Bungie Explains (Internally) Controversial Halo: Reach Ending

[mb16]

I still wanted to see one spartan go batshit and kill some UNSC, particularly Halsey. I mean they got kidnapped, forced not only to train throughout their entire childhood but also endure extremely dangerous mechanical augmentation to use the mjolnir suits, and none of them figures it out, or even gets remotely pissed? However, I suppose that's the point. The tragedy is that none of them ever do.

thats like being pissed at someone who just made you batman/superman

 

[savageoblivi0n]

that ending was probably one of the most powerful moments i'd seen in gaming, i had wondered about it since the opening sequence how it would actually happen, and to go down fighting like that, honestly (and maybe this is just me, i get into things a little much sometimes) feeling the anger over knowing the whole thing was doomed from the start. I just got the overwhelming urge to make sure as many covenant as possible suffered with me. That ending actually left me speechless, and i think it was the perfect way (although i admit i haven't read the books) for something interactive like a game of it to end

/ramble

 

[Conkzerton]

I adored the ending, the cracks in the visor were a great touch. It really hits home that this is the last fight, and you don't win. I was actually dissapointed when the credits came up, though I did expect the mission I had asked not to be told details about it. I knew I was going to die, I expected it and I was ready for it, so being given the objective to survive, and to jump down into my own last stand... It kind of meant something. I got attached to my own Noble 6, and I fully expected to get my end.
Decent campaign overall really.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Jun's did piss me off, if only because it wasn't detailed in the game, but is almost definitely assured.

In the Legendary Edition, the developer commentary says that Jun is actually the only member of Noble to survive. I don't know if this makes you less pissed or not. I agree that the deaths were all handled very well.

 

[Beat14]

To me it seems the only way to make the ending have impact by you fighting on in desperation.

 

[Bobzer77]

No complains here about the ending, that part was awesome, but Kat's death... c'mon, could you really not think of anything better to do with that?

I disagree. Most of the Spartans went out in a blaze of glory, so it was nice to see a death that was sudden and without warning, which is probably more realistic anyway.

The only problem I had with that was shields.

Even if they had put them buzzing out and her dying from the same shot I would have accepted it but we didn't even get a shimmer.

 

[sunburst]

thats like being pissed at someone who just made you batman/superman

I imagine Batman is incredibly pissed at the person who made him Batman, neh?

It seems like a great ending and I'm glad Bungie had the balls to end the game in an unusual way as opposed to betraying the series canon.

 

[Rusty Bucket]

and being taken down 'like a *****' is better than fighting through only to have a ship get in position overhead and blast you with what is essentially a concentrated nuclear explosion.

That's a pretty good ending, and if that's what you'd said I'd have gotten behind it. But you only mentioned the glassing part.

I do still think that the original ending is amazing though.

 

[Virus49]

The death of noble six will be remembered far more than his survival ever would be. An epic... epic ending.

 

[cheese_wizington]

Is it just me or didn't Jun die? He just escorted Halsey off the planet.

And Jorge got teleported... Somewhere, with an intact covenant corvette and 2/3 of a super carrier

Yeah in the commentary of something Bungie says that Jun survives.

I liked the ending, although I hope after

Spoiler

red dead

and Reach murdering the protagonist isn't the new cool thing to do.

 

[Bobzer77]

The ending was definitely one of the highlights of my gaming career and even though it was awesome it left me depressed and wanting to cry....

Of course I didn't because I'm a manly man.
[small]lies![/small]

Not just because Noble 6 died (that wasn't really a surprise as I had read the books) but because I was saying goodbye to a universe (at least in it's current form) that has been with me for most of my life (18 ftw?).

My first ever online match was on Halo for the P.C, and even through the whole "it's cool to hate Halo" era I always enjoyed playing them.

Farewell.

 

[duckers101]

i love the ending.
reminds me of greek tragedy with is quite fitting for the spartan visage an the archetecture and feel for them games.

 

[Tom Phoenix]

Even though I will probably never play Halo, that actually sounds like an awesome ending.

It's great when games pull off an emotionally engaging experiences. One of my most favourite moments in gaming was the defence of Pegasus Bridge in Call of Duty, since you could feel the hopelessness of the situation as the Germans were encroaching upon you. The music had a lot to do with it as well.

But of course, that had a positive ending. It is great that at least one developer was willing to go with a "last stand" ending. That said, I understand why they were hesitant to go down that route....afterall, bad endings tend to rarely be a satisfying conclusion.

 

[greenyboy27]

No complains here about the ending, that part was awesome, but Kat's death... c'mon, could you really not think of anything better to do with that?

Agreed.. i really enjoyed the ending, but for Kat. such a good character deserved a better death than a single headshot.

 

[Ridgemo]

Look, if you're reading this, you more than likely have already recieved the spoiler warning from the original post (not to mention you entered a thread talking about an ending to a game) so I don't feel like I have to put this in the spoiler box, but I'll do it if people request it.

While I think it would have made more tactical sense for your character to try and escape or something, I find myself looking back on the ending and realizing that I wouldn't want to if I were Noble 6. I had just lost all my team, missed the last ship off (or so I was told) in order to allow it to escape, lost the battle for the last hope earth had, and due to the glassing, had no hope of surviving long term. I would have probably wanted to go out guns blazing just as he did. It's also an ending that stuck with me, as in that scene, right up until I was overwelmed, I was in control, keeping myself alive. Once I was removed, I could only really watch as Noble 6 fought on (he became a character at that point rather than my avatar, but he was a character based on the sum of my actions and how I interpreted the events, much like the Wanderer from SotC) helpless to stop what was happening. The entire time, I was hoping that he made it out, and just left his helmet behind, only to get an emotional blow by the end narration.

