Turmoil in the Outer Colonies (First Strike Series Part 1)
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- Опубліковано 18 вер 2024
- This part one of my First Strike Series. This series will cover the Books: Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: The Flood, and Halo: First Strike. Today's video discusses Humanity's expansion into space and the political turmoil it creates. It will also the events that led to the creation of The Spartan II program. If you are enjoying this content, please don't forget to Like, Share, Subscribe, and enable notifications. Thanks for Watching.
Excellent video!
Thanks for the feedback
keep up the good work
Thanks for watching
So excited for more from you!
Glad you are enjoying what you are seeing
The Insurrection Era/War is probably one of my favorite time periods in Halo, despite the fact we sadly know almost nothing about it. Aside from the dumpster fire show and a few of the books you almost NEVER see the Spartans used for their original purpose, or have human on human conflict in the setting. There’s a lot of really cool storytelling potential with that. I love how early on the Rebels thought they could make deals with the Covenant, and that they weren’t nearly as bad as the UNSC was saying. Then they realized that wouldn’t work and they were folded into the UNSC’s structure. I really wish we’d get to see more human conflicts in both the pre and postwar eras.
I know this will piss some people off, but I don’t exactly care. I personally think if done right a CoD or a Battlefield style spinoff series could work really well to better flesh out that period of time (the mainline series should mostly try to build on what came before and not rock the boat too much, unless something NEEDS to change/be innovated upon. Spinoffs on the other hand are where all manner of crazy experimentation and different systems of gameplay should be explored). If you had multiple campaigns/games that showed things form the UNSC and Rebel’s perspectives it would be a great way to further humanize and flesh out their respective ideologies. Plus, it would be an EXCELLENT way to add moral ambiguity into the mix by showing how there were no true “good guys” or “bad guys” in the conflict. There was PLENTY of blood on both sides, with each committing some truly NASTY war crimes against the other (if it was characterized like that cancelled Rainbow Sox Patriots game, or Spec Ops the Line it would be a great way to show the horrors of war. Killzone prior to Shadowfall also does a good job with moral ambiguity where the Helghast have plenty of legitimate grievances, and this allowed various bad actors to rise to power and radicalize the masses. In the second game a bunch of the enemies are workers/miners who are defending their homes form an invading army. KZ3 has a sobering ending where you save earth form a super weapon, but at the same time it renders Helghan uninhabitable and kills who knows how many people. Sony should REALLY put their “Halo Killers” Killzone and Resistance onto Steam/GOG. Along with so many of their older games. Thankfully, we can still play so many of them thanks to emulation, and they’re bringing over the newer ones to PC).
What kind of a Halo spinoff, or book series would you like to see?
The insurrection era of the Halo universe is unrated and not portrayed well at all. I would love to see another Halo ODST game. ODST is criminally underrated. It doesn’t need Alpha Nine which is Buck’s team. Buck’s team were all turned into Spartans in the Halo New Blood book. Having a spartan in ODST would ruin the gameplay. I like the atmosphere and the concept of playing the detective during a Covenant invasion. Being a normal soldier makes the game more challenging and interesting too.
Yeah. I really wish they’d actually flesh out the Rebels. They could delve into how the various groups had radically different ideologies. The thing that held them together was their desire for independence from the UNSC, which they viewed as this oppressive far off group who didn’t have their best interests at heart. In a way it makes me think about how the CIS in Star Wars are woefully underdeveloped. Instead of correctly portraying them as a mix of different groups who wanted independence from the Galactic Republic who were ultimately pawns of Palpatine, they were instead portrayed as team bad guys with little to no redeeming qualities. It’s always super annoying whenever a setting has really cool factions that never get developed aside from surface level stuff, and being cool in concept.
