My Only Problem with Reach

[zaiggs]

I was super disappointed by Cat's death. It did seem pointless especially when compared to the other Spartans of Noble team who all managed to die while sacrificing themselves to deal some "massive blow" to the covenant.

Also, my thoughts exactly:

"*do do do do skipping along in the hallway* BLAT! *no shields?!?!*"

 

[Busdriver580]

An FPS CAN have a good story, but modern FPS fall into the trap of writing a bunch of characters, (usually the squad), who maybe seemed like good ideas and maybe are good characters, but unless your game is pushing 20 or so hours, no-one will even know all of them by name, let alone care. The problem isn't that FPS can't tell a story, it's that they make the framework so needlessly complicated and then never go anywhere with half the elements.

 

[T-Bone24]

You cared about kats death?

It was pathetic.

Spoiler

I mean, where the fuck were her shields?

Spoiler

My theory is that they were fried by the recent MASSIVE EXPLOSION, thus leaving her vulnerable. But I thought it was a very good scene, putting forward how quick and pointless that war can be.

 

[Dogstile]

You cared about kats death?

It was pathetic.

Spoiler

I mean, where the fuck were her shields?

Spoiler

sniper hit her in the head. Doesnt that kill in one shot anyays?

Spoiler

you should spoiler that. Anyway, it was a needle rifle, it takes 5 headshots, maybe 6 to kill a normal elite in that game. It's not actually a sniper rifle. If it was a sniper rifle I wouldn't care, but the covenant have no real sniper rifles in that game.

 

[Buizel91]

Well to be honest, i think they were done quite well, i mean this is the last moments of Reach before it gets Bombarded by the Covenant, plus it's one game with about 5 different Characters.

You aren't meant to feel much for them, because you know (or should) that they will die in a few hours of playing, i think with that in mind, the characters are done very well.

For me, Jorge and Emile were the best. Kat was also well done until she got shot...i think Bungie intended it to be a shocking moment, and it was, it was completely unexpected.

 

[Tompph]

The armour lock I can kinda see justifying it, and I don't recall the "re-entry" thing so I guess that's fair enough. (As un-physically possible as it would be ;P )
And yeah, I know Chief did it in 3 - though I had a similar issue there. The first few times I saw that cutscene I didn't get what was happening, then when I realised he was hot-dropping I was similarly incredulous as I am to 6's jump. It's just that... All the way from freakin' orbit! Seriously! XD

 

[Hosker]

My problem with it is that 90% of people grenade spam as soon as they see you.
But yes I have agree with yours as well, but I was never really expecting anything contrary to this.

 

[Prolol]

It's funny you mention Mass Effect as it blatantly stole Halos storyline/plot and turned it into a third person dating sim.

 

[Chainsaws_of_War_2]

You cared about kats death?

It was pathetic.

Spoiler

I mean, where the fuck were her shields?

Headshot?

Usually when one is sniped in Halo, shields are about as useful as a Scorpion without it's cannon. (Anyone else have this happen to them in matchmaking?)

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Halo gave up on story after the 2nd one...gave up on gameplay/level layouts after the first....

 

[silver wolf009]

You cared about kats death?

It was pathetic.

Spoiler

I mean, where the fuck were her shields?

Spoiler

Dont you know of course, each spartan must follow achillies footsteps and bathe in the river styx, that was her "achillies hell" if you will.

Seriously though that was a huge continunity error and it couldnt have been a sniper shot becasue the focus rifle dosent fire like that. (God I hate the focus rifle, bring back the beam rifle bungie.)

/rant

OT: yeah the only spartans I liked from that were Jorge and to some extent, Jun. Emile was acting the part of badass, kat was bland and carter didnt really do much.

 

[Joseph Crawford]

You cared about kats death?

It was pathetic.

Spoiler

I mean, where the fuck were her shields?

Spoiler

I believe the explosions and collapsing building they were trying to get out of disabled all their shields. It isn't explicitly said.

There is a very good, scientifically explained (IRL Science) reason as to why she had no shields.

Spoiler

There was an extremely large nuclear explosion of some kind nearby, those things tend to have a rather nasty EMP pulse effect, no shields for any of them. The radiation in nukes is most often gamma waves, which are a type of electromagnetic wave, wiping out her shields, it wasn't the building collapsing.

