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[shinobi602]

-Aside from the "main" Halo theme that Marty is famous for, I thought 343's soundtrack was better overal.

Agreed.

 

[Blue Ninja]

Bornstellar Didact has Fangs, Grotesque Face, and is wearing Builder armor. OG Didact has none of these features...

We see the Didact mutate in the terminals. Before his mutation, he didn't have fangs. Thus, he's not Bornstellar, since that one had fangs long before.

 

[NobleGundam]

We see the Didact mutate in the terminals. Before his mutation, he didn't have fangs. Thus, he's not Bornstellar, since that one had fangs long before.

Please explain the new armor within Halo 4/Terminals. Wikis says he is wearing Builder armor. Bornstellar comes from a builder class. Ur-Didact does not.

 

[Cuban Legend]

I like this new cover

whats the story behind the new cover? any high rs image of it?

 

[NobleGundam]

whats the story behind the new cover? any high rs image of it?

I don't have a link to a higher res. Here's the Source

 

[Cuban Legend]

I don't have a link to a higher res. Here's the Source

when you click on the source you get this:

Sweet. looks real pretty

 

[Tawpgun]

New cover sucks. What are you all on.

This is the old cover

Compare it to the previous 2. They are all in the same style. This one is just blatant marketing ruining a good looking cover to make one where people recognize the people on the cover.

The art is cool, but the old one was much better suited. Kind of annoyed they changed it.

 

[Blue Ninja]

Please explain the new armor within Halo 4/Terminals. Wikis says he is wearing Builder armor. Bornstellar comes from a builder class. Ur-Didact does not.

We've never seen Builder armor before, the look could've changed. It looks a lot more like 'generic evil bad guy'-armor, maybe the Didact wanted a change of style.

Be honest, doesn't it make more sense of this guy to be the Ur-Didact? Mutations and armor aside. He wants to obliterate Humanity and despised the Halo rings. Sounds a lot like the Ur-Didact. I'm guessing Bornstellar, wearing the black and green armor he received in Cryptum, will be the one to activate the rings. Which is why Guilty Spark confuses the Chief for him in 2552.

 

[BigTnaples]

New cover sucks. What are you all on.

This is the old cover

Compare it to the previous 2. They are all in the same style. This one is just blatant marketing ruining a good looking cover to make one where people recognize the people on the cover.

The art is cool, but the old one was much better suited. Kind of annoyed they changed it.

I did't realize they had changed it but youre right, the old one meshes much better.

 

[enzo_gt]

As a big fan of the Forerunner architecture of the Bungie titles, I found the new Forerunner take to be visually noisy. It's just too messy. And the new red variety felt like something out of Tron. I kept waiting for the Daft Punk that never came.

Eh. I don't think it's noisy at all. I look at the complexity as something I would expect from a Forerunner homeworld versus installations. I expect complexity, further sophistication for a place they actively lived, and feel they've pulled it off while still remaining elegant and minimalist. Tron-like colour accents help pad that.

I mean gawdamn.

 

[Jokergrin]

late to the thread

can anyone please explain to me what the composer was exactly and what it was gonna do to the earth? was it just a big death ray?

 

[daedalius]

Eh. I don't think it's noisy at all. I look at the complexity as something I would expect from a Forerunner homeworld versus installations. I expect complexity, further sophistication for a place they actively lived, and feel they've pulled it off while still remaining elegant and minimalist. Tron-like colour accents help pad that.

I mean gawdamn.

Such a badass vista to explore (too bad there wasn't more places to go!)

late to the thread

can anyone please explain to me what the composer was exactly and what it was gonna do to the earth? was it just a big death ray?

The composer death ray also turns people into Promethean AI constructs that can most likely be used for knights and watchers.

 

[NobleGundam]

We've never seen Builder armor before, the look could've changed. It looks a lot more like 'generic evil bad guy'-armor, maybe the Didact wanted a change of style.

