Halo: Reach Forum
This topic has moved here: Subject: On a scale of 1-10 how much did you enjoy Halo Reach's Campaign?
  • Subject: On a scale of 1-10 how much did you enjoy Halo Reach's Campaign?
Subject: On a scale of 1-10 how much did you enjoy Halo Reach's Campaign?

8/10 From someone who hasn't read the books/followed the storyline much, I thought it was enjoyable.

  • 05.29.2012 6:38 AM PDT

In memory of those fallen in the defense of Earth and her colonies.

March 3, 2553


Posted by: Penguin Egg
8/10 From someone who hasn't read the books/followed the storyline much, I thought it was enjoyable.


If you read Fall of Reach. You would think the Reach story was utter trash.

  • 05.29.2012 6:40 AM PDT

The shadow on the wall.

Silent


Posted by: comander Seth
Here are the reasons i gave it a 2:
-Very rushed campaign
-Bad storyline (cliche, etc) (also there were many better stories relating to reach that would have made a better game)
-Stupid friendly marine AI
-EXTREMELY STUPID Noble team AI!
-Very linear
-Jun and Kat betray you
-Jun gives away your position on the only stealth mission
-Cheap development (Long night of solace was copied directly from the games demo level, except for the space part of the mission and after that (that is why you can't skip the cutscenes)).

THere are probably more but i can't think of them right now.


BOLDED: One of the few missions worth playing was New Alexandria, now, take a look at some of the buildings. Obviously the bugger tower was Ivory tower (reflection), but wanna know something more? Club Erra was a reskin of an ODST firefight map. Remember crater? Well you're looking at a slightly smaller, walled in version of it when you walk in there.

  • 05.29.2012 6:40 AM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

Well spank my balls and call me Santa, it's Easter already!

8

A few lackluster missions, and the plot isnt fully realized till later on, but otherwise a fantastic experience which I have replayed well over 10 times. Great missions like New Alexandria and Winter Contingency are much better (IMO) than many found in previous games, and the settings are fantastic. Also, the story is actually moving and well done, and although there are a few boring characters, the rest is very good.

  • 05.29.2012 7:10 AM PDT

The shadow on the wall.

Silent


Posted by: NickIsBest
It probably had some of the best easter eggs in all of the Halo games


Please tell me your kidding? BOB, Data Pads... Mastercheif cameo.... Marine easter egg, Grunt...

You have got to be kidding. Thats really all it had. Now, look at halo 2. Rex, Skulls, Grunts, Hidden sword, Scarab Guns, Soccerball, Hidden Hogs, Hidden snipers, weapons etc.

And thats in the first three missions. Dont even get me started on Delta Halo and regret, or the multiplayer maps, the last mission and so much more.

Halo 3 also had skulls, secret dialouge, hidden weapons, hidden vehicles, Hard to reach skulls, hidden music, hidden elites, and so much more. You are telling me reach had the best in the series?

No. Hell no.

EDIT: Never mind, it had two GOOD easter eggs. Pelican/Phantom (even then, you couldnt really do anything) and the hidden banshees.

[Edited on 05.29.2012 9:57 AM PDT]

  • 05.29.2012 7:19 AM PDT

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

Posted by: NickIsBest
It probably had some of the best easter eggs in all of the Halo games


Someone obviously never played Halo 2...

  • 05.29.2012 7:31 AM PDT

"You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space." -Johnny Cash

I would give the campaign of Halo Reach a score of 4 out of 10. I didn't care about the story or what happened to the characters in it, but I did enjoy playing through most of the missions.

  • 05.29.2012 7:41 AM PDT

Walk by faith. Dude. Not by sight.

I had a blast playing Legendary all the way through with 2 friends on opening day. Since there were so many ways to get things done, I felt it had a lot of replay value. Also, great music, good story, awesome space combat.

[Edited on 05.29.2012 7:46 AM PDT]

  • 05.29.2012 7:45 AM PDT

Posted by: Tom T
Prolonged exposure to this forum is bad for your health.


