How would you make Masterchief a more compelling and flawed character?

[Plurralbles]

take off his helmet for 90% of the game woudl be a good start.

 

[Vrex360]

Personally, I think this should be about the Arbiter. He has a home world, and others just like him to connect with. What could be done to make him a better player in the HALO universe?

Well it is worth remembering that he's on a determined quest for redepmtion in the eyes of his peers and mainly himself at his own crippling failure. Then of course later down the line he starts to question his loyalty as more and more things come together to suggest that there really is no 'great journey'. This ends with the complete confirmation of what he had been suspecting and the new found alliance he has to forge with his former enemies.
I mean if you ask me there would be a lot of characterisation there, he'd be dissillusioned by the realisation that the Great Journey, the thing all his people had been building towards for centuries was a lie. He would perhaps feel shame and hate at being betrayed by the prophets and hence want nothing more then vengeance and more then that he would perhaps be seeking redemption in the eyes of the humans who he gradually grows to respect.
I think he has a very deep and interesting character that can be used to a degree.

P.S I agree with what you said about the Chief.

 

[Cpu46]

I feel that the halo game was a way to draw people into the deeper story of the Halo Universe.
If you just play through the games the chief dosnt seem to have any personality, but if you branch off into the the books you see that for what he has been through he has a very deep charicter.

That said, I do think we need a game about SGT Jhonson. Maybe 343 industries will make one.

 

[UnusualStranger]

Well it is worth remembering that he's on a determined quest for redepmtion in the eyes of his peers and mainly himself at his own crippling failure. Then of course later down the line he starts to question his loyalty as more and more things come together to suggest that there really is no 'great journey'. This ends with the complete confirmation of what he had been suspecting and the new found alliance he has to forge with his former enemies.
I mean if you ask me there would be a lot of characterisation there, he'd be dissillusioned by the realisation that the Great Journey, the thing all his people had been building towards for centuries was a lie. He would perhaps feel shame and hate at being betrayed by the prophets and hence want nothing more then vengeance and more then that he would perhaps be seeking redemption in the eyes of the humans who he gradually grows to respect.
I think he has a very deep and interesting character that can be used to a degree.

P.S I agree with what you said about the Chief.

I have the distinct feeling that I am being quoted, and responding to, a fellow who knows his HALO quite well.

You couldn't have explained the Arbiter, or the Chief, any better than I would have.

And what is wrong with the rest of you? Take off his helmet? Why? He isn't alive to make friends, you know. Or perhaps I didn't notice as he was punching prophets in the face that he was just trying to get a peaceful point across.

If thats the case, then my bad.

 

[Pegghead]

I don't know. Some characters are better the less developed they are. Would Duke Nukem have been any better if he was secretly overcompensating for his deep fear of all things that looked like dinosaurs due to an unfortunate accident at the age of two?

 

[Nomanslander]

Starting off my making the entire story more compelling and not just another Starship Troopers knock-off...0o

I don't know. Some characters are better the less developed they are. Would Duke Nukem have been any better if he was secretly overcompensating for his deep fear of all things that looked like dinosaurs due to an unfortunate accident at the age of two?

He could have had his own one liners instead of ripping it off from other movies, I heard Bruce Campbell was pretty irritated when he heard his Army of Darkness lines coming out of the Duke's mouth.

 

[Trivun]

I don't know if it's just me, but all Masterchief did since the first Halo game was be a completely unbreakable badass who was nigh invincible and respected and revered by everyone around him, also being incapable of showing any emotion at all besides determination and conviction.

In the first Halo game, Masterchief was a fearless soldier who was an expert at combat but didn't seem to know much else. Masterchief was somewhat impatient, a bit dimwitted, clueless at times, and easy to manipulate. Cortana was usually the one making the decisions for him and pointing out his objectives while taking care of all the technical work hacking systems and providing data. I'm not saying Masterchief should of stayed this way for the rest of the series. His character has to develop throughout the series, obviously, but making him a completely bland and generic super soldier wasn't the best idea, in my opinion.

So, how would you write his character to be more interesting?

Read the books. He gets a ton of character development and we find out all about his (relatively tragic) past, and find out there is much more than just the soldier to his personality. For example, did you know that the young John-117 was actually abducted as a six-year-old from his home and replaced with a flash-grown clone in order to be made into a Spartan-II? Did you know that he felt extreme remorse and guilt after the first kills he ever made? Did you know that the Master Chief was extremely rebellious as a kid and this was one of the factors that led to his promotion to Master Chief Petty Officer, above all the other Spartan-IIs?

Yep. The books will give you all the answers. Or you could browse the Halo Wiki if you're too lazy/cheap to pop down to the local bookshop...

