Why Master Chief?

[Edwardsjack]

Today, I want to talk about something that has been bothering me lately; Master Chief. Some people might not know this, but Bungie has made many books about the extended universe of Halo (all of them I like expect the latest one). In one of these books, you learn the origins of Master Chief and the other Spartans, plus what happen on Reach before the first (and best) game. When you are reading, you might pick up the fact the each Spartan has "special abilities" unique to them. Kelly is the fastest, Sam is the strongest, and Linda is the sniper of the bunch and has the best aim. John is just the luckiest. That's it.

So my question is, if Bungie had created all of these wonderful characters that I actually liked, cared about, and had better "abilities", why, why did the fell the need to put one of the most plainest characters, and that (lets face it) weakest of the bunch to make the main charter in their story?

I'm not anti-Halo, I'm anti-Master Cheif.

 

[Legion]

They wanted to make the point that it doesn't matter if you are the strongest, smartest, toughest or most accurate; you are fucked if you don't have a bit of luck on your side. As is seen by the fact that most of the others died.

That's my interpretation at least.

He is also supposed to be the bravest and have the strongest desire to win.

Oh, and he is also the one with the strongest leadership skills.

 

[Edwardsjack]

They wanted to make the point that it doesn't matter if you are the strongest, smartest, toughest or most accurate; you are fucked if you don't have a bit of luck on your side. As is seen by the fact that most of the others died.

That's my interpretation at least.

He is also supposed to be the bravest and have the strongest desire to win.

Oh, and he is also the one with the strongest leadership skills.

Thanks for clearly that up for me, and thanks for pointing out the things I missed. But...

Why? Because its their product and they can do whatever the hell they want with it. Simple answer really. Also he holds the rank of Master Chief, so chain of command wise it makes sense.

How does luck help in a leadership role? He is only the rank of master chief because he became the the leader of Blue team.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

Well, a large amount of the plot(of all the games) is about luck. It wouldn't have been a bit lame if you just ran away from everything with super-spartan-speed, now wouldn't it?

 

[Bigeyez]

Because being plain helps the audience connect to the character better - it lets them put their personality in the character.

Look at Twilight.

I'm guessing this was sarcastic but actually it's pretty much spot on. Master Chief himself admits in the books that he isn't the strongest, fastest, or "best" spartan. The only thing he did better then other spartans was lead a squad. He simply, be it luck or whatever, always accomplished his mission no matter what was in his way. You can't even really say he was "more brave" then other spartans because every one of them would have given up their lives in a heartbeat to complete a mission.

Even the mans personality is plain and bland. The other spartans each had their own quirks but Master Chief doesn't. He is really one of the most disembodied hereos out there...you could even compare him to Gordan Freemen if it wasn't for him talking.

Edit: After reading your post again I'm guessing it wasn't sarcasm. Anyways the point still stands.

 

[WhiteTiger225]

Because being plain helps the audience connect to the character better - it lets them put their personality in the character.

Look at Twilight.

Why? I mean... yeah sure look at twighlight (If you happen to like emo sparkley vampires)

honestly, masterchief is the most OVER HYPED character of all time, even more over hyped then chuck norris (I mean, at least chuck norris did win a contest proving himself the best at one point) Master Chief has the following scores.

Personality - 0/10
Skill - 2/10 (I mean CMON! Normal marines take more hits then him!)
Uniqueness - 0/10 (Faceless guy in regenerating armor... haven't heard THAT before)

now for the marines

Personality - 8/10 (Varied personalities, likable characters, etc)
Skill - 7/10 (They can't hit a damn thing, but they can stay alive much longer then master chief without the power armor)
Originality - 0/10 (Movie "Alien" ring any bells with costume design?)

Master Chief isn't just plain... if he was a flavor, he would be flavorless. Nothing special in the least, and nothing to claim to like.

Know who could kick his ass?... CHUCK NORRIS! Know who can kick chuck norris AND master chief? DUKE NUKEM! Know who can beat all three? BRUCE CAMPBELL!

 

[Legion]

They wanted to make the point that it doesn't matter if you are the strongest, smartest, toughest or most accurate; you are fucked if you don't have a bit of luck on your side. As is seen by the fact that most of the others died.

That's my interpretation at least.

He is also supposed to be the bravest and have the strongest desire to win.

Oh, and he is also the one with the strongest leadership skills.

Thanks for clearly that up for me, and thanks for pointing out the things I missed. But...

Why? Because its their product and they can do whatever the hell they want with it. Simple answer really. Also he holds the rank of Master Chief, so chain of command wise it makes sense.

How does luck help in a leadership role? He is only the rank of master chief because he became the the leader of Blue team.

Luck helps because if you screw up then nobody will notice because things turn out right anyway.

I can see what you mean, being lucky is hardly the most charismatic trait for a main character to have but as Max said here:

Because being plain helps the audience connect to the character better - it lets them put their personality in the character.

if you don't give them a deep personality then the player can assume the role themselves. All players want to win, so that fits in too.

