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SPOILER ALERT: Halo 5 (Spoiler) Spoiler Thread of Spoilers Spoiler
- Thread starter Shadow_Lord
- Start date
Poodlestrike
Banned
And at the end of Halo 5 the Infinity is on the run from a galaxy-spanning AI and her army of ultra powerful forerunner bird things, cut off from communications with the rest of the UNSC. Probably not as simple as heading home and picking him up.
My thoughts:
There's definitely a lot of details in the story that are reliant on players knowing the extended lore. (Why is Blue Team so significant, why are they so devoted to Chief, why does Halsey want John back so badly, why are the colonists so hostile to Osiris, etc) But I think they did a good job of not relying on that too heavily.
Where it fell flat for me was the beginning though. The hype campaign leading up to release portrayed a hunt of epic proportions to find John. There wasn't any information about why he was on the run, or why Osiris needed to take them in. It was supposed to be some big ONI coverup filled with secrets and backstabbing. It created this mystery surrounding the whole situation. But then when the game's story started without that hunt even started, it threw me for a loop.
The hype train could have been brought directly into the campaign by starting the story off with Chief on the run and Osiris going after Blue Team. Instead they started with Osiris bringing in Halsey and then Blue Team going about their mission on Argent Moon, (no significance to the story), which basically scrapped all of the sudo-canon that could have been used from the marketing campaign leading up to release. Rather then a Chief on the run and a mystery surrounding that, the mystery is solved within the 2nd mission. It changed the entire scope and pace of the story.
While I enjoyed the campaign and story (holy shit the gameplay was top notch and intense), I was bummed that we didn't get something that tied into #HunttheTruth.
Definitely can't wait to figure out who the Warden Eternal actually is. I'm assuming it is controlling all of the Prometheans throughout the campaign. Didact 2?
There's definitely a lot of details in the story that are reliant on players knowing the extended lore. (Why is Blue Team so significant, why are they so devoted to Chief, why does Halsey want John back so badly, why are the colonists so hostile to Osiris, etc) But I think they did a good job of not relying on that too heavily.
Where it fell flat for me was the beginning though. The hype campaign leading up to release portrayed a hunt of epic proportions to find John. There wasn't any information about why he was on the run, or why Osiris needed to take them in. It was supposed to be some big ONI coverup filled with secrets and backstabbing. It created this mystery surrounding the whole situation. But then when the game's story started without that hunt even started, it threw me for a loop.
The hype train could have been brought directly into the campaign by starting the story off with Chief on the run and Osiris going after Blue Team. Instead they started with Osiris bringing in Halsey and then Blue Team going about their mission on Argent Moon, (no significance to the story), which basically scrapped all of the sudo-canon that could have been used from the marketing campaign leading up to release. Rather then a Chief on the run and a mystery surrounding that, the mystery is solved within the 2nd mission. It changed the entire scope and pace of the story.
While I enjoyed the campaign and story (holy shit the gameplay was top notch and intense), I was bummed that we didn't get something that tied into #HunttheTruth.
The Warden Eternal is a single, distinct personality.
Definitely can't wait to figure out who the Warden Eternal actually is. I'm assuming it is controlling all of the Prometheans throughout the campaign. Didact 2?
Halo 6 needs to be a shooter-RPG in the style of Mass Effect.
"Much killing. So destructive. Wow open the doors." - Exuberant WitnessI mean... We already have a new Cortana. Her name is Exuberant Witness.
I'm glad quirky characters are being introduced.
Huh...
Kind of interesting post in the Universe section of the Halo forums: Linkie Here
It seems to put a theory that the first Halo 5 teaser may actually take place post-Halo 5. That might be weird, but it almost seems like it now that we have actually played Halo 5.
Though it's possible it still is meant to just be for Halo 5 and that it subtly includes Halo 6 elements because they had already planned it out.
Also I agree with the general theory that the Cortana in Halo 5 might be one of the rampant personalites that Cortana broke up into at the end of Halo 4.
Kind of interesting post in the Universe section of the Halo forums: Linkie Here
It seems to put a theory that the first Halo 5 teaser may actually take place post-Halo 5. That might be weird, but it almost seems like it now that we have actually played Halo 5.
