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nicely done
Posted By: Miguel Chavez	Date: 9/22/11 12:10 p.m.
In Response To: Re: Podtacular story discussion thoughts... (Ibeechu) : Something that makes Halo stand out to me in terms of story isn't so much the : content, but the storytelling itself. It's obvious that Joe and Marty and : the other core group of guys have a really good intuition for clearly : communicating through visuals and music and means that aren't dialogue. : Which is good because my biggest beef with the storytelling overall is the : sometimes horrible dialogue. It's very one-liner based and it's usually : used to sort of bookend shots rather than provide much development or : information during the shots. Which is fine. In something cinematic like : Halo, any time you can replace dialogue with something else and have it : still work, it's almost indiscriminately the best option. : I was stressing in an earlier post that animation doesn't get nearly the : respect it deserves in video games and that goes doubly for a game like : Halo that thrives on cinematic storytelling. When you strip away dialogue : and music, the only thing that can tell a story is what you see. If all : you can see is a character reacting to something, you need to BELIEVE that : character is real. Halo 3 had some really great animation in some parts, : and Valve's Meet The Team videos prove that hand-keyed animation with : video game rigs is now technologically possible to bring to : film-production-quality. : As for story content, Halo is pretty standard sci-fi space opera at its core. : But it does present some unique characters and ideas. This has been said a : lot before, but making the Covenant sympathetic characters in Halo 2 was : really, really bold. And Halo 3 proved to me that a video game can make : you cry. I've always felt like the best moments in the story derive from : Chief and Cortana's relationship, and the stuff between them in Halo 3 was : just incredibly well-done. "It's been an honor working with you, : John" gets me every single time. It's impossible for me to not tear : up during that shot. : I had a whole big thing here written about how I dislike the idea of Cryptum : even though I've never read it, and I compared the mysteries in Halo to : the mysteries in Lost, saying that they're purely a catalyst for the real : core of the stories to be driven by. But it wasn't really making a point, : so I cut it out. Suffice it to say that Lost, while dealing with a lot of : mystery, is really a show about people who regret choices or events in : their lives, and who get a chance to understand those regrets and become : better people. I tried making a connection to Halo, by saying that the : mysterious stuff in Halo takes a backseat to the human story. But it : really doesn't. And, in fact, some of the stuff that impacted me most : about Halo was the sense of mystery. Setting foot off the PoA for the : first time, and then seeing this huge ringworld arcing up over the : horizon. Or watching a Halo-in-progress rise out of the mist in The Ark. : But, then again, maybe those just go back to visual storytelling. : You know, I typed a lot in this post but I don't know if I actually said : anything. : Cliffs : - Halo is a very cinematic game, and that's one of its strongest suits : - Joe Staten is a great storyteller, but is capable of writing terrible : dialogue : - Halo's core story is pretty basic, but the details and storytelling make it : really unique : - Something about Lost I'm always on the look-out for folks that 'get' the storyline, and for someone that most assuredly understands what made Lost so good and in the same vein why the Halo storyline is so good (warts and all)... that's just great. - M

Message Index

Podtacular story discussion thoughts...	GrimBrother One	9/22/11 12:13 a.m.
Re: Podtacular story discussion thoughts...	Ibeechu	9/22/11 2:42 a.m.
Great thoughts :-) *NM*	GrimBrother One	9/22/11 10:12 a.m.
Re: Podtacular story discussion thoughts...	General Battuta	9/22/11 10:38 a.m.
nicely done	Miguel Chavez	9/22/11 12:10 p.m.
Re: ONI did it	davidfuchs	9/22/11 2:05 p.m.
Instant Plot: Just Add Forerunner.	Quirel	9/22/11 11:51 a.m.
Re: Instant Plot: Just Add Forerunner.	Archilen	9/22/11 12:13 p.m.
Re: Instant Plot: Just Add Forerunner.	davidfuchs	9/22/11 2:10 p.m.
Re: Instant Plot: Just Add Forerunner.	Ibeechu	9/22/11 2:18 p.m.
Re: Instant Plot: Just Add Forerunner.	davidfuchs	9/22/11 4:03 p.m.
An Emerging Trend: Kill It NOW!	Quirel	9/22/11 8:17 p.m.
Re: Podtacular story discussion thoughts...	padraig08	9/22/11 5:33 p.m.