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Halo Lore Thread

A

Ade

Member
Yeah, unless its going to be, as per Cutters son (who they admit to not knowing who he was going to turn out to be when he first appeared in Escalation(!), some random person who turns out to be related to someone big.

I do wonder what the bigger plans are for the universe, all EU media recently seems to just expand the universe more and more... Broken Circle for example. When will all that come in?
 
Outrun

Outrun

Member
Just going through the Halo Fractures audio book.

I really felt for Born stellar and the last Forerunners.

Very sad and tragic story where a race finally acknowledges the wrongs that they collectively committed.
 
P

Poodlestrike

Banned
New Community Update, new Canon Fodder, new... LORE BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT AW YEAH

https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/into-the-storm

Throughout the myriad of Halo media released over the past nearly fifteen years, stories have been told in an impressively eclectic range of corners in the universe, ranging from intimate boots-on-the-ground stories of war, to ancient and far-flung alien legacies. One specific type of setting has had a knack for rustling the happypants of a certain flavor of fan – particularly those enthralled with the maritime minutia of the Halo universe (I’m looking at you Grizzlei, Unikraken, SOTP folks, etc). For Halo fans who daydream of everything from mind-bending physics of slipspace to the strategic intricacies of the Keyes Loop, we’ve got a new book for you – Halo: Warfleet – An Illustrated Guide to the Spacecraft of Halo. Ship hype, engage.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm down.
 
P

Poodlestrike

Banned
I'm just super nerding out over the possibility of a cross-section of a CSO. So biiiiiig.

Valhalla Rapids said:
are they going to have the good designs for the spirit? or the 343 design...
Click to expand...

They're different ships, Type-25 vs. Type-57. Considering the Type-25 is in Halo Wars, I could see them featuring both.

Type-57 is superior tho.
 
K

Kalentan

Member
A book all about ships is going to be dope... I already got Escalation and Mythos and planning on getting Tales from the Slipspace, but it seems 343i wishes for me to add yet another thing to the list.

I'm always interested in the nooks and crannies of Sci-Fi ships. Like how do the developers/writers structure them and the such.
 
G

gollumsluvslave

Member
Finally got Fractures - it was really great!

I enjoyed them all, but I think at the moment Oasis was the one I enjoyed most - genuine feels in that!

Also really liked learning more about Veta and her Ferrets.

Much more consistent quality than Evolutions IMO
 
A

AlStrong

Member
Tales from Slipspace

Poor Serina. Might have been cool to see this as a short story DLC playing as Jerome.

The card game one seemed kind of pointless. :/

Undefeated was alright. I liked the ending more than
civilians vs military
trope thing.

Atriox's intro was nice.

Knight Takes Bishop - took me a second to figure out what was going on with the spartan on each panel. It was fun.

The final story was trippy.
 
A

Ade

Member
Just finished Smoke and Shadow....

A quick read of it, as a chunk was ITTF which was in fractures...

Wasn't bad, just felt like a "heres a story where things happen, but overall nothing happens" kind of book.

By the end of ITTF we had Forge going out to follow a lead to find her dad, by the end of S&S we have Forge going out to follow a lead to to find her dad."

Yes things happen, yes theres some changes, but overall the book could quite happily not exist.

Not that it wasnt an entertaining read, it just narratively does nothing to the universe really, seemed more of a "oh shit, we should do a tenuous HW2 tie in book" more than anything else.

I was kind of hoping, perhaps Im grim, that when they got to the debris, she got consumed by the flood and met her dad that way.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
Ade said:
Just finished Smoke and Shadow....

A quick read of it, as a chunk was ITTF which was in fractures...

Wasn't bad, just felt like a "heres a story where things happen, but overall nothing happens" kind of book.

By the end of ITTF we had Forge going out to follow a lead to find her dad, by the end of S&S we have Forge going out to follow a lead to to find her dad."

Yes things happen, yes theres some changes, but overall the book could quite happily not exist.

Not that it wasnt an entertaining read, it just narratively does nothing to the universe really, seemed more of a "oh shit, we should do a tenuous HW2 tie in book" more than anything else.

I was kind of hoping, perhaps Im grim, that when they got to the debris, she got consumed by the flood and met her dad that way.
Click to expand...

