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This topic has moved here: Subject: Lasting Memories and The Legacy of the Halo Universe
  • Subject: Lasting Memories and The Legacy of the Halo Universe
Subject: Lasting Memories and The Legacy of the Halo Universe
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Bungie's influence on the Halo universe has come to a close and the torch has been passed on to the as-yet untested 343 Industries. This changing of the guard is bittersweet; I, along with countless others, have practically grown up with Halo. It is a household name, a fixture in the mindsets of gamers around the world.

Now, the benchmark upon which all other shooters strive to reach has all but disappeared. Nothing but dust and echoes. It's gone. As we claw for any trace of information here, a leaked image there, our attempts to whet our appetite only make our hunger worse.

While we wait for our beloved Halo to make its glorious return, I want to reminisce on some of the moments and themes that secured Halo's place in my heart.


Halo: Combat Evolved

The music pulled me in and wouldn't let me go. I, a giant, green, alien-shredding cyborg had my own theme music. Even so, my grunt-fueled rage couldn't overcome my sense of wonder as I stepped out of the escape pod and saw Threshold and the ring's superstructure arc up into the horizon. It was so alien and so beautiful at the same time.

Halo:CE also introduced me to the element of terror in a video game. Until the level 343 Guilty Spark, I never knew the level of fear that could be instilled by waves and waves of popping jaundiced balls. I feared for the Chief's life, the lives of the Marines and for Cortana.


Halo 2

Halo 2 was so... different. And I loved it. Bungie seemed to throw the same magnitude of ambition into Halo 2 as they did with Halo:CE. Like Combat Evolved, Halo 2 had so many seemingly spontaneous moments of immense beauty. The evolution of the music only added to the effect. My hat goes off to Bungie particularly for these moments, because it shows the love the artists have for their work.

Halo 2 introduced a character who polarized all who played it: The Arbiter. It my opinion, the Arbiter was everything the Chief should have been. Thel Vadamee's shades of gray stood in stark contrast to the Chief's black-and-white hardwired mentality. Everything the Arbiter understood and took for granted had been turned on its head. In this way, he became more relatable than the Chief.



These were just a few thoughts. Please add your own.


  • 02.06.2012 9:27 PM PDT

*reminisces when the Bungie/Halo community wasn't made up of CoD kids*
*sighs*
*activates time-machine and sets the clock back to Nov. 9, 2004*
glory days here I come..
*vanishes*

Halo 2....good times.

  • 02.07.2012 2:51 AM PDT

THE S4UCE IS THE B055

My favorite memory was halo 3 ODST, loved the graphics, the moo. Of the game, it was a nice change from being a unstoppable Spartan to a average ODST

  • 02.07.2012 5:21 PM PDT


Posted by: Renaissance Teen
Bungie's influence on the Halo universe


They had an influence?

  • 02.07.2012 7:00 PM PDT


Posted by: AW3S0MES4UCE
My favorite memory was halo 3 ODST, loved the graphics, the moo. Of the game, it was a nice change from being a unstoppable Spartan to a average ODST


The only things that were barely different were the melee's and jump height.

You still had shields, only with a different (and terrible) visual effect.

If there's anything in ODST that's different from the trilogy, it's the style of the game, and even that is horribly underplayed and very underwhelming compared to what it could have been.

  • 02.07.2012 7:04 PM PDT
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ODST almost felt like an entirely new IP. The characters (particularly those in Sadie's Story) were fresh, New Mombasa was revisited and given the attention it deserved in Halo 2, and the noir feel was like nothing else experienced in the franchise. Should there have been more meat to the content? Perhaps, but it sure was better than a wimpy three- to four-hour long expansion it was originally envisioned to be.

  • 02.07.2012 8:08 PM PDT

All the good times on Halo 2, and that first feeling that I got when I first played it.

Man, I'd do anything to be 8 years old again to experience Halo 2.

  • 02.07.2012 8:11 PM PDT

This stood out to me, but I dislike that you called 343 untested.

Them doing Halo CEA to me is a VERY good thing, I like that the company doing future Halo understands the base mechanics of the game.

  • 02.07.2012 8:26 PM PDT
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343 has the capacity to be a powerhouse, but so far we've only seen them build upon a solid foundation. Don't get me wrong, Anniversary is a great gift to original fans of the series and a fine way to introduce a new generation of gamers to Halo.

My point is that, beyond a couple teasers, we have no idea where 343 will go with Halo. To original fans of the series, Halo is just as much our baby as it was Bungie's baby.

  • 02.07.2012 8:38 PM PDT

I honestly cant accept this new stuff they are stuffing into the story. it just doesnt feel Halo to me.

  • 02.08.2012 6:05 AM PDT

If you're passionate about the thing you're talking about, I'll always lend an ear.

Posted by: EnragedAUSTIN11
I honestly cant accept this new stuff they are stuffing into the story. it just doesnt feel Halo to me.

Exactly.

Just because it sold off as Halo doesn't mean it really is. If you like it good for you. But the new direction definitely is not similar in its themes of Halo. Partly due to the end of the Story Ark in H3. However it could have potentially gone in a better direction.

But with glassland out, it destroys continuity with what was established in Ghost Of Onyx.

With Reach out it destroys credibility in grounded fiction to the Halo Universe.

With Glassland out, it changes the focus of the narrative to forerunner affairs, when Halo at it's core was about the mystery of the forerunners in an epic of inter-specie galactic warfare/genocide.

Every new "Halo" material that comes out just feels like a step backwards. Halo 4 is seriously not a game I anticipate.

343i have a different art direction. As seen with Halo:CEA. None of it. None. Is in line to why I actually enjoyed the books and the games in the first place.

  • 02.08.2012 7:33 AM PDT

If you're passionate about the thing you're talking about, I'll always lend an ear.

Posted by: Backfjre
This stood out to me, but I dislike that you called 343 untested.

Them doing Halo CEA to me is a VERY good thing, I like that the company doing future Halo understands the base mechanics of the game.

What did they actually do?
Besides the terminals oh and the skulls lets not forget the skulls.

If you're praising them for the graphics update than thats unacceptable for them to "understand the base mechanics of the game"

It was easy money.

  • 02.08.2012 7:38 AM PDT

Ad Infinitum


Posted by: Backfjre
This stood out to me, but I dislike that you called 343 untested.

Them doing Halo CEA to me is a VERY good thing, I like that the company doing future Halo understands the base mechanics of the game.


Think of this way. CEA was an entrance exam, or a pre-test. 343i hasn't made anything yet. So far, they built upon a pre-existing game.

Halo 4 will be their first real test. The first real exam. When Halo 4 releases, we'll be grading it. Halo 4 will determine whether or not 343i has what it takes to wear the "crown" that Bungie gave them.

  • 02.08.2012 8:18 AM PDT
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ODST is one of the greatest campaigns of all time, the music, the mood, everything was almost perfect.

The two scarab fight in Halo 3, the trench run in Halo CE and LNOS in Reach.

[Edited on 02.08.2012 11:10 AM PST]

  • 02.08.2012 11:10 AM PDT
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Halo 2...The legendary game.

  • 02.08.2012 11:14 AM PDT