CuddlyCombine said:
evilartist said:
I do have the novels, the first four anyway. I enjoy them (except for The Flood; I can't stand William Dietz's writing style). If I recall correctly, Eric Nylund had actually consulted Bungie about the series' storyline, making it canon. With that said, I was bugged when I saw all the spartans in Reach having all these different armors, when in fact they should all look like to Master Chief. I guess it can't be helped, in this case.
I haven't even read
The Flood; I couldn't bear it. Nylund's writing is leagues better. But if I recall correctly, the SPARTANs received replacement parts and upgrades at different points after getting their Mark V armor - that could be used to explain the discrepancies. Either that, or Bungie just doesn't give a flying fuck anymore. Which, leading to my next point...
evilartist said:
The reason why I expected a great story was because Halo: CE set a new standard for me in first-person shooter story-telling. The plot was interesting and ominous, and kept me thinking about the stuff that Guilty Spark would say. I expected Bungie to built upon that with the sequels, especially since these are the guys who made the Marathon Trilogy, which had a cool, complex sci-fi story (although you had to read through a bunch of terminals). Boy, was I disappointed.
is why I agree with you. The first game had a fairly engaging plot and interesting dynamics; it wasn't ground-breaking, but it was fun and developed. However, the reason
Halo took off isn't because of its story, and I think Bungie just decided to focus on the action aspect. They left the narrating to the books and viral marketing.
Yes, I agree, it wasn't the story that made it popular, it was the gameplay. I don't condemn Bungie for putting most of their effort into improving the gameplay. I just wish developers could put as much effort into story as they do into gameplay. The Halo games had so much story potential, but instead it had to rely on books as supplements. It's not entirely bad, though. Eric Nylund is a great author.
I know I'm going off on a tangent here, but I just want to say one more thing about William Dietz: I don't entirely blame him for
The Flood sucking. Sure, his writing style doesn't match up to Nylund's, nor does he do John-117's personality justice, but he's also forced to work within tighter restrictions: summing up the events of the first Halo game.
By today's standards, Halo: CE is a repetitive, generic shooter (though, I personally thought it was pretty innovative for its time). Now, try narrating that gameplay, instead of playing it (
possible spoilers ahead?). I distinctly recall the chapter when John (aka Master Chief) was fighting through the Library. The book described how he kept entering another room, shooting a bunch of flood, and then going through another room, and then another floor, and doing the same thing. During scenes like that, it felt like
The Flood was a parody of Halo's gameplay missteps.
Sure, there were some new scenes in there, like John taking shit from Commander Silva (Captain? Lieutenant? Can't remember the rank), and it explained how the humans managed to get enough supplies to survive (fighting near the Pillar of Autumn). Even the narration of Keyes' thought patterns as his mind was slowly being devoured by the flood was an interesting approach (maybe you didn't read that far?).
My point is, I wish developers would put just half as much effort into the story as these novel writers do, but obviously not
too much. We don't want to have to sit through lengthy cutscenes, either.
