I think your overarching point that we can get more from creative works than what the creators intended is a very good one. Just because the developers did not go as in depth with the theme of “how much power is too much power?” as we would have liked doesn’t mean that we cannot use Halo as a starting point for larger discussions. Awesome breakdown
Even though Halo 3 is far from a perfect end to this first trilogy, the scene that always gets me is the very end. Master Chief is going into cryo-sleep, Cortana says she'll miss him and Chief says this: "Wake me. When you need me." Cortana already needed Chief, because she will always need him, just as he will always need her. The love these two have for one another is why this franchise is so beloved. I can only hope that Halo Infinite will have a scene that carries a similar feeling that this scene gave me. This scene and their final "goodbye" in Halo 4 always brings me close to tears.
This ended up being a very long comment, but if anyone's interested I talk about how Halo 3's thematic problems came to be and how I believe it had better themes and more character development than it's given credit for. I think much of Halo 3's problems with character arcs and thematic developments come from it not just being the third game in a trilogy, but the third act of Halo 2. Jason Jones, Joseph Staten and Martin O'Donnell have all said that Halo 2 is a 3 act game with 2 acts. Due to the travesty that was Halo 2's development, they had to make the extremely difficult decision to cut an entire third of Halo 2 at the last minute. Because of that, Halo 3 had to be not just Halo 2's third act, but Halo's third act and it's own game. Halo 3 should have been a few levels at the end of Halo 2, narratively at least. At the end of Halo 2's second act, all of the characters and their motivations have been introduced. The Arbiter has changed himself for the better and has decided to fight the Covenant alongside the Humans, essentially completing his character arc. All the third act would have been character wise was the Arbiter getting his revenge and closure, because he's at the end of his character arc. Now the Arbiter has to go an entire game waiting for his moment to complete his character arc, with his development in between being on hold because there's no where else for his character to go before he kills Truth. The only arc we get for the Arbiter in Halo 3 that we wouldn't have gotten in Halo 2 is actually rather touching and meaningful, but you missed it because you assumed he was with Chief for the entire game. There is a difference when playing in Co-Op and playing solo. If you are with a friend then in game cutscenes and dialogue change, and unfortunately it leaves out the Arbiter's last character development. The Arbiter is not with you in the level Cortana on solo, he only appears at the end. Effectively, he lets Chief venture into hell alone because he's already accomplished what he set out to do by killing Truth. Arbiter's alliance with Sargent Johnson and the Human-Elite alliance as a whole was purely based on need. The Arbiter doesn't need to accompany Chief, he knows he can get the index on his own, and he doesn't have a personal interest in getting revenge on the Flood. Yet, he eventually decides to go back to Chief to help him. He braves hell himself to help Chief because he has gained a genuine respect and care for the man after they've been through so much together. It's Arbiter effectively giving up all past grievances and learning to fight for something genuinely good, his love for another, not just necessity or revenge. That is the real theme of Halo 3, and the Arbiter still plays a role in it that was missed just because of the Co-Op mechanic. The theme of Halo 3 is sacrifice for others, and getting past hatred and grudges to help others around you. I wish there was more dialogue between Chief and the Arbiter to develop their relationship, but the theme still gets across. At the beginning of the game, Chief shoves a pistol into the Arbiters mouth and only begrudgingly pulls it out at Sargent Johnson's request. At the end of the game, Chief checks to make sure the Arbiter's ok when it seems he might have been crushed by a tank. Arbiter's alliance with Chief at the beginning is born out of necessity, but at the end it's out of friendship. Lord Hood never forgives the elites, but that wasn't the theme. Instead, he looks past that to thank the Arbiter for standing by Master Chief until the end, coming full circle when the Arbiter says doesn't really believe Chief is dead with the same line he said to Chief at the beginning, "were it so easy...". While Halo 3 was created as the third act to Halo 2, and much of it is needlessly spread out because of it, it still made major changes to the story that are significant to the characters. There are many elements plot wise that are different than 2 intended, such as the Ark originally being on Earth, but the most important change to the characters comes with Master Chief's development. Yes Master Chief has a character arc in Halo 3. Originally in Halo 2, Chief was never going to rescue Cortana, that hadn't changed by cutting the third act. Master Chief coming to save her isn't a hollow and predictable plot point that has emotion just because of the music, it marks a major change in his character. In both previous games, he is trying to save humanity, and only tries to save individuals if he comes across the chance. In Halo 3, he goes back to save Cortana, not just because she has the index, which is really just another convenient excuse to skip the Library again, but because he wants to save her. Him saving her isn't just a part of his stoicism or his pre established traits, its from the development that he gets over the course of the games. With the theme of the game, he isn't doing what he's doing just to defeat his enemies, but to save his friends. He saves Cortana more because he genuinely cares for her well being than for destroying the Flood. In Halo: First Strike (my favorite Halo book) Master Chief learns to value saving every individual human life as much as he values saving humanity. In Halo 3, Master Chief learns to value his friends more than any mission, and puts himself in peril to save them. Overall, Halo 3 is really disjointed. The fact that no new characters are introduced than those who already existed in Halo 2 should be evidence enough that Halo 3 was originally intended to just be a third act. Nothing extremely important or thematically significant happens in until the last three missions of the game except Chief's first encounter with the Arbiter. The Arbiter's conflict with the Prophets and the commentary on organized religion ends beautifully in one cutscene, but isn't present anywhere else in the game because that scene is all that was really left of that conflict and character development. There also isn't much left to be discovered so it's theme isn't mystery or discovering truth. Despite all that, when Halo 3 could have just wrapped it up there it does bring it's own theme to the table and endeavors to honor it. While "discovering and learning to value friendship" isn't an original or complex theme, it is new for Halo, and it's perfect for the end of a trilogy. The theme works for Arbiter's development, Chief's development and the plot between Humans and Elites. While the story is messy and leaves a lot to be desired, it did choose the perfect theme for its plot and it was meaningful.
The Chief benefited from luck countless times before Halo 3 began. All those loaded weapons on the floor still ready to fire. That longsword fighter ready to go when he couldn't be evacuated by Foehammer in Halo 1. Happening to encounter Guilty Spark in the swamp who just so happened to be able to take him to the Library and immediately back to Halo's control room by teleporting. The banshee he took to get back to the Pillar of Autumn just happening to land when and where he needed it to. Not to mention the luck needed to pull off that ridiculously awesome bomb plant in that Halo 2 cutscene. Any one of a million things could have gotten in his way or set the bomb off prematurely, or he could have missed.
Whoof, what a note to end on. Halo 3 has my favorite campaign of the original trilogy, and the iconography and set pieces are marvelous, but there's so little behind it all. I always struggled to explain the story, and I thought I was missing something, but no- there's actually just nothing there. I agree with other commenters saying that it functions as more of a final chapter than a final book. It's like someone took the decisive battle and stretched it out over a few hours. I understand Halo 2 was meant to end with these plot beats, and they were chopped off for the sake of time. It makes a whole lot more sense that way. All the arcs are finished; all the pieces are in place; all the mysteries are solved; now it's time for the final sprint to the end. I will say that the final sprint is a trope I've always been fond of, and Halo 3 does it pretty well. The end goal is in sight, and we know what we have to do, so all that's left is to charge forward until we make it. When the end is so close that you just keep moving despite losing friends, despite being grievously injured, and pushing yourself to the absolute limit and then even further- that's what a final sprint is all about to me. There's something cathartic about taking all these heavy hits and never stopping until it's over. Especially with all the losses along the way- first Miranda, then Johnson, and then the Chief himself- I find it particularly compelling. It's just a shame that I can't get anything else from it. y'know?
If I may offer a counterpoint (great work as always, though!) I honestly don't think that it matters whether or not Halo 3 was as thematically rich as the first two games. Both Master Chief and The Arbiter had their respective character arcs in the first two games, so this was more about being an epic final chapter of the initial Halo Trilogy. In a lot of ways, the development of Halo 3 reminds me of the production of The Dark Knight Rises, the concluding chapter of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy. Much like Jason Jones, Nolan wasn't sure he wanted to come back to do a third chapter after the arduous production of The Dark Knight (made even more egregious when you factor in how his original plans for the follow-up were quelched by the out of left field tragic premature death of Heath Ledger, as Nolan had planned on bringing The Joker back in the third film). It was almost a case that they both probably felt that, thematic-wise, they already said all they wanted to say, but there was still a cliffhanger to resolve in their respective second installments. Now, I do agree with some of your points as a fellow Halo fan (though post-Halo 3, I have only played bits and pieces of Halo Wars and ODST) when it comes to trying to prove that Halo isn't shallow. I would actually argue that it's actually a good chunk of Halo fans who are shallow, though. I remember when I saw the first Marvel Studios Thor movie, and when I came out of the theater, I met a guy and started discussing Mjolnir (Thor's mythical magic hammer) with him, I asked him if he ever played Halo, and mentioned that MJOLNIR is also the name of the power suit that Master Chief and the other Spartans wear, and he said "Oh, I didn't know that, I don't care about the story, I just play it on Xbox Live." This may play into why The Arbiter was given a short shift in Halo 3, as some of the more shallow Halo fans complained about The Arbiter's campaign levels in Halo 2, yelling about they just wanted to play as Master Chief. (To be fair to them, while I do agree with you that The Arbiter is a much more compelling character story-wise than Master Chief, his campaign levels don't get really all that fun for me until the Covenant Civil War when you have to kill Tartarus, with the Heretic Hunt and Library being a slog for me on repeat playthroughs). However, for me, I just feel that since it felt like the culmination of everything that came before it, I can forgive Halo 3 for being lacking in thematics, since it brings the story to its grand conclusion as it had been imagined up to that point. I would even argue that your investment in the thematics of the first two games could actually serve to enrich Halo 3 by association. Again, great work as always, you do present your point of view very well, but I just wanted to make my point of view known too.
Whenever I hear cortana talk about "Luck" to me, it reads as the kind of subtle luck you encounter in-game. The rocket launchers, shotguns and ammunition coincidentally being in the chief's way. having warthogs in-reach for the warthog run.
I picked you because you had something the others didn't. Something no one else saw but me. Can you guess? Some dude named Jason programs all the levels to enable your success as a power fantasy for random 22st century teenagers.
@@GameProf Its really amazing to think that Halo could be played 100 years from now. You think they'll have some open source mod that enables the old-school 4k textures to be converted to VR/AR objects. Maybe it won't matter because if that happens the bill gates model base AI will fire DMCA ICBMs and space lasers to terminate the infringing server blocks.
Respawning. You get to try as many times as you need to get things to go well. It essentially lets you get the perfect run. Maybe that's the "luck" she's talking about.
Wonderful work! As someone who was just as disappointed in Halo 3's story, it was nice to hear someone find something more substantial in it (even if it may have been, to an extent, unintentional).
Amazing analysis! As a person with the distinct quality of not being American, Halo was not a franchise I grew up with. That being said, after playing halo 3 more than once (working on a franchise analysis), I started to thing that, despite everything, it actually works really well as a last paragraph for halo 2 and a prelude for the forth. A huge hug from Brazil
I always think of Halo 3 as “master chief leads the arbiter around disney world on a child leash”. The guy was a fleet commander before becoming the Arbiter, and now once again has a position of leadership among his people. At the very LEAST, he should be coordinating with Keys over the radio. Eg, Keys: “We need to take that tower.” Arbiter: “Understood. I will relay your plans to my people. We will cover your attack.” I usually call it 2 and 1/2 since it just seems to serve to wrap up 2’s plot
I too had this notion that halo 3 had a story to tell but I think I was blinded by the beautiful moments. H3 was my intro to the series and I guess on some level assumed all the iconography was the culmination of what was set up previously. Great Video
The issue with the Arbiter is that there isn't really much left for him to do after Halo 2. His killing of Truth is symbolic and practical from a leadership standpoint. Aside from that, his arc is complete. Halo 3 is meant to make up for Halo 2 not being what it promised, so it had to be focused on Chief and Cortana. Besides, Arbiter isn't the point of Halo; Chief is. In reality, Arbiter was a distraction and, arguably, a mistake (his entire plot was an indictment of America's "War on Terror", as evidenced by numerous Bungie fan forums from 2004). But Halo 2 was a nightmare probably thanks in large part to the development of the Xbox 360 that caused them to have to rush Halo 2 so that they could then get to work on Halo 3. That's why the story is one giant loop and the numerous technical issues remained at ship date. Halo 3 was a course-correction; it was what Halo 2 should have been if they hadn't of gotten preachy and self-righteous.