Be honest, doesn't it make more sense of this guy to be the Ur-Didact? Mutations and armor aside. He wants to obliterate Humanity and despised the Halo rings. Sounds a lot like the Ur-Didact. I'm guessing Bornstellar, wearing the black and green armor he received in Cryptum, will be the one to activate the rings. Which is why Guilty Spark confuses the Chief for him in 2552.

Yes, those were my exact thoughts at first. It made me very convinced the Halo 4 Didact is the Ur-Didact. I stated my opinion about it pages back within this thread. Until a GAFfer said I was wrong. Then I began researching the novel Primordium and the Didact wiki.
It said that the Didact had full control over Bornstellar's body and Ur-Didact could only hear Borns thoughts within his dreams.

 

[Izayoi]

I miss the Forerunner being mysterious. I get that there was really nowhere else to go, but instead of introducing actual living Forerunner I wish they would've just stuck with the Prometheans or whatever. The Forerunner have no mystique now, and that kinda takes some of the magic out of it. I loved those ominous, empty caverns and structures in Halo CE. Oh well.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I miss the Forerunner being mysterious. I get that there was really nowhere else to go, but instead of introducing actual living Forerunner I wish they would've just stuck with the Prometheans or whatever. The Forerunner have no mystique now, and that kinda takes some of the magic out of it. I loved those ominous, empty caverns and structures in Halo CE. Oh well.

We still have the Precursors. Nothing is known about them. We don't even know what they look like or what their technology is like. All we know is that they supposedly created the Flood, but even that's up for debate as apparently the Flood came from abandoned spacecraft from another galaxy making them somewhat of a mystery too.

 

[TacticalFox88]

We still have the Precursors. Nothing is known about them. We don't even know what they look like or what their technology is like. All we know is that they supposedly created the Flood, but even that's up for debate as apparently the Flood came from abandoned spacecraft from another galaxy making them somewhat of a mystery too.

My main worry about the Precursors is that that 343 is going to make them on the level of the Time Lords, the Xeelee, Culture, or (GOD FUCKING FORBID) the Downstreamers.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

My main worry about the Precursors is that that 343 is going to make them on the level of the Time Lords, the Xeelee, Culture, or (GOD FUCKING FORBID) the Downstreamers.

Considering how powerful Forerunner technology is from what we've seen, I don't see how they could be able to introduce the Precursors. They're gods at this point, having left the galaxy - maybe even the universe - with nothing left behind. They believed the universe to be a living, thinking thing so maybe they even joined or became part of it. I'm not sure, outside of revealing some of their history or older technology, 343 will even touch on them throughout the trilogy.

 

[Gartooth]

Finished the game just now and some quick thoughts on the story:

- Sad about Cortana being gone, always enjoyed her and Chief's banter.

- Covenant from a story perspective didn't really even matter in this game did they?

- So what did the Composer exactly do? Was it just a way of burning people to death and then turning them into Prometheans?

 

[Darkmakaimura]

So what did the Composer exactly do? Was it just a way of burning people to death and then turning them into Prometheans?

Yup.

Apparently, it could also convert AI to flesh but we never see this happen.... *hint* Cortana *hint*

 

[Jokergrin]

Apparently, it could also convert AI to flesh but we never see this happen.... *hint* Cortana *hint*

oh fuck..

Cortana reborn in Halo 5

 

[A More Normal Bird]

If I'm a scientist today, let's say I'm working for GSK, I have an idea for a drug that will cure leukaemia. I need 50 kids for the drugs trial, 25 will take placebo, they can't take their current medication and chemo during the trial. They will definitely die.

GSK will allow this trial, it will kill 25 kids, it might kill 50, but they allow it.

Science.

lolwat? This never happens. Trials for cancer (and other fatal diseases) are conducted by comparing new treatments to existing best practice treatments, not placebos. Placebos are rarely used and are only given to consenting volunteers. If you know of any instances where dying people are given placebos and not made aware of it, please notify the authorities/media. That's Tuskegee levels of malpractice.

