- Traxus 04
- |
- Honorable Member
The terminals didn't add any meaning to the story of Halo 3? lawl. They introduced the main character of the entire saga (Mendicant Bias). Who, btw, was able to help Master Chief once they reached the Ark, even though Cortana wasn't there. Halo 3 in general was a much more even fight, as only Truth's small force represented the Covies, totally outnumbered on Earth, and even fewer of them made it through the portal.
So, let's imagine for a second that Halsey's grand plan was just to send one ship to Alpha Halo, which is what the package was for. What a terrible plan. How is that gamechanging? They didn't even know what it was. The plan would amount to 'leading a massive covenant force to somewhere important, then praying we somehow defeat them once we get there.' No, the plan was to send a human/AI hybrid, which was what the package was for, which is what would change the whole complexion of the scenario. Noble team obviously enabled this to happen. Without them, the story would go 'we found Halo, got our asses kicked, then lost the war even quicker than we expected.'
Now, 'linking' is clearly different from 'reversing the path' of Human brain to AI mind. Linking, although no doubt it led to further research, essentially just means the AI can talk directly to the Spartan, perhaps feeding him the knowledge necessary to use unfamiliar systems etc. What the datapads talk about is something much more significant: using a human brain (an almost infinitely complex object) to HOUSE an AI (which needs to expand almost infinitely to avoid rampancy). Figures that would take another few years of research, but once it arrived, it would be 'the gamechanger'
Obviously the real reason MC was so devastating against the Cov was that it's a video game and you are controlling him and you have infinite lives/attempts. But this was bungie's way of reconciling that with a story. Ie. explaining how this is possible in the game world, for one fighter to overcome such odds. They've done it before, in Marathon Infinity, where the Mjolnir/cyborg merges with a human AI and an Jjaro AI, and the end screen says 'You ... are destiny.' Meaning you are an all powerful being who can decide anything (including choosing between branching timelines), but also that you are the dude playing the computer game and determines whether events continue.
It's telling to me that you just rule out the datapads as irrelevant. Shows you're not really interested in understanding the story from a higher perspective. Yeah Reach was the story of a big, lost battle, but the climax revolved around 'the package' and the EXTRA story they added (the stuff we didn't know about before) culminated in the mapping of AI to human brain in the year the game took place. Of course, if you want to close your eyes and ignore that, pretend that Reach contained nothing new, that's your prerogative.