- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Posted by: Master Fox
Well Bannog the plotholes are explained in the books so perhaps you should actually consume all the information available on the subject before you start saying things about it that have obviously been proven wrong by somebody who knows what they are talking about.
I'm a professional science-fiction writer myself, and am presently working on an epic science-fiction novel. Halo is what is called a "pulp" story. No, this isn't the pasty stuff in orange juice or the Quentin Tarantino film. It's a story that is meant to be enjoyed without a lot of thought behind it. But the great thing about Halo is you have your typical human vs alien battle on the surface that a shallow person who just wants a couple hours of fun can get into. But when you delve further into the book, you find lore, mystery, suspense and a lot of subplots and subtext that you wouldn't necessarily find in a standard pulp story.
For those who are too inept to read the three books that were written in conjunction with Halo, Johnson and some others survived in a Pelican they used before Halo blew up. The ending on Legendary is nothing more than an easter egg. It's not apart of the actual story, but something that's just funny for somebody to watch and could be incentive for somebody to beat the game on legendary for the hell of it.
Halo is similar to a space opera, kind of like Star Wars is. Sure, the characters aren't as rememberable, but you should get my point. People were bashing the idea of Star Wars before it came out. They said there was no story and it was nothing more than fancy effects and big explosions. Well the same can be said about Halo if you want to look at it from that perspective.
But look at it from another perspective for a second. It's a story of survival and primal instincts on the very bare bones of the story. Even with all of humanity's advanced technologies, we became too greedy and wanted more, just like we always do. We became too many and had to spread throughout the galaxy. And when we did, we ran into the Covenant. If you notice, all of the characters have their flaws throughout the story. And both factions have their rights and their wrongs. That's why they have you play through some of the game as the Arbiter.
The Covenant are blinded by their fanatical religion and believe that the Halos are the key to the great journey. But the thing with the Civil War shows that not all of the Covenant believe in the Great Journey. The Heretics knew of the lies that the Prophets spewed, but supressed by the Arbiter. The Arbiter's flaw is he is too prideful. He would do anything for the Prophets to get his honor back that they took from him when he was disgraced.
The Chief has flaws in which he never questions his orders or his purpose. And something that I've heard people touched on is whether he's actually human or not. Yes, he is a human through and through. But whether his mentality is human. In the books he thinks about it some. He kills all the time, and is good at it. He never thinks twice about doing what he has to do. Has he become too calice to the world and the conflict?
Sergeant Johnson is a typical pulp character stuck in there for comedy relief. He's good friends with the Chief and that helps to anchor Chief's humanity in a sense. But Johnson's main purpose is comedy relief. Most movies or stories have them at some
Cortana is the female touch and semi-love interest in the story. The thing that a lot of people have been debating is whether Chief loves Cortana or just sees her as a good friend.
And then you have the lore about the rings and the mystery of them and the Forerunners. Then you also have the ramblings of Guilty Spark who talked about Reclaimers and the Flood. Where did the Flood come from? What is Gravemind? What are the Reclaimers? There are a lot of questions that are being answered and resolved slowly throughout the story. And that's something you don't necessarily have in a flat story like the main poster is describing.
I think Halo is more than your typical science-fiction story that a lot of people are trying to make it out to be. But then again, you're going to have your people who are going to bash it just by looking at the surface. There's not much you can do about that.
Whatever, I saw the Sarge die.