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Halo 4 Story Spoilers and Speculations
- Thread starter Slightly Live
- Start date
What exactly did Master Chief get when the Librarian imbued him with her special power/touch/etc?
After the first encounter with the didact I figured she gave him forerunner tech or super strength or telekenesis (though he obviously did get telepathy, at least in regards to forerunners) so that he could actually stand a chance against the military leader of a civilization 100 times more advanced than the current human race.
After beating the game it seems the only thing it made him was semi-human so that the Conductor wouldnt vaporize him and turn him into promethian knight thingy.
Weak.
P.S. Anyone else get excited as hell to see the human armor from when they went to war with the Forerunners? If Chief thinks he's going to stand a chance in the future they'd better upgrade him somehow. I believe he's at least 7 generations below the minimum required to fight the flood (according to guilty spark in Halo CE).
P.S.S. I wish they would have given the ancient humans more credit for being awesome. The only reason they lost was because they were fighting both the Forerunners and the flood. Ancient humans also found a way to stop the flood with an antivirus but it made no mention of that in the game.
After the first encounter with the didact I figured she gave him forerunner tech or super strength or telekenesis (though he obviously did get telepathy, at least in regards to forerunners) so that he could actually stand a chance against the military leader of a civilization 100 times more advanced than the current human race.
After beating the game it seems the only thing it made him was semi-human so that the Conductor wouldnt vaporize him and turn him into promethian knight thingy.
Weak.
P.S. Anyone else get excited as hell to see the human armor from when they went to war with the Forerunners? If Chief thinks he's going to stand a chance in the future they'd better upgrade him somehow. I believe he's at least 7 generations below the minimum required to fight the flood (according to guilty spark in Halo CE).
P.S.S. I wish they would have given the ancient humans more credit for being awesome. The only reason they lost was because they were fighting both the Forerunners and the flood. Ancient humans also found a way to stop the flood with an antivirus but it made no mention of that in the game.
NullPointer
Member
Its not just the fact that there are QTEs, its the fact that the climactic ending with the Didact was a QTE.
A QTE that had you hit a button to crawl, and then hit another button to attack the big bad. This exact formula has been the ending in several shooters as well. Its lame.
Did you miss the part where General Shepherd stabbed you? You had to pull the knife out, crawl, and then throw it at him, all by mashing X. What an ending.
Oh wait, you mean Halo 4? No idea.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Guys, why did Chief have to crawl at the end anyway? What was wrong with him?
SINCE WHEN DOES CHIEF EVER CRAWL?
No, I don't want your fan explanations of how Didact possibly tele-crushed his interior organs or some bullshit.
SINCE WHEN DOES CHIEF EVER CRAWL?
No, I don't want your fan explanations of how Didact possibly tele-crushed his interior organs or some bullshit.
Darkmakaimura
Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
Any theories on what that artifact they found in the end of Spartan Ops Episode 1 might be? Looks like it digitized the scientist like the Composer in the opening for Episode 2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zwCRMl--Sk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zwCRMl--Sk
Because they did, and then they didn't.
The game wisely avoids mentioning half of the twists within twists. The story is inscrutable enough to people not familiar with the books without introducing multiple Didacts and graveminds claiming not to be graveminds dropping cryptic clues and forced mysteries.
Greg Bear, ladies and gentlemen
For a Bear, he wrote pretty good!
good show.
Seriously though, I agree. The Forerunner trilogy is intricate and - to be honest - rather stale. But the world building is pretty good and 343 was right to tap into it, with restraint. However, the content of the terminals should have been integrated into the main storyline, leaving the nuance of the Bear books for the supplemental content.
Would have been much fuller that way.
there was no retconning or rewriting. multiple spartans have always been alive, or at least MIA and never officially listed as KIA.
Ghosts of Onyx was released a year before Halo 3 came out, yet in the Halo 3 manual it says "Chief is the last Spartan alive"
meanwhile in the book, you already know about multiple living SPARTAN IIs, and then you are introduced to the new SPARTAN III program.
bungie just completely ignored the books.
If there's only like 3, then why the fuck are they there in the first place, especially considering how unnecessary they are (and QTEs are at large)?
endresults
Member
Just beat it on Legendary, and holy fuck at seeing 10% of Master Chief's pale, scarred face. Feels good man. A few thoughts:
Promethean knights suck ass. Just shitty to fight, and can't put my finger on why. The crawlers are just cannon fodder and easily taken out with a headshot, which makes them the equivalent of fast grunts who only use boltshots.
It's about time MC shows just the tiniest bit of emotion. The whole emotionless supersoldier shit has worn a bit thin over the course of the series. The whole MC/Cortana dynamic is awesome. Cortana would go all rampanty and Chief would just calm her down with his usual goal-oriented mission-at-hand talk.
