Bungie Explains (Internally) Controversial Halo: Reach Ending

[ElTigreSantiago]

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 loved Kat's death more than almost any other in a video game. For once in a millennium, a game shows that if you're in the middle of a war (even if you are a main character!) death can and will strike at any moment. It was quick, brutal, surprising, and extremely effective. They didn't sit there for two hours like "Okay, Kat is important and she is going to die so its going to be long and drawn out, you better get ready!" like most developers would have done. Hats off to Bungie for that. Fucking awesome.

 

[sh0tgunenclave]

it would of been better had a covenant ship started glassing the area instead of the waves of enemies.

the current ending is pretty bad in my opinion, sure the planets doomed, so why let us fight for an extra five minutes?

spartans never die thats why. They are always MIA. If you read the books (highly recommend their SOOOOO MUCH BETTER then the games themselves) they state that a few times.

Bungie Explains (Internally) Controversial Halo: Reach Ending

The finale sequence in Halo: Reach [http://www.amazon.com/Halo-Reach-Xbox-360/dp/B002BSA20M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1285186373&sr=8-1] is one of the most memorable parts of the game, but members of Bungie's dev team had to fight to put it in the game in the first place.

Okay, there's no easy way to say this, but - if it wasn't obvious enough from the headline and teaser - this news post will contain severe spoilers for the ending of Halo: Reach. In other words, if you read past the part marked "Spoilers," and you get spoiled, it's your own damn fault.

***SPOILER ALERT. SPOILER ALERT.***

One of the most surprisingly poignant moments (for me, anyway) in the entire Halo franchise was Noble Six's - that is, your own - last stand at the very end of Reach. After covering the launch of the Pillar of Autumn to set the events of Halo: Combat Evolved in motion, you are given a single objective: "Survive." It's ultimately impossible, as more and more Covenant swarm you on the now-desolate surface of a destroyed Reach, and Noble Six eventually goes down fighting.

When asked by UGO [http://www.ugo.com/games/halo-reach-bungie-talks-controversy-within-studio-over-games-ending] to explain the inspiration for the scene, creative director Marcus Lehto said that they ultimately saw the game as a "tragedy overall."

[blockquote]We wanted to tell the story of the Spartans sacrificing everything they had, and we thought it would be a cop-out if we didn't really bring it to a true ending with the Spartan that you create and that you fight with through the entire campaign and all the way to the very bitter end. If we didn't actually do the right thing to that character and bring them down with the planet ... After they had already succeeded in making sure that one thing that gave humanity any hope was actually saved, (we decided) they were going to go out all gung-ho and guns blazing.[/blockquote]

Still, said Lehto, it was hardly a unanimous decision within Bungie. "It was a crazy, controversial thing within our studio. We had a lot of people who were like, 'No, we shouldn't end it that way. We should allow the player to play on and, in their heads, keep living.' But we wanted to bring it to a close."

"[It] was one of the parts of the game that we wrestled with for months, and there were many different iterations with the ending," agreed executive producer Joe Tung. "There was a point where the ending didn't happen at all like it happened now. It was so important to us that the game ended well."

It was important, of course, because this wasn't just Bungie's farewell to Noble Six and the planet Reach - but to the studio's Halo franchise as a whole. It was important "from the perspective of Bungie saying goodbye to the entire universe," said Tung. "We spent so much time wrestling with how to end the game, and I think it ended up being such a great farewell, not just for the game, but for the entire involvement in the universe and a fitting farewell to Halo from Bungie."

"And there wasn't really anything we could do with the end, the demise, of Noble 6 because that leads into the events just prior to Halo 1," said Lehto. "It was a great way just to bring everything full circle for the franchise."

I certainly thought so, anyway.

(UGO [http://www.ugo.com/games/halo-reach-bungie-talks-controversy-within-studio-over-games-ending])

Permalink

Mr. Funk spartans never die!

spartan-II's never die. these are spartan-III's. cheap expendable versions of the spartan II program.
well, look at me, being a smartass.

 

[TheTaco007]

OK, well then WHAT HAPPENED TO JUN???

