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This topic has moved here: Subject: The storytelling of the Halo series never lived up to their potential
  • Subject: The storytelling of the Halo series never lived up to their potential
Subject: The storytelling of the Halo series never lived up to their potential

The thing that irks me the most with the Halo series, is that it has a really good backstory to it, and yet, the series itself never came close to quality storytelling of the universe. I guess I can't blame Halo: CE, since it was the introduction for the franchise, and it had an engaging story... as far as first-person shooters go. Halo 2 was oh so close, as it went in depth in the Covenant's point of view of the conflict. The story in Halo 2 was engrossing... until the story shot itself in the foot with a pointless cliff-hanger excuse of an "ending". In Halo 3, while it had a satisfying ending, the rest of the game's plot was just lackluster.

Halo 3: ODST was decent for a side-story and an expansion pack, as the structure of the storytelling was very well handled and unique. The characters weren't developed well, but likable and Sadie's story was intriguing exterior side story. Halo: Reach was awful. It added no compelling contribution to the lore, and the characters were poorly developed, for what was supposedly a "character" driven story in the lines of Seven Samurai.

Am I the only one who's disappointed how the Halo franchise never lived up to the potential of their storylines? I mean, Bungie can do better, they made the Marathon and Myth series for crying out loud!

  • 02.16.2011 7:40 PM PDT

IMO has an amazing story but it is poorly told.

Part of this...imo is because bungie seemingly completely ignores the entire backstory when making their games (namely tfor).

Halo CE is the only story that doesnt ignore it because it is quite separated from the rest of the universe: the crew of a ship in a completely unknown place. The only thing they know is that according to dr halsey this will change their fates in a war that will ultimately lead to extinction otherwise. So Halo CE is perhaps the best halo in that regard.

Once they return to earth with that information though...the storytelling severely falls off imo.

  • 02.16.2011 7:53 PM PDT

Didact's Reprisal -
Now is the time of our unworlding
One final effort is all that remains
And I am not afraid
We shall fulfill our promise
We fight for the grace of the Mantle
And this time none of you will be left behind

Halo CE hinted toward the destruction of Reach, introduced the player to an advanced, superior, alien alliance set to destroy humanity, who revered an object designed to destroy the galaxy created by an even greater alien race to stop an even greater alien threat.

Halo 2 was technically never completed story-wise. I don't think I need to say more as you already complimented it.

Halo 3 added the background to the Forerunner-Flood War. In addition, it covered the weakened state of Earth, the fact every Halo was primed to fire, the civil war brewing in the Covenant, the ever-growing threat of Gravemind, the insanity of 343, and the redemption of Mendicant Bias. Perhaps you missed all of that.

Halo Reach introduced (to non-book readers) Dr. Halsey, the destruction of planet Reach, S-III's, the Assembly of AIs, the search for Forerunner artifacts by the Covenant and the attempt to understand it from both sides, glassing, and well...it's a prequel. How much are prequels designed to give away to the storyline, except the background? And what's the background to beginning of the Halo trilogy? Reach, and the Pillar of Autumn escaping from it.

Oh, and I heard that Marathon's sequels got really confusing, though that's only hearsay...

  • 02.16.2011 7:55 PM PDT
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Videogames (by that, I mean FPS) have two methods of 'proper' storytelling to their name:

1) sit in first person mode while scripted stuff happens in front of your. Side characters will rattle off exposition.

2) Go looting through every nook and cranny for vague "breadcrumbs" that are supposed to imply profound facts about the universe.

Halo has neither of that in any amount of consequence. Because of this, it is slightly disadvantaged. You can't exactly rattle off description and exposition like a book. Neither can you afford to do RPG-length cutscenes.

Then there's Bungies quirk of hating things that are more than 9-10, 30-minute levels. In such a system, you can have no subplots of value.

Did you know Halo 3 had massive plot revisions to it at the last moment? I can imagine the "Precursors had precursors!" reveal being explicitly stated as opposed to relegated to the terminals. It was exised, presumably to fit into that 10 level mold. The changes were what delayed Bloodlines or whatever they called the comic.