Posted by: aBIueBooksheIf
because I like pen­is.

source

The ending in Reach leaves me with more questions than answers.

  • 05.29.2012 7:48 AM PDT

Posted by: Tom T
Prolonged exposure to this forum is bad for your health.


Posted by: aBIueBooksheIf
because I like pen­is.

source


Posted by: PrincessMoIestia
Posted by: Kira Onime
The ending in Reach leaves me with more questions than answers.

I know. Here are some of my problems with it:
-How did the Autumn even land on Reach when it's not rated for atmosphere?

-Why was it even doing on Reach. When in the book it was in space?

-How did those small thrusters even lift a ship that size?

-Once those thrusters detached. The Autumn should have plummeted towards the ground the ground. Like I said the Autumn isn't rated for atmosphere.



Game trumps the books.
Game cannon > book cannon.

That's the sad truth bungie made clear with this game.



But what I want to know mostly..

-What was the latch key? Why did we fight for it?
-Why do we only know about it in the last level of the game?
-Why is noble team driving around farms while the covenant are invanding
-What ever happened to the UNSC fleet? They got mentioned, then ever heard of.
-Why is noble team so bloody "chiché", it's stupid.
-Why is noble team so -blam!- retarded.

  • 05.29.2012 8:06 AM PDT


Posted by: Kira Onime
But what I want to know mostly..

-What was the latch key? Why did we fight for it?
-Why do we only know about it in the last level of the game?
-Why is noble team driving around farms while the covenant are invanding
-What ever happened to the UNSC fleet? They got mentioned, then ever heard of.
-Why is noble team so bloody "chiché", it's stupid.
-Why is noble team so -blam!- retarded.


You should read Halsey's journal if you ever get the chance. It explains a decent amount. I think what they go on to say is that Cortana is essentially a couple pieces and this "latchkey" is this set of information about the Halo super weapons or something to that effect. Cortana was never meant to simply be with you instead of Chief, especially given that it IS with Chief in the books, but I think they explain it as this is another piece that is added to Cortana's already existing self which provides it with information.

You only know about it during the last level of the game because you are working for the other commander throughout the beginning of the game. In the level "The Package" you are commandeered by Halsey for a black op, basically. Something of top tier classification. She grabs you to deliver the piece that, I think is supposed to have helped Autumn make the jump directly to the first Halo.

You are on farms while the Covies invade because you don't know they're there. If you listen to the cutscene in the beginning, they think they're sending you in against human rebels. Instead you find a Covenant strike team of sorts that's looking for artifacts (like Cortana).

Noble are "cliche" and "retarded" because you only get to know them for a game (some of them less than that) so there isn't much time for character development. I think Bungie did a good job with what they had though.

On topic, I give the campaign an 8/10. I liked it a lot, but it was a bit short and too lacking on action. I understand that Bungie was probably pressed for time, but it still would have been nice to see more.

  • 05.29.2012 9:03 AM PDT

Posted by: Tom T
Prolonged exposure to this forum is bad for your health.


Posted by: aBIueBooksheIf
because I like pen­is.

source


Posted by: An average gamer
You should read Halsey's journal if you ever get the chance. It explains a decent amount. I think what they go on to say is that Cortana is essentially a couple pieces and this "latchkey" is this set of information about the Halo super weapons or something to that effect. Cortana was never meant to simply be with you instead of Chief, especially given that it IS with Chief in the books, but I think they explain it as this is another piece that is added to Cortana's already existing self which provides it with information.

This "latch key" or black ops mission was obviously very important, "the fate of human kind laying on it".... why should I have to either, grab the higher version of the game, or visit a 3rd party website to even know what the hell I'm doing.

I don't know about you, but this is quite frankly stupid.


Posted by: An average gamer
You only know about it during the last level of the game because you are working for the other commander throughout the beginning of the game. In the level "The Package" you are commandeered by Halsey for a black op, basically. Something of top tier classification. She grabs you to deliver the piece that, I think is supposed to have helped Autumn make the jump directly to the first Halo.

