Lies

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This Our New Number Six?

By Lies 31 Comments

AKA: Lies explains the Halo Reach trailer to you in excruciating detail

 
So with the VGAs yesterday, we all got our first glimpse at Halo: Reach, and it largely confirmed what we already guessed.
  1. SPARTANS!
  2. "No more of that lone wolf stuff"
  3. In-engine (likely touched up a bit, but certainly not pre-rendered)
Are the key takeaways from this reveal, but there's plenty more hidden beneath the surface for those willing to look. And for those not willing to look you can read this summary.
 
We open with a shot of a Spartan in a Warthog rolling through a valley into a staging camp of some sort. He unloads and walks into the command center- note the new Battle Rifle on his back- elevated scope matches up with the leaked pictures from earlier.

 Despite the ODST-esque helmet, he's a Spartan
Right about here we start getting introduced to the Spartans who will be your teammates- sniper archetype, followed by Army of Two protagonist and a female Spartan, Kat-320, with a mechanical arm.

 That skull is actually scratched into his helmet. Must have cost the UNSC millions

 Although this lady has a mechanical arm, most Spartans are just augmented humans
The faces in Reach look orders of magnitude better than what we saw in ODST, so that's good, although they're likely to be under helmets most of the time. The trailer plays across the final two squad members- Jorge-052 and Carter-259. Then we come probably the most important line in the trailer. "Didn't think anyone survived Pegasi, sir". Pegasi Delta was an operation undertook by Spartan-III Beta company seven years before Reach that resulted in near total casualties. Master Chief was a Spartan-II, not a Spartan-III, so this is something new.
 
Spartan-III was the successor project to Spartan-II, designed to make more expendable, easier to train soldiers, although Spartan-IIIs were generally less skilled and had worse equipment than S-IIs. At the time of the battle of Reach, six hundred Spartan-III's had been trained. Only three were still alive at the time of the battle- our lone wolf friend from the trailer, and two who were off training more Spartan-IIIs. The weaker Spartan-III with his different equipment could provide something new- Spartan-III SPI armor had a camouflage features in exchange for less protection, but this guy looks like he's wearing different armor, so it's hard to tell from the trailer. He may have just upgraded to MJOLNIR. Pretty much everyone is wearing modified armor anyways- not a one is using the standard suit.

 Bungie's really taken the idea of armor permutations from H3 multiplayer and run with it
  So Lone Wolf is a Spartan-III, something we have never seen in a Halo game before. The rest of the squad, however, is Spartan-IIs, same sort of badasses as the Master Chief- they're too old to be S-IIIs and their ID numbers are wrong. Some of these guys are Class-II Spartan IIs though, judging from the ID numbers- the original class only had 150 members, so Carter-259 and Kat-320 cannot be from that class of Spartans. This means that theoretically there could be over 100 other Spartans running around on Reach at this time, although we likely won't see them.  Jorge-052 is probably a member of the original class according to the ID numbers and likely knows Master Chief. We don't know the ID numbers for the sniper or Army of Two protagonist, so we can't tell which class they're from, but it's likely class II because most all of the original Spartans have been accounted for.
 
You can see the Carter-259 on his armor, clearly identifying him as a Class-II
A radio transmission comes over: "Victor Contingency has been declared"- Reach is under attack. The Spartans head to aircraft- Carter and Lone Wolf link up with the sniper, who asks: "This our new number six?" and they head off into the distance where something goes up in a huge explosion- you can also see a Covenant Carrier hidden in the clouds. Throughout the whole trailer, Lone Wolf never speaks- pretty clearly setting him up to be the silent protagonist of the game.
 
Although I've heard many people say they were underwhelmed with this reveal, there's actually a good amount of meat to it. And consider that this is actually part of the opening cinematic to the game, not just a flash trailer like the H2 + H3 announcement ones. In summation:
  1. Lone Wolf is a Spartan-III, first we've ever seen in a game and quite likely the silent protagonist
  2. The existence of Noble team pretty much confirms Spartan Class-II
  3. Squad-based gameplay is even more confirmed "No more lone wolf stuff" is pretty much a direct message
  4. Elites are back as enemies :D
  5. The teaser image only shows five Spartans, but the trailer gives us six. Lone Wolf is conspicuously MIA
  6. This is not the story from the book, but a separate one running concurrently
  7. MC definitely not showing up- aside from being in space, he's rolling with Class-I at this point and likely isn't even aware of Noble Team
SPARTANS!
31 Comments
32 Comments
Posted by Lies

AKA: Lies explains the Halo Reach trailer to you in excruciating detail

 
So with the VGAs yesterday, we all got our first glimpse at Halo: Reach, and it largely confirmed what we already guessed.
  1. SPARTANS!
  2. "No more of that lone wolf stuff"
  3. In-engine (likely touched up a bit, but certainly not pre-rendered)
Are the key takeaways from this reveal, but there's plenty more hidden beneath the surface for those willing to look. And for those not willing to look you can read this summary.
 