Alas, it is in the past. For what it does, I think Halo manages pretty well.

  • 02.16.2011 7:56 PM PDT

Like I said in the thread just beneath us, 343i seems to be focusing more on the emotions and behaviors of the characters rather then just the events like Bungie.

I mean, just read the Return, or Human Weakness, or the fact that Karen Traviss, the queen of gritty, and emotionally driven military stories, is writing the post war Halo Novel Trilogy.

This is what I've always wanted to see in Halo. After Halo 3 got the basics done and wrapped up the fundementals of the overarching plot of the universe, I wanted to see more emotionally drawing Halo stories that still advanced the overarching plot, but focused on the characters. From reading the books, I knew the potential was there. A lot of the characters are bursting with moral and ethical dilemas, and frusturated with their own line of work (EG: Halsey).

You know, to be frank, I don't think Bungie can really write a good emotional game-story. I know they can write an emotional character story (Contact Harvest), but in a game, they simply can't bring the emotion and tradgedy of the Haloverse to life.

But 343 does that brilliantly from what we've seen. They ask the audience questions, puting the audience in the shoes of the characters and that really makes us feel for them, makes us feel we are there experiancing the same thing the character is, and feeling the same way.

Human Weakness and Return were -blam!- ing incredible. They're amongst my favorite short stories of all time, and not just because they're Halo, but because of how amazing the writing was.

Same with Cryptum: you got the sense Born was growing up, leaving behind childhood (as he directly states) and only scratching the surface of the events to come. Something about how he had no idea what was going as his world and beliefs literally crumbled around him allowed us to feel a connection with him as a person (despite being non-human), because WE had no idea what was going on. We felt there with him as he explored the Precursor worlds with Didact, asking the same questions he was: how did they destroy the Precursor planet? What can do that? What's going to happen to me (him)? Why does no one seem concerned about the Flood? Was the deevolution of humanity justified?

Making Born and all manipulars look almost exactly like a human child was frankly a stroke of genious. It kept us from struggling to relate to a weird alien guy, and we have all been as young as he was, as young and adventurous, filled with wonder. We might have cared less if he looked non-human.

In fact, Cryptum itself was a stroke of genious.

So here's to an apparently more character driven Haloverse from here on out!

  • 02.16.2011 7:58 PM PDT
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Boomer.
Best. Ship. Ever!


Posted by: Im SteelAssassn
Oh, and I heard that Marathon's sequels got really confusing, though that's only hearsay...

Marathon Durandal isn't really confusing IMO. Infinity is when your head will explode if you try to figure anything out lol

  • 02.16.2011 8:00 PM PDT

By biggest gripe is the lack of epic in halo 3 I guess. It is the final battles, yet we see at most 30 ships.

I mean, this is the climax! the return of the king! this is the moment the covenant have been waiting for since their inception, yet truths fleet consists of only 30 ships.

There should have been hundreds of ships involved. It should have been the battle to end all battles. Before they headed through the portal, humanity and the elites should have mustered (almost) every last ship they could and gone through with a force of 50+.

Same goes for the flood. I have a vision where the final push towards the control room on halo (in halo 3) is absolutely insane. This is the floods last stand. Any and all flood infested ships would immediately slip right over the control room on the new halo and attempt to defend it. Then all the elites would follow knowing how important it is that chief gets to the control room. Imagine a massive space battle of flood ships vs elite ships going on directly over the control room during the last level of halo 3, while you and a whole bunch of sword elites push your way through masses of flood.

For the final battles, halo 3 really let us down.

[Edited on 02.16.2011 8:07 PM PST]

  • 02.16.2011 8:01 PM PDT

Posted by:
Marathon Durandal isn't really confusing IMO. Infinity is when your head will explode if you try to figure anything out lol

Yeah, I forgottent to mention how the Marathon series went downhill after Durandal.

  • 02.16.2011 8:04 PM PDT

Halo CE was a nice, contained story. Halo 2 set everything up for an awesome final chapter of the Halo trilogy that I personally believe Halo 3 didn't deliver on.

