I had no idea what was going on the entire time I played Halo 4. I thought I had a pretty good grasp on things that happened in Halo 3, when I finished it. It's sad that they created a story that only really made any sense to people who got into the expanded fiction, which I never did. They could have at least TRIED to properly explain the backstory a bit more, rather than just assume you're some sort of super fan who read all the books.

@Korolev said:

I had no idea what was going on the entire time I played Halo 4. I thought I had a pretty good grasp on things that happened in Halo 3, when I finished it. It's sad that they created a story that only really made any sense to people who got into the expanded fiction, which I never did. They could have at least TRIED to properly explain the backstory a bit more, rather than just assume you're some sort of super fan who read all the books.

I think the backstory you need is explained in the Terminal videos that you unlock in Halo Waypoint by finding terminals in-game. They're all collected here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bznq4Zr2gTwBut I agree it's a really convoluted way of doing things.

I just finished, haven't watched the terminal videos yet, but I don't think they should be nessisary.

Man, that story was all over the place. It wasn't that hard to follow, just... scattered. I really hope they do better in Halo 5.

@SamDrugbringer said:

I just finished, haven't watched the terminal videos yet, but I don't think they should be nessisary.

Man, that story was all over the place. It wasn't that hard to follow, just... scattered. I really hope they do better in Halo 5.

To me, the real problem was the ending. Cortana clones shoot out of a light bridge, Master Chief is somehow protected from a nuclear explosion. It just became cheesy and silly.

I felt the final scene between Master Chief and Cortana was also misplaced. They should have had that conversation before they entered and it should have been a foreshadowing instead of the abrupt "now we have to say good bye" thing that came out of a nuclear bomb...I guess.

@Rasmoss said:

@SamDrugbringer said:

I just finished, haven't watched the terminal videos yet, but I don't think they should be nessisary.

Man, that story was all over the place. It wasn't that hard to follow, just... scattered. I really hope they do better in Halo 5.

To me, the real problem was the ending. Cortana clones shoot out of a light bridge, Master Chief is somehow protected from a nuclear explosion. It just became cheesy and silly.

I think the mid-story Librarian Scene pretty much set the scene for tossing the "Hard" sci-fi out the window and going to fantasy land. The master chief is the chosen one created by the Foruners to fight the Didect? Wut?

@SamDrugbringer said:

@Rasmoss said:

@SamDrugbringer said:

I just finished, haven't watched the terminal videos yet, but I don't think they should be nessisary.

Man, that story was all over the place. It wasn't that hard to follow, just... scattered. I really hope they do better in Halo 5.

To me, the real problem was the ending. Cortana clones shoot out of a light bridge, Master Chief is somehow protected from a nuclear explosion. It just became cheesy and silly.

I think the mid-story Librarian Scene pretty much set the scene for tossing the "Hard" sci-fi out the window and going to fantasy land. The master chief is the chosen one created by the Foruners to fight the Didect? Wut?

Yeah, granted, that was dumb. I always liked that Master Chief was just this dude running around, cleaning up everyone else's mess.

@Rasmoss said:

@SamDrugbringer said:

@Rasmoss said:

@SamDrugbringer said:

I just finished, haven't watched the terminal videos yet, but I don't think they should be nessisary.

Man, that story was all over the place. It wasn't that hard to follow, just... scattered. I really hope they do better in Halo 5.

To me, the real problem was the ending. Cortana clones shoot out of a light bridge, Master Chief is somehow protected from a nuclear explosion. It just became cheesy and silly.

I think the mid-story Librarian Scene pretty much set the scene for tossing the "Hard" sci-fi out the window and going to fantasy land. The master chief is the chosen one created by the Foruners to fight the Didect? Wut?

Yeah, granted, that was dumb. I always liked that Master Chief was just this dude running around, cleaning up everyone else's mess.

It's through genetic manipulation, Forerunners are pretty good at that stuff, I'd say that is about as hard Sci-fi as it can get.

