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This topic has moved here: Subject: If you've finished Cryptum like me, come here. (MAJOR SPOIL)
  • Subject: If you've finished Cryptum like me, come here. (MAJOR SPOIL)
Subject: If you've finished Cryptum like me, come here. (MAJOR SPOIL)
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Thread: "Your way of stopping an asteroid the size of Texas from hitting Earth."

Posted by: AvengerTam1010
launch texas at the asteroid


Posted by: Lord Snakie
Posted by: Wolverfrog
Did Microsoft ever care about the story?

Yet you bought the Bungie games for years because Bungie cared, even though Microsoft was the publisher.

I'm sure Greg Bear also cares about the story. So what if 343 are the instigators of it?

This is a good point, but I've thought this through. Bear was likely contracted by 343i to do the story, and potentially had no real interest in it beforehand. Perhaps has no real interest in it now--maybe he's just throwing things together that sound cool and fit with the lore, I dunno. I don't know the guy personally and I'm not going to make assumptions about him.

But I haven't bought any 343i material since Legends. So what if I buy Cryptum? It's just going to be that I fund 343 a little longer and stay on top of the lore for a little while more until 343i's work starts up again and I'm forced to ignore it. Sticking by my principals, I'd wind up knowing half the new lore and being totally separated from half of it.

Best to just leave it as a clean cut.

I understand what you're saying, and I'm not trying to invalidate what you're saying, but you PERSONALLY buying the book probably isn't going to make much difference beyond a few dollars of profit for 343i.

That said, I am concerned about whether Bear actually gives a damn what he's writing. He's done a great job on Cryptum by the sounds of things, but he's got the possibility of two more books to screw the canon into oblivion. I worry a little.

Personally, I'd like to see Eric Nyulund writing again. Okay, so he's not as creative as Bear maybe, and makes silly canon errors occasionally. But at least we know he likes writing about the Halo universe. Plus he wrote my two favourite Halo novels to date (First Strike and Ghosts of Onyx).

  • 01.05.2011 8:35 AM PDT

Hardcore Entertainment

The book doesn't contradict with canon because it's a whole new level of canon, which we didn't know.

I'm excited beacause it should be a trilogy, right?

  • 01.05.2011 8:41 AM PDT


I don't think the precursor that was contained was a gravemind. The way it sounded at the end it created the flood as a response to being defeated by the Forerunners.

  • 01.05.2011 9:50 AM PDT

OMG a Pwny!

I'm kinda thinking that it's an infected Precursor, and that for whatever reason Precursors had an immunity or a cure, or perhaps just this one had an immunity, and he was caged for research purposes.

  • 01.05.2011 10:32 AM PDT


Posted by: SirPwn4g3
I'm kinda thinking that it's an infected Precursor, and that for whatever reason Precursors had an immunity or a cure, or perhaps just this one had an immunity, and he was caged for research purposes.
I wounder why the Precursor was locked up so tight. What was his secerete that caused the humans to kill themselves when they learned it?

  • 01.05.2011 11:45 AM PDT
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Got pork?

You obviously haven't met my younger brother then.

I skipped the OP and all the comments for a quick question.

What is "Cryptum"? A new book?

  • 01.05.2011 12:07 PM PDT

This is profile number 4

actually been a member of Bungie.net since March-April 2004

... I have a tendency to lose my passwords...

Posted by: LASEM
I skipped the OP and all the comments for a quick question.

What is "Cryptum"? A new book?



Halo Cryptum

[Edited on 01.05.2011 12:35 PM PST]

  • 01.05.2011 12:34 PM PDT

Fight to the end, and give it your all.

I read the entire book already, and DAMN. Didn't expect any of this.

  • 01.05.2011 1:20 PM PDT

Valiant men have died here so we don't have to, so let's get the hell out.

I like the parallel/ cyclical universe thing Bear set up.

You've got people at the end of a war which has its roots in a war from the past which has largely been forgotten, a young man pretty much forced into becoming a great warrior who has the help of a blue, female AI based on the mind of someone whom he has a weird romanticish link to.

The weird thing is how this book seems to sort of be matching up with what we "know" from the games.

Also, could this be where the AIs from the datapads get the idea that humanity and AI need to merge?

I'm excited to see how Bear takes the series from where it left off (the Forerunner homeworld being supernuked by Mendicant Bias) to the transcription in the terminals from Halo 3 (although he did say in the intro that the legends of the Forerunner have been changed from the truth so he may use that as a cop out to change what he pleases).