On topic, the Composer digitised entire beings - turned their minds into AIs, stored their genetic code etc... It also seemed to disintegrate them. Whether or not that's a side effect of the scanning or a separate function is a little unclear. If it was just a side effect then why was MC knocked unconscious when it couldn't scan his new genetic code? Just the quantity of energy that passed through him? If the disintegration was a just a way of handily killing humans as it scanned them then why was it used on the forerunner warriors who got scanned to fight the flood?

 

[Darkmakaimura]

lolwat? This never happens. Trials for cancer (and other fatal diseases) are conducted by comparing new treatments to existing best practice treatments, not placebos. Placebos are rarely used and are only given to consenting volunteers. If you know of any instances where dying people are given placebos and not made aware of it, please notify the authorities/media. That's Tuskegee levels of malpractice.

On topic, the Composer digitised entire beings - turned their minds into AIs, stored their genetic code etc... It also seemed to disintegrate them. Whether or not that's a side effect of the scanning or a separate function is a little unclear. If it was just a side effect then why was MC knocked unconscious when it couldn't scan his new genetic code? Just the quantity of energy that passed through him? If the disintegration was a just a way of handily killing humans as it scanned them then why was it used on the forerunner warriors who got scanned to fight the flood?

Wasn't there tiny cube like particles floating around and/or drifting after the humans were disintegrated? It's pretty far out stuff. It zaps people and synthesizes them somehow. Oh wait, it was the Forerunners who created the Crucible!

 

[Izayoi]

oh fuck..

Cortana reborn in Halo 5

So we can have another corny love story?

No thanks. I'd much prefer the series to be about what it was initially, fighting scary aliens who want to shoot/stab you.

 

[exYle]

New cover sucks. What are you all on.

This is the old cover

Compare it to the previous 2. They are all in the same style. This one is just blatant marketing ruining a good looking cover to make one where people recognize the people on the cover.

The art is cool, but the old one was much better suited. Kind of annoyed they changed it.

Now that the Didact and Librarian have actual, modelled looks, I'm glad they put them on the cover. The Forerunners have some really excellent design and they think they should be put out a little more.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

See, it's scenery like this that along with Mass Effect has made Halo my favorite space opera universe! Halo 4 looks beautiful from beginning to end and I'm really loving the mythology of this series.

 

[Izayoi]

Now that the Didact and Librarian have actual, modelled looks, I'm glad they put them on the cover. The Forerunners have some really excellent design and they think they should be put out a little more.

I like the armor, but otherwise they're just ugly humans. I'm not a fan of the designs at all.

See, it's scenery like this that along with Mass Effect has made Halo my favorite space opera universe! Halo 4 looks beautiful from beginning to end and I'm really loving the mythology of this series.

It'll be great in Halo 5 when we can actually explore all of the terrain with that kind of fidelity. It's a shame that we're restricted to lots of wide (very pretty) hallways in 4, I would love seeing something akin to The Ark or Halo/SC/AOTC with Halo 4 levels of fidelity.

 

[exYle]

I like the armor, but otherwise they're just ugly humans. I'm not a fan of the designs at all.

I like the concept of bestial, super-advanced humans. Like, what if our evolution was slightly altered and we lost some of our physical features in exchange for greater longevity and higher intelligence? I think the Forerunner representing a form of humanity that is better in some ways and worse in others is super neat.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

It'll be great in Halo 5 when we can actually explore all of the terrain with that kind of fidelity. It's a shame that we're restricted to lots of wide (very pretty) hallways in 4, I would love seeing something akin to The Ark or Halo/SC/AOTC with Halo 4 levels of fidelity.

Yeah and assuming Halo 5 is going to be on the "Xbox 720", oh..... wow.....!!!!