We open with a shot of a Spartan in a Warthog rolling through a valley into a staging camp of some sort. He unloads and walks into the command center- note the new Battle Rifle on his back- elevated scope matches up with the leaked pictures from earlier.

 Despite the ODST-esque helmet, he's a Spartan
Right about here we start getting introduced to the Spartans who will be your teammates- sniper archetype, followed by Army of Two protagonist and a female Spartan, Kat-320, with a mechanical arm.

 That skull is actually scratched into his helmet. Must have cost the UNSC millions

 Although this lady has a mechanical arm, most Spartans are just augmented humans
The faces in Reach look orders of magnitude better than what we saw in ODST, so that's good, although they're likely to be under helmets most of the time. The trailer plays across the final two squad members- Jorge-052 and Carter-259. Then we come probably the most important line in the trailer. "Didn't think anyone survived Pegasi, sir". Pegasi Delta was an operation undertook by Spartan-III Beta company seven years before Reach that resulted in near total casualties. Master Chief was a Spartan-II, not a Spartan-III, so this is something new.
 
Spartan-III was the successor project to Spartan-II, designed to make more expendable, easier to train soldiers, although Spartan-IIIs were generally less skilled and had worse equipment than S-IIs. At the time of the battle of Reach, six hundred Spartan-III's had been trained. Only three were still alive at the time of the battle- our lone wolf friend from the trailer, and two who were off training more Spartan-IIIs. The weaker Spartan-III with his different equipment could provide something new- Spartan-III SPI armor had a camouflage features in exchange for less protection, but this guy looks like he's wearing different armor, so it's hard to tell from the trailer. He may have just upgraded to MJOLNIR. Pretty much everyone is wearing modified armor anyways- not a one is using the standard suit.

 Bungie's really taken the idea of armor permutations from H3 multiplayer and run with it
  So Lone Wolf is a Spartan-III, something we have never seen in a Halo game before. The rest of the squad, however, is Spartan-IIs, same sort of badasses as the Master Chief- they're too old to be S-IIIs and their ID numbers are wrong. Some of these guys are Class-II Spartan IIs though, judging from the ID numbers- the original class only had 150 members, so Carter-259 and Kat-320 cannot be from that class of Spartans. This means that theoretically there could be over 100 other Spartans running around on Reach at this time, although we likely won't see them.  Jorge-052 is probably a member of the original class according to the ID numbers and likely knows Master Chief. We don't know the ID numbers for the sniper or Army of Two protagonist, so we can't tell which class they're from, but it's likely class II because most all of the original Spartans have been accounted for.
 
You can see the Carter-259 on his armor, clearly identifying him as a Class-II
A radio transmission comes over: "Victor Contingency has been declared"- Reach is under attack. The Spartans head to aircraft- Carter and Lone Wolf link up with the sniper, who asks: "This our new number six?" and they head off into the distance where something goes up in a huge explosion- you can also see a Covenant Carrier hidden in the clouds. Throughout the whole trailer, Lone Wolf never speaks- pretty clearly setting him up to be the silent protagonist of the game.
 
Although I've heard many people say they were underwhelmed with this reveal, there's actually a good amount of meat to it. And consider that this is actually part of the opening cinematic to the game, not just a flash trailer like the H2 + H3 announcement ones. In summation:
  1. Lone Wolf is a Spartan-III, first we've ever seen in a game and quite likely the silent protagonist
  2. The existence of Noble team pretty much confirms Spartan Class-II
  3. Squad-based gameplay is even more confirmed "No more lone wolf stuff" is pretty much a direct message
  4. Elites are back as enemies :D
  5. The teaser image only shows five Spartans, but the trailer gives us six. Lone Wolf is conspicuously MIA
  6. This is not the story from the book, but a separate one running concurrently
  7. MC definitely not showing up- aside from being in space, he's rolling with Class-I at this point and likely isn't even aware of Noble Team
SPARTANS!
Posted by Dr_Feelgood38

I feel like this blog was made just for me! I should probably read the books or something because all of this looks pretty interesting and crucial to getting a deeper appreciation for the games. Thanks for writing all this up, Lies, it's all extremely helpful.

Posted by Jimbo

Wasn't the blonde bit that introduced it 'Number Six' in BSG?

Edited by zombie2011

Damn good read, i didn't know about any of this stuff until you posted it. I was one of those people who thought the trailer didn't give much info about the game, but i guess i was wrong. 
This game is gonna be amazing.

Posted by End_Boss

Despite my not having read the book, I'm slightly disappointed that the game won't be pure canon. Perhaps there were some complications in adaptation?

Edited by Jeffsekai

Great work man! :D
 
Also, whats for clearing up the whole Spartan 3 thing, the fact that you might play one gets me even more excited.

