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Halo 5: Interview with Mike Colter (Agent Locke, Playable Character)
- Thread starter User 73706
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SenjutsuSage
Banned
Protagonist Jake
Member
That's what I remember him from. I miss that show. ;_;
I still struggle to care about post-Bungie Halo, but stuff like this and the recent comics keep pulling me back in.
Because him being MIA leaves the possibility of him being alive and returning. Him disappearing would be far more interesting as well IMO. If done well it could lead to a lot of discussion on where he is, whether or not he's dead etc.
That is 100% not true. We've literally only just began to explore who the Chief is. Before 4 we knew essentially nothing about his character or what drives him. (Halo 4 spoiler warning)
With Cortana's death there is a really big opportunity to explore the Chief's character.
shinobi602
Member
Love the Chief. When you read his backstory in the books from when he was a child all the way to where we are now, he's been through a lot. Now that he's actually questioning his own humanity and starting to show some semblance of his soul again, people want to kill him off? Come on son.
Imperial Hot
Banned
I'd be down for a Master Chief who has completely unhinged after Cortana's death. Imagine him going on a hard-boiled space bender.
EDIT: This is why I'm not in charge of the Halo canon.
EDIT: This is why I'm not in charge of the Halo canon.
What exploration? It is clear he was driven by the player. He never had any character... well, deep character. He was a faceless killing machine... hell, that's kind of what Halo 4 says: He is broken, a sociopath of sorts. He is the humankind's greatest hero ever, but the truth is he is alone and empty... and now realizes this. Perhaps he can now live for himself or something, but do we need to see that story? I think not.
Hmm. Thinking about this... it would be actually great to have a break from him. Have him vanish to the background... only to return dramatically, changed?
Protagonist Jake
Member
But you JUST SAID the reason he cant die is because he's the symbol of the series, but hes still not in the game/not important with him disappearing, so thatd contradicts your own point of why he cant die.
He's lived his life as a gun and not a human. Nothing drove him cause he was raised to be a solider and nothing more from the get-go.
He HAS no personality to explore, thats the point. He finally realized that recently, but apparently hes just gonna go fight his own race now cause he needs to be relevant even though anyone else would just retire and live what life his has left as a human.
What a hero.
An observation: This thread is supposed to be about Locke and Mike Colter's interview... yet we talk about the Chief.
He and Halo are synonymous in many ways, i grant you that.
How about having him go MIA and someone else taking up his mantle, impersonating him for the humankind?
He and Halo are synonymous in many ways, i grant you that.
How about having him go MIA and someone else taking up his mantle, impersonating him for the humankind?
Vincent Alexander
Member
Yep.
As a fan of the books, that shit means nothing to me in terms of the game until it is actually in the game.
Feel the same.
Protagonist Jake
Member
He's showing his humanity by turning on humanity?
Hmm. There's certain brilliance in Halo 4's portrayal of the Chief. Breaking a broken man...
Consider his past: A child soldier, a super soldier, utterly indoctrinated and someone who has only lived for war. By any reasonable definition he is a broken human at most, even if he is functional.
And then he does start showing some humanity, by caring about something, not in a way a soldier cares for his equipment and troops under his command but as a human caring for another (figuratively if not literally). And all that is taken from him. He is broken again... differently this time.
I admit that that there is definitively a lot of potential with that setup. Reforging him, as a human being AND as a soldier.
But i'm not sure i want to see that story. I'm not sure it can be done as well as it deserves.
EDIT plus there is still my dislike of blank characters. I can see from the viewpoint the Chief's fans see him, i think. I can see brilliance in his arc. But i can never stop seeing his origins of being merely a powerful avatar for the player and nothing more, the type i really don't care for in games.
Consider his past: A child soldier, a super soldier, utterly indoctrinated and someone who has only lived for war. By any reasonable definition he is a broken human at most, even if he is functional.
And then he does start showing some humanity, by caring about something, not in a way a soldier cares for his equipment and troops under his command but as a human caring for another (figuratively if not literally). And all that is taken from him. He is broken again... differently this time.