 

[NobleGundam]

The scene where the Librarian and Chief conversing. Does anyone believe she is a Holographic image of the real Librarian or perhaps an Ancilla with the knowledge, personalities, and different priorities of her?

Didact mentioned her presence is an annoyance even in death. And to "Relinquish Your Contact Essence".

I was informed she is possibly Alive on Earth from last she was reseeding humanity.

Interesting.

 

[Red_Man]

The Didact's armor is pretty sweet, but his organic form looked like generic trash from any monster game. I expected a much better design for the forerunners after waiting to see them for so long. At least his voice is perfect.

 

[Flipyap]

I like the concept of bestial, super-advanced humans. Like, what if our evolution was slightly altered and we lost some of our physical features in exchange for greater longevity and higher intelligence? I think the Forerunner representing a form of humanity that is better in some ways and worse in others is super neat.

Wait... worse in what ways? Worse at having pointy noses?

Noses. Super neat.

 

[Hypertrooper]

The Didact's armor is pretty sweet, but his organic form looked like generic trash from any monster game. I expected a much better design for the forerunners after waiting to see them for so long. At least his voice is perfect.

Do you not like his look in the game? Because I personally like the look of the Librarian and the terminal Didact. They look old and wise but still young.

The scene where the Librarian and Chief conversing. Does anyone believe she is a Holographic image of the real Librarian or perhaps an Ancilla with the knowledge, personalities, and different priorities of her?

Didact mentioned her presence is an annoyance even in death. And to "Relinquish Your Contact Essence".

I was informed she is possibly Alive on Earth from last she was reseeding humanity.

Interesting.

I do think her body does not exist anymore but this does not exclude that she has not used the composer on herself to digitize and put herself in a safe area to observe humanity.

Especially [Primordium-Spoiler]

Spoiler

since Guilty Spark-2 says that she's alive.

 

[AlStrong]

New cover sucks. What are you all on.

Looks like Sauron is consulting his magic eightball about some girl he has a crush on.

 

[Red_Man]

Do you not like his look in the game? Because I personally like the look of the Librarian and the terminal Didact. They look old and wise but still young.

I don't really mind the Librarian's look, but the Didact looks like a rejected monster design from a horror game. I'm just disappointed in how plain he looks.

 

[Popeck]

Wait... worse in what ways? Worse at having pointy noses?

Noses. Super neat.

Well obviously it will be hard to high-five people with six fingers. What a tragedy.

 

[Hypertrooper]

I don't really mind the Librarian's look, but the Didact looks like a rejected monster design from a horror game. I'm just disappointed in how plain he looks.

Have you seen the Domain Terminals? What do you think about this Didact:

 

[shinobi602]

So we can have another corny love story?

No thanks. I'd much prefer the series to be about what it was initially, fighting scary aliens who want to shoot/stab you.

I'm very much ready for the story to mature, this game was just the right step in the right direction.

Halo was always about the Chief and Cortana.

 

[Flipyap]

Well obviously it will be hard to high-five people with six fingers. What a tragedy.

High fives are for babies. High sixes are the new shit, high sevens if the Writing Bear didn't just lose count at some point.

I'm very much ready for the story to mature, this game was just the right step in the right direction.

Halo was always about the Chief and Cortana.

Nothing says "mature story" like getting your holographic budget stripper a real body so she can finally feel the sun's warmth on her actually naked body.

Unless you meant that there would be a lot of fucking, in which case, sure.

 

[exYle]

Wait... worse in what ways? Worse at having pointy noses?

Noses. Super neat.

Well, they're a bit of a stick in the mud. And they're pompous as fuck, given what they did to the Precursors and humans while still considering themselves worthy of the Mantle.

 

[GrizzNKev]

High fives are for babies. High sixes are the new shit, high sevens if the Writing Bear didn't just lose count at some point.


Nothing says "mature story" like getting your holographic budget stripper a real body so she can finally feel the sun's warmth on her actually naked body.