I mean, we've got the Didact and the Librarian, but they're at the Ark at close of Cryptum and Earth's portal is already closed. Where does the Maginot Line come in? We've already seen things like Line Installation L-1 or whatever from that one comic, I think 343i isn't ballsy enough to just retcon the Line from existence.

I imagine the Librarian is going to have to go off into the universe to collect some more samples. The Flood will have massed further, perhaps the Didact will establish the Line to protect the last of the Forerunner worlds (perhaps ala the prison sphere from the San'Shyumm homesystem?) During this mission she'll get seperated from the Ark and have to reopen Earth's portal.

I'm looking forward to Offensive Bias showing up and possibly Guilty Spark or Penitent Tangent. I'll feel deflated if the Gravemind doesn't make an appearance as well.

They also foreshadowed Bornstellar/Didact meeting his family post infection, this should be a creepy experience indeed.

I think it's nice to finally be getting answers, as someone said in an earlier thread mysteries stop being fun after ten years.

  • 01.05.2011 1:40 PM PDT

Sour0deez is the leader of the t-P-t
And Administrator of The Clan Union Group
this file is not linked to sour0deez due to technical difficulties this file is linked to MUGBEER19 also IMPORTANT here my name is sourodeez on xbox it is sour0deez


Posted by: The Ultra
How did the Forerunners beat (DESTROY, actually) the Precursors? Well...

I do not know. I only know they did this because of the last little lines of the book, which say:

"We meet again, young one. I am the last of those who gave you breath and shape and form, millions of years ago. I am the last of those your kind rose up against and ruthlessly destroyed . I am the last Precursor. And our answer is at hand."

Can you say cliffhanger?


did teh floodz fight in prescure vs forrunner war?

  • 01.05.2011 1:55 PM PDT

On Waypoint I'm rocketFox;
http://halo.xbox.com/forums/members/rocketfox/default.aspx

Old GTs; RebelRobot, Flamedude

And so it begins. The story of Halo will lose its focus and edge that makes it so interesting.

Too many cooks.

  • 01.05.2011 2:00 PM PDT

The Forerunner, the Great Journey, and Heaven Theory

[Announcement Trailer] Halo: Forerunner

Posted by: Agustus
I lol'd at the absurd miscommunication that occurs whenever dibbs post something. Perhaps his brain is so highly evolved that he can no longer clearly communicate with lesser life forms, even among his own species.

Posted by: flamedude
And so it begins. The story of Halo will lose its focus and edge that makes it so interesting.

Too many cooks.
I disagree, if anything it's being further refined. They aren't going off on a tangent about an ODST rookie no one cared about; about a SIII no one cared about. They are filling in the holes of a mystery that has captivated fans for a decade while still keeping the series entertaining and giving the feeling of wonder that was really only present in Halo: CE.

I try only to be pessimistic when it's warranted. After actually reading the entire book, I think it's safe to say that, for now at least, it isn't.

  • 01.05.2011 2:25 PM PDT

Hardcore Entertainment


Posted by: dibbs089
Posted by: flamedude
And so it begins. The story of Halo will lose its focus and edge that makes it so interesting.

Too many cooks.
I disagree, if anything it's being further refined. They aren't going off on a tangent about an ODST rookie no one cared about; about a SIII no one cared about. They are filling in the holes of a mystery that has captivated fans for a decade while still keeping the series entertaining and giving the feeling of wonder that was really only present in Halo: CE.

I try only to be pessimistic when it's warranted. After actually reading the entire book, I think it's safe to say that, for now at least, it isn't.
!!
All said

  • 01.05.2011 2:42 PM PDT

How does the book compare technically to the other Halo books? I'd expect Greg Bear to write better than Nylund, no offence intended to him.

Oh, and how does the book pan out? Is it a tight controlled affair taking place over a few months, or is it a huge space opera spanning years?

  • 01.05.2011 2:45 PM PDT

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

Posted by: Wolverfrog
How does the book compare technically to the other Halo books? I'd expect Greg Bear to write better than Nylund, no offence intended to him.


For once on the subject of authors, we agree.

  • 01.05.2011 2:48 PM PDT
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___________(''''''''| '''''''|''' ')_||___________
| ------------____.`======.-.~:______/___|=============[_]
|_|||___/ /__/~'''|_|_|_|''(0)-------------<

Posted by: Wolverfrog
How does the book compare technically to the other Halo books? I'd expect Greg Bear to write better than Nylund, no offence intended to him.

Oh, and how does the book pan out? Is it a tight controlled affair taking place over a few months, or is it a huge space opera spanning years?


Per your second question: Parts of the book take place in days but other parts flash forward a bit...a couple of years or so...and continue on.