Oh right yeah, we were fight against the covenant "invasion".
When did it start again? Other than the cinematic at the beginning of ToTS, I don't recall fighting anything worthy of being called an "invasion force".


Posted by: An average gamer
You are on farms while the Covies invade because you don't know they're there. If you listen to the cutscene in the beginning, they think they're sending you in against human rebels. Instead you find a Covenant strike team of sorts that's looking for artifacts (like Cortana).

But then we do know they're there and we keep on fighting "strike forces" at best.

Posted by: An average gamer
Noble are "cliche" and "retarded" because you only get to know them for a game (some of them less than that) so there isn't much time for character development. I think Bungie did a good job with what they had though.

ODST, less game development time, 10x better relation with the characters than Reach could ever hope for.



Reach's campaign is poor at best.
It tried to jump along the memories of iconic missions on the previous games, but fell right on it's face.

  • 05.29.2012 9:29 AM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

Master Bacon [√]
Bacon Lover [√]
Master [X]

This is my armor and service record.
http://halo.xbox.com/en-us/Career/ServiceRecord?gamertag=stel lartiger

The gameplay was very boring. The story was not the best but wasn't bad either. The only parts I liked is seeing my spartan in the cutscenes.

  • 05.29.2012 9:34 AM PDT

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

Posted by: An average gamer
You should read Halsey's journal if you ever get the chance. It explains a decent amount. I think what they go on to say is that Cortana is essentially a couple pieces and this "latchkey" is this set of information about the Halo super weapons or something to that effect. Cortana was never meant to simply be with you instead of Chief, especially given that it IS with Chief in the books, but I think they explain it as this is another piece that is added to Cortana's already existing self which provides it with information.


She states that Cortana is split into two fragments, yes (one aboard the Autumn, the other under SWORD Base) but there is absolutely no explanation about the Latchkey Artefact at all. It can't be ANYTHING to do with the Halo Rings because humanity knew absolutely nothing about them until Captain keyes was rescued from the Truth and Reconciliation and it can't have been anything to do with getting to Installation 04 becaue Cortana already had the coordinates from Sigma Octanus IV weeks before the battle of Reach.

The Latchkey was just an unnecessary plot device designed to shoehorn in Haley, Cortana, Keyes and the Autumn in a futile effort to try to make Noble Team out to be more important than they actually were.

You only know about it during the last level of the game because you are working for the other commander throughout the beginning of the game. In the level "The Package" you are commandeered by Halsey for a black op, basically. Something of top tier classification. She grabs you to deliver the piece that, I think is supposed to have helped Autumn make the jump directly to the first Halo.

But that's no good at all. Bungie just went and stuck some plot device in the game in the last 30 minutes and claimed that THIS is what Noble Team is fighting for, yet even that loathesome -blam!- Carter expresses nothing but confusion at this because there was absolutely no build-up for this other than a vague mention at the end of ONI SWORD Base.

Again, it CAN'T have been anything to do with Halo because Cortana already had the coordinates. She admits herself that using them was a 'last-resort' option to get away from the Covenant.

Noble are "cliche" and "retarded" because you only get to know them for a game (some of them less than that) so there isn't much time for character development. I think Bungie did a good job with what they had though.

Then why on earth are they introducing completely NEW characters for their LAST game a PROTAGONISTS if they can't adequately develop them? The only important characters are Six, Jorge and Kat - the rest of the game would have made absolutely no difference without Carter, Jun and Emile. They never do anything important in the game and they're absolutely horrid characters themselves. Most of the time Noble Team aren't even there, they're either voice on a radio or just totally absent.

There's no build-up for me to care. If Bungie had actually put any effort into the character development, we'd be seeing something along the lines of a close bond between Kat and Six because they're both from Beta Company and grew up together, but juxtapose that with her fierce loyalty to Carter and then have some kind of moment in the game where she has to choose between saving you or Carter - by taking this action out of the hands of the player and showing a build-up of their characters through flashbacks (like the flawless narrative of ODST) then we'd actually be emotionally involved with the characters. But we're not because Reach doesn't have any characters, they're all sterile and one-dimensional.

