Halo's "Reclaimer Trilogy" Expands Into A Saga

Earnest Cavalli

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Halo's "Reclaimer Trilogy" Expands Into A Saga


The Halo franchise will never die (at least not if Microsoft has anything to say about it).

With the release of Halo 4 in November of 2012, Microsoft promised the beginnings of a new Halo trilogy that would, ostensibly, stand alongside the first three Halo games as some kind of complementary younger brother thing. At this point it doesn't really matter how we describe it, as the latter trilogy no longer exists. Instead, Microsoft claims that what was once known as the "Reclaimer Trilogy" has now become a saga.

That video you see embedded at top-right is a teaser Microsoft debuted at the recent E3 conference for what appears to be a new Halo sequel. When asked about what this clip means, Microsoft Games corporate vice president Phil Spencer explained to Gamespot how the company intends to continue its most recognizable franchise.

"It is the next Halo game that we are working on. We will talk more about actually the story arc in the game and how it plays out; we've got more time to talk about that," Spencer says.

So, if this is Halo 5 it should be the second entry in the "Reclaimer Trilogy," right? Not so much.

"While we originally said trilogy, we've actually expanded this to more of a saga, so we don't want to limit the Reclaimer story within a trilogy," Spencer adds.

This certainly seems like the sort of thing Microsoft should have thought of before it decided to publicly announce a new Halo trilogy way back in 2011, but better late than never, right? Plus, this should be great news for Halo fans. Not only is there a Halo 5 on the way, but this decision to describe future sequels as part of a "saga" allows Microsoft and developer 343 Industries (or whoever else eventually helms the franchise) to keep churning out new Halo titles for as long as they remain profitable. Knowing the industry and Halo's fanbase, you should expect that to be shortly before the heat death of the universe.

Source: Gamespot [http://uk.gamespot.com/news/microsoft-new-halo-for-xbox-one-is-legitimate-6410554]

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MiskWisk

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Ugh, brilliant.

Yet another franchise that's going to be milked long after the milk has gone sour and the cow has died.
 

wooty

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Aug 1, 2009
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Churning out more games ay? Soooo Halo is becoming the new CoD....after CoD became the new Halo?

Yeah, sorry. You can release as many Halo games as you want, but it still wont swing people towards buying the One80. Halo 3 was enough for me to lost interest in chief and his AI pole dancer love interest dog leash.
 

Mike Richards

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You know, a lot of people more cynical then I am are gonna complain about this move but I'm actually looking forward to this. I thought Halo 4 was gonna be a complete and total failure that had no reason to exist, but the more I heard 343 talk about it and the their plans for the series the more I felt like these guys really got it.

And then it actually turned out to be my favorite game in the series. I love what they did with it and I'm genuinely excited to see what they've got planned. If they thing they can do more then just 3 games, bring it on, let's see what you've got.

j-e-f-f-e-r-s said:
From what I'm given to understand, didn't Halo 4 sell significantly less than the previous Halo games? Surely if your main franchise is starting to suffer from dwindling sales, it's a better idea to take a few years off in order to work on some really fresh ideas, then surprise people with it and get them hyped a little way down the road.

Milking the tits off a cow people are already getting tired of doesn't seem like good animal husbandry to me. You just end up with a dead cow, and no-one to sell any beef to. Or something. Analogies.
As far as I understand, and don't take this as fact cause I really don't know more then any of the rest of us do, I don't think it did any worse than any previous installments in the series, the problem is that it used to be top dog and now it isn't.

Whether you hate it, love it or don't care either way, COD's megalithic shadow falls pretty much over every other FPS and that escalation can put a negative spin on sales that were perfectly fine in any other regard. In other words, "Yes we did good, but why aren't we doing THAT good?" That mentality rears it's ugly head a lot.
 

TheScientificIssole

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MiskWisk said:
Ugh, brilliant.

Yet another franchise that's going to be milked long after the milk has gone sour and the cow has died.
I disagree.
wooty said:
Churning out more games ay? Soooo Halo is becoming the new CoD....after CoD became the new Halo?

