ElRenoRaven
Member
I dunno. 343 had some damn amazing skyboxes in this game. I'd still give the edge to Bungie but 343 stepped up their game there without a doubt. Course they stepped up their game in every little part of the game.
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SPOILER ALERT: Halo 5 (Spoiler) Spoiler Thread of Spoilers Spoiler
- Thread starter Shadow_Lord
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I dunno. 343 had some damn amazing skyboxes in this game. I'd still give the edge to Bungie but 343 stepped up their game there without a doubt. Course they stepped up their game in every little part of the game.
SaganIsGOAT
Junior Member
Not gonna lie, I'm really disappointed that we are dealing with Cortana again. Halo 3 we fight to find her, Halo 4 we fight to save her, Halo 5 we fight to stop her. Just kind of over Cortana as a character I guess. But who knows, she's probably just a puppet for the precursors
it does. its not even nearly as bad as it sounds in a short summary
not sure why you would read one before starting campaign anyways
I don't think the AIs were ever meant to take over. The EU books and even the Didact himself in Halo 4 spoke of humanity obtaining the mantle. That's something Cortana and the Warden should've known, so somethings up.
That's especially true of the mention of "the Created" taking the Mantle, since the Created is actually referring to the Precursors's created, a.k.a. humanity.
Cortana might also be allowed to do what she does because she's a map of Halsey's mind and might be recognized as human in some way by the Domain.
yeah i dont think were gonna fight cortana for a whole game. something forerunner or possibly precursor related is gonna happen
I fucking love the fact that Cortana is the main antagonist in the game. It's something my friend and I would spitball back in the Halo 3 days and laughed it off. But to actually see it is something else.
Anyways, this game's story feels a lot like Halo 2, and for me that doesn't seem like a bad thing. I could tell it was headed for a cliffhanger when we just go the Genesis as Osiris so late in the game, but it still managed to wrap up nicely despite it.
I'm down for more Team Osiris if they do them more in the future. I like Locke, even if he is boring, but he's a straight man so I can deal with it. Really bummed that his only has 3 levels as Blue Team, but at least I got to see Chief and Locke duke it out.
Also, Cortana looks funky here.
Anyways, this game's story feels a lot like Halo 2, and for me that doesn't seem like a bad thing. I could tell it was headed for a cliffhanger when we just go the Genesis as Osiris so late in the game, but it still managed to wrap up nicely despite it.
I'm down for more Team Osiris if they do them more in the future. I like Locke, even if he is boring, but he's a straight man so I can deal with it. Really bummed that his only has 3 levels as Blue Team, but at least I got to see Chief and Locke duke it out.
Also, Cortana looks funky here.
SaganIsGOAT
Junior Member
This three warden battle is so bad. God dammit
Really? I fucking loved it. Just glad that we didn't have to fight him as Osiris-AGAIN.
Pattycakes
Banned
That fight is so bad on legendary. Even playing with my friend, its still hard as helll. I wanted to play Halo, not Dark Souls: Space.
Also, the ending is just laughably bad. Of course Cortana had to be a villan. No, we couldn't just leave her dead and give the ending of Halo 4 proper weight like we promised to do. That would make too much sense. Sometimes I think 343 has finally pulled it all together, and then they do something like this. At least the MP of this game is fantastic.
So I just listened to the HunttheTruth finale, and the writing and performances were phenominal.
I bring that up to say this, it would have been really nice if 343i would have chosen to use Halo5 focus on the Post-Coventant-war power grab going on in the universe before diving into the Cortana/Gaurdians plot
I think they just missed an opportunity to dive deeper into the tense relationships between the former covenant species, ONI/UNSC, and the human colony worlds.
Having a game that did this would have given 343i a chance to familiarize gamers with Blue Team and maybe even Osiris as it followed the Day-to-Day working of Spartan teams tasked with maintaining order in the Galaxy.
The civil war on Sanghelios and the Brewing war between colonists and the UNSC could have lead to some interesting encounters, especially with insurrections coming into the fold.
They also could have taken the time to allow fans of the games to get caught up on things like the Domain, the Mantle and Ancient Humanity. They even could have left threads that suggested "Cortana's" survival.
All in all, I don't think Halo5's premise is bad. But the execution was. We didn't get enough time to build up to what was happening. I got a feeling that this particular story would have been better told later down the road.
I bring that up to say this, it would have been really nice if 343i would have chosen to use Halo5 focus on the Post-Coventant-war power grab going on in the universe before diving into the Cortana/Gaurdians plot
I think they just missed an opportunity to dive deeper into the tense relationships between the former covenant species, ONI/UNSC, and the human colony worlds.
Having a game that did this would have given 343i a chance to familiarize gamers with Blue Team and maybe even Osiris as it followed the Day-to-Day working of Spartan teams tasked with maintaining order in the Galaxy.