 

[Nieroshai]

Just like to say to everyone who wishes Halo: Reach didnt end like it did.
There's a REASON Master Chief John-117 is (at first glance) the only surviving Spartan. Read the first three novels, they sum it up pretty well as well as adding some characterization to the Chief's personality. The UNSC would have known if there were survivors on Reach. Try surviving your entire planet's surface melting to glass. The Covenant even glassed their OWN troops to make sure the humans were pinned down for the glassing. The only way to survive would have been not to be on the planet.
Glass.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

I was hoping Master Chief was in the Pelican with Keyes so we could hand Cortana off to him. That would have been awesome. I really liked the ending though. It was very powerful and I liked watching 6 kick some total ass right before the elites finished him off.

 

[Nieroshai]

it would of been better had a covenant ship started glassing the area instead of the waves of enemies.

the current ending is pretty bad in my opinion, sure the planets doomed, so why let us fight for an extra five minutes?

spartans never die thats why. They are always MIA. If you read the books (highly recommend their SOOOOO MUCH BETTER then the games themselves) they state that a few times.

Bungie Explains (Internally) Controversial Halo: Reach Ending

The finale sequence in Halo: Reach [http://www.amazon.com/Halo-Reach-Xbox-360/dp/B002BSA20M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1285186373&sr=8-1] is one of the most memorable parts of the game, but members of Bungie's dev team had to fight to put it in the game in the first place.

Okay, there's no easy way to say this, but - if it wasn't obvious enough from the headline and teaser - this news post will contain severe spoilers for the ending of Halo: Reach. In other words, if you read past the part marked "Spoilers," and you get spoiled, it's your own damn fault.

***SPOILER ALERT. SPOILER ALERT.***

One of the most surprisingly poignant moments (for me, anyway) in the entire Halo franchise was Noble Six's - that is, your own - last stand at the very end of Reach. After covering the launch of the Pillar of Autumn to set the events of Halo: Combat Evolved in motion, you are given a single objective: "Survive." It's ultimately impossible, as more and more Covenant swarm you on the now-desolate surface of a destroyed Reach, and Noble Six eventually goes down fighting.

When asked by UGO [http://www.ugo.com/games/halo-reach-bungie-talks-controversy-within-studio-over-games-ending] to explain the inspiration for the scene, creative director Marcus Lehto said that they ultimately saw the game as a "tragedy overall."

[blockquote]We wanted to tell the story of the Spartans sacrificing everything they had, and we thought it would be a cop-out if we didn't really bring it to a true ending with the Spartan that you create and that you fight with through the entire campaign and all the way to the very bitter end. If we didn't actually do the right thing to that character and bring them down with the planet ... After they had already succeeded in making sure that one thing that gave humanity any hope was actually saved, (we decided) they were going to go out all gung-ho and guns blazing.[/blockquote]

Still, said Lehto, it was hardly a unanimous decision within Bungie. "It was a crazy, controversial thing within our studio. We had a lot of people who were like, 'No, we shouldn't end it that way. We should allow the player to play on and, in their heads, keep living.' But we wanted to bring it to a close."

"[It] was one of the parts of the game that we wrestled with for months, and there were many different iterations with the ending," agreed executive producer Joe Tung. "There was a point where the ending didn't happen at all like it happened now. It was so important to us that the game ended well."

It was important, of course, because this wasn't just Bungie's farewell to Noble Six and the planet Reach - but to the studio's Halo franchise as a whole. It was important "from the perspective of Bungie saying goodbye to the entire universe," said Tung. "We spent so much time wrestling with how to end the game, and I think it ended up being such a great farewell, not just for the game, but for the entire involvement in the universe and a fitting farewell to Halo from Bungie."

"And there wasn't really anything we could do with the end, the demise, of Noble 6 because that leads into the events just prior to Halo 1," said Lehto. "It was a great way just to bring everything full circle for the franchise."

I certainly thought so, anyway.

(UGO [http://www.ugo.com/games/halo-reach-bungie-talks-controversy-within-studio-over-games-ending])

Permalink

Mr. Funk spartans never die!

spartan-II's never die. these are spartan-III's. cheap expendable versions of the spartan II program.
well, look at me, being a smartass.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Spartan-3's originate in the novel Ghosts of Onyx? And not enter service until the events of Halo 2? And have the shitty armor with no shields but a little camo?

 

[RedDeadFred]

OK, well then WHAT HAPPENED TO JUN???

Developer commentary in the legendary edition says he lived.

 

[Racthoh]

I thought the ending was easily the best bit in the game. And probably the only memorable bit.

