Halo Infinite - Villain and Story Details

Siggy-P · Jul 23, 2020

I will wait to see ok the quality of the story, could be good.

The villain speech falls quite flat though when I so far have no emotional attachment to the pilot or context for how this villain is possibly a threat in any way to Master Chief considering the piles and piles of bodies he's left in his wake.

Outrun · Jul 23, 2020

Wrexis said:
Do we really want a 30-50 hour Halo game?

I will give them credit for acknowledging the lore requirement issues of Halo 4 or Halo 5.

Yes we do. :)

Outrun · Jul 23, 2020

Lots of questions regarding the lore.

While individuals are crying over graphics on other threads, it is the exploration aspects that have me excited for this.

golem · Jul 23, 2020

BevelledEdge said:
This is what peak Grunt performance looks like, you may not like it but that's what it is.

Lmao!

QBizM · Jul 23, 2020

sibarraz said:
Sounds good, but I still want my grappling hook waifu

If I don't get to fly up rock faces thanks to hook waifu, I won't play it.

(... I'm convinced Cortana is this)

Fabtacular · Jul 23, 2020

I thought the fighting looked fast and fun, and I'm very excited at the possibility that this is a Metrodvania-style open world game.

DorkLord54 · Jul 23, 2020

Kalentan said:
Halo 4 felt like the start of something big imho.

Halo 5 felt like a reaction to Halo 4's reception rather than what Halo 4 set up

Halo Infinite feels like a reaction to Halo 5's reception rather than what Halo 5 set up

Worried Halo Infinite 2 will be the same.

343i's entire tenure has basically just been hyper-reactionary, without caring how it affects the overall experience or just trying to fix the issues people have. People think the Didact is kinda boring in-game, and has a much better motivation and characterisation in the game's terminals? CUT HIM COMPLETELY, KILL HIM OFF IN A COMIC! THAT'S THE WAY TO DO IT! MP is criticised as too casual/focused on BTB? SORRY NEWBS, SWEATS-ONLY ARENA! Spartan Ops is not very fun, and the missions don't really seem all that involved with the story being told in the CG cutscenes? SCRAP IT, KILL THAT FUCKER 'MDAMA AT THE BEGINNING OF 5! Prometheans are boring to fight against, particularly the bullet sponge Knights? Admittedly, this one they did try to fix by shifting the Knight to be the Promethean's Hunter equivalent and creating the Soldier for the role of their main infantry, but they still didn't seem to fundamentally grasp why people thought the faction as a whole was unfun to fight.

WesleyShark · Jul 23, 2020

Looks and sounds incredible. So stoked.

Komo · Jul 23, 2020

Oozer said:
Halo Infinite is a sequel to Halo 5.

It is but they also ignored the fucking story and did a whoops it's years later sorry you don't know shit.

Theorry · Jul 23, 2020

Komo said:
It is but they also ignored the fucking story and did a whoops it's years later sorry you don't know shit.

We dont know that.

blamite · Jul 23, 2020

calling it now, the final shot of the game is the pilot's dog tags or ID badge or something and you find out his name is John.

Theorry · Jul 23, 2020

blamite said:
calling it now, the final shot of the game is the pilot's dog tags or ID badge or something and you find out his name is John.

Its the name of the actor. Now we need to find the actor haha

MetatronM · Jul 23, 2020

Rover_ said:
the villain speech was not good. i wanna see what direction they take Halo. them forgetting 4 and 5 is a good thing tho.

The villain's speech was super lame and generic. I would say that's not really a big deal since I don't necessarily need writing in Halo to be super fresh and unique or anything, but what is somewhat worrying to me is how proud of it they seem to be. They made that speech completely take over (and end) the gameplay demo, as if it's the big stinger that is going to really hook you, and they've used it as the framing device for the separate gameplay trailer as well.

It reminds me a little bit of Ubisoft with Far Cry, where they really think you're really really going to care about what the main villain has to say.