Though it's possible it still is meant to just be for Halo 5 and that it subtly includes Halo 6 elements because they had already planned it out.
Also I agree with the general theory that the Cortana in Halo 5 might be one of the rampant personalites that Cortana broke up into at the end of Halo 4.
Captain Zyrain
Member
Could be something to that I guess..
Could be a trailer for "Halo on Xbox One" which could theoretically cover more than one game.
Yeah. I mean, isn't that kind of odd the trailer just says Halo? I mean it's not like they needed to be coy about it, we knew it was Halo 5.
So honestly the trailer makes far more sense for Halo 6. Chief has his cracked visor and looks at Cortana's chip with inital sadness and then grabs hold of with an almost new found determination. Like he knows what he needs to do, and that the Cortana he once knew is dead. Plus it would also go with the Ark theory, which at this point, makes even more sense since they might need to get Mendicant Bias in aid against Cortana.
Some of the other stuff at that location was hilarious too. The audio log with the sangheli love poem to Palmer was pretty funny. Also the grunt audio log about the scientific discovery that in human females losing appendages is a sign of reaching maturity had me chuckling.
Just posted this in the OT for Halo 5 but that teaser actually was made for Halo 5.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsepLjsGYpg
The company that made that trailer uploaded that version to their websites.
The original plan was for Halo 5 to come out in 2014 but at some point that got changed.
But why the change from Halo 5 to just Halo? Also in terms of story, the trailer seems to be more in line with post-Halo 5 then the actual story of Halo 5.
It may not be Halo 6, but it may have changed from Halo 5 to Halo because it represents a more general outlook in the Reclaimer Saga going forward.
I mean, they got the story planned out for 10 years, it's not hard to imagine some future plot threads made it's way into some earlier stuff.
I'm guessing they did that since they weren't sure if it was actually coming out in 2014 by the time of E3 2013.
That trailer was originally for Halo 5 and for them to change it from "Halo 5 is coming in 2014" to "something unannounced will be coming out on 2014 (MCC) but let us tease it with a game that's Halo 6 and coming out in 2017/8" doesn't make much sense.
That, like the rest of Halo 5's marketing, just doesn't reflect what actually was in the game. They might bring the cloak back in Halo 6, I dunno, but I think it's pretty clear that either that was something that got scraped years ago for Halo 5 or it was never actually in the game.
ClosingADoor
Member
Or the plan was to get more story in Halo 5 already, but they decided to do differently later on.
This was the one that validated the existence of audio logs in Halo 5 for me.
Bias has taken control of her lol. That's one way to confuse the shit out of people who haven't read the books.
LordOfChaos
Member
Oh, right. That bit.
So the Warden Eternal is one personality, and reading between the lines someone we've met? Hmm...Master Builder Faber, since they're on a builder facility?
victreeb3l
Member
I would absolutely love that haha. I can just imagine the chaos.
"You gotta quit talking in Sangheili okay? You gotta talk human. I dont understand Sangheili, all I hear is WORTWORTWORT"
"You know, you dont really talk much. Are you doing the Sangheili brain thing? Keep breathing, very honorable to be breathing and tall and making yells at everybody"
The whole video is quotable lol.
SaganIsGOAT
Junior Member
I'm still confused by the coordinates Roland finds for a forerunner map that leads to Genesis. Why can't humans use forerunner slipspace data and just go without the use of the Guardian?
Monocle
Member
"Making yells," lol. Like I've said before, best easter egg in the series.
A
A More Normal Bird
Unconfirmed Member
My assumption is that the Guardian song only works for guiding Guardians, otherwise yeah, becomes a bit confusing. The whole set-up for the first game is that Cortana decoded the Forerunner co-ordinates for the Halo instead of jumping to a random destination.
It could be foreshadowing of the next game where Chief and Blue Team are the main characters this time, and you have an option of playing with Osiris.
FUN FACT: In Halo Escalation comic #23, the Librarian met with Dr. Halsey at the Absolute Records and given her access to the Guardians as well as a huge medical facility. Not sure how Cortana gained access to them first, which could explain how Halsey knew about it 3 weeks prior before the beginning of Halo 5.
Why do people keep saying the extended lore is neccisary for understanding this games plot?.. This is quite possibly the most straight forward plot in the series...
