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This topic has moved here: Subject: Depth in Halo Universe is Unmatched
  • Subject: Depth in Halo Universe is Unmatched
Subject: Depth in Halo Universe is Unmatched

"Concise and devoid of elegance...what I have come to expect from human communication"-Endless Summer

Cortana Letters are *NOT* canon.They mean *NOTHING*.Do *NOT* bring them up again.

I will admit Halo has a lot more thought put into the story than most games.

But it is not the best Science Fiction story ever.

[Edited on 08.04.2011 7:31 AM PDT]

  • 08.04.2011 7:30 AM PDT

What I like with Halo is that almost everything has some much deeper significance than is immediately apparent.

For example - the credits to Halo 3 take place to a backdrop of mount kilamanjaro...and the mountain is significant because a lot of the game took place around it, but deeper than that even, that is where the librarian died, which is a whole nother can of worms.

  • 08.04.2011 9:05 AM PDT
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The story isn't the most in depth , but the way in which it is told is a whole different story . They can take a simple storyline and tell it in such a way that you fell you are truly part of the universe, which is a definitive point in why it adds depth.

  • 08.05.2011 8:57 AM PDT
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Just recently saw a post that interests me . It was about the Halo games becoming an RPG. I think that the depths of the universe would be enlarged immensely , and I think it would be a welcome part of the franchise.

  • 08.11.2011 9:42 AM PDT

Peace $ell$

I thinks most indepth universe of a first person shooter would be a more fair statement. it does have great potential to come up to par with the Star Wars universe in my opinion. :P

  • 08.11.2011 7:28 PM PDT

"Ultimate excellence lies
Not in winning
Every battle
But in defeating the Enemy
Without ever fighting."

-Sunzi: Master of War.

*Cough* The Martian Chronicles *Cough*

  • 08.11.2011 8:23 PM PDT


Posted by: kkrotz
Once you delve deeper into the Halo books the story broadens exponentially and eventually it will take quite a few play throughs and reads to fully grasp each plot line and detail.

Please share your feelings and ideas on this matter


To me Halo is quite shallow.

That's not necessarily a slam against it, it's pop-culture sci-fi that does do more than your usual Super 8 or Avatar at setting up a Humanity v. Space People struggle but compared to the good Sci-fi of the genera Halo is hardly anything more than a campy Flash Gordon spin-off.

Dune, for example, stabs right to the core of the structure and nature of humanity while Halo only attacks the very barest of religious themes. Foundation redefines our peception of history, the future, and the relationships in between while Halo takes everything as read and hands us an Aliens reprint of technology and society. And of course Ring World is on a scale that is quite litterally unimaginable to Bungie despite the uncanny similarities between their giant hula-hoops.

They all weave, they all expound, but so much more brilliantly than anything this franchise has been able to thus far produce because they have such great dedicated genius behind them than is available to a co-opted FPS story.

[Edited on 08.11.2011 9:54 PM PDT]

  • 08.11.2011 9:46 PM PDT
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Posted by: Matu Flp Krawfe

Posted by: kkrotz
Once you delve deeper into the Halo books the story broadens exponentially and eventually it will take quite a few play throughs and reads to fully grasp each plot line and detail.

Please share your feelings and ideas on this matter


To me Halo is quite shallow.

That's not necessarily a slam against it, it's pop-culture sci-fi that does do more than your usual Super 8 or Avatar at setting up a Humanity v. Space People struggle but compared to the good Sci-fi of the genera Halo is hardly anything more than a campy Flash Gordon spin-off.

Dune, for example, stabs right to the core of the structure and nature of humanity while Halo only attacks the very barest of religious themes. Foundation redefines our peception of history, the future, and the relationships in between while Halo takes everything as read and hands us an Aliens reprint of technology and society. And of course Ring World is on a scale that is quite litterally unimaginable to Bungie despite the uncanny similarities between their giant hula-hoops.

They all weave, they all expound, but so much more brilliantly than anything this franchise has been able to thus far produce because they have such great dedicated genius behind them than is available to a co-opted FPS story.


I guess what you say is true. My opinion cannot be taken seriously because I am in-love with Halo.

  • 08.12.2011 3:57 AM PDT

╔═╦═╦═╦═╦╗╔═╗
║║║╦╠═╠═║║║═╣
║║║║║═╣═╣╚╣═╣
╚═╩╩╩═╩═╩═╩═╝
says Play safe


Posted by: DecepticonCobra
*cough* Star Wars is an equal match in terms of depth *cough*


No

Halo is Sci-Fi depth win! Actually, scratch 'sci-fi'. Halo just has the greatest depth dispite it's genre. Give any comparison, Halo wins.