The civil war on Sanghelios and the Brewing war between colonists and the UNSC could have lead to some interesting encounters, especially with insurrections coming into the fold.
They also could have taken the time to allow fans of the games to get caught up on things like the Domain, the Mantle and Ancient Humanity. They even could have left threads that suggested "Cortana's" survival.
All in all, I don't think Halo5's premise is bad. But the execution was. We didn't get enough time to build up to what was happening. I got a feeling that this particular story would have been better told later down the road.
I thought it was an improvement over Halo 4
Doug Heffernan
Member
Does Master Chief walk around a desert while wearing a cloak at any point in this game?
If not, then how in the hell does that 2013 trailer relate to the finished product? They even made a fucking toy with the chief cloak!
If not, then how in the hell does that 2013 trailer relate to the finished product? They even made a fucking toy with the chief cloak!
Kor of Memory
Member
The body shape is an improvement, but the armor and the face and the hair are definitely downgrades.
opinions
PerezDeCorcho
Member
I literally face palmed when Cortana said "Mister Locke"... She sounds like a comical Bond villain now.
Oh man...
Oh man...
Lol I loved that and when she starts taunting Osiris at the end.
Spoilers...So I beat the game. Story wasn't anything to write about. Had trouble paying attention. For some reason Cortina was programmed to be evil or wants to kill suddenly, idk. Not much to spoil. I mean it's not clever either way. A child could come up with better ideas. Everyone lives, no real threat as far as I noticed. I wanted someone to die or something cool to happen. You really need to be a book worm to care about the space opera chatter. It's all a blur to me.
I guess I enjoyed it mostly for the shooting and graphics. Got repetitious and bland during the third act. Waves of robots tossed around. Ammo got more and more harder to find. At times where I needed to kill more powerful enemies, ammo got real low. Real disappointing that there is no matchmaking for co-op. It's an ok game to add to my Halo collection. Pretty routine, mindless action. No intelligent game design. Halo 2 anniversary is still king of the series. Wish I waited though and got Battlefront instead of this.
I guess I enjoyed it mostly for the shooting and graphics. Got repetitious and bland during the third act. Waves of robots tossed around. Ammo got more and more harder to find. At times where I needed to kill more powerful enemies, ammo got real low. Real disappointing that there is no matchmaking for co-op. It's an ok game to add to my Halo collection. Pretty routine, mindless action. No intelligent game design. Halo 2 anniversary is still king of the series. Wish I waited though and got Battlefront instead of this.
You won me with "waifu" and "Bionicle".
Yeah, stereotypical villain tone. I think she is programmed and they are waiting for Halo 6 to make her good again.
spootime
Member
I think whats surprising about halo 5 is just HOW bad the story is. If it was kinda bad like halo 4 then I would probably just accept it. Everything else about the campaign is pretty great. Good setpieces, graphics are amazing, fun fights, etc. I actually liked the warden eternal fights.
But GOD DAMN is this story fucking terrible. Its a huge slap in the face to anyone who cares even remotely about the halo expanded universe and story. Dialogue, exposition, everything about it is just fucking horrific.
edit: I think this is more of a place for story discussion but the AI seems to be worse than halo ce?
But GOD DAMN is this story fucking terrible. Its a huge slap in the face to anyone who cares even remotely about the halo expanded universe and story. Dialogue, exposition, everything about it is just fucking horrific.
edit: I think this is more of a place for story discussion but the AI seems to be worse than halo ce?
In Halo 6 MC is going to be a member of Locke's squad and he'll be Locke's bitch.
"Kill that grunt for me"
"Yes, Mister Locke. Thank you, Mister Locke"
Only 3 levels of MC, though, 343? What the hell? I was excited about blue team finally being in a game and we never actually got to play with them enough to learn what kind of characters they are. The only person who has a personality in this game is Buck and Master Chief, all the other spartans are just kind of there.
After playing the game can anyone really say a characteristic of Tanaka, Vale, Linda, Fred, Locke (aside from boring) and Kelly?
"Kill that grunt for me"
"Yes, Mister Locke. Thank you, Mister Locke"
Only 3 levels of MC, though, 343? What the hell? I was excited about blue team finally being in a game and we never actually got to play with them enough to learn what kind of characters they are. The only person who has a personality in this game is Buck and Master Chief, all the other spartans are just kind of there.
After playing the game can anyone really say a characteristic of Tanaka, Vale, Linda, Fred, Locke (aside from boring) and Kelly?
