I could to fill in the gaps by reading the novels and then immersing myself in halo2 and halo3. I definately agree with people who enjoyed the overall storyline. I for one found it rather annoying to constantly face the same enemies. So the arbiter switch in H2 really did throw me, and I enjoyed that storyline immensely, my only gripe in that regard is the fact you dont get more of it in halo 3. I am afraid of seeing too many sequels to a game that drive the story into the ground for sake of making a few more dollars, but i’m also giddy at the thought there is still more of the halo universe to discover. Its not out of the realm of possibility that maybe there is something else out there that just kept to itself and was never found by the covenant or us. With such solid foundations and canon material to work from, the halo universe is far from dried up. I personally would be interested in seeing more games that expand on the various viewpoints, or even tell a story involving some of the other remaining spartans.
Posted by A(lex) Ha on October 2, 2008 at 9:19 pm
THis is great, in its adherence to the hero who disappears in the sun(set.. bright glowing object, anyone?).
But having never been able to purchase and /or play any of these (Microsoft is anti-Mac), I can only go by halo.bungie.org’s (and these) links.
The 3rd Halo game (nearly video-only suggests no continuing franchise to me as of yet) has 4 Sides to its conflict. The 2nd has 3. So of course the 1st has 2. The Flood are there, 1 and 2, just not able to fully threaten any of the other sides.
So there is a definite need to have a Brutes vs. Elites segregation within the continuing, expanding Covenant – otherwise, either Covenant or Humanity would beat the other, then be consumed.
Posted by BTSculptor on February 20, 2009 at 7:36 pm
I’ve never understood why heroes have to be tragic. I was GLAD that Harry potter didn’t die, nor did Tony Soprano, for that matter. And I’m glad that John didn’t die. I haven’t yet read any of the novels, so have always accepted that he’s the last Spartan. I want Halo IV to come out with Master Chief, not some ODST. I consider ODST to be Halo 3.75 – it won’t be a full upgrade till John is awakened. And have the Covenant’s basic principals changed, or just the short-term goal that was thwarted in Halo 3? Whether John & Arby are BFF now, there is still a war between humans and Covenant, until I see a peace treaty. And remember, Flood infect easily and absolutely. Was enough of Earth glassed in 3? There’s a LOT of story, as the novels and graphic novels show – I want to play it without a twelve-year-old shooting me in the head when I re-spawn in a predictable spot on a small map.
Posted by Ronnie Alvarez on October 12, 2009 at 8:48 pm
We need a new hero on of these days besides of Master cheif or called a new unit Master Shock trooper.