Better yet, since Bungie were so focused on making a "human story" then why not make the protagonists ODSTs? Why not have Buck as the main protagonist and have him live out the events of the battle of Reach, not only making the main series come full circle but also the notoriously underrated ODST side-story too.

I understand that Bungie was probably pressed for time, but it still would have been nice to see more.

They had a full 3 year development cycle for this game, the same amount of time that they had for Halo 3. The final product wasn't nearly as close to the quality of Halo 3 at all in terms of both campaign, story, characters and multiplayer.

ODST was done in just over 8 months, in this time Bungie crafted the most sophisticated story in the Halo series through their inspiration and reference to classical literature like Dante's Divine Comedy and more modern noir films. The characters were very well done, the dialogue was cheesy as -blam!- at times but I ACTUALLY CARED about the characters and they masterfully juxtaposed the main storyline with Sadie's Story.

In 8 months, they managed to do this and Firefight. If ODST were a full game, Bungie would have had 2 years and 4 months left. I understand that things like the engine and all that takes time but that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the writing team, the lack of Joe Staten in Reach REALLY showed.

[Edited on 05.29.2012 9:41 AM PDT]

  • 05.29.2012 9:36 AM PDT

5.

  • 05.29.2012 9:47 AM PDT

The shadow on the wall.

Silent

Any mission from halo 2 > any mission from reach. Reach had no character development, no backstory, no plot, screwed canon, and all in all was a lackluster half assed effort on bungies part.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it and it had so, so much potential, but through lack of good writing team and gameplay designers it ultimately failed.

Sure, New Alexandria may be the one, really great mission, but even that was half assed. Proof? Take a look at the buildings you walk into. Sinoviet is clearly Reflection, and you didnt even use most of it, not to mention reflection is just a re skin of ivory tower. Top it all off they took a firefight map from odst and reskinned it to make club erra.

No, just no. The story is not moving. The only character i was even remotely sad for when they died was cat, and were you to take emile jun and carter out of the mix, it wouldnt have changed anything.

There was no characterization at all in the game whatsoever. ODST developed a better story in eight months than reach did in three years.

Please, dont say it was a good story. Don't get me wrong, reach could have been their best game to date, but they failed miserably in terms of campaign missions, characterization, flow, gameplay, explorability and so much more.

Silent

PS: Sorry, there was supposed to be a quote there.

[Edited on 05.29.2012 9:56 AM PDT]

  • 05.29.2012 9:56 AM PDT


Posted by: Kira Onime
This "latch key" or black ops mission was obviously very important, "the fate of human kind laying on it".... why should I have to either, grab the higher version of the game, or visit a 3rd party website to even know what the hell I'm doing.

I don't know about you, but this is quite frankly stupid.


It is free, as you alluded to, to look it up. The information is all available, but considering the fact it needed a whole book to clarify it, perhaps they didn't have time to include it into the game. I enjoyed the read the journal provided. If you didn't, well, that's your opinion.


Posted by: Kira Onime
Oh right yeah, we were fight against the covenant "invasion".
When did it start again? Other than the cinematic at the beginning of ToTS, I don't recall fighting anything worthy of being called an "invasion force".

They began their own serious invasion force during Nightfall, remember? You recon the enemy, learn they are massing an army on Reach, then you try to fight them off. Before that you get a command center going in Sword Base, which the covies re-take over during your space efforts.


Posted by: Kira Onime
But then we do know they're there and we keep on fighting "strike forces" at best.

And I agree that the game could have used more major battles. I said that in my initial post.

Posted by: Kira Onime
ODST, less game development time, 10x better relation with the characters than Reach could ever hope for.