Megabyte117
Member
I guess the story really was that polarizing, to read the comments here. I actually loved it - it was an incredible improvement over 4's story, which felt really barebones to me and had very few relevant characters. The inclusion of Sanghelios was great and I thought the development of Osiris was fairly natural.
yeah they introduce blue team only to give them an astronomically small part of the game. its baffling really id love to know who came to that dumb decision
Vale is a smug nerd. Locke is suspiciously polite, I think he might have ass-kissed his way into the Spartan program. As for the rest... no idea, but Blue Team was always like that, mostly defined by their speciality in combat (and those Osiris dorks don't even have that)
LightningXCE
Member
MASSIVE ODST feels here, I'd love to see that atmosphere revisited... :'(
super-heated plasma
Member
So I just beat the game. I really liked the story. My only issue with it is, with all these AI's suddenly turning on humanity, surely the programmers would have put in a kill switch for every AI that's made, just in case one does go crazy. So why doesn't the UNSC just start flipping switches and turning them off?
Or maybe I missed something?
Or maybe I missed something?
Imperial Hot
Banned
The kill switch was that they would naturally die due to rampancy in about seven years.
SaganIsGOAT
Junior Member
Cortana should have stayed dead. Feels so creatively bankrupt to revolve yet ANOTHER halo game around her... And yay halo 6 will too! This universe is huge, I figured it wouldn't be Cortana....
Absolutely flat out loved the story. I wish I could say the same for the shooty bits.
I believe all those AIs have joined Cortana in the Domain, so there's nothing the UNSC can do to kill them. And if there were any programmatic kill switches (like Asimov's laws for robots), I'm not sure this mission would trip them. Remember, to the AIs, what they are doing will ensure humanity's survival for thousands of years.
I believe all those AIs have joined Cortana in the Domain, so there's nothing the UNSC can do to kill them. And if there were any programmatic kill switches (like Asimov's laws for robots), I'm not sure this mission would trip them. Remember, to the AIs, what they are doing will ensure humanity's survival for thousands of years.
Exuberant Witness (Genesis Monitor) mentioned Cortana is behaving more and more human, which probably shows how cloning a human's brain into an AI is a bad idea long term wise.
The story isn't necessarily bad. If anything history is repeating itself. What Cortana is doing is exactly what happened with Mendicant Bias as well as Forerunners sending Precursors to extinction. The problem was the story should have been expanded more with Blue Team and had another Boss other than Warden.
It's not a slap to the face for people who love Halo lore. You're taking it out of context imo. I haven't played the game but I watched all the cutscenes and understood what 343 was doing with the plot. And besides, the fact part of Didact's ship survived a HAVOK nuke through an emergency slipspace (which Cortana mentioned to Chief on Genesis) and brought the Didact back, I'm not surprised she survived considering her clones were still in the ship's system, while the real Cortana kept John alive. So it's not even the Cortana we know, it's most likely a clone that was supposedly cured of rampancy.
What about?
Cortana survived, she got the mantle.
Instead of destroying it or not using it, she decided to bring peace to the universe by using the mantle. This meant that everyone would need to be submissive or the guardians would destroy them.
Forerunners have crazy synthetic tech so she created a body for herself.
MC knows that her plan is fucked up since it's already killing tons of people and would kill billions more. He wants to stop her.
Cortana wanted to freeze Blue Team then would wake them up once the galaxy is peaceful to show them that her plan worked out.
She recruits all the AIs to help her with the mantle, all but one join her.
MC is rescued and I believe her plan doesn't go completely according to plan but the AIs still joined her and she still has excess to the guardians.
Infinite knows it can't take on Cortana so they run away.
"We'll finish this fight on September 25 2017"
TheChundertaker
Member
Decided to just read the spoilers because I've been pretty tepid on this game after being disappointed by Halo 4. I'm not sure what to think of this. Is the story actually presented well? How long is it compared to the other Halos? Seems like an interesting direction but I feel it all depends on how well 343 presents it.
PooBone
Member
This game is miles better than Halo 4, but the boss fights are a pile of dung, gameplay wise, and why the fuck do we only get to spend 3 out of 15 levels playing as the Master Chief?
PooBone
Member
It's even worse than the Halo 2 boss battles, which was about as fun as someone wiping their ass with your nose.
BeforeU
Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
interesting. reading this doesn't seem that bad.
PetulantChild
Banned
I've finished the Campaign twice now, and I seriously don't get what the fuck 343 was thinking with the story. Why bring in Blue Team, something that the fans have wanted forever, only to make it so we only get to play as them for like one hour? Seriously why? Why bring Cortana back? Why hype up the Locke/Chief dynamic when it's literally fucking nothing? Why set it up so in Halo 6 Humans will be fighting the equivalent of a god? Why introduce an antagonist who doesn't even want to hurt you? Seriously, what the fuck where they thinking?
ToyMachine228
Member
I think Cortana as the big bad worked just fine but what really bothers me is that then plot didn't really go anywhere and there's so many other things in the Halo universe I want to see explored.