Yeah, sorry. You can release as many Halo games as you want, but it still wont swing people towards buying the One80. Halo 3 was enough for me to lost interest in chief and his AI pole dancer love interest dog leash.
I disagree! And don't include the general population with your opinions. The XBOX ONE is the best purchase for me right now. Especially within the time frame where I buy consoles, which is a year or so after release.
They aren't being churned out. Halo continues to evolve and improve in quality and is released on the same basis that other publishers release their games, within 2 or 3 years of each other. I for one am also very interested in where they are going. Halo 4 might actually be among the best written games I've played. It explores some weird aspects of a pale giant sociopath who believes himself to be subhuman. That and the episodic nature of the co-op/weekly cinematic series and season structure was one of the most interesting things that I'd seen last year.
 

Ciler

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Mike Richards said:
You know, a lot of people more cynical then I am are gonna complain about this move but I'm actually looking forward to this. I thought Halo 4 was gonna be a complete and total failure that had no reason to exist, but the more I heard 343 talk about it and the their plans for the series the more I felt like these guys really got it.

And then it actually turned out to be my favorite game in the series. I love what they did with it and I'm genuinely excited to see what they've got planned. If they thing they can do more then just 3 games, bring it on, let's see what you've got.
Totally agree with you. I felt pretty "meh" about the entire Halo franchise until I played Halo 4. Now I'm actually looking forward to more games and even the new show. (I just watched Forward Unto Dawn the other day, and the second half was pretty entertaining).
 

BloodSquirrel

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Earnest Cavalli said:
This certainly seems like the sort of thing Microsoft should have thought of before it decided to publicly announce a new Halo trilogy way back in 2011, but better late than never, right? Plus, this should be great news for Halo fans. Not only is there a Halo 5 on the way, but this decision to describe future sequels as part of a "saga" allows Microsoft and developer 343 Industries (or whoever else eventually helms the franchise) to keep churning out new Halo titles for as long as they remain profitable. Knowing the industry and Halo's fanbase, you should expect that to be shortly before the heat death of the universe.
Yes, until this announcement I was absolutely expecting them to stop with Halo 6, even if sales were still strong. This is most unexpected.
 

Frotality

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halo, halo2, halo3, halo odst, halo:reach, halo4, halo5, halo6, halo:post-modern warfare, halo:black ops, halo:ghost, halo:reloaded, halo:10-2, halo online, halo infinity, duke halo forever, halo:cancelled, halo(property of the disney company).
 

Mike Richards

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Ciler said:
I felt pretty "meh" about the entire Halo franchise until I played Halo 4. Now I'm actually looking forward to more games and even the new show. (I just watched Forward Unto Dawn the other day, and the second half was pretty entertaining).
Yeah, Forward turned out way better then I was expecting. If they could do that as web miniseries I can't wait to see what they're gonna do with the show, or what they could do with a full scale movie if that ever gets out of development hell.

I know Halo fans throw this around a lot so I'm sure you've heard it before, but have you ever read the books? I actually read Fall of Reach before I played any of the games, so when I did I could see all the little touches that they were alluding to and it made the storyline much more interesting. 343 brought a lot of that much more up to the front in 4, if you liked that it might be worth checking out.
 

Legion

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
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Halo 4 already showed that they are lacking in creativity. The game wasn't bad, but they are seriously lacking in innovation. I'd hoped that considering it was the start of a new story they'd try being inventive, but so far everything so far has shown that they'd prefer to play it safe.

I am honestly starting to get bored of the series, even though I really like the extended universe.
 

Aerosteam

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Sep 22, 2011
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Well, just because there will be more planned games to be released doesn't mean the franchise will get more and more stale with every instalment. As of now, more games = good for fans. However, that means 343i is pretty much bound to only make Halo, kinda sucks from the developers' point.
 

fix-the-spade

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<spoiler= That makes me annoyed, but I heard the word saga... it's time for a saga... I need a saga and you cant even hear it> <youtube=mS8LvHT_zcQ>

Ah, the right kind of saga.