Very well done. I admit, I've always had more of an outside perspective on Halo. But I can understand liking something only for it's conclusion to not live up to your expectations. Plus, seeing something that wasn't intended by the creators is perfectly valid. If it wasn't, then Metroid Other M wouldn't be as maligned as it is, since Sakamoto didn't intend for Samus and Adam to come out the way they did. And if it can work for the negative, I can't see why it can't do so in a positive light, like you did with the whole 'power' theme you found.
Hell, I tried my best to find meaning in my video on Other M too, but that game was just too bad to give it this same treatment. What a mess that one was.
I'd like to see a "rewrite" of sorts, as to what your take on how Halo 3's story should go, what you would add onto it, how the story would change because of it. I think that would be very cool.
If you haven't already, you should look at what the ending to Halo 2 was supposed to be, because it's honestly so much better than what we ended up with in 3. Had they just stuck with that plot and found a way to bring closure to the flood plot as well, Halo 3 could've been the best story in the series and much more thematically sound.
I've never really given much thought to Halo's storytelling until I watched your videos on them. I was pretty young when Halo 3 came out, and for the longest time, I never really paid much attention to the story. Even when playing all of the games in the MCC, I never felt engrossed in the story, maybe because I was playing co-op with a buddy. But damn, after watching your videos on Halo and Halo 2, I started to really appreciate the storytelling of the series, especially Halo 2 (loss of faith in the light of truth is honestly one of my favorite kinds of character arcs in stories). Even Halo 3 which you were able to extrapolate a lot of meaning from. Whether it was intentional or not, the idea that humanity makes the choice to destroy the very powers handed exclusively to them by their predecessors was really powerful, and after hearing your interpretation, I now have a cooler version of Halo 3 in my head. Thanks so much for the wonderful videos!
I know it goes against your formalist approach of only analyzing the game itself, but I think that Cortana's statement on luck draws on the background information Bungie was working from, where Chief's defining trait over the other Spartans is that he's the only one left, so he's therefore the "lucky" one. That's obviously not the case outside of the games but for their setting Bible it does square with the games intent that Chief is the last best hope for humanity.
I think the Arbiters most meaningful line in H3 that alludes to how the whole series is gonna end is, “Were it’s so easy”. I say this as it implies a certain sacrifice needing to be made on the part of those involved in whatever task is being undertaken.
Great analysis. Thank you for sharing. I've been a fan of the Bungie Halo games (and ONLY the Bungie ones) since forever, but in the recent couple of years have thought more deeply about the stories of the trilogy and, like you, found 3 really lacking and disappointing after Halo 2. I do want to add a couple of points! The Arbiter: I remember reading multiple sources online years ago, that mentioned that the vast majority of fans were FURIOUS at the Arbiter's inclusion in Halo 2. It was kept a secret in marketing on purpose because playing him is a big story twist. But most fans were... well, shallow. Just wanna play cool guy who shoots aliens. I think that, on the back of this largely negative response at the time, may have been a factor in the Arbiter's lack of significance to Halo 3's plot. Players 3 and 4 in co-op play are given two distinct Elite characters, with their own names and short backstory. This could easily have been done for player 2 instead of pigeonholing the Arbiter into this role, so I don't feel that this is really a good reason for why Arbiter got TOTALLY SHAFTED story wise. Humans are Foreunners: So far as I recall, whether humans should actually BE Forerunners or not was a 50/50 split within Bungie staff opinion. Some Halo 2 storyboards show it was considered seriously, at least. But within Halo 3 itself, I still think 343's statement can be interpreted ambiguously, or to mean that humans are considered Forerunner as far as the meaning of the name goes, if not necessarily literally on a species level. But Halo 3 itself (so not any extended lore) seems to disprove the theory. One of the terminals details the Librarian, an ancient Forerunner, visiting Earth before the activation of the Halo array, and remarks on the beauty of the planet and the similarity of humans to themselves. I struggle to read it as an interpretation of anything other than the two races being distinct and disparate species. Luck etc.: I believe this was a bit of a thing in the books and extended fiction prior to Halo 3. So it isn't ENTIRELY out of nowhere. This isn't, of course, a defence of the strange inclusion in Halo 3 itself, but it does explain where the idea to put it in came from, considering the strange written-by-committee set up of Halo 3's story. I mention this because it extends to a good deal of other inclusions in Halo 3 (such as a good deal of Cortana's weird dialogue) which make it feel more meaningful to the more invested fans who will have consumed that extended media, whereas the majority of players don't really care and just want to play the multiplayer and hate the Arbiter. I just suppose I thought this was interesting in terms of how the Halo 3 story turned out. Lacking the overhead direction to make a more involved and meaningful story, it was easy for the staff chip in ideas to reference much of the past Halo lore (extended media and prior games included) to try to flesh the game out despite it's weak through thread.
this comment is pretty old at this point, but i want to say that you (and anyone else who happens to read this) should watch C3 SABERTOOTH's video on the human/forerunner connection, if you haven't already. It goes into great detail about the "split within Bungie" you mentioned as well as the discrepancies within Halo 3's terminals
Omg. Dude I remember you from AGES ago with your walking dead videos and the bioshock one. And now you're back with halo 3?! GG my man, it's good to have you back!
Yep, things have been slow for a while but I've always been around, and now I'm back and trying to make this a full-time gig! Glad to have you watching.
Halo 3 is my favorite game ever. I am also willing to acknowledge that it has one of the most inferior stories plot wise through out most of the series(looking at you Halo 5). But imo, it absolutely nails the fun factor at every moment. You can toss the plot aside, there's not a single level except maybe Cortana, but even that isn't that bad if you're good at the game, that I will skip. Every single level is banger from start to finish. Halo 3 is more than the sum of its parts for me. It released when I was 11 and had very few friends in my immediate vicinity(but plenty of online friends), thanks to being a military kid and not getting to be around the friends who were closest to me. But this game man, it really brought us all together. It was so damn good and I was so hyped for it after finishing Halo 2. That Believe campaign still gets me hyped over 15 years later.
some thoughts about halo 3 and your analysis! idk i hope these are interesting: 1) i really like the idea that humanity are essentially the gods of the covenants religion, which the covenant suppresses and annihilates in order to co opt their power for themselves, as a criticism of religious hierarchies. I'd never thought about that metaphor 2) this line: "Folks need heroes, Chief, to give ‘em hope. So smile, would ya? While we still got something to smile about” from Halo 2 always struck me as being really really significant to the meaning of the Halo. It doesnt even make practical sense in the scene its in -- John is wearing a helmet and his face can't be seen. But to me the idea was so important that they put it in regardless. 3) To me this gets at the tragedy of the Master Chief. I wouldn't say theres very much emotional nuance w/ his performance or the presentation of his actions, but to me the meaning of his character is meant to come from his relationship to the audience and to the context of his story. At the end of Halo 3 he places himself into stasis for an indeterminate amount of time, leaving behind Cortana. In doing this he exchanges something: his emotional closeness to someone who depends on him for upholding his "purpose" as a hero who can inspire hope for as long as possible. It's difficult to notice that he's making a choice in this scene at all, because its the only "Master-Chief-like" thing for him to do in this circumstance. And idk thats kind of depressing right? 4) As a Jesus allegory it kind of says something to me... He is inaccessible for an unknown amount of time where humanity (Cortana) are left essentially alone, while still "relying" on him and receiving hope from the promise of his return. Except, unlike Jesus, John doesn't sacrifice himself, and Cortana has the capability to summon him at any point she chooses to. The only thing John loses is his connection to other humans...which is the one thing Jesus is supposed to still have even in the present (like w/ praying and stuff). I don't know what to make of all this together but its like. It's something right? 5) I feel like to an extent the role that the military itself has within the story was a major blind spot in your analysis. Even if it wasn't intended to represent anything other than the dominant manifestation of humanity's ability to "fight", the military as depicted in Halo isn't neutral, especially in Halo 3. Lorewise, the Spartans themselves were created as superweapons not for defense or peace but for military peacekeeping against human insurrectionists; they were created to enforce and maintain power over others. The Covenant arriving gives humanity a paradigm shift, where rather than one organization striving for total military representation across the galaxy, that same organization is now positioned as the last defense humanity has for itself. As a statement about the real life military, its somewhere approaching a support of actual military police states as the price for protection from external threats? I wouldn't go so far as to say thats its hardline moral, but the way it depicts the UNSC is probably the most baffling part of the story in my eyes.
I really like your comment and I hope you'll read mine. For me the Kilo Five trilogy makes a lot more sense of the blatant contradictions of the Spartan program and the whole grayness of the military and ONI Hopefully UA-cam doesn't get mad when I copy paste my comment but this is what I said: I think much of Halo 3's problems with character arcs and thematic developments come from it not just being the third game in a trilogy, but the third act of Halo 2. Jason Jones, Joseph Staten and Martin O'Donnell have all said that Halo 2 is a 3 act game with 2 acts. Due to the travesty that was Halo 2's development, they had to make the extremely difficult decision to cut an entire third of Halo 2 at the last minute. Because of that, Halo 3 had to be not just Halo 2's third act, but Halo's third act and it's own game. Halo 3 should have been a few levels at the end of Halo 2, narratively at least. At the end of Halo 2's second act, all of the characters and their motivations have been introduced. The Arbiter has changed himself for the better and has decided to fight the Covenant alongside the Humans, essentially completing his character arc. All the third act would have been character wise was the Arbiter getting his revenge and closure, because he's at the end of his character arc. Now the Arbiter has to go an entire game waiting for his moment to complete his character arc, with his development in between being on hold because there's no where else for his character to go before he kills Truth. The only arc we get for the Arbiter in Halo 3 that we wouldn't have gotten in Halo 2 is actually rather touching and meaningful, but you missed it because you assumed he was with Chief for the entire game. There is a difference when playing in Co-Op and playing solo. If you are with a friend then in game cutscenes and dialogue change, and unfortunately it leaves out the Arbiter's last character development. The Arbiter is not with you in the level Cortana on solo, he only appears at the end. Effectively, he lets Chief venture into hell alone because he's already accomplished what he set out to do by killing Truth. Arbiter's alliance with Sargent Johnson and the Human-Elite alliance as a whole was purely based on need. The Arbiter doesn't need to accompany Chief, he knows he can get the index on his own, and he doesn't have a personal interest in getting revenge on the Flood. Yet, he eventually decides to go back to Chief to help him. He braves hell himself to help Chief because he has gained a genuine respect and care for the man after they've been through so much together. It's Arbiter effectively giving up all past grievances and learning to fight for something genuinely good, his love for another, not just necessity or revenge. That is the real theme of Halo 3, and the Arbiter still plays a role in it that was missed just because of the Co-Op mechanic. The theme of Halo 3 is sacrifice for others, and getting past hatred and grudges to help others around you. I wish there was more dialogue between Chief and the Arbiter to develop their relationship, but the theme still gets across. At the beginning of the game, Chief shoves a pistol into the Arbiters mouth and only begrudgingly pulls it out at Sargent Johnson's request. At the end of the game, Chief checks to make sure the Arbiter's ok when it seems he might have been crushed by a tank. Arbiter's alliance with Chief at the beginning is born out of necessity, but at the end it's out of friendship. Lord Hood never forgives the elites, but that wasn't the theme. Instead, he looks past that to thank the Arbiter for standing by Master Chief until the end, coming full circle when the Arbiter says doesn't really believe Chief is dead with the same line he said to Chief at the beginning, "were it so easy...". While Halo 3 was created as the third act to Halo 2, and much of it is needlessly spread out because of it, it still made major changes to the story that are significant to the characters. There are many elements plot wise that are different than 2 intended, such as the Ark originally being on Earth, but the most important change to the characters comes with Master Chief's development. Yes Master Chief has a character arc in Halo 3. Originally in Halo 2, Chief was never going to rescue Cortana, that hadn't changed by cutting the third act. Master Chief coming to save her isn't a hollow and predictable plot point that has emotion just because of the music, it marks a major change in his character. In both previous games, he is trying to save humanity, and only tries to save individuals if he comes across the chance. In Halo 3, he goes back to save Cortana, not just because she has the index, which is really just another convenient excuse to skip the Library again, but because he wants to save her. Him saving her isn't just a part of his stoicism or his pre established traits, its from the development that he gets over the course of the games. With the theme of the game, he isn't doing what he's doing just to defeat his enemies, but to save his friends. He saves Cortana more because he genuinely cares for her well being than for destroying the Flood. In Halo: First Strike (my favorite Halo book) Master Chief learns to value saving every individual human life as much as he values saving humanity. In Halo 3, Master Chief learns to value his friends more than any mission, and puts himself in peril to save them. Overall, Halo 3 is really disjointed. The fact that no new characters are introduced than those who already existed in Halo 2 should be evidence enough that Halo 3 was originally intended to just be a third act. Nothing extremely important or thematically significant happens in until the last three missions of the game except Chief's first encounter with the Arbiter. The Arbiter's conflict with the Prophets and the commentary on organized religion ends beautifully in one cutscene, but isn't present anywhere else in the game because that scene is all that was really left of that conflict and character development. There also isn't much left to be discovered so it's theme isn't mystery or discovering truth. Despite all that, when Halo 3 could have just wrapped it up there it does bring it's own theme to the table and endeavors to honor it. While "discovering and learning to value friendship" isn't an original or complex theme, it is new for Halo, and it's perfect for the end of a trilogy. The theme works for Arbiter's development, Chief's development and the plot between Humans and Elites. While the story is messy and leaves a lot to be desired, it did choose the perfect theme for its plot and it was meaningful.
