I was the designer for this level. Some bits: The last drive around area before the jump is the silent cartographer. We took the geo from Halo 1. The entire trench run was completely deleted and rebuilt from the ground up late in development because the first one wasn’t fun and this one felt more ‘fluid’ in terms of giving players choice in feeling how to drive. I placed and scripted every single tile to either blow up or fall away from a timer. We definitely ran out of time on this map with art so adding more content was out of the question. We had a blast iterating on the trench run but also balanced it with frame rate with the explosions. I had to cut half the explosions out to remain solid frame rate. Adding other vehicles as Easter eggs was really fun and a balance to keep it all in memory. The ghost broke a bunch of scripts originally. I wish I could have added more.
This is fantastic info, Dan. Thanks for sharing. I played Halo 3 as a late teenager - now I'm about to wrap up Halo 3 with my 11-year-old daughter. I'll be sure to look for the Silent Cartographer geometry.
Nice to hear stories straight from the developers. :) Since MCC has official mod tools, I've been using the modding tools to mod Halo 3 and ODST. My ODST mod is complete (but still updated) but my Halo 3 mod is still indev. To be brought to the topic of this level, I've taken my own approach to how I have it structured and such. Gone are you Rocket Laucher and Fuel Rod Gun starts. You start with less ammo for your starting guns and have to scrounge the Pelican for more ammo. The Flood drop pods spawn two Infection Forms apiece, allowing downed Combat Forms to get back over and over. The general increase in competence, difficulty, variety and numbers of the Flood in the mod makes fighting to the ziggurat's top harder and more perilous. The Rockets and FRGs scattered about give out much less ammo so they're only a brief surge of power. I spawn more difficult Flood types (added types include stealth, ODST, Zealot, and Chieftain Flood) in greater numbers. Of course, there are plenty of changes to make things more manageable in other ways, but damn, it's one uphill fight. You do feel more like you have to earn you territory. And the Warthog run is changed as well, with tougher Flood and Sentinels fighting on it. It really does feel like its own great end. In its own way. Of course, none of this would've been possible without the hard work of Bungie to make this amazing game in the first place and 343i and their helpers to port it to MCC and its PC port. It truly is an honor to see these games playable on my computer. And no only that, but moddable. To cross reference dev stories like yours and confirm them and also see the work in editable form. It's like I'm working with history here. :) The work all your guys did was great and I'm glad I can give back to Halo 3 for what it means to me and my life. :D Thank you very much. :) P.S.: I think there were a few oversights still with the Easter Egg vehicles like the Ghosts and Choppers... I think I addressed them (i.e.: they were destructible when the Hogs and the Mongoose on the level aren't... I fixed this of course. :) ). :p Not like I'm blaming you... you had a time limit and had to get the game out. :) But fixing developer bugs, glitches, etc. has been nice and amuses me. :) Have a nice one. :)
Honestly, I saw the fight with Guilty Spark as more of an interactive cutscene than a real boss fight. You get to personally put the monitor down and avenge Johnson, as opposed to a cutscene where Chief kills him. I think it really helps to drive things home when the player gets to do that themselves.
When my friend and I found out we could kill Johnson with the flamethrower and take his spartan laser, the man went hay wire when he got back up and obliterated us with the flamethrower, not even holding the weapon properly. Was such a funny and unexpected moment for us
My friend and I have spent an embarrassing amount of time stopping Johnson from getting to the control room by killing him over and over. One of the funniest things ever
As much as I love the ending of 4 and the implication that Chief takes steps toward regaining his humanity by showing his face and shedding his armor, having him go back into the cryo chamber here felt very much like an old western; the solitary hero riding off into the desert after saving the town, having no place in a peaceful world. It’s a beautiful bittersweet ending, even knowing what comes next.
The next logical step is a Halo set in the old West. Master Chief taking down aliens with his six shooter on a mission to save buxom barmaid Annie Cortana.
That’s exactly what Halo originally was A Sci Fi Sphagetti Western Now they want him to be Jesus I mean there was always a literary subtext, but it took itself less seriously as a video game Now Halo takes itself tooooo serious and somehow has less substance
I'm always so laser focused on escaping from the exploding ring that I don't get a chance to take in the amazing sky box. And seeing the stern side of the Forward unto Dawn drifting slowly toward Requiem makes me wish Bungie had just a little more time with the series to make Halo 4, but I digress.
I think no matter what a sequel to Halo 3 would be pointless and ruin Halo 3's bittersweet ending. But if a sequel was being made regardless and I had to choose though, I would've preferred one as a book written by Eric Nylund that also acted as a sequel to Ghosts of Onyx, with the Forerunner planet in the legendary ending being Onyx
H3 ending makes me kinda wish MC had stayed 'dead' for a bit longer. It really is just a good closing to the trilogy. In the time being we could finish the halo wars trilogy, an ODST one, and one for the Arbiter. At that point the post covenant war villains would have had more time to settle and maybe set the stage for MC's return better.
I think you're right - I think what came next needed to be really special and Halo 4 didn't have anywhere near enough time in the oven given how important it was to the future success of the franchise. I'm desperately hoping we'll get more spin off games moving forwards too, there are so many good stories which could be told in game form.
Something people always say that kinda bugs me is that guilty spark “betrays you” in both CE and 3. But that’s not the way I see it. To me it’s that he thinks your goals are aligned until you both end up realizing they aren’t. Like in CE he thinks masterchief’s goal is to activate the ring and that he knows what they do and the forerunners and the flood and all that. But he doesn’t and so learning it will “kill all life” he turns and has to stop guilty spark. Spark is clearly shocked by this but has to follow his protocols while chief has to stop him. I don’t think it was a willing betrayer and that he purposely lied to chief. And then again in 3, guilty spark realizes again that masterchief and Johnson intend to fire the ring now on purpose to destroy the flood and it instead of waiting for it to finish repairing and fire it normally. His old programming to protect the ring kicks back in and he has to protect HIS ring again. He didn’t plan behind their back to turn on chief, rather he discovered chief’s intentions and that he was wrong assuming they were going to activate it the normal way.