Holy SHIT at that facial animation, especially Dr. Facemelt, RIP. Very convincing.
Promethean knights suck ass. Just shitty to fight, and can't put my finger on why. The crawlers are just cannon fodder and easily taken out with a headshot, which makes them the equivalent of fast grunts who only use boltshots.
It's about time MC shows just the tiniest bit of emotion. The whole emotionless supersoldier shit has worn a bit thin over the course of the series. The whole MC/Cortana dynamic is awesome. Cortana would go all rampanty and Chief would just calm her down with his usual goal-oriented mission-at-hand talk.
Holy SHIT at that facial animation, especially Dr. Facemelt, RIP. Very convincing.
ToyMachine228
Member
Did it digitize him, or teleport him somewhere? I'm interested in following the story of Spartan Ops as it may lead us toward where the series is going for Halo 5. While it certainly isn't the same quality as the campaign, it may still serve a purpose in the grand story scheme.
Darkmakaimura
Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
If you watch the video, the scientist appears to get sucked into the artifact.
Maybe this is already observed, but I didn't realize this until now: The Chief's conscious relationship with Cortana only lasted for, canonically, little more than three months assuming he was never woken up between Halo 3 and Halo 4. Given the fact that he's probably lost people that he's lived and fought the war with for decades, doesn't it seem a bit unusual for the Chief to be this distraught over Cortana? Yeah yeah yeah Cortana's been with the fans for over a decade, but very little time has actually passed throughout the Halo games not counting the Chief's time in cryo.
I'm not saying he shouldn't have had a strong bond with Cortana. But just put that into perspective with the bonds he probably forged with the other SPARTAN-II's who died throughout the Covenant war.
Just sayin'.
I'm not saying he shouldn't have had a strong bond with Cortana. But just put that into perspective with the bonds he probably forged with the other SPARTAN-II's who died throughout the Covenant war.
Just sayin'.
Actually, they didn't. The flood was just selective about who to infect.
i think it's around 6 months they've been "together" but you're right, it's still not that much time.
it also bothered him when his other squadmates died. I think the first one to die was Sam, this was before they even got their Mjolnir armor and were on a Covenant ship.
the games make Chief seem like a heartless killing machine but there was always more to him. Although 343 did take it too far (at times Chief seems like he should be in a soap opera) I was glad to see they decided to show that Chief is actually human.
LAUGHTREY
Modesty becomes a woman
I don't think it's something that can digitize things, that'd be rather lame. I think it may be a pocket dimension or something. It is shaped like a coffin, maybe there's a forerunner inside.
Sam was the lesson Chief learned where sometimes you just can't save everyone.
There's not that much more to the Chief. The biggest character development was when he didn't turn over the flood data on Sgt. Johnson to ONI, and came to the conclusion that one person could make the difference. Other than that I've always felt the Chief is pretty empty on purpose. He's either the player character for the games or the narrator for the books.
i don't remember Chief being so cold and empty..
then again it's been awhile since I read the books and Fall of Reach is the only one I remember clearly since I read it twice.
Darkmakaimura
Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
If you watch the video, the scientist's body breaks down into "pixels" as he's getting sucked into the artifact. It's very similar to the whole Composer thing it seems. Maybe it's something they store Forerunner and/or other biological consciousness in.
NobleGundam
Banned
Great Post. Nearly everything I've been thinking lately about the game.
Has ONI/UNSC ever discovered about Ancient Humans? If so, then MC and OG Cortana were possibly the first to find out about them.
Don't think so. The only mention in the books was the new forerunner novels and those take place well before current timeline.
My only theory so far on the Chief's new 'power' given by the Librarian is long life since the forerunners lived extremely long lives (their suits helped with that). Not that it adds anything to the story but I bet Microsoft forced 343 to make the Chief immortal so they can make infinite more Halo games. There were multiple references in game about Chief being old and dated. The new generation Spartans only reinforced that ideal. Librarian solved all that and keeps the Chief kicking ass long after I die and my grandkids are spilling purple Covenant blood.
Doublesith
Member
ONI knows, they learn it from Chakas/Guilty Spark as revealed in Primordium.
BigTnaples
Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Were there ever any ODST's in this game at all?
The only officers looked kind of similar with black gear, but no face-mask, but definitely were not ODST's.
I loved fighting with the Spartan 4's but the lack of ODST's was kind of odd. Especially for those of us hoping for an ODST 2 next gen.
The only officers looked kind of similar with black gear, but no face-mask, but definitely were not ODST's.
I loved fighting with the Spartan 4's but the lack of ODST's was kind of odd. Especially for those of us hoping for an ODST 2 next gen.
