- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
i can see what your saying when you talk about the halo story arc being unremarkable outside of its own microcosm, but consider just what microcosm you're talking about, game storytelling is interactive, it has to compell you to take action, how many novel writers have to compell you to actually perform a challenging task(the gameplay itself)?. To write a good book is definitely a challenge because you have to keep the reader interested enough to continue reaading, but imagine having to write a book the reader could walk around in, interact and explore with.
You could look at movies the same way, take pulp fiction out of its own microcosm of film, would it stand up to scrutiny in a gaming enviroment? would you care enough about seeing what happens to the mysterious briefcase to run around shooting people for 10 hours?
Halo's storyline was, to the best of my knowledge, designed from the off to be an interactive, gaming experience, in a gaming enviroment, where you have the advantage of imaginative visuals and characteer design, the story is great. The cheesy one liners might be laughed at in a cinema but they're not in a cinema, they're in a game, and in the game they seem to work.
Nuther example! Da Vinci code, huge bestseller, taken out of its intended context, a novel, and placed in a cinematic medium it has received crap reviews!