 

[Joseph Crawford]

the reason why everyone doesn't like kat's death, was it was completely random and had no purpose, just about everyone's death had some purpose or wasn't random, and it actually built up to the moment kat was just "*do do do do skipping along in the hallway* BLAT! *no shields?!?!*"

I want to point out in this poster's defense, that we are not just getting snippy with game mechanics over plot (Aeris Phoenix Down scenario). The cutscenes in Halo: Reach make a point to ensure that physics between cutscene and game are the same. That's why you, say, see the shields go off when Emile and Six jump out of the Pelican later on. Seeing those shields function outside of gameplay just added more fuel to the "Kat's death was bullshit" fire.

With this in mind, pay attention to the shot that killed Kat. It's from a fucking Needle Rifle. Those take, what, six shots just to get through the shields?

The only explanation I can accept so far is that the explosion from earlier in the scene caused an EMP, but even that's debatable. Consider the length of time between explosion and death, and how long it normally takes for shields to recharge.

EMP from that nukeplosion would have wrecked her shields for quite a bit of time.

 

[Blt3200]

ya think so to dude

 

[Joseph Crawford]

....was that none of the characters were developed.

True, I was sad when Kat and the others died, but I couldn't really connect to the characters because the single player was short, and they weren't even around all that often.

I find this to be a problem with FPS, and shooters in general. Often these characters don't say much that isn't a taunt or something to advance the plot, and as a result you find it hard to sympathize with them.

Most other game series don;t have this problem, as you are often given points in the story to interact and just TALK with these characters.

Look at Mass Effect 2, we all love it (just a figure of speech folks), and 90% of the game is dialogue. Granted, its Bioware, but still, it would be nice to have some down time and be given some time to explore these other characters.

Exceptions to this case are people who appear throughout sequels and are given more chances to shine. Cortana, Soap, Wesker, all examples of characters who have developed somewhat over their game series. But this is because they live throughout. The whole of Noble team dies (well mostly) and none of them appear in any of the books, shorts, or comics, and they never will. I rally wanted to see Jorge interact with that Hungarian scientist more, I wanted to know more about Emile's history, but now I never will.

What are your thoughts on these topics?

EDIT:
This was not only a problem with Reach, just FPSs in general.
No, I miss Jorge too.
No, I was not expecting some deep characters, I'm just sad that they couldn't have been more developed.
How in anyway was Kat's death stupid? A sniper took her out from a place impossible to predict.
There were some other Spartans besides Master Chief who survived Reach, so it's too bad that none of the team besides Jun make it.
Kinda want a non-cannon Halo RPG like Mass Effect 2 where you assemble a team to destroy some grave Covenant threat.
Also want to know what happens to all these random A.I. like Dot, Serina, and the Superintendent.

the reason why everyone doesn't like kat's death, was it was completely random and had no purpose, just about everyone's death had some purpose or wasn't random, and it actually built up to the moment kat was just "*do do do do skipping along in the hallway* BLAT! *no shields?!?!*"

@ the no shields bit, see my above posts.

 

[Nomanslander]

Sounds like you need to try reading the books, because you're not going to get good character development from the games.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Well it might just be me, but i felt bad for Jorge and Emile. I truly liked Jorge, he was shown as more than a death machine.
Emile on the other hand, the only reason i felt bad was because i couldnt be up there killing the zealots with him.

Yeah Jorge really was the most likeable of them. Kat was a ***** and Carter was a bit too tightly wound for me.But I guess that's why he's the leader. Emile and Jun were fine but Jorge was a great character. Even his *SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER* death was honorable and befitting his character.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

While I felt that the characters of Noble Team could have been fleshed out a bit more, it didn't detract significantly from the story. In a way, it makes sense that you don't know much about the individual members of the squad you joined. Your character is the "FNG" after all, and the grizzled vets often don't warm to the rookie right away.

Spoiler

As a fan who read the novels, I found myself liking Jorge the most because he's one of Halsey's Spartan-IIs. I had read all about how his group was selected and trained (including the dangerous augmetic surgeries that left many dead or paralyzed), and the subsequent years of active service. He was an anchor of familiarity for me, which made his death all the more tragic.

My only major complaint with the game story-wise is how it directly contradicts the previously established canon regarding the battle of Reach.

Yeah I felt the same way. Having read the books, it was fun to see Jorge interacting with Halsey and being the sole Spartan II. And yes, Reach totally fucked upthe canon. I don't know why Bungie couldn't just make them all Spartan IIs. That would have been canon correct? Did the Master Chief fight on a Reach for a period too?

 

[auronvi]

Do... any characters develop in ANY Halo? I mean, I would say your expectations were high for this game. You want wide character arcs and plot, play games like Heavy Rain or Alan Wake... Halo is just about shootin' aliens... always has been, always will be.