Honestly that was kinda the dissapointment for me in Halo 4; considering the freaking size of the Galaxy I was hoping they'd introduce a new contemporary Alien faction entirely seperate to fight from the Covenant instead of some remnants.
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Halo Infinite | Story and Lore (Spoilers)
- Thread starter Trey
- Start date
The UNSC currently have no ships capable of slipspace travel and the Brutes do not have a home planet thanks to Cortana.
while playing i understood that when the banished attacked and destroyed the infinity they took the weapon and activated it so they could destroy cortana. like i was pretty sure, but reading this thread made me doubt myself lol
Compounding this, wasn't the Halo moved to an unknown location, therefore nowhere for Banished to go but hope for habitable planets in nearby uncharted systems? And part of the reason for Banished rebuilding it (besides having a wmd) is to have a new home that can travel the galaxy?
I missed this. I know the toy leak showed this, but i dint see it in game. Will have to look out for on a further play through
The plot with the banished kidnapping him is just bizarro land stuff. Nothing in the history of the franchise would lead me to believe that anybody would think that this dropship pilot would be the key to master chief's heart - but the banished just somehow know john halo will happily walk into a trap to rescue him. There is no significance to this pilot from their perspective, as far as they know he could just be any one of the anonymous unsc personnel you've been rescuing from around the place.
The story, the charactesr, the scenarios, everything about the narrative side of things just feels unfocused and sloppy. Thank god the game loop is solid and the self directed scenarios are mostly fun.
Blademaster was literally assigned to stalk and study Chief throughout the game. He clearly observed that we were constantly with Echo-216 and had something of a relationship with him.
So he saw master chief listening to him complain for 5 hours and pat him on the chin when he shared a sob story, thus obviously assumed that MC would risk his life and the UNSC and the galaxy to rescue him (and was proven correct), makes sense, objection dropped.
Hell, literally the very first open world mission of the game (The Tower), Chak Lok jokes about how "one little signal and the Master Chief comes running" because of Griffin's signal.
Why wouldn't humanity's savior come running when you make a big show of kidnapping a human right in front of him?
Why wouldn't humanity's savior come running when you make a big show of kidnapping a human right in front of him?
Sounds like they could have forced him into their trap whenever they wanted then, since they have literally hundreds of unsc prisoners they could execute or threaten to do so. Or if they decided they wanted him dead, the invisible elite who infiltrated the pelican could have 1 hit killed him as soon as he stepped back onboard or whatever.
It's a super hokey scenario, no matter how you cut it. Like a cheesy action movie thing where the villain kidnaps your girlfriend except instead of that it's probably the most annoying character in the whole game. Earlier Halo games didn't really get personal, you were just the tip of the spear in a dramatically larger and more important organisation - but when you do get very personal like in this game, when the story revolves almost entirely around you and your 2 friends as characters, it becomes very easy to find yourself in odd, cliche, cheesy scenarios like this. This is the kind of plot that a lot of bad action movies revolve their final acts around.
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Artifact VII:
"My makers...the Forerunner's greatest fear was understood to be the Great Parasite. The Flood. A scourge that almost wiped out everything.
I now believe this hypothesis to be incorrect. Their greatest fear is...was...losing their power. The fear of a master who would become a slave.
Enemy within. That is the meaning of the runes carved into this monument. This runes predate me. Older then even the Forerunners.
Time moves forward, and back again. I now see Rings inside of Rings. Great circles everlasting. Without beginning or end.
Endless.
As I say their name I feel...foolish. Uninformed. Misled. And i am afraid."
I wonder if this will make sense in the future.
"My makers...the Forerunner's greatest fear was understood to be the Great Parasite. The Flood. A scourge that almost wiped out everything.
I now believe this hypothesis to be incorrect. Their greatest fear is...was...losing their power. The fear of a master who would become a slave.
Enemy within. That is the meaning of the runes carved into this monument. This runes predate me. Older then even the Forerunners.
Time moves forward, and back again. I now see Rings inside of Rings. Great circles everlasting. Without beginning or end.
Endless.
As I say their name I feel...foolish. Uninformed. Misled. And i am afraid."
I wonder if this will make sense in the future.
in the end the real final boss of the game was not a vengeful alien released after millennia-long imprisonment, but a shielded brute chieftain who can leap forward 50 feet and smash you with his hammer lol
okay so after you kill the harbinger what she says makes it seem like she was merely stalling, and that she did what wanted to do right before she died. we're supposed to infer that this helped atriox do whatever he did in the post-credits cutscene? looked like he was freeing more alien prisoners.
okay so after you kill the harbinger what she says makes it seem like she was merely stalling, and that she did what wanted to do right before she died. we're supposed to infer that this helped atriox do whatever he did in the post-credits cutscene? looked like he was freeing more alien prisoners.