Gotchaforce · Jul 23, 2020

I just played through all of the games and recalled the insane hype I felt for 2 and 3. Feeling like you're the lone hero to save the galaxy against these giant armadas. Felt like new Star Wars trilogy size hype. Now it's spend a giant campaign defending the dozenth ring against a guy who worked for the guy in the RTS sequel only the die hard might have played.

Trup1aya · Jul 23, 2020

Excellent. The protagonists dont know what happened after H5 and I want to forget H5 happend. A mutually beneficial situation.

theDidact · Jul 23, 2020

Regis said:
Shaved Brutes are equally Nightmare/Meme material

. Brutes have never been cool and have gotten progressively worse since their introduction in 2.

Proteus · Jul 23, 2020

Theorry said:
Hmmm

I am thinking the Harbinger might end up being Cortana.

I would be disappointed if they completely dropped the Halo 4-5 story.

Lumination · Jul 23, 2020

While the Halo lore has been strong, the execution of said storytelling in the games has always been subpar. I hope they do it well enough to keep us engaged through a 2x length campaign.

Theorry · Jul 23, 2020

A Harbringer

one that pioneers in or initiates a major change

b : one that presages or foreshadows what is to come

Yeah its gonna be Cortana

dgrdsv · Jul 23, 2020

Wrexis said:
Do we really want a 30-50 hour Halo game?

No.
Infinite won't be that either. It looks like it'll be an open world Halo game filled with open world jank to the brim.
I dunno. Nothing they've said or shown so far makes me want to play Halo again.

DrDeckard · Jul 23, 2020

so looking forward to play this...not Even 4 months? It's gotta launch in November right?

Oozer · Jul 23, 2020

blamite said:
calling it now, the final shot of the game is the pilot's dog tags or ID badge or something and you find out his name is John.

343 let the actor name the character so I doubt any story stuff was written specifically for the name.

The Pilot's name will be revealed during the course of the campaign. "He ended up being named by the actor who plays him", said Crocker, the game's associate creative director. "The name is actually his two best friends from childhood."

Proteus · Jul 23, 2020

DrDeckard said:
so looking forward to play this...not Even 4 months? It's gotta launch in November right?

They would be crazy not to launch with it at this point.

I am hyped for this as well.

Trup1aya · Jul 23, 2020

Komo said:
It is but they also ignored the fucking story and did a whoops it's years later sorry you don't know shit.

It doesnt take a huge stretch of the imagine to consider that we might learn what happened since H5, over the course of Infinite.

0ean · Jul 23, 2020

I am actually optimistic about this Halo. I did not enjoy the liner nature of Halo 4 and the chopping back and forth story of Halo 5.

Gameplay of the campaign looks decent, it seems all cut-scenes for the game will be running in-game which I am ok with. I just hope each "open world" section gets bigger rather than having just 2-3 objectives on each platform. Graphics aren't an issue for me and I'm actually pleased with the game going back to its roots colour scheme.

Day one player rolling up on XSX.

DrDeckard · Jul 23, 2020

Proteus said:
They would be crazy not to launch with it at this point.

I am hyped for this as well.

gameplay looks absolutely top tier.

Poodlestrike · Jul 23, 2020

Gameplay looks top-shelf, but the story details... do not fill me with confidence. I was really, genuinely hyped by the end of H5. A story of the Chief on the run with the crew of the Infinity, fighting Cortana and her Created against impossible odds. This features exactly none of that.

I like the banished, and of course I'm there day 1, but... I'll probably still be thinking about what could've been. 343 gotta learn to stick to their guns.

Fiddle · Jul 23, 2020

Siggy-P said:
I will wait to see ok the quality of the story, could be good.

The villain speech falls quite flat though when I so far have no emotional attachment to the pilot or context for how this villain is possibly a threat in any way to Master Chief considering the piles and piles of bodies he's left in his wake.

MetatronM said:
The villain's speech was super lame and generic. I would say that's not really a big deal since I don't necessarily need writing in Halo to be super fresh and unique or anything, but what is somewhat worrying to me is how proud of it they seem to be. They made that speech completely take over (and end) the gameplay demo, as if it's the big stinger that is going to really hook you, and they've used it as the framing device for the separate gameplay trailer as well.