I agree wholeheartedly that we need another ODST game. Although, I’d want the thing to have some HEAVY revisions to the gameplay since what we got in retail was just diet Halo 3 (which makes sense because it started like as an H3 dlc before becoming its own thing). We should’ve gotten a tactical shooter with a fully fleshed out stealth system (think Splinter Cell mixed with Rainbow Six, but with Halo content). Another MASSIVE missed opportunity is the fact we didn’t fight any Elites. Elites would be the main enemy for a good chunk of the game, with Brutes appearing at night and in the last few flashbacks. It would’ve added some more enemy variety into the mix where they’d contrast the Brutes (make the Elites like they are in CE/Reach where they’re quick and agile, run for cover when their shields are down, and charge the player if you get too close. Keep the Brute’s new specialist ranks, but make the average Brute be like a more manageable version with f their H2 counterparts where they’re hyper aggressive, berserking is a threat, and are more spongy. Also, give Elites their H2 weapons/vehicles, and Brutes would have their H3 arsenal). Also, just imagine how cool it would’ve been to experience the Great Schism from the perspective of a normal human. The squad would’ve been able to use the ensuing chaos as the perfect opportunity to collect Virgil and escape the city (during the escape in my idealized ODST that will sadly never exist you’d have Elites and their surviving lesser Covenant escaping on Spectors, e3 demo troop transport/retail Ghost transport Shadows, and Ghosts escaping from the Brute forces. Also, the Scarab you destroy earlier in the game would be replaced with an H2 variant that’s staffed by Elites fighting the Brute air forces). The hat do you think of this schitzo idea? There’s more, but I think I’ve rambled enough for now.
That ODST idea would have been awesome. I hope they remaster it one day and give it more its own art style. A grounded more stealthy approach to ODST would have been cool. Not portraying the great schism during ODST was a missed opportunity.
Thanks! I’m glad you like my schitzo idea.
Something interesting I forgot to mention about having the Great Schism in ODST is that might’ve been in the cards at one point. Generalkidd has an interesting video showing off that happens whenever you spawn Elites into ODST. They’ll be hostile towards both the player and the rest of the Covenant. The reason this happens is because they’re on Team Covenant, while the Brutes are on Team Prophets. Based on this I think it’s safe to say that early on they were supposed to be enemies, but due to time/resources being very limited they killed them all off instead. It’s such a shame that happened because it would greatly enhanced the gameplay/story.
Another one of ODST’s biggest missed opportunities is the fact that Bungie didn’t really fix the Brutes, and they inherited a lot of their H3 problems. Yes, they were broken bullet sponges in 2, but Bungie overcorrected. They also tried to make the Brutes fill the officer role left vacant by the Elites, and both of those things combined basically ruined them. ODST gave Brutes shields and made the player slightly weaker, but this was mostly just putting a bandaid on an open wound. Say what you will about Infinite, but as far as gameplay is concerned I think we can all agree it has the BEST version of the Brutes as far as gameplay is concerned. They’re the perfect marriage of how they were in 2 and 3. That’s how the Brutes should be going forward.
Circling back to fight for or against Insurrectionists, that reminds me another of Halo’s major missed opportunities is the complete lack of human enemies. There’s several situations where human enemies would’ve greatly enhanced the story/gameplay. We should’ve been fighting alongside Brutes and against humans as the Arbiter prior to the Great Schism. That would’ve added some much needed enemy variety to the Arbiter’s repetitive sections, and if they were smart like the soldiers in FEAR it would’ve been an amazing way to convert through gameplay that humans were able to largely hold their own in ground engagements. Plus, assuming we got H2’s original ending with the “big reveal” (in one of your responses you linked to the storyboard where the Arbiter sees a humanoid skeleton inside the Ark’s central chamber. Just wanted to say that yes I’ve seen it before, and after learning how it ties into Truth’s plan it makes me wish we got that ending even more) they could’ve foreshadowed the “relationship” between humans and Forerunners by having Sentinels fighting alongside their Reclaimers who can naturally interface with Forerunner technology that’s largely unresponsive to other species. As for fighting alongside the Brutes, it could’ve been used to show the player what those things are capable of before you fight them. If we had Brutes and Elites fighting and dying alongside each other it would’ve made their eventual betrayal leading to the Great Schism feel far more impactful. Also, if they were actively engaged in the mad dash for the Index they’d feel more like proper members of the Covenant, instead of just being there until Bungie needed a new enemy type to shape up the gameplay.
Love this stuff. Great work. Sucks paramount + dropped the ball so hard because if properly adapted this would be such a great show/movie
I refuse to watch The Halo TV show. It isn’t canon. Thanks for the feedback. Glad you enjoyed the video.