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SPOILER ALERT: Halo 5 (Spoiler) Spoiler Thread of Spoilers Spoiler

I want Master Chef Pretty Officer and Curtanya to make little sportan-5 babbies

ckB8MH0.gif
 

wuruochong

Neo Member
ODST was a very good game and it didn't have Chief or Cortana. Same with Reach.

I'm fine with the series moving on to a completely new set of characters, but I think a Halo game featuring Master Chief as the main character won't fly without Cortana in some way shape or form since so much of Chief's character is connected to her. Without Cortana he'll just be more of a machine than he already is.

So until the 343 guys decide to kill off / retire Master Chief and move the series on with Locke or something I don't think Cortana is going to be absent.
 
Someone on 4chan was posting screen caps and a video of a Chief / Locke fight where the end result is Chief 'wins' (ie. beats Locke and doesn't get shot) and then walks through a teleporter.
 

greenleafcm

Neo Member
I'm fine with the series moving on to a completely new set of characters, but I think a Halo game featuring Master Chief as the main character won't fly without Cortana in some way shape or form since so much of Chief's character is connected to her. Without Cortana he'll just be more of a machine than he already is.

So until the 343 guys decide to kill off / retire Master Chief and move the series on with Locke or something I don't think Cortana is going to be absent.
If you've read any of the books you would know that's the farthest thing from the truth. The only reason people think that about the Chief is because Bungie wanted him to be a blank slate and had Cortina do all the talking in the games. In the novels though, the Chief is his own person. Who started out as a rambunctious and selfish child that eventually grew into a leader - and later a reserved but thoughtful man who cares deeply for his fellow Spartans and thinks his duty as a solder is the highest honor. He knows his teammates inside and out as they do him. This was established since the very first chapter of 'The Fall of Reach'. That's literally the point of having Blue Team in the games now. They're also a huge part of the foundation of what his character is and why he is the way he is. And they can help explore the Chief in ways Cortana never could.

Unfortunately the cold hard fact is that 343i still apparently couldn't make that leap completely and actually move forward with the series...so now we have an evil!Cortana instead of honoring her peaceful passing in 'Halo 4'. You say you don't like 'Halo 5's plot? Well the likely reason we've reached this point is because of that erroneous thinking that "it's not Halo without Cortana". And to meet that demand they're now shoving her character back into the story in a totally obtuse way while also hamstringing the Chief's development and the development of all the characters around him. So yeah, looks like Cortana will still be around as long as the Chief after all...but is this really better than allowing her to bow out on her own terms like she was set to do in 'Halo 4'? I say no.
 
Based on what we know, I'm assuming Meridian Station or Unconfirmed (forget the level order) ends with Chief and Locke meeting face-to-face in some lava cave housing a Forerunner artifact / teleporter Chief and pals plan on using. Locke gets schooled, Chief enters the portal without having to face the consequences of the Guardian and/or the teleportation itself causing some type of disturbance, which is what prompts Locke and company to start the evacuation.
 

greenleafcm

Neo Member
Someone on 4chan was posting screen caps and a video of a Chief / Locke fight where the end result is Chief 'wins' (ie. beats Locke and doesn't get shot) and then walks through a teleporter.
Well that should please the more rabid fanboys at least. I've seen lots of people whining about Locke possibly winning the fight.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Cortana's back? Great stuff.

I don't see why she had to die in the first place personally, it left a bad taste in my mouth even more so than Halo 4 had already done. But now that she's back, i'm assuming she will be returned to Chief eventually somehow.