Also what this:

Its just a game kid, don't lose sleep over it.

*snip*

I don't think you know what over-hyped means.

 

[WhiteTiger225]

Wanna know how luck works into leadership? Read up on Patton during WW2 and see how many times a bit of luck not only saved his men, but himself as well (Fuck, he drove STRAIGHT THROUGH A MINEFIELD AHEAD OF HIS TANK DIVISION IN A JEEP! thats balls + luck!) or the time two gunners happened to flank a old fort using cannons to keep US troops at bay, opened fire, got a few lucky shots into the building which ricocheted around killing and wounding many, and led to two men defeating around 45

 

[Joshimodo]

Personality - 0/10
Skill - 2/10 (I mean CMON! Normal marines take more hits then him!)
Uniqueness - 0/10 (Faceless guy in regenerating armor... haven't heard THAT before)

You must have been terrible at Halo. Seriously, it's hard to die.

 

[thiosk]

if you make a game using the super sniper, and the player has some sort of cerebal palsy and cant aim well, then the game isn't going to play out correctly.

Better to play as the run of the mill character and let the player go wild.

Uniqueness - 0/10 (Faceless guy in regenerating armor... haven't heard THAT before)

Can you provide a list of pre-halo games where the armor automatically regenerated as in halo? The halo system is typical NOW, precluding the need for so many pickup items and such from enemies, which was the normal system in prior FPS games.

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

Well,being the weakest technically means his skills are eqaul all around when it comes to weapons and such,meaning he can do anything without a need for preference predecided for the player.

If he was the sniper guy,you would only snipe,making it harder for players who enjoy a good BR.mr fast would mean all you would do is run around popping off some hip-shots.strong guy wouldn't be much use outside of punching things I guess.

With Mr Chief you have no predetermined specialtys,making it a bit more open to weapon preference.

 

[Liberaliterr]

I doubt Bungie had the novels in mind when they convieved the master chief as main character, stop crying.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

So my question is, if Bungie had created all of these wonderful characters that I actually liked, cared about, and had better "abilities", why, why did the fell the need to put one of the most plainest characters, and that (lets face it) weakest of the bunch to make the main charter in their story?

Because it left more room for the player to project his/her/its personality into the Chief when playing. The early promotional text expressly said that the Chief was "an empty vessel" into which the player could enter and make into whatever personality desired.

The cut-scenes undermined that a bit, but not really enough to get under my skin.

-- Steve

PS: At the risk of seeming anal-retentive, I'd like to point out that the character's name isn't "Master Chief" really; the character is a Master Chief Petty Officer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_Chief_Petty_Officer] in the Navy's Special Forces, and is being addressed by his rank. Technically it's "the Master Chief" like "the Sergeant" or "the Lieutenant", though in practice a lot of characters don't make the distinction and just call him "Chief".

It's a minor peeve, very petty of me, but it does bug me when folks say it like he's named after Master Blaster [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Max_Beyond_Thunderdome#Cast] or something.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

-snip-
(all of them I like expect the latest one)

...
you don't like Spartan Grey Team?
they're like the... ummm...
special ops of the spartan units... wait..

 

[Mr36]

Because being plain helps the audience connect to the character better - it lets them put their personality in the character.

Look at Twilight.

Yes, it's real easy to connect to a specially bred, physiologically modified killing machine wearing a suit of nuclear powered (?!) armor single-handedly fending off a legion of technologically superior extraterrestrial enemies...

[/sarcasm]

Also, in response to Anton P. Nym pet peeve, the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer is not reserved to just spec ops. As an actual member of the Navy, I have met many Master Chiefs, and I would shit a brick if any of them could run fast enough to even do basic soldiering. There are spec ops Master Chiefs, but there is nothing specific to the rank relating it to any special group inside the military.

 

[Satin6T]

I'd rather be luckier than good any day

 

[WhiteTiger225]

Personality - 0/10
Skill - 2/10 (I mean CMON! Normal marines take more hits then him!)
Uniqueness - 0/10 (Faceless guy in regenerating armor... haven't heard THAT before)

You must have been terrible at Halo. Seriously, it's hard to die.

LOL. I was talking character wise. It's pathetic that he has power armor, and still half the time takes less hits then the non-power armored marines around him XD

 

[Deleric]

You already answered your question.

Luck.

The power to infinitely respawn after 100 deaths is also a plus

 

[WhiteTiger225]

Heres a letter I just got from someone too afraid to comment

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.
From:
rtgfadf

Master Chief is built faceless and plain because he's a shell character and an enigma. It makes the player feel like you're in Master Chief's helmet and says what the player is thinking.

Plus, 117 is a proverb in the bible, Look it up.

You might as well bash Gordan Freeman too.

------------------------------------------

No, I won't "Bash" gordon freeman, because there's not many "Fans" who make him out to be this god of an epic hero, and instead recognize the fact that Gordon is just the role you take up, not an actual character.

But I will also add you cannot claim your character is an enigma fully when he has lines.

 

[T3h Merc]

Because he's Doctor Halsey's faveorite.