Halo: just a game or a great story?

[Stewart5]

I am an ardent fan of Halo. No, not the videogame(although I'm not adverse to playing it) but the fluff, the background.]
Having read most of the background material and novels, there is is actually a massive amount of detailm, history and background to all the races involved that is barely scratched whislt you mow down countless ranks of defenceless grunts.

So, this thread, jump on and talk about what you like(or don't like) about the Halo backgorund.
Feel free to mention the games, but this thread ISN'T just for slating or promoting them.

Get posting!

[DigiFluid]

I've played all three with a buddy who loves 'em. I've found all of them to have been hopelessly derivative, doing just about nothing innovative or original. I don't particularly find them to be all that fun unless you're doing stupid stuff you were never meant to do, like wedging vehicles in strange spots or standing right next to a cliff so when your friend respawns he just falls to his doom over and over.

[Stewart5]

And there was me assuming from the breif that this wasn't just to slate the game, but to yalk of it's background and fluff. But hey, apparently my thread isn't what I wrote it to be.
i didn't ask people's opinions of the game itself.

[DigiFluid]

And there was me assuming from the breif that this wasn't just to slate the game, but to yalk of it's background and fluff. But hey, apparently my thread isn't what I wrote it to be.
i didn't ask people's opinions of the game itself.

Feel free to mention the games, but this thread ISN'T just for slating or promoting them.

Well if you don't want negative or positive, what DO you want?

[Stewart5]

No need to get wide. I meant mention the game in the context of background. I do not wish this thread to simply turn into an arguement over the merits of the game(it is got few, btw). I wish to talk about the fluff, the novels.

[Crazy Tom]

The fluff as you call it, is very, very, very cool. I'm sure others have done the same galactic WMD scenario and everything, but nothing like Halo, they really took it above and beyond in terms of storytelling.

On the subject of the game, never been much of a gamer, didn';t play the first ones, disappointed with 3 (doesn't even compare to the combat options of Gears), but appreciative of Halo Wars from the limited time I had to play.

[jds1982]

I'm a Halo fanboy and I'm proud to admit it. I love the games, and the "fluff". There are some things that don't make sense to me about the UNSC war effort. It seems like they could go about it better. They can make shields for the Spartans, but not for their ships? They have crazy good A.I., but they don't use robots in battle?

[Espeon1962]

I am also a huge Halo fan, I started with the books, and subsequently the only game in the series I have played is Halo Combat evolved for PC which I love - I have not played Halo 2 or 3 as I don't own an xbox and my computer is not powerful enough to run Halo 2PC (Its all notebooks on XP or Linux in this house).

Halo has enough material and detail to build out a whole series of movies, and I think between the books and the games, is perhaps the most memorable of all the games/book series out there. Everyone knows the Master Chief.

As jds1982 said, there are lots of illogical issues concerning the war effort that sometimes don't make sense.

[dosed150]

I'm a Halo fanboy and I'm proud to admit it. I love the games, and the "fluff". There are some things that don't make sense to me about the UNSC war effort. It seems like they could go about it better. They can make shields for the Spartans, but not for their ships? They have crazy good A.I., but they don't use robots in battle?

the shields the spartans use are based on stolen covenant technology, i think it was those shields the jackals carry, so the unsc probably dont understand the underlying technology and adapting personal shields to protect a ship is probably quite difficult

i do really enjoy the games, though halo 2 gfelt like a low point, one thing i like about the halo universe is theres as much story as you want, on the surface the games have a fairly basic story, but you can dig a bit deeper, and of course theres the graphic novels, the novels, the spin off games

[Stewart5]

The fluff as you call it, is very, very, very cool. I'm sure others have done the same galactic WMD scenario and everything, but nothing like Halo, they really took it above and beyond in terms of storytelling.

On the subject of the game, never been much of a gamer, didn';t play the first ones, disappointed with 3 (doesn't even compare to the combat options of Gears), but appreciative of Halo Wars from the limited time I had to play.

halo wars was good, as it was a game that incorporated much of the written canon, and then divulged more in the timeline function.

I'm a Halo fanboy and I'm proud to admit it. I love the games, and the "fluff". There are some things that don't make sense to me about the UNSC war effort. It seems like they could go about it better. They can make shields for the Spartans, but not for their ships? They have crazy good A.I., but they don't use robots in battle?

Well, they adapted Covenant shields, so maybe they were attempting to use them on ships. Remember, it took them 25 years to even develop Spartan shields, let alone ship sized ones.

I must say, some of the space battles captured my imagination.

[bradly08]

I love the Halo Storyline. The halos, the Ark and the war. The ships look simply stunning (Both the UNSC and Coventant ships) and the forunner technology and terain also looks stunning. The only problem i have with the story is:

1. The idea that Earth has so many colonies and their ships can only travel at 2.625 lightyears a day (whereas the covenant can travel 912 lightyears a day)
2. The Fact Halo wars introduced the flood far too early to be explained by the canon existing before the game.