Chief isn't Chief without Cortana around. That's the lore Bungie set and how the games were written. I don't play games expecting me to care about outside expanded universe content, and Bungie never wrote their games confined to such things like the novels either.
 

greenleafcm

Neo Member
*writes two whole paragraphs about the Chief's character development and how it's heavily tied to the extended universe and why making Cortana a necessity does more harm than good*

*looks four posts down*

120.jpg
 
If you've read any of the books you would know that's the farthest thing from the truth. The only reason people think that about the Chief is because Bungie wanted him to be a blank slate and had Cortina do all the talking in the games. In the novels though, the Chief is his own person. Who started out as a rambunctious and selfish child that eventually grew into a leader - and later a reserved but thoughtful man who cares deeply for his fellow Spartans and thinks his duty as a solder is the highest honor. He knows his teammates inside and out as they do him. This was established since the very first chapter of 'The Fall of Reach'. That's literally the point of having Blue Team in the games now. They're also a huge part of the foundation of what his character is and why he is the way he is. And they can help explore the Chief in ways Cortana never could.

Unfortunately the cold hard fact is that 343i still apparently couldn't make that leap completely and actually move forward with the series...so now we have an evil!Cortana instead of honoring her peaceful passing in 'Halo 4'. You say you don't like 'Halo 5's plot? Well the likely reason we've reached this point is because of that erroneous thinking that "it's not Halo without Cortana". And to meet that demand they're now shoving her character back into the story in a totally obtuse way while also hamstringing the Chief's development and the development of all the characters around him. So yeah, looks like Cortana will still be around as long as the Chief after all...but is this really better than allowing her to bow out on her own terms like she was set to do in 'Halo 4'? I say no.

Great write-up. Totally agree. After being gut-punched by MGSV's twist, I'm really praying that whatever happens in Halo 5 isn't as bad. Or at least is executed semi-decently.
 

XAL

Member
I'm fine with the series moving on to a completely new set of characters, but I think a Halo game featuring Master Chief as the main character won't fly without Cortana in some way shape or form since so much of Chief's character is connected to her. Without Cortana he'll just be more of a machine than he already is.

So until the 343 guys decide to kill off / retire Master Chief and move the series on with Locke or something I don't think Cortana is going to be absent.

Unless they break him down completely and strip him of his armor long enough for the audience to really get to know him to make him compelling enough on his own to carry the narrative. But I doubt they'd do that.

And if that leak dude is telling the truth, this shit is going full circle with Marathon and I fucking love it.
 

Trup1aya

Member
I don't see why that's so odd. It's a Monitor. That means it likely has access to some kind of teleportation grid. So when my source says "spawns" I assume they mean it just brings you one tank for probably one section of the level.

Some new forerunner tank then? I mean where would it get a wraith or scorpion from?

Really wish its fake though. Sure it matches all the details we know so far but this whole Cortana thing is just cliche and bad writing.

While it is cliche (machine knows what's best, forces everyone to comply) we don't know if the writing is bad. All we've seen is a poorly written synopsis, not a script.
 

greenleafcm

Neo Member
Here's a picture that was posted from the video. The leak is looking a little more true.
"A little"? Come on, it's all but officially confirmed at this point.

Mostly I'm still just mad that the folks at 343i lied so blatantly about Cortana's death. There was no reason for all that crap about "honoring her legacy" and that "we'll miss her now that she's gone". In fact making her the new bad guy is the exact opposite of honoring anything she ever did or was about. Can't wait to hear an explanation from Mr. O'Connor about that (if he ever gives one). Also I still call BS on the excuse that 'what they meant' was the Cortana "as we knew her" died. This Cortana obviously has all the same memories and is still obsessed with the Chief - do you seriously think this isn't going to lead to us just saving her and getting her back to normal in a later game? She was never dead in any sense of the word. In fact she's more a part of the story than ever before! And all the other characters that could be getting development, Chief included, will suffer. They completely betrayed our trust. That's all there is to it. I don't care if they think this 'twist' justified lying on such a large scale...it literally makes me feel like I can't ever believe anything they say from here on out. And that really hurts. A lot.
 

tuna_love

Banned
"A little"? Come on, it's all but officially confirmed at this point.

