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Re: Well...
Posted By: elpolloguapoDate: 6/1/09 12:04 a.m.

In Response To: Well... (Ze Moose)


: I totally agree that the Arbiter's side of the story was probably the better
: half of Halo 2, but I would have to argue that it was despite giving a
: face to the enemy and not because of it. When I first played Halo 1 it
: was one of the most intense games I'd ever played, and I think that
: largely had to do with fear of the unknown. These were aliens I was
: fighting and they turned out to be very intelligent and unpredictable
: opponents. I might think I was safe but find myself stabbed in the back by
: an invisible elite wielding a glowing blade of death. (Now if that's how I
: felt about the Covenant you can imagine what a shock it was to find the
: Flood suddenly introduced into the story.) Then Halo 2 came along and
: transformed the Covenant into a bunch of poetic Shakespearean types who
: turned out to have a purpose beyond having my innards splattered against
: the walls of a spaceship, and somehow the same feeling of uneasiness
: wasn't there. I felt like I knew too much about them to really fear them,
: they were too understandable I might as well blame the books for this as
: well since they were the first to really explore the inner nature of the
: Covenant.

Well, that's because Halo 1 was an entirely different kind of game, at least in terms of the way the plot was presented. In Halo 1 things were confused - you didn't know where you were, how you were going to escape, or even what you were fighting. It made it edgy and very dark, and there's absolutely something to be said for that. While I enjoy that kind of storytelling immensely, it's more about the method than the result. In other words, you enjoy yourself more in your attempts to find stuff out and make sense of the circumstances than from actually finding out what they were. In Halo 2 things were spelled out much more clearly, and that certainly does sacrifice a lot of the fundaments of the Halo 1 style of storytelling. But I think it's justified, since that style allows you to learn a whole lot more. And it makes sense - by and large you know where you are, what you're doing, and more or less who you're going to be up against in the process. The Arbiter's missions parallel Halo 1 more closely in that they're more chaotic and you don't know what you're doing. And this makes sense from a gameplay point of view, certainly.

But I look at the storytelling not only in how it affects the gameplay, through settings, objectives, etc. but also just for simply the story itself. I can certainly appreciate the viewpoint that the gameplay loses some of the thrill when you're so intimately acquainted with your enemies, but without giving a face to the enemy, the story could only go so far. Sure, you'd have the flood, the forerunner, the halos, etc. but it would all boil down to just "killing aliens to save humanity," as I said earlier. By setting us up as the Arbiter and having us identify with at least part of the covenant in H2, it allowed things like the Covenant civil war to happen - and for us to care. If we hadn't been playing as the Arbiter in H2, I really think it would have seemed weird to have the Elites on our side in H3, which I think is one of the best parts of the story (and one which I wish were played up much more in-game). If we couldn't identify so much with them, the Elites' defection would seem sudden and bizarre.

Message Index



Replies:

