In Response To: Re: Forget canon, what about the story itself (Revenant1988)
: I will say that I had trouble feeling much for the characters in Reach. There
: are a few reasons for this.
: 1:) From the beginning, you know not to get attached to them because you know
: they are all going to die.
: 2:) Call me a purist, but when I thought of Noble team in the early days, I
: figured it would all be
: S-II so when it was revealed that they were S-III I lost a little interest
: because again, I knew they were going to be disposable heroes. Jorge was
: an exception to this, being the first S-II in a game (other than halo
: wars) that you get to interact with outside of Master Chief.
: 3:) I actually was not a fan of seeing the other spartans faces. Regardless
: of being a II or a III, I've always liked the fact that they were
: faceless, but you could still tell them apart by their mannerisms. Ever
: since Nylunds TFoR, I've imagined a squad of spartans that look like
: Master Chief, but are not Master Chief. Being able to tell them apart with
: subtle differences in their armor markings or service numbers is what I
: wanted to see. The way they were done in Halo Wars is my favorite, and how
: I would like to see it in the future. Does that make them a little harder
: to tell apart? Generic? Yes, but I don't like seeing all the crazy
: variations of the armors. For me, it became hard to look at them any
: differently than just MP avatars you see in MP. In Halo 3 for instance,
: you could make your spartan look just stock like Master Chief, but you
: could not get his exact color. To me, that makes a world of difference for
: some reason. I know to treat MP and Campaign worlds differently, but on a
: sub-conscience level it makes me notice it and it affects my thinking, my
: ability to connect to them as story characters and not just MP avatars.
: For me, its about finding that perfect balance between making them stand
: apart just enough while still making them fit with everyone else. I don't
: know if that makes sense or not, to me it does.
: What I will say to you regarding the way they each died: 1.) Not every
: spartan is supposed to be Master Chief. They are different. Remember, he's
: just "lucky" compared to the others. The most well rounded. Not
: the best sniper, not the best heavy specialists, not the communications
: guy, not the best leader. He is what you might say, the best symbol.
: 2.) Kat getting shot in the head makes total sense. As Loftus pointed out,
: there is a reason the shields didn't do their job. Remember, Spartan armor
: in the universe is a tad different than how it behaves in game. I feel
: like I'm beating a dead horse with this since I say it to these die-hards
: so often, but some things are just for gameplay. GAMEPLAY. They need to be
: taken at face value. In Nylunds TFoR, before the spartans get the upgrade
: to their armor that gives them shields, all it is is just a suit of armor.
: Its not bullet proof, its not plasma proof, its bullet and plasma
: resistant Just like with body armor today, there is only so much damage
: they can take before they loose their overall usefulness. Once it passes
: that threshold, its not going to do its job. The shields supplement this.
: It is to keep them alive, where had they been exposed, they would die.
: When Sam takes that plasma to his chest, his armor saves his life. Had he
: been clothed like a marine, he'd be toast. The only reason he dies, it
: that he can't go back into space since the seal has been breached. No
: helmet is totally bullet proof either, so while kats helmet might have
: deflected a small arms fire round, human based, anything larger, armor
: piercing, or plasma based is still going to go through her face like a
: knife through butter. Can you imagine how thick a helmet would need to be
: to stop something like that, without shields?
: 3.) Carter was already mortally wounded by this point. How else can he be
: useful aside from distracting the Covenant from 6 and Emile? By taking a
: few out with him. makes sense to me. Again, not every Spartan, especially
: a Spartan III is going to be like Master Chief. Again, remember to take
: some of the game play stuff at face value. Yes, we destroy several scarabs
: in H2-H3 as Master Chief, but that doesn't matter because hes the
: goddamned Batma- ER Master Chief. Could other Spartans take one down
: individually? Probably. It would still likely be a suicide mission. Even
: Chief had help from the UNSC for most of them, and the ones you can take
: out in ODST as an ODST you still have help from your other ODST's.
: TL;DR: I too, had trouble connecting with the S-III's, but I don't have a
: problem with what they did or how they died in the game.
I agree with almost all of this. The in-universe behavior and physics may differ from gameplay concessions and the player/reader has to be able to divorce the two concepts or things won't make sense.
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