I'm just sorry that it was used in Reach. Because now if another, better, game uses a similar scenario then a million squawking Halo fans will start accusing them of copying Reach. And that makes me sad.

Don't worry; Crisis Core did the exact same ending allowing the player fight against an endless horde of enemies but ultimately you were gonna die.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I was hoping Master Chief was in the Pelican with Keyes so we could hand Cortana off to him. That would have been awesome. I really liked the ending though. It was very powerful and I liked watching 6 kick some total ass right before the elites finished him off.

There's an easter egg where you can shift the camera to the right during the cutscene where a pelican lands in the pillar of autumn hanger. You have to know when you hold the analog stick the the right. When done at the correct time you can see Master Chief in his cryo stasis thing.

 

[Eremiel]

I was hoping Master Chief was in the Pelican with Keyes so we could hand Cortana off to him. That would have been awesome.

He was, no?
There's an easter-egg that shows him in stasis inside. Or perhaps that was inside the Pillar.. my memory is a little fuzzy.

[edit]damnit, beaten to it

 

[Nieroshai]

I liken the ending to the overwhelming onslaught at the end of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7. In the psx ff7 Zach dies saving Cloud, but he's downed by a couple of riflemen. In Crisis Core his death is more touching because the final boss is LITERALLY his final fight, as you fight waves upon waves of soldiers with no hope of winning. I think you have to lose to end the battle but I don't remember. You will win in the cutscene, barely, but you are not leaving that cliff. I also like how that ending gives a reason WHY Cloud has selective amnesia and thinks he's who Zach was. Mako sickness combined with... well I'm not going to repeat my self.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I liked the ending. Reach falls, the Spartans die and, John 117 is humanity's last hope. It had to be that way and the means by which they showed that fact was done wonderfully. I'm not glad that N6 died but he went down like a true Spartan.

 

[kyzill]

oh no the spartans died that somehow makes it emotive
didn't you guys listen to how the developers droned on and on and fucking on about how "reach falls" its pretty obvious they would die in the end

 

[RedDeadFred]

They should make it so if you manage to kill 100 enemies at the end. You get a special cutscene of 6 standing around piles of dead covenant walking and finishing a few off as he goes. Then you see a glassing beam go towards his area.

 

[Ridgemo]

oh no the spartans died that somehow makes it emotive
didn't you guys listen to how the developers droned on and on and fucking on about how "reach falls" its pretty obvious they would die in the end

It was pretty obvious the Titanic was going to sink in the movie. It still moved some people.

 

[Warforger]

So the most controversial decision the team fought over was that the good guy loses? I don't have Reach and don't plan too, but from what I can tell it seems just like Transformers, extremely one sided, the Humans are always right and always morally right and the Aliens are always wrong and always morally wrong. Surely there's something to sympathize you with the Aliens for a brief moment?

But if Reach is like the rest of Mainstream its probably the aforementioned situation, no startling thoughts just kill Aliens cause their bad.

 

[ECHO 062]

So the most controversial decision the team fought over was that the good guy loses? I don't have Reach and don't plan too, but from what I can tell it seems just like Transformers, extremely one sided, the Humans are always right and always morally right and the Aliens are always wrong and always morally wrong. Surely there's something to sympathize you with the Aliens for a brief moment?

But if Reach is like the rest of Mainstream its probably the aforementioned situation, no startling thoughts just kill Aliens cause their bad.

To be fair, the humans aren't "morally right", and the Aliens aren't always morally wrong. For example, spartan 2s are kidnapped children who have been brainwashed and trained since the age of six, and you can see the motives of the covenant and you even team up with some of them in halo 3 (and the end of 2), and surely people can sypathise with the arbiter?

 

[mrdude2010]

my question is

what the FUCK was the pillar of autumn doing on reach? in everything except this game, the ship blatantly AVOIDS landing on the planet because of the unnecessary risk it would pose to everyone

 

[Protocol95]

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.

Spoiler tag that! This is a spoiler thread about reach not

Spoiler

Red Dead

Anyway I loved the ending and i'm glad they kept it in. I feel a bit depressed every time I start that mission and love it. I don't think Reach should've ended every other way.

 

[CrashBang]

Glad they kept it in. One of the greatest moments of any game I've played.

Absolutely. I didn't find it depressing, it just made me want to play Halo again and continue the fight (in the least cheesy way possible)