NobleGundam
Banned
Ah, thanks. Just Read the last paragraph of "Rebirth as a Monitor" in halopedia.
My past speculation was Chakas possibly controlling Infinity. But curious if he'll return along with the ship and Oni crew.
The introduction of so many elements to H4 is overwhelming to say the least.
The story didn't feel as tight as the others and I felt like it just threw absolutely random, illogical shit at the player (ie: sudden Librarian sequence).
I'm not sure I liked it. This isn't the Halo I used to know
The story didn't feel as tight as the others and I felt like it just threw absolutely random, illogical shit at the player (ie: sudden Librarian sequence).
I'm not sure I liked it. This isn't the Halo I used to know
But you didn't have to cut me off!The introduction of so many elements to H4 is overwhelming to say the least.
The story didn't feel as tight as the others and I felt like it just threw absolutely random, illogical shit at the player (ie: sudden Librarian sequence).
I'm not sure I liked it. This isn't the Halo I used to know
gollumsluvslave
Member
Absolutely and categorically disagree, there is a clear distinction - a cutscene is pure exposition and exists only to push the story on (and possibly as a 'reward' for progress). There is ZERO interaction with a cutscene and ZERO ways to influence the outcome.
It's not like I'm suggesting any fight with the Didact should actually be a cutscene, but an interactive cutscene is much worse:-
1. Halo has always been at it's core well designed combat encounters. The Didcact QTE is anything but
2. Halo has always used small in-engine cutscenes as part of the story-telling dynamic. A clear delineation between story/exposition and gameplay.
3. 343 get plus points for providing other sources of backstory like service logs and terminals which have non-interactive cutscenes (though Terminal videos should be accesible in-game)
If 343 want to try and mix up story and gameplay, then fucking DESIGN an end encounter, PROPERLY, a 6 year old could have come up with the end QTE in Halo 4.
</rant>
MisterAnderson
Member
I could have sworn it was obvious that the Librarian made Chief immune to the Composer since he survived its effect aboard that station. It seems like an effective modification to have in the context of what the Didact was planning. Since she kind of modified his genetic code/sped up his evolution in some unknown way, it isn't unlikely that other "evolutions" might take place during the course of the trilogy which could be pretty interesting.
FunkyMunkey
Banned
The reason why he's sad about Cortana being gone is not only because she was a great friend to him and has saved his life countless times, but also because she's practically a clone of Halsey, who is pretty much the closest thing he has to a mother. At least that's why I'd be sad.
gollumsluvslave
Member
The introduction of so many elements to H4 is overwhelming to say the least.
The story didn't feel as tight as the others and I felt like it just threw absolutely random, illogical shit at the player (ie: sudden Librarian sequence).
I'm not sure I liked it. This isn't the Halo I used to know
I would disagree here, one could quite easily argue that the introduction of 343 Guilty Spark in CE was 'random, illogical shit' too, it was quite unexpected, and was really the first introduction of the concept of 'reclaimer' etc.
I actually quite liked the Librarian sequence, but having read both Bear books and the H3 terminals it made a fair amount of sense, although it (as usual for Halo) raised just as many if not more questions than it answered.
His suit tech was disabled and it's kinda hard to move forward being stuck in a 500 kg battlesuit?
Yeah, but Guilty Spark never transported you to his magical backstory dimension in order to force you to watch cryptic CGI and motion comics, nor did he sprinkle you with fairy dust to make you immune to the Flood.
Had actually not seen all the terminals.
So smooth Didact transition into angry Didact after a failed attempt of Composing himself.
Naturally this shit happens during the Bear's books timeline, and in the video the transition between 1000 years happens in a second.
No way to know if it's Bornstellar or ur-Didact but he does change, and grows a nasty look and bigger front teeth.
The sons of the Didact are not Prometheans Knights but they are pretty much the same except they live through the Domain.
Having no more access to the Domain, it doe make sense the Didact uses the Composer he found during Primordium to build up an army.
He's also gone enraged which may explain his sudden decision to compose the shit out of humanity.
Which is a pretty good reason for the Librarian to fill for a divorce.
Wonder how much Bear's next book will be about better explaining those events vs building up the next phase towards launching Halo 5.
So smooth Didact transition into angry Didact after a failed attempt of Composing himself.
Naturally this shit happens during the Bear's books timeline, and in the video the transition between 1000 years happens in a second.
No way to know if it's Bornstellar or ur-Didact but he does change, and grows a nasty look and bigger front teeth.
The sons of the Didact are not Prometheans Knights but they are pretty much the same except they live through the Domain.
Having no more access to the Domain, it doe make sense the Didact uses the Composer he found during Primordium to build up an army.
He's also gone enraged which may explain his sudden decision to compose the shit out of humanity.
