The Big Picture: Combat Evolved?

[MrJKapowey]

How is the multiple race enemy system similar to fashism (can't spell sorry)?
They have different character models to stop them from just having different armour to differentiate between the cannonfodder, officers, heavy weapons, snipers and weird monkey shock troops.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

Doesn't really work considering The Covenant are trying to raze our species and thus to us, they're evil. But then I'm just pissing into the wind. Good attempt at some insight though, I guess?

 

[RowdyRodimus]

If that was "The Big Picture", here's the little picture.

This is the problem that is facing gaming. We have people like Bob here looking too deep for a reason that something they don't like is bad. If California would've mentioned this as a reason for their Supreme Court case, everyone here would say it was bullshit and said how stupid they are but since it's someone who is apparently on "our side", there might be something to it.

Since the idea of digging and finding things that might not be there for the sake of complaining about something we don't like is included throughout this video, allow me a moment to do the same thing. It seems that Bob is suffering from Liberal White Male Guilt. In response to that he feels the need to announce anything he finds a bit racially insesnitive to show his solidarity with monorities and prove his lack of racism. He feels bad that he never suffered the struggles of being held down by "the man" and uses his soapbox to proudly proclaim that anything that isn't made of a multicultural rainbow is outdated and wrong.

I'm sure he's made extra donations to the NAACP, ACLU, GLAAD, NAMBLA and UNICEF to make up for playing such a racially insensitive game as Halo Reach. (That was all kidding)

Ok, now that my joking is done let me add this do you know the secret of getting over racism as told to me by a black employee of mine once? The secret to it, he said, is quit looking for it at every turn. WHen you quit trying to be offended you find that you aren't offended nearly as much.

 

[StudleyDooRight]

If you watch closely his eyes were blue before... and please try to talk about things you know about in upcoming videos. I don't want to dive too far into the subjects surrounding halo so I will just say this... I like watching your videos but do your research next time. That is all

long time fan Studley D.R.

 

[Ampersand]

Why is everyone always picking on Halo anyways?

I'd imagin it's because it's popular.

 

[AngryFrenchCanadian]

I like the new show, pretty thought-provoking.

 

[Kermi]

EEven if, for example, the Elites join the Humans during Halo 3 and beat the Covenant (I hear that's what happened, I was never able to finish that game)

Apparently what you meant to say was "never played it at all". The Elites have left the covenant and are fighting alongside humans from the very start of Halo 3, the Arbiter having discovered how full of shit the Covenant is during Halo 2.

 

[Aptspire]

I will give you props on the basis that you were able to explain clearly what your main 'beef' against Halo was (unlike all that that TV right-wing 'ban stuff' crap we've always heard)
I must say however, that the point is still, overall, inferior (or perhaps countered) by the fact that most of humanity, (a number of which were neutral to the Inner Colonies, or even Insurrectionists) when facing extinction, chose to set their differences aside for the sake of survival. i.e.: they 'all came together'. (also, i'd like to point out that half of Halo2 had you playing as a member of the Covenant, and also that Halo3 had you fighting side by side with some of your old enemies)

 

[FrueDestruction]

Of course, it's completely impossible that any of that design was created that way for gameplay purposes. Because, you know, it totally wouldn't make any kind of sense for an enemy force with several levels of strength (which is incidentally more interesting to play against) to make each of their types instantly recognizable even in the midst of frenetic combat. Except that it would, and it would require that each enemy type look, sound, and move in extremely different ways, so that the player could say things like "Aha, I can see that this enemy is a grunt, and therefore little threat. I will instead focus my attention on the hunter, who is much more dangerous and likely to kill me." The ability to make judgements of that kind is vital to gameplay and has been around since people started to notice that the mushroom and the turtle did different things if you jumped on them.

Furthermore, it is clearly nonsensical that the spartans (sorry, SPARTANs) all look the same because they grew out of a design for a single character. Master chief needed to do two things design-wise:

1) He needed to look more powerful than a regular human. Thats easy, he's in power armor. The beckground stuff exists to make the player feel empowered and explain that whole "protagonist invicibility" stuff and gameplay mechanics like the shields.

2) As the protagonist of a first person shooter, he needed to be relatively faceless so that the player could more easily project onto him. This has been a consistent design element throughout the history of FPSs and exists because a first-person viewpoint is the most immersive.