When I first played Halo 3, I felt vaguely disappointed, and couldn't quite put my finger on why. It was definitely cool in a lot of respects, but I think I wasn't quite able to articulate why it felt so shallow. I thought at the time it was that the Arbiter (and broadly the Elites) got hardly any screentime, which I guess is ultimately part of it, though not the full story. I really enjoyed these videos, and I hope one day you'll get around to analyzing ODST and Reach the same way.
Ballsy of you to treat this sacred cow with adult gloves. Especially after watching so many other videos on the game. I hadn't played this game since 2007, but I finally found some time to play through the original trilogy now that the MCC is complete and I was shocked at how disappointed I was with Halo 3 after thinking it was one of the greatest games ever so long ago. I completely agree with you here. The game felt like a series of set pieces with little emotional weight behind them. It was bombast and spectacle over theme, emotion, and character. I just shake my head at the decision to relegate the Arbiter to the sidelines and ignore the themes brought up in 2. I shake my head at how absent of a villain Truth is for most the game and how less compelling he comes across. I shake my head at Earth taking up 4 missions that all but one never seem to really capture the stakes. It's not a bad game at all. The gameplay improvements are there with the equipment and new grenades. The set pieces are pretty fun even if they can be a bit frustrating with AI allies on higher difficulties. The section where you ally with The Flood is one of my favorites even if you know it will turn for worse soon. It's also got great production values and is the best looking of the original trilogy. But my nostalgia remembered it better. There's no level as well designed as 343 Guilty Spark. There's no reveal as interesting as the Flood except 343's reveal about humanity and the forerunners, but that's literally just revealed as straight exposition to our faces. The last level is fun and exciting, but it feels like The Maw pt 2 like The Death Star 2.0 in ROTJ. And there aren't really any thematic ideas as interesting as the Covenant's organized religion in 2. Overall, I feel like the games got worse as they want on so far story wise. 1 is simple but a really tight narrative with fascinating reveals and great level design and environmental storytelling, though the levels do get too long and repetitive near the end. 2 improved the production values, visual aesthetics in cutscenes, and had greater thematic ambitions, but the plot kinda drags in the middle and sputters in the end with its cliffhanger. 3 drops all those themes for the most part, drops the Arbiter as an active participant in the story, and focuses too much on giant set piece moments without really giving the narrative context time enough to breathe and heighten the emotion in those battles, except in the very final level. They are all still very fun at the very least, and I really enjoy your Power theme you found in 3, though I agree it's hardly explored. I wonder how much better the trilogy would have turned out if Microsoft gave Bungie the proper time and space to develop the games
Halo 3 thematically works better when you think of it as an extension of Halo 2. The story ends with arbiter getting his revenge and gaining a respect for the enemy he swore to destroy. Chief finishes the fight and fufils his promise to Cortana. The themes of religious power and corruption of organized religion fit really seamlessly. The devs def spent their energy focusing on making plot work and let the weight of the franchise carry itself.
I was late to the Halo franchise and knew nothing about it. I started with Reach (which was my first 360 game, and I really loved it and was blindsided by the way the narrative developed), then 1 (it's a blast), then a fair bit of 3 before stopping at the level Cortana (god, what a badly-designed level), then 2 (a far denser narrative experience than 1-I was kind of blown away), and then ODST (a game that I think I like more in theory, mainly due to the bit where you accidentally commit a war crime and it's played off as a joke, which feels somehow in poor taste). I finally got back to 3, and I remember getting back to the Cortana level, getting ready for the game to open up, and then it just ends. I didn't realize how close I was to the end of the game, and how little the game ended up being. Your thoughts really echoed what I thought: there's little there, and what's there is only barely there. It's a shame, because basically every other Bungie Halo has at least something that you can hold up to as a central idea of the game, and the capstone to my Halo experience was kind of a whimper (and, like, I don't plan on playing 4/5, at all). Are you planning to do Reach and ODST? I'd be interested to see your thoughts on them.
I think the reference to luck is calling back to the canon novels. Chief is chosen not because he's the strongest or smartest, but because he calls a coin flip. He's lucky. It's why he survives the modifications to his body, his training and becomes who he is. His luck is his greatest strength.
I have this hope that Halo Infinite opens with a badass cutsceneof Chief and Arby fighting side by side similar to Halo 5, and then BLAM! Rght at the climax of the scene it pauses and you get the option to play as one or the other! Different mechanics! Different Abilities! Different campaign objectives! HOW SICK WOULD THAT BE?! Not for the whole game but for a few choice levels. My goodness....
In Amber Clad is Keyes' ship in Halo 2. Forward Unto Dawn is her ship in Halo 3. Two different ships entirely. In Amber Clad gets infested by the Flood and is crashed into High Charity in Halo 2, ending its story there. Not that it was really seen all that much.
I am only just now getting around to watching this, but this is a good video that has me thinking about how I felt about Halo 3's story, which I found genuinely satisfying as a conclusion. I am actually tempted to go back and revisit it and see if I still feel the same way now. I wonder if there was something there that I can't quote put my finger on that made it so gratifying, or if I was just enjoying the ride of playing through the entire trilogy for the first time.
It would be super interesting to hear your thoughts on Halo 3: ODST more than any other Halo game in my opinion. The whole game is an allegory to Dante's Inferno, with it being intentionally designed to all fit that metaphor without contradicting itself like the other Halo games biblical depictions. I would watch Rocket Sloth's video on it first.
Just found your channel, watched the Spec Ops video (which I thought was extremely on point, kudos) and these Halo ones. Something I think isn't brought up here specifically is that due to the troubled development of Halo 2, the third game can be seen as simply a stretched-out finale to that game. I see it this way, and I think it works pretty well. Of course, one reason for not bringing it up in the context of these videos might just be because of your stated purpose of analyzing the games as they are, which is totally fine of course. But if you do see it as essentially the last part of Halo 2, I think everything kinda works, the commentary on religion is intact, because the majority of the Arbiter's arc was already completed and what was left was really just to let him cut off the head of the snake spouting the lies that had poisoned the minds of his people, for catharsis and to finalize his progress. Of course, if all we'd gotten was the "necessary" narrative stuff, it would have been a pretty short game, so there's ton's of weird asides which are completely pointless lol. The crashed Flood ship, Cortana's message and the ensuing "discussion" about what to do was dumb - of course they were gonna go through the portal. And the message itself made no sense after you know how the Flood were ultimately stopped. Not that the player should really feel they did stop them completely, since it would have been supremely stupid of the Gravemind to bring literally all the Flood in the galaxy to the Ark, after having captured High Charity and essentially being able to find and seed whatever system it deigns to look for, and subsequently find, with infested ships. Etc. The fact that Marty was the progenitor of the majority of the story of the game is fucking wild hahaha, I didn't know that, but I guess it shows. Also, it kinda sounds like you're not a subscriber to death of the author, is that correct? Because if you are, it of course shouldn't matter what was intended with whatever is in the game, only what is in the game in and of itself. Which I thought was part of the goal of these videos, though I may have read too much into that mission statement. I'm not saying you can divorce yourself from any outside information ofc, or that you should actively disregard authorial intent either, but rather that if it can be found, you can use that as much as any random schmuck's interpretation; all that matters is how well the text supports it. But if it can't be found, then no information is gained - absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. Before trying to find the intent and after trying and failing to do so are the same information states. You just failed to ascertain the intent which definitely existed, but your failure to do so doesn't change anything about the work. Only actually finding intent has information content.
I gotta say, I adore your this series of videos. I've only watched your Halo ones, so far, but your analysis gave me more appreciation for the themes in Halo 2, and helped me see how 3 was lacking a bit. Where would you have preferred the story go for 3, I wonder? I feel like the overall plot could stay basically the same, but maybe adding more "meat" in places to strengthen it.
wow. 'This doesn't really mean that much' might be one of the harshest criticisms you can level at a work of art. Concerning the trope of 'this is too much power for anyone' it's interesting to me how what is defined as 'too much power' changes. in some stories it will be nukes, but in halo the unsc uses weapons with that much power and nobody cares. in star wars it's the death star, but a star destroyer can destroy a planet given enough time and the rebels have no problems using those. It just seems like it always turns into 'this one symbolic thing is too much power for anyone to posess.... but please ignore all these other things that give us power that we're totally fine with using.'
The power of a Nuke, or even a Nova Bomb, pales in comparison to the breadth and scope of the Halo array. The ability to just erase all life in the entire galaxy is a power that not even the Forerunners who built it felt comfortable wielding, and only did so under the most dire of circumstances.
@@KayleighBourquin that wasn't the point. there's always a 'this is too much power' thing and it varies per franchise what counts as 'too much power'. The good guys in these stories almost always are fine with basically everything up to that thing, and the power gap between the too much power thing and what the good guys use (or just consider an acceptable amount of power) is usually a lot smaller than it is in Halo. But to stick to Halo... how about those covenant ships that can glass entire planets? would they be considered 'too much power'? They used them to push humanity to the brink of extinction, but those are fine to have?
@@r31n0utBecause of the in-universe history, seriously. These weapons, while capable of mass destruction, have been a common enough sight in the universe already. Without their offensive capability, they are giant interstellar transports with a lot of utilities. Their regulation doesnt make for an exciting action packed story plus these universe are still at war and thus have needs of them Most of the time these stories deal with a newly invented or discovered weapon that could cause mass death on a scale unimaginable before.
i also wanted to say i really liked this video ! I find Halo 3 incredibly frustrating for a lot of the same reasons, and as a person providing analyses i feel like admitting that can almost be vulnerable somehow. I've always argued that anything has the capacity to "say" something as long as the audience is the right audience to "hear" something from it. my analysis tends to be my attempt to.... like ig roleplay(?) as whatever audience is necessary for that. but Halo 3 just, kind of defies it, and I thought your attempt to bring meaning to it was really profound, so thank you
Great video as always, this is the game that introduced me to the halo franchise and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I really like your channel, been a subscriber for years, thanks for all your hard work
It's awesome to see your analysis on the trilogy come to its conclusion, even if the conclusion in question was not as great as its forefathers. Halo will forever remain my favorite game franchise and Sci fi franchise as a whole due to how much I followed it as a kid. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching your dissection of the series that made me a gamer and the themes and ideas I never fully comprehended when I was playing through them or reading the books as a kid. gives me such a newfound appreciation for what they meant and mean to me today.
