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This topic has moved here: Subject: Halo 4 Literary Dependency
  • Subject: Halo 4 Literary Dependency
Subject: Halo 4 Literary Dependency

He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.
We are in the hands of infinite power and infinite sadism

I'm not sure about posting Halo 4 material in the Bungie forums (can't get away from them) I do have a "Universe" related query:
Halo: CE - Halo 3 were pretty independent from the books, yes the novels by Nylund and Co. provided wonderful backstory and a greater level of understanding in the games, they were not necessary for most casual gamers.
Halo: Reach, erm, I did experience some confusion throughout the campaign and how it stretches previously set canon. I don't want to argue what happened in The Fall of Reach/other novels and Halo: Reach- those issues have already been addressed awhile ago.
Now to Halo 4.
Before E3 I had pretty much resigned myself to not purchasing Halo 4. Now, I have mixed feelings, I still do not know whether I will buy it, but, to make up my mind I decided to do some digging. Since I did buy and really enjoy Halo: Anniversary I had already noticed the strange foreshadowing through the Terminal storylines. Since I had stopped reading the novels at Contact Harvest I was rather unaware of Glasslands and Primordium and Cryptum- Instead of reading them I studied the synopsis of those novels on the Halo Wiki (Halo Nation)--
Now here is the most important part:
The information (I won't give away any spoilers) seems to be heavily intertwined with the Halo 4 storyline, the game seems overly dependent on it. I know 343i had stated that the storylines between novels and the new trilogy would be very connected but I never thought they would be so heavily leaning on each other, especially for those casual gamers out there... what do you think?

Thanks for reading all of this(those of you that did), I know its probably got unneccessary fluff but it is what it is- now post!

  • 06.12.2012 7:18 PM PDT
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my gt is Godzillla....i just didnt link it properly

im pretty sure 343 isnt making the game uplayable for those who havent read the books

and technically ..wasnt Halo: The Flood just a book version of h1?

  • 06.12.2012 8:19 PM PDT

He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.
We are in the hands of infinite power and infinite sadism


Posted by: GodZillla
im pretty sure 343 isnt making the game uplayable for those who havent read the books

and technically ..wasnt Halo: The Flood just a book version of h1?


I know that, it wouldn't sell if the casual gamer or even casual Halo fan could'nt understand the story. I was meerly highly suprised by how much I missed during the transition haha
And yes I had mentioned Dietz (the Author of Halo: The Flood) but removed it from that Halo:CE-Halo 3 section. Plus, it just seems to me that Dietz fills in some gaps and fleshes out the campaign, not much more.

  • 06.12.2012 8:25 PM PDT

What a waste....

I think this time, the novels will play a role. It might turn out like Gears of War 3, where without the books everything flops, but I think they will help explain things while not being necessary.

  • 06.12.2012 8:50 PM PDT

He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.
We are in the hands of infinite power and infinite sadism

Hopefully not, although the only thing you would miss is a few characters like Hoffman's "love" interest, I cant remember her name, and Jace.
That would be the same case if Glasslands was the only book out. Unfortunately, Primordium and Cryptum introduce a complete delving into the Forerunner culture and society and the role of the Precursors.

  • 06.12.2012 8:56 PM PDT

He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.
We are in the hands of infinite power and infinite sadism

As such, a hardcore Halo player who has read all the terminals would know of Didact (atleast in a way) but if they had not read the books they would not know of Bornstellar. With that a reader and a player does not know if the last Terminal in Halo 3 with Didact's last message was written by Didact or Bornstellar/Didact

  • 06.12.2012 9:05 PM PDT

343, as I recall, is trying to make all the forms of media connect canon wise. So there isn't a "Oh, the book overrides that legends-style cartoon, which is overridden by the game"

However, as stated in this topic... If they go too far that way, you can have somebody pick up the game and be completely clueless about something, while a person who read the books saw it coming a mile away/figured it out quickly.

It's a balancing act we'll see how well they pull off.

  • 06.12.2012 10:13 PM PDT

Many gave their lives so that we could live on. I intend to honor them by remembering them. Remember Cyborg. Remember John. Remember Noble.