@SamDrugbringer said:

@Rasmoss said:

@SamDrugbringer said:

I just finished, haven't watched the terminal videos yet, but I don't think they should be nessisary.

Man, that story was all over the place. It wasn't that hard to follow, just... scattered. I really hope they do better in Halo 5.

To me, the real problem was the ending. Cortana clones shoot out of a light bridge, Master Chief is somehow protected from a nuclear explosion. It just became cheesy and silly.

I think the mid-story Librarian Scene pretty much set the scene for tossing the "Hard" sci-fi out the window and going to fantasy land. The master chief is the chosen one created by the Foruners to fight the Didect? Wut?

He wasn't chosen to do anything - he just happened to make it to her, where she was able to manipulate his genetic code. And he wasn't created by the Forerunners - the Librarian hints that they left knowledge and artifacts behind, in such a way as to carefully influence how the human race would develop technologically. Sort of like how the Reapers in Mass Effect left behind the mass relays to ensure all future space-faring species' technology were based (and dependent) on their designs. Except not for malevolent purposes, in this case. This is detailed in your conversation with the Librarian.

She does this because humans were anointed by the Forefunners to be the ones to take up the "mantle" after they were gone - ever wondered why Forerunner AIs and terminals always refer to humans as "Reclaimer"? The Didact didn't want to relinquish their mantle of responsibility, and instead wanted to essentially vaporize the human race to create a massive army of Prometheans, so the Librarian imprisoned him on Requiem. This is detailed in the Halo 4 terminals.

The fiction behind the new Halo trilogy is actually pretty interesting, though I agree that the game could do a somewhat better job putting it in front of you - instead of having to hunt for it.

@Rasmoss said:

@Scotto He is definitely chosen, in the sense that he is the result of seeds that the forerunners planted in human development. Or Space Jesus, if you will.

The only thing about him that she refers to as being somehow "seeded" by their race, is the MJOLNIR powered armor (or "combat skin", as she calls it), and their development of AI technology like Cortana. And the only unique ability she gives him, was the ability to not be turned to dust by the Composer, by altering him genetically after their conversation. There was no innate "Jesus-ish" quality to him. All of the Spartans wear MJOLNIR armor, and lots of UNSC ships have AIs installed in them.

I get that the Bombcast had a good long guffaw about how all of these stories feature "Jesus-like" characters, but in this case they simply don't understand the fiction that was presented to them. That, or every game/film where you play a single, impactful character, is "Space Jesus-like". John McClane? Jesus. Nathan Drake? Jesus. Your avatar in Fallout 3? Jesus.

My guess is when the Librarian refers to the greatest threat they ever faced being "You", they probably assumed she meant the Master Chief personally. Which is not what she was referring to at all. She was referring to their previous war with the human race, which the Forerunners won, and essentially returned us to the technological dark ages afterward. Chief was in no way fated to do anything - he's basically just Space John McClane. He kicks all kinds of ass, and always ultimately has luck on his side (which Cortana incidentally refers to in Halo 3).

Been a while since I finished it... but...

I do find it interesting that they were talking about digitizing living beings and then trying to reconstruct them from digital copies to physical beings (though it failed, because it destroyed the personality or something (it's been a while)). It'd probably be better if they don't go this direction... but I felt it hinted a bit strongly at Cortana going that route :P

Which is why the ending took me by surprise... but for some reason, I feel it's about as likely that Cortana is gone as the likelyhood of a popular comicbook character remaining dead :P

I think it would be interesting if she really was just dead and gone, and the next two games showed Chief coping with that loss. However, I also suspect this is really just setting us up for human Cortana by the end of the trilogy. The Librarian specifically mentions that the Composer was supposed to be able to turn matter to digital form, and back again, but that the "back again" part never quite worked as intended.

Or maybe it sets us up for some Promethean form of Cortana... or maybe crazy rampant Cortana Promethean as an enemy, with Chief trying to turn her back. That latter possibility would be super-dumb, but sort-of StarCraft 2-ish.