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So, unfortunately, my years long open world burnout continues. I was hoping Infinite would be able to buck the trend with the awesome Halo gameplay but it just wasn't enough. It's at the top of my list of shit I want to play but I can't bring myself to do it right now. It's like everytime I look at the map or complete an objective I get this weird feeling that's a mix of anxiety and boredom.
So, I watched a campaign video on YouTube. That makes Infinite the first Halo game I didn't play through on release. It feels bad but at the same time I'm not going to dwell on it. My hope (especially after watching the video) is that Infinite's initial campaign is going to be a starting point of a much much bigger story.
The whole campaign felt more like a prologue to a story than the actual story itself. Granted, I'm fully aware the version of the story I experienced is an entirely bastardized version but I can't help but feel like if Halo 2 was a game cut in half, this was a game where the only thing remaining was the opening level. I really hope we see more campaign very soon.
I liked a lot of the stuff that was there. The character work was cool and it was interesting seeing chief actually talk. I think it could be looked on as a good starting point but I definitely hope we get some decent forward momentum in the future.
So, I watched a campaign video on YouTube. That makes Infinite the first Halo game I didn't play through on release. It feels bad but at the same time I'm not going to dwell on it. My hope (especially after watching the video) is that Infinite's initial campaign is going to be a starting point of a much much bigger story.
The whole campaign felt more like a prologue to a story than the actual story itself. Granted, I'm fully aware the version of the story I experienced is an entirely bastardized version but I can't help but feel like if Halo 2 was a game cut in half, this was a game where the only thing remaining was the opening level. I really hope we see more campaign very soon.
I liked a lot of the stuff that was there. The character work was cool and it was interesting seeing chief actually talk. I think it could be looked on as a good starting point but I definitely hope we get some decent forward momentum in the future.
Huh why would you do that. Just do the story missions only? No need for all the side stuff. Its not needed to progress.
Yeah, the pilot being a one-note manipulative macguffin was bad enough without Monster Mash suddenly deciding that the pilot must be the keyblade to unlocking Master Chief's heart, despite there being hundreds of UNSC troops that the Monster Mash's forces had already captured and randomly leashed to space heaters scattered all around the map that could've been used as bait before it even seemingly became necessary to capture the pilot. It only happens because the bad guys read the script for the cutscenes they weren't in (even the parts where the pilot was freaking out at MC for the 156th time in mid-flight in between missions where no one else could've possibly been spying on them).
I really just wanted flood in this game. All those references from Halo 2 with the gondola and I'm like oh I remember fighting flood on this thing....sigh. I just kept thinking wow this forerunner area would be even cooler with the Flood. the forerunner missions had a lot of bottomless pit areas and I couldn't help but wonder if there were any flood down there in tubes or something. My imagination ran wild with fan stories of Graveminds and stuff chillin down there. I don't know.
You know I just want to see the Flooood. In the flesh. Doing Flood stuff.
But with this Endless stuff I can't see Flood returning any time soon at all. It is all about the Endless. Like whatever maaaaan. I hope the Endless are cool I guess. I just wish it was the Flood you know I mean come on it's been like over 10 years since they've been in a main Halo game duuuuuuuude DX You already did the ancient Evil stuff with the Prometheans and that one guy who fell off a bridge in Halo 4, and then died again in a comic I think. Like I don't even know anymore. You got these ancient dudes from the past coming out of the wood work bro. I can't keep track anymore, and they all keep droppin like flies.
The Gravemind was a real threat. You are not beating the gravemind by throwing him off a bridge made of angry Cortana's. He ain't no push over like the Hairybringer. I don't want to be a toxic fan or anything. Like I know they put a lot of work into this and game development isn't easy and at the end of the day they love Halo too and are just trying to do something new and interesting. But I am just disappointed you know. Apparently, this ring had quite the history with the flood, and all we got was name drops and a flood engraving inside a floating dorito chip in a room, that looks more like a spider then a flood infection form, which worries me on the possible redesigns if they did do flood. Deff not a fan of the new monitor designs personally. They just look like that robot British guy from Portal 2. But yeah. Hopefully the Endless are cool. Campaign was fun. No hate on 343. I think they are pretty cool. I am sure there are a lot of cool people there and they are just human doing the best they can.
You know I just want to see the Flooood. In the flesh. Doing Flood stuff.
