- anton1792
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- Noble Legendary Member
"Find where the liar hides, so that I may place my boot between his gums!" - Rtas 'Vadum
Posted by: GanonSmash
and I don't see a reason for the hate other than the fact that the story is moving in a different direction than some fans had expected.
I don't really like it when a series receives a change in writing team or author. I feel that the original feel and direction of the series gets lost over time. Given that 343i is a completely separate company from Bungie, people are more critical at this point in seeing how they plan to handle things. People are looking at the previous stories set by Bungie and comparing them to the direction 343i is taking it. I don't buy into this notion that they can take it wherever they want. They can't. There are certain directions which would be disrespectful and damaging to Halo's pre-existing story. 343i should expand and add to the fiction, not redefine it and overwrite entire paradigms, if such a thing should ever happen, that is. (Which I think happened) If it were Joseph Staten heading things over at 343i then I would shut up and stomach it, but it is not.
Posted by: GanonSmash
Like, there's actually complaints that months after a 25+ year war, the humans and Elites aren't BFFs 4evar.
Oh yes, aren't those people annoying. Anyway though, she did the same thing Tobias Buckell did. Assume that the Sangheili all have the same culture and therefore the same values, social views and opinions on things. This background then combined with things like the Sangheili accepting Brutes leaves literal impressions that Halo 3's developments are irrelevant; it feels like a facetious and pernicious backhander to the atmosphere and developments of the game. Though at least she did not include some over-the-top things that Buckell included, like the Bushido on steriods act.
And to be quite frank with you, I find this whole 25+ year war stuff from the Sangheili's point of view irrelevant. (Though it is perfectly valid from the Human perspective. Don't assume that I think the two are equivalent. That pisses me off when I see morons say that.) It is entirely possible to show the social effects of this war, the uphill political battles and the struggle of progressive social attitudes (Like N'tho 'Sroam) against the old ones (Like Jul), whilst maintaining the theme in Halo 3 that peace is possible and that the two races in particular have potential to develop a lasting relationship. Not only is the battle on Sanghelios a pointless exploration of a conflict that is inconsequential to the welfare of Humanity (Thus why should the reader care who wins or loses when all factions are essentially the same? Why do the Sangheili get attention and not the Brutes in this case? What is so special about them?), it refutes the ideas in Halo 3.
It also makes the Great Schism a blatant dues ex machina. The reasons for it were a least weaved into the story and built up to a climax in Halo 2, despite it being pulled out of Bungie's ass to make it believable that Humanity could survive. Now it is beyond silly for me. The decision of Truth to wipe out the Elites was made with extremely poor timing no matter what he did it for, but at the very least these reason should be based upon something serious. The reasons he supposedly did so were because of the dangerous opinions that were spreading throughout the Sangheili, making them less loyal and very prone to break away from the Covenant. This obviously involved them questioning the war against Humanity, among other things. I don't know what sort of mental gymnastics one would have to employ to deny that.
Now though, the Sangheili just simply believed in everything right up until the end, and then Truth just decided to wipe them out when victory was previously assured beyond a shadow of a doubt, for no reason. There is also no meaningful difference between the Sangheili and Brutes either in this story. I did not see any of it from Glasslands. They both seem as bad as each other, and any "difference" in their susceptibility to sway from the path is trivial and sort of pointless information, with no overall impact to anything else in the story. Someone pointing it out as justification for Truth's motives at this point is weak at best. If the Sangheili only doubted their faith but not the war on Humanity, then what caused them to doubt their faith this bad at this point in their history as opposed to any of the previous 3000 years in the Covenant? It is beyond a co-incidence that it lines up with the war on Humanity. And if they doubt their faith, then why not doubt the rest of the faith's injunctions? Like I said, there is some mental gymnastics in there for nay-sayers I think. Glasslands does not feel like a continuation post Halo 3 to me. I feel it has nothing to do with the story Halo 3 left us. Seems like there are people who think that it is impossible for someone to be forced to commit genocide but also feel that it is wrong, and think that stopping the act of genocide because you think it is wrong is somehow impossible. All I ever see is the same jaded excuse, "b...b...but war!!!! D:".
It almost feels like whoever gave Traviss the facts to write with were the same idiots who gave the first edition of the Halo Encyclopedia a pass, because some of the novel's premises, never mind its conclusions, are seemingly flawed and logically absurd. As a standalone novel however, it is fairly decent, which makes me look at 343i with increased skepticism.
[Edited on 03.21.2012 9:25 PM PDT]