It reminds me a little bit of Ubisoft with Far Cry, where they really think you're really really going to care about what the main villain has to say.

Agreed. I feel like Cortana could actually be worked into a good villain in Infinite if they tried. Powerful, interesting, and has an emotional attachment to Chief. Anything is better than a Brute. But hey, maybe he'll be great with more context.

Daniel Westlake · Jul 23, 2020

I mean if that villain speech the end was them bringing their A-game, damn. Big Rogol Zaar energy offa that dude.

blamite · Jul 23, 2020

Oozer said:
343 let the actor name the character so I doubt any story stuff was written specifically for the name.

Oh that's pretty neat actually. The fact that they've been going out of their way not to give him a name so far made it feel like they were gonna pull a Dark Knight Rises on us at some point.

OtterX · Jul 23, 2020

DrDeckard said:
gameplay looks absolutely top tier.

Yep. The gunplay and weapon variety looks absolutely on point. Grapple hooking a canister and tossing it in a brutes face looks very satisfying.

I think they'll work in Cortana and the prometheans at some point. We've just seen early game.

Trup1aya · Jul 23, 2020

The state of affairs at the end of H5 made absolutely no sense. I was wondering what type of contrived nonsense 343 would have to pull in order to manage to have our heroes survive.

I'm not completely thrilled with the time jump, but I am relieved to be spared whatever malarkey was originally planned carry us out of H5s cliffhanger.

Its interesting that Harbinger and this new Brute are in service to Atriox. Did Atriox defeat Cortana? Is Harbinger Cortana? What's the power hierarchy?

Gravemind IV · Jul 23, 2020

This WWE brute feels so tonally out of place. Atriox and to a lesser extent Pavium and Voridus were sophisticated and not your run-of-the-mill saturday morning cartoon villain.

Minty Freshness · Jul 23, 2020

"'Chief and the Pilot are in exactly the same position as the player when the game starts,' Crocker said. "They don't know what's happened. They're learning what's happening, together.'"

"...proclaims this Halo ring as his last stand, knowing that Master Chief is coming for him."

What. How does he know that.

Does he only know he's coming after Chief starts mowing through his forces?

Dr. Doom · Jul 23, 2020

ZeoVGM said:

Now that is a villain.

Shrennin · Jul 23, 2020

Outrun said:
Yes we do. :)

Especially if this is supposed to be THE Halo game for 10 years, a lengthy and very long Halo campaign would help cement that.

Of course, if it is that long, I would hope they would have methods to shorten the length for players not wanting to spend all that time working through the campaign - side quests and whatnot extend the length of the campaign (note: interesting side quests) but main campaign is 10-15 hours if you just skip all the side quests (which can extend the game to 30-50 hours). I'd be okay with that.

Mage_of_Cinder · Jul 23, 2020

EvilChameleon said:
Hopefully the book that's coming out later this year helps bridge the gap because I have no idea how we go from The Created taking over the galaxy at the end of Halo 5 to... The Banished being in control of this Halo and all these references to them having "won the war".

I haven't kept up with the extended fiction since Silentum, and I didn't read past The Glasslands because I didn't like the characters and direction of the story. So I've been finding myself pretty lost in Halos' fiction for a while, so I hope 343 catches up us casual fans somehow.

Deleted member 224 · Jul 23, 2020

Minty Freshness said:
"'Chief and the Pilot are in exactly the same position as the player when the game starts,' Crocker said. "They don't know what's happened. They're learning what's happening, together.'"

"...proclaims this Halo ring as his last stand, knowing that Master Chief is coming for him."

What. How does he know that.

Does he only know he's coming after Chief starts mowing through his forces?

I'm guessing the gameplay we saw was not the first mission in the game or whatever. It seems like a Banished ship finds you before you land on the ring based on the 2019 trailer.