ODST's campaign was terrible. You played as a silent guy walking through the streets, or as people who you had seen for 10 seconds beforehand in a couple cutscenes. Moreover, I don't recall any of the information learned through ODST being mentioned in either Halo 2 or 3, so the campaign is essentially irrelevant. I'll further add that, for a bunch of highly trained soldiers who supposedly go through Hell in their training, most of them are whiny smartasses who seem as green as grass throughout the game.


Posted by: Kira Onime
Reach's campaign is poor at best.
It tried to jump along the memories of iconic missions on the previous games, but fell right on it's face.


That's your opinion. I disagree. I think it could have used better battles, but I enjoyed the campaign a lot, especially the last mission. I think The Pillar of Autumn was one of the best campaign missions in Halo's franchise to date.


Posted by: ajw34307She states that Cortana is split into two fragments, yes (one aboard the Autumn, the other under SWORD Base) but there is absolutely no explanation about the Latchkey Artefact at all. It can't be ANYTHING to do with the Halo Rings because humanity knew absolutely nothing about them until Captain keyes was rescued from the Truth and Reconciliation and it can't have been anything to do with getting to Installation 04 becaue Cortana already had the coordinates from Sigma Octanus IV weeks before the battle of Reach.
How can it not be anything to do with the Halo rings when it's a forerunner artifact? The artifact itself is data of the rings which is then delivered to the PoA's Cortana and is used to guide the jump, as far as I'm aware. They can receive coordinates without information easily.

Posted by: ajw34307
The Latchkey was just an unnecessary plot device designed to shoehorn in Haley, Cortana, Keyes and the Autumn in a futile effort to try to make Noble Team out to be more important than they actually were.


You mean to say that the plot device meant to make the story was an unnecessary piece in making the story? If you don't like what the story was about, fine, that's your opinion. I happened to enjoy it, however. There's no debate there. Just agree to disagree.

Posted by: ajw34307
But that's no good at all. Bungie just went and stuck some plot device in the game in the last 30 minutes and claimed that THIS is what Noble Team is fighting for, yet even that loathesome -blam!- Carter expresses nothing but confusion at this because there was absolutely no build-up for this other than a vague mention at the end of ONI SWORD Base.

They didn't just "go in and stick in" some device. Do you know how story developments work? They couldn't have just gone in and added this in in the final days. You're talking about level designs, dialogue, story chronolgies, etc. The game was designed to flow as is from start to finish when the story was drawn up long before the game came together.

Posted by: ajw34307
Again, it CAN'T have been anything to do with Halo because Cortana already had the coordinates. She admits herself that using them was a 'last-resort' option to get away from the Covenant.

She receives the info from Noble 6's information that he delivers.

Posted by: ajw34307
Then why on earth are they introducing completely NEW characters for their LAST game a PROTAGONISTS if they can't adequately develop them?

Because they are done with Master Chief at this point, and making one final Halo game. That's a developer choice. If you don't like that, fine, but that doesn't mean that the campaign is going to suck for everybody.

Posted by: ajw34307
The only important characters are Six, Jorge and Kat - the rest of the game would have made absolutely no difference without Carter, Jun and Emile. They never do anything important in the game and they're absolutely horrid characters themselves.

They discover the Covenant, they recon the size, they help a counter attack into the heart of their army, they take down a supercarrier, they realize they are losing and help rescue as many people as they can, then they find important information and deliver it to allow the discovery/destruction of Halo.

Posted by: ajw34307
Most of the time Noble Team aren't even there, they're either voice on a radio or just totally absent.

Reach is a big planet which is being attacked all over. It's likely they were needed elsewhere.

Posted by: ajw34307
There's no build-up for me to care. If Bungie had actually put any effort into the character development, we'd be seeing something along the lines of a close bond between Kat and Six because they're both from Beta Company and grew up together, but juxtapose that with her fierce loyalty to Carter and then have some kind of moment in the game where she has to choose between saving you or Carter -

There was plenty of character buildup. The "Deliver hope" trailer shows you what you have to live up to. You even enter the game knowing that nobody really wants you there, and you are given attitude for some time. Emile gets built up as a disgruntled person who's seen too much death, Jorge is shown to be a softer person, etc.