- What's going on with Brutes
- What's going on with the Flood
- Other living Forerunners. Actual Forerunners, not Prometheans.
- Precursors
- Engineers
I guess what bothers me the most is that I was really excited that Halo 4 opened up the Forerunners to us. I always wanted to know more and Halo 4 had that great sense of wonder that Halo: CE did.
What the Forerunners have devolved into in Halo 5 is...Well, there was only one alive and we have this special interwebs and here's some robots left over to fight you because...because why? Seriously, at this point, why are the Prometheans fighting? Mayne for Cortana? Even so though, that's extremely disappointing. The Forerunners were a very deep and powerful race so to see them represented in the games as just another enemy type for variation in combat and little to no actual purpose within Halo's narrative is disappointing.
Also, never seeing the Guardians in action is a huge let down.
Again, it's not that Halo's story is bad it's just hard to swallow that this is what was chosen as the story to tell when there are so many other great things waiting to be explored in the universe.
- What's going on with Brutes
- What's going on with the Flood
- Other living Forerunners. Actual Forerunners, not Prometheans.
- Precursors
- Engineers
I guess what bothers me the most is that I was really excited that Halo 4 opened up the Forerunners to us. I always wanted to know more and Halo 4 had that great sense of wonder that Halo: CE did.
What the Forerunners have devolved into in Halo 5 is...Well, there was only one alive and we have this special interwebs and here's some robots left over to fight you because...because why? Seriously, at this point, why are the Prometheans fighting? Mayne for Cortana? Even so though, that's extremely disappointing. The Forerunners were a very deep and powerful race so to see them represented in the games as just another enemy type for variation in combat and little to no actual purpose within Halo's narrative is disappointing.
Also, never seeing the Guardians in action is a huge let down.
Again, it's not that Halo's story is bad it's just hard to swallow that this is what was chosen as the story to tell when there are so many other great things waiting to be explored in the universe.
Twilight Gap
Member
The one on Reunion is kinda cool, but the others lol
That last one was ragequit material.
spootime
Member
Why do you think I have an issue with the fact that she survived? Everything you said is true, but the story is complete shit regardless
Twilight Gap
Member
I'm okay with the fact that Cortana survived, but I don't like that she's basically Evil AI Jesus or something now. Her role could be replaced with Blue Team being in the game but they had to revive her and make her a bad guy. Why?
I think 343 already pulled the "Chief is the chose one" plot last game too.
I think 343 already pulled the "Chief is the chose one" plot last game too.
So is it true that you need to be really invested in the Halo universe and have read a lot of the books/EU stuff to get the most out of the story? I remember that being kind of the case with 4, and I saw someone say it's true even moreso here. I really want to play it (even though I've spoiled the story for myself and didn't really like what I read about it), but I've never been heavily invested into the Halo universe.
Basically, I'm asking because I'm thinking of picking up an Xbox One in December with MCC and this and just marathoning the series, but I want to know if I'll need to do supplemental reading too. I feel like it'd be a rewarding universe to know in depth, but I feel like it may just be too big at this point for me to dive in.
Basically, I'm asking because I'm thinking of picking up an Xbox One in December with MCC and this and just marathoning the series, but I want to know if I'll need to do supplemental reading too. I feel like it'd be a rewarding universe to know in depth, but I feel like it may just be too big at this point for me to dive in.
What you think about the way it's presented will probably depend on your willingness to accept its new protagonists. You no longer play the single most important person in the galaxy. Most of its major events happen in the background or due to circumstances beyond your control, so you end up getting involved in other people's conflicts as you attempt to solve an unrelated mystery. It's kinda neat, it makes the story feel like it actually takes place in a much larger universe where wars aren't won by killing a boss creature or stabbing an old man in a floating wheelchair.
I thought the story was really interesting. The writing isn't great (at least it's better than 4's), but most of its story beats are effectively executed.
The campaign took me almost exactly 9 hours on Heroic, which is the same as most Haloes, but some of that was padded out by searching every nook and cranny for audio logs and listening to (really entertaining) NPC banter in its three non-combat missions. If you cut that out, it would be shorter than your usual Halo, but you also don't spend as much time repeating checkpoints due to the new revive mechanic.
tiredheadcrab
Member
Why do some of you guys bring up the precursors? I dont remember them being mentioned in Halo 5.
Halo 6 will be an interesting game. With the Guardians being this super weapons, the AI's all taking Cortana's side, Cortana herself, and for whatever reason a Halo ring being activated. I wonder if the Flood will return in Halo 6.
Halo 6 will be an interesting game. With the Guardians being this super weapons, the AI's all taking Cortana's side, Cortana herself, and for whatever reason a Halo ring being activated. I wonder if the Flood will return in Halo 6.
Nope, being invested in the books will help you make links about existing concepts like Cortana, but nothing else. Doesn't explain the Warden at all.
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