So it's going to get ever more like a Spanish soap Opera (or Lost) until nobody cares and it quietly ends?
Can't Chief just die like he was supposed to at the end of 3? Poor bugger's earned a rest.
 

Gizmo1990

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Oct 19, 2010
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Microsoft Exec 1: 'Looks like alot of people will still not buy the Xbox One. What can we do to make more money?'

Microsoft Exec 2: 'Hey, You know how Ubisoft made a ton of money with Assasin's creed? That was ment to be a trilogy right? Then they added more to milk it for all it is worth. Could we not do something like that?'

Microsoft Exec 1 'Good idea! Put yourself in for another bonus, get me 343 and prepare the milking machine. It's time we see how much we can squeese out of Halo! (Evil laughe while drop kicking baby koalas)

I like Halo but if 343 is to be belived they had already planed out what would happen in all three games so anything else will just be filler.

Not that it matters as unless the next batch of Halo games comes to PC I will be unable to play them anyway.
 

Hero in a half shell

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Dec 30, 2009
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For something to be a 'Saga' it has to involve big burly naked Vikings doing manly things in Scandinavia. I don't think Halo will involve big burly naked Vikings doing manly things in Scandinavia, so it will never be a saga the same way that damned Twilight 'Saga' isn't a bloody SAGA!

/Personal rant.

On topic, this worries me, as Halo's campaign is heavily story orientated, and I don't like the idea of having a narrative that goes on indefinitely without truly being properly resolved, as it always leads to each new game being infected with unrelenting power creep and increasingly bizarre and universe breaking powers and enemies until Master Chief ends up fist fighting giant planet eating robots on the surface of the sun with quick time events.

I'm calling it now. That will eventually happen, and plot continuity will dissolve within the next two games to completely contradict some major plot point in the first few, because this always happens.
 

MiskWisk

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TheScientificIssole said:
MiskWisk said:
Ugh, brilliant.

Yet another franchise that's going to be milked long after the milk has gone sour and the cow has died.
I disagree.
wooty said:
Churning out more games ay? Soooo Halo is becoming the new CoD....after CoD became the new Halo?

Yeah, sorry. You can release as many Halo games as you want, but it still wont swing people towards buying the One80. Halo 3 was enough for me to lost interest in chief and his AI pole dancer love interest dog leash.
I disagree! And don't include the general population with your opinions. The XBOX ONE is the best purchase for me right now. Especially within the time frame where I buy consoles, which is a year or so after release.
They aren't being churned out. Halo continues to evolve and improve in quality and is released on the same basis that other publishers release their games, within 2 or 3 years of each other. I for one am also very interested in where they are going. Halo 4 might actually be among the best written games I've played. It explores some weird aspects of a pale giant sociopath who believes himself to be subhuman. That and the episodic nature of the co-op/weekly cinematic series and season structure was one of the most interesting things that I'd seen last year.
I'm not averse to more Halo games. My problem is that there is a time when a franchise begins getting stale. I feel that Halo could last the reclaimer trilogy, but I highly doubt that it will be treated with care as it gets older. Then again, that is probably just the cynic in me talking.
 

ZZoMBiE13

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Oct 10, 2007
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Earnest Cavalli said:
the heat death of the universe.

Source: Gamespot [http://uk.gamespot.com/news/microsoft-new-halo-for-xbox-one-is-legitimate-6410554]

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We Halo fans call that "The firing of the rings". Just FYI. ;)
 

chaos order

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Jan 27, 2010
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wait why the hell is master chief wearing that cloak i mean yea hes in a freaking desert but hes wearing full body armor and his helmet covers his face...
 

Chester Rabbit

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So in other words "We're now gonna milk this mother even after the last drop!"
Well, if the next one is as safe and bland as the last then I am still going to consider this series a trilogy and that will be that.