PS There are other great stories out there, that also have great depth, but they do not match Halo in scale, or breadth

  • 08.12.2011 8:32 AM PDT

HL4L-
Hey-Low 4 Life

As far as video games go, Halo has a complicated story.

As far as science fiction books and novels go, Halo is a pathetic excuse for a story. People like Arthur C. Clarke and Larry Niven would laugh at Halo.

  • 08.12.2011 8:34 AM PDT
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Posted by: Dazzle369

Posted by: DecepticonCobra
*cough* Star Wars is an equal match in terms of depth *cough*


No

Halo is Sci-Fi depth win! Actually, scratch 'sci-fi'. Halo just has the greatest depth dispite it's genre. Give any comparison, Halo wins.

PS There are other great stories out there, that also have great depth, but they do not match Halo in scale, or breadth

As much as I'd like to agree, I'm gonna have to disagree with you man .

  • 08.12.2011 9:01 AM PDT


Posted by: DecepticonCobra
*cough* Star Wars is an equal match in terms of depth *cough*


hater!!

  • 08.12.2011 9:25 AM PDT
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Posted by: Al1757XNA

Posted by: DecepticonCobra
*cough* Star Wars is an equal match in terms of depth *cough*


hater!!

true dat !

  • 08.13.2011 2:26 AM PDT

In terms of general sci-fi (all media combined) Halo is pretty decent/standard in terms of depth I would say.
"Quite shallow" isn't a term I would use for Halo but compared to the likes of Star Wars, Star Trek etc it hasn't got "a lot" of depth.

In the world of games, and especially FPS games I think the OP's statement does hold value.
Name me another FPS game.series that has the depth the entire Halo universe has....there isn't one.
Even compared to big sci-fi epics like Mass Effect, I would say Halo stands very strong in terms of depth.

Unmatched depth in general sci-fi? No
Unmatched depth in general gaming? No, but definatly one of top dogs.
Unmatched depth in FPS gaming? Yes. By far.

  • 08.13.2011 2:42 AM PDT

Kinda funny because the breadth comment reminded me of fallout 3...

First hour: sweet world to explore
5th hour: I love exploring!
20th-100th hour: (rasping) Egad... not more

The depth factor kinda fell out... (to be punny) and become more additive breadth factor...

Once upon a time
my friend said to me, "supersoupcan" buy fallout 3, It has hundreds of gaming hours, it's so worth your money,"

so I said, "friend, buy bioshock! It has an incredible atmosphere, voice acting that rivals great movies, and probally one of the best twists in the history of literature"

"How long is it" he asked sounding fake excited...

I said "10-20" hours depending on the difficulty setting, and how much you explore."

"No thanks" he said, and changed the subject back to fallout 3...


Friends I think that we should not limit oursleves to more of the same, but rather explore the new.

If is dangerous to be obesessed with one thing, because with no background one will make silly claims about it.

for example, in the past I used to like a band called muse... I was obsessed and would never shut up about it... I would rip on other bands (that I had not even heard) and say, "muse is the epidemy of music"... gross... I have given up that childish stage and moved on... I think this is the way to identify a fanboy/rage poster...

My underlining point is, halo has incredible gameplay and all, but after a while I need more than just gameplay to make game... I want to experience art...

but why only indulge in that when there is so much more to explore?

We like feeling comfortable with the same, like my fallout 3 friend, but eventually we should make the jump, like I did to fallout 3, and I learned a very important lesson...

I do not like fallout 3...

(well, it was better than that just cause 2 game at any rate)


  • 08.13.2011 5:36 AM PDT


Posted by: kkrotz
I guess what you say is true. My opinion cannot be taken seriously because I am in-love with Halo.


No, it can. I just differ on the subject because of my own experiences with other franchises.

  • 08.13.2011 5:39 AM PDT


Posted by: DonVinzone1
Name me another FPS game.series that has the depth the entire Halo universe has....there isn't one.


Mechwarrior, and if you drop the artificial constraint of "first person" you have the soon to be released Warhammer 40,000 publishing encyclopedias of worthy fiction while Halo manages a few novels. And of course you have to mention Half Life, which while under-publish is certainly fleshed out to a far greater extent in gameplay, and Deus Ex for doing much of the same.