I admit that that there is definitively a lot of potential with that setup. Reforging him, as a human being AND as a soldier.
But i'm not sure i want to see that story. I'm not sure it can be done as well as it deserves.
EDIT plus there is still my dislike of blank characters. I can see from the viewpoint the Chief's fans see him, i think. I can see brilliance in his arc. But i can never stop seeing his origins of being merely a powerful avatar for the player and nothing more, the type i really don't care for in games.
Him being MIA doesn't mean he can't be an important part of the game.
Exactly, he never had any character. This is the perfect opportunity to give him character. It's obvious he isn't just a mindless killing machine/sociopath. The ending of 4 showed that. I just think it's a bit silly to drop one of the most iconic gaming figures ever when the presented with the perfect opportunity to actually give him a character.
This is what I'm trying to get at. It is a really good chance to actually make him into a compelling and interesting character rather than a blank player driven avatar. I do agree that it's something that is going to be very difficult to pull off. I hope 343 are up to the task, assuming this is what they are getting at in 5.
As i note in my above post, i'm not sure not-character getting character can be given the treatment it deserves, not in video game environment, though arguably it is perhaps the only environment where this can happen in the first place... I'd rather not have it than have sub-par thing. EDIT No, i don't expect them to succeed. I don't trust them to succeed. And failure will be worse than not doing it.
And i can't forget his origins, writing him anew doesn't make the past vanish. (A similar issue i have with any future Mass Effect sequel, nothing you do will make up for ME3 ending).
Protagonist Jake
Member
"people dont need to do things in a story to be important to that story"
I dont think you know how story telling works.
Continuing to be a solider, which is what removed him of his character, would not suddenly give him character just cause now he realizes "oh hey, I have no character, better keep doing exactly what Im doing except on a different side".
People dont just magically gain character when they want to. He would have to stop fighting altogether for years for him to heavily change his personality (or in this case, get one), and as we already know, that isnt the case.
Not really. He can start fighting for a reason. He can do something for some other reason than "orders, duty". He has started that already.
shinobi602
Member
Turning on humanity? What?
Protagonist Jake
Member
I dont see how that would make him human all of a sudden.
Hed still just be killing and shooting like he's always done. He might tell him self its for a better cause, but really nothing has changed, he'd still be just a gun, except now one that fights for something else.
Which would also be a fine story may I add, but one thats not really worth being told from his perspective for the entirety of a game.
He defected the UNSC.
He went rouge.
He forsake humanity.
This is canon.
Eh, I don't think they'll fail. Halo 4 was pretty good if you'd read the books. And from what Frankie has been saying it looks like they've learned from their mistakes regarding people who haven't read the extended fiction.
Exactly, there are a plethora of ways they could create an interesting story with the Chief. Personally I think killing him off would be an extremely cheap way to make the story interesting.
That's not true at all. The death of his only friend is a pretty major event which can massively change a character. Or in this case, create character. Again, the ending of 4 showed he does have a character and that he isn't just a mindless killer. It's just this character hasn't been explored at all in previous games where he really was just a player avatar.
I think "turning against humanity" is what he means.
Is that Vampire Diaries reference?
Protagonist Jake
Member
It is now.
Man, those Assault & Battle Rifles look abnormally huge in the hands of those characters.
... But, thinking back, I suppose they're supposed to look kind of huge next to non-SPARTAN human characters.
Welp, now I've gotta start reading this.
... But, thinking back, I suppose they're supposed to look kind of huge next to non-SPARTAN human characters.
Welp, now I've gotta start reading this.
The point is not to make him human suddenly.
The point is to show he can start a long journey to becoming more than a mere soldier. A soldier is still a human, a soldier should be human.
The Halo Xbox One trailer, which isn't literal, shows him as searching for something... it doesn't show him as a human yet.
My issue with the Chief lies with his origins as a blank character, the type i don't like as i mentioned, and in the fact i don't think the transformation can be handled well enough, or to be precise, it can't be continued well enough.
I can't forget the fact he was a blank, a power fantasy.
