Halo needs to move away from Spartans if it wants to survive

[McNinja]

The Spartans, in the game, were a terrible waste of time, money, and energy. Their armor is almost completely useless, they can't sprint for more than 20 feet, and they SUCK at aiming. The Spartan soldiers should not even exist. Not to mention their armor is completely garbage, with their helmet being of a worth close to that of strapping a squirrel to your noggin, which is to say, none at all.

This is based off of Reach and both its single-player campaign and online multi-player.

The Spartans don't need to be removed, they need to be fixed. Cortana and the Chief are a fantastic pair, unlike everyone in Halo: Reach.

Just so everyone knows, Halo: Reach is a terrible example of anything having to do with Halo.

 

[ElPatron]

In other news:

Nintendo needs to move away from Italian Plumbers if it wants to survive.

Microsoft can easily make the new trilogy sell well, but telling a story that doesn't need to be told will just cheapen the franchise.

What, Halo 3 wasn't enough?

ITT: Opinions, opinions, opinions.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

In other news:

Nintendo needs to move away from Italian Plumbers if it wants to survive.

bahaha basically this.

spartans and covenant to an extend, are what make halo..well, HALO

if they did a spartan game that went actually in detail with spartans and not just the atmosphere of the whole universe/flood wars, it wouldn't be a boring game, it'd be amazing as fuck.

 

[Tupolev]

I'm not sure that it's necessarily a problem.

It's entirely possible to run an effective story without much character drive; the first Halo is perhaps one of the best examples of this in action in video games. Yet it's been done very well in just about any medium; Battleship Potemkin spent more than a quarter century being considered the best film ever made by a plurality of film critics, and it spent most of its running time without any named characters.

I also think that the problems with Reach have a lot less to do with a lack of interesting characters than they do with a failure to exploit those characters well. A lack of interesting backstory isn't a hindrance to character drive (and Noble Team's characters arguably do have some interesting backstories to draw on anyway), a lack of interesting exploitation is. The problem with Reach isn't that the characters are pieces of cardboard, it's that they're used so blandly that they might as well be (with possible exception to Jorge, who is ironically the games' only Spartan II).

Finally, there are a few people speculating that Halo 4 might try to do with Halo what Marathon Infinite did with Marathon. Which could fail miserably if not executed extremely well, but on the other hand, could be ridiculously awesome if they get it right.

 

[TheHighDino]

I can't be the ONLY person who preferred Noble Team to Master Chief?

 

[Dansen]

Spartans are the only means they have to combat the Covenant effectively, without them they'd probably have lost.

They actually weren't really that effective in combat roles, their primary use in the war was to buy time. They were often sent on suicide missions, they weren't some amazing super weapon the humans had.

Their name sake says it all.

 

[Delsana]

Spartans are the only means they have to combat the Covenant effectively, without them they'd probably have lost.

They actually weren't really that effective in combat roles, their primary use in the war was to buy time. They were often sent on suicide missions, they weren't some amazing super weapon the humans had.

Their name sake says it all.

A major fleet base was destroyed by spartans a tactical weapon.

A major base was captured by the spartans...

Sorry but the Spartans are the sole reason their ground fights were able to constantly win, and without the Spartans the Halo's would have been fired and without the Spartans those captured tech would never have occurred. You need to read more lore.

 

[Compatriot Block]

The Spartans, in the game, were a terrible waste of time, money, and energy. Their armor is almost completely useless, they can't sprint for more than 20 feet, and they SUCK at aiming. The Spartan soldiers should not even exist. Not to mention their armor is completely garbage, with their helmet being of a worth close to that of strapping a squirrel to your noggin, which is to say, none at all.

This is based off of Reach and both its single-player campaign and online multi-player.

The Spartans don't need to be removed, they need to be fixed. Cortana and the Chief are a fantastic pair, unlike everyone in Halo: Reach.

Just so everyone knows, Halo: Reach is a terrible example of anything having to do with Halo.

Spartan IIIs, which are specifically designed for what are basically elite suicide missions.