The luck thing is also more of a book thing. That’s why he became leader of the Spartans as well. I believe it’s in the fall of reach book. There’s even a line about him being able to flip a coin 50 times and calling it right every time
Halfway through the summary makes me realize wow I knew nothing about Halo 3’s story except for the Cortana bit Maybe I should save this analysis in the fridge for when I do get back to replaying Halo 3
I must admit tha i experienced the original halo trilogy many years after it came out, (i played halo combat evolved in 2009, and i did not know that halo 2 existed until 2012) but due to the fact during most of my life did not have internet except in the computers at my first school, (i played halo 1 and 2 in pc) i experienced the story more like the people that played in the original releases. When i finally got my hands in halo 3 in the house of a friend i love it, the battles and the music and the story, but after playing it a second time i realized that i miss so much of the elements in halo 2 (for me it is the best halo story) and at the end i felt sadness because the end left with so little, so i did not continue with more in the saga that came out after 3. Then some years later in 2016 and began to watch halo lore videos, and i realized there were books, that restarted my interest in the franchise as a whole, and (this may be surprising for some) i loved halo 4 when a played some yeras later, bacuse it had so much of the story of the first 2 games somehow, even with the chages they made to human and forerunners not being the same (mostly because after halo 2 and 3 i realized some things about human and forerunner being the same did not add up for me, and because i played marathon after halo 1 in 2009 and with the time i realized the stories in both were a reflection of each other and in marathon is abundantly clear humans and y'rro were not the same) then i got several of the books in 2019 and read the forerunner trilogy, i loved it to this day is one of my favourite pieces of lore in the franchise. And then some years later i replayed marathon 1,2 and palyed for the first time marathon 3, it gave me a new appreciation of halo at the same time, and realized that much of the story was even deeper than i thought , and began to think more of the themes in the forerunner trilogy after i played one the games that can be consider more a piece of art than just a videogame PATHOLOGIC, ironically i saw amny of the themes of the books in that game. And realized how complex they realiy were in several aspects, because of that playing PATHOLOGIC felt as a not sci-fi version of the forerunner tryilogy in many ways, the themes of power, appreciation of life, what is fair or not in life, or if the concept even exist, or the things with the plagues acting as a intelligent entity that tries to teach something as it consumes. That is my history with the franchise so far. It has been great to experience that growing slowly with the lore.
Great analysis as always. Not having Arbitor playable was a set back for sure. Dang it irritated me that the truce between humans and sangheili was essentially negated in Halo 4. (I have yet to play Halo 5).
That theme of fighting for a higher power but intending to coopt it for themselves, reminds me of Warcraft 3. The undead scourge worked to summon the demon Archimond to their world, even going as far as to allow their general to die, corrupt their general's murderer, and revive their general with an upgrade. And when they finally succeeded in doing so, they were effectively told "cool cool, thanks, now beat it- this is a conquest for dreadlords, not undead." Basically Zuckerberged. Their new general (who'd recently switched sides for them) was like "WTF!? We did all the work and now we're just tossed aside? What do we get out of this?" To which the veteran general was like "chill dude, my master saw this coming, we'll get what we want, just be patient". And they did, but the point is the force they helped bring about carried no benefit to them, but they knew it wouldn't, not directly anyway.
Luck, I am pretty certain is pulled directly from Fall of Reach, with a bunch of stuff pulled from the book especially in the mission Cortana. This is likely because of the committee writing team and having Joe Staten be less involved in the story and writing process for Halo 3 due to his sabbatical meant _the guy_ who was the main writer and guru is gone, so they fell on what knowledge they had.
I do have to admit, that was a great pun, Noble 6 fell from the Long Night of Solace, (yes, the mission is named after the Covenant vessel) and landed on Reach, so I guess in theory, you could reasonbly call it "The Fall of Reach" which is coincedently where spartans were introduced as being able to survive such falls from orbit. It was shown once more in the third novel. That being First Strike in its opening, with Fred and several other Spartans, who didn't survive
I would love a true Halo 3 remake that provides closure to the story of Halo 2. Allowing the Arbiter to conclude his story too, he’s my favorite character as well.
I could be completely wrong (depending whether bungie cared at this point), but my personal interpretation since I read the Fall of Reach as a teenager was that Cortana's opening monologue and rescue comments are in reference to Halsey's memories. Referring to her experiences of specifically picking him as a child, picking him out from the playground herself. Cortana doing just the same as her is almost expected when her personality and very being is based upon Halsey's, it's almost implied like a motherly instinct despite how evil Halsey was. I guess the answer here depends on whether Bungie were willing to at all take from the Expanded Universe even at this point. But in my understanding Cortana is only a year or two old at this point, she didn't watch him grow up, even in Bungie's timeline so it must be in some form? Either or, it's poorly executed, if the requirement of understanding the opening monologue of your game at all, requires you to read a 6 year old book that most never read, that's useless. Great video by the way, and Christ you reminded me how fantastically scored Halo 3 is, despite its failings.
I'm with you that it's important to at least give works like Halo, which many people dismiss off hand, the benefit of the doubt. And try to find a deeper meaning from the story those works present. Whether there's actually something there or not. Great video!
In terms of the luck thing, I always took it as a nod to Cortana's personality as influenced by Halsey, who chose John when she sees him playing as a child. Isn't there a luck bit there with a coin or smth (Fall of Reach)?
This is an interesting look at the game since I'm someone who has only ever completed Halo 3 and Reach. Halo 3 was my introduction to the series around the end of 2007, and I really only played it in the first place because I loved the idea of Forge. I really enjoyed it, despite the fact that I didn't really understand what was going on. Because of that though, I wonder if that's why Halo has the reputation of being shallow, since I'm sure there were a lot of people just like me that - because the 360 was so popular and the original Xbox wasn't - started with Halo 3, and never really went back from there?
21:00 I think it’s supposed to be about YOU the player… chief succeeds because he has something nobody else does… you controlling him keep in mind that bungie’s halo always had the player’s role in the background. Always present to some extent
Missed your videos. I agree 100%. I love Halo 3 so much. It’s one of my favorites. The music, the one liners …. Wow. But agree. Very hollow considering the scope of Halo. And unfortunately a common theme in H4 and H5.
Heyo, big fan of Halo. Very valid criticisms here. I think Halo 3 is a very good storyteller and world builder over it's story being good. See that traumatized marine in The Storm mission. I will point out that the luck thing is a reference to the first time Halsey met chief. In the books Halsey scopes out John herself before he is kidnapped. In that interaction she pulls out a coin and plays a game with him. He manages to guess the face up side several times. Either demonstrating that he was smart, fast, or Lucky enough to guess right everytime. Although it does make little sense in context.
I always excused Cortana's "Luck" line as a reference to Bungie's pre-Halo days, where the narrative seems (at least to me) to be aware that the are always heroes, chosen by a metaphysical Destiny (heh) to fulfil a vacuum in the universal Myth (heh). In this way, Marathon guy and Master Chief and the Destiny guy are all the same universal "role" ordained by some kind of pre-determined destiny. It's a stretch.
I always thought Halo 3 delivered, until the last few levels. I mean, most of the characters are 2 dimensional cut outs, it disappointed me that The Prophet of Truth went from a manipulative schemer into a one note fundamentalist (and that he was no longer voiced by Michael Wincott 😞) and that, most hilariously, Guilty Spark was the final boss. Finale just played it a bit safe I think. If you have the kind of drama between Chief and Cortana from Halo 4, I think it would have had a bit more weight. However, it’s still a great game, and definitely in the top 3 Halo games
I always thought the line about luck, was a nod to the formula for the hero's story. If you look at any media that is founded on the hero's story, there is some suspension of disbelief. The way I think the writers expect you to rationalize the events taking place, is to just assume that the main character is lucky. That is a thing that real people have. Some people are extremely unlucky. In order for you to believe the bomb scene from the second halo game, where he jumps off the station, you have to believe he's extremely lucky. If we're being realistic, he would've been shot, or charged at. It was luck that allowed him to get to the carrier unscathed. I still agree that this has absolutely no bearing on the story being told, and adds nothing to what was setup previously. It's just a way I think the writers tried to justify, crazy ,Sci-fi, horse droppings. It fits, but it means nothing.
I think the reference to luck is referring to a few things. One is the fact that MC is controlled by the player and, technically, dies and fucks up in impossible situations constantly. The story is whatever version events played out where you didn't die. Another one is probably to do with Bungie's obsession with the number 7. Bungie used to have "Bungie Day" which was always on the 7th day of the 7th month. The number seven is often associated with luck due to "Lucky 7s" being three 7s. I also believe that "777" is considered a holy number, often associated with Christ, much like how "666" is associated with the Devil, however I might be wrong about that.
Looking it up, it seems "777" is supposed to represent the threefold perfection of the trinity and that "3" and "7" respectively are considered "perfect numbers" under the Hebrew tradition, all according to wikipedia.
@@GameProf it's all good! Still loved the video either way, felt like you missed out on a kinda subtle plot point where progressively through the game the arbiter became more welcoming to humans, kind of considering creating my own video going over it but regardless, still loved this one :)
It's completely understandable, It's hard writing a whole video and missing a few things. I'm kinda starting out on youtube right now making videos and writing stuff down for videos can be difficult. Even if they're a minute long. Time goes into them and we mess up sometimes but it's alright.
Yup. Halo Infinite. Set after the events of Halo 5 and Halo Wars 2. 343 Industries listened to complaints about the previous installments to the franchise and decided to look at what made the Bungie trilogy so special and start afresh somewhat. Feedback from players on the free multilayer mode have been positive thus far and Halo Infinites campaign is set to be their most ambitious yet, combing what worked from all the previous games and establishing a story that can appeal to long time fans and newcomers alike.
I never played Halo but I guess I should be relieved Halo 3 has an actual conclusion, if my actual understanding of it is correct. I think people are still hung up from the ending of 2.
I think your overarching point that we can get more from creative works than what the creators intended is a very good one. Just because the developers did not go as in depth with the theme of “how much power is too much power?” as we would have liked doesn’t mean that we cannot use Halo as a starting point for larger discussions. Awesome breakdown
Even though Halo 3 is far from a perfect end to this first trilogy, the scene that always gets me is the very end.
Master Chief is going into cryo-sleep, Cortana says she'll miss him and Chief says this:
"Wake me. When you need me."
Cortana already needed Chief, because she will always need him, just as he will always need her.
The love these two have for one another is why this franchise is so beloved.
I can only hope that Halo Infinite will have a scene that carries a similar feeling that this scene gave me.
This scene and their final "goodbye" in Halo 4 always brings me close to tears.
Well, I'm sorry to say... but. 😅
This ended up being a very long comment, but if anyone's interested I talk about how Halo 3's thematic problems came to be and how I believe it had better themes and more character development than it's given credit for.
I think much of Halo 3's problems with character arcs and thematic developments come from it not just being the third game in a trilogy, but the third act of Halo 2. Jason Jones, Joseph Staten and Martin O'Donnell have all said that Halo 2 is a 3 act game with 2 acts. Due to the travesty that was Halo 2's development, they had to make the extremely difficult decision to cut an entire third of Halo 2 at the last minute. Because of that, Halo 3 had to be not just Halo 2's third act, but Halo's third act and it's own game.
Halo 3 should have been a few levels at the end of Halo 2, narratively at least. At the end of Halo 2's second act, all of the characters and their motivations have been introduced. The Arbiter has changed himself for the better and has decided to fight the Covenant alongside the Humans, essentially completing his character arc. All the third act would have been character wise was the Arbiter getting his revenge and closure, because he's at the end of his character arc. Now the Arbiter has to go an entire game waiting for his moment to complete his character arc, with his development in between being on hold because there's no where else for his character to go before he kills Truth. The only arc we get for the Arbiter in Halo 3 that we wouldn't have gotten in Halo 2 is actually rather touching and meaningful, but you missed it because you assumed he was with Chief for the entire game.
