Halo 3's story

Post by SmugDarkLoser (4,044 posts) See mini bio

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I know a lot of people who haven't played the game get the misconception that Halo's story has been tacked on and is really just a mediocre run of the mill let's not pay attention to the story type game. While I know you can't get all of it out of this as this is like joining a movie way into it as it's the 3rd game (they all carry the same continued storyline- halo 3 is the end, hence finish the fight) and much of it, especially the details, are told in game.

Just watch this though, it should give you an idea of Halo's story. It's really good sci-fi imo. See people, it's not half-baked! And for god sakes, Master Chief isn't a silent protangonist or forced badass, he's a dehumanized human. (there's this theme about master chief becoming dehumanized where as cortona, an ai, becomes human). He does show emotions now and then though, subtley though (like leaning in when concerned, etc.)

Edited 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by Lies (2,388 posts) See mini bio

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I love Halo as much as the next guy Smug.

But Halo 3's story was shit.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by SmugDarkLoser (4,044 posts) See mini bio

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@Lies said:

"I love Halo as much as the next guy Smug. But Halo 3's story was shit."

Do you not like sci-fi? Because it's actually quite strong.
Have you played halo 1/2?

Because there are some people who just don't like sci-fi, no matter what.
I'm quite into sci-fi, and Halo's is quite well done.

and like Star Wars doesn't qualify anyone as a star wars fan.

Edited 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by zombie2011 (740 posts) See mini bio

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I liked the story of Halo and i thought Halo 3 wrapped it up nicely. The last level was epic the music the getaway and the final cut-scene all together was amazing.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by dulmonkey (20 posts) See mini bio

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Halo has an excellent scifi story, especially whats told in the novels. Unfortunately a lot of that stuff doesn't translate into good gaming.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by Crixaliz (182 posts) See mini bio

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I thought the story was fairly decent, I really liked how somethings that are shown or said link back to the older games.

Like when you rescue Cortana and she says "Keep your head down, there are two of us in here now" (which she says to you at the start of Halo 1).

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by SmugDarkLoser (4,044 posts) See mini bio

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@Crixaliz said:

"I thought the story was fairly decent, I really liked how somethings that are shown or said link back to the older games.Like when you rescue Cortana and she says "Keep your head down, there are two of us in here now" (which she says to you at the start of Halo 1)."

Or the ending....

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by marlow83 (93 posts) See mini bio

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I'm sorry, Halo 3's story was very bad, especially when compared to the first two. Master Chief had the least personality and least lines out of all of the games, so there's one big strike against it. Also, all of the dialogue in the game essentially came down to a bunch of people saying "If we don't stop Truth, everyone will die" in a really over dramatic manner. Halo 3's story was also a little hard to follow, mainly the final act after the Arbiter kills Truth. There's just not a lot of explanation for any of the events. I had to watch the cutscenes a few times to understand everything that happened. Also, the Gravemind was never actually explained in Halo 3, i only knew what the hell it was from outside sources.

You learn nothing about the rest of the Human race on Earth during the game either, which was disappointing.

Lastly, the worst thing about Halo 3's story was how the gameplay didn't back up how epic the story should have been. None of the battles have a really large scale to them, which detracts from the weight of the story.

So, yeah, Halo 1 and Halo 2 had good stories, Halo 3 did not.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by Lies (2,388 posts) See mini bio

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Really, you found the "love story between Cortana and the Chief" to be compelling storytelling? Halo 3's story is a mess, none of the complex Covenant politics and dynamics of Halo 2, and none of the sense of exploration and adventure of the original Halo.

There was good story to be found within Halo 3, but it was buried in the Terminals. That's a compelling and well-told tale. The "main story" was hardly impressive.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by TheFreeMan (688 posts) See mini bio

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I liked the story in Halo 3, quite a bit. The Terminals really add to it, as well, I felt.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by Radar (288 posts) See mini bio

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Halo 3's story was so bad that I don't remember a thing of what went on.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by VWGTI (1,133 posts) See mini bio

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I gave up on Halo 3 halfway through the campaign because the story was very uninteresting.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by SmugDarkLoser (4,044 posts) See mini bio

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@VWGTI said:

"I gave up on Halo 3 halfway through the campaign because the story was very uninteresting. "

So how can you possibly know if it's good or not if you didn't play through >.>

@Radar said:

"Halo 3's story was so bad that I don't remember a thing of what went on."

So therefore you can't comment on the story, lol.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by SmugDarkLoser (4,044 posts) See mini bio

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@Lies said:

"Really, you found the "love story between Cortana and the Chief" to be compelling storytelling? Halo 3's story is a mess, none of the complex Covenant politics and dynamics of Halo 2, and none of the sense of exploration and adventure of the original Halo. There was good story to be found within Halo 3, but it was buried in the Terminals. That's a compelling and well-told tale. The "main story" was hardly impressive."

