Bungie Explains (Internally) Controversial Halo: Reach Ending

[Mausenheimmer]

Here's a thought then: Say three years from now, what would you all do if Microsoft/Bungie released some sort of patch the same way Valve did for Portal, that changed the ending so that Noble 6 actually escapes Reach somehow if the player manages to fulfill a certain set of conditions? Would that have changed your opinion on the ending for better or for worse?

For worse. Unlike in Portal, the conflict in the Halo universe is over. Reach was about how N6 gave humanity a fighting chance at the cost of his life and lives of his teammates. It cheapens the sacrifice if he manages to survive. Truthfully though, until the very end, I kept wondering how I would survive having my helmet shot up. Very powerful, especially when contrasted with the other Halos, which always had the heroes (even the ODSTs) surviving despite the odds.

Food for Thought: In Mass Effect, Shepard was a part of N7 before becoming a Spectre. Like N6, Shepard is a hero whose gender went unrecorded by history. This is clearly proof that SHEPARD IS NOBLE 7, sent across game universes to defeat another galactic threat. It's definitely not a coincidence.

 

[duchaked]

I felt the ending was just plain amazing...I mean after the credits I was like hmm pretty good I guess BUT THEN...goodness, it hit pretty hard

when they put the controls in my hands, I was surprised...I fought and fought but I knew I was going to die sooner or later

sooner...I just didn't feel it, it was fighting out of survival instinct but only desperation and no hope

 

[Miumaru]

I think its the perfect ending. We all know what happens, why sugar coat it? Semi-related, thats how I would like to see Gear 3 end, as well. Basically all human players will take a final stand (preferably, as the original Delta sqaud) and fight the Locust till the end; like the vibe you got from the teaser trailer some time back.

But uh...it would still mean the locusts are still around.

 

[FFMattCR]

The book trilogy was written around the time of halo 1 wasn't it?

To be honest I think the whole series might have turned out better if they'd followed the story of the third book when making halo 2, (book 2 was halo 1)
and when they created reach they should have used the story from the first book (about reach, well, okay they could have cut all the spartan training and back story from the beginning but there was still enough to go on)

lol

 

[katsabas]

Wow. Never played any of the games and I truly get the ending. The 's' word sent chills down my spine. Halo inspired feeling. Didn't think that was possible. Bungie injected a heart felt story this time around and I like the sound of it.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Kat was, apparently, too damn stupid to turn on her freakin' shield as a single shot to the head from a needle rifle is no where near sufficient to punch through even on the hardest difficulty.

I seem to remember that right before she was shot, they were hit by a bit of the radiation blast the covenant fired at the city. Remember they were saying the covenant were all retreating en masse and the radiation burst was close? Wouldn't it be safe to say that the radiation jammed their shields? Or that the whole purpose of the radiation blast was a massive emp? I mean its documented fact that strong radiation has adverse effects on electrical equipment.

Well that was my theory. I would be pissed if it was all Kat's dumb fault she died. I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt on this one.

The reason cited for her death was that Kat misjudged the gravity of the situation due to her lack of situational awareness and simply failed to activate her shielding system. Her lack of situational awareness is cited as the reason she lost her arm in the battle for some planet as seen in the "Deliver Hope" trailer.

The radiation blast itself was simply a sign that the covenant were glassing the area, thus why they were attempting to retreat to the safety of a bunker and why, as they leave said bunker, the city is in utter ruin.

 

[Kavonde]

The ending was amazing, plain and simple. I walked away impressed.

 

[ChupathingyX]

I might've actually cared about him dying if it weren't for the fact that the Spartans are one of the most bland and annoying group of characters in modern gaming. Seriously when they die for me its a good feeling cause that way you don't have to hear them anymore. Also Noble Six sacrificing himself meant Master Chief survives, making me hate him even more because he;s the reason we have to listen him.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

I'm sticking to the idea that Noble 6 might not have died. It never showed him actually get killed, as far as I could tell. Jun could have come back, guns blazing, and they could have both gotten off Reach together.

 

[Hamster at Dawn]

I really loved the ending and thought it was great that they let you play to the end rather than just showing him die or leaving it open. The one thing that annoyed me about the deaths in the game is how they are inconsistent with the gameplay where the characters are invincible. Emile spent all his time running head first into groups of enemies with a shotgun and standing still while he shot it. Then a couple of Elites come along and overpower him with no problem. I think that reduced the impact for me, since I figured all the characters should have already been dead a long time ago.

 

[WanderingFool]

I think its the perfect ending. We all know what happens, why sugar coat it? Semi-related, thats how I would like to see Gear 3 end, as well. Basically all human players will take a final stand (preferably, as the original Delta sqaud) and fight the Locust till the end; like the vibe you got from the teaser trailer some time back.

But uh...it would still mean the locusts are still around.

Yeah... I cant see the Locust being completely defeated ever...