There is a difference when playing in Co-Op and playing solo. If you are with a friend then in game cutscenes and dialogue change, and unfortunately it leaves out the Arbiter's last character development. The Arbiter is not with you in the level Cortana on solo, he only appears at the end. Effectively, he lets Chief venture into hell alone because he's already accomplished what he set out to do by killing Truth. Arbiter's alliance with Sargent Johnson and the Human-Elite alliance as a whole was purely based on need. The Arbiter doesn't need to accompany Chief, he knows he can get the index on his own, and he doesn't have a personal interest in getting revenge on the Flood. Yet, he eventually decides to go back to Chief to help him. He braves hell himself to help Chief because he has gained a genuine respect and care for the man after they've been through so much together. It's Arbiter effectively giving up all past grievances and learning to fight for something genuinely good, his love for another, not just necessity or revenge. That is the real theme of Halo 3, and the Arbiter still plays a role in it that was missed just because of the Co-Op mechanic.
The theme of Halo 3 is sacrifice for others, and getting past hatred and grudges to help others around you. I wish there was more dialogue between Chief and the Arbiter to develop their relationship, but the theme still gets across. At the beginning of the game, Chief shoves a pistol into the Arbiters mouth and only begrudgingly pulls it out at Sargent Johnson's request. At the end of the game, Chief checks to make sure the Arbiter's ok when it seems he might have been crushed by a tank. Arbiter's alliance with Chief at the beginning is born out of necessity, but at the end it's out of friendship. Lord Hood never forgives the elites, but that wasn't the theme. Instead, he looks past that to thank the Arbiter for standing by Master Chief until the end, coming full circle when the Arbiter says doesn't really believe Chief is dead with the same line he said to Chief at the beginning, "were it so easy...".
While Halo 3 was created as the third act to Halo 2, and much of it is needlessly spread out because of it, it still made major changes to the story that are significant to the characters. There are many elements plot wise that are different than 2 intended, such as the Ark originally being on Earth, but the most important change to the characters comes with Master Chief's development.
Yes Master Chief has a character arc in Halo 3. Originally in Halo 2, Chief was never going to rescue Cortana, that hadn't changed by cutting the third act. Master Chief coming to save her isn't a hollow and predictable plot point that has emotion just because of the music, it marks a major change in his character. In both previous games, he is trying to save humanity, and only tries to save individuals if he comes across the chance. In Halo 3, he goes back to save Cortana, not just because she has the index, which is really just another convenient excuse to skip the Library again, but because he wants to save her. Him saving her isn't just a part of his stoicism or his pre established traits, its from the development that he gets over the course of the games. With the theme of the game, he isn't doing what he's doing just to defeat his enemies, but to save his friends. He saves Cortana more because he genuinely cares for her well being than for destroying the Flood. In Halo: First Strike (my favorite Halo book) Master Chief learns to value saving every individual human life as much as he values saving humanity. In Halo 3, Master Chief learns to value his friends more than any mission, and puts himself in peril to save them.
Overall, Halo 3 is really disjointed. The fact that no new characters are introduced than those who already existed in Halo 2 should be evidence enough that Halo 3 was originally intended to just be a third act. Nothing extremely important or thematically significant happens in until the last three missions of the game except Chief's first encounter with the Arbiter. The Arbiter's conflict with the Prophets and the commentary on organized religion ends beautifully in one cutscene, but isn't present anywhere else in the game because that scene is all that was really left of that conflict and character development. There also isn't much left to be discovered so it's theme isn't mystery or discovering truth. Despite all that, when Halo 3 could have just wrapped it up there it does bring it's own theme to the table and endeavors to honor it. While "discovering and learning to value friendship" isn't an original or complex theme, it is new for Halo, and it's perfect for the end of a trilogy. The theme works for Arbiter's development, Chief's development and the plot between Humans and Elites. While the story is messy and leaves a lot to be desired, it did choose the perfect theme for its plot and it was meaningful.
I love Cortana's line when she is fighting the Grave mind and talking to Jon
"I am your Sword. Your Shield."
*john
No no, leave it. I now need an image of Master Chief with Jon Arbuckle's head.
Well, Cortana IS named after a sword.
The Chief benefited from luck countless times before Halo 3 began. All those loaded weapons on the floor still ready to fire. That longsword fighter ready to go when he couldn't be evacuated by Foehammer in Halo 1. Happening to encounter Guilty Spark in the swamp who just so happened to be able to take him to the Library and immediately back to Halo's control room by teleporting. The banshee he took to get back to the Pillar of Autumn just happening to land when and where he needed it to. Not to mention the luck needed to pull off that ridiculously awesome bomb plant in that Halo 2 cutscene. Any one of a million things could have gotten in his way or set the bomb off prematurely, or he could have missed.
Whoof, what a note to end on. Halo 3 has my favorite campaign of the original trilogy, and the iconography and set pieces are marvelous, but there's so little behind it all. I always struggled to explain the story, and I thought I was missing something, but no- there's actually just nothing there.
I agree with other commenters saying that it functions as more of a final chapter than a final book. It's like someone took the decisive battle and stretched it out over a few hours. I understand Halo 2 was meant to end with these plot beats, and they were chopped off for the sake of time. It makes a whole lot more sense that way. All the arcs are finished; all the pieces are in place; all the mysteries are solved; now it's time for the final sprint to the end.
I will say that the final sprint is a trope I've always been fond of, and Halo 3 does it pretty well. The end goal is in sight, and we know what we have to do, so all that's left is to charge forward until we make it. When the end is so close that you just keep moving despite losing friends, despite being grievously injured, and pushing yourself to the absolute limit and then even further- that's what a final sprint is all about to me. There's something cathartic about taking all these heavy hits and never stopping until it's over. Especially with all the losses along the way- first Miranda, then Johnson, and then the Chief himself- I find it particularly compelling.
It's just a shame that I can't get anything else from it. y'know?
If I may offer a counterpoint (great work as always, though!) I honestly don't think that it matters whether or not Halo 3 was as thematically rich as the first two games. Both Master Chief and The Arbiter had their respective character arcs in the first two games, so this was more about being an epic final chapter of the initial Halo Trilogy.
In a lot of ways, the development of Halo 3 reminds me of the production of The Dark Knight Rises, the concluding chapter of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy. Much like Jason Jones, Nolan wasn't sure he wanted to come back to do a third chapter after the arduous production of The Dark Knight (made even more egregious when you factor in how his original plans for the follow-up were quelched by the out of left field tragic premature death of Heath Ledger, as Nolan had planned on bringing The Joker back in the third film). It was almost a case that they both probably felt that, thematic-wise, they already said all they wanted to say, but there was still a cliffhanger to resolve in their respective second installments.
Now, I do agree with some of your points as a fellow Halo fan (though post-Halo 3, I have only played bits and pieces of Halo Wars and ODST) when it comes to trying to prove that Halo isn't shallow. I would actually argue that it's actually a good chunk of Halo fans who are shallow, though. I remember when I saw the first Marvel Studios Thor movie, and when I came out of the theater, I met a guy and started discussing Mjolnir (Thor's mythical magic hammer) with him, I asked him if he ever played Halo, and mentioned that MJOLNIR is also the name of the power suit that Master Chief and the other Spartans wear, and he said "Oh, I didn't know that, I don't care about the story, I just play it on Xbox Live."
This may play into why The Arbiter was given a short shift in Halo 3, as some of the more shallow Halo fans complained about The Arbiter's campaign levels in Halo 2, yelling about they just wanted to play as Master Chief. (To be fair to them, while I do agree with you that The Arbiter is a much more compelling character story-wise than Master Chief, his campaign levels don't get really all that fun for me until the Covenant Civil War when you have to kill Tartarus, with the Heretic Hunt and Library being a slog for me on repeat playthroughs).
However, for me, I just feel that since it felt like the culmination of everything that came before it, I can forgive Halo 3 for being lacking in thematics, since it brings the story to its grand conclusion as it had been imagined up to that point. I would even argue that your investment in the thematics of the first two games could actually serve to enrich Halo 3 by association.
Again, great work as always, you do present your point of view very well, but I just wanted to make my point of view known too.
Whenever I hear cortana talk about "Luck" to me, it reads as the kind of subtle luck you encounter in-game.
The rocket launchers, shotguns and ammunition coincidentally being in the chief's way. having warthogs in-reach for the warthog run.
I picked you because you had something the others didn't. Something no one else saw but me.
Can you guess?
Some dude named Jason programs all the levels to enable your success as a power fantasy for random 22st century teenagers.
@@GameProf Its really amazing to think that Halo could be played 100 years from now. You think they'll have some open source mod that enables the old-school 4k textures to be converted to VR/AR objects.
Maybe it won't matter because if that happens the bill gates model base AI will fire DMCA ICBMs and space lasers to terminate the infringing server blocks.
@@GameProf 22st
Respawning. You get to try as many times as you need to get things to go well. It essentially lets you get the perfect run. Maybe that's the "luck" she's talking about.
no
Wonderful work! As someone who was just as disappointed in Halo 3's story, it was nice to hear someone find something more substantial in it (even if it may have been, to an extent, unintentional).
Amazing analysis!
As a person with the distinct quality of not being American, Halo was not a franchise I grew up with.
That being said, after playing halo 3 more than once (working on a franchise analysis), I started to thing that, despite everything, it actually works really well as a last paragraph for halo 2 and a prelude for the forth.
A huge hug from Brazil
I always think of Halo 3 as “master chief leads the arbiter around disney world on a child leash”. The guy was a fleet commander before becoming the Arbiter, and now once again has a position of leadership among his people. At the very LEAST, he should be coordinating with Keys over the radio. Eg, Keys: “We need to take that tower.” Arbiter: “Understood. I will relay your plans to my people. We will cover your attack.”
I usually call it 2 and 1/2 since it just seems to serve to wrap up 2’s plot
I too had this notion that halo 3 had a story to tell but I think I was blinded by the beautiful moments. H3 was my intro to the series and I guess on some level assumed all the iconography was the culmination of what was set up previously. Great Video
The issue with the Arbiter is that there isn't really much left for him to do after Halo 2. His killing of Truth is symbolic and practical from a leadership standpoint. Aside from that, his arc is complete. Halo 3 is meant to make up for Halo 2 not being what it promised, so it had to be focused on Chief and Cortana. Besides, Arbiter isn't the point of Halo; Chief is. In reality, Arbiter was a distraction and, arguably, a mistake (his entire plot was an indictment of America's "War on Terror", as evidenced by numerous Bungie fan forums from 2004). But Halo 2 was a nightmare probably thanks in large part to the development of the Xbox 360 that caused them to have to rush Halo 2 so that they could then get to work on Halo 3. That's why the story is one giant loop and the numerous technical issues remained at ship date. Halo 3 was a course-correction; it was what Halo 2 should have been if they hadn't of gotten preachy and self-righteous.
#believe
The marketing for this game is arguably superior to the game.
Definitely superior to any other marketing, especially considering more recent ads
Very well done. I admit, I've always had more of an outside perspective on Halo. But I can understand liking something only for it's conclusion to not live up to your expectations. Plus, seeing something that wasn't intended by the creators is perfectly valid. If it wasn't, then Metroid Other M wouldn't be as maligned as it is, since Sakamoto didn't intend for Samus and Adam to come out the way they did. And if it can work for the negative, I can't see why it can't do so in a positive light, like you did with the whole 'power' theme you found.
Hell, I tried my best to find meaning in my video on Other M too, but that game was just too bad to give it this same treatment. What a mess that one was.
This music gives me goosebumps every time
I'd like to see a "rewrite" of sorts, as to what your take on how Halo 3's story should go, what you would add onto it, how the story would change because of it. I think that would be very cool.
If you haven't already, you should look at what the ending to Halo 2 was supposed to be, because it's honestly so much better than what we ended up with in 3. Had they just stuck with that plot and found a way to bring closure to the flood plot as well, Halo 3 could've been the best story in the series and much more thematically sound.
The intro about luck is referring to the books and the context they provide
After Halo 2, Halo 3's writing was kinda a bummer. This critique is echoing a lot of my thoughts.