Unless you meant that there would be a lot of fucking, in which case, sure.

Cortana was hotter when she was a woman and not a girl. Halo 2 Cortana back please.

 

[Blue Ninja]

Yes, those were my exact thoughts at first. It made me very convinced the Halo 4 Didact is the Ur-Didact. I stated my opinion about it pages back within this thread. Until a GAFfer said I was wrong. Then I began researching the novel Primordium and the Didact wiki.
It said that the Didact had full control over Bornstellar's body and Ur-Didact could only hear Borns thoughts within his dreams.

That's not the Ur-Didact, that's the Bornstellar Didact. They're basically two Didacts, but one (as we see in Primordium) is definitely less hostile to humans (as he saves Chakas and the rest, and even lets Chakas accompany him while talking to the Prisoner). That's also the one that saves a Halo ring: i.e. one of the weapons the Ur-Didact despised and wanted gone. So even though the Didact's personality has taken over, Bornstellar is definitely still in there, even if it's only in his dreams.

Halopedia can be good, but there's a lot of conjecture and speculation on it, as well. Don't take anything you read there as a fact: they've been wrong before.

 

[Flipyap]

Well, they're a bit of a stick in the mud. And they're pompous as fuck, given what they did to the Precursors and humans while still considering themselves worthy of the Mantle.

Meanwhile, after spending their entire history (2.0) fighting each other and being generally shitty for the most part, humans have decided to incite civil wars for other species, since they're now at the top of the galactic food chain and have to entertain themselves somehow.
But hey, at least they're the official licensees of the Mantle... at least according to a space zombie parasite.

Same shit, different space asshole.

That's not the Ur-Didact, that's the Bornstellar Didact. They're basically two Didacts, but one (as we see in Primordium) is definitely less hostile to humans (as he saves Chakas and the rest, and even lets Chakas accompany him while talking to the Prisoner).

And yet
"THE DIDACT WAS far from done with me, and I was far from done with the horrors of the wheel. It was the Didact, finally, who betrayed us all. "

That's also the one that saves a Halo ring: i.e. one of the weapons the Ur-Didact despised and wanted gone.

Which fits the characterization of Halo 3's Didact, who survives long enough to fire the damn things anyway.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Meanwhile, after spending their entire history (2.0) fighting each other and being generally shitty for the most part, humans have decided to incite civil wars for other species, since they're now at the top of the galactic food chain and have to entertain themselves somehow.
But hey, at least they're the official licensees of the Mantle... at least according to a space zombie parasite.

Same shit, different space asshole.

Just reading this has the 60's Batman theme song playing in my head.

 

[Der Flatulator]

Let me get this straight though; "Prometheans" aren't and were never Forerunner Warrior Servants?

When I first read Cryptum, I got the impression Promethean (e.g. Didact) was to Warrior Servant as LifeShaper (e.g. Librarian) is to LifeWorker. Now it seems that the Prometheans are AI constructs produced by the composer to fight for and alongside Warrior Servants.

I'm still a little confused.

 

[Blue Ninja]

Meanwhile, after spending their entire history (2.0) fighting each other and being generally shitty for the most part, humans have decided to incite civil wars for other species, since they're now at the top of the galactic food chain and have to entertain themselves somehow.
But hey, at least they're the official licensees of the Mantle... at least according to a space zombie parasite.

Same shit, different space asshole.


And yet
"THE DIDACT WAS far from done with me, and I was far from done with the horrors of the wheel. It was the Didact, finally, who betrayed us all. "


Which fits the characterization of Halo 3's Didact, who survives long enough to fire the damn things anyway.

Well, considering they had to lock him into a Cryptum again, I'd say that fits.

Let me get this straight though; "Prometheans" aren't and were never Forerunner Warrior Servants?

When I first read Cryptum, I got the impression Promethean (e.g. Didact) was to Warrior Servant as LifeShaper (e.g. Librarian) is to LifeWorker. Now it seems that the Prometheans are AI constructs produced by the composer to fight for and alongside Warrior Servants.