Forge got nuked. No meeting her dad in the Flood or anywhere else :p
 
A

Ade

Member
Well yeah, but I half expected some kind of hackneyed nonsense where part of his biological matter survived and was part of the whole...

Not sure 'd have prefered that, or what we got though :/
 
M

m23

Member
The Spartans in Halo Wars 2 are Spartan IIs correct? As this takes place after Halo 5 I wonder if we'll see them meet up with Blue team somewhere down the line.

Also, do we have any lore on Atriox yet? Seems like a very interesting character who I'd like to read more about.
 
S

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
m23 said:
The Spartans in Halo Wars 2 are Spartan IIs correct? As this takes place after Halo 5 I wonder if we'll see them meet up with Blue team somewhere down the line.

Also, do we have any lore on Atriox yet? Seems like a very interesting character who I'd like to read more about.
Click to expand...

All Spartan II's.

However, since this is post Halo 5...

The UNSC were sending personnel through to the Ark prior to the game starting. It's entirely possible that we'll run across some new faces, maybe even some new Spartan IV's.

Atrioxthrone.png
Click to expand...

(Wow, that art is terrible!)

http://www.halopedia.org/Atriox

We have some info on his history from the Tales story, E3 trailer, etc. Some morsels.
 
M

m23

Member
Slightly Live said:
All Spartan II's.

However, since this is post Halo 5...

The UNSC were sending personnel through to the Ark prior to the game starting. It's entirely possible that we'll run across some new faces, maybe even some new Spartan IV's.



(Wow, that art is terrible!)

http://www.halopedia.org/Atriox

We have some info on his history from the Tales story, E3 trailer, etc. Some morsels.
Click to expand...

Thanks. That Atriox trailer released recently got me hyped to see more of him. I just hope they don't ruin his character in the game like they did Didact.
 
S

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
m23 said:
Thanks. That Atriox trailer released recently got me hyped to see more of him. I just hope they don't ruin his character in the game like they did Didact.
Click to expand...

Yup, I'll take a nice big bad guy with no baggage. Rubs me wrong that something like the Banished could have come about and go unnoticed or unmentioned for such a long time, but I'll get over it if the faction and Atriox are engaging and fun to fight.

I was expecting some kind of San-Shyuum led faction, as we've danced around their exit from the galactic stage for almost a decade without any development.
 
A

AlStrong

Member
Slightly Live said:
Yup, I'll take a nice big bad guy with no baggage. Rubs me wrong that something like the Banished could have come about and go unnoticed or unmentioned for such a long time, but I'll get over it if the faction and Atriox are engaging and fun to fight.
Click to expand...

Galaxy is a big place, and maybe not everyone has twitter/facebook/intarwebs. :D
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
AlStrong said:
Galaxy is a big place, and maybe not everyone has twitter/facebook/intarwebs. :D
Click to expand...

I think that's one of the challenges for Halo going forward. The universe has gotten so sprawling that we've reached a point where even important elements will get ignored for a while. In some respects it's amazing that we've gotten as much back on the Ark as we have. It's been almost a *decade* before fans of Gray Team are gonna get any followup. On our year in review podcast I mentioned how I really wanna see Chol Von the ship mistress from Mortal Dictata come back along with the 'Xellus Elites, but even if 343 and their authors are interested it could be years before we see anything. Same goes with tying back to the disappeared San Shyuum and Engineers.
 
M

m23

Member
Slightly Live said:
Yup, I'll take a nice big bad guy with no baggage. Rubs me wrong that something like the Banished could have come about and go unnoticed or unmentioned for such a long time, but I'll get over it if the faction and Atriox are engaging and fun to fight.

I was expecting some kind of San-Shyuum led faction, as we've danced around their exit from the galactic stage for almost a decade without any development.
Click to expand...

I'd like to see the banished in Halo 6, tired of fighting prometheans at this point.

What's going on with the ISO didact? It was the ur didact who was killed off in the comic right?
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
m23 said:
I'd like to see the banished in Halo 6, tired of fighting prometheans at this point.

What's going on with the ISO didact? It was the ur didact who was killed off in the comic right?
Click to expand...