I've never really given much thought to Halo's storytelling until I watched your videos on them. I was pretty young when Halo 3 came out, and for the longest time, I never really paid much attention to the story. Even when playing all of the games in the MCC, I never felt engrossed in the story, maybe because I was playing co-op with a buddy. But damn, after watching your videos on Halo and Halo 2, I started to really appreciate the storytelling of the series, especially Halo 2 (loss of faith in the light of truth is honestly one of my favorite kinds of character arcs in stories). Even Halo 3 which you were able to extrapolate a lot of meaning from. Whether it was intentional or not, the idea that humanity makes the choice to destroy the very powers handed exclusively to them by their predecessors was really powerful, and after hearing your interpretation, I now have a cooler version of Halo 3 in my head. Thanks so much for the wonderful videos!
I feel so weird knowing that the game's audio director technically wrote or outlined this game's story.
I know it goes against your formalist approach of only analyzing the game itself, but I think that Cortana's statement on luck draws on the background information Bungie was working from, where Chief's defining trait over the other Spartans is that he's the only one left, so he's therefore the "lucky" one. That's obviously not the case outside of the games but for their setting Bible it does square with the games intent that Chief is the last best hope for humanity.
I think the Arbiters most meaningful line in H3 that alludes to how the whole series is gonna end is, “Were it’s so easy”. I say this as it implies a certain sacrifice needing to be made on the part of those involved in whatever task is being undertaken.
Great analysis. Thank you for sharing. I've been a fan of the Bungie Halo games (and ONLY the Bungie ones) since forever, but in the recent couple of years have thought more deeply about the stories of the trilogy and, like you, found 3 really lacking and disappointing after Halo 2.
I do want to add a couple of points!
The Arbiter: I remember reading multiple sources online years ago, that mentioned that the vast majority of fans were FURIOUS at the Arbiter's inclusion in Halo 2. It was kept a secret in marketing on purpose because playing him is a big story twist. But most fans were... well, shallow. Just wanna play cool guy who shoots aliens. I think that, on the back of this largely negative response at the time, may have been a factor in the Arbiter's lack of significance to Halo 3's plot.
Players 3 and 4 in co-op play are given two distinct Elite characters, with their own names and short backstory. This could easily have been done for player 2 instead of pigeonholing the Arbiter into this role, so I don't feel that this is really a good reason for why Arbiter got TOTALLY SHAFTED story wise.
Humans are Foreunners: So far as I recall, whether humans should actually BE Forerunners or not was a 50/50 split within Bungie staff opinion. Some Halo 2 storyboards show it was considered seriously, at least.
But within Halo 3 itself, I still think 343's statement can be interpreted ambiguously, or to mean that humans are considered Forerunner as far as the meaning of the name goes, if not necessarily literally on a species level.
But Halo 3 itself (so not any extended lore) seems to disprove the theory. One of the terminals details the Librarian, an ancient Forerunner, visiting Earth before the activation of the Halo array, and remarks on the beauty of the planet and the similarity of humans to themselves. I struggle to read it as an interpretation of anything other than the two races being distinct and disparate species.
Luck etc.: I believe this was a bit of a thing in the books and extended fiction prior to Halo 3. So it isn't ENTIRELY out of nowhere. This isn't, of course, a defence of the strange inclusion in Halo 3 itself, but it does explain where the idea to put it in came from, considering the strange written-by-committee set up of Halo 3's story. I mention this because it extends to a good deal of other inclusions in Halo 3 (such as a good deal of Cortana's weird dialogue) which make it feel more meaningful to the more invested fans who will have consumed that extended media, whereas the majority of players don't really care and just want to play the multiplayer and hate the Arbiter.
I just suppose I thought this was interesting in terms of how the Halo 3 story turned out. Lacking the overhead direction to make a more involved and meaningful story, it was easy for the staff chip in ideas to reference much of the past Halo lore (extended media and prior games included) to try to flesh the game out despite it's weak through thread.
this comment is pretty old at this point, but i want to say that you (and anyone else who happens to read this) should watch C3 SABERTOOTH's video on the human/forerunner connection, if you haven't already. It goes into great detail about the "split within Bungie" you mentioned as well as the discrepancies within Halo 3's terminals
@@trevsoda Yes, I have since watched these actually. Truly excellent videos, extremely elucidating.
Humans are Forerunners. Easy. Screw you Frank.
Omg. Dude I remember you from AGES ago with your walking dead videos and the bioshock one. And now you're back with halo 3?! GG my man, it's good to have you back!
Yep, things have been slow for a while but I've always been around, and now I'm back and trying to make this a full-time gig! Glad to have you watching.
Halo 3 is my favorite game ever. I am also willing to acknowledge that it has one of the most inferior stories plot wise through out most of the series(looking at you Halo 5). But imo, it absolutely nails the fun factor at every moment. You can toss the plot aside, there's not a single level except maybe Cortana, but even that isn't that bad if you're good at the game, that I will skip. Every single level is banger from start to finish. Halo 3 is more than the sum of its parts for me. It released when I was 11 and had very few friends in my immediate vicinity(but plenty of online friends), thanks to being a military kid and not getting to be around the friends who were closest to me. But this game man, it really brought us all together. It was so damn good and I was so hyped for it after finishing Halo 2. That Believe campaign still gets me hyped over 15 years later.
some thoughts about halo 3 and your analysis! idk i hope these are interesting:
1) i really like the idea that humanity are essentially the gods of the covenants religion, which the covenant suppresses and annihilates in order to co opt their power for themselves, as a criticism of religious hierarchies. I'd never thought about that metaphor
2) this line: "Folks need heroes, Chief, to give ‘em hope. So smile, would ya? While we still got something to smile about” from Halo 2 always struck me as being really really significant to the meaning of the Halo. It doesnt even make practical sense in the scene its in -- John is wearing a helmet and his face can't be seen. But to me the idea was so important that they put it in regardless.
3) To me this gets at the tragedy of the Master Chief. I wouldn't say theres very much emotional nuance w/ his performance or the presentation of his actions, but to me the meaning of his character is meant to come from his relationship to the audience and to the context of his story.
At the end of Halo 3 he places himself into stasis for an indeterminate amount of time, leaving behind Cortana. In doing this he exchanges something: his emotional closeness to someone who depends on him for upholding his "purpose" as a hero who can inspire hope for as long as possible. It's difficult to notice that he's making a choice in this scene at all, because its the only "Master-Chief-like" thing for him to do in this circumstance. And idk thats kind of depressing right?
4) As a Jesus allegory it kind of says something to me... He is inaccessible for an unknown amount of time where humanity (Cortana) are left essentially alone, while still "relying" on him and receiving hope from the promise of his return. Except, unlike Jesus, John doesn't sacrifice himself, and Cortana has the capability to summon him at any point she chooses to. The only thing John loses is his connection to other humans...which is the one thing Jesus is supposed to still have even in the present (like w/ praying and stuff). I don't know what to make of all this together but its like. It's something right?
5) I feel like to an extent the role that the military itself has within the story was a major blind spot in your analysis. Even if it wasn't intended to represent anything other than the dominant manifestation of humanity's ability to "fight", the military as depicted in Halo isn't neutral, especially in Halo 3. Lorewise, the Spartans themselves were created as superweapons not for defense or peace but for military peacekeeping against human insurrectionists; they were created to enforce and maintain power over others. The Covenant arriving gives humanity a paradigm shift, where rather than one organization striving for total military representation across the galaxy, that same organization is now positioned as the last defense humanity has for itself. As a statement about the real life military, its somewhere approaching a support of actual military police states as the price for protection from external threats? I wouldn't go so far as to say thats its hardline moral, but the way it depicts the UNSC is probably the most baffling part of the story in my eyes.
I really like your comment and I hope you'll read mine. For me the Kilo Five trilogy makes a lot more sense of the blatant contradictions of the Spartan program and the whole grayness of the military and ONI
Hopefully UA-cam doesn't get mad when I copy paste my comment but this is what I said:
I think much of Halo 3's problems with character arcs and thematic developments come from it not just being the third game in a trilogy, but the third act of Halo 2. Jason Jones, Joseph Staten and Martin O'Donnell have all said that Halo 2 is a 3 act game with 2 acts. Due to the travesty that was Halo 2's development, they had to make the extremely difficult decision to cut an entire third of Halo 2 at the last minute. Because of that, Halo 3 had to be not just Halo 2's third act, but Halo's third act and it's own game.
Halo 3 should have been a few levels at the end of Halo 2, narratively at least. At the end of Halo 2's second act, all of the characters and their motivations have been introduced. The Arbiter has changed himself for the better and has decided to fight the Covenant alongside the Humans, essentially completing his character arc. All the third act would have been character wise was the Arbiter getting his revenge and closure, because he's at the end of his character arc. Now the Arbiter has to go an entire game waiting for his moment to complete his character arc, with his development in between being on hold because there's no where else for his character to go before he kills Truth. The only arc we get for the Arbiter in Halo 3 that we wouldn't have gotten in Halo 2 is actually rather touching and meaningful, but you missed it because you assumed he was with Chief for the entire game.
There is a difference when playing in Co-Op and playing solo. If you are with a friend then in game cutscenes and dialogue change, and unfortunately it leaves out the Arbiter's last character development. The Arbiter is not with you in the level Cortana on solo, he only appears at the end. Effectively, he lets Chief venture into hell alone because he's already accomplished what he set out to do by killing Truth. Arbiter's alliance with Sargent Johnson and the Human-Elite alliance as a whole was purely based on need. The Arbiter doesn't need to accompany Chief, he knows he can get the index on his own, and he doesn't have a personal interest in getting revenge on the Flood. Yet, he eventually decides to go back to Chief to help him. He braves hell himself to help Chief because he has gained a genuine respect and care for the man after they've been through so much together. It's Arbiter effectively giving up all past grievances and learning to fight for something genuinely good, his love for another, not just necessity or revenge. That is the real theme of Halo 3, and the Arbiter still plays a role in it that was missed just because of the Co-Op mechanic.
The theme of Halo 3 is sacrifice for others, and getting past hatred and grudges to help others around you. I wish there was more dialogue between Chief and the Arbiter to develop their relationship, but the theme still gets across. At the beginning of the game, Chief shoves a pistol into the Arbiters mouth and only begrudgingly pulls it out at Sargent Johnson's request. At the end of the game, Chief checks to make sure the Arbiter's ok when it seems he might have been crushed by a tank. Arbiter's alliance with Chief at the beginning is born out of necessity, but at the end it's out of friendship. Lord Hood never forgives the elites, but that wasn't the theme. Instead, he looks past that to thank the Arbiter for standing by Master Chief until the end, coming full circle when the Arbiter says doesn't really believe Chief is dead with the same line he said to Chief at the beginning, "were it so easy...".
While Halo 3 was created as the third act to Halo 2, and much of it is needlessly spread out because of it, it still made major changes to the story that are significant to the characters. There are many elements plot wise that are different than 2 intended, such as the Ark originally being on Earth, but the most important change to the characters comes with Master Chief's development.
Yes Master Chief has a character arc in Halo 3. Originally in Halo 2, Chief was never going to rescue Cortana, that hadn't changed by cutting the third act. Master Chief coming to save her isn't a hollow and predictable plot point that has emotion just because of the music, it marks a major change in his character. In both previous games, he is trying to save humanity, and only tries to save individuals if he comes across the chance. In Halo 3, he goes back to save Cortana, not just because she has the index, which is really just another convenient excuse to skip the Library again, but because he wants to save her. Him saving her isn't just a part of his stoicism or his pre established traits, its from the development that he gets over the course of the games. With the theme of the game, he isn't doing what he's doing just to defeat his enemies, but to save his friends. He saves Cortana more because he genuinely cares for her well being than for destroying the Flood. In Halo: First Strike (my favorite Halo book) Master Chief learns to value saving every individual human life as much as he values saving humanity. In Halo 3, Master Chief learns to value his friends more than any mission, and puts himself in peril to save them.