Would it have been nice to know more about blue team, sure. But the game tells you they grew up with John, they are his family. For as little as their history played into the story, that's more than enough.
All you need to know is covered from Halo 1-4. With the help of Cortana, Chief saved the universe from the flood and the Covenant's insistence on firing the Halo array, weapons built by the Forerunners to kill all sentient life, thus starving the flood. One human hating Forerunner , the didact, survived the initial firing, thanks to being locked on a shield world in a Cryptom. He awakens and tries to convert all of earths population into his minions, but Chief and Cortana stop him. Cortana was seemingly killed in the struggle. Begin Halo 5.
The only lore stuff that comes up is the Mantle of Responsibilty and the Domain. The mantle was pretty well explained in game. And the Domain makes enough sense defined as "forerunner artifact that allows AI to avoid death by rampancy"
I don't know what else people would need to know. I feel like Halo5 could be someone's first Halo, and it would be fairly understandable...
Would it have been nice to know more about blue team, sure. But the game tells you they grew up with John, they are his family. For as little as their history played into the story, that's more than enough.
All you need to know is covered from Halo 1-4. With the help of Cortana, Chief saved the universe from the flood and the Covenant's insistence on firing the Halo array, weapons built by the Forerunners to kill all sentient life, thus starving the flood. One human hating Forerunner , the didact, survived the initial firing, thanks to being locked on a shield world in a Cryptom. He awakens and tries to convert all of earths population into his minions, but Chief and Cortana stop him. Cortana was seemingly killed in the struggle. Begin Halo 5.
The only lore stuff that comes up is the Mantle of Responsibilty and the Domain. The mantle was pretty well explained in game. And the Domain makes enough sense defined as "forerunner artifact that allows AI to avoid death by rampancy"
I don't know what else people would need to know. I feel like Halo5 could be someone's first Halo, and it would be fairly understandable...
This game never truly explained how Cortana survived, or whether or not this isn't one of her clones. And what happened to the other forerunners, considering the Librarian was in Halo 4.
Just finished the game. Cortana's speech at the end sucked the life out of me. I get that it's supposed to be this emotional thing where a rift has been driven between Chief and Cortana. But man she just sounds like a generic megalomaniacal villain now. I would have preferred she just be killed off at the end of Halo 4 as opposed to this.
I am really not having fun with this game. It's not for me. I hope 343 continues to be successful. I'm certain they worked very hard on the game. Frankie seems like a cool dude. But Halo isn't for me anymore, it's for someone else. Back to MCC forever I guess.
I am really not having fun with this game. It's not for me. I hope 343 continues to be successful. I'm certain they worked very hard on the game. Frankie seems like a cool dude. But Halo isn't for me anymore, it's for someone else. Back to MCC forever I guess.
SmartWaffles
Member
Cortana explicitly stated she went to slipspace when Mantle's Approach was destroyed and found the Domain from there. Not a thorough explanation, but it'll do.
She was sucked into slipspace and there are many things that humans still don't understand about slipspace.
And that wasn't the real Librarian. It was like a virtual recording/AI. The real Librarian was killed by the Halos. There is a "new" one, but she's off with the ISO-Didact somewhere.
Damn, when Cortana was putting Blue Team in the Cryptum and this started to play:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDT_qESA8Xc
I started to tear up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDT_qESA8Xc
I started to tear up.
CloudyTuba
Member
Since I'm a Doctor Who fan, i'm accustomed to just rolling with half-assed vague explanations.
Cortana uploaded herself into forerunner computer shit, the ship went boom and slipspace stuff was involved, she ended up connecting to the forerunner domain. Okay, good enough I guess. As long as they give an explanation, even a half assed one.
I was upset in Halo 4 because a lot of the time they completely skipped over even a half-assed explanation. There was still some of that in 5 that didn't make me happy, though. Could they have at the very least had a one-liner explaining that Chief met up with Blue Team after 4? Theyre just....there.
That's pretty much what I suspect. That there were some significant story changes during development. With the way Blue Team is such a non-entity in the story, they don't really contribute anything and Cortana's master villain speech largely ignored them and focused only on Master Chief. I wouldn't be surprised if they were added later in development, with all Blue Team levels originally meant to be Master Chief solo levels (as opposed to the four man Osiris levels). And with the concept art from the achievements, the cloak stuff could definitely have happened on Sanghelios. The dialogue from the E3 demo seems to support that idea as well. Maybe the original plan was for Osiris to foil Chief at Meridian, cracks his helmet, and he travels Sanghelios incognito (wearing the cloak) for a second attempt at the Guardian?