And Gears of War certainly does a lot more than Halo to flush out it's own fiction in-game, so you have a lot out there that supercedes what is obstensibly a Unreal Tournament knock-off with a little taken from Forbiden Planet, Starship Troopers, and Ring World to cobble together a barely there plot in the first game, and a hardly coherant one from there on out.

And of course, that stands as my opinion on the subject of Halo. Don't take it as an assertion of anything greater.

[Edited on 08.13.2011 5:49 AM PDT]

  • 08.13.2011 5:45 AM PDT

lord of the rings?

  • 08.13.2011 7:55 AM PDT
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Posted by: oSAINT94o
lord of the rings?

I don't think so , not really sure though.

  • 08.17.2011 2:24 AM PDT
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Posted by: DecepticonCobra
*cough* Star Wars is an equal match in terms of depth *cough*

Maybe star Wars does compete a'lil.

  • 09.02.2011 2:36 AM PDT
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What Halo need is a movie..


this will boost its popularity by en masse.

  • 09.02.2011 3:57 AM PDT

Marine: "Got a new contact. Unknown Classification!"
Lord Hood: "If it isn't one of ours, take it out."
MC: "This is bus 117, can anyone hear me? Over."
Lord Hood: "Isolate that signal. Master Chief, you mind telling me you're doing at that school?"
MC: "Sir... picking up these kids."

I play my part in both universes, both maintaining information and spreading it.

I can say without a doubt that Star Wars has much more in terms of different media in which they try to show it's stories, and due to it's 200+ species and all of their BACKSTORIES, it's a pretty massive trademark.

BUT there is a differences between the two that I acknowledge.

While Star Wars does have an extensive history in it and does have many stories per individual, per faction, per specie, etc Star Wars lacks in a few areas:

1. The technology they use in Star Wars can only be measured so far, therefore you have to suspend your disbelif a bit. Halo does this too, but tries DESPERATELY to give an explanation where as Star Wars expects you to accept it and move on. Both approaches are correct, and Star Wars doesn't always do this, but it does it more than Halo, and it probably has to due to it's size.

2. The Species in both Star Wars and in Halo are both appealing, however Star Wars was made almost 40 years ago and most of the species in the series have been of simple design, merely switching heads for humanoid bodies, not attempting to classify a species or phylum etc. Also evolution wasn't taken into account in most of them. That's not something you can confrim so much as it's heavily implied by some of the more basic looking aliens that are just humaond bodies with masks, or just humans with one extra feature (such as Zabraks, Anzats, Balosars, Cerean, Chiss, Askajian, and MANY MANY MANY MANY MORE). In Halo it defines it's species and where they came from by how they look, their skin, it's texture, they aren't limited to one pair of knees for and obvious instance, also Halo talks about how they reproduce and other things that might be too "mature" for a family fun Star Wars media, as well as many other things. I will admit that species hav been GIVEN a backstory and some science behind their appearence, but that didn't occur for a WHILE before the Star Wars universe was less about believing and more about proving. Halo created these species and planets with that in mind for a more believeable experience.

3. Halo has the unfair advantage of also being a part of our human history, which makes every event in our history a part of it. It's true that Star Wars is a LONG time ago in a galaxy FAR AWAY, bu the universes have never been connected at all and I don't feel like they ever will be, they also don't play a role in one another. Halo fits in more snug with our own universe.

These are the reasons that Halo feels bigger, but I wouldn't say it's bigger in terms of size, I'd say it's more definitive, and it makes you have to suspend your disbelif less, and that's a good thing for a Sci Fi to do.


  • 09.02.2011 9:03 AM PDT

Join 7he Flood or die
fileshare?
OTK: I feel like a ninja or something

You know you are good at GH3 when you can have a "bad" run on through the fire and flames

Unmatched might be taking it a little far, but it is astonishing. Besides the large amount of games, novels, comics, etc., the terminals hold a vast amount of knowledge that most of the community overlooks. The first time I went on ascendent justice my mind was blown.

  • 09.02.2011 10:02 AM PDT
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Yeah maybe me saying 'unmatched' is a bit much. But hey, catchy title name can get alot of people to discuss their opinions.

  • 09.02.2011 12:19 PM PDT

No Star Wars and 40k have more depth. Though they have been around longer. Halo has done a good job in the amount of time it's been around.

  • 09.02.2011 12:44 PM PDT