I believe the problem with Halo game storytelling is that Bungie wouldn't advance the plot hardly at all in each level. Almost all the "action" happened in the cutscenes. The player hardly ever learned about the overall conflict while in the levels, but instead in the cutscenes. Then, he/she would have to resolve one conflict in the subsequent level and then another conflict was introduced in the next cutscene. This inhibited Bungie from being able to do anything grandiose in respect to the overall plot of the game because they were constantly playing catch-up with their own script.

  • 02.16.2011 8:07 PM PDT

Posted by: The FenderGlyph
Halo CE was a nice, contained story. Halo 2 set everything up for an awesome final chapter of the Halo trilogy that I personally believe Halo 3 didn't deliver on.

I believe the problem with Halo game storytelling is that Bungie wouldn't advance the plot hardly at all in each level. Almost all the "action" happened in the cutscenes. The player hardly ever learned about the overall conflict while in the levels, but instead in the cutscenes. Then, he/she would have to resolve one conflict in the subsequent level and then another conflict was introduced in the next cutscene. This inhibited Bungie from being able to do anything grandiose in respect to the overall plot of the game because they were constantly playing catch-up with their own script.

I thought Halo 3 had a better campaign than Halo 2 from a gameplay perspective. It's just a shame that they've made the story worse. Then again, Joseph Staten was barely involved during the developtment of Halo 3's campaign. Of course, he was busy writing one of the novels (Which thankfully turned out to be one of the best Halo novels), but I wish he was around more during Halo 3's developtment. Same thing happened with Halo: Reach, which would explain why the character development in Reach was worse than ODST's.

[Edited on 02.16.2011 8:13 PM PST]

  • 02.16.2011 8:13 PM PDT

Posted by: TehTerminator
Posted by: The FenderGlyph
Halo CE was a nice, contained story. Halo 2 set everything up for an awesome final chapter of the Halo trilogy that I personally believe Halo 3 didn't deliver on.

I believe the problem with Halo game storytelling is that Bungie wouldn't advance the plot hardly at all in each level. Almost all the "action" happened in the cutscenes. The player hardly ever learned about the overall conflict while in the levels, but instead in the cutscenes. Then, he/she would have to resolve one conflict in the subsequent level and then another conflict was introduced in the next cutscene. This inhibited Bungie from being able to do anything grandiose in respect to the overall plot of the game because they were constantly playing catch-up with their own script.

I thought Halo 3 had a better campaign than Halo 2 from a gameplay perspective. It's just a shame that they've made the story worse. Then again, Joseph Staten was barely involved during the developtment of Halo 3's campaign. Of course, he was busy writing one of the novels (Which thankfully turned out to be one of the best Halo novels), but I wish he was around more during Halo 3's developtment. Same thing happened with Halo: Reach, which would explain why the character development in Reach was worse than ODST's.


Well, since video games are an art and art is subjective, I'll give you that. I've played Halo 2's campaign more times than I can count. Halo 3's campaign? Probably 3 or 4. Halo 3's campaign felt artificial and not fully developed to me.

  • 02.16.2011 8:19 PM PDT

Posted by: The GenderGlyph
Halo 3's campaign felt artificial and not fully developed to me.

I could say the same thing for Halo 2, since it was rushed and the most rushed Halo game of the series. I'm not bluffing, Halo 2 was made in 10 months. However, I'm not shedding negative light on Halo 2 here (okay, maybe a little), as Halo 2 was a great game. Halo: Reach was obviously rushed, and it was a good game, but not a great game IMO.

  • 02.16.2011 8:23 PM PDT
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Boomer.
Best. Ship. Ever!


Posted by: TehTerminator
Posted by:
Marathon Durandal isn't really confusing IMO. Infinity is when your head will explode if you try to figure anything out lol

Yeah, I forgottent to mention how the Marathon series went downhill after Durandal.

I disagree. Trying to figure out the right path in Infinity was very fun for me and trying to figuring out all the intricacies of story was great, especially with all the alternate realities. I like complex stories, which unfortunately Halo doesn't really deliver IMO, even with the books.

Don't get me wrong. I think most of the books are great, especially Cryptum, but none of them ever reach the complexity of Marathon.