But with this Endless stuff I can't see Flood returning any time soon at all. It is all about the Endless. Like whatever maaaaan. I hope the Endless are cool I guess. I just wish it was the Flood you know I mean come on it's been like over 10 years since they've been in a main Halo game duuuuuuuude DX You already did the ancient Evil stuff with the Prometheans and that one guy who fell off a bridge in Halo 4, and then died again in a comic I think. Like I don't even know anymore. You got these ancient dudes from the past coming out of the wood work bro. I can't keep track anymore, and they all keep droppin like flies.
The Gravemind was a real threat. You are not beating the gravemind by throwing him off a bridge made of angry Cortana's. He ain't no push over like the Hairybringer. I don't want to be a toxic fan or anything. Like I know they put a lot of work into this and game development isn't easy and at the end of the day they love Halo too and are just trying to do something new and interesting. But I am just disappointed you know. Apparently, this ring had quite the history with the flood, and all we got was name drops and a flood engraving inside a floating dorito chip in a room, that looks more like a spider then a flood infection form, which worries me on the possible redesigns if they did do flood. Deff not a fan of the new monitor designs personally. They just look like that robot British guy from Portal 2. But yeah. Hopefully the Endless are cool. Campaign was fun. No hate on 343. I think they are pretty cool. I am sure there are a lot of cool people there and they are just human doing the best they can.
I mean the flood ARE on the ring too. Endless are very likely Precursor too, who eventually became flood
It's 3 am and my head is just so scrambled just finishing that game.
I know 343 said they don't consider Infinite an open-world game per se, but they just give up on that shit for the last three hours.
It's 2021, please put a warning that I was about to go to a point of no return or make it clear as day.
That last section turned what was gonna be a solid 9 into a 7, maybe 8. This might change after getting some sleep, but those levels on Heroic were seriously frustrating to get through. That laser beam weapon is your friend and if I never see its reloading animation ever again, it'll be too soon.
The final boss felt like a lazier, cheaper, version of the one before and that was already hard enough. I just felt like there wasn't enough creativity happening as it did in the open world. Simply wasn't as engaging as the stuff I was doing in Zeta Halo. Felt like it needed more setpieces rather than varied battle rooms of the same-looking arena over and over again.
Felt like Destiny 1 but with better cutscenes, ironically enough.
This was getting into GOTY territory the more I just fucked around the open-world, but the last third torpedoed any chance of cracking at least top 5 for me.
I know 343 said they don't consider Infinite an open-world game per se, but they just give up on that shit for the last three hours.
It's 2021, please put a warning that I was about to go to a point of no return or make it clear as day.
That last section turned what was gonna be a solid 9 into a 7, maybe 8. This might change after getting some sleep, but those levels on Heroic were seriously frustrating to get through. That laser beam weapon is your friend and if I never see its reloading animation ever again, it'll be too soon.
The final boss felt like a lazier, cheaper, version of the one before and that was already hard enough. I just felt like there wasn't enough creativity happening as it did in the open world. Simply wasn't as engaging as the stuff I was doing in Zeta Halo. Felt like it needed more setpieces rather than varied battle rooms of the same-looking arena over and over again.
Felt like Destiny 1 but with better cutscenes, ironically enough.
This was getting into GOTY territory the more I just fucked around the open-world, but the last third torpedoed any chance of cracking at least top 5 for me.
0:27. This scene never showed up in the actual game right? 100% that's offensive bias and most likely cut so it can be used for DLC.
I am really missing the overarching sense of scale in Infinite and Halo's military sci-fi roots. The opening cinematic is the only thing that comes close. I am just not feeling this direction.
After listening to some of the audio logs, the Banished attack the Infinity before the weapon could be deployed. So nothing makes sense with those timelines.
I don't think the Endless are gonna be a brand new fully fleshed out faction. The Didact/Created had the Prometheans to pad their ranks (and even then we got like 1 Promethean vehicle?). I wouldn't be surprised if they take control of the Banished, much like the Didact did with the Covenant remnant.
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Yeah the pacing really put a dampener on the final part of the game, it became a real slog to get through on Heroic - level after level of the same Forerunner environments.
What was were beautiful and incredibly atmospheric Forerunners levels in the second mission and mid part of the game became really repetitive. Was longing for something different at that point but more of the same rooms and putting the Weapon into a hundred different consoles just kept coming.
Yeah the ending levels were not the best - and that dang gravity hammer chieftain on the final boss level. If they were more varied and had bigger setpieces it would've been a great ending. But in the grand scheme of things that's like 1.5hrs so it didn't dampen the game too much for me. The music was great too.
It wasn't a trap though. Escharum just wants to fight him, and Chief knows he's going to have to kill Escharum. Escharum just pushes the inevitable timetable up, and by kidnapping the pilot (who he knows has been helping Chief), he gets to pick the time and place.