"Oh wait, shit" says Bungee. "Now that we've branded such a successful character based around those two principles, we suddenly have to make a game where there's tons of those guys? I guess we'd better diversify their appearance a bit. Except wait, we can't make them crazy different, because A: that would ruin the instantly recognizable 'this is a spartan' branding we have, and B: could potentially confuse players in the midst of the game. In the middle of a hectic firefight a player has to be able to instantly tell the difference between friend and foe, especially since we've made a game so unforgiving that a split second hesitation could mean the difference between getting a beamsword shoved up your ass or not."

Also, its squad-based. Which basically just reinforces everything I just said. Now to balance out my unusually reasonable internet argument - Bob, you're a massive fucking toolbag, and I'm pretty sure they gave you a second, more controversial video is because you troll well enough to significantly increase siteviews. Which I guess is working, so congratulations. Hopefully this means your movie reviews will be a bit less ranty and stupid now and more like the informative ones you used to do.

 

[CHIMP MAGNET]

I think you've missed the point.
your shows called the 'big picture' not 'my opinion'.

 

[CHIMP MAGNET]

Of course, it's completely impossible that any of that design was created that way for gameplay purposes. Because, you know, it totally wouldn't make any kind of sense for an enemy force with several levels of strength (which is incidentally more interesting to play against) to make each of their types instantly recognizable even in the midst of frenetic combat. Except that it would, and it would require that each enemy type look, sound, and move in extremely different ways, so that the player could say things like "Aha, I can see that this enemy is a grunt, and therefore little threat. I will instead focus my attention on the hunter, who is much more dangerous and likely to kill me." The ability to make judgements of that kind is vital to gameplay and has been around since people started to notice that the mushroom and the turtle did different things if you jumped on them.

Furthermore, it is clearly nonsensical that the spartans (sorry, SPARTANs) all look the same because they grew out of a design for a single character. Master chief needed to do two things design-wise:

1) He needed to look more powerful than a regular human. Thats easy, he's in power armor. The beckground stuff exists to make the player feel empowered and explain that whole "protagonist invicibility" stuff and gameplay mechanics like the shields.

2) As the protagonist of a first person shooter, he needed to be relatively faceless so that the player could more easily project onto him. This has been a consistent design element throughout the history of FPSs and exists because a first-person viewpoint is the most immersive.

"Oh wait, shit" says Bungee. "Now that we've branded such a successful character based around those two principles, we suddenly have to make a game where there's tons of those guys? I guess we'd better diversify their appearance a bit. Except wait, we can't make them crazy different, because A: that would ruin the instantly recognizable 'this is a spartan' branding we have, and B: could potentially confuse players in the midst of the game. In the middle of a hectic firefight a player has to be able to instantly tell the difference between friend and foe, especially since we've made a game so unforgiving that a split second hesitation could mean the difference between getting a beamsword shoved up your ass or not."

Also, its squad-based. Which basically just reinforces everything I just said. Now to balance out my unusually reasonable internet argument - Bob, you're a massive fucking toolbag, and I'm pretty sure they gave you a second, more controversial video is because you troll well enough to significantly increase siteviews. Which I guess is working, so congratulations. Hopefully this means your movie reviews will be a bit less ranty and stupid now and more like the informative ones you used to do.

bravo!
i would have that clapping gif going on but I couldn't find it

 

[Tanki]

I love it! I love it! I want more of it!

 

[olfelix]

Nice show, it's basic troll bait masked as deep. I'm not a fan of Halo, but this is beyond reaching.

 

[Robyrt]

Tee hee! I am a big fan, although frankly the video content was totally unnecessary and it would have worked just fine as a podcast.

To haters: Do you know how hard it is to say something new about Halo? Bob just did it. The comparison may be a little thin, but at least it gets you thinking about exactly HOW much of Heinlein got lifted from Starship Troopers.

 

[Justin Turner]

Good to know that Bob is right out of the gates provoking the fanboys with GASP, an argument that actually makes sense. And I've noticed at least once in this comment thread he's gotten the 'Professional Troll' line, as well as the 'I'LL NEVAR WATCH ANYTHING YOU EVER DO'.

What I like about good sir Bob is not only that he will, every few months, stir the pot a little--get people good and pissed off about whatever video. It's always an entertaining show for us cooler heads. But I can't think of a single one that didn't come from a very much legitimate and honest point of view. Good on yeh, Bob. Good on yeh.