I'm still a little confused.

Yes, they were. Originally, Prometheans were the highest echelon of the Warrior-Servant ranks. The Didact himself was the leader of the Prometheans. When the Flood came, the Prometheans used the Composer on themselves to transform them into machine warriors, which could not be infected. After a while, when the reserves started to dwindle, the Didact used the Composer on humans to create more Prometheans.

 

[Slightly Live]

Let me get this straight though; "Prometheans" aren't and were never Forerunner Warrior Servants?

When I first read Cryptum, I got the impression Promethean (e.g. Didact) was to Warrior Servant as LifeShaper (e.g. Librarian) is to LifeWorker. Now it seems that the Prometheans are AI constructs produced by the composer to fight for and alongside Warrior Servants.

I'm still a little confused.

When Ur-Didact first used the Composer to combat the Flood, he used his fellow Forerunners - his Promethean brothers in arms who would have served under him. As effective as they were, he needed more units because he would never win the numbers game against the Flood so he bolstered his unit count by composing Humans - it was then that he got stopped.

The term Promethean refers to the Forerunner Warrior Servants serving under Ur-Didact AND these anti-Flood robotic units seen in Halo 4.

He essentially just kept the name for those who served under him.

 

[Der Flatulator]

Yes, they were. Originally, Prometheans were the highest echelon of the Warrior-Servant ranks. The Didact himself was the leader of the Prometheans. When the Flood came, the Prometheans used the Composer on themselves to transform them into machine warriors, which could not be infected. After a while, when the reserves started to dwindle, the Didact used the Composer on humans to create more Prometheans.

When Ur-Didact first used the Composer to combat the Flood, he used his fellow Forerunners - his Promethean brothers in arms who would have served under him. As effective as they were, he needed more units because he would never win the numbers game against the Flood so he bolstered his unit count by composing Humans - it was then that he got stopped.

The term Promethean refers to the Forerunner Warrior Servants serving under Ur-Didact AND these anti-Flood robotic units seen in Halo 4.

He essentially just kept the name for those who served under him.

Thanks, I thought that might have been the case.

 

[Flipyap]

Well, considering they had to lock him into a Cryptum again, I'd say that fits.

I think you missed the part where that quote refers to the Bornstellar Didact. That would be the first cryptum nap for this one, and the opposite of your theory.

When Ur-Didact first used the Composer to combat the Flood, he used his fellow Forerunners - his Promethean brothers in arms who would have served under him. As effective as they were, he needed more units because he would never win the numbers game against the Flood so he bolstered his unit count by composing Humans - it was then that he got stopped.

The term Promethean refers to the Forerunner Warrior Servants serving under Ur-Didact AND these anti-Flood robotic units seen in Halo 4.

He essentially just kept the name for those who served under him.

Which sounds kind of disrespectful, but that guy is a massive delusional idiot, so I guess that's to be expected.

 

[Fuchsdh]

I think you missed the part where that quote refers to the Bornstellar Didact. That would be the first cryptum nap for this one, and the opposite of your theory.


Which sounds kind of disrespectful, but that guy is a massive delusional idiot, so I guess that's to be expected.

Wouldn't say he's an idiot, but delusional fits. He's the case in point of where stridency for good leads to evil.

I'm really hoping Bear is up to the task of giving us his fall from grace in Silentium. Could be a helluva' story if properly told.

 

[shinobi602]

Nothing says "mature story" like getting your holographic budget stripper a real body so she can finally feel the sun's warmth on her actually naked body.

Unless you meant that there would be a lot of fucking, in which case, sure.

Well I'm not just focusing on that aspect.

I like how they're delving into the Spartans' psychology, specifically John's. The overall massive upgrade in production value efforts, the morality of the Spartan program, the relationship between Chief and Cortana, and not just her physique...