Mostly I'm still just mad that the folks at 343i lied so blatantly about Cortana's death. There was no reason for all that crap about "honoring her legacy" and that "we'll miss her now that she's gone". In fact making her the new bad guy is the exact opposite of honoring anything she ever did or was about. Can't wait to hear an explanation from Mr. O'Connor about that (if he ever gives one). Also I still call BS on the excuse that 'what they meant' was the Cortana "as we knew her" died. This Cortana obviously has all the same memories and is still obsessed with the Chief - do you seriously think this isn't going to lead to us just saving her and getting her back to normal in a later game? She was never dead in any sense of the word. In fact she's more a part of the story than ever before! And all the other characters that could be getting development, Chief included, will suffer. They completely betrayed our trust. That's all there is to it. I don't care if they think this 'twist' justified lying on such a large scale...it literally makes me feel like I can't ever believe anything they say from here on out. And that really hurts. A lot.
So do you think when you ask a dev about story elements of an unreleased game they have to tell you yes or no and if they don't they are just lying to you?
 

Trup1aya

Member
"A little"? Come on, it's all but officially confirmed at this point.

Mostly I'm still just mad that the folks at 343i lied so blatantly about Cortana's death. There was no reason for all that crap about "honoring her legacy" and that "we'll miss her now that she's gone". In fact making her the new bad guy is the exact opposite of honoring anything she ever did or was about. Can't wait to hear an explanation from Mr. O'Connor about that (if he ever gives one). Also I still call BS on the excuse that 'what they meant' was the Cortana "as we knew her" died. This Cortana obviously has all the same memories and is still obsessed with the Chief - do you seriously think this isn't going to lead to us just saving her and getting her back to normal in a later game? She was never dead in any sense of the word. In fact she's more a part of the story than ever before! And all the other characters that could be getting development, Chief included, will suffer. They completely betrayed our trust. That's all there is to it. I don't care if they think this 'twist' justified lying on such a large scale...it literally makes me feel like I can't ever believe anything they say from here on out. And that really hurts. A lot.

What else were they gonna say?
 

Danny 117

Member
This is what they told me...sorry but I'm just going to copy/paste so if you don't want everything spoiled don't click:

Well, the main story revolves around Chief trying to figure out why Cortana(!!) is drawing all these Guardians to her - which is destroying colonies as they leave. Locke is sent after Chief to bring him in not just because he left despite orders, but because Halsey thinks Chief wont' stop Cortana. Cortana ends up cured of Rampancy because she gained access to a Forerunner thing called the "domain" and asks any AI to join her cause. Tons do and they get cured of rampancy as well. So her master plan is to use Guardians as they were intended - giant planet police bots. Obey her laws, obey the peace, or else these massive things will murder. Chief tries to talk her down, but she doesn't listen and imprisons him in the same kind of thing the Didact was inside in Halo 4. She says she'll wake him up in 10,000 years. Locke tries freeing him, but the AIs join Cortana, she sends out all of her Guardians to planets, she's leaving on the like biggest Guardian and Locke frees Chief just as she's leaving. The AIs wipe out the electronics in all the stations and colonies they oversee. Roland (Infinity's AI) does not join Cortana. She finds Infinity, and they have to flee into slipspace repeatedly. Game ends as they are fleeing until they can think of a plan. Next cutscene is reunion between Halsey, Arbiter, and Chief. Short one, and that was about all there was to it. Final cutscene after credits is Cortana humming a tune, and a Halo ring in the distance. As she finishes humming, the lights on the Halo light up as if she's getting it all powered up again. So yeah, basically ends there almost on a cliffhanger - Cortana is a bad guy, planets everywhere are under siege by an impossible force to counter, and Cortana owns a Halo ring.

