: That's kind of what I was thinking. I can't see a story with that narrative
: complexity going over well with the wide audience the games have
: attracted. Personally, I'm not sure that I want time travel to be a part
: of this series, because the particular cinematic style of Halo doesn't
: seem very conducive to it. But I guess it could be related to the
: Forerunner artifact. I would kind of like to see it do something besides
: destroy all life in the galaxy, since that was the threat in both previous
: games.
Well, that is kind of the central element of the Halo universe: Humans and Covenant fighting over some galaxy-destroying Forerunner artifacts which are the game's namesakes.
But yeah, if Halo 3 does involve time travel I would hope that it's not the same sort of confusing lets-do-the-same-events-in-different-ways repetition of Infinity's plot, with nothing (other than the repetition of events) ever explicitly stating that you are travelling through time. I think it would be nice to start the game off ala the trailer, with Master Chief coming across the Ark and the Covenant activating it and oh shit we're doomed... and then spend the rest of the game trying to prevent that from happening.
Either way, I'm sure the primary focus of the game won't just be the Ark. Halo 2 was "supposed to be" all about the war on Earth, but then most of it took place far off at another Halo and the ruins of the first one. Then again, it was supposed to return to Earth in the end to finish the war there... I imagine Bungie has just elaborated greatly on the unfinished ending to Halo 2, and frankly I'm rather glad to see it as a trilogy instead of just a... dualogy?... as it likely would have been had Halo 2 been finished properly. Or maybe they had planned for a third game anyway (I know *originally*, pre-acquisition, it was meant to be a trilogy), and just moved the last levels of Halo 2 to the start of Halo 3. Who knows. But it'll be interesting to find out.
: I wonder if the announcement trailer even fits directly into the story
: progression, especially since the announcement trailer for Halo 2 did not.
The two Halo 2 trailers I can recall showed the Master chief in a situation very similar to the one that ends the first level of Halo 2 (jumping off the Cairo), and the runthroughs Jamie was doing at E32K3 on Earth ("I didn't think they'd send a Spartan"). Both of those fit directly (with very slight differences) into the beginning of the story of Halo 2. Are you thinking of a different announcement trailer than I am?
