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This topic has moved here: Subject: A massive improvement to Halo 3's story...
  • Subject: A massive improvement to Halo 3's story...
Subject: A massive improvement to Halo 3's story...

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

Let's face it, Halo 3 had a mediocre campaign. A very mediocre campaign.

It starts off and everyone's like "whoa, what the hell happened there?. There's so little room for explanation of how events from Halo 2 led to Halo 3, Bungie can't have expected the majority of the fanbase to have read or ever heard of Halo: Uprising (which only filled in a portion of the gap).

The first few levels of Halo 3 were extremely lackluster, Sierra-117 may have looked pretty but it was pretty poor. It did nothing to tie in events except Johnson saying "the Arbiter is with us". A lot of fans joined when Halo 3 was released, they already haven't the foggiest clue about what's going on, though that's partially their own fault for not looking into the story first.

Anyways, in terms of level structure, here's how I'd have made Halo 3.

- Level 1: Escape from Delta Halo - revisiting Installation 05 from Thel's POV. You're with Johnson, Miranda, Spark and a squad of Elites and you are contacted by Rtas (who has captured a Phantom and is going to "take the Cruiser back"). You are picked up and the objective is simply to take back the Cruiser and head back to Earth, an explosive opening that ties in with Halo 2's ending.

- Level 2: Dreadnaught - John is aboard the Forerunner Dreadnaught, basically the mission would be a revisiting of Halo: Uprising. You fight your way to Truth, you fail to assassinate him and end up jumping out the Dreadnaught leading to the opening of Arrival.


2 missions. That is all Halo 3 needed to make the first part of the game better and the story more enjoyable, even as DLC I'd have brought it. They scrubbed Thel's story from Halo 3 (something I persnally loved in Halo 2), this 1 thing could have been a little nod to those fans.

[Edited on 01.20.2011 2:02 PM PST]

  • 01.20.2011 2:02 PM PDT

The Razor.

For the honour of the Mirratord.

I agree, these two levels would have made it far better. But for it to be better than Halo 2 (in terms of story), the Arbiter's story should have been continued throughout.

  • 01.20.2011 2:04 PM PDT

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

Indeed.

I remember, we've spoken about this many-a-time, Elliott. :P

  • 01.20.2011 2:07 PM PDT

The Razor.

For the honour of the Mirratord.

I know ;)

Glad one of us finally raised the issue here.

  • 01.20.2011 2:11 PM PDT

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

Aye, writing all this down made me remember how bad Halo 3's story was... it has its good parts, but the stuff on Earth mainly was terrible.

"To war."

...

*Shudders.*

  • 01.20.2011 2:13 PM PDT

The Razor.

For the honour of the Mirratord.

To be fair, I am a fan of Sierra 117 and Tsavo Highway. The Storm and Floodgate are all right.

But yes, Crow's Nest.... *shudders.* Although the ending was good.

We should actually sit down and write down in detail what we think Halo 3's story should have been. Or is that too sad?

Eh, we write fan fiction.

;)

  • 01.20.2011 2:15 PM PDT

Posted by: ajw34307
Aye, writing all this down made me remember how bad Halo 3's story was... it has its good parts, but the stuff on Earth mainly was terrible.

"To war."

...

*Shudders.*


Eh, Halo has always had horribly cheesy lines in it. Personally, I shuddered when Jorge said, "Contacts? It's the damn Covenant!"

Personally, I really loved Halo 3's campaign, mainly because it was the first Halo that I had played on my Xbox. However, I would've loved an Arbiter side of the story. It would've been interesting to see what the Elites were up to on the Ark.

  • 01.20.2011 2:18 PM PDT

The Razor.

For the honour of the Mirratord.

It would have been cool if in The Covenant you swapped back and forth between Master Chief and the Arbiter; would have made things more interesting in an already awesome level.

  • 01.20.2011 2:19 PM PDT
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Where did you hear about skyrim
Uriel Septim came to me in a dream and started peeing in my face, whispering "turn on the the internets..."

personally, i am hoping that 343i will make a game from thel's point of view entirely at sometime after halo 3 or before, or at least a elite's story.

  • 01.20.2011 2:33 PM PDT

THey needed to first off not have the rest of blue team leave earth in ghosts of onyx. Then they had to have chief reunite with blue team when he boarded the elites ship to see what cortana had to say (blue team being lord hoods escort aboard the elite vessel).