 

[Nomanslander]

Starting off my making the entire story more compelling and not just another Starship Troopers knock-off...0o

There isn't anything wrong with his character (although his dialogue is pretty blandly written), it's just the world he interacts with is pretty cliched and shallow.

I don't know. Some characters are better the less developed they are. Would Duke Nukem have been any better if he was secretly overcompensating for his deep fear of all things that looked like dinosaurs due to an unfortunate accident at the age of two?

He could have had his own one liners instead of ripping it off from other movies, I heard Bruce Campbell was pretty irritated when he heard his Army of Darkness lines coming out of the Duke's mouth.

 

[MONSTERheart]

Read the books. They really flesh him out.

 

[Trivun]

Personally, I think this should be about the Arbiter. He has a home world, and others just like him to connect with. What could be done to make him a better player in the HALO universe?

Well it is worth remembering that he's on a determined quest for redepmtion in the eyes of his peers and mainly himself at his own crippling failure. Then of course later down the line he starts to question his loyalty as more and more things come together to suggest that there really is no 'great journey'. This ends with the complete confirmation of what he had been suspecting and the new found alliance he has to forge with his former enemies.
I mean if you ask me there would be a lot of characterisation there, he'd be dissillusioned by the realisation that the Great Journey, the thing all his people had been building towards for centuries was a lie. He would perhaps feel shame and hate at being betrayed by the prophets and hence want nothing more then vengeance and more then that he would perhaps be seeking redemption in the eyes of the humans who he gradually grows to respect.
I think he has a very deep and interesting character that can be used to a degree.

P.S I agree with what you said about the Chief.

See, this is a guy who knows what he's talking about. As the only person I know of on this site who seems to know Halo as well as, if not better than, myself, Vrex is absolutely right, and this is the point I'm trying to make in my previous post . I mean, look at Catherine Halsey as well. She's the closest thing that John has to a mother figure, given that he was abducted as a child. Not to mention that his closest friend, Cortana, happens to be an AI based directly from a flash-clone of Halsey's own brain...

 

[Trivun]

take off his helmet for 90% of the game woudl be a good start.

Considering that for about 90% of the game, including cutscenes, John is being shot at or otherwise engaged in firefights with, the Covenant, taking off his helmet would not be a good idea. Especially when it's explained in all three games, plus the books, that his helmet is the only means of communication John has with Cortana. She's uploaded into a neural link in his brain, and that is connected directly to his armour through his helmet, remember?

 

[Soushi]

I remember when there was debate over wether or not he could possibly have been a girl. I think that maybe that could have been cool. Other than that, as far as badass space marines go, he is alright in my books
I do not mean, however, to imply in any way that making him a girl would have made him flawed.

 

[NeutralDrow]

To be honest, I don't find him to be a bad character now, because there are many actual plot-centric reasons for him being the way he is, making him feel far less generic.

 

[CriticalGriffin]

Kill him and then get someone better.

 

[Reep]

Make him act like he did in the books, in the book "The Flood", one thing that struck me was that he was genuinely scared and shocked by the Flood

 

[GruntOwner]

I remember when there was debate over wether or not he could possibly have been a girl. I think that maybe that could have been cool. Other than that, as far as badass space marines go, he is alright in my books
I do not mean, however, to imply in any way that making him a girl would have made him flawed.

That debate should have ended very quickly. Around about the time someone pointed out that
A)He has no sex drive, and
B)He has, since the age of 14, looked upon people as either commanding officers to obey, fellow UNSC to assist or threats to eliminate.

He's never intereacted with anyone on a non formal basis and puberty for him was less about his voice breaking and more about his bones getting the Wolverine treatment. Showing that off would make him appear out of place, which is KINDA vulnerable, so any social situation which features him sitting quietly in the corner waiting for orders is about as flawed as you can show him... Fortunately, there's a war in all 3 games so we got to see him in his strongsuit at all times.

 

[Super_Nintendo_Chalmers]

He's a soldier made for fighting.
Nuff said.

 

[WolfThomas]

Give him a face, make it look old before it's time,like a 30 year old with hair going grow, wrinkles on his brow. Emphasis the world weariest of him through dialogue, everyone expects him always to save the day.

Then bam, give him a twinkle in his eye and a rogue-ish grin as he throws on his helmet and leaps into the fray.

 

[malestrithe]

Then give him a little back story: What was it like in the Spartan labs? Why is he the only one left? How does that knowledge affect him? Does our hero want to do something else other than kill? What was the ultimate point of Spartan? Was it purely a militaristic thing? Or did it have something more sinister?

All this stuff is discussed in detail in the first installment in the Halo franchise.

Apparently not well enough because many non halo fans still do not care about Johnny 117. If it were done a lot better, than more people in the gaming industry would not hate him for existing.