More Butter · Jul 23, 2020

Rover_ said:
the villain speech was not good. i wanna see what direction they take Halo. them forgetting 4 and 5 is a good thing tho.

The villain speech was dumb and the model for that guy was just... bad... I'm still stunned by this. I really can't wrap my head around this

Fat4all · Jul 23, 2020

ZeoVGM said:

More Butter · Jul 23, 2020

Outrun said:
Lots of questions regarding the lore.

While individuals are crying over graphics on other threads, it is the exploration aspects that have me excited for this.

I really liked the gameplay beats I was seeing but I want nicely modeled enemies good looking weapon models lighting etc too.

CaptainDandelion · Jul 23, 2020

I replayed Halo 5 yesterday due to hype, and not playing it all the way through on the year of release. I think the ending of Halo 5 is cool, and I'm pretty disappointed it's not the main focus on Infinite. Although it seems impossible to reboot if you continue from that ending. Unless the banished are serving the created I don't feel they have the gravitas required for the lore at the current point in time.

Mido · Jul 23, 2020

Minty Freshness said:
"'Chief and the Pilot are in exactly the same position as the player when the game starts,' Crocker said. "They don't know what's happened. They're learning what's happening, together.'"

"...proclaims this Halo ring as his last stand, knowing that Master Chief is coming for him."

What. How does he know that.

Does he only know he's coming after Chief starts mowing through his forces?

I assumed he thought that it being a Halo ring and all Chief would eventually come for it.

Black Mantis · Jul 24, 2020

JDSpades said:
I'm guessing the gameplay we saw was not the first mission in the game or whatever. It seems like a Banished ship finds you before you land on the ring based on the 2019 trailer.

Correct, it-s about 4 hours into the game.

CaptainDandelion said:
I replayed Halo 5 yesterday due to hype, and not playing it all the way through on the year of release. I think the ending of Halo 5 is cool, and I'm pretty disappointed it's not the main focus on Infinite. Although it seems impossible to reboot if you continue from that ending. Unless the banished are serving the created I don't feel they have the gravitas required for the lore at the current point in time.

343 have said the game will continue the story from H5, so Cortana and the Created will be there. The villain in the trailer refers to someone called the Harbinger, which is likely Cortana, given the 343 devs response to the IGN reporters question assuming Harbinger was a he.

Chasing · Jul 24, 2020

I'm glad they acknowledged the messy lore issue (Halo 5 was ridiculously bad with this) but it remains to be seen how far they will follow through on it.

At least there's that database now for lore entries.

Tatsu91 · Jul 24, 2020

Shrennin said:
Especially if this is supposed to be THE Halo game for 10 years, a lengthy and very long Halo campaign would help cement that.

Of course, if it is that long, I would hope they would have methods to shorten the length for players not wanting to spend all that time working through the campaign - side quests and whatnot extend the length of the campaign (note: interesting side quests) but main campaign is 10-15 hours if you just skip all the side quests (which can extend the game to 30-50 hours). I'd be okay with that.

If we get side quests they should be the God of war variant unique locations and fights sparse in number but tell a decent story

Potterson · Jul 24, 2020

It's weird that Banished here sound like some kind of fanatics while they're specifically left Covenant to NOT be with fanatics.

Sander VF · Jul 24, 2020

ZeoVGM said:

Does he still have a squeaky Grunt voice?

Hawkster · Jul 24, 2020

Poodlestrike said:
Gameplay looks top-shelf, but the story details... do not fill me with confidence. I was really, genuinely hyped by the end of H5. A story of the Chief on the run with the crew of the Infinity, fighting Cortana and her Created against impossible odds. This features exactly none of that.

I like the banished, and of course I'm there day 1, but... I'll probably still be thinking about what could've been. 343 gotta learn to stick to their guns.

I'll always maintain that an A.I uprising led by Evil Cortana was bad idea and they shouldn't have gone along with it

ThereAreFourNaan · Jul 24, 2020

Sander VF said:
Does he still have a squeaky Grunt voice?

In case it's not clear, that's a Destiny person.

Halo Infinite - Villain and Story Details

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