 

[a Soviet Pie]

I was doing some thinking on the deaths of every spartan in noble team, and realized that each one of the deaths represented the personality of the member. I'm not sure if Bungie meant to do it, but here it is;
1. Carter - Died taking out that massive scarab, saving the team. Since he was leader, he gave his live for his soldiers.
2. Kat - Killed with a needle rifle through the head, didn't have her sheilds up. Same way she lost the arm. She was always the one who did not take situations in their full severity.
3. Jun - Never KIA in game. Represents that since he was sniper, he was not on the front lines, able to survive for a long time without showing his face. Stealth.
4. Jorge - Killed while taking down a covenant supercarrier. He was always one with more sympathy, and was willing to give his life for the innocents on reach.
5. Emile - Killed in battle royale with elite swordsmen. Liked to kill things, hard to kill. Nuff said.
6. Noble Six - The hero, died fighting to the death, showing battle potential and skill, and making the image of him as a demigod.


Also, I didn't put spoiler alertz because if you've read through this many pages, you should probably stop if you don't want to hear it.

 

[Uber Waddles]

I didnt get the inspiration from the ending, mostly because my one co-op partner wondered if a certain type of barrel explodes while I was near him and the barrel (Good news, it does!)

But I think I see the point. I like the ending better this way; I hate it when games are too wishy-washy with an ending. You COULD live, but... You MIGHT have died, but...

I like it when a game gives you a clear cut ending. If your character dies, their dead. End of story. And Bungie did that.

Ive always liked Halo for its story, and was not disappointed at all by Reach. Dont care if they broke canon with this game, they made the canon so its theirs to break I say.

 

[anonymity88]

Is it just me or didn't Jun die? He just escorted Halsey off the planet.

And Jorge got teleported... Somewhere, with an intact covenant corvette and 2/3 of a super carrier

Yeah in the commentary of something Bungie says that Jun survives.

I liked the ending, although I hope after Red Dead and Reach murdering the protagonist isn't the new cool thing to do.

I just got Red Dead the other day and have just started getting into it.



Thanks.

 

[DazBurger]

Is it just me or didn't Jun die? He just escorted Halsey off the planet.

And Jorge got teleported... Somewhere, with an intact covenant corvette and 2/3 of a super carrier

Jun has to have died at some point because John-117 is said many times to be the last SPARTAN when Halo: Combat Evolved begins. Maybe he died off-world while protecting Halsey again?

OT: Reach's ending is an example of how to use the video game medium as an effective storytelling tool. If they had just flipped on a cutscene of Noble Six getting killed by Covenant, it wouldn't have had nearly the same effect as the way they actually pulled it off.

I still remember the point where I thought to myself "Wow, there's...no way I can win. There are just too many of them. I'm going to die." To feel that powerlessness firsthand was an effect I can't say too many other games have had on me.

Chief is not the last spartan.

Sometime by The Battle of Onyx, Dr. Halsey a number of marines and some Spartan II and III survivors got trapped inside a forrunner shieldworld.

But no one know they are there really

 

[The Journey]

No complains here about the ending, that part was awesome, but Kat's death... c'mon, could you really not think of anything better to do with that?

Well giving every character a mawkishly poignant ending would be ridiculous. It's war, people die pointlessly and tragically. More than that they were operating almost constantly in, not only a war zone but pretty much the front line of that war zone.

Yes she was a more interesting character than most (especially skull face there, he was the most clichéd cliché from cliché town that ever clichéd across the road), but ultimately that made her death even more pointed in it's blank, meaninglessness, which made it work for me.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

I'm really glad Bungie kept that ending in. Noble Six deserved to go down fighting, and it certainly capped the game off beautifully from my perspective. It makes sense that a Spartan would try to take out as many Covenant as possible even against insurmountable odds, whereas holing up and waiting for rescue seems, well, cowardly. If Six had survived it would have been like he was hiding in a bunker somewhere while the Covenant ravaged the planet he was meant to be defending - the rest of Noble went down fighting and Six needed to as well, otherwise he wouldn't have been a worthy addition to Noble team.

 

[Magnalian]

No complains here about the ending, that part was awesome, but Kat's death... c'mon, could you really not think of anything better to do with that?

Well giving every character a mawkishly poignant ending would be ridiculous. It's war, people die pointlessly and tragically. More than that they were operating almost constantly in, not only a war zone but pretty much the front line of that war zone.

Yes she was a more interesting character than most (especially skull face there, he was the most clichéd cliché from cliché town that ever clichéd across the road), but ultimately that made her death even more pointed in it's blank, meaninglessness, which made it work for me.

I see your point (and everybody else who responded in similiar fashion), but I still would've preferred her going out in a blaze of glory, like the rest of Noble Team (except Jun, but who cares about Jun? He talks too much). Hell, it doesn't even have to be a blaze of glory, just something other than "Boom! Headshot!" please. It's annoying enough when that happens in gameplay.

 

[frankie pugs]

So last week, my friends kid replayed the last level on legendary. He survived for an hour or so during the last "survive" level. Apparently if you survive long enough it cuts to another video of Noble Six walking amongst all of the dead elite bodies. Has anyone else experienced this? Any videos??

 

[lumenadducere]

So last week, my friends kid replayed the last level on legendary. He survived for an hour or so during the last "survive" level. Apparently if you survive long enough it cuts to another video of Noble Six walking amongst all of the dead elite bodies. Has anyone else experienced this? Any videos??

Sorry, assuming this is real and not an attempt at a joke it's untrue. The same guys that found all of the data pads and posted 'em online survived for about an hour and a half on legendary. There's no alternate scene and no way to survive that fight.