-Scott

@Scotto said:

@Rasmoss said:

@Scotto He is definitely chosen, in the sense that he is the result of seeds that the forerunners planted in human development. Or Space Jesus, if you will.

The only thing about him that she refers to as being somehow "seeded" by their race, is the MJOLNIR powered armor (or "combat skin", as she calls it), and their development of AI technology like Cortana. And the only unique ability she gives him, was the ability to not be turned to dust by the Composer, by altering him genetically after their conversation. There was no innate "Jesus-ish" quality to him. All of the Spartans wear MJOLNIR armor, and lots of UNSC ships have AIs installed in them.

I get that the Bombcast had a good long guffaw about how all of these stories feature "Jesus-like" characters, but in this case they simply don't understand the fiction that was presented to them. That, or every game/film where you play a single, impactful character, is "Space Jesus-like". John McClane? Jesus. Nathan Drake? Jesus. Your avatar in Fallout 3? Jesus.

My guess is when the Librarian refers to the greatest threat they ever faced being "You", they probably assumed she meant the Master Chief personally. Which is not what she was referring to at all. She was referring to their previous war with the human race, which the Forerunners won, and essentially returned us to the technological dark ages afterward. Chief was in no way fated to do anything - he's basically just Space John McClane. He kicks all kinds of ass, and always ultimately has luck on his side (which Cortana incidentally refers to in Halo 3).

The exact quote from the Librarian to Master Chief is: "Your physical evolution, your combat skin, even your anscillor (sp?) Cortana. You are the culmination of a 1000 lifetimes of planning". I took it too mean MC specifically.

She says that she seeded "His physical evolution (Which does not mean human evolution, it means spartan evolution, I'm pretty sure.), combat skin, and AI Cortona." She says HE is the result of a thousand lifetimes of planning. That sounds a lot like space chosen one to me.

In mass effect they guided races so they would use mass drivers for combat and the relays for travel. They didn't guide them to create single humans which would be capable of fighting the big evil.

@Rasmoss said:

@Scotto said:

@Rasmoss said:

@Scotto He is definitely chosen, in the sense that he is the result of seeds that the forerunners planted in human development. Or Space Jesus, if you will.

The only thing about him that she refers to as being somehow "seeded" by their race, is the MJOLNIR powered armor (or "combat skin", as she calls it), and their development of AI technology like Cortana. And the only unique ability she gives him, was the ability to not be turned to dust by the Composer, by altering him genetically after their conversation. There was no innate "Jesus-ish" quality to him. All of the Spartans wear MJOLNIR armor, and lots of UNSC ships have AIs installed in them.

I get that the Bombcast had a good long guffaw about how all of these stories feature "Jesus-like" characters, but in this case they simply don't understand the fiction that was presented to them. That, or every game/film where you play a single, impactful character, is "Space Jesus-like". John McClane? Jesus. Nathan Drake? Jesus. Your avatar in Fallout 3? Jesus.

My guess is when the Librarian refers to the greatest threat they ever faced being "You", they probably assumed she meant the Master Chief personally. Which is not what she was referring to at all. She was referring to their previous war with the human race, which the Forerunners won, and essentially returned us to the technological dark ages afterward. Chief was in no way fated to do anything - he's basically just Space John McClane. He kicks all kinds of ass, and always ultimately has luck on his side (which Cortana incidentally refers to in Halo 3).

The exact quote from the Librarian to Master Chief is: "Your physical evolution, your combat skin, even your anscillor (sp?) Cortana. You are the culmination of a 1000 lifetimes of planning". I took it too mean MC specifically.

She's referring to the Spartans' physical augmentations and armor. All Spartans get roughly the same physical augmentations, and all Spartans wear different forms of the same armor. Immediately after she says "You", the cutscene starts showing scenes of their previous war with the humans, where the humans were glassing entire worlds to try and stop the Flood from spreading (which the Forerunners didn't realize, and simply thought the humans were being aggressive).