The ending is scary & bitter sweet: - Lost in uncharted space - humanity is rebuilding so they wouldn't prioritize searching for Master Chief. - believed to dead soo a wild goose chase. - Have to wait for unknown time for rescue.
I always liked the idea of Chief never being rescued and he stayed in that pod until eventually the power failed and he died in it, it would fit with the idea that he isn't really needed anymore and that his life in the post-war era would be aimless without having an enemy to fight
@@BenPlaysGames Eh maybe, I think if Halo just kept making spinoffs like ODST and Reach and never made a direct sequel to Halo 3 people would be okay with it. I can't stand the fans that say you can't have Halo without Master Chief when it's been proven like a dozen times that you absolutely can.
I love the interaction of R'tas and Arbiter during the epilogue. "I would like to see our own world. To know that it is safe." "Fear not. For we have made it so!" "By your word Arbiter" "Take us home." From Halo 2s "their lives matter to me, yours does not." To this is real well done.
The warthog run is awesome. I try to time the music with the cutscene. Most specifically, when arbiter hides from the tank the music peaks, then after when he opens the crates the music intensifies. (I really should’ve though out what I was going to say in this comment before writing it lol)
The warthog run is burned into my brain for life. Such an iconic ending. The music in the cutscene at the end as the chief goes into cryo is also one of my favourite halo tracks. Always gives me goosebumps. Also I just finished playing dying light and I’d love you to do some videos on that as I think it’s got some great gameplay and horror elements (the story is pretty meh tho)
Dying Light is one of those games I've been meaning to play properly for such a long time. Honestly, for the last two years, I've really struggled to find the time to play stuff at all, as the videos take up 20-30 hours a week on top of my full time job 🙈
This mission is very special to me and my younger brother. The first time he played this mission when we finally got to the end and celebrated. Later during the cutscene when chief almost fell out of the dawn my brother yelled "chief!" And he was almost certain he wouldnt live. Also can we just talk about how chief literally punches a hole into the dawn to grab onto to save him from that fall? Thats titanium plating
There's one easter egg i discovered in this level. When you're making your way to the control room, there's a scene where Gravemind talks to Master Chief. Normally, if you deploy the auto-turret, it renders you as a friend until you kill 343 Guilty Spark, but if you deploy the auto-turret during the scene with Gravemind, it renders you as an enemy.
I will never forget beating this level and the game with my best friend for the first time. Just going absolutely ballistic as all the panels started flying past us
Sparks: "You are forerunner, but this is my ring" Johnson: "Send me out, with a bang" Hood and arbiter: "hard to believe he's dead." "We're it so easy" Cheif: "wake me, when you need me" Some of the best lines in H3 all in one level
Can you do long night of solace next? I was playing co op with my dad and I had this moment where we were laughing our asses off because he crashed into anchor 9 when we had to dock and his body and loot were floating around in the cutscene. It was so damn funny seeing Jorge float to the pelican's slipspace bomb with the dead body flying around
I think it’s my least favourite level in halo that one. Literally impossible on legendary without hiding in your ship while the battle goes on without you.
This is THE best final mission in the series, and it’s in the best Halo game. Halo 3 isn’t perfect, but it’s probably the best Halo we will ever see. Cheers and this is another great video.
After what happened with the franchise after 3 I would have been happy if it was left a mystery whether or not the Chief died or survived! It really would have cemented the Halo franchise as truly legendary (of course its legendary anyway) but without the skidmarks that are 4, 5 & Infinite.
As much as we wanted more HALO after this, I would've been happy if the story ended here. Same with how Gears Of War 3 wrapped up it's story rather well on its third installment. Honestly, I think trilogies are the near perfect story arch length for games and movies and anything more just starts to fall apart, get dull, or lose it's identity after that. Edit: grammer
I always felt sort of a "Once and Future King" feel to the way the OG trilogy begins and ends, with Chief awaking, and then slipping back into a timeless sleep until we need him.
It's always funny to me to see the Bruteshot outside the context of Red vs Blue, because that's the Meta's gun. He menaced that show for season after season.
I think Master Chief's story should have ended with Halo 3. It was the perfect ending, with Humanity just about able to rebuild itself after nearly going extinct, the Sangheli going home, the covenant destroyed with peace restored to the galaxy and the Saviour of Humanity, Master Chief, lost to the void, to be remembered. Controversial opinion, but I think that Chief should have died in Halo 3. Or at least have him go to sleep forever. Waking him up in Halo 4 only kickstarted the mess that was the Reclaimer trilogy
Completely agree, it would've fit with the theme that Chief isn't needed anymore, and that if he was ever rescued his life would be aimless without having a war to fight.
Abandoning Johnson was an incredibly smart move gameplay wise, but it really harms the story, in my opinion. Chief knew of Johnson's inherent resistance to the Flood since the events of "Halo: CE", even being given the choice of whether to present this information to ONI, knowing they would likely "disappear" Johnson for use in Flood-related experiments, or to dispose of the evidence, saving Johnson's life. He obviously did the latter, which is why Johnson was with him right to the end. But Johnson still represents humanity's only lead on a potential cure for Flood infection, and he's the most brilliant and accomplished Marine the series has ever presented us I believe it would've been far more interesting (and more relevant to the current story in Halo Infinite) if Johnson had made it off the ring before succumbing to his wounds in ally-controlled space. His resistance to the Flood would be apparent, from him surviving the encounter on Installation 08, uninfected, to return home, and this could've lead to a cure (giving 343 a much more convincing and graceful way to write the Flood out of the story) Johnson's brain could've been used to create a new AI. I know a lot of g*mers would scream and cry "gay" if he were partnered with Chief, but a character based on Johnson would've ben infinitely more interesting and likable than Roland. I honestly don't give a rat's ass about Roland. But goddamn do I love me some Avery Johnson
@@ppodders again, he dies in Chief’s arms, how would be die later when Spark blew a hole in his chest? And how tf does his death “really harm the story”?