Then they all go through the portal together.

  • 01.20.2011 2:56 PM PDT

I agree with the OP completely. I rant on how bad on Halo:Reach's story, but Halo 3's story was pretty bad. Also about your "Dreadnought level" idea, didn't Bungie mention that when Halo 2 was rushed, the Dreadnought level was supposed to really be the last level but they had to cut it out?

Still, I agree. Halo 3 could have been better.

"To war..." *shudders*

Also, one of my biggest peeves with the game was the fact that there were no Hunters and Grunts on our sides. The ending of Halo 2 made me think that we would at least had a few Grunts and Hunters join us at certain points.


[Edited on 01.20.2011 3:10 PM PST]

  • 01.20.2011 3:06 PM PDT
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Where did you hear about skyrim
Uriel Septim came to me in a dream and started peeing in my face, whispering "turn on the the internets..."

i feel that people are being too harsh on the storys, even though they may have left some bits out and may not been canon it is still a damn site better than alot of other games storys out there. at least bungie put detail into the background of most things and didnt just leave it at "go there" "kill them" "war over" end game.

  • 01.20.2011 3:12 PM PDT

"Find where the liar hides, so that I may place my boot between his gums!" - Rtas 'Vadum

It would help. I just think they sort of missed the target completely with respect to Halo 3. Lots of Covenant factions left, no light on the Human-Sangheili co-operation. Nerfed Thel's view. The 5 remaining Rings. Remaining Flood in stasis all over the galaxy. If it was inside a random Gas Mine then where else could it be?

Halo 3: Adjourn the Fight

Posted by: KrazY KilleR Al
personally, i am hoping that 343i will make a game from thel's point of view entirely at sometime after halo 3 or before, or at least a elite's story.

Thel is gone as a playable character. Frankie implied it in one of his posts on HBO. He said that post Halo 3 Thel is no more than an intimidating bureaucrat.

Seeing as the games tend to focus heavily on Master Chief, and Master Chief is god knows where, it is unlikely that we will see any of the familiar characters in another game again, unfortunately.

  • 01.20.2011 3:18 PM PDT


Posted by: anton1792
Posted by: KrazY KilleR Al
personally, i am hoping that 343i will make a game from thel's point of view entirely at sometime after halo 3 or before, or at least a elite's story.

Thel is gone as a playable character. Frankie implied it in one of his posts on HBO. He said that post Halo 3 Thel is no more than an intimidating bureaucrat.

Seeing as the games tend to focus heavily on Master Chief, and Master Chief is god knows where, it is unlikely that we will see any of the familiar characters in another game again, unfortunately.

The Haloverse exists before 2552.

It's entirely possible that they could explore other happenings, perhaps even some decades or centuries earlier.

  • 01.20.2011 3:25 PM PDT

I would have preferred that Halo 3 be a story-focused game, to be honest. I mean, Halo 2 wasn't the greatest but it left Halo 3 with the ability to have an epic, solid, and lengthy campaign. Though, what really disappoints me is multiplayer and the other features. No, it's not that that I don't like them... It's just, the reason I purchased all of the Halo titles was to enjoy the story (I kept imagining a deep enthralling campaign).

Hopefully, Bungie can deliver their story much better in the new IP.

  • 01.20.2011 3:28 PM PDT

"Find where the liar hides, so that I may place my boot between his gums!" - Rtas 'Vadum

Posted by: Tupolev
Posted by: anton1792
Posted by: KrazY KilleR Al
personally, i am hoping that 343i will make a game from thel's point of view entirely at sometime after halo 3 or before, or at least a elite's story.

Thel is gone as a playable character. Frankie implied it in one of his posts on HBO. He said that post Halo 3 Thel is no more than an intimidating bureaucrat.

Seeing as the games tend to focus heavily on Master Chief, and Master Chief is god knows where, it is unlikely that we will see any of the familiar characters in another game again, unfortunately.

The Haloverse exists before 2552.

It's entirely possible that they could explore other happenings, perhaps even some decades or centuries earlier.

Assuming they stay away from the Master Chief for the time being. Whilst I am all for that, it is not likely to happen. The main reason why Thel's story was dropped from Halo 3 was because of moaning fans. Most people only want Master Chief in the next game, unfortunately in my opinion.

It is possible from a storyline perspective, but not really a sound move on the marketing front.

  • 01.20.2011 3:40 PM PDT