She doesn't hate Chief. She thinks he'll come around to it. She thinks that perfect peace is worth it, but she's ignoring the casualties of her actions. Blue team brings this up with Chief. Chief tells her that she's trying to improve people without giving them a choice - like what Halsey did to him. Cortana doesn't listen, basically. The main "bosses" you fight, are the same dude with tons of bodies. He guards the Guardians/Cortana. He wants to prevent Chief from getting to Cortana, and Cortana does not want him to kill Chief. So they argue. But yeah this Warden Eternal has a bunch of bodies. You fight one at once, then later two at once, then in the hardest fucking fight ever 3 at once without much cover at all. Absolutely brutal fight. Cortana also sounds different a bit. More robotic than she used to. However, she might also be in physical form now. Early in the game it's referenced she will be able to eventually, and near the end she seems to be glowing, but then the glowing parts fade - almost like they were a shield rather than her normal body details. Apparently, Locke was an assassin who once came up with a plan to kill Arbiter until "things changed". So I wonder if in Halo 6 Locke is sent to kill Cortana, and Chief wants to not only prevent that, but stop her actions too. Definitely reminds me of Halo 2's cliffhanger ending, not so much as it interrupts the story midway ,but really not much was resolved haha, and it feels like it was all a leadup to next game.

Holy fucking shit
 

Flipyap

Member
If the thing about AIs banding together to ensure humanity's survival through drastic measures is true... then, more than anything, this game sounds like a sequel to the story told in the datapad collectibles in Halo: Reach.
">> While this body has already gone far down the road to active participation in our creator's war-fighting efforts, we must Now ask ourselves: is there a point at which we strip away all vestiges of secrecy, and become active participants in the hostilities?"

If that is really the case... I, for one, welcome our new AI overlords.

#TeamChiefAndLockeCanGetFucked
 
Yeah, got to say I thought Cortana's arc was wrapped up perfectly well at the end of Halo 4, and John's challenge was to deal with loss and feeling HUMAN.

Here's a quote from greenleafcm from Halo Waypoint that sums up my view on this leak details!
https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/...1b6c-d169-4c3d-bfcc-02c6df6593df/posts?page=2

Mr. O'Connor has never lied when making an official statement in an interview like that. If he wanted to leave a Cortana return/revival on the table, there's a dozen different ways he could have worded his response to indicate that was a possibility. Instead, he says this:
"Her fate is obviously very clear at the end of Halo 4. The story is really about, ‘What effect did Cortana’s sacrifice have on the Chief?’ So it’s not about the dreamlike figure that you see. It’s more about the memories and the long-lasting impact that she’s had on him. She has left an amazing legacy in the fiction, and we couldn’t make a game where we didn’t at least acknowledge that. There is more to the Chief’s story that people are going to find in Halo 5 that deals with how he copes with loss and how he deals with his memories."
He makes it abundantly clear that Cortana is indeed dead and will remain as such. A character can't have a "legacy" if their story isn't finished yet. He also makes it clear this is really about the Chief and his own memories. So the question here is absolutely not "Is this Cortana?", but rather "What is it really, and how/why is it using Cortana's appearance?" At present I think it's safe to say it has something to do with the Domain, but that's about it. Though I think we can also confirm it's not friendly - as the sneak peek at the scene we got from "The Sprint" video indicates that Halsey is aware of this thing's attempts to manipulate the Chief and that it is dangerous.

So as Greenleafcm has asked above, is it REALLY Cortana? I'd sincerely hope not, major kick in the stones for John!
 

Flipyap

Member
So....Halo 5 is basically
a prequel to Mass Effect? Cortana/Guardians become the Reapers
That (suspicious) summary makes it sound more like they aim to become benevolent tyrants, à la God Emperor of Dune. Or, in Mass Effect 3 terms,
Stinkles chose the Control
ending.
 

Johndoey

Banned
Cortana's back? Great stuff.

I don't see why she had to die in the first place personally, it left a bad taste in my mouth even more so than Halo 4 had already done. But now that she's back, i'm assuming she will be returned to Chief eventually somehow.

Chief isn't Chief without Cortana around. That's the lore Bungie set and how the games were written. I don't play games expecting me to care about outside expanded universe content, and Bungie never wrote their games confined to such things like the novels either.
They probably should've just deep sixed Chief and Cortana at the same time in Halo 4, go out holding each other be all poetic an' shit. But an A.I gone bad storyline is lame as shit. Even unhinged hallucination Chief would've been better.
 

