I've said it before, I'll say it again...





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I've said it before, I'll say it again...

Posted By: Lurono Date: 5/24/11 7:41 p.m.
In Response To: Why retcons do bother me. (Gravemind)

: But Reach on the other hand is just reprehensible in the utter disregard it
: shows for established canon. It throws out pretty much the entire last act
: of TFoR as well as retconning other material (e.g., Halsey's ignorance of
: the Spartan-III program prior to her trip to Onyx). It's almost like
: during the development of Reach, Bungie was saying "Sure, we've
: regarded TFoR to be canonical for nearly a decade, but fuck it. We're
: going to write whatever the hell we want. Who cares about consitency or
: canon? Besides, it's out of our hands after this." It's obvious to me
: that they simply stopped caring about quaint little notions like canon or
: treating this great universe they created with some modicum of care. Reach
: was almost a slap in the face to many long-time fans of the Haloverse.
: It's worse than George Lucas Doing in the Wizard by changing the Force
: from some mystical energy field to something caused by little
: microorganisms. At least that can potentially be reconciled so as not
: actually being a Doing in the Wizard moment. There's no way to reconcile
: Reach with TFoR.
: The thing is, while this large-scale retcon was deliberate, it was also
: entirely avoidable. They could have easily written Reach without rendering
: nearly half of TFoR Canon Discontinuity . The game could have taken place
: over the course of half a day instead of several weeks, making it closer
: to the novel's two-hour curb stomp battle. It could have involved a squad
: of Spartan-IIs instead Spartan-IIIs. It could have had The Pillar of
: Autumn in space instead of drydocked on the surface. Bungie could have
: made Reach with negligible continuity conflicts between it and TFoR, but
: they instead chose to create the most egregious retcon in the series'
: history. Did Bungie simply give Peter O'Brien free reign to write what he
: wanted, or did they have this scenario planned out before the first words
: were written down? In any case, for them to go "Yeah, this is
: canon," for nine years then suddenly turn around and go
: "Aaaaand, now it's not," with regard to a major part of the
: series canon just shows to me that they just stopped caring.
To say that Bungie didn't care at all is at best rude and at worst utterly disrespectful.
They don't care at all? Give me a freaking break. If the majority of Bungie's work, the bonuses that they've included with their games, their interaction with the community, etc. don't show that they care, what does? Yes, Reach doesn't fit well with canon, but that in no way means that Bungie doesn't care. Just like the inclusion of invisible barriers doesn't show that they don't care. Just like armor lock doesn't show that they don't care. Just like anything else that any percentage of the community dislikes doesn't show that they don't care.
Bungie, like every other game developer, makes decisions because they decide that it's the best course of action, not because they don't care about the product or the fans. What if they never liked TFoR to begin with? What if they story has just evolved in a different direction than they anticipated 10 years ago back when Halo was just a single title without this whole universe that spawned around it? How much of this direction was because of Bungie, how much of it was from 343i?
Any of these possibilities is much more productive than just saying "Well, I guess Bungie doesn't care anymore despite overwhelming evidence that they do." Saying they don't care is a lazy way out.

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Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Cody Miller	5/11/11 6:11 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Frankie	5/11/11 6:16 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Cody Miller	5/11/11 6:20 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Phoenix_9286	5/11/11 6:54 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Quirel	5/11/11 11:21 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Phoenix_9286	5/12/11 12:19 a.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Lurono	5/12/11 11:21 a.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	General Vagueness	5/12/11 1:09 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Quirel	5/12/11 1:20 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	General Vagueness	5/12/11 3:24 p.m.
i somewhat agree	nomis78	5/16/11 4:21 p.m.
oh and marty on music NM	nomis78	5/16/11 4:59 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	padraig08	5/11/11 6:22 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Azo 'Galvat	5/11/11 9:54 p.m.
tl;dr: "I grew up, and I like Ren & Stimpy" NM	Pkmnrulz240	5/11/11 6:24 p.m.
Are those really retcons?	General Battuta	5/11/11 6:25 p.m.
Re: Are those really retcons?	Cody Miller	5/11/11 6:31 p.m.
Re: Are those really retcons?	General Battuta	5/11/11 6:44 p.m.
Re: No, they're not.	Ranger15S	5/11/11 7:15 p.m.
Re: Are those really retcons?	General Vagueness	5/11/11 9:15 p.m.
Re: Are those really retcons?	General Battuta	5/11/11 10:12 p.m.
Nope, it isn't.	Narcogen	5/12/11 2:13 a.m.
Retcons are Art NM	NartFOpc	5/11/11 6:26 p.m.
Ren and Stimpy why you should not care about canon NM	ZaneZavin	5/11/11 6:31 p.m.
Thank God NM	RC Master	5/11/11 6:47 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Stephen L. (SoundEffect)	5/11/11 6:58 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	General Vagueness	5/11/11 9:25 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	DarkS7G	5/11/11 7:36 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Stephen L. (SoundEffect)	5/11/11 9:32 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	padraig08	5/11/11 10:08 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Stephen L. (SoundEffect)	5/12/11 6:07 a.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	DEEP NNN	5/12/11 6:30 a.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Stephen L. (SoundEffect)	5/12/11 11:01 a.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	DEEP NNN	5/12/11 11:57 a.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Stephen L. (SoundEffect)	5/12/11 2:54 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Revenant1988	5/12/11 7:41 a.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	DMFanella	5/12/11 8:46 a.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	Revenant1988	5/12/11 9:08 a.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	padraig08	5/12/11 1:41 p.m.
Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore	DMFanella	5/12/11 8:37 a.m.