Based on the last story we saw in Fractures, the Iso Didact and Chant to Green died a long, long time ago in a quiet corner of the universe.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
Ade said:
True, he
has a son though
Click to expand...
Left to die alone. Things got dark.

I guess he could get in that ship and go, but it still seemed weird to me they were willing to raise basically 'The Last Of his Kind' and be fine with him being alone.
 
Captain Zyrain

Captain Zyrain

Member
Whats the verdict on Halo: Tales from Slipspace?

I had it pre-ordered but then the card I used got cancelled so Amazon canceled my order and I couldn't be bothered to re-order. I see it's on sale for $14.. so is it worth it?

Reviews seem mixed.

I'm guessing the Smoke and Shadow will be included on a future print release, maybe?
 
A

Ade

Member
Captain Zyrain said:
Whats the verdict on Halo: Tales from Slipspace?

I had it pre-ordered but then the card I used got cancelled so Amazon canceled my order and I couldn't be bothered to re-order. I see it's on sale for $14.. so is it worth it?

Reviews seem mixed.

I'm guessing the Smoke and Shadow will be included on a future print release, maybe?
Click to expand...

Tfss was the graphic novel? With your S&s reference are you thinking of fractures?
 
Captain Zyrain

Captain Zyrain

Member
Ade said:
Tfss was the graphic novel? With your S&s reference are you thinking of fractures?
Click to expand...

Sorry, that was two different thoughts.

#1. How is the graphic novel? Worth it or nay?

#2. The digital S&S story.. odds on it coming out in a future print book? $1.99 or whatever isn't bad, but I'm not huge on reading things digitally if I can wait. I didn't even know it was coming, so seeing it available today got me curious.
 
A

Ade

Member
I.enjoyed the GN, its worth it for that price.

Not sure on a future paper release for S&S, Saints Testamony and Shadow of Intent eventually got a paper release in Fractures, but as S&S reuses the set up story for it from Fractures I'm not sure if the whole thing will turn up in another anthology.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
If Smoke and Shadow ends up in print, it'll probably be as part of another anthology like the other digital shorts a year or two down the line.
 
S

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
Been meaning to listen to the new forward unto dawn casts, but I'm still working my way through Fractures. Hopefully soon. Need to buy Tales from Slipspace as well.
 
Captain Zyrain

Captain Zyrain

Member
So I FINALLY finished my play through of Halo Wars (only 8 years later, thanks Xbox One!) yesterday.

It was pretty enjoyable! I have no idea why I stalled like 3 missions in when it first came out. i have a vague recollection of it being "too hard" or "controlling poorly" or something, but everything seems fine now. I'm ashamed I didn't finish it earlier! Very excited for HW2 now.

Now.. story wise..

I don't think I saw any explanation why Flood were on the surface of the Forerunner planet (Was it a shield world? Seemed kind of like Requiem in design, not like Onyx with the Dyson sphere etc)? I thought I remembered the Covenant saying something about the Parasite or something.. but that was on Harvest I think.

The story kind of jumped around a lot. I felt like they didn't linger quote long enough on some of the backstories.. but the missions were all fun.
 
W

WhiteRabbitEXE

Member
Didn't Wars have a lot of pushback from Bungie? IIRC they weren't exactly the most cooperative since they resented the fact that an outside studio was working on their baby and they had little control over it, so that probably didn't help too much when Ensemble was trying to work out the story. Probably why it's so self-contained and decades removed from Bungie's primary sandbox in the timeline, the core-trilogy era.

It's serviceable though. Flood thing was super forced, but eh.
 
S

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
WhiteRabbitEXE said:
Didn't Wars have a lot of pushback from Bungie? IIRC they weren't exactly the most cooperative since they resented the fact that an outside studio was working on their baby and they had little control over it, so that probably didn't help too much when Ensemble was trying to work out the story. Probably why it's so self-contained and decades removed from Bungie's primary sandbox in the timeline, the core-trilogy era.

It's serviceable though. Flood thing was super forced, but eh.
Click to expand...

That's unfounded rumour and hearsay.
 
S

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
m23 said:
Wasn't it the Ensemble founder who said that though?
Click to expand...