  • 01.05.2011 2:50 PM PDT

Hardcore Entertainment

hm we could even discuss about the Halo Legends episode "Babysitter", there were ancient ruins that looked like chinese buildings, and we were shocked that they said they would be from an ancient alien race, because we thought they meant forerunners or even precursors.

But now it just could have been buildings from the humans pre-forerunner war.


but I don't like to consider every detail of legends as canon.


really interesting that forerunner were on mars

  • 01.05.2011 3:05 PM PDT

On Waypoint I'm rocketFox;
http://halo.xbox.com/forums/members/rocketfox/default.aspx

Old GTs; RebelRobot, Flamedude

I personally think that mystery adds to a story. Sometimes there is no need to explain every single detail as it quite often impacts other stories. There are so many examples of franchises going too far (e.g. Midichlorians). The information about humans having a previous interstellar empire..... I don't really know what to make of that.

The mystery of the Forerunners..... I liked not knowing about them.

  • 01.05.2011 3:10 PM PDT

It is quite a big jump from what we thought we knew, but hopefully it will be expanded upon through games and linked to the "current" time period of 2552 in order to make it seem a more integral part of the Halo universe.

  • 01.05.2011 3:12 PM PDT

The Forerunner, the Great Journey, and Heaven Theory

[Announcement Trailer] Halo: Forerunner

Posted by: Agustus
I lol'd at the absurd miscommunication that occurs whenever dibbs post something. Perhaps his brain is so highly evolved that he can no longer clearly communicate with lesser life forms, even among his own species.

Posted by: Wolverfrog
How does the book compare technically to the other Halo books? I'd expect Greg Bear to write better than Nylund, no offence intended to him.

Oh, and how does the book pan out? Is it a tight controlled affair taking place over a few months, or is it a huge space opera spanning years?
When I read Nylund, it seemed like he was focused on presenting a very entertaining series of books. Bear on the other hand is different. I'd say his main goal isn't entertainment but enlightenment. Its like he's almost teaching you about the Halo Universe. That's not to say the book isn't entertaining (I literally couldn't put it down form start to finish) but its more of a "holy -blam!- mind=blown" entertainment as opposed to a Nylund "this is really cool" entertainment.

The only problem I had with Bear is that he moved from event to event at a kind of breakneck speed. It should have been a little slower paced (I mean Mendicant Bias' introduction takes place in the middle of a chapter - it fully warranted a set up for it as opposed to it just happening).

I really was considering putting together a timeline because when exactly the book occurs is confusing. I would have to say it spans about a month (slightly less) and occurs very shortly before the creation of the Maginot Line.

  • 01.05.2011 3:14 PM PDT

And So Forerunner And Flood Became One.

Posted by: DeDoubleyou
really interesting that forerunner were on mars


Was one of the rings used on Mars? (It would explain why it's a barren planet "now")

  • 01.05.2011 3:31 PM PDT

Valiant men have died here so we don't have to, so let's get the hell out.


Posted by: Sorta Kinda Yea
Posted by: DeDoubleyou
really interesting that forerunner were on mars


Was one of the rings used on Mars? (It would explain why it's a barren planet "now")


We don't know yet. That may get left up to the turn of the ages.

I would agree that the book was far too fastpaced. I think that the story was good, but I would have liked Bear to have taken more time with it. An extra hundred or so pages with the same story would have been great imo.

  • 01.05.2011 3:45 PM PDT

And So Forerunner And Flood Became One.

Posted by: Joeaxamus
I would agree that the book was far too fastpaced. I think that the story was good, but I would have liked Bear to have taken more time with it. An extra hundred or so pages with the same story would have been great imo.


In my opinion, Bear wanted to completely blow our minds and this led him to throw in really z0mg kind of information every few pages. But still, my mind is still recuperating.

  • 01.05.2011 3:51 PM PDT

Brains beats brawn get used to it

Fear the Red Comet

Variety is the spice of life.
Long live games.
Death to all fanboys.


Posted by: dibbs089
The only problem I had with Bear is that he moved from event to event at a kind of breakneck speed. It should have been a little slower paced (I mean Mendicant Bias' introduction takes place in the middle of a chapter - it fully warranted a set up for it as opposed to it just happening).



Indeed when just considering this book alone the pacing is too quick. However, this is just one part of a trilogy...so I would imagine that once all three books come together the pacing and overview of the story will make sense.

  • 01.05.2011 4:09 PM PDT

Can someone explain what the precursors are again? cause i honestly cant remember this race showing up in halo..

  • 01.05.2011 4:15 PM PDT