EDIT: A serious note, for you folks screaming at Bob. You have a lot to learn about analysis and critical thinking about video games, and Art in general. Even if you do think there are gaping holes in the argument Bob presents, it's a valid point to be brought to attention. Even if, for example, the Elites join the Humans during Halo 3 and beat the Covenant (I hear that's what happened, I was never able to finish that game) that doesn't mean the arguments presented are invalid, it means maybe there's a different conclusion to be reached. Say, that using a homogenized 'Master Race' can only get you so far, that we should embrace diversity to achieve our goals.

I guess what I'm saying is that you can disagree with Bob without declaring him or his arguments worthless, and you can find a way to discuss this without turning it into a You Vs. Bob narrative. And guys, we really need to. We should be discussing the medium of video games as an art form and giving it the respect it deserves, not screaming at each other about how the Master Chief isn't racist.

I have watched and mostly liked everything he has done up to this point, as far as movie reviews and the game overthinker goes. I even voted to make him a regular feature on screwattack. Even when I didn't agree with him, or when he attacked fans of different games to some extent, I still managed to enjoy his videos. This argument of his is completely off base, and he stretches tiny little out of context points so far, that they have no value whatsoever. The facts are irrelevant to his argument. He openly dislikes halo, and he seems to be using this video to argue any point he sees fit without regards to facts, to make wild accusations that could have real world consequences. The people that attack our industry on a regular basis use arguments like this to their advantage. So yes, as far as "The Big Picture" goes, I will not be watching any more of them. He openly states that he has been given the freedom to talk about whatever he wants, however he wants. And his first video is him discussing something with extreme bias and no regard to facts. And he is getting paid. Therefore "The Big Picture"=Professional Trollery. I will continue to watch Game Overthinker, but if these kind of thought processes affect that show, I will stop watching it too.

You are better than this Bob.

 

[Treblaine]

I'm pretty sure the Covenant is less Anti-Multiculturalism and more Anti-Religion.

Evidence:

-The humans are very racially and culturally diverse (Sarge is Black. British Russian and other non-American accents heard from NPCs)
-It centres around New-Mombasa... yes developers decided that an African City should be the pinnacle of this sci-fi future
-The Elites defect from the Covenant, really isolating the common factor is the religious dogma and hierarchy as the antagonist. I mean Halo 3 you fight side by side with an alien for almost the entire thing.
-Not a single racial comment by characters, like "the only good elite is a dead elite". A distinct lack of hatred, mostly mourning
-Enemies talk in religious terms of sacrifice, loyalty, etc.
-It is the Covenant who are racially annihilating humans. Humanity never had a chance to join the Covenant, only death.

Militarism =/= fascism

Remember that. The USSR was highly militaristic, would you call them fascist? No. Extremist, yes, but fascism is more than merley

I don't think you really realise what fascism is. Fascism is:

-highly political, at every level there is extensive political indoctrination
-That politics is EXPLICITLY defined in racial terms and by political I mean troll-logic of lies, "conspiracy theory" type reasoning and propaganda. No discussion on who is to blame, just repeatedly blame the escape goat moving from one lie to exaggeration to another.
-It is not sombre and reserved, it is rousing, bright, lively, band-standing and dramatic... it is SUPPOSED to me seductive and seem lively. That's how it propagated so much.
-It is highly conservative, so forget about things like a high-ranking female officer, minorities giving any orders or a persona like Cortana.

Spartans were Spartans. Fascist were fascists. Not an huge amount of overlap.

Also before you consider that there are so many different alien species to kill simply because it is a game... a shooter... therefore it serves well to have good enemy variety and it's simply convenient to say they are all different species.

In games where you are blatantly fighting (Neo) Fascists (Killzone, Half Life 2, World War 2 games) a problem with the game is how repetitive it can get fighting the same type of enemy over, and over, and over again.

I think MovieBob is detecting fascism more in the audience than the developers. XBL has been a terrible place where hate speech has been allowed unchecked to spread for far too long, and it reflects on the game. But that is Microsoft's fault, and their fault in indifference and incompetence in running an online network.

 

[thublihnk]

EEven if, for example, the Elites join the Humans during Halo 3 and beat the Covenant (I hear that's what happened, I was never able to finish that game)

Apparently what you meant to say was "never played it at all". The Elites have left the covenant and are fighting alongside humans from the very start of Halo 3, the Arbiter having discovered how full of shit the Covenant is during Halo 2.

I knew the elites split off during Halo 2, I just didn't know if they beat the Covenant. Key words there. My argument is still valid. nub.

 

[SatansBestBuddy]

Hmm, movieBob gets another show?

I wonder why they would do that?

*glances at number beside comments link*

Ah, okay, that makes sense.