This is obviously all conjecture, and I wouldn't be surprised if the cloak came back for Halo 6.
SaganIsGOAT
Junior Member
I believe official concept art shows all of Blue Team approaching Cortana.,, but that could have come post script change (if one actually happened).
Oh wow, one of his bits is about the Precursor dust (bad thing) that the humans fed to their pets.
SaganIsGOAT
Junior Member
Oh god I can't believe that became the origin for the flood 😰😰😰
SaganIsGOAT
Junior Member
If the Unggoy had been in charge it wouldn't have happened.
*Hmm space dust. With my advanced human intellect, what is the logical thing to do with this?
*Here kitty kitty
LordOfChaos
Member
When she turned around and choked back a sob...I cringed really hard, on the other hand.
I'm pretty sure the E3 "Halo" teaser was nothing more than just a concept trailer, if anything. Just a scene thrown together to remind everyone that Halo was coming by using some potential concepts.
The entire Hunt the Truth ad campaign falsely represented the actual game, so I don't know why people are really thinking that a two year old teaser has some kind of special significance or specific place in the storyline.
Everything with Cortana in this new trilogy/saga is really cringey to me. It feels like it comes out of some bad fan-fiction. Her visual design, the way she talks to the Master Chief... it just weirds me out.
shudder
The entire Hunt the Truth ad campaign falsely represented the actual game, so I don't know why people are really thinking that a two year old teaser has some kind of special significance or specific place in the storyline.
Everything with Cortana in this new trilogy/saga is really cringey to me. It feels like it comes out of some bad fan-fiction. Her visual design, the way she talks to the Master Chief... it just weirds me out.
shudder
Double Donut
Member
It's a fucking crime that this track was never present in any level of the campaign. This may very well be the most gorgeous track to have ever blessed my ears and the only time you hear the full thing is in the credits. A crime, I tell you.
Just finished the campaign.
Definitely my least favorite campaign so far. The whole thing felt really empty. And by the end, it didn't feel any progress was made to the storyline.
Halo 5 could have been wrapped up within the first three levels with Chief as the only playable character. Blue Team should have been wiped out by Cortona and Chief should have gone after her.
Really bummed by this entry.
Plus, by the end I was playing just to finish it. I wasn't even having fun anymore. Waiting for your team mates to bring you back to life instead of just respawning is a real pain in the ass. The A.I.'s were useless. The Warden Eternal was a weeeaaak villain. And then we had to fight three of him. Really? 343 couldn't think of interesting gameplay segments so we fight three of the same guy at the same time.
Searching for intel felt so lame. Like you walk around, gather intel for two minutes by activating conversations then move on. Wtf.
I really don't understand why they chose to bring in Locke. He and Osiris add NOTHING to the story. I just don't understand. I wanna find the person that introduced this idea and slap them in the face. We got a subpar straight to video movie and played a majority of the game as a really lame character.
If you're going to use Locke, make him interesting. Make him question orders just like Chief did. Give him SOMETHING.
wtf has happened to Halo man =/
I sort of wish the entire Forerunner storyline was left in the past =/
Definitely my least favorite campaign so far. The whole thing felt really empty. And by the end, it didn't feel any progress was made to the storyline.
Halo 5 could have been wrapped up within the first three levels with Chief as the only playable character. Blue Team should have been wiped out by Cortona and Chief should have gone after her.
Really bummed by this entry.
Plus, by the end I was playing just to finish it. I wasn't even having fun anymore. Waiting for your team mates to bring you back to life instead of just respawning is a real pain in the ass. The A.I.'s were useless. The Warden Eternal was a weeeaaak villain. And then we had to fight three of him. Really? 343 couldn't think of interesting gameplay segments so we fight three of the same guy at the same time.
Searching for intel felt so lame. Like you walk around, gather intel for two minutes by activating conversations then move on. Wtf.