Trup1aya

Member
Yeah, got to say I thought Cortana's arc was wrapped up perfectly well at the end of Halo 4, and John's challenge was to deal with loss and feeling HUMAN.

Here's a quote from greenleafcm from Halo Waypoint that sums up my view on this leak details!
https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/...1b6c-d169-4c3d-bfcc-02c6df6593df/posts?page=2



So as Greenleafcm has asked above, is it REALLY Cortana? I'd sincerely hope not, major kick in the stones for John!

Very, very, interesting.. It would be nice to see the domain used for this sort of deception. it sort of reminds me of how the Precursors tricked the forerunners into preserving humanity...
 
Very, very, interesting.. It would be nice to see the domain used for this sort of deception. it sort of reminds me of how the Precursors tricked the forerunners into preserving humanity...

Yes! Especially with the whole 'Traitor' angle applied to Master Chief in the build up to the game. Now I don't think anyone took MC being a traitor seriously, but if this leak is true it does bring up some interesting questions

- If we don't believe John could be a traitor, why would we believe Cortana would be, especially if rampancy has been 'cured'. Maybe rampancy has not been cured at all? Or maybe it's a deception, and MC has to clear her name. But of course, Cortana is/was still an AI. The history is not good with AIs that have had time with a Gravemind...
- To err is human; if John is getting more in touch with being human, he can make mistakes...getting duped by a deception?
- Two Betrayals throwback? There is some resonance to John being betrayed; after believing Cortana to be gone, how would he cope with a betrayal?
- Saint's Testimony throws all sorts of interesting angles into this pot. Based on Frank's story (which was great!), there must be something more to this under the surface...
 

greenleafcm

Neo Member
So do you think when you ask a dev about story elements of an unreleased game they have to tell you yes or no and if they don't they are just lying to you?
Except these statements weren't in response to a question. They were put forth independently by the devs in interviews and videos and such. There's many other ways they could have talked about 'Halo 5' without just spouting the exact opposite of the truth. Thats downright dishonest. In fact I am so glad I found these leaks before I went and picked up my LCE. Because according to everything I had heard from the devs, I was getting a story about Blue Team and how the Chief copes with loss. We now know that is simply not true. And to me the real story of this game absolutely does not justify a $250 investment of my hard-earned money. I understand they can't give away all the story details before release, but the level of deception in play here was unecessary.
 

BokehKing

Banned
If you've read any of the books you would know that's the farthest thing from the truth. The only reason people think that about the Chief is because Bungie wanted him to be a blank slate and had Cortina do all the talking in the games. In the novels though, the Chief is his own person. Who started out as a rambunctious and selfish child that eventually grew into a leader - and later a reserved but thoughtful man who cares deeply for his fellow Spartans and thinks his duty as a solder is the highest honor. He knows his teammates inside and out as they do him. This was established since the very first chapter of 'The Fall of Reach'. That's literally the point of having Blue Team in the games now. They're also a huge part of the foundation of what his character is and why he is the way he is. And they can help explore the Chief in ways Cortana never could.

Unfortunately the cold hard fact is that 343i still apparently couldn't make that leap completely and actually move forward with the series...so now we have an evil!Cortana instead of honoring her peaceful passing in 'Halo 4'. You say you don't like 'Halo 5's plot? Well the likely reason we've reached this point is because of that erroneous thinking that "it's not Halo without Cortana". And to meet that demand they're now shoving her character back into the story in a totally obtuse way while also hamstringing the Chief's development and the development of all the characters around him. So yeah, looks like Cortana will still be around as long as the Chief after all...but is this really better than allowing her to bow out on her own terms like she was set to do in 'Halo 4'? I say no.
Why are books super seceding video game console canon? The games should set the precedence, the books should expand on it not over take it and dictate what the game should do next.
 

Onikaan

Member
People saying that Cortana "died" at the end of Halo 4... What draws you to that conclusion? Doesn't she say;

"I'm not coming with you this time"

And, more importantly...