I may be a bit strict in this... but the Chief isn't an unique case: I don't think Palmer can be redeemed as a character. The only thing they can do is to have her die inglorious death.
Perhaps i'm simply a pessimist when it comes to this.
Defection hasn't happened as far as we know. Vanishing isn't defection exactly.
There is no confirmation he has actually gone rogue.
And when did he forsake humanity? Going rogue doesn't mean forsaking humankind, it means not following orders.
I have no optimism of any kind for almost any game. Burned too many times. I'll believe when i see it, not before. I don't trust anything before that. I won't have any hype either. Noticed it never does any good.
shinobi602
Member
Going rogue =/= turning on humanity as a species...
He did all the shit he did for his entire life, even up to the point of willfully sacrificing (or volunteered to) his life countless times and simply leaving the military means he's turned his back? Hell we don't even know the basis of it all, what exactly he's doing this whole time, what the events of Halo 5 are, etc. You're jumping to a lot of conclusions.
Aha, I find hype makes games far more enjoyable. Makes me ignore any real problems and lets me just enjoy the game. Then again, when the hype wears off the problems start to show themselves.
GTA V is a prime example of this. At first I was completely in love, then after a couple of days I realised I genuinely disliked the game.
Protagonist Jake
Member
Yeah I guess I am, apologies.
I feel 343i's attempt to make morally ambiguous characters is a futile endeavour. We have already seen from pretty much every new character in Halo 4, that character writing is a key weakness within 343i. It is also probably not a coincidence that a trickle of backlash against the Chief is beginning to surface now that they're attempting to humanise him.
"Human story's" have no place in Halo, go back to focusing on goofy intergalactic tomfoolery and make a better game for it.
"Human story's" have no place in Halo, go back to focusing on goofy intergalactic tomfoolery and make a better game for it.
Doug Heffernan
Member
I'm excited for the new playable character.
Hopefully he plays different than Chief.
This is a way for them to experiment with the gameplay a little but not mess with Chief.
Hopefully he plays different than Chief.
This is a way for them to experiment with the gameplay a little but not mess with Chief.
Protagonist Jake
Member
I dunno, little Chief in the Fall of Reach comics was kind of little shit. I guess there always has been SOME personality left dormant, but yeah i see what youre saying.
I was hyped for Reach. Guess how that turned out. Shattered all the trust i had with Bungie, and they most certainly didn't regain it with Destiny (which i feel is better than Reach but then that wasn't very high bar).
Then there's BioWare and Mass Effect 3. Holy shit... I liked Dragon Age 2 better than Origins but it never fixed the world, which is very important in a fantasy game for me (the only one i like is the Elder Scrolls world when it comes to fantasy video games).
Battlefield 3 was nowhere near as good as BFBC2... and hearing what happened with BF4...
Starcraft 2 is an immense disappointment, story-wise after the original and Brood War. WoW has fucked everything great in Warcraft after wonderful Warcraft 3 and its expansion.
343i did well with Halo 4 issues aside, but i will never again give any game company trust, they will have to earn it again and again with each game.
The only games i still hold any hype for are Bethesda's mainline Elder Scrolls games (and perhaps the next Fallout), because i know i will enjoy those, or that at least they have very extensive modding. EDIT i'm not contradicting myself really, Bethesda still needs to earn my trust. I just will be hyped for their games... a bit. Which is more than anyone else gets.
I never liked The Fall of Reach book really. The world is interesting but the Chief... Nylund's characterization of the Chief is very different from his portrayal in the games, or Halo 4. And not something i like at all. Let's not even speak about The Flood, which is really terrible. The bookChief just doesn't mesh with the gameChief.
EDIT not sure what to think of the child the Chief was. Personality changes a lot. Doesn't necessarily mean much.
soulassssns
Banned
I don't know, it's just something about the visual design that really seems out of place. The guns for starters, how clean the armor is, etc.
There's something about it that is just visually not appealing.
That and it's so industrial.
Mutanthands
Member
I think the Chief finally needs a face. The helmet need to come off, at least some of the time. Let him interact more with the other characters; disagree, fight, be disappointed, be angry.