@@Slender_Man_186 I am not going to write a screenplay just so you can understand that the entire ending segment would have to be rewritten so that he could die at a time that is more appropriate for my example Also, I never said "his death really harms the story", I said ABANDONING his body harmed the story, because of the implications of his flood resistance and 343's unwillingness to risk an ESRB rating higher than "T" If this doesn't clear things up, I'd recommend a reading comprehension class
@@ppodders your example doesn’t even make any sense and completely cheapens the end of Halo 3. Also wtf do you mean “343’s unwillingness to risk an ESRB rating higher than ‘T’”? I mean yeah that’s accurate with Guardians and Infinite, but Halo 3 was made by Bungie and is rated M. His Flood Resistance was already explain twice btw, first in First Strike with Boron’s Syndrome, but then I believe Contact Harvest made it so “Boron’s Syndrome” was just a cover story for him being an Orion Candidate, effectively a Spartan 1.
In my fucking opinion, they should have left Master Chief after this. If anything, it proves they didnt understand the meaning of the last lined of dialogue between Cortana and Chief.
Ben, fantastic video. I cannot fault or disagree with any points made. You hit the nail on the head. I am ashamed to say that despite being a Bungie Halo fan forecer...I never acknowledged the full circle title card or half the references to older Halo games!
I think that the Guilty Spark fight isn't very entertaining, but I'm glad that the player gets the chance to kill him instead of him dying in a cutscene or whatever. And I'm not really sure how his fight could've been made interesting. I guess he could've sent some Sentinels after you, but it's not like they're super fun to fight either. It might be better to treat that whole bit of level as less of a 'boss fight' and more like an 'interactive cutscene'. It's not very fun, but it is cathartic to laser his face.
And yet people swear up and down it should've ended there. While everything else was well done and satisfying, I can't say I would feel okay with that stupid cliffhanger amounting to nothing.
They should've just not included the Legendary ending at all, honestly. Even if Halo 4 was made by Bungie and it was great, I really don't need to see more of a story that was already finished. Apparently Bungie also thought this, because instead of making a sequel they chose to make a spinoff and a prequel. The Legendary ending seemed more like a fallback option in case they were stuck with Microsoft
@@nagger8216 the legendary ending cliff hanger was included because Bungie knew Microsoft would continue Halo without them, almost immediately after Halo 3 came out was when Bungie announced that they wouldn’t be renewing their contract, and 343 Industries was also founded that same year.
@@JustinWilliams-ed2ug idk wether it was forced by Microsoft, but Bungie definitely added it because of Microsoft regardless of if they specifically forced it in.
The way this trilogy ended was perfect. Then having ODST and Reach as other tales that went on were good ways to fill in spots that weren’t covered in the main trilogy. These were all I needed cause it was a good and satisfying ending.
Future mainline games definitely could have done away with Master Chief for a while and continued the story in some other capacity. Then have him make a shock return a few games later.
I thought New Mombossa was the city in Halo 2? We see in ODST that the Covenant ship jumps to hyperspace "inside the city" which is why the pods get thrown off course. I thought Halo 3 was the town of Voi. Which always confused me cause technicaly Halo 3:ODST is Halo 2:ODST.
You're absolutely correct, it's Voi in 3. I'd been writing a script for Halo 2's Outskirts in tandem with this video and must have got them muddled up. My bad! Also, I agree re the naming - personally I think they should have just called it Halo: ODST.
If anyone at 343 had brains, they'd make a Sgt Johnson spinoff game from when he was a Spartan 1. They'd probably still ruin it, but it would sell itself
In case you didn't know, this story is in a comic called Halo: Uprising. I don't think Ben would cover it, as it is not a video game. However, the comic is cheap, and I'm sure you could find it online if you want to read up on those events!
In hindsight how the 343 halo games went, I kinda now wish halo 3 was the end of the master chief saga. He overcame the odds and won. He doesn’t get a glorious death, nor a hero’s welcome. He’s stuck in space, probably for the rest of his life. It’s something different than what we’d typically expect.
Such a great ending. Silly boss fight aside, this is probably my favorite Flood-centric level in the series. The blatant nostalgia appeals, the silly tricks that make it much easier on legendary (such as giving Arbiter the rockets and stealing Johnson’s infinite ammo Splazer), a thrilling Warthog escape across a Forerunner’s construction zone, and the absolutely captivating mystery that awaited me at that last terminal that had me hyped to see what happened next (though they never followed up on it, I still get the same chills reading Mendicant Bias’s last words as Marty’s most haunting score plays in the background.
One of my dream spin offs remains a game covering key parts of the Flood Forerunner war, there's so much potential there. On the other hand, I guess it would remove some of the mystique around the Flood is we saw them close to full power. Where do you take them from there...
@@BenPlaysGames I would take that over 343’s three separate attempts to give us a new enemy and say “Oh man, these guys make the Flood look like pushovers!”… literally in two cases. Granted, 343’s lore also turned the Flood from a zombie plague to a freakin 40K faction in terms of how overpowered and reality warping they get, and that might be hard to portray in a game.
@@devilmingy I really wanted The Flood in Infinite. Have them slowly take over areas of the map if you don't fight them off or something. But given how basic a lot of Infinite was, that would have been well beyond their capabilities.
i love putting your videos on in the background while i do homework, its nice atmosphere and ur voice is nice lmao you deserve more subscribers bro, you do such detailed and quality analyses on halo, hope you have a great day man
This level is short but sweet! Sad that Johnson dies. Killing 343 Guilty Spark is so damn satisfying though! And the Warthog run is phenomenal! Everything exploding all around you looks so cool!
Man I really love halo 3 but it has one main problem I grew to see everytime I replay it....and it is the story and that line : "to war 😂"....and somethings that were left unexplained and some little plot holes that are really bad...... Edit : my favourite out of the trilogy is Halo CE cause it was the perfect balance for me between the story and gameplay.
Interesting thing to note is if you deploy the auto-turrets before heading into the control room, once you exit they'll be completely against you. It's a little thing, and maybe something you should expect, but games rarely have that kind of attention to detail, and you'd assume that just because you deployed them they'll always be on your side.
9:17 I disagree as I have and friend dumped dozens if not hundred of hours into the warthog run because it's that rewarding to revisit as you are always discovering something.
Weird how you completely skipped over the major reveal at the end of the trilogy just before the Spark fight. “You are the child of my makers, inheritor of all they left behind. *You ARE Forerunner,* but this Ring is mine!”