"Most of me is down there"

Where is there exactly? Personally I always felt like that was left open to allow Cortana return.
 

greenleafcm

Neo Member
Yeah, got to say I thought Cortana's arc was wrapped up perfectly well at the end of Halo 4, and John's challenge was to deal with loss and feeling HUMAN.

Here's a quote from greenleafcm from Halo Waypoint that sums up my view on this leak details!
https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/...1b6c-d169-4c3d-bfcc-02c6df6593df/posts?page=2

So as Greenleafcm has asked above, is it REALLY Cortana? I'd sincerely hope not, major kick in the stones for John!
Lols @ my own comments.

I actually wrote that weeks ago. We now know that it IS in fact Cortana, not a trick by some other entity or a hallucination. The plot is about AI uprising, and Cortana is an active force in that - there's no legacy being honored here, and this plot will obviously span more than just this game. The Chief will not be dealing in any way with loss or his own memories, and the biggest impact Cortana has on him at this point is that now she's an enemy. In fact we now know no "saricfice" was made in 'Halo 4' at all. Everything Mr. O'Connor said was simply a barefaced lie for the sake of keeping their iRobot-villian-ripoff a secret. That's all there is to it.
 
It's pretty funny that RvB beat H5 to the punch on the "you have to know when to let go of your AI girlfriend" arc by like five years.
 

BokehKing

Banned
That really was due to poor planning and mismanagement, Bungie had every intention of having significantly more Earth missions, but were cut due to scope reasons.

This just seems like arbitrary intentional misdirection. That being said, we still don't have all the pieces to the puzzle.
So someone at ONI infiltrated Xbox Marketing?


Brilliant
 

Sai-kun

Banned
People saying that Cortana "died" at the end of Halo 4... What draws you to that conclusion? Doesn't she say;

"I'm not coming with you this time"

And, more importantly...

"Most of me is down there"

Where is there exactly? Personally I always felt like that was left open to allow Cortana return.

Uhhh didn't she blow up the Didact's ship or whatever, while she was 'on' it?
 

Vire

Member
Was it explained anywhere why Knights are still in the game? Didn't we get rid of the composer and all that should be left is AI Prometheans?
 
Lols @ my own comments.

I actually wrote that weeks ago. We now know that it IS in fact Cortana, not a trick by some other entity or a hallucination. The plot is about AI uprising, and Cortana is an active force in that - there's no legacy being honored here, and this plot will obviously span more than just this game. The Chief will not be dealing in any way with loss or his own memories, and the biggest impact Cortana has on him at this point is that now she's an enemy. In fact we now know no "saricfice" was made in 'Halo 4' at all. Everything Mr. O'Connor said was simply a barefaced lie for the sake of keeping their iRobot-villian-ripoff a secret. That's all there is to it.

I'm going to continue to hope there is some other explanation! And I agree Stinkles seemed pretty clear that Cortana was done and dusted.

Actually kind of glad i didn't go blackout now, the blow is known and softened! That said, my biggest fear was that Cortana came back in the flesh...which would have been worse IMO.
 

Trup1aya

Member
Lols @ my own comments.

I actually wrote that weeks ago. We now know that it IS in fact Cortana, not a trick by some other entity or a hallucination. The plot is about AI uprising, and Cortana is an active force in that - there's no legacy being honored here, and this plot will obviously span more than just this game. The Chief will not be dealing in any way with loss or his own memories, and the biggest impact Cortana has on him at this point is that now she's an enemy. In fact we now know no "saricfice" was made in 'Halo 4' at all. Everything Mr. O'Connor said was simply a barefaced lie for the sake of keeping their iRobot-villian-ripoff a secret. That's all there is to it.

Ok, now I FINALLY see why you're so mad. I agree, it would be better if the likeness of Cortana was used to deceive Chief. Still, it doesn't seem like the arc will be completed with Halo 5, so we wont learn the truth behind her reappearance for some time...
 
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