@SamDrugbringer said:

She says that she seeded "His physical evolution (Which does not mean human evolution, it means spartan evolution, I'm pretty sure.), combat skin, and AI Cortona." She says HE is the result of a thousand lifetimes of planning. That sounds a lot like space chosen one to me.

In mass effect they guided races so they would use mass drivers for combat and the relays for travel. They didn't guide them to create single humans which would be capable of fighting the big evil.

No, she says "You are the culmination of a 1000 lifetimes of planning", with "You" once again referring to the human race, the same as before. Her entire plan is for humanity to one day take up the "mantle" of responsibility that once belonged to them. That is her singular goal, and also the greatest source of the Didact's anger, because he thinks humans aren't worthy of it.

And there aren't single Spartans with John's augmentations and armor - at the time of Halo 4, there are literally thousands of them. At the beginning of the game, Dr. Halsey says the Spartans are the "next step" of human evolution, which echos what the Librarian says later, when she says seeds were planted to ensure humanity evolved to this point. It isn't a specific reference to the Chief - he just happens to be the only human there.

In the case of Mass Effect, the Reapers roughly did the same thing, except in their case, it was so that they became dependent on things like the relays, and the Reapers could cripple interstellar travel when they returned, isolating everyone.

@Scotto: But it is also suggested in the beginning that Master Chief is special because he's retained his humanity, where other Spartans lack emotions. And Cortana is also special because she is a direct clone of Dr. Halsey. So in that sense, they are both unique specimen, with their uniqueness being the thing that maybe give them the power to succeed.

@Rasmoss said:

@Scotto: But it is also suggested in the beginning that Master Chief is special because he's retained his humanity, where other Spartans lack emotions. And Cortana is also special because she is a direct clone of Dr. Halsey. So in that sense, they are both unique specimen, with their uniqueness being the thing that maybe give them the power to succeed.

Well, whoever the guy questioning Halsey is suggests they lack "basic humanity", but Halsey pretty quickly pushes back against it. I think Halo Reach pretty definitively showed that lots of Spartans have the ability to be sociable, and retain some aspect of their "humanity". And the Spartan III and IV's most definitely retain their humanity, because they are often full-grown adults at the time they are chosen for the program. I mean, look at the dudes in the Spartan Ops videos - do they seem like sociopaths, without emotions, and lacking basic humanity? They are just typical army jocks, in fancy suits.

In the books, the SPARTAN-II's sacrifice their lives for one another on more than one occasion - not just Master Chief.

I think it's pretty clear that Chief is going to be the driving force behind vanquishing whatever evil arises over the course of this new trilogy, but that's simply because he's the player character - same as Nathan Drake always discovers the lost city or artifact that he's looking for. But in no way has he been "fated" or "chosen" to do it. In Die Hard, John McClane isn't chosen by some higher power to kill the bad guy - he just does it, because he's there.

Chief is just a lucky badass, who always saves the day. Not because he's Space Jesus, but because game design demands it. People want to be the singular hero. Making yourself the hero through your actions is different than, say, Assassin's Creed, where the space holograms pretty clearly lay out that it's Desmond's destiny to save the world. Now THAT, is "Space Jesus".

@Scotto said:

@SamDrugbringer said:

She says that she seeded "His physical evolution (Which does not mean human evolution, it means spartan evolution, I'm pretty sure.), combat skin, and AI Cortona." She says HE is the result of a thousand lifetimes of planning. That sounds a lot like space chosen one to me.

In mass effect they guided races so they would use mass drivers for combat and the relays for travel. They didn't guide them to create single humans which would be capable of fighting the big evil.

No, she says "You are the culmination of a 1000 lifetimes of planning", with "You" once again referring to the human race, the same as before. Her entire plan is for humanity to one day take up the "mantle" of responsibility that once belonged to them. That is her singular goal, and also the greatest source of the Didact's anger, because he thinks humans aren't worthy of it.