Love story? No. There is no lvoe story. It's called chief is constantly becoming more machine from war and cortona becoming more human from it. For example, the Ai she's suppose to be based on, those flash interruption things, everything she said was a quote from Dr. Hasely but with her twist. She was essentially becoming a person, not a shadow of Hasely.

As far as the politics from Halo 2, they really only followed they sort of brought that to a conclusion. The Elites on floodgate will talk about it quite a bit though when you meet up with them. Halo really follows that from the Arbiter's point of view and MC's.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by Gamer_152 (1,554 posts) See mini bio

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I don't understand why so many people think that when measured up to the stories of other videos games today, the story of Halo 3 is so bad. I thought it had a very good storyline.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by Player1 (1,895 posts) See mini bio

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Not that I'm really picky when it comes to games stories, but I liked this one. Its really cool to see it all lined up like this too...now you know what would be VERY cool? The cut scenes from all 3 games all lined up.

EDIT. Found them. If anyone is interested. In order from 1-3:

Edited 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by gimmysumcowbel (298 posts) See mini bio

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i thought the Halo story was lame. but i love it for its gameplay

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by DerekDanahy (264 posts) See mini bio

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I have come to not care about the story of first person shooters. Even as I played Bioshock, which was pretty interesting, I just didn't care about what happened after half way.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by pweidman (249 posts) See mini bio

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Seeing the graphical evolution in those three vids is really pretty cool. And as far as the story, it does get convoluted, and it did get so in Halo 3 especially towards the end, and the whole business w/the Gravemind. However, if you have read the novels, much of the story clicks and actually adds a new level of chartacter/player motivation. The thing is Bungie makes games that are fun to play, not movies, and the continuity of the overarching story is hard to manage imo. Anyway the books really add a lot, and they are very well written imo, and the universe they describe is very fleshed out and fairly plausible as far a sci-fi goes. I can't wait to see how they approach Halo: Reach and stick to the novel or not. The book reads like a script of a movie...very cool! :)

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by Brendan (397 posts) See mini bio

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I think the story was interesting, but it wasn't portrayed as well as it could have been in Halo 3. I found the last few levels to be really dissapointing, what with the overly striking resemblance to Halo 1.

Seeing Halo 1's video actually makes me a little depressed...reminds me of how awesomely groundbreaking the game was for it's day.

Edited 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by GloomyTangent (27 posts) See mini bio

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I honestly think that it's quality really depends on what you're comparing it to. Since you said that it holds up as 'great sci-fi,' I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. You say that and you're bringing in absolutely amazing stories like Blade Runner, Ender's Game (the orgin of the Spartans is heavily inspired by this story), Neuromancer and hundreds of others. And compared to them, Halo is poorly written, derivative drivel. That said, due to Halo's massive popularity Bungie has been able to flesh out their story extremely well, thanks to all the novels, ARGs and so on. Most games don't get to do that, and I think that's why alot of people argue that it's a 'good story.' I would argue that it's not really high quality, but rather highly realized.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by atejas (2,650 posts) See mini bio

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Too many loose ends.
What happened to Cortana's rampancy?
How did the Gravemind fit inside In Amber Clad? From what we see, it's downright enormous.
Why didn't we see any evidence of the Prophets in the original Halo?
The Hunters sided with the Elites in 2, yet are fighting you in 3. Same with the Grunts.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by SmugDarkLoser (4,044 posts) See mini bio

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@atejas said:

"Too many loose ends.What happened to Cortana's rampancy?How did the Gravemind fit inside In Amber Clad? From what we see, it's downright enormous.Why didn't we see any evidence of the Prophets in the original Halo?The Hunters sided with the Elites in 2, yet are fighting you in 3. Same with the Grunts."

She needed to talk to chief essentially. Again, if you understand what those references were, it wasn't really her going crazy but becoming more human and filled with emotion.
As for gravemind, dunno what your saying. He was on the ship in Halo 2 and in Halo 3 the ship got taken down onto earth during the invasion (and there are multiple graveminds-- in halo 1 that's what keyes was forming into)
Because you were doing operations on halo. Halo 2 you really only knew him through the covenants side and then earth's invasion, which is where you saw him in 3.
Grunts don't side with either, they'll fight whoever will protect them. Hunters are just little worms that make up and act in unison. I'd imagine they'd serve any side if utlized. I do agree that they could have included them on the humans side in 3 though.

I think this is a perfect case of you just not being hugely familiar with the details of halo universe and not listening to details.