Posted by: ajw34307
by taking this action out of the hands of the player and showing a build-up of their characters through flashbacks (like the flawless narrative of ODST) then we'd actually be emotionally involved with the characters. But we're not because Reach doesn't have any characters, they're all sterile and one-dimensional.

Oh, are you talking about the game where the main character is a silent, unrelatable nobody from nowhere? And where all the characters are whiny brats who act more like a bunch of high school students than hardned veterans?

Posted by: ajw34307
Better yet, since Bungie were so focused on making a "human story" then why not make the protagonists ODSTs? Why not have Buck as the main protagonist and have him live out the events of the battle of Reach, not only making the main series come full circle but also the notoriously underrated ODST side-story too.

It's your opinion that that decision would have gone better. Others may agree, others may not. Focusing on "what if"s won't change the story now though. If they did that, there's no guarantee it would have been any better at all.

Posted by: ajw34307
They had a full 3 year development cycle for this game, the same amount of time that they had for Halo 3. The final product wasn't nearly as close to the quality of Halo 3 at all in terms of both campaign, story, characters and multiplayer.

Halo 3 had characters built up for two prior games, a multiplayer that was built up over two prior games, and a lot of hype over it.

Reach was a branch into a different direction which Bungie took knowing that they were about to leave their franchise behind. They made new characters, a new multiplayer, and a new twist on it. They probably could have done even more, were they not about to send everything over to 343. That's why they never gave a TU, why they made new characters, and why they made a standalone game. Bungie did all they could for the title while they had it. They made new playlists, updated all the specs they could, and stuck with the community for a while. It was all on borrowed time though.

Posted by: ajw34307
ODST was done in just over 8 months, in this time Bungie crafted the most sophisticated story in the Halo series through their inspiration and reference to classical literature like Dante's Divine Comedy and more modern noir films. The characters were very well done, the dialogue was cheesy as -blam!- at times but I ACTUALLY CARED about the characters and they masterfully juxtaposed the main storyline with Sadie's Story.

In 8 months, they managed to do this and Firefight. If ODST were a full game, Bungie would have had 2 years and 4 months left.

And again, that's your opinion. I played that game and didn't enjoy the story much at all. I thought the characters flat, boring, and childish and I definitely prefer playing through Reach to that.

  • 05.29.2012 2:13 PM PDT

I intend to live forever, or die trying,

so far, so good.

I liked it. I also liked ODST

Voted 8-10.

Still think Halo 2 Campaign was the best.



[Edited on 05.29.2012 2:59 PM PDT]

  • 05.29.2012 2:50 PM PDT

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

How can it not be anything to do with the Halo rings when it's a forerunner artifact? The artifact itself is data of the rings which is then delivered to the PoA's Cortana and is used to guide the jump, as far as I'm aware. They can receive coordinates without information easily.

Because, believe it or not, not everything about the Forerunners has to do with the Halo Rings. How do you know what? That's not explained ANYWHERE in either the game nor Halsey's journal, they never had any information about the Rings until Keyes is rescued from the Truth & Reconciliation.

You mean to say that the plot device meant to make the story was an unnecessary piece in making the story? If you don't like what the story was about, fine, that's your opinion. I happened to enjoy it, however. There's no debate there. Just agree to disagree.

I think you need to reread what I said... It was shoehorned in in the second last level, it was not meant to "make the story" it was just there to sic characters like Keyes, Halsey and Cortana into the story when they had no business being there. A primary factor in Reach's campaign is relying on the vision of the original trilogy instead of crafting something new and unique just to bring in the 'nostalgia factor', this is essentially what this Latchkey BS is designed to do because there's absolutely no reason explained for it being there or its purpose.