I was having trouble with that fight until I stopped focusing on him and got rid of all the others that 1-hit sniped me. Then I killed the Chieftan, took his hammer, and hit Harbinger on the head with it and killed her.
The frustrating fight for me was the Blademaster because I killed him 3 times and right as he died, one of those canisters would explode and kill me. THREE times. I got so mad, my husband closed the basement door so he couldn't hear me. I just needed better situational awareness. LOL
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Yep I am really not a fan of the one-shot cutscene direction in this game. There are times where it works well, but it ends up constraining the scope and scale of the scenes more often than not. It's a novel approach but I personally don't think it fits with Halo. Then again this story is much more personal and small scale, so they get by with it in this game. I hope they don't feel beholden to stick with it in future games/expansions.
I sort of thought that from the name Halo Infinite and the main plot of trying to repair a Ring that's broken in one spot that in the end we'd have had a Mobius Strip Halo Ring. Guess not lol
You mean the 3 dots reflected on his helmet? I'm like 99% sure that's Offensive Bias too.
She's one of the spare cloned brains - so yes. There is one more unless it was destroyed.
I feel like it's more of a riff on sad dad
holy shit, perect. this movie needs a rewatch
Why wouldn't Chief rescue the pilot? He learned he's just a civ, of course he's going to fight through hell for the pilot.
Jega would know this too. Master Chief would not abandon a civilian.
Late to the ocnversation here and trying to catch up, but this TOTALLY reminds me of Keyes trying to hold onto himself as he becomes a flood form in CE... And the connection to the gravemind further drives this
Please give us a horror themed mission set in the Palace of Pain. Please, I'm begging.
Also the one shot cutscenes needs to go. It vastly limited the cutscenes in this game to an insane degree.
Also the one shot cutscenes needs to go. It vastly limited the cutscenes in this game to an insane degree.
Totally don't think the weapon, or 343, was hinting that she'd chose the name cortana for herself. I don't think it would make sense from her perspective as a character, nor from a 343 story telling perspective. It'll be something different 100%, and they are dangling that as it's own cliffhanger of sorts
Yeah, but then she asked, "Do you think it would be ok?"
I think it would be not great myself.
Yea that threw me off. Maybe "Catherine"? Agreed that Cortana again would be weird.
I think she was referring to her naming herself. They made a big deal about how cortana also was able to do this - it seems like an unusual thing. She's just unsure that she should. At least thats my interpretation of it. Can't imagine she'd pick Cortana or that 343 would write her to be Cortana.
Still cant belive they killed Cortana off screen.
That treatment to one of the main characters of the franchise for all if its 20 years.
Just wild lol.
That treatment to one of the main characters of the franchise for all if its 20 years.
Just wild lol.
What treatment? She's the primary driver of the whole story. She shows up in a bunch of scenes. Her presence is a constant in the campaign, and she's treated with respect, not written off or mischaracterized.
I thought it was an outstanding story hook to have Chief trying to solve the mystery of her death with the Weapon as a companion.
Plus there's nothing to stop 343 from exploring the time between Halo 5 and Infinite in future expansions.
Literally my exact thoughts word for word, right down to the scores. Up until that last few hours I was thinking this could be a game of the year contender but man, what a slog that last section was.
Also that hammer brute in the final boss fight, my god, I don't think a boss fight had enraged me that much since the final boss in Sekiro. The small vehicle section near the end definitely lacked something aswell with the two marines unable to drive and just playing catch up behind me. 343 really couldn't even allow marines to pilot vehicles in a linear section like that? Disappointing step back for the series considering they could even pilot ghosts in Halo 1
Im not sure how else they could do it, they wrote themselves into such a corner by turning her evil.
She either stays evil and you destroy her, but who the fuck wanted that in the first place, or she turns good at the end but you have to write her out so you run the risk of just repeating the same story beat as Halo 4, which was a great send off so why the fuck are we still at the same point 10 years later .
I honestly still can't see where they saw 5s story conclusion going in any satisfying way. Infinite is good but it's re-opened the terrible decisions made during 5 all over again.
Agree with this sentiment too. Last section was just brutal especially after a cool few sections leading up to Escherum with the recreated battle scenarios and waves.
I lucked out with a save point in the last Harbinger wave so I had a cindershot with the chieftain close, so could take him out relatively easily before her last stand.
Also, wanted a Warthog run to return.
I thought maybe 343i would let the player choose her name next time and allow the player to customize the AI (in-universe, it'd be her choice), thus paving the way to not be exclusive to Jen Taylor for practical reasons as well.
Or at least leaves that door open depending on how they want to go about the story.