In Response To: Predicting Halo 2: The Single Player Campaign (KiGlow)
: Level One: Ruins of Halo/Ascendant Justice
: I have a feeling Halo wont begin with MC and Cortana bewildered at Halo
: falling apart, but rather theyve already begun to search the debris for
: survivors. Im not sure how long the opening video would be, or even if
: there would be multiple opening videos (one for story recap and one for
: level introduction). However, it wouldnt be too unreasonable to watch MC
: and Cortana find Sarge in the Pelican, link up and outrun the Covenant
: patrols and finally enter into the Ascendant Justice. This would be the
: intro level: taking over the Ascendant Justice.
: In Halo 2 MC gets upgraded with some badass new MJOLNIR armor. However, in
: FS, he doesnt get his new armor until after theyve escaped from Reach.
: This might complicate consistencies between the book and my ideal two
: first levels, but then again MC is going to magically acquire the ability
: to duel wield in Halo 2 so Im not too concerned about this.
This is a pure gameplay decision. It's not like a Spartan couldn't use 2 weapons if he wished. The new armor does have story implications, however.
: What I am concerned about, though, is the mini-tutorial at the beginning of
: the first level (ie good ol' Sam and company on the POA). Perhaps once
: inside the Covenant shuttle bay Haverson will walk us through the basics
: as the Covenant come through the doors. I wouldve much rather preferred a
: tutorial from Dr. Halsey upon receiving the new armor, but that would mean
: there would be a huge gap between the end of Halo and the beginning of
: Halo 2.
I'm betting this is going to be somewhat vaguely explained in the manual, possibly with another book coming out not long after Halo 2's release.
: Plotline Speculation
: Now, I dont have First Strike with me, so most of what I draw from the book
: is from memory. Im probably going to make a mistake somewhere in here, so
: please correct me whenever I do.
: First off, I want to talk about Guilty Spark. I doubt he has any means of
: Slipspace transportation built into him, thats a Covenant technology. And
: the only way he was able to warp around Halo was because Halo had some
: sort of warping grid in place. But with Halo destroyed, theres no where to
: warp to (and I would imagine the grid was limited to Halo itself). So
: therefore, for GS to have any impact on Halo 2s storyline, he would have
: to hitch a ride with someone else.
The Covenant are an imitative conglomerate in their technology. Almost all, if not all, Covenant technology is a direct derivative of Forerunner technology. And 343 Guilty Spark is a Forerunner AI with a Forerunner-made body on an ancient Forerunner construct. Whether or not he actually possesses the proper equipment for a Slipspace jump is unknown, but don't for a second think that he can'thave the technology.
: He probably jumped onto one of the Covenant ships. I doubt the "familiar
: Covenant AI" aboard the Ascendant Justice was Guilty Spark, rather I
: believe it was remnants of the Cortana copies that spread around the
: Unyielding Hierophant. Remember that at the point in time where MC reaches
: the UH, there were actually TWO Ascendant Justices floating around. One of
: them might have been clustered with the group of ships, a copy of Cortana
: transmitted to this other Ascendant Justice, and from there the ship found
: its way to Halo.
Yep. Nice find, I've thought about this myself, but I can't come to a definite conclusion.
: Guilty Spark instead hid him/itself aboard the Ascendant Justice and waited
: until after the time warp to reveal himself again. Im not sure if Cortana
: found out how and when the Covenant discovered Earth, but Guilty Spark did
: acquire lots of human history from the POA. Perhaps he transmitted some of
: that information over to the Covenant after the time warp. If the Covenant
: found out about Earth BEFORE the time warp, please let me know. In fact, I
: think I remember Cortana finding this out while she was still in orbit
: above Reach. If this were the case, it would make sense that GS
: transmitted the information to a ship that escaped the destruction of the
: Unyielding Hierophant, and later on one of the Covenant soldiers found the
: information and reported it. In turn, the Cortana at Reach would find out
: the Covenant had gotten their hands on the info.
: I hope that makes sense.
It's a possibility.
: One last thing about Guilty Spark. Remember the Easter Egg that dealt with GS
: going through the medical tents in New Mombasa? I know most eggs arent
: meant to make sense, but if GS were to reach Earth, hitching a ride with
: Master Chief wouldnt be such a bad route. Itd be safe, at least ;)
Hitching a ride with a genetically modified giant in a very powerful mechanical suit who you pissed off for hours while leading on a chase for something so that you could make him betray his own race, and trying to kill him when he found out, and continuing to piss him off. Sounds safe to me.
: Obviously the planet isnt going to get glassed. At least, if it DOES get
: glassed, it wont be until after we're just about ready to leave. Now, the
: only other case we know of in which a planet didnt get fully glassed was
: Reach. I dont believe the Covenant even tried glassing Sigma Octanus IV,
: so that planet doesnt count. They learned their lesson, though, and
: glassed every part of Reach they didnt need. However, from the little
: information we have, it can be safely assumed that the Covenant dont try
: glassing Earth either, at least not at first.
Wouldn't be able to tell by all those big freakin' explosions going on on Earth's surface you see when the Chief jumps during the announcement trailer.
