Rebecca Mayes Muses: Halo Reach

gallaetha_matt

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Feb 28, 2010
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Gyrefalcon said:
I'd love to know your thought process behind the halo suit opening up and the girl from the "light" scene exiting. The lyrics seem to be admonishing us for spending so much time accepting a fake idea of our own greatness. Yet the image paired with it seemed to hint that we are missing the true brilliance of our own talents by truncating our growth from sitting and playing games too long. And coupled with gallaetha_matt's comment:
You... you spelled my screenname right...

This has never happened to me before. I promised myself I wouldn't cry...

Seriously though, you seem to be right on the message with this song. I got the same impression. We seem to be being told to get off our arses and go do some things instead of playing video games. When I first heard it I was resolved to finishing writing my third novel by the end of the week.

But now I can't think of an ending, so I've got writer's block, so I'm back to sitting on my arse playing video games again.

Something has gone wrong here.

But I respect the message of this song, we've all got our own super powers - be they writing, playing music, drawing, running, dancing, Telekinesis or the power of heart, so we should be out there using them to bring death to our enemies.
 

savageoblivi0n

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honestly, I listened to it the first time and wasn't sure that i enjoyed it, but after listening to it again i started thinking about it a on a slightly deeper level and it started hitting me in different ways, this ones gonna take a few more listens for me to fully interpret it lol

*edited to correct a redundancy*
 

tetron

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Dec 9, 2009
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I like this song. I've listened to it several times over the course of time it has been out. It's just so...calming.

Kinda reminds me of old Evanescence.
 

greyknight

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Feb 18, 2010
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i belive what she is trying to get across is its not the game companys that make the how it is it is the players them self that make the game addicting (this is not inculding any one who is under the age of 17 playing halo) in a sesen "you are the halo" is that well for lack of better words we are halo with out the gamers it dosent exsite
 

Callate

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Dec 5, 2008
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Hmm. What, if anything, is the difference between a sansula and an mbira?

Anyway, a very arresting song. Thanks, Ms. Mayes.
 

Forest White

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Oct 4, 2010
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I don't normally enjoy sentimental works, nor do I usually talk to people on forums. However, this presentation moved me more profoundly than I could have anticipated when I clicked the link on a whim. Inspired, I believe, sums up the quality of this video, for it inspired me and that cannot be said of most of the content, however entertaining, that populates this site.

You, Ms. Mayes, are the Halo.
 

fusion4bass

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Sep 2, 2009
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Impressive piece of music. Your singing is amazing as always but musically it's one of Your best tunes on Escapist. Also thumbs up for double bass ( even though MIDI :( ).
Cheers !
 

FlameUnquenchable

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Apr 27, 2010
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Good job in encapsulating the Noble team Rebecca. For those of you who don't understand what it has to do with Reach, well I'm very sorry you don't get it.

Not every song about a game has to say something about the world or the gameplay. Sometimes it can express an emotion that the person playing felt as a result of the actions of the protagonists of said game.

Also, Halo doesn't necessarily have to mean the machine in the game, it can mean 'Halo' as the object that everyone is pursuing, as in 'the goal' or the 'object of struggle' which happens on a personal level as well as on a cultural/galactic level in the game.

The Noble team is the pinnacle of human technology, and while individual, they are the peak of the fighting force at Reach. They are who they are, without reservation, and are not afraid to be who they have to be at any cost...which is not something that can be said of us as humans mostly. The song can be seen as a comparison between what our best could be, and why we're not achieving it, unlike those brave heroes of Reach who were all they could be...who had to be all they could be especially in the face of destruction.
 

Goro

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By far the best she's done yet, fantastic both lyrically and musically.
 

ZelosRaine

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Sep 20, 2010
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Wonderful! Yes, it is a bit of a reach (no pun...well, maybe a little pun intended) to connect these lines to the gameplay. However, the idea what you have taken away from the game, the idea that fighting and shooting games often rely on darkness, melancholy, and violence to drive their story, contrasts perfectly with your realization (as in poetic realization) that people often use these themes to hide from their own positive energy (i.e. light, logos, or whatever other meaning laden symbol you would like) and the fear that accompanies that realization: the realization that they could do more but are not.
 

Ced23Ric

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Oct 6, 2010
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It seems very obvious to me what's going on here.

First of all: Love it. Combining history, tune and this game is, considering the Escapists flair, quite a feat. Now, moving on to my interpretation.

The beginning gives it away easily: It is about the Spartans, and their feelings. These fictional soldiers of awesome are human, and they have feelings. How does a person feel that is told that he and 200 others are the best of the best of the best of humanity? They are sent out against terrible odds, and expected to win regardless. They get thrown against waves and waves of enemies, as shields of humanity, as heroes of their days - unsung heroes, reduced to tools of war.

They get morally lost, deprived of the simplicity of life. Spartans had no childhood worth mentioning. No lovers, no friens - their life is war and training. Now, why them? Who are they to be augmented to these levels, and why are ODSTs or other soldiers not? It is the age-old question; why me? We are all meant to shine - as children do. Spartans have no childhood. They were trained rock solid at young age, taken away from family and social surroundings. Their "mother" was a scientist, and their "playground" was a boot camp.

Yet, all these abandoned things aside, they are the essence of warfare, supersoldiers, meant to surpass all military expectations. Someone has to safe the world - wouldn't that task shatter your mind? I would be frightened by the power to do so. Aren't we just mere mortals? How can a single being have so much impact? Perseverance, of unbelievable levels. But they need this mentality. The Spartans need to see themselves as heroes, they need to believe in their power, as mind warping as it might be. If a Spartan loses that trust in himself, he is shrinking, and that helps no one. In fact, a single Spartan breaking under the psychological pressure is a loss of decades, millions and potentially fatal for humanity.

The speech fits spot-on.

I am thankful for this work.
 

Altair78

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Aug 21, 2010
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And just when I thought "The Monster" wasn't going to be topped as my favorite song by the lovely Rebecca Mayes, she goes and proves me wrong. You and this song is, as the song mentioned, powerful and beyond excellent. Indeed so good I almost fear it, I will still be drawn to it like a human moth to a single flame made out of car crashes...

...I'm sure there's a few compliments in there somewhere.
 

Blayze2k

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Dec 16, 2009
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I dig'd this song on a lot of levels.
The percussion added a lot.
And the background melody was particularly good. Haunting. Good tone.
The subject matter was good too. I know it's been said, but these songs are always better when they don't relate as directly to video games.
 

Mr.Squishy

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Apr 14, 2009
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Pallindromemordnillap said:
Yet another ballad with a repetitive chorus...sigh...Whatever happened to wanting to try new things?
This. Not only was this a yawn-o-rama, I felt it came off as very pretentious :/