And there aren't single Spartans with John's augmentations and armor - at the time of Halo 4, there are literally thousands of them. At the beginning of the game, Dr. Halsey says the Spartans are the "next step" of human evolution, which echos what the Librarian says later, when she says seeds were planted to ensure humanity evolved to this point. It isn't a specific reference to the Chief - he just happens to be the only human there.

In the case of Mass Effect, the Reapers roughly did the same thing, except in their case, it was so that they became dependent on things like the relays, and the Reapers could cripple interstellar travel when they returned, isolating everyone.

I think it's very interesting that in a universe with thousands of Spartan IVs she runs into one of the what, 5, Spartan II's in exsistance :p Also I don't think they're all implanted with Combat AI, but I haven't read all the fiction.

But hey, maybe you're right. I took it to mean that she was referring specifically to Master Chief, but your way would make sense too, and it would make me happier.

@SamDrugbringer said:

@Scotto said:

@SamDrugbringer said:

She says that she seeded "His physical evolution (Which does not mean human evolution, it means spartan evolution, I'm pretty sure.), combat skin, and AI Cortona." She says HE is the result of a thousand lifetimes of planning. That sounds a lot like space chosen one to me.

In mass effect they guided races so they would use mass drivers for combat and the relays for travel. They didn't guide them to create single humans which would be capable of fighting the big evil.

No, she says "You are the culmination of a 1000 lifetimes of planning", with "You" once again referring to the human race, the same as before. Her entire plan is for humanity to one day take up the "mantle" of responsibility that once belonged to them. That is her singular goal, and also the greatest source of the Didact's anger, because he thinks humans aren't worthy of it.

And there aren't single Spartans with John's augmentations and armor - at the time of Halo 4, there are literally thousands of them. At the beginning of the game, Dr. Halsey says the Spartans are the "next step" of human evolution, which echos what the Librarian says later, when she says seeds were planted to ensure humanity evolved to this point. It isn't a specific reference to the Chief - he just happens to be the only human there.

In the case of Mass Effect, the Reapers roughly did the same thing, except in their case, it was so that they became dependent on things like the relays, and the Reapers could cripple interstellar travel when they returned, isolating everyone.

I think it's very interesting that in a universe with thousands of Spartan IVs she runs into one of the what, 5, Spartan II's in exsistance :p Also I don't think they're all implanted with Combat AI, but I haven't read all the fiction.

But hey, maybe you're right. I took it to mean that she was referring specifically to Master Chief, but your way would make sense too, and it would make me happier.

Well of course she had to run into Master Chief, because 343 needed a story to tell, and this game is supposed to be the Chief's continuing exploits, haha. And no, they don't all have a combat AI with them, but tons of UNSC ships have AIs installed. I believe the Librarian was simply referring to the existence of AI technology, when she said "like your ancilla, Cortana". Cortana, while created in a relatively rare fashion (an imprint of Halsey's brain), isn't impossible to duplicate - the process just comes with some risks to the person, as outlined in "The Fall of Reach".

When she first said "You", my initial impression was also that she meant Master Chief specifically - but after I read up about the Human-Forerunner war, coupled with the cut to a recap of that war after she says "You", it became obvious to me that it was a reference to the former "threat" of the human race. It would make no sense for the Chief to be the "greatest threat the Forerunners ever faced" (her words), because the Forerunners (Didact excepted) have been dead and gone for thousands of years! And even the Didact considers the Chief to be a pretty big joke throughout the game.

Just wrapped it up.. and I have to say, I think I might be on board with 343 on this one. I thought they tried to make MC human. Like you could tell he cared for Cortana as he just kept assuring her that he was gonna fix it, and right when they were at the doorstep... BAM! Done. She's gone and MC for the first time since Halo 1 is alone.

The Didact stuff though seemed scattershot, if that makes sense. It's like he came in and... then wanted to nuke the world, and they never justified his hate for the humans. His introduction was just crazy considering they gave him little to no backstory to at least know what is his motivation for doing anything. But outside of that, I might liek Halo 4 those most out of the 3. ODST, and Reach. Since while it didn't re-write the entire book, it at least set the seeds for bigger things in the next game

@Scotto said:

@SamDrugbringer said:

@Scotto said:

@SamDrugbringer said:

She says that she seeded "His physical evolution (Which does not mean human evolution, it means spartan evolution, I'm pretty sure.), combat skin, and AI Cortona." She says HE is the result of a thousand lifetimes of planning. That sounds a lot like space chosen one to me.