Not to mention Spartans as powerful in game as they are in the backstory would make the game so easy it would be stupid.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

The Spartans, in the game, were a terrible waste of time, money, and energy. Their armor is almost completely useless, they can't sprint for more than 20 feet, and they SUCK at aiming. The Spartan soldiers should not even exist. Not to mention their armor is completely garbage, with their helmet being of a worth close to that of strapping a squirrel to your noggin, which is to say, none at all.

This is based off of Reach and both its single-player campaign and online multi-player.

The Spartans don't need to be removed, they need to be fixed. Cortana and the Chief are a fantastic pair, unlike everyone in Halo: Reach.

Just so everyone knows, Halo: Reach is a terrible example of anything having to do with Halo.

now i'm not going to rage...but have you read a single fucking line of literature revolving around halo or the spartans?

they are a heavy price to be sure, but they are more than worth their price in the end, taking down over thousands of covenant a piece, read ghosts of onyx to see what i mean, they are DESTROYER OF WORLDS for christ sake.

halo reach the game =/= halo reach the book, and the spartans are BALANCED in game so they aren't ridiculous to what they actually are in the books.

 

[Dansen]

Spartans are the only means they have to combat the Covenant effectively, without them they'd probably have lost.

They actually weren't really that effective in combat roles, their primary use in the war was to buy time. They were often sent on suicide missions, they weren't some amazing super weapon the humans had.

Their name sake says it all.

A major fleet base was destroyed by spartans a tactical weapon.

A major base was captured by the spartans...

Sorry but the Spartans are the sole reason their ground fights were able to constantly win, and without the Spartans the Halo's would have been fired and without the Spartans those captured tech would never have occurred. You need to read more lore.

They died a lot. On one of their first missions a spartan basically gets killed by a plasma pistol. A PLASMA PISTOL.

They were ultimately expendable, so all I'm saying is their main purpose wasn't to win the war, they were there to buy time.

 

[vrbtny]

I would listen to your point, if the prime example for your point wasn't Halo Legends.....

Aside from that. Maybe, but the Spartans basically are the Halo Franchise.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Frankly it dose not matter who it centers around its a mediocre shooter that had a decent hook(loved 1, 2 and 3 are mehy but good enough), now the hook is dead(well not dead but you get what I am saying) The series will flounder around until they find a character or characters to center around.

 

[Dansen]

I would listen to your point, if the prime example for your point wasn't Halo Legends.....

Aside from that. Maybe, but the Spartans basically are the Halo Franchise.

I'm fairly certain that the videos are motion comics that have no real connection to Halo:Legends

What makes these videos invalid?

 

[remnant_phoenix]

I think that they could make a damn good game surrounding the Elites, or even other ex-Covenant races, in a post-Halo 3 universe. With the Prophets dead, it would be interesting to see what these races do and what happens to them after the Covenant breaks apart.

For example, the Arbiter and the other Elites decided to search for their homeworld at the end of Halo 3. We can presume that they haven't seen their homeworld since they joined the Covenant a LONG time ago, so who knows what could happen during their search and what they will find on the planet when they eventually return to it?

In terms of Campaign, Halo 2 was my favorite in the series. Yes, the big cliffhanger ending was a ball-buster. Yes, the introduction of Gravemind made things confusing. However, the Arbiter story and the inside look at the Covenant were much more interesting to me than anything regarding the Spartans. I'd love to see a Halo game devoted to exploring more of that kind of stuff.

Alas, 343 is on record as saying something along the lines of, "What makes a Halo game great is playing as Master Chief. It was a mistake to have you play as someone else."

So, indirectly, they said that the Arbiter and the Noble Squad were mistakes, and it's going to be all Chief from here on out... It's highly doubtful we'll see any focus on the Covenant races or any other non-Spartan characters for Halo 4-6.

 

[Schmittler]

They could definitely do a better job at characterizing. I was excited from the Reach reveal trailer because it hinted at the expanded universe and then fell short. That is what they really need to capture, the ability to engage and excite the long term fans without isolating the new, mainstream audience. [A great place to look for this is in Marvel's talent in the movie industry.]

Unfortunately, the plot surrounding Halo 4 will likely be "Master Chief Saves the Universe. Again" It even says it in the description of the game.

Hopefully they incorporate other characters into the story for Halo 4. If not, at least their most recent drop of information regarding Halo: Glasslands, the newest novel, seems to be taking steps in the right direction, intertwining the Covenant and human interactions.