Posted by nrain

I like that you have too much time on your hands as it means I have interesting blogs to read, :D. I would also add that armor customisation seems likely in the campaign as all the dude's seem to have "homemade" modification's to their armor.

Posted by rhodric

Why does she have a mech arm when they can replace body parts in the future?

Posted by Giantsquirrel
@Jimbo said:
" Wasn't the blonde bit that introduced it 'Number Six' in BSG? "

Yes. Although I don't think she did a good job in ODST.
Posted by Delta_Ass

Wow.
 
Lies really knows a lot about the Halo universe.

Edited by Tru3_Blu3

The books never said anything about Spartans having permutations. That's what really pissed me off. You'd expect Spartans to be more disciplined than these characters. Just look at the skull-dude; he scratched his damn visor. Aren't they supposed to have a habit in taking care of their armor? This isn't power rangers, y'know.

Posted by Zereta

Ghost of Onyx did mention EVA armor of sorts for Spartans. And Bungie is the true creators of the canon, I would trust them over the books. With halo 3, Bungie wove fiction into all the Armor perms.

Posted by Tru3_Blu3
@Zereta said:
" Ghost of Onyx did mention EVA armor of sorts for Spartans. And Bungie is the true creators of the canon, I would trust them over the books. With halo 3, Bungie wove fiction into all the Armor perms. "
Armor and helmet types are a little different. I'm talking about armor colors and symbols. Aren't they supposed to be green?
Posted by Zereta

I think that is always up for question. These guys definitely seem to be almost working on their own accord. Sort of like Bad Company in BF:BC. If anything, it has not been stated otherwise in the canon and Bungie is using it as a way to give more personality to the characters. Its something I can appreciate for this occasion.

Posted by Lies
@Giantsquirrel said:

" @Jimbo said:

" Wasn't the blonde bit that introduced it 'Number Six' in BSG? "

Yes. Although I don't think she did a good job in ODST. "
 
Posted by TooWalrus

That's actually pretty cool, and if all of that is in-engine, it looks much better then ODST, which was nothing special.

Posted by Giantsquirrel
@Lies 
 
Oh, the memories. I wish all 360 games could look like Halo 2.
Posted by GeneralTurkle
@Tru3_Blu3 said:
" The books never said anything about Spartans having permutations. That's what really pissed me off. You'd expect Spartans to be more disciplined than these characters. Just look at the skull-dude; he scratched his damn visor. Aren't they supposed to have a habit in taking care of their armor? This isn't power rangers, y'know. "
Well it could be some sort of crack or dent made by an enemy.  You never know
Posted by ImperiousRix

Great feature.  I personally got a tiny kick out of the trailer itself, but my uncertainty as to whether it was in-engine or not and the fact that no gameplay or hints as to what the game would play like held back my enthusiasm a bit.  Still, it's exciting to see a shit ton of SPARTANS with super unique-looking armor interacting with one another in actual story elements.

Posted by Fripplebubby

Excellent bit, Lies, I was just going through the teaser trying to find stuff like that. No luck for me, by the way. 

Posted by Zereta

Lies, putting that picture of Dare up just made me realize how awesome the faces are in Reach now.

Posted by Sweep

damn lies, you scare me

Moderator
Posted by Nasar7
@End_Boss: Well, since Bungie is making the game it is canon. 
 
Thanks for the analysis, Lies, makes me more excited for Reach to come out.
Posted by Gamer_152

I'm a huge Halo fan, I've played all the games and read all the books and I have to say this is a brilliant summary of the trailer. Really great work.

Moderator
Posted by Oni

Lies dropping some epic Halo knowledge. It's cool that the fiction is so deep, even if the games don't utilize all of it, you get the sense that there's more than you see. The huge scope of the universe gives the games that epic feel.

Posted by SHADOWINFINITE

Great job Lies!  
 The Spartans Of Reach:
Lone Wolf, Jorge-052,Kat-320,Carter-259, Spartan Sniper, And the Ghost Spartan (Which is probably created from the Hellspartan exclusive action figure)  

Posted by Gizmo

This is my kind of topic, no huge wall 'o text without any pictures in sight, a clear concise easy to read thread.

Posted by Evilsbane

Great write up I am so excited for this game, the only thing I hope you are wrong about is the Silent main character I hate that, the Chief was quite but he still had an awesome voice this just isn't a series that needs the Half Life 2 silent stuff.

Posted by Lydian_Sel
@rhodric said:
" Why does she have a mech arm when they can replace body parts in the future? "
Came with a special attachment that opens bottles & crushes walnuts.
Posted by Zereta

She needs the arm when they inevitably cut it off later by an Elite with an Energy Sword. Mark my words.

Posted by SpikeSpiegel

Good blog! You pointed out a lot of stuff I didn't notice from watching.

Edited by Noitu
@End_Boss: Well there's so much going on in the Halo storyline that I think they decided not to even touch the book and bring another view of the story in. It's not to say that it isn't canon, because it is, because they wrote Halo. It's just a different perspective.