Overall, Halo 3 is really disjointed. The fact that no new characters are introduced than those who already existed in Halo 2 should be evidence enough that Halo 3 was originally intended to just be a third act. Nothing extremely important or thematically significant happens in until the last three missions of the game except Chief's first encounter with the Arbiter. The Arbiter's conflict with the Prophets and the commentary on organized religion ends beautifully in one cutscene, but isn't present anywhere else in the game because that scene is all that was really left of that conflict and character development. There also isn't much left to be discovered so it's theme isn't mystery or discovering truth. Despite all that, when Halo 3 could have just wrapped it up there it does bring it's own theme to the table and endeavors to honor it. While "discovering and learning to value friendship" isn't an original or complex theme, it is new for Halo, and it's perfect for the end of a trilogy. The theme works for Arbiter's development, Chief's development and the plot between Humans and Elites. While the story is messy and leaves a lot to be desired, it did choose the perfect theme for its plot and it was meaningful.
Man I just hopped off of your wonderful Spec ops video and now I get THIS. What a good day this is!
When I played this as a teenager I didn't really pay much attention to the story, so this is cool to see everything I missed!
I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR SOOOO LONG
When I first played Halo 3, I felt vaguely disappointed, and couldn't quite put my finger on why. It was definitely cool in a lot of respects, but I think I wasn't quite able to articulate why it felt so shallow. I thought at the time it was that the Arbiter (and broadly the Elites) got hardly any screentime, which I guess is ultimately part of it, though not the full story.
I really enjoyed these videos, and I hope one day you'll get around to analyzing ODST and Reach the same way.
Ballsy of you to treat this sacred cow with adult gloves. Especially after watching so many other videos on the game.
I hadn't played this game since 2007, but I finally found some time to play through the original trilogy now that the MCC is complete and I was shocked at how disappointed I was with Halo 3 after thinking it was one of the greatest games ever so long ago.
I completely agree with you here. The game felt like a series of set pieces with little emotional weight behind them. It was bombast and spectacle over theme, emotion, and character.
I just shake my head at the decision to relegate the Arbiter to the sidelines and ignore the themes brought up in 2. I shake my head at how absent of a villain Truth is for most the game and how less compelling he comes across. I shake my head at Earth taking up 4 missions that all but one never seem to really capture the stakes.
It's not a bad game at all. The gameplay improvements are there with the equipment and new grenades. The set pieces are pretty fun even if they can be a bit frustrating with AI allies on higher difficulties. The section where you ally with The Flood is one of my favorites even if you know it will turn for worse soon. It's also got great production values and is the best looking of the original trilogy.
But my nostalgia remembered it better. There's no level as well designed as 343 Guilty Spark. There's no reveal as interesting as the Flood except 343's reveal about humanity and the forerunners, but that's literally just revealed as straight exposition to our faces. The last level is fun and exciting, but it feels like The Maw pt 2 like The Death Star 2.0 in ROTJ. And there aren't really any thematic ideas as interesting as the Covenant's organized religion in 2.
Overall, I feel like the games got worse as they want on so far story wise. 1 is simple but a really tight narrative with fascinating reveals and great level design and environmental storytelling, though the levels do get too long and repetitive near the end. 2 improved the production values, visual aesthetics in cutscenes, and had greater thematic ambitions, but the plot kinda drags in the middle and sputters in the end with its cliffhanger. 3 drops all those themes for the most part, drops the Arbiter as an active participant in the story, and focuses too much on giant set piece moments without really giving the narrative context time enough to breathe and heighten the emotion in those battles, except in the very final level.
They are all still very fun at the very least, and I really enjoy your Power theme you found in 3, though I agree it's hardly explored.
I wonder how much better the trilogy would have turned out if Microsoft gave Bungie the proper time and space to develop the games
Halo 3 thematically works better when you think of it as an extension of Halo 2. The story ends with arbiter getting his revenge and gaining a respect for the enemy he swore to destroy. Chief finishes the fight and fufils his promise to Cortana. The themes of religious power and corruption of organized religion fit really seamlessly. The devs def spent their energy focusing on making plot work and let the weight of the franchise carry itself.
I was late to the Halo franchise and knew nothing about it. I started with Reach (which was my first 360 game, and I really loved it and was blindsided by the way the narrative developed), then 1 (it's a blast), then a fair bit of 3 before stopping at the level Cortana (god, what a badly-designed level), then 2 (a far denser narrative experience than 1-I was kind of blown away), and then ODST (a game that I think I like more in theory, mainly due to the bit where you accidentally commit a war crime and it's played off as a joke, which feels somehow in poor taste). I finally got back to 3, and I remember getting back to the Cortana level, getting ready for the game to open up, and then it just ends. I didn't realize how close I was to the end of the game, and how little the game ended up being. Your thoughts really echoed what I thought: there's little there, and what's there is only barely there. It's a shame, because basically every other Bungie Halo has at least something that you can hold up to as a central idea of the game, and the capstone to my Halo experience was kind of a whimper (and, like, I don't plan on playing 4/5, at all). Are you planning to do Reach and ODST? I'd be interested to see your thoughts on them.
I think the reference to luck is calling back to the canon novels. Chief is chosen not because he's the strongest or smartest, but because he calls a coin flip. He's lucky.
It's why he survives the modifications to his body, his training and becomes who he is. His luck is his greatest strength.
I have this hope that Halo Infinite opens with a badass cutsceneof Chief and Arby fighting side by side similar to Halo 5, and then BLAM! Rght at the climax of the scene it pauses and you get the option to play as one or the other! Different mechanics! Different Abilities! Different campaign objectives! HOW SICK WOULD THAT BE?! Not for the whole game but for a few choice levels. My goodness....
You will only disappoint yourself by wishing things that won't be.
@@KayleighBourquin yeah, lower your expectations mate. The creators confirmed Elites won't be playable for Halo Infinite.
Yeah you guys are right. My dreams of a Halo buddy-cop game will have to remain just that 😔
In Amber Clad is Keyes' ship in Halo 2. Forward Unto Dawn is her ship in Halo 3. Two different ships entirely. In Amber Clad gets infested by the Flood and is crashed into High Charity in Halo 2, ending its story there. Not that it was really seen all that much.
I am only just now getting around to watching this, but this is a good video that has me thinking about how I felt about Halo 3's story, which I found genuinely satisfying as a conclusion. I am actually tempted to go back and revisit it and see if I still feel the same way now. I wonder if there was something there that I can't quote put my finger on that made it so gratifying, or if I was just enjoying the ride of playing through the entire trilogy for the first time.
It would be super interesting to hear your thoughts on Halo 3: ODST more than any other Halo game in my opinion. The whole game is an allegory to Dante's Inferno, with it being intentionally designed to all fit that metaphor without contradicting itself like the other Halo games biblical depictions. I would watch Rocket Sloth's video on it first.
Ooh, I second this! ODST is probably the unsung crowning gem of Bungie's tenure.
I'm a simple person - I see a games as lit notification, I watch the video :)
Just found your channel, watched the Spec Ops video (which I thought was extremely on point, kudos) and these Halo ones. Something I think isn't brought up here specifically is that due to the troubled development of Halo 2, the third game can be seen as simply a stretched-out finale to that game. I see it this way, and I think it works pretty well. Of course, one reason for not bringing it up in the context of these videos might just be because of your stated purpose of analyzing the games as they are, which is totally fine of course. But if you do see it as essentially the last part of Halo 2, I think everything kinda works, the commentary on religion is intact, because the majority of the Arbiter's arc was already completed and what was left was really just to let him cut off the head of the snake spouting the lies that had poisoned the minds of his people, for catharsis and to finalize his progress.
Of course, if all we'd gotten was the "necessary" narrative stuff, it would have been a pretty short game, so there's ton's of weird asides which are completely pointless lol. The crashed Flood ship, Cortana's message and the ensuing "discussion" about what to do was dumb - of course they were gonna go through the portal. And the message itself made no sense after you know how the Flood were ultimately stopped. Not that the player should really feel they did stop them completely, since it would have been supremely stupid of the Gravemind to bring literally all the Flood in the galaxy to the Ark, after having captured High Charity and essentially being able to find and seed whatever system it deigns to look for, and subsequently find, with infested ships. Etc. The fact that Marty was the progenitor of the majority of the story of the game is fucking wild hahaha, I didn't know that, but I guess it shows.
Also, it kinda sounds like you're not a subscriber to death of the author, is that correct? Because if you are, it of course shouldn't matter what was intended with whatever is in the game, only what is in the game in and of itself. Which I thought was part of the goal of these videos, though I may have read too much into that mission statement. I'm not saying you can divorce yourself from any outside information ofc, or that you should actively disregard authorial intent either, but rather that if it can be found, you can use that as much as any random schmuck's interpretation; all that matters is how well the text supports it. But if it can't be found, then no information is gained - absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. Before trying to find the intent and after trying and failing to do so are the same information states. You just failed to ascertain the intent which definitely existed, but your failure to do so doesn't change anything about the work. Only actually finding intent has information content.
I gotta say, I adore your this series of videos. I've only watched your Halo ones, so far, but your analysis gave me more appreciation for the themes in Halo 2, and helped me see how 3 was lacking a bit.
Where would you have preferred the story go for 3, I wonder? I feel like the overall plot could stay basically the same, but maybe adding more "meat" in places to strengthen it.
wow. 'This doesn't really mean that much' might be one of the harshest criticisms you can level at a work of art.
Concerning the trope of 'this is too much power for anyone' it's interesting to me how what is defined as 'too much power' changes. in some stories it will be nukes, but in halo the unsc uses weapons with that much power and nobody cares. in star wars it's the death star, but a star destroyer can destroy a planet given enough time and the rebels have no problems using those. It just seems like it always turns into 'this one symbolic thing is too much power for anyone to posess.... but please ignore all these other things that give us power that we're totally fine with using.'
The power of a Nuke, or even a Nova Bomb, pales in comparison to the breadth and scope of the Halo array. The ability to just erase all life in the entire galaxy is a power that not even the Forerunners who built it felt comfortable wielding, and only did so under the most dire of circumstances.
@@KayleighBourquin that wasn't the point. there's always a 'this is too much power' thing and it varies per franchise what counts as 'too much power'. The good guys in these stories almost always are fine with basically everything up to that thing, and the power gap between the too much power thing and what the good guys use (or just consider an acceptable amount of power) is usually a lot smaller than it is in Halo. But to stick to Halo... how about those covenant ships that can glass entire planets? would they be considered 'too much power'? They used them to push humanity to the brink of extinction, but those are fine to have?
@@r31n0utBecause of the in-universe history, seriously. These weapons, while capable of mass destruction, have been a common enough sight in the universe already. Without their offensive capability, they are giant interstellar transports with a lot of utilities. Their regulation doesnt make for an exciting action packed story plus these universe are still at war and thus have needs of them
Most of the time these stories deal with a newly invented or discovered weapon that could cause mass death on a scale unimaginable before.
i also wanted to say i really liked this video ! I find Halo 3 incredibly frustrating for a lot of the same reasons, and as a person providing analyses i feel like admitting that can almost be vulnerable somehow. I've always argued that anything has the capacity to "say" something as long as the audience is the right audience to "hear" something from it. my analysis tends to be my attempt to.... like ig roleplay(?) as whatever audience is necessary for that. but Halo 3 just, kind of defies it, and I thought your attempt to bring meaning to it was really profound, so thank you
Great video as always, this is the game that introduced me to the halo franchise and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I really like your channel, been a subscriber for years, thanks for all your hard work
It's awesome to see your analysis on the trilogy come to its conclusion, even if the conclusion in question was not as great as its forefathers. Halo will forever remain my favorite game franchise and Sci fi franchise as a whole due to how much I followed it as a kid. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching your dissection of the series that made me a gamer and the themes and ideas I never fully comprehended when I was playing through them or reading the books as a kid. gives me such a newfound appreciation for what they meant and mean to me today.