I remember at release having issues with the floor falling out from under me and a check point where the warthog was on the edge of a jump and lost all momentum when reloaded so it was death. This time around, nothing fell from under me, but damn close as it would be the next time in front of me, still resulting in a few deaths, and the last check point was rough as it was the one time I didn't stick a jump and the warthog was upside down, so every reload started with having to flip it and get back in. Thankfully only a few attempts to fix it, though taking too long, the gravity combined with the enemies pushing the hog around made for a rough ride. Did feel weird to noticeably not make the final jump, but be saved by the cutscene. Not sure how many others had that happen. On one hand its nice that something is forgiving, but at the same time, having played through the series on Legendary now, I want to feel like I earned it. I think I still might prefer the Maw. I'd have to play them side by side I think.
This is hands down my favorite mission in all of Halo and one of in all of gaming, and I think it should be in the conversation for the best of Halo alongside the Covenant and Silent Cartographer. Not only is it's story, themes, and narrative beats are all perfect and such, an entire video can be made based off of all that, but it's gameplay perfectly reflects it as well in my opinion.
I thought this video would help explain this, but I still don't understand to this day. Why is the plan to fire the unfinished ring right after we just united with the Flood to stop the original ring from firing? Wouldn't it be a gigantic risk to take not knowing what the effect would be right after we just risked everything to stop a ring from firing? And if it's so all of the Flood are destroyed in a self-destruct, why was it assumed that the Gravemind would transport all of the Flood to the same location when he had High Charity and only sent one ship to Earth earlier? I love Halo 3 and it's my favorite game of all time, but this has always confused the Hell out of me.
@@JustinWilliams-ed2ug Thank you! I totally blanked out about the whole array having to fire to wipe out the galaxy instead of just one ring. I agree that the post-Bungie games are all pretty bad. I do like the Halo Wars games, though and Infinite was surprisingly good even though it can't recover the state of the series by itself after 4 and 5 took it in such a weird direction.
Another awesome level review. I do have one question though. Which I'd be keen to know your thoughts on.... Should the warthog run have had a timer, like on The Maw? I guess the collapsing environment acted as a timer of sorts. If you stayed still you'd have died eventually. And canonically speaking Cortana wouldn't have been able to give a to-the-second countdown, like she could with a UNSC vessel she was intimately familiar with. But I think the timer on The Maw added a tension that wasn't in Halo's ending.... Actually that begs another question... If Halo DID have a timer, should it have been checkpointed? Whenever I've played The Maw there are no checkpoints from start to finish - maybe Halo's warthog run would have been more frustrating to restart? Actually that begs a THIRD question (I did not intend this comment to get this long, honestly :p). What is the time difference between the warthog run on The Maw and Halo? Halo feels longer but I'd need to time it... Anyways, would love to hear your (or anyones!) thoughts :)
I don't know how to explain this but as Halo 2 and 3 came, the UNSC got more and more dumber for the sake of it. Halo CE felt like the UNSC operated to a proper military. An example of this in Halo 3, why did the humans on the Ark suddenly abandon Forward Unto Dawn and how was Johnson able to crew him by himself? I know it's stupid to complain about it but that was just something I never could let go. Things like Captain Keyes going completely dumb by trying to operate in a Pelican, she's a ship captain. Or trying to save Johnson, I get you want to rescue him but with the Covenant about to fire the rings, killing him may be the only chance you had and one man arming it was just....stupid.
The soundtrack piece "greatest journey" that plays during Johnson's death is absolutely beautiful and fits so well in this scene. And was the only part of a videogame that made me cry
Just finished replaying this level on Legendary last Friday night with some loved ones, great timing and wonderful video as always, Ben. I almost completed the Warthog run in a single first try!
An amazing ending to an amazing trilogy of an amazing era of gaming. (dw, im counting odst and reach but this is the end of the trilogy.) Rest In Peace Bungie.
I’ve always been annoyed you can’t keep any of your weapons once you confront me Guilty Spark. The weapons respawn and you get just a stock AR and pistol.
you don't even get a pistol, you just get an AR. But at least you can leave your preferred weapons in the hold-out area in front of the door to retrieve them after you come back out
What exactly did we do in this level again? When i played I thought we activated the Halo, killing the flood or something, but that doesn't make sense on second thought because the Halo kills its food. So what did we do? And if the Flood was killed, how would they return?
@@standman-ft7zo no, Wars 2 straight up retconned the end of 3, first the base game states that the Ark always keeps a nearly completed ring at it’s center at all times, then the Flood DLC retcons High Charity being blown up and the ring being fired to wipe out the flood.
It took me a while for the Halo 3 hog run to grow on me. Visually it was like someone's cobbled together forge map (even though I'm not a fan of 343's overuse of hex pillars, I think I'd prefer them in this unfinished ring context). Jumps were especially a headache, with a tendency to nosedive and continuously roll on the steepest ones, right into a newly opened pit. Plus 3's flippy hog physics also meant everything could flip it (sentinel beams mid air, infection forms, the range form spikes). Knowing where to go on a a first run was a bummer too during 9:37, since it looked like a dead end. What saved it for me was the general tone and final cutscene, plus finally having a gunner - a badass one at that
I've always been able to breeze through Halo's run with no issues, which is unusual as I'm not exactly a gaming God, but then as I was gathering some extra footage for this video, I suddenly managed to die three times in quick succession. Made me more empathetic to the plight of others.
I'm sorry what exactly looks so bad about those CEA corridors? That's like the least egregious thing about the remaster. And does every Halo youtube video have to have some part complaining about a 343 game? Half the time it barely even relates to the video. I'm so tired of hearing it. This video has practically nothing to even do with CEA aside from a similar location.
CEA’s art style looks awful, Forerunner structures especially, they aren’t as bad as Halo 4/5’s over use of chrome and lens flair lights, but they still completely kill the mood and tone of multiple levels.
@@BenPlaysGames I really enjoyed this one! Thanks very much for covering it - this was my favorite level in Halo 3, partially because of the nostalgia.
I was the designer for this level. Some bits:
The last drive around area before the jump is the silent cartographer. We took the geo from Halo 1.