In mass effect they guided races so they would use mass drivers for combat and the relays for travel. They didn't guide them to create single humans which would be capable of fighting the big evil.

No, she says "You are the culmination of a 1000 lifetimes of planning", with "You" once again referring to the human race, the same as before. Her entire plan is for humanity to one day take up the "mantle" of responsibility that once belonged to them. That is her singular goal, and also the greatest source of the Didact's anger, because he thinks humans aren't worthy of it.

And there aren't single Spartans with John's augmentations and armor - at the time of Halo 4, there are literally thousands of them. At the beginning of the game, Dr. Halsey says the Spartans are the "next step" of human evolution, which echos what the Librarian says later, when she says seeds were planted to ensure humanity evolved to this point. It isn't a specific reference to the Chief - he just happens to be the only human there.

In the case of Mass Effect, the Reapers roughly did the same thing, except in their case, it was so that they became dependent on things like the relays, and the Reapers could cripple interstellar travel when they returned, isolating everyone.

I think it's very interesting that in a universe with thousands of Spartan IVs she runs into one of the what, 5, Spartan II's in exsistance :p Also I don't think they're all implanted with Combat AI, but I haven't read all the fiction.

But hey, maybe you're right. I took it to mean that she was referring specifically to Master Chief, but your way would make sense too, and it would make me happier.

Well of course she had to run into Master Chief, because 343 needed a story to tell, and this game is supposed to be the Chief's continuing exploits, haha. And no, they don't all have a combat AI with them, but tons of UNSC ships have AIs installed. I believe the Librarian was simply referring to the existence of AI technology, when she said "like your ancilla, Cortana". Cortana, while created in a relatively rare fashion (an imprint of Halsey's brain), isn't impossible to duplicate - the process just comes with some risks to the person, as outlined in "The Fall of Reach".

When she first said "You", my initial impression was also that she meant Master Chief specifically - but after I read up about the Human-Forerunner war, coupled with the cut to a recap of that war after she says "You", it became obvious to me that it was a reference to the former "threat" of the human race. It would make no sense for the Chief to be the "greatest threat the Forerunners ever faced" (her words), because the Forerunners (Didact excepted) have been dead and gone for thousands of years! And even the Didact considers the Chief to be a pretty big joke throughout the game.

Just found and watched all the Terminal videos. It's very clear you're right. They make EVERYTHING the Didect and Librarian say make SO MUCH MORE SENSE.

Now that I've seen them I am much more happy with the story. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing to hide them away the way they did.

@SamDrugbringer said:

@Scotto said:

@SamDrugbringer said:

@Scotto said:

@SamDrugbringer said:

She says that she seeded "His physical evolution (Which does not mean human evolution, it means spartan evolution, I'm pretty sure.), combat skin, and AI Cortona." She says HE is the result of a thousand lifetimes of planning. That sounds a lot like space chosen one to me.

In mass effect they guided races so they would use mass drivers for combat and the relays for travel. They didn't guide them to create single humans which would be capable of fighting the big evil.

No, she says "You are the culmination of a 1000 lifetimes of planning", with "You" once again referring to the human race, the same as before. Her entire plan is for humanity to one day take up the "mantle" of responsibility that once belonged to them. That is her singular goal, and also the greatest source of the Didact's anger, because he thinks humans aren't worthy of it.

And there aren't single Spartans with John's augmentations and armor - at the time of Halo 4, there are literally thousands of them. At the beginning of the game, Dr. Halsey says the Spartans are the "next step" of human evolution, which echos what the Librarian says later, when she says seeds were planted to ensure humanity evolved to this point. It isn't a specific reference to the Chief - he just happens to be the only human there.