I think the real question is whether or not the halo 1 legendary ending is canon or not. If so, Johnson must be immortal, then he dies from guilty spark, lulz.

Edited 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by SmugDarkLoser (4,044 posts) See mini bio

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@Gamer_152 said:

"I don't understand why so many people think that when measured up to the stories of other videos games today, the story of Halo 3 is so bad. I thought it had a very good storyline. "

Frankly, I think it's because the majority of people are too stupid too understand plot.
Admittedly, the storytelling in Halo 3 is much less in your face than something like Half-Life. Some people couldn't even tell you what Bioshock was about after the end of the game.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by Br3adfan (2,939 posts) See mini bio

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@SmugDarkLoser said:

" @Gamer_152 said:

"I don't understand why so many people think that when measured up to the stories of other videos games today, the story of Halo 3 is so bad. I thought it had a very good storyline. "
Frankly, I think it's because the majority of people are too stupid too understand plot.

No.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by Ineedaname (1,790 posts) See mini bio

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@SmugDarkLoser said:

" @Gamer_152 said:

"I don't understand why so many people think that when measured up to the stories of other videos games today, the story of Halo 3 is so bad. I thought it had a very good storyline. "
Frankly, I think it's because the majority of people are too stupid too understand plot. Admittedly, the storytelling in Halo 3 is much less in your face than something like Half-Life. Some people couldn't even tell you what Bioshock was about after the end of the game. "

Your logic is flawed, Halo is 3 games that were released over a period of time, I find more realistic to say people don't fully understand that plot, I've not seen any posts on the forum saying people are too stupid to understand the Bioshock plot or asking about it, but you've made this Halo one, that says something to me.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by Tru3_Blu3 (469 posts) See mini bio

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@Br3adfan said:

" @SmugDarkLoser said:
" @Gamer_152 said:

"I don't understand why so many people think that when measured up to the stories of other videos games today, the story of Halo 3 is so bad. I thought it had a very good storyline. "
Frankly, I think it's because the majority of people are too stupid too understand plot.
No. "

Sort of.

Gamers are not movie critics, for they know how stories must told and how they must be structured. This is why I sort of find game critics to be rather vague when they state that a story "isn't interesting" or "is not well told", only play the game that they criticized and actually give good credit toward the game's story.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by sdauz (153 posts) See mini bio

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@Br3adfan:

Dude i agree, halo's story has always been designed in a way that the 'Madden Crowd' can play it and not have their head explode and complex enough that those who care will find it deep and interesting. If u play halo and dont care about the story, u wont care about the story, u wont look for a story. Not all games need to be like MGS and bash u over the head with its plot....repeatedly and for 45mins straight.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by Red (2,865 posts) See mini bio

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OH NOEZ! DUDE IS GOING TO DESTROY THE GALAXY WITH A HALO! LET'S STOP HIM! BUT HOW? LET'S GET A ROCK AND GIVE HIM A HELMET. HE'LL STOP THE BAD ALIENS. BUT WAIT! NOEZ! THERE'S AN EVIL ROBOT THAT BETRAYS YOU. HES LIKE THE SIZE OF R2D2, BUT THAT'S FINE. LET'S HAVE HIM BE THE FINAL BOSS.

Halo 3's story is complete garbage. There wasn't any point where I cared about any of the characters or what was going on.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Post by SmugDarkLoser (4,044 posts) See mini bio

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@sdauz said:

"@Br3adfan:

Dude i agree, halo's story has always been designed in a way that the 'Madden Crowd' can play it and not have their head explode and complex enough that those who care will find it deep and interesting. If u play halo and dont care about the story, u wont care about the story, u wont look for a story. Not all games need to be like MGS and bash u over the head with its plot....repeatedly and for 45mins straight.
"

Yep, basically. If you don't want to listen, you can indeed get only "theres a war between the aliens and humans" and there's "some rings to destory the world" and "there's this flood stuff" and "a religious civil war/chaos in the alien world".

Lots of people probably don't even know who the forerunners are despite being such a big faction. Usuaully people group it Covenant, Humans, and Flood and I say-- you mean covenant, humans, flood, and forerunners? Granted, the humans are the descendants of the forerunners. But still. And you know, like who do you think the rings/ark are from.

bungie was big on that with Marathon when I played through them quickly just because people compared it wiht halo. In marathon you can completely ignore the story if you desire. Granted, they don't use cutscenes at all but rather terminals, but that's a choice in design and technical limitation.

Halo 3: ODST is doing away with terminals as its in new mombasa (unless you do explore some forerunner stuff afterall) and opting for Audiologs.

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago

Halo 3 Forum