The entire trench run was completely deleted and rebuilt from the ground up late in development because the first one wasn’t fun and this one felt more ‘fluid’ in terms of giving players choice in feeling how to drive.
I placed and scripted every single tile to either blow up or fall away from a timer.
We definitely ran out of time on this map with art so adding more content was out of the question.
We had a blast iterating on the trench run but also balanced it with frame rate with the explosions. I had to cut half the explosions out to remain solid frame rate. Adding other vehicles as Easter eggs was really fun and a balance to keep it all in memory. The ghost broke a bunch of scripts originally. I wish I could have added more.
Great hearing from you! Your work on Coastal Highway was also amazing! Your work is iconic!
This is fantastic info, Dan. Thanks for sharing. I played Halo 3 as a late teenager - now I'm about to wrap up Halo 3 with my 11-year-old daughter. I'll be sure to look for the Silent Cartographer geometry.
Nice to hear stories straight from the developers. :) Since MCC has official mod tools, I've been using the modding tools to mod Halo 3 and ODST. My ODST mod is complete (but still updated) but my Halo 3 mod is still indev. To be brought to the topic of this level, I've taken my own approach to how I have it structured and such. Gone are you Rocket Laucher and Fuel Rod Gun starts. You start with less ammo for your starting guns and have to scrounge the Pelican for more ammo. The Flood drop pods spawn two Infection Forms apiece, allowing downed Combat Forms to get back over and over. The general increase in competence, difficulty, variety and numbers of the Flood in the mod makes fighting to the ziggurat's top harder and more perilous. The Rockets and FRGs scattered about give out much less ammo so they're only a brief surge of power. I spawn more difficult Flood types (added types include stealth, ODST, Zealot, and Chieftain Flood) in greater numbers. Of course, there are plenty of changes to make things more manageable in other ways, but damn, it's one uphill fight. You do feel more like you have to earn you territory. And the Warthog run is changed as well, with tougher Flood and Sentinels fighting on it. It really does feel like its own great end. In its own way.
Of course, none of this would've been possible without the hard work of Bungie to make this amazing game in the first place and 343i and their helpers to port it to MCC and its PC port. It truly is an honor to see these games playable on my computer. And no only that, but moddable. To cross reference dev stories like yours and confirm them and also see the work in editable form. It's like I'm working with history here. :) The work all your guys did was great and I'm glad I can give back to Halo 3 for what it means to me and my life. :D Thank you very much. :)
P.S.: I think there were a few oversights still with the Easter Egg vehicles like the Ghosts and Choppers... I think I addressed them (i.e.: they were destructible when the Hogs and the Mongoose on the level aren't... I fixed this of course. :) ). :p Not like I'm blaming you... you had a time limit and had to get the game out. :) But fixing developer bugs, glitches, etc. has been nice and amuses me. :)
Have a nice one. :)
The Trench Run is one of my most favorite moments in gaming, and to hear that it was actually not fully complete is a surprise to me.
Thanks for dropping in Dan, really appreciate the insights. What was the original plan for the run before it was reworked?
Honestly, I saw the fight with Guilty Spark as more of an interactive cutscene than a real boss fight. You get to personally put the monitor down and avenge Johnson, as opposed to a cutscene where Chief kills him. I think it really helps to drive things home when the player gets to do that themselves.
Good point. I think people would have complained that Chief destroyed 343 guilty spark in a cutscene.
When my friend and I found out we could kill Johnson with the flamethrower and take his spartan laser, the man went hay wire when he got back up and obliterated us with the flamethrower, not even holding the weapon properly. Was such a funny and unexpected moment for us
Oh he knows what the turncoats like.
"Betrayal"
My friend and I have spent an embarrassing amount of time stopping Johnson from getting to the control room by killing him over and over. One of the funniest things ever
Poor bastard. The curse of immortality, I suppose...
As much as I love the ending of 4 and the implication that Chief takes steps toward regaining his humanity by showing his face and shedding his armor, having him go back into the cryo chamber here felt very much like an old western; the solitary hero riding off into the desert after saving the town, having no place in a peaceful world. It’s a beautiful bittersweet ending, even knowing what comes next.
The next logical step is a Halo set in the old West. Master Chief taking down aliens with his six shooter on a mission to save buxom barmaid Annie Cortana.
Very similar to the what they did with The Doomslayer at the end of The Ancient Gods...The whole "until we need him" trope played very well.
@@takoshihitsamaru4675 Yep, worked perfectly!
That’s exactly what Halo originally was
A Sci Fi Sphagetti Western
Now they want him to be Jesus
I mean there was always a literary subtext, but it took itself less seriously as a video game
Now Halo takes itself tooooo serious and somehow has less substance
one issue i wish that was brought up was the oddly three ton warthog wheel proof infection forms that would always manage to flip you at odd angles
Yes! They're like fleshy landmines.
Just replayed the level yesterday, yeah it can be pretty annoying
I'm always so laser focused on escaping from the exploding ring that I don't get a chance to take in the amazing sky box. And seeing the stern side of the Forward unto Dawn drifting slowly toward Requiem makes me wish Bungie had just a little more time with the series to make Halo 4, but I digress.
I think no matter what a sequel to Halo 3 would be pointless and ruin Halo 3's bittersweet ending. But if a sequel was being made regardless and I had to choose though, I would've preferred one as a book written by Eric Nylund that also acted as a sequel to Ghosts of Onyx, with the Forerunner planet in the legendary ending being Onyx
H3 ending makes me kinda wish MC had stayed 'dead' for a bit longer. It really is just a good closing to the trilogy. In the time being we could finish the halo wars trilogy, an ODST one, and one for the Arbiter. At that point the post covenant war villains would have had more time to settle and maybe set the stage for MC's return better.
I think you're right - I think what came next needed to be really special and Halo 4 didn't have anywhere near enough time in the oven given how important it was to the future success of the franchise. I'm desperately hoping we'll get more spin off games moving forwards too, there are so many good stories which could be told in game form.