I don't need a faceless null character to enjoy my Halo. I think most people can deal with it.
soulassssns
Banned
I do not think it has to do with the translation into a different medium as much as it has to do with the budget of the production. If MS fully financed the making of a HALO movie I am sure it would be fantastic.
It would need a significant overall visually to work. The weapons don't look like weapons, even in that universe, they look like props.
Vincent Alexander
Member
I think at this point, they are afraid to take off the mask because they want as many people as possible to relate. Reveal a Caucasian man, black man, latino man, etc. then you may alienate a large group of people. I personally would love to see the outrage from anyone over this.
As a white man, I would love Master Chief to be black. Tell me that thick, beautiful voice isn't a black man's. Do it. I'm serious. I want him to be black.
shinobi602
Member
He's white though canonically lol.
Well has long as he isn't generic, crew cut hair (or almost bald, etc.) white space marine... except we know he is effectively a space marine, is white, and most likely with very soldier-y hair...
Giving him a face isn't really the way i think.
Giving him more expressive voice (no need to change the actor of course), more expressive body language are enough to make him more expressive i think.
The helmet's blank golden visor is his face.
Though perhaps one could argue the helmet prevents him from ever appearing fully human... but i don't think he will, or should even ever reach that.
Mutanthands
Member
I would hope that people who are as invested as most Halo fans are wouldn't give a flip. I could imagine that the usual suspects would be "lol bald space marine" if he was Caucasian, so there's no winning whichever way you go. You just have to pull off that bandaid and forge on.
They should throw everyone for a loop and make him Asian. Hire Donnie Yen to model the Chief. You listening, Stinkles?
If they want develop the character, the helmet has to come off. He needs a face.
Vincent Alexander
Member
I completely agree the helmet has to come off. I'm just personally afraid it never will. And I would be good with a Donnie Yen chief. Let's get some early renders together.
And my prediction is Chief has gone searching for Cortana. I'll stake my life on it. And if this has been theorized a billion times before, I apologize.
Darth Vader is not Darth Vader without his mask and helmet. He is Anakin Skywalker (now, we could argue that he was Vader before he got the suit... but i will argue that the suit finally made him Vader fully).
Is the Master Chief the Master Chief any longer if doesn't have his helmet on?
I don't think so.
The point is not to make the Master Chief/John-117 someone else, or save him from the Master Chief, but to reforge him, to make him a soldier AND a human AND to keep him as the Master Chief.
EDIT the way Vader's head was shown in The Empire Strikes Back, to give some hint at what goes beneath the suit, revealing the Chief's face partially in Halo 4 hinted at his humanity. But that doesn't mean it should be lifted off forever in the Chief's case. Because the Master Chief is a hero... unlike Vader. Unmasking Vader removed the villain from Anakin.
Is the Master Chief the Master Chief any longer if doesn't have his helmet on?
I don't think so.
The point is not to make the Master Chief/John-117 someone else, or save him from the Master Chief, but to reforge him, to make him a soldier AND a human AND to keep him as the Master Chief.
EDIT the way Vader's head was shown in The Empire Strikes Back, to give some hint at what goes beneath the suit, revealing the Chief's face partially in Halo 4 hinted at his humanity. But that doesn't mean it should be lifted off forever in the Chief's case. Because the Master Chief is a hero... unlike Vader. Unmasking Vader removed the villain from Anakin.
Vincent Alexander
Member
Darth Vader is a great character hidden behind a suit and mask, but he isn't Anakin when he takes his helmet off. He is Anakin when he turns on the Emperor to save his son. As well, Darth Vader works a bit different from Master Chief because Darth Vader is a villain. The mystery of the man behind the suit and mask that we never quite get to know adds to the greatness that is his villainy. It fits his character perfectly. Master Chief doesn't need the armor and mask to make him who he is. In fact, I would go nuts in love to spend even a bit of time in a game playing as Master Chief without his armor---remind us there is a man behind there, and he is a badass even without his armor.
I'm not quite arguing Master Chief can't be a great character if he doesn't take his helmet off. Maybe it's more that I'm just personally in love with the idea of it happening at some point.