Halo: Reach - Forum ?CaLL Me ZeNy 5/30/09 4:11 p.m.
     Re: Halo: Reach - Forum ?Psychophan7 5/30/09 4:20 p.m.
           Re: Halo: Reach - Forum ?CaLL Me ZeNy 5/30/09 4:24 p.m.
     Re: Halo: Reach - Forum ?serpx 5/30/09 4:22 p.m.
     Interesting *NM*UNSC_Trooper 5/30/09 4:37 p.m.
     Original Post at B.net here:Cocopjojo 5/30/09 4:39 p.m.
     New Bungie made Halo game/expansion?The BS Police 5/30/09 4:54 p.m.
     Re: Halo: Reach - Forum ?CaptainTony 5/30/09 5:16 p.m.
           Re: Halo: Reach - Forum ?Cocopjojo 5/30/09 5:20 p.m.
           Re: Halo: Reach - Forum ?The BS Police 5/30/09 7:55 p.m.
     Hrm...DHalo 5/30/09 5:21 p.m.
           Some actual game speculation...DHalo 5/30/09 5:30 p.m.
                 Re: Some actual game speculation...zofinda 5/31/09 9:59 a.m.
                       E3 Reveal???chris101b 5/31/09 8:59 p.m.
                       Re: Some actual game speculation...vlad3163 5/31/09 10:23 p.m.
           Re: Hrm...Psychophan7 5/30/09 6:44 p.m.
                 Re: Hrm...DHalo 5/30/09 7:11 p.m.
     Where is this search bar?ranger15s 5/30/09 9:02 p.m.
           Re: Where is this search bar?DHalo 5/30/09 9:46 p.m.
                 Re: Where is this search bar?ranger15s 5/30/09 9:54 p.m.
                       Re: Where is this search bar?DHalo 5/30/09 10:42 p.m.
     It's real.zoidberg25 5/31/09 11:01 a.m.
     Maybe it'll feature Spartan/Elite campaign?Optimusprime117 5/31/09 11:23 a.m.
           Re: Maybe it'll feature Spartan/Elite campaign?elpolloguapo 5/31/09 1:18 p.m.
                 Besides...SonofMacPhisto 5/31/09 1:45 p.m.
                       Re: Besides...The BS Police 5/31/09 1:53 p.m.
                             Re: Besides...elpolloguapo 5/31/09 2:29 p.m.
                                   Re: Besides...SonofMacPhisto 5/31/09 3:15 p.m.
                                   Well...Ze Moose 5/31/09 11:34 p.m.
                                         Re: Well...elpolloguapo 6/1/09 12:04 a.m.
     More on Xbox.comThe BS Police 5/31/09 12:57 p.m.
           Re: More on Xbox.comLouis Wu 5/31/09 1:03 p.m.
                 Re: More on Xbox.comThe BS Police 5/31/09 1:20 p.m.
           Re: More on Xbox.comzoidberg25 5/31/09 1:21 p.m.
           Different person, same picture, different logoDHalo 5/31/09 5:28 p.m.
                 Re: Different person, same picture, different logoLouis Wu 5/31/09 5:31 p.m.
                       Re: Different person, same picture, different logoDHalo 5/31/09 5:33 p.m.
                             Re: Different person, same picture, different logoDHalo 5/31/09 5:38 p.m.
                                   Re: Different person, same picture, different logoSonofMacPhisto 5/31/09 5:47 p.m.
                                         Re: Different person, same picture, different logoPenguin Ninjoid 5/31/09 8:41 p.m.
                             Re: Different person, same picture, different logoThe BS Police 5/31/09 6:00 p.m.
                                   Re: Different person, same picture, different logoDHalo 5/31/09 6:04 p.m.
                                         Re: Different person, same picture, different logozoidberg25 5/31/09 6:31 p.m.
                                               Re: Different person, same picture, different logoGeneral Vagueness 5/31/09 11:10 p.m.
                                   Re: Different person, same picture, different logoLouis Wu 5/31/09 6:28 p.m.
                                         Re: Different person, same picture, different logovlad3163 5/31/09 10:27 p.m.
                                               Re: Different person, same picture, different logoLouis Wu 5/31/09 11:13 p.m.
                 Re: Different person, same picture, different logoSonofMacPhisto 5/31/09 5:35 p.m.
                       Find out tomorrow. *NM*Psychophan7 5/31/09 6:09 p.m.
                       I think we all know what we WANT that answer to be *NM*ElusiveEagle519 5/31/09 6:39 p.m.
                             Pancakes? *NM*LoneRanger 2.5 6/1/09 12:30 a.m.
                                   Hmmm.....Waffles? *NM*ElusiveEagle519 6/1/09 2:46 a.m.
                                         Hrmm, tough call...Psychophan7 6/1/09 4:28 a.m.
                                               Re: Hrmm, tough call...SonofMacPhisto 6/1/09 8:14 a.m.
     Re: Halo: Reach - Forum ?KiGlow 5/31/09 7:41 p.m.
     Zune HD game?Dustbunny27 6/1/09 9:30 a.m.



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