Something people always say that kinda bugs me is that guilty spark “betrays you” in both CE and 3. But that’s not the way I see it. To me it’s that he thinks your goals are aligned until you both end up realizing they aren’t. Like in CE he thinks masterchief’s goal is to activate the ring and that he knows what they do and the forerunners and the flood and all that. But he doesn’t and so learning it will “kill all life” he turns and has to stop guilty spark. Spark is clearly shocked by this but has to follow his protocols while chief has to stop him. I don’t think it was a willing betrayer and that he purposely lied to chief. And then again in 3, guilty spark realizes again that masterchief and Johnson intend to fire the ring now on purpose to destroy the flood and it instead of waiting for it to finish repairing and fire it normally. His old programming to protect the ring kicks back in and he has to protect HIS ring again. He didn’t plan behind their back to turn on chief, rather he discovered chief’s intentions and that he was wrong assuming they were going to activate it the normal way.
The ending is scary & bitter sweet:
- Lost in uncharted space
- humanity is rebuilding so they wouldn't prioritize searching for Master Chief.
- believed to dead soo a wild goose chase.
- Have to wait for unknown time for rescue.
Resurrect the Spartan II programme and try to create another Chief. The kids probably won't miss their families much hopefully.
I always liked the idea of Chief never being rescued and he stayed in that pod until eventually the power failed and he died in it, it would fit with the idea that he isn't really needed anymore and that his life in the post-war era would be aimless without having an enemy to fight
@@nagger8216 The fans would go mental if that happened haha.
@@BenPlaysGames Eh maybe, I think if Halo just kept making spinoffs like ODST and Reach and never made a direct sequel to Halo 3 people would be okay with it. I can't stand the fans that say you can't have Halo without Master Chief when it's been proven like a dozen times that you absolutely can.
@Nagger more so, with "modern" halo games. Sometimes I wish your ending was canon.
I love the interaction of R'tas and Arbiter during the epilogue. "I would like to see our own world. To know that it is safe." "Fear not. For we have made it so!" "By your word Arbiter" "Take us home." From Halo 2s "their lives matter to me, yours does not." To this is real well done.
The warthog run is awesome. I try to time the music with the cutscene. Most specifically, when arbiter hides from the tank the music peaks, then after when he opens the crates the music intensifies. (I really should’ve though out what I was going to say in this comment before writing it lol)
Nice - music during that sequence is awesome too.
The warthog run is burned into my brain for life. Such an iconic ending. The music in the cutscene at the end as the chief goes into cryo is also one of my favourite halo tracks. Always gives me goosebumps. Also I just finished playing dying light and I’d love you to do some videos on that as I think it’s got some great gameplay and horror elements (the story is pretty meh tho)
Dying Light is one of those games I've been meaning to play properly for such a long time. Honestly, for the last two years, I've really struggled to find the time to play stuff at all, as the videos take up 20-30 hours a week on top of my full time job 🙈
I still say "Were it so easy..." in general conversation to this day
The worst part about halo3 is that halo 4 follows it
Haha at least we got ODST and Reach in between!
This mission is very special to me and my younger brother. The first time he played this mission when we finally got to the end and celebrated. Later during the cutscene when chief almost fell out of the dawn my brother yelled "chief!" And he was almost certain he wouldnt live. Also can we just talk about how chief literally punches a hole into the dawn to grab onto to save him from that fall? Thats titanium plating
There's one easter egg i discovered in this level. When you're making your way to the control room, there's a scene where Gravemind talks to Master Chief. Normally, if you deploy the auto-turret, it renders you as a friend until you kill 343 Guilty Spark, but if you deploy the auto-turret during the scene with Gravemind, it renders you as an enemy.
What can I say? It was a hell of a trilogy.
It and the Resident Evil trilogy on the PlayStation are my two absolute favourites. Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid follow close behind too.
@@BenPlaysGames It’s nice to hear folks share games they enjoy. For something recent, I strongly recommend HiFi Rush.
I will never forget beating this level and the game with my best friend for the first time. Just going absolutely ballistic as all the panels started flying past us
The Warthog runs are always most fun in coop for sure, I had a similar experience with one of my mates.
Sparks: "You are forerunner, but this is my ring"
Johnson: "Send me out, with a bang"
Hood and arbiter: "hard to believe he's dead." "We're it so easy"
Cheif: "wake me, when you need me"
Some of the best lines in H3 all in one level
Weird how everyone including 343 Industries chooses to ignore that first line.
Can you do long night of solace next? I was playing co op with my dad and I had this moment where we were laughing our asses off because he crashed into anchor 9 when we had to dock and his body and loot were floating around in the cutscene. It was so damn funny seeing Jorge float to the pelican's slipspace bomb with the dead body flying around
I think it’s my least favourite level in halo that one. Literally impossible on legendary without hiding in your ship while the battle goes on without you.
This is THE best final mission in the series, and it’s in the best Halo game. Halo 3 isn’t perfect, but it’s probably the best Halo we will ever see. Cheers and this is another great video.
Xbox 360 and Halo 3 with early Family Guy is the best
After what happened with the franchise after 3 I would have been happy if it was left a mystery whether or not the Chief died or survived!
It really would have cemented the Halo franchise as truly legendary (of course its legendary anyway) but without the skidmarks that are 4, 5 & Infinite.
Great summery and great point honestly it is one of the best endings to a trilogy of all time.
Thanks as always mate, and agree!
@@JustinWilliams-ed2ug I remember going to the midnight launch then getting home and logging on to over a million people playing at once. Good times.
As much as we wanted more HALO after this, I would've been happy if the story ended here. Same with how Gears Of War 3 wrapped up it's story rather well on its third installment. Honestly, I think trilogies are the near perfect story arch length for games and movies and anything more just starts to fall apart, get dull, or lose it's identity after that.
Edit: grammer
I always felt sort of a "Once and Future King" feel to the way the OG trilogy begins and ends, with Chief awaking, and then slipping back into a timeless sleep until we need him.
It's always funny to me to see the Bruteshot outside the context of Red vs Blue, because that's the Meta's gun. He menaced that show for season after season.
I think Master Chief's story should have ended with Halo 3. It was the perfect ending, with Humanity just about able to rebuild itself after nearly going extinct, the Sangheli going home, the covenant destroyed with peace restored to the galaxy and the Saviour of Humanity, Master Chief, lost to the void, to be remembered.