[dosed150]

I love the Halo Storyline. The halos, the Ark and the war. The ships look simply stunning (Both the UNSC and Coventant ships) and the forunner technology and terain also looks stunning. The only problem i have with the story is:

1. The idea that Earth has so many colonies and their ships can only travel at 2.625 lightyears a day (whereas the covenant can travel 912 lightyears a day)
2. The Fact Halo wars introduced the flood far too early to be explained by the canon existing before the game.

the colonies european powers established in the americas were long distances from europe far enough to be difficult to travel between at the time, so this is no different really

it is explained though, at the end of halo wars the spirit of fire was stuck 30 years travel from human space so wouldnt get back till after the war and all the covenant on that planet were killed

[Rise Of The Phoenix]

I am an ardent fan of Halo. No, not the videogame(although I'm not adverse to playing it) but the fluff, the background.]
Having read most of the background material and novels, there is is actually a massive amount of detailm, history and background to all the races involved that is barely scratched whislt you mow down countless ranks of defenceless grunts.

So, this thread, jump on and talk about what you like(or don't like) about the Halo backgorund.
Feel free to mention the games, but this thread ISN'T just for slating or promoting them.

Get posting!

Hi mate.

I've only played Halo 1 and 2 on the original XBox, I don't have a 360 so haven't played 3 or the strategy game.
I haven't read any of the novels graphic or otherwise so I can't comment on those stories, but as far as the games go I love the stories, the only downfall of the games (1, 2 and I've heard 3 is the worst) is that they are too short, I think I managed to complete the ones I've played in only a few hours.

I love the whole idea of master chief, think he's an awesome character back up by the holographic Andromeda like character (I forget her name).
I love the proper war feel of the game, the epic feel of everything in that universe that I've witnessed.
It all just left me wanting more and like someone else here said it would make an awesome film series.

Cool thread, if I may add if anyone has the time and could give a gist of the overall stories from the novels they've read then that may give those of us who haven't read them a good idea of what happens elsewhere in the series, maybe add it in spoiler tags for those who are reading the novels now and don't want the story to be spoiled for them.
Perhaps a run down of the story from Halo 3 and the strategy game if there's anything worth adding, anything halo canon related would be cool.

Thanks.

[Stewart5]

Quick breakdown then....

Spoiler:

Mankind, in the 26th Century, are fighting a minor civil war with rebels, but nothing too serious. Think a bigger style IRA.
The UNSC cannot be arsed, and as such begin creation of Spartans, which fails.
By 2517, they've started again, and successfully make the Spartan IIs(Master Chief's bunch)
They steal well over a hundred children from around the colonies, replacing them with flash clones who will die soon, so the parents never know.
The children are then trianed up to be the best mentally and physically. They are given operations that make them physically stronger and tougher, and their bodies reach a stage at least 5 years ahead of their chronological age.
The years pass, until 2525 the Covenant make contact with planet Harvest.
Avery Johnstone and some militia defend Harvest from the first minor incursion.
Whilst this happens, the Spartans receive their MJOLNIR armour
Then war begins. 5 years and UNSC barely gains victory.
*insert Halo Wars*
Many, many more fights happen. Over the next 20 years, Earth forces slwoly pushed back.
Usual ratio for ship battles is two UNSC dead to every Covenant dead; and that's when humans WIN
Finally, they send the remaining Spartans on a mission to capture a Prophet in the heavily upgraded Pillar of Autumn under the hero Captain Keyes.
But the military base Reach, second most powerful after Earth, is attacked just as the Spartans receive shields for their armour and leave the planet.
Master Cheif and a few others board an enemy ship and kill stuff before he and a seriously wounded Spartan return to Pillar of Autumn.
The other Spartans have landed on Reach and fought the Covenant until they are glassed. Only a handful survive in secret ONI caves.
*Insert the Events of Halo: Combat evolved*
Master cheif finds a pelican of UNSC survivors and the two little ships assult and take control of a Covenant ship and use it to return home.
On the way, Master chief returns to Reach and retrieves the remaining Spartans.
They then assualt a huge Covenant fleet around a huge space ship not unlike High Charity. blow it form the inside, but lose more Spartans.
Kathrine Halsey, creator of Spartan II then steals one of the Spartans.
Whislt this has been happening, Spartan III's created. They have weaker armour, as they are "disposable heroes" cheaper to make, and taking less time, they go on massive suicide missions, 300 at a time.
They are trained on Onyx, which turns out to be a shield world. Hilarity ensues.
The Spartan that Halsey stole joins up with SIII's and their lieutenant-commander, a former spartan himself and are trapped in the dyson sphere shield world.
*Insert Halo2 and 3*

U need any more info, go to Halopedia matey.

[bradly08]

the only downfall of the games (1, 2 and I've heard 3 is the worst) is that they are too short, I think I managed to complete the ones I've played in only a few hours.

The first Game in my personal opinion was the best. I loved the way they introduced the Flood (Play that level in pitch black and on legendary and it is scary as hell) and each level was orginal and the storyline was briliant. I would love if bungie re-made it.