It's been pretty well established by this point that one major change from Halo: Reach's depiction of the Covenant to the way they've been depicted in prior games in the series is that now the Covenant speak their own language rather than one we can understand.
It can neither be translated, nor is it possible to pronounce. It is the truest form of alien language and it cements a feeling of the unknowable.
However, having played through the campaign of Reach for the third time now, I now find myself questioning whether or not I like this change. Not so much for the language itself mind you, but rather for the adverse effect the Covenant speaking their own language has in this instance.
I can understand the idea of making the enemy more of a believable threat by removing any resemblance to humanity but at the same time that does mean that one aspect about Halo that I always found rather unique among alien shooters (i.e that the aliens are actually more like us then we realize) disappear.
Back in the old days of Halo 2, we would hear an Elite cry out for the loss of it's brother in arms when you killed one and you would hear them speaking to each other, it made them feel more oddly relatable. More importantly though, it characterized the Covenant.
The Elites were the noble and valiant warriors, the Grunts were the cowardly ones and the Brutes were savages. We could figure all this out just by listening to how they spoke on the battlefield.
This did however, make them less 'threatening' as enemies.
Come Halo: Reach though, in addition to not speaking the human language, the Covenant are all basically monsters. The old honor values aren't present and at times it feels more like you are in a battle with a pack of wild animals than a group of intelligent and fanatically devoted religious aliens. Because not only did they speak a language we couldn't understand, but they also roared and snarled and showed behavior that was essentially animalistic.
So while having the Covenant speak their own language and behave in a brutal murderous way does make for great drama, it does also mean that the crucial identity the Covenant had gets kind of withered in favor of making them all out to be just 'evil aliens'.
So, I decided, for the sake of a good topic of discussion, to make this thread and poll up. to get the communities decision on this matter. Is it better to have the Covenant feel relatable, or intimidating and do you prefer them speaking our language or their own?
EDIT: I thought I'd point out that Yes, I understand why it is impossible to have the Covenant speaking English during the battle of Reach. This is not what this thread is about, it's about whether or not you preferred the 'humanized' image of the Covenant or the 'Villainous' Covenant image.
Both can be villainous, I was just wondering which variant the community favored.
Also let it be clear:
No matter what language they speak, the Sangheili will forever be akin to gods for me.
It can neither be translated, nor is it possible to pronounce. It is the truest form of alien language and it cements a feeling of the unknowable.
However, having played through the campaign of Reach for the third time now, I now find myself questioning whether or not I like this change. Not so much for the language itself mind you, but rather for the adverse effect the Covenant speaking their own language has in this instance.
I can understand the idea of making the enemy more of a believable threat by removing any resemblance to humanity but at the same time that does mean that one aspect about Halo that I always found rather unique among alien shooters (i.e that the aliens are actually more like us then we realize) disappear.
Back in the old days of Halo 2, we would hear an Elite cry out for the loss of it's brother in arms when you killed one and you would hear them speaking to each other, it made them feel more oddly relatable. More importantly though, it characterized the Covenant.
The Elites were the noble and valiant warriors, the Grunts were the cowardly ones and the Brutes were savages. We could figure all this out just by listening to how they spoke on the battlefield.
This did however, make them less 'threatening' as enemies.
Come Halo: Reach though, in addition to not speaking the human language, the Covenant are all basically monsters. The old honor values aren't present and at times it feels more like you are in a battle with a pack of wild animals than a group of intelligent and fanatically devoted religious aliens. Because not only did they speak a language we couldn't understand, but they also roared and snarled and showed behavior that was essentially animalistic.
So while having the Covenant speak their own language and behave in a brutal murderous way does make for great drama, it does also mean that the crucial identity the Covenant had gets kind of withered in favor of making them all out to be just 'evil aliens'.
So, I decided, for the sake of a good topic of discussion, to make this thread and poll up. to get the communities decision on this matter. Is it better to have the Covenant feel relatable, or intimidating and do you prefer them speaking our language or their own?
EDIT: I thought I'd point out that Yes, I understand why it is impossible to have the Covenant speaking English during the battle of Reach. This is not what this thread is about, it's about whether or not you preferred the 'humanized' image of the Covenant or the 'Villainous' Covenant image.
Both can be villainous, I was just wondering which variant the community favored.
Also let it be clear:
No matter what language they speak, the Sangheili will forever be akin to gods for me.