Controversial opinion, but I think that Chief should have died in Halo 3. Or at least have him go to sleep forever. Waking him up in Halo 4 only kickstarted the mess that was the Reclaimer trilogy
Completely agree, it would've fit with the theme that Chief isn't needed anymore, and that if he was ever rescued his life would be aimless without having a war to fight.
@@JustinWilliams-ed2ug I agree
It thematically fits too, Chief’s story begins with him coming out of Cryo, and ends with him going back into Cryo.
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I think I pronounced 'Tsavo' correctly this time.
Abandoning Johnson was an incredibly smart move gameplay wise, but it really harms the story, in my opinion. Chief knew of Johnson's inherent resistance to the Flood since the events of "Halo: CE", even being given the choice of whether to present this information to ONI, knowing they would likely "disappear" Johnson for use in Flood-related experiments, or to dispose of the evidence, saving Johnson's life. He obviously did the latter, which is why Johnson was with him right to the end. But Johnson still represents humanity's only lead on a potential cure for Flood infection, and he's the most brilliant and accomplished Marine the series has ever presented us
I believe it would've been far more interesting (and more relevant to the current story in Halo Infinite) if Johnson had made it off the ring before succumbing to his wounds in ally-controlled space. His resistance to the Flood would be apparent, from him surviving the encounter on Installation 08, uninfected, to return home, and this could've lead to a cure (giving 343 a much more convincing and graceful way to write the Flood out of the story)
Johnson's brain could've been used to create a new AI. I know a lot of g*mers would scream and cry "gay" if he were partnered with Chief, but a character based on Johnson would've ben infinitely more interesting and likable than Roland. I honestly don't give a rat's ass about Roland. But goddamn do I love me some Avery Johnson
Johnson literally dies in Chief’s arms, wtf are you talking about?
I literally explained how they should've written his death to take place later, under circumstances that would've made this scenario viable??
@@ppodders again, he dies in Chief’s arms, how would be die later when Spark blew a hole in his chest? And how tf does his death “really harm the story”?
@@Slender_Man_186 I am not going to write a screenplay just so you can understand that the entire ending segment would have to be rewritten so that he could die at a time that is more appropriate for my example
Also, I never said "his death really harms the story", I said ABANDONING his body harmed the story, because of the implications of his flood resistance and 343's unwillingness to risk an ESRB rating higher than "T"
If this doesn't clear things up, I'd recommend a reading comprehension class
@@ppodders your example doesn’t even make any sense and completely cheapens the end of Halo 3. Also wtf do you mean “343’s unwillingness to risk an ESRB rating higher than ‘T’”? I mean yeah that’s accurate with Guardians and Infinite, but Halo 3 was made by Bungie and is rated M. His Flood Resistance was already explain twice btw, first in First Strike with Boron’s Syndrome, but then I believe Contact Harvest made it so “Boron’s Syndrome” was just a cover story for him being an Orion Candidate, effectively a Spartan 1.
Halo was as good as we remember.
Did... did that grunt say he had Tartus' hammer?
It’s a shame that the MCC. Doesn’t choose to revamp the graphics of Halo 3 or add more terminals to give more context. Unlike, Halo: CE or 2.
I've never seen that grunt with the Costanza "jerk store" line lol. And christ, I can't believe the height of Halo was 16-19 years ago at this point.
In my fucking opinion, they should have left Master Chief after this. If anything, it proves they didnt understand the meaning of the last lined of dialogue between Cortana and Chief.
Ben, fantastic video.
I cannot fault or disagree with any points made. You hit the nail on the head.
I am ashamed to say that despite being a Bungie Halo fan forecer...I never acknowledged the full circle title card or half the references to older Halo games!
I think that the Guilty Spark fight isn't very entertaining, but I'm glad that the player gets the chance to kill him instead of him dying in a cutscene or whatever. And I'm not really sure how his fight could've been made interesting. I guess he could've sent some Sentinels after you, but it's not like they're super fun to fight either. It might be better to treat that whole bit of level as less of a 'boss fight' and more like an 'interactive cutscene'. It's not very fun, but it is cathartic to laser his face.
crazy theory: bungie wanted everything to be FULL circle with their games, what if thats actually the traveler and not requiem?
I'd take that crossover. Never really got into Destiny but a splash of Halo would definitely make me revisit it.
@@BenPlaysGames I like the idea that since you can find him in destiny sleeping he ends up becoming marathons hero
@@acey6991 Master chief is the UESG Marathon SEC Officer
And yet people swear up and down it should've ended there. While everything else was well done and satisfying, I can't say I would feel okay with that stupid cliffhanger amounting to nothing.
They should've just not included the Legendary ending at all, honestly. Even if Halo 4 was made by Bungie and it was great, I really don't need to see more of a story that was already finished. Apparently Bungie also thought this, because instead of making a sequel they chose to make a spinoff and a prequel. The Legendary ending seemed more like a fallback option in case they were stuck with Microsoft
@@nagger8216 the legendary ending cliff hanger was included because Bungie knew Microsoft would continue Halo without them, almost immediately after Halo 3 came out was when Bungie announced that they wouldn’t be renewing their contract, and 343 Industries was also founded that same year.
@@JustinWilliams-ed2ug idk wether it was forced by Microsoft, but Bungie definitely added it because of Microsoft regardless of if they specifically forced it in.
@@JustinWilliams-ed2ug lmao check for yourself, 343i was found July 2007, both Wikipedia and Halopedia back this up.
I was about to go to sleep for school tomorrow but I can fit this in before I go :D
Ha thanks for checking it out early doors Patrick!
there's always time for Halo 3
I like to think this was the second betrayal that finally occurs. Almost like a prophecy.
The way this trilogy ended was perfect. Then having ODST and Reach as other tales that went on were good ways to fill in spots that weren’t covered in the main trilogy. These were all I needed cause it was a good and satisfying ending.
Future mainline games definitely could have done away with Master Chief for a while and continued the story in some other capacity. Then have him make a shock return a few games later.
@@BenPlaysGames Halo 5 was a good attempt, Fireteam Osiris did nothing wrong
Another day! Another banger by Ben! Cheers mate from across the pond!