Which is a pretty good reason for the Librarian to fill for a divorce.
Wonder how much Bear's next book will be about better explaining those events vs building up the next phase towards launching Halo 5.
OR they're just using that line to avoid having to explain the whole "two Didacts" subplot. We do know that it's the Qte-Didact who betrays them in the end.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
His suit wasn't disabled! His shields were flashing!
TheVoidDragon
Member
Chief was only called the last spartan during Halo 1/early on because they hadn't found any of the others yet, some of them survived Reach.
Blue Ninja
Member
Maybe it's a 'hard drive' where some of the Composer's digitized victims reside in. Dunno why it'd be on Requiem, though.
Also, if Jorge couldn't survive a trip through a slipspace portal, I find it silly that the Didact would. If you can't find a better way to get rid of him for one game than by throwing him into one of those things, then just man the fuck up and kill him already.
Uh, no. He didn't try composing himself, he tried mutating himself into a form immune to the Flood. As you can see, he failed. That's why his Prometheans underwent composition.
Halo 4 really needed a lot more exposition. Just the Chief (or Cortana) going "Wait, who the fuck are you?" when they run across those Spartan IV's for the first time would've been nice. Instead, it's like the Chief's embarrassed about having napped for four years, so he pretends like he knows whatever the fuck is going on.
Yeah, that whole sequence was probably the game's worst.
But they don't get in the way.
In the end, Halo doesn't have boss fights, so at least that ending was better than.....nothing? Which is what the other Halo games basically have/had.
Did you want them to end it with a warthog run?
Although I guess that Death Star thing could have been cool, but then you would have had a vocal minority whining about that too. Same way you have a vocal minority whine about fucking everything.
Can someone explain to me the point of the interview or shall we say interrogation with the Dr.? I would have thought during the game they would flash back to it and continue from there. It left me with a feeling that the current spartans aren't up to par to the spartans 2. Also it's been years since the orbital defense guns where taken off line I find it odd that the UNSC didn't rebuild the guns.
The Death Star part was lame and has nothing to do with what Halo is about. You should never be forced to stay in a vehicle and it should definitely not turn into a trial and error ordeal like that part was. I'm pretty sure 25% of my deaths in my campaign playthrough came from that section alone, mostly because the checkpoints weren't exactly forgiving either.
gollumsluvslave
Member
Well, he did transport you to the Library and subject you to levels of cryptic and insane mutterings - sure, no fairy dust, but at this point it is not exactly clear exactly what the Librarian did to the Chief.
We assume it's some kind of resistance to the Composer, but I'm not convinced; the only things we know for sure:-
1. Chief could hear the Didact telepathically afterwards.
2. Chief was not 'composed' in the space station near installation 03.
I can't think of anything else really, at the time I assumed that whatever she did would make Chief resistant to the Didact's gravity field, but that obviously did not happen.
Personally I think it's something to do with the Domain (which I'm interested to get more on in Silentium - why did the Forerunner's lose connection to it?); but likely totally off base.
Librarian's anti-Composing hacks make no less sense to me than all the other bullshit the Forerunners pull off.
Now that I think on it, didn't the Didact try to compose himself? That leads me to think that the Librarian just unlocked some geas in the Chief to make him similar to the Didact.
That would explain his connection to the Didact, it would explain his familiarity with Forerunner shit, it would explain Guilty Spark's "would I do it again?" line.
Now that I think on it, didn't the Didact try to compose himself? That leads me to think that the Librarian just unlocked some geas in the Chief to make him similar to the Didact.
That would explain his connection to the Didact, it would explain his familiarity with Forerunner shit, it would explain Guilty Spark's "would I do it again?" line.
They aren't. As it stands SIII are a cheap mass produced ripoffs of the SII's. SIV is with voluntary adults. So no gene selection or bioengineering/training from a young age.
One thing I get from the thread is even hardcore lore fans are a bit lost, even with books, videos etc...
that's pretty weird.
If 343i intends to copy CoD moving forward, then I humbly suggest moving the story through multiple characters.
Controlling the Lord Of Admirals even if the guy is just ginving orders from his ship, or going in a Flood infested planet as the Didact would have made the story bits much easier to swallow.
I'm not giving the stick to 343i for the rather poor story implementation, they tried, hard, and there are some successes, but my expectations were pretty high.
I delight in the quality f the cutscenes though, and still wish the best for the franchise.
They literally ask for our patience and support during the credits, so I hope the plan for the franchise is sound.
Best case scenario for me? they edit the videos and add some more and release a movie during 2013 that summarises pre-Halo firing events.
And they do the same with Spartan Ops/ONI to bridge the upcoming game/books.
I'd rather pay for the all she-bang rather than be fed some story, some gameplay and having a hard time reconcilling the two.