They didn't just "go in and stick in" some device. Do you know how story developments work? They couldn't have just gone in and added this in in the final days. You're talking about level designs, dialogue, story chronolgies, etc. The game was designed to flow as is from start to finish when the story was drawn up long before the game came together.

They most cetainly did. There's absolutely bugger-all exposition regarding the Latchkey artefact and as a writer myself I know exactly how story development works. There's this thing called 'foreshadowing' and 'build-up', it's a narrative method that has been used since the days of Homer when he wrote The Odyssey. Even at the start we have this build-up to Odysseus returning to Ithaca to slaughter the suitors with constantly reoccurring narrative devices fuelling the foreshadowing; in Reach the Latchkey artefact is just THERE, almost like a deus ex machina to make the story go somewhere it WASN'T headed in the first place.

She receives the info from Noble 6's information that he delivers.

lolno

Cortana had the decoded coordinates to Installation 04 almost a month before she even met Noble Six.

Because they are done with Master Chief at this point, and making one final Halo game. That's a developer choice. If you don't like that, fine, but that doesn't mean that the campaign is going to suck for everybody.

I never said anything about the Chief. I don't care if it was a developer choice, they had 2 novels worth of backstory to the battle of Reach and they somehow went and dropped it out the window.

They discover the Covenant, they recon the size, they help a counter attack into the heart of their army, they take down a supercarrier, they realize they are losing and help rescue as many people as they can, then they find important information and deliver it to allow the discovery/destruction of Halo.

Er... at what point does Emile, Jun or Carter have anything to do with those points? Six was the one on the ground fighting against the Covenant in Nightfall, Jun just stayed up on the cliffs. Jorge took down the Supercarrier (again, I said he's one of the only important characters), Six is the one who rescues everyone he can - everyone else is just sitting in the ONI building. Six is the one chosen to deliver the data (whatever it is because we're never told).

The rest of Noble Team may as well have just not been there, the game could have been about Six, Jorge and Kat because the other Spartans do absolutely nothing.

Reach is a big planet which is being attacked all over. It's likely they were needed elsewhere.

Only the Viery territory was being attacked until the Fleet of Particular Justice arrived on the last day of the battle.

There was plenty of character buildup. The "Deliver hope" trailer shows you what you have to live up to. You even enter the game knowing that nobody really wants you there, and you are given attitude for some time. Emile gets built up as a disgruntled person who's seen too much death, Jorge is shown to be a softer person, etc.

No, there wasn't. So we have to rely on a trailer to tell us about the characters? Pfft! Great, redacting details about the characters from the player in the game totally adds to the character build-up! We never get that impression from Emile, the only time he has any significant dialogue is with Jorge in Winter Contingency and after that he just fades away. Jorge is just a copypasta of Kurt from Ghosts of Onyx, even so he's the only character with any significant build up (BUT HE'S KILLED HALF WAY THROUGH THE GAME so it was all a waste that we're left with the rest of these loathesome, sterile, bland pricks).

Oh, are you talking about the game where the main character is a silent, unrelatable nobody from nowhere? And where all the characters are whiny brats who act more like a bunch of high school students than hardned veterans?

Reach, yeah. :)

It's your opinion that that decision would have gone better. Others may agree, others may not. Focusing on "what if"s won't change the story now though. If they did that, there's no guarantee it would have been any better at all.

I'm pretty sure that anyone with a decent sense of enthusiasm for a well detailed and character driven story would take any alternative than what we got.

Halo 3 had characters built up for two prior games, a multiplayer that was built up over two prior games, and a lot of hype over it.

And apparently Bungie learned NOTHING from that. They had a setting - Reach. They had 2 novels worth of information that they commissioned Nylund to write and had accepted into the canon for 9 years. Somehow they let that all go to pot, it totally fell apart. They had characters that people LOVED in the novels like Linda who sniped 7 Banshee pilots with 1 hand while hanging upside down, it was a dynamic and emotional moment in TFOR when she's on the Circumference with John and gets shot multiple times in the head, then is taken aboard the Autumn and put in cryo. If they'd made a game of the novel or something that at least loosely followed it then I can guarantee that what can laughably be called the "story" of this game wouldn't be half as hated as it is.