In the case of Mass Effect, the Reapers roughly did the same thing, except in their case, it was so that they became dependent on things like the relays, and the Reapers could cripple interstellar travel when they returned, isolating everyone.

I think it's very interesting that in a universe with thousands of Spartan IVs she runs into one of the what, 5, Spartan II's in exsistance :p Also I don't think they're all implanted with Combat AI, but I haven't read all the fiction.

But hey, maybe you're right. I took it to mean that she was referring specifically to Master Chief, but your way would make sense too, and it would make me happier.

Well of course she had to run into Master Chief, because 343 needed a story to tell, and this game is supposed to be the Chief's continuing exploits, haha. And no, they don't all have a combat AI with them, but tons of UNSC ships have AIs installed. I believe the Librarian was simply referring to the existence of AI technology, when she said "like your ancilla, Cortana". Cortana, while created in a relatively rare fashion (an imprint of Halsey's brain), isn't impossible to duplicate - the process just comes with some risks to the person, as outlined in "The Fall of Reach".

When she first said "You", my initial impression was also that she meant Master Chief specifically - but after I read up about the Human-Forerunner war, coupled with the cut to a recap of that war after she says "You", it became obvious to me that it was a reference to the former "threat" of the human race. It would make no sense for the Chief to be the "greatest threat the Forerunners ever faced" (her words), because the Forerunners (Didact excepted) have been dead and gone for thousands of years! And even the Didact considers the Chief to be a pretty big joke throughout the game.

Just found and watched all the Terminal videos. It's very clear you're right. They make EVERYTHING the Didect and Librarian say make SO MUCH MORE SENSE.

Now that I've seen them I am much more happy with the story. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing to hide them away the way they did.

While I think they should have done a bit better in surfacing information to the player overall, I kind of like the idea of a story that rewards you for reading up on the universe, and doesn't feel the need to bluntly hit you over the head with character motivations, etc.

However, games should mostly be able to stand alone - they failed that test on a few relatively minor points, but I think the self-encapsulated story of Halo 4 is easy enough to understand. That conversation with the Librarian, where she gives Chief the "gene song", pretty much explains the Didact's motivations. The only thing left open (for those who aren't acquainted with the expanded fiction), is why exactly the Covenant are back - but that question may be addressed in Halo 5 for all we know.

I think the Bombcrew kind of overstated a bit when they said fundamental parts of the story are only told through the terminal vids. The Halo 4 terminal videos are simply a big expansion on what the Librarian tells you during the actual game - the history of the Human-Forerunner war, and the descent of the Didact into amoral madness.

It seems like the Didact was the only one who hated humanity and I assume he dies at the end there, where exactly do they go from here? Kinda feels complete, unless they plan to go back to humans vs covenant again which I gotta say I'm not too excited about. Also did they ever explain why the elites were enemies again? I didn't miss it did I? I really like the personal story going on with Master Chief, but the whole forerunner thing and the librarian and the covenant back again just didn't hook me.

I just finished the game in one sitting, i could be wrong but my take on it was that the forerunners in the past had thought that humans where making a bid to expand on there territory so the Didact was put in charge of stopping them, then they found out that humanity was simply running from something else(I assume the flood) the forerunner authority at the time called off the attacks on humans but the Didact wouldn't let it go and was stripped off his power and left to rot and now hes back to finish the fight and hes after that super weapon humanity just found.

pretty good game overall, I really like the Halo fiction and this was no exception, i thought there where a couple of weak sections in the campaign though, one particular example has you guard a door for Cortana to open then you go in kill some dudes and come back out having accomplished nothing but the slaughter, perhaps there was some reason in the story for this but it certainly wasn't abundantly clear.

Really enjoyed 4. Thought the level design and overall flow of the game was really the best of the 4. Never really liked bungie's level design. Anyway-I also liked the story to this game. I felt like the first 3 games took place in a really cool universe but never really had that great of a story. 4 at least tells a pretty decent story with most of the stuff actually being in game.