“Microsoft was pretty risk averse and they said, ‘I don’t know if we want to take the risk of creating strategy games on a console. We’d feel better if Halo were attached to it.’ The difficult part of that was it took the game back about a year in development, and I think it never quite turned out the same. They just said, ‘Why don’t you just paint over what you have with Halo stuff?’ But things aren’t quite that simple…”
Click to expand...

and

“Another problem was that Bungie was never up for it… Bungie was kind of sore about the idea. What they called it was ‘the whoring out of our franchise’ or something. Yeah, that didn’t create a great relationship between us and Bungie; they viewed us as someone infringing [on their franchise]…”
Click to expand...

From here.

and

"We've done a lot of talking with Ensemble guys, and we're all really excited about Halo Wars, because from everything we've seen so far it's a very cool, faithful adaptation,"
Click to expand...

"Everything we've seen has been very, very encouraging - we're very excited about it. And of course, [Halo Wars is] also getting right the basics, the general roles - even fictionally. What role do grunts play in the Covenant fighting forces, what role do the Elites play, what role do Warthogs play, what role do Spartans play... All this kind of thing. I think they really nailed that. It's encouraging."
Click to expand...

From here

So this statement,

they weren't exactly the most cooperative since they resented the fact that an outside studio was working on their baby and they had little control over it, so that probably didn't help too much when Ensemble was trying to work out the story. Probably why it's so self-contained and decades removed from Bungie's primary sandbox in the timeline, the core-trilogy era.
Click to expand...

Isn't accurate. Even when you read both stories and quotes.
 
W

WhiteRabbitEXE

Member
?

I'm not sure how the first source contradicts what I said at all (you literally quoted that Bungie wasn't happy about it and had a relatively poor relationship with Ensemble), and the second source is Bungie doing the least they can do be polite in public (the generic "much talk, game good" and "Yeah, they got the most basic of details right so that's nice I guess").
 
S

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
WhiteRabbitEXE said:
?

I'm not sure how the first source contradicts what I said at all (you literally quoted that Bungie wasn't happy about it and had a relatively poor relationship with Ensemble), and the second source is Bungie doing the least they can do be polite in public (the generic "much talk, game good" and "Yeah, they got the most basic of details right so that's nice I guess").
Click to expand...

I think Halo War's story suffered from the fact that they were trying to put a coat of Halo paint onto their original project due to Microsoft's request rather than Bungie sabotage.
 
W

WhiteRabbitEXE

Member
Slightly Live said:
I think Halo War's story suffered from the fact that they were trying to put a coat of Halo paint onto their original project due to Microsoft's request rather than Bungie sabotage.
Click to expand...

Definitely a contributing factor, perhaps even the primary factor, sure, I'll totally accept that. But Bungie being resentful towards the project and having a poor working relationship with the developer having an effect as well seems far from unlikely, so I wouldn't cite additional issues a reason others couldn't have factored in.

And I literally never said or hinted at "sabotage", lol. You can be unhelpful without being a saboteur.
 
Captain Zyrain

Captain Zyrain

Member
Finally decided to get Smoke & Shadow today.. that was really good for a short story!

Does it say when it takes place?

Since Gek 'Lhar is alive, I assume it's pre-Halo 4.

Apparently it's on Halopedia, duh. Says January, 2557. Interesting. Hyped for Halo Wars 2 now!
 
S

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
Captain Zyrain said:
Finally decided to get Smoke & Shadow today.. that was really good for a short story!

Does it say when it takes place?

Since Gek 'Lhar is alive, I assume it's pre-Halo 4.

Apparently it's on Halopedia, duh. Says January, 2557. Interesting. Hyped for Halo Wars 2 now!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought Smoke and Shadow was pretty decent too. Should be interesting to see where they take those characters.
 
A

Ade

Member
orichalcos said:
The ending of Halo Wars 2 was interesting. Maybe a serous connection between Halo 5 and HW2.
Click to expand...

I think its all part of establishing the Post Cortana Mantle state of the universe and the moving of pieces into position for H6.

I'm expecting some kind of further bridging content to set up H6.

I still maintain H6 needs an intro flashbacky thing like Gears 4. Only it needs to be stand alone and free and re explain the current state of affairs to everyone.
 
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