[Edited on 02.16.2011 8:28 PM PST]

  • 02.16.2011 8:27 PM PDT

I'll remain a soldier until the war is won.

Agreed.

  • 02.16.2011 8:32 PM PDT

Vengeance only leads to an ongoing cycle of hatred.

I agree. I think that it's better 343i is taking over. I'm not saying they'll do better, but I'm not saying they'll do worse. I'm just hoping they'll do a better job living up to its full potential with the story since they made Halo Legends, Evolutions, etc. Also, the Defiant Map Pack was more accurate then the entire Reach campagin! So, hopefully we'll be in better hands with 343i.

  • 02.17.2011 6:53 AM PDT

Story always was a big part of the games, but obviously a shooter only has so much space for a story to be told.

Halo CE told its story in a decent way.

Halo 2 was the Halo that tolds its story in the best way. Went in depth, achieved the greatness, the space-opera feel that the books hinted at before the game was released.

Halo 3 was very poorly done in terms of story.

Halo ODST was a bit better, but more in line with the smaller stories in like Evolutions and such. For a side story well done, but nothing compared to the greatness of the main series.

Halo Wars had an amazing story. To be honest, Wars had the most book-worthy story out of the entire gameseries. That story was carved out of the same wood as the novels if you ask me. Has the same intrigues with the "smaller" and less obvious Forerunner plans etc etc that the books tend to have.

Reach could have been so much more. Its story was good, and brought well, but again: compared to the books this was nothing.

So all in all, 2 of the 6 games were really story focussed and delivered very well on them.
2 other were "mediocre"
2 were weak

compared to the novels that is.

  • 02.17.2011 7:12 AM PDT

As an FPS, you don't have as much room for story-telling and character development. If it was an RPG, it would be better, as those are made around the story, with any multiplayer a second focus.

Some RTS games are nearly RPG's in the character development section, (Halo Wars slightly, Starcraft 2 is my main example.) So their campaign mode is good.

  • 02.17.2011 8:17 AM PDT
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i agree the story never lived up to their potential in the games, the books, comics etc all did much better

  • 02.17.2011 8:20 AM PDT

Posted by: DonVinzone1
Halo Wars had an amazing story. To be honest, Wars had the most book-worthy story out of the entire gameseries. That story was carved out of the same wood as the novels if you ask me. Has the same intrigues with the "smaller" and less obvious Forerunner plans etc etc that the books tend to have

Okay, now this is where I couldn't take your post seriously anymore.

Posted by: Cmdr DaeFaron
As an FPS, you don't have as much room for story-telling and character development. If it was an RPG, it would be better, as those are made around the story, with any multiplayer a second focus.

Some RTS games are nearly RPG's in the character development section, (Halo Wars slightly, Starcraft 2 is my main example.) So their campaign mode is good.
Well, I'm aware the standards for storytelling for first-person shooters are low, but they can properly engage players into the story in their own way. Take Half-Life 2 and BioShock for example, they told their narrative and developed their characters effectively without relying on cutscenes. I don't expect Halo: Reach to have contain the same quality level of storytelling of Mass Effect games, but at least be on par with Uncharted 2.

I will say Reach did have better storytelling than Killzone 2 & 3, Modern Warfare 2, and Gears of War 2... that's not saying much though.

  • 02.17.2011 1:10 PM PDT

Online ID: GriffGraff15

I think that ODST had the best story and "storytelling" of all the Halo games.

I do agree that the other Halo games seem to have a difficult time explaining parts of the plot (except for what Chief is physically doing/missions).

  • 02.17.2011 1:18 PM PDT
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You know the best thing i find about the whole hole halo story?!

Its fans, even though reach totally frakked up, watching you guys scramble about and get really really deep is the most amazing bit about the whole universe, i love nothing more than hearing all the stories, theories and links you all put up.
Often it is as good in these forums as reading some halo literature.

so no bungie/343i have yet to "get it right" but what they lack for in game you guys make up for on here! its awesome. .. . . right then back to my boat ;)


[Edited on 02.17.2011 1:36 PM PST]

  • 02.17.2011 1:35 PM PDT