Here is the source of my suspicion about Halo 4.

  • 06.13.2012 11:27 AM PDT

Haters are going to hate.
Praisers are going to praise.

The Bungie Forums are what keeps my mind sharp and my fingers active, between writing my own movie scripts, drawing, and studying industrial design. At the moment I'm working on miniatures for a short movie that I'll hopefully be able to film once I've saved up for a camera... That's me, with the mug, trying to have a conversation with Konoko.

It's an important question. I actually encountered it a couple of days ago when a friend that isn't that into Halo (played through the games but no more), wondered what the hell was going on in the 4 e3 trailer. When I tried to explain, I soon discovered that a lot is lost if you haven't read the books. A lot of what is supposed to make details important anyway. Without the books the premise in 4 becomes really bland. But on the other hand, both Cryptum, Primordium, and Glasslands, make a lot of the things in 1,2,3 feel weird and questionable, so even if they--supposedly--enhance 4,5,6, etc, they alter almost everything that was; which might not be liked by some.

[Edited on 06.13.2012 12:13 PM PDT]

  • 06.13.2012 12:10 PM PDT
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If the books are required, they should make them public domain or something so people who can't buy them like me don't have to resort to torrents and Google searches to find out things... jk

Honestly, if that's the case, they should clarify on these things. Don't some games come with a section dedicated to info? Didn't Anniversary have that scan mode (which was unfortunately Kinect only)?

  • 06.13.2012 3:02 PM PDT
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All five main-game Halo games are completely independent of the books. Halo 4 will be no different. The books are further information and clarity. Halo 4 will be self-sufficient, if not the whole story.

  • 06.13.2012 3:18 PM PDT

He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.
We are in the hands of infinite power and infinite sadism


Posted by: Tibetz
All five main-game Halo games are completely independent of the books. Halo 4 will be no different. The books are further information and clarity. Halo 4 will be self-sufficient, if not the whole story.

Hopefully!
Also to a poster above, the Kinect Library thing just catered to Kinect owners :P but I just remember reading in a GI article about how they will have an introductory recap of the past games. This recap could also incorporate elements in the books- atleast the current ones, not the Forerunner series, so players would have an idea of the new setting. Though seeing as how John and Cortana are confused with the hostile Covenant it may not be revealed to causals that the remaining Covie species, notably the Elites, have sort of fractured into factions, even if the book readers would already know this...

  • 06.13.2012 7:10 PM PDT

Glory and fame, blood is our name!
Souls full of thunder, hearts of steel!
Killers of men, a warrior's friend!
Sworn to avenge our fallen brothers!
Sons of the gods, today we shall die.
Open Valhalla's door!
Let the battle begin, with swords in the wind! Hail Gods of War!

Unless they start rattling off about a Geas, Chakas, or Cryptums without any exposition, I think we'll be fine.

  • 06.13.2012 9:42 PM PDT
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Posted by: NebuchadnezzaRT

Posted by: Tibetz
All five main-game Halo games are completely independent of the books. Halo 4 will be no different. The books are further information and clarity. Halo 4 will be self-sufficient, if not the whole story.

Hopefully!
Also to a poster above, the Kinect Library thing just catered to Kinect owners :P
Still, CEA's manual was woefully insufficient compared to CE's manual.

  • 06.13.2012 10:30 PM PDT

He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.
We are in the hands of infinite power and infinite sadism


Posted by: Sliding Ghost

Posted by: NebuchadnezzaRT

Posted by: Tibetz
All five main-game Halo games are completely independent of the books. Halo 4 will be no different. The books are further information and clarity. Halo 4 will be self-sufficient, if not the whole story.

Hopefully!
Also to a poster above, the Kinect Library thing just catered to Kinect owners :P
Still, CEA's manual was woefully insufficient compared to CE's manual.

Right! I just noticed that a few days ago! My Halo:CE manual for the PC is actually really exstensive compared to that barely pamphlet worthy disgrace :(

  • 06.13.2012 11:13 PM PDT

They've said that you don't need to read the books (they've a got a prologue cutscene) but it would help if you want to pick up on the smallest details.

  • 06.14.2012 8:02 AM PDT