Reach was a branch into a different direction which Bungie took knowing that they were about to leave their franchise behind. They made new characters, a new multiplayer, and a new twist on it. They probably could have done even more, were they not about to send everything over to 343. That's why they never gave a TU, why they made new characters, and why they made a standalone game. Bungie did all they could for the title while they had it. They made new playlists, updated all the specs they could, and stuck with the community for a while. It was all on borrowed time though.

Reach was a branch in the WRONG direction, just look at the way the fanbase has diminished since it was released. If they knew that this was going to this last game, WHY did they decide to introduce something completely new without any knowledge of how it would be received? Don't try and fix what isn't broken, their direction in multiplayer was HORRIFIC. Compare the maps in Reach to the maps of Halo 2 and 3, there's a MASSIVE gap in quality. Boardwalk has to be one of the absolute worst creations on the planet...

And again, that's your opinion. I played that game and didn't enjoy the story much at all. I thought the characters flat, boring, and childish and I definitely prefer playing through Reach to that.

Then it's clear that the deeper thematic implications of ODST flew right over your head. The juxtaposition of the storyline with the flashbacks and Sadie's story is some of the best storytelling seen in a game since the first Bioshock, the story itself felt very compelling with Marty's sublime soundtrack (his magnum opus, next to Halo 2). Then there's the derivative nature of many aspects of the story from Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno, this kind of reference back to classical literature shows extreme competence on the part of Bungie's writers (especially Joe Staten) and it's pretty damn clear that this just went right over the heads of about 90% of Halo's community.

There were a lot of memorable moments in it too, seeing the space elevator collapsing and then going back to Halo 3 and seeing remnants of it scattered around the environment shows that ODST is a game of consequence, everything that you did was reflected somewhere else either in the game or in Halo 3 which was a very good way to link the stories - therefore it does EXACTLY what a prequel is supposed to do. Noble Team were pulled out of Bungie's arse, they made no difference to the story at all.

Also, I actually felt attached to the Rookie. Some of the best kind of storytelling is by relating the protagonist to the music and the atmosphere, you don't even need dialogue if you can pull that off (and anyone who says it isn't is a moron).

Bungie caught the perfect balance for a silent protagonist. The Rookie isn't supposed to be a character, he's a conduit and there are many aspects that make him more significant than he appears.

  • 05.29.2012 3:44 PM PDT

FLOOD QUOTES!
Posted by: G3N3RAL R3VAN
The Flood....... if it doesn't go anywhere else, stick it her pooper
Posted by: xflox231
Idiots. I'm surrounded by idiots
Posted by: ferrrari
the flood, there a bunch of jerks, but there my jerks.

lol people still come here?

  • 05.29.2012 3:49 PM PDT

Why not stop by my File Share while you're here?

~Long Live Halo 2
Only regret is I didn't play more of it.

If you haven't noticed by now, I'm sort of a jerk.

This. There's more holes in the plot of Reach's campaign then Swiss Cheese.
Posted by: xmat123x
Not a fan. It was boring, cliche and felt rushed. Their complete disregard for the books also didn't help.

  • 05.29.2012 4:42 PM PDT

When your spirit is floatin' down the tunnel, toward the light, you know wot's behind the light? It's not god. It's me. And I'm gonna kick your --- soul all the way back down the tunnel, 'til you choke on your own ---'d up ribs. Now. Wake. The ----. Up!

To be honest, I liked Reach's campaign the best just because I got to fire a MAC gun, then got to make an epic last stand against the covenant.

  • 05.29.2012 4:44 PM PDT

BUT THE DIG SITE IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CITY!!!

I give it a 6.

It was very fun to play through on legendary and many aspects of the game were cool and new. But the story telling was just not there, and i often found myself lost within the story line. Specifically the stuff with Doctor Halsey

  • 05.29.2012 7:16 PM PDT