: Transitioning from the Unyielding Hierophant, it seems that upon arrival at
: Earth, we'll find the war has already begun. In one of Frankie's updates I
: recall Joseph Staten saying he was trying to implement the Halo 2
: announcement trailer into the game. If this is the case, we can assume
: that what happens in the trailer is, more or less, part of the storyline.
: The Admiral doesnt seem to know that Master Chief is there. "The
: entire fleet is engaged, Cortana. With respect, what the hell sort of
: reinforcement have you got?" MC then opens the hatch and flies out to
: the Covenant ship. Now, I could argue that taking over the Covenant ship
: would be the first level at Earth. However, it would be rather redundant
: after the level on Ascendant Justice. Instead, I think this part of the
: storyline will take place in the multiplayer area. Midship, the
: multiplayer level that takes place aboard The Begotten Angel, clearly
: takes place at Earth due to the Earth moon sighted outside the windows in
: some of the screenshots. Perhaps this is the ship MC jumps to in the
: trailer.
Perhaps, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that multiplayer levels aren't going to have much to do with the campaign in Halo 2. But I'll leave a little butter on these words in case I'm forced to eat them later(which I doubt!).
: Moving right along. We all know that one of the levels takes place on New
: Mombasa. For whatever reason, Master Chief has been dispatched to save
: some soldiers and then make his way to the Covenant cruiser. However, we
: dont actually know the purpose of getting to the cruiser, as Cortana is
: cut off by the rain of Elites that pour from the sky. "Bingo! Theres
: the cruiser. Now, all we need to do... is..." Damn you, Bungie.
You'd do well to remember the E3 2000 demo for Halo in regards to what happens to levels you're almost certain will be in the game. I'm actually with you on the New Mombasa thing, but don't forget that little cloud of doubt.
: From here on out practically anything could happen. Some suggest we return
: to the pre-destroyed Halo installation 04 and follow the plotline that
: Spartan clones have been training on Halo or at a rebel base; Ackersons
: secret project will finally be uncovered. Although I am a believer in this
: theory, I dont think we'd linger too long on Halo. In fact, despite my
: belief about the Spartan clones, I wouldnt be surprised if we didnt return
: to Halo at all (even though timewise it might still be possible). Instead,
: we might end up at another Halo. If the teleportation grid on Halo is
: connected to OTHER Halos, then perhaps Ackersons clones were able to warp
: to a different installation before Halos destruction.
I'm almost positive that it's been confirmed that we'll return to the ruins of Halo 04. As for the details, ???
: At any rate, we'll be jumping around from Halo installations to other
: "Forerunner facilities in the atmospheres of gas giants."
: However, of all the theories floating about, the one place I highly doubt
: we will go to will be the Covenant homeworld. Yes, Halo 2 will be a
: "galactic romp," but I dont think that will include destroying
: the Covenant just yet. I do have many reasons for this.
It's pretty much confirmed that we're going to kick the Covenant off of Earth and chase them into space, unless I'm horribly misinterpreting something. However, I'm with you on that the capitol world will probably remain unseen (not homeworld, because each species of the Covenant has a different homeworld).
: First off, Halo is the biggest thing Microsoft has going for them, and if it
: all ended with Halo 2, that wouldnt be a very smart move businesswise.
: There is potential for at least another sequel after Halo 2, because I
: highly doubt we'll be destroying all of the different Halos out there in
: Halo 2. Hell, it took us a whole game just to get rid of ONE ring.
Yes, but if they started making Halo game after Halo game for each ring, even though it's still a Halo game, it would get redundant. FAST.
: This kind of relates to my second point. Taking it to the Covenant would just
: be too much for one game, I dont think we're going to go there yet, if at
: all.
The Master Chief will take the fight to the Covenant. Whether or not this includes the homeworld is anybody's guess.
: Third, destroying the Covenant homeworld assumes that we will never reach
: peace agreements. THAT is bias. I havent seen much in the way of
: speculating that the Halo story will end with peace, it seems destroying
: the Covenant is all anyone thinks about. I dont deny that I would want to
: kill every last one of them, but Im still not going to fall into the
: mindset that genocide is the only option.
Given the holy war mindset, unless we capture the Prophets, a treaty is unlikely. The war will end with either us or the Covenant dead. Unless, as my theory goes, they plan to eventually stop exterminating humans and absorb them as a new Covenant race.
: Theres other stuff I havent touched upon that will somehow relate to the Halo
: 2 storyline. Prophets. Dr. Halsey and Linda (Im guessing they went to Halo
: 04). The Flood. More possible alien races: Forerunner, Covenant or
: otherwise. All those twists we dont see coming. And what about what Marcus
: Letho said in the Making of Halo 2 video: "We really want it to feel
: like that there was history there. There was damage that existed from some
: battle that happened nine-hundred thousand years ago."
Halsey and Kelly. Not Linda, Kelly.
: Whatever happens on November 9th, I doubt any
: of us will have seen it coming.
I know exactly what's coming on November 9th: The release of Halo 2 :)
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