In a sense, I'd say his death scene made him my favorite character in the Halo universe, and the one I actually felt the most emotion about. It was a great way to end a series which until this game, was merely good rather than great. As such, I think the scene worked very well.

No complains here about the ending, that part was awesome, but Kat's death... c'mon, could you really not think of anything better to do with that?

I'm gonna get a lot of hate for this, but I thought it was actually appropriate. It was a scene that proved that even someone who had been on the most missions with you, and who had survived more than anyone else (look at her arm), and someone better than a lot of the cream of the crop could still be killed if they let down their guard on the battlefield. It was sudden, abrupt, and merciless in a cutscene that seemed to be just "Let's get ready for the next mission."

And I might as well hit the other deaths as well.

Jorge was a tragic one, a decision made by someone who wanted to save humanity, his home, and the woman he (probably) considered his mother. I know people have offered alternatives, but remember that they were on a timelimit for that mission, and went in with only what they had, and even that was their last resort. Then, not even a full minute passes after his death before his sacrifice was invalidated, which just added to the tragedy of the moment. Those of you who were angry with this scene, that was the point. You were supposed to ask why he had to sacrifice himself, and what it meant if it didn't do anything. Hell, that's the feeling the Battle of Reach was supposed to have.

Carter was that angered a lot of people, yet it's something the books loved. Watch the beginning of that mission again. He was going to die anyway from plasma burns, and it was a testement to his Spartan nature that he lasted that long. More than likely, he realized when the Scarab appeared that he was in his last moments and decided to make his death into something more than ANOTHER crashed pelican on Reach.

Jun's did piss me off, if only because it wasn't detailed in the game, but is almost definitely assured.

Emile's was my favorite. Here was a man pissed at the world after his entire family was killed twice (he was part of the A group that got slaughtered in the first few pages of Ghosts of Onyx, but was pulled off before it happened, if the Halo wiki is to be believed). He's pissed at Spartan II's for not training them better (hence his problems with Jorge), he's pissed with the Covenant for the war (hence why he steals from the dead), and he's just basically pissed at everything (which is why he carved a skull in his faceplate and uses close range weaponary so he can really be there when the enemy dies). And so, he dies pissed at the enemies who snuck up on him and killed him, and was so pissed, he refused to die without killing both of them (said scene involves him getting stabbed in the back, only to flip the attacker off him and stab them with a smaller knife).

If i could give you a cookie for those explanations of the death of Noble Team it'd be the tastiest, biggest cookie thats ever been made!

I liked how Jorge threw you out of the spacecraft. Alot of people said it looked silly, but i think he did that so that Noble 6 would have no guilt issues of leaving a fully fit Spartan behind. He effectively gave you no choice but to go back to Reach, rather than stay with him and have an argument over who should arm the bomb and who should go back and fight.

As for the others, Delock sums it up perfectly.

 

[GloatingSwine]

It was sad of course, but they had to do it to remain in Canon : Halo wouldn't be the same if Master Chief was one of two surviving spartans. He had to be the only one.

I hate to be "that guy", but Master cheif isn't the only remaining spartan. There are others too. But most of them are dead.

I'm aware that in the books there were other Spartans like Kelly etc, (I did read first strike after all), but as far as the games were concerned, Master Chief was the only one that in any case could make a difference.

He was the only one in any position to do anything. Red team are stuck on the Spirit of Fire taking the slow boat home, the surviving Spartan IIIs are stuck on the Shield World, and most of the others are MIA or dispersed far enough that they can't do anything.

 

[Tucker154]

That's gonna kill my enjoyment of reach somewhat (totally my own fault though) because I hate any fight you have to lose. It's like the following Starcraft 2 spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

the final mission in that memory crystal where you're the protoss fighting wave after wave of zerg/protoss hybrids. No way to win except to lose.)

Yeah, but in halo you can loose whenever, but in SC2 it gives you an amount of enemies that you need to kill.

OT: I just let myself get killed. On my first playthrough, i was on legendary single player,so i knew, even if I did fight, I would have died quick, but it was still a great ending and glad they kept it.

 

[King_Serpent]

Great ending in my opinion and the death of the spartans could actually be unexpected. (I knew they would die) Kat died in a way that seemed like what would happen in an actual battle. No bull s*#t sacrifice myself, which I thought they might do with every character. Not that it is a bad thing if one or two characters did that (and they did). Just not all of them.

Three of them clearly and knowingly sacrifice themselves. Jorge goes down setting off the bomb on Operation Uppercut, Emile offers to stay behind to cover the Pillar of Autumn (which would have inevitably lead to him being overrun the same as you were in the end) and Carter jams his pelican into a Scarab to clear the way to the pad. The sniper (who's name I never remember), may have died destroying a facility. Kat was, apparently, too damn stupid to turn on her freakin' shield as a single shot to the head from a needle rifle is no where near sufficient to punch through even on the hardest difficulty.

Dude calm down its a game I never said I was the only one who was right in any thing Halo: Reach. Just saying a character's death was fine by me. Do not make a big deal over nothing. It was not even an argument. Just said liked the style the characters went out in.

 

[Caligulove]

Glad they did keep it in. Everything I was hearing about Reach up until the moment that I actually got to play it painted Noble Six, and really all of the other Spartans as tragic figures, that it was assured that most, if not all of them were going to die in the campaign, as that was what they were ultimately made to do- pull off miraculous things, but still expendable.

There have been better endings to games, but I was definitely a moving ending to Bungie's work on their beloved series. Really looking forward to what they're gonna do next- and equally excited to see what 343 Industries will do with Halo