 

[vrbtny]

I would listen to your point, if the prime example for your point wasn't Halo Legends.....

Aside from that. Maybe, but the Spartans basically are the Halo Franchise.

I'm fairly certain that the videos are motion comics that have no real connection to Halo:Legends

What makes these videos invalid?

Well Halo is basically two completely separate franchises.

Bungie's games. Which constitutes the good bit of the franchise. Consisting of the five main games(Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3 : ODST, Halo Reach) For this section of the Franchise you are wrong. If Bungie had continued to make Halo games, the way to make them good would have been to keep Spartans as the main characters. It's what makes the Halo Franchise what it is. I mean, hell, Halo is the only FPS series that has managed to stand toe-to-toe with the COD domination and come out of it with some grace. That is mainly to do with the fact that Halo isn't directly fighting COD like other failed FPS's (Medal of Honor, Homefront, Call of Juarez) and the reason that Halo isn't directly fighting COD is because of the Spartans being the central characters. The only time Bungie deviated from Spartans was with Halo 3 : ODST, probably the weakest of the series.

The lack of iron-sight aiming is a thing which makes the Halo series unique, and that is due to the main characters being Spartans with visors and HUD's and stuff.

I would also consider the four novels, First Strike, The Fall of Reach, Contact Harvest and Ghosts of Onyx as part of the good side of the Halo franchise. The books were legitimate and needed to fill in gaps in the Halo Storyline. And, you may note, 3 of the four books are centered around Spartans.

Then there is the bad bit of the Halo Franchise.

This mainly consists of all the bits that Microsoft have used to milk the Franchise. Halo Wars may be a exception, but it certainly wasn't as good as I had hoped. Halo Legends as I have already mentioned was trash, and correct me If I'm wrong but most of those were centered around non-Spartans. The only good bits of Legends were Homecoming and the 1337 episode, with the Package being respectable due to being awesome if almost non-cannon. You will note that all the good episodes were Spartan Centric.

Microsoft are trying to make a big thing about the Elite's being really interesting characters and blah-blah-blah. They don't seem to accept that the Elites are great baddies, and that's all that anyone wants them to be. Bungie realized this, and with Halo : Reach quickly backpedaled to the time when the Elites were the bad-guys again.

 

[Bluntman1138]

Halo:ODST was another step in the right direction it put the player right in the middle of a conflict as regular soldiers.

You are wrong here. The ODST are NOT regular troops. ODST is like the Navy Seals, they are not front line troops, nor never will be. And you must not have paid attention to the story of the game, as the ODST was not there to fight the battle, they were there to carry out a specific mission. They ran away from battle because they had to, they had their own mission to complete. Even ODST troops has better armor than the enlisted Marines.

The Spartans, IMO, are the only thing that even came close to beating the Covenant. Every major victory the Humans had, was because of a Spartan in one way or another. Whether people want to say they are suicide troops doesnt change the fact that they are the ONLY enemy that the Covenant feared.

Reach showed us that the Spartans were more than just brainwashed. They had thier own ideals and opinions as well, but they also followed orders, as they were conditioned to. Some people forget that Master Chief, at the time of his 3 games, was the only Spartan known to be alive.

The Spartans were a force so feared that the Covenant sent a massive armada to wipe them out. And then sent an entire fleet after the last known Spartan left, the MC.

Halo games dont need to take thier focus off of the Spartans. They just need to add some depth to the Spartan we play. Reach did a pretty good job of that(with the exception of 6). And MC had lots of character and personality as well, you just have to be able to recognize it. Though some more backstory on MC would have been nice in game, instead of having to read books to get it.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

read the Halo books. lots more characterisation there.
and if they removed the SPARTANS, it would just be marines, so everyone would call it a COD clone.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Move away from there bread and butter to explore other characters in the universe... isn't that like the legend of Zelda dropping Link on his ass and going somewhere else? It's an interesting idea but will possibly upset lots of people and lead to finance disaster, thus makeing it unlikely to happen.

 

[WaywardHaymaker]

The only Halo game I'd like to see not featuring SPARTANs would be one that's completely given to The Arbiter. He's awesome enough to carry a game, he should get one.