I really don't understand why they chose to bring in Locke. He and Osiris add NOTHING to the story. I just don't understand. I wanna find the person that introduced this idea and slap them in the face. We got a subpar straight to video movie and played a majority of the game as a really lame character.
If you're going to use Locke, make him interesting. Make him question orders just like Chief did. Give him SOMETHING.
wtf has happened to Halo man =/
I sort of wish the entire Forerunner storyline was left in the past =/
just finished it. meh
I hate the prometheans. Their weapons are so boring: sniper rifle, rocket launcher, machine gun, shotgun (alien tech which you load like it's from the 1960s). But they shoot lasers!
I hope Cortana awakens or recreates some ancient humans just so we can fight them instead.
I do like that this game runs at 60 fps...but it comes at a major cost. Pop in, low textures in the distance, and my god the distance animations for the enemies! they drop to like 20 fps or something!
The friendly AI is moronic. Waiting for them to heal me was a chore
and i like the aiming down the sights...made me love the plasma pistol, magnum and auto rifle.
I hate the prometheans. Their weapons are so boring: sniper rifle, rocket launcher, machine gun, shotgun (alien tech which you load like it's from the 1960s). But they shoot lasers!
I hope Cortana awakens or recreates some ancient humans just so we can fight them instead.
I do like that this game runs at 60 fps...but it comes at a major cost. Pop in, low textures in the distance, and my god the distance animations for the enemies! they drop to like 20 fps or something!
The friendly AI is moronic. Waiting for them to heal me was a chore
and i like the aiming down the sights...made me love the plasma pistol, magnum and auto rifle.
I'm pretty sure the E3 "Halo" teaser was nothing more than just a concept trailer, if anything. Just a scene thrown together to remind everyone that Halo was coming by using some potential concepts.
The entire Hunt the Truth ad campaign falsely represented the actual game, so I don't know why people are really thinking that a two year old teaser has some kind of special significance or specific place in the storyline.
Everything with Cortana in this new trilogy/saga is really cringey to me. It feels like it comes out of some bad fan-fiction. Her visual design, the way she talks to the Master Chief... it just weirds me out.
shudder
Should have kept the Halo 4 design
I mean he didn't know why she was acting like this. He was more angry at the prospect that: "Oh she might be showing rampancy therefore she must be destroyed" however that doesn't mean he would support her in basically wanting to take over the galaxy. Two very different things.
victreeb3l
Member
I'm pretty sure the E3 "Halo" teaser was nothing more than just a concept trailer, if anything. Just a scene thrown together to remind everyone that Halo was coming by using some potential concepts.
The entire Hunt the Truth ad campaign falsely represented the actual game, so I don't know why people are really thinking that a two year old teaser has some kind of special significance or specific place in the storyline.
Everything with Cortana in this new trilogy/saga is really cringey to me. It feels like it comes out of some bad fan-fiction. Her visual design, the way she talks to the Master Chief... it just weirds me out.
shudder
Something about her mouth really bothered me. I much preferred the Halo 4 design. I actually think the Forward Unto Dawn design is my favorite Cortana.
Double Donut
Member
I'm really tired of cutscenes ignoring energy shields. Like how Buck kills the elite in the first mission with a single Light Rifle shot, come on. Would it be that hard to instead arm him with a Binary Rifle so the kill is actually believable in terms of the gameplay?
Again in that same cutscene when Locke stabs Jul over and over. Couldn't at least show Jul's shield pop with the first stab?
And the Chief and Locke fight, jesus. No shield flares, no shield pops. Locke's fist wouldn't have even made contact with Chief's visor unless Chief's shield popped, which it never did.
Again in that same cutscene when Locke stabs Jul over and over. Couldn't at least show Jul's shield pop with the first stab?
And the Chief and Locke fight, jesus. No shield flares, no shield pops. Locke's fist wouldn't have even made contact with Chief's visor unless Chief's shield popped, which it never did.
SmartWaffles
Member
Plus the biggest reason of the AIs joining Cortana is likely the cure of Rampancy, like Sloan, Roland doesn't have that concern yet, at least not for a long time.
Wouldn't Chief think to fix his visor after Locke cracked it?
Would have been a cool Darth vader-esque scene with Chief repairing his with the helmet off. Too bad there was nothing like that after the Halo 4 legendary ending.
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