The luck thing is also more of a book thing. That’s why he became leader of the Spartans as well. I believe it’s in the fall of reach book. There’s even a line about him being able to flip a coin 50 times and calling it right every time
You're understanding on video games is astounding. You and I are alike
Halfway through the summary makes me realize wow I knew nothing about Halo 3’s story except for the Cortana bit
Maybe I should save this analysis in the fridge for when I do get back to replaying Halo 3
I must admit tha i experienced the original halo trilogy many years after it came out, (i played halo combat evolved in 2009, and i did not know that halo 2 existed until 2012) but due to the fact during most of my life did not have internet except in the computers at my first school, (i played halo 1 and 2 in pc) i experienced the story more like the people that played in the original releases. When i finally got my hands in halo 3 in the house of a friend i love it, the battles and the music and the story, but after playing it a second time i realized that i miss so much of the elements in halo 2 (for me it is the best halo story) and at the end i felt sadness because the end left with so little, so i did not continue with more in the saga that came out after 3. Then some years later in 2016 and began to watch halo lore videos, and i realized there were books, that restarted my interest in the franchise as a whole, and (this may be surprising for some) i loved halo 4 when a played some yeras later, bacuse it had so much of the story of the first 2 games somehow, even with the chages they made to human and forerunners not being the same (mostly because after halo 2 and 3 i realized some things about human and forerunner being the same did not add up for me, and because i played marathon after halo 1 in 2009 and with the time i realized the stories in both were a reflection of each other and in marathon is abundantly clear humans and y'rro were not the same) then i got several of the books in 2019 and read the forerunner trilogy, i loved it to this day is one of my favourite pieces of lore in the franchise. And then some years later i replayed marathon 1,2 and palyed for the first time marathon 3, it gave me a new appreciation of halo at the same time, and realized that much of the story was even deeper than i thought , and began to think more of the themes in the forerunner trilogy after i played one the games that can be consider more a piece of art than just a videogame PATHOLOGIC, ironically i saw amny of the themes of the books in that game. And realized how complex they realiy were in several aspects, because of that playing PATHOLOGIC felt as a not sci-fi version of the forerunner tryilogy in many ways, the themes of power, appreciation of life, what is fair or not in life, or if the concept even exist, or the things with the plagues acting as a intelligent entity that tries to teach something as it consumes. That is my history with the franchise so far. It has been great to experience that growing slowly with the lore.
Even as someone who had never played a Halo game, the hype for that game was palpable.
I’ve been waiting for this for so long
Great analysis as always.
Not having Arbitor playable was a set back for sure.
Dang it irritated me that the truce between humans and sangheili was essentially negated in Halo 4. (I have yet to play Halo 5).
I can't wait to see you look at reach and ODST.
That theme of fighting for a higher power but intending to coopt it for themselves, reminds me of Warcraft 3. The undead scourge worked to summon the demon Archimond to their world, even going as far as to allow their general to die, corrupt their general's murderer, and revive their general with an upgrade. And when they finally succeeded in doing so, they were effectively told "cool cool, thanks, now beat it- this is a conquest for dreadlords, not undead." Basically Zuckerberged. Their new general (who'd recently switched sides for them) was like "WTF!? We did all the work and now we're just tossed aside? What do we get out of this?" To which the veteran general was like "chill dude, my master saw this coming, we'll get what we want, just be patient". And they did, but the point is the force they helped bring about carried no benefit to them, but they knew it wouldn't, not directly anyway.
Luck, I am pretty certain is pulled directly from Fall of Reach, with a bunch of stuff pulled from the book especially in the mission Cortana. This is likely because of the committee writing team and having Joe Staten be less involved in the story and writing process for Halo 3 due to his sabbatical meant _the guy_ who was the main writer and guru is gone, so they fell on what knowledge they had.
I do have to admit, that was a great pun, Noble 6 fell from the Long Night of Solace, (yes, the mission is named after the Covenant vessel) and landed on Reach, so I guess in theory, you could reasonbly call it "The Fall of Reach" which is coincedently where spartans were introduced as being able to survive such falls from orbit. It was shown once more in the third novel. That being First Strike in its opening, with Fred and several other Spartans, who didn't survive
4:10 I love how every video, be it a lets play, review or analysis of Halo 3 mentions this one line xD
I would love a true Halo 3 remake that provides closure to the story of Halo 2. Allowing the Arbiter to conclude his story too, he’s my favorite character as well.
I could be completely wrong (depending whether bungie cared at this point), but my personal interpretation since I read the Fall of Reach as a teenager was that Cortana's opening monologue and rescue comments are in reference to Halsey's memories. Referring to her experiences of specifically picking him as a child, picking him out from the playground herself. Cortana doing just the same as her is almost expected when her personality and very being is based upon Halsey's, it's almost implied like a motherly instinct despite how evil Halsey was.
I guess the answer here depends on whether Bungie were willing to at all take from the Expanded Universe even at this point. But in my understanding Cortana is only a year or two old at this point, she didn't watch him grow up, even in Bungie's timeline so it must be in some form?
Either or, it's poorly executed, if the requirement of understanding the opening monologue of your game at all, requires you to read a 6 year old book that most never read, that's useless.
Great video by the way, and Christ you reminded me how fantastically scored Halo 3 is, despite its failings.
I'm with you that it's important to at least give works like Halo, which many people dismiss off hand, the benefit of the doubt. And try to find a deeper meaning from the story those works present. Whether there's actually something there or not. Great video!
In terms of the luck thing, I always took it as a nod to Cortana's personality as influenced by Halsey, who chose John when she sees him playing as a child. Isn't there a luck bit there with a coin or smth (Fall of Reach)?
I get the reference, but it doesn't contribute at all to the narrative not even as some sort of metaphor or clever symbolism. Just a throwaway line
This is an interesting look at the game since I'm someone who has only ever completed Halo 3 and Reach. Halo 3 was my introduction to the series around the end of 2007, and I really only played it in the first place because I loved the idea of Forge. I really enjoyed it, despite the fact that I didn't really understand what was going on. Because of that though, I wonder if that's why Halo has the reputation of being shallow, since I'm sure there were a lot of people just like me that - because the 360 was so popular and the original Xbox wasn't - started with Halo 3, and never really went back from there?
21:00 I think it’s supposed to be about YOU the player… chief succeeds because he has something nobody else does… you controlling him keep in mind that bungie’s halo always had the player’s role in the background. Always present to some extent
I hope you will make a similar type of video about Halo ODST and Reach!
Thanks for the super interesting videos (yes, I did watch the previous Halo ones just so I could catch up for this one x') ) ♥
This channel is a hidden gem
i just found your channel, and i’m already a fan. i always love stuff like this. i’d love to see you do red dead redemption 1 and 2
Love these videos, glad more are coming.
Kinda wonder how h3 would have gone narrative-wise if the lead writer/director? hadn't fallen out of love w it (and right at the end of a trilogy oof)
You missed some of Arbiter's in game dialogue. He makes comments on how he feels about the Covenant while you're fighting along side him.
Missed your videos.
I agree 100%. I love Halo 3 so much. It’s one of my favorites. The music, the one liners …. Wow.
But agree. Very hollow considering the scope of Halo. And unfortunately a common theme in H4 and H5.
Haven't played a single Halo game but am doing my part to feed the algorithm!
Heyo, big fan of Halo. Very valid criticisms here. I think Halo 3 is a very good storyteller and world builder over it's story being good.
See that traumatized marine in The Storm mission.
I will point out that the luck thing is a reference to the first time Halsey met chief. In the books Halsey scopes out John herself before he is kidnapped. In that interaction she pulls out a coin and plays a game with him. He manages to guess the face up side several times. Either demonstrating that he was smart, fast, or Lucky enough to guess right everytime. Although it does make little sense in context.
Just watching this now, and seeing that Legion quote broke me a little bit... Have you done an analysis on Mass effect?
I haven't, mostly because that's a colossal undertaking. Someday, hopefully.
@@GameProf yeah I bet is. Well if you ever get to it I'll definitely watch it.
Act man commented on that stupid line too. I'm so happy I wasn't the only one 🤣
I always excused Cortana's "Luck" line as a reference to Bungie's pre-Halo days, where the narrative seems (at least to me) to be aware that the are always heroes, chosen by a metaphysical Destiny (heh) to fulfil a vacuum in the universal Myth (heh). In this way, Marathon guy and Master Chief and the Destiny guy are all the same universal "role" ordained by some kind of pre-determined destiny.
It's a stretch.
(The act man) entered the chat.
Typing.....
BABE WAKE UP, HALO 3 GAMESASLIT JUST DROPPED
I think trust might be a theme you could pull out
If you're looking for collab ideas: Maybe you and Brian David Gilbert could discuss the Halo novels 🤔
#finishthefight
God bless you, you finally did it.
I always thought Halo 3 delivered, until the last few levels. I mean, most of the characters are 2 dimensional cut outs, it disappointed me that The Prophet of Truth went from a manipulative schemer into a one note fundamentalist (and that he was no longer voiced by Michael Wincott 😞) and that, most hilariously, Guilty Spark was the final boss.
Finale just played it a bit safe I think. If you have the kind of drama between Chief and Cortana from Halo 4, I think it would have had a bit more weight.
However, it’s still a great game, and definitely in the top 3 Halo games
HALLELUJAH!!! I thought we were never going to get this!
But thank God we did.
*halo lujah
I always thought the line about luck, was a nod to the formula for the hero's story. If you look at any media that is founded on the hero's story, there is some suspension of disbelief. The way I think the writers expect you to rationalize the events taking place, is to just assume that the main character is lucky. That is a thing that real people have. Some people are extremely unlucky. In order for you to believe the bomb scene from the second halo game, where he jumps off the station, you have to believe he's extremely lucky. If we're being realistic, he would've been shot, or charged at. It was luck that allowed him to get to the carrier unscathed.
I still agree that this has absolutely no bearing on the story being told, and adds nothing to what was setup previously. It's just a way I think the writers tried to justify, crazy ,Sci-fi, horse droppings. It fits, but it means nothing.
i know this is an old video, but they escape on the forward unto dawn, not the amber clad, that was destroyed on high chairty in halo 2
I think the reference to luck is referring to a few things. One is the fact that MC is controlled by the player and, technically, dies and fucks up in impossible situations constantly. The story is whatever version events played out where you didn't die.
Another one is probably to do with Bungie's obsession with the number 7. Bungie used to have "Bungie Day" which was always on the 7th day of the 7th month. The number seven is often associated with luck due to "Lucky 7s" being three 7s. I also believe that "777" is considered a holy number, often associated with Christ, much like how "666" is associated with the Devil, however I might be wrong about that.
Looking it up, it seems "777" is supposed to represent the threefold perfection of the trinity and that "3" and "7" respectively are considered "perfect numbers" under the Hebrew tradition, all according to wikipedia.
please do halo 4!
But when are you doing a video on zombie mosquitoes!?!
Love the video but you got the ships name wrong lol, its the Forward Unto Dawn, not the Amber Clad
Yeah, must have written the wrong name down in my notes. Oops.
@@GameProf it's all good! Still loved the video either way, felt like you missed out on a kinda subtle plot point where progressively through the game the arbiter became more welcoming to humans, kind of considering creating my own video going over it but regardless, still loved this one :)
Long have I dreamt of this day Reclaimer!
It's about time.
Fudge, I want to sleep... but I want to watch this video...
I always found the “go to war” line hella corny and forced to, like bruh moment
Powerful ending there!
He messed up the name of the ship, In Amber Clad got destroyed in halo 2.
It's the forward unto dawn in halo 3.
Yep, that's been pointed out. I wrote the wrong ship in my notes and didn't catch it in time. >.
It's completely understandable, It's hard writing a whole video and missing a few things. I'm kinda starting out on youtube right now making videos and writing stuff down for videos can be difficult. Even if they're a minute long. Time goes into them and we mess up sometimes but it's alright.
Wait, there's a new HALO game coming?
Yup.
Halo Infinite.
Set after the events of Halo 5 and Halo Wars 2.
343 Industries listened to complaints about the previous installments to the franchise and decided to look at what made the Bungie trilogy so special and start afresh somewhat.
Feedback from players on the free multilayer mode have been positive thus far and Halo Infinites campaign is set to be their most ambitious yet, combing what worked from all the previous games and establishing a story that can appeal to long time fans and newcomers alike.
I never played Halo but I guess I should be relieved Halo 3 has an actual conclusion, if my actual understanding of it is correct. I think people are still hung up from the ending of 2.
Thanks for the vid
8:38 Forward Unto Dawn, not In Amber Clad
Aw dangit, must have mixed up the ship names in my notes.