Cheers mate, appreciate the support!
You know,
Despite claiming to be a huge lore fan of Halo, I never knew the name of the flood ship that crashed in Floodgate, so, kudos!
Well that's a nice change, usually it's other people telling me about stuff I didn't know about 😂
Great video! Still remember the Warthog run and last cutscene, so good. Thanks for the content.
I thought New Mombossa was the city in Halo 2? We see in ODST that the Covenant ship jumps to hyperspace "inside the city" which is why the pods get thrown off course. I thought Halo 3 was the town of Voi. Which always confused me cause technicaly Halo 3:ODST is Halo 2:ODST.
You're absolutely correct, it's Voi in 3. I'd been writing a script for Halo 2's Outskirts in tandem with this video and must have got them muddled up. My bad! Also, I agree re the naming - personally I think they should have just called it Halo: ODST.
If anyone at 343 had brains, they'd make a Sgt Johnson spinoff game from when he was a Spartan 1. They'd probably still ruin it, but it would sell itself
Just read Contact Harvest
Can you make a detailed video explaining what happened in between 2 and 3? What exactly happened on Truth’s ship that led to Chief falling from orbit?
In case you didn't know, this story is in a comic called Halo: Uprising. I don't think Ben would cover it, as it is not a video game. However, the comic is cheap, and I'm sure you could find it online if you want to read up on those events!
a small detail some people miss, Arbiter's first and last spoken lines in Halo 3 were the same. "Were it so easy."
No, it was " take us home "
@@IwinMahWay ok you got me there
He, no one seems to mention why exactly they like 'that' shot
I couldn't tell you either to be fair, it's just super pretty. Ben like shiny thing, essentially.
If they made splattering the flood better during the final warthog run it would make the run so much better
In hindsight how the 343 halo games went, I kinda now wish halo 3 was the end of the master chief saga. He overcame the odds and won. He doesn’t get a glorious death, nor a hero’s welcome. He’s stuck in space, probably for the rest of his life. It’s something different than what we’d typically expect.
Or at least wait a while longer before his return, so that it's a massive deal when he does finally reemerge.
ending it w the cryo tube feels like a storybook
Such a great ending. Silly boss fight aside, this is probably my favorite Flood-centric level in the series. The blatant nostalgia appeals, the silly tricks that make it much easier on legendary (such as giving Arbiter the rockets and stealing Johnson’s infinite ammo Splazer), a thrilling Warthog escape across a Forerunner’s construction zone, and the absolutely captivating mystery that awaited me at that last terminal that had me hyped to see what happened next (though they never followed up on it, I still get the same chills reading Mendicant Bias’s last words as Marty’s most haunting score plays in the background.
One of my dream spin offs remains a game covering key parts of the Flood Forerunner war, there's so much potential there. On the other hand, I guess it would remove some of the mystique around the Flood is we saw them close to full power. Where do you take them from there...
@@BenPlaysGames I would take that over 343’s three separate attempts to give us a new enemy and say “Oh man, these guys make the Flood look like pushovers!”… literally in two cases.
Granted, 343’s lore also turned the Flood from a zombie plague to a freakin 40K faction in terms of how overpowered and reality warping they get, and that might be hard to portray in a game.
@@devilmingy I really wanted The Flood in Infinite. Have them slowly take over areas of the map if you don't fight them off or something. But given how basic a lot of Infinite was, that would have been well beyond their capabilities.
i love putting your videos on in the background while i do homework, its nice atmosphere and ur voice is nice lmao
you deserve more subscribers bro, you do such detailed and quality analyses on halo, hope you have a great day man
I do that a lot with videos myself (mainly to help me sleep), so awesome to hear someone's doing the same-ish with mine - cheers dude!
This level is short but sweet! Sad that Johnson dies. Killing 343 Guilty Spark is so damn satisfying though!
And the Warthog run is phenomenal! Everything exploding all around you looks so cool!
Man I really love halo 3 but it has one main problem I grew to see everytime I replay it....and it is the story and that line : "to war 😂"....and somethings that were left unexplained and some little plot holes that are really bad......
Edit : my favourite out of the trilogy is Halo CE cause it was the perfect balance for me between the story and gameplay.
Hot take flood should never return
Interesting thing to note is if you deploy the auto-turrets before heading into the control room, once you exit they'll be completely against you. It's a little thing, and maybe something you should expect, but games rarely have that kind of attention to detail, and you'd assume that just because you deployed them they'll always be on your side.
yeah that happened to me once
This level is goated. Really feel like the end of an era at the time.
“We’ll head for the portal.. and we’ll all go home.”
Gives me goosebumps every single time.
9:17 I disagree as I have and friend dumped dozens if not hundred of hours into the warthog run because it's that rewarding to revisit as you are always discovering something.
Oh it's definitely still great fun, but I'd say the skill required to ace it isn't as great as The Maw's own version.
@@BenPlaysGames Ah ok and I do agree on the point of the maw's warthog run being harder and more rewarding to get right.
7:50 where would flood get vehicles? The only forces on the ring are chief, arbiter and Johnson with their 1 warthog
Hmm, get ready for school tomorrow, or watch this video.......
I've made my choice
Second option I hope haha.
@@BenPlaysGames after roughly 6 seconds of deliberation, I chose the second option
Weird how you completely skipped over the major reveal at the end of the trilogy just before the Spark fight. “You are the child of my makers, inheritor of all they left behind. *You ARE Forerunner,* but this Ring is mine!”
End of a era
True that.
I remember at release having issues with the floor falling out from under me and a check point where the warthog was on the edge of a jump and lost all momentum when reloaded so it was death. This time around, nothing fell from under me, but damn close as it would be the next time in front of me, still resulting in a few deaths, and the last check point was rough as it was the one time I didn't stick a jump and the warthog was upside down, so every reload started with having to flip it and get back in. Thankfully only a few attempts to fix it, though taking too long, the gravity combined with the enemies pushing the hog around made for a rough ride. Did feel weird to noticeably not make the final jump, but be saved by the cutscene. Not sure how many others had that happen. On one hand its nice that something is forgiving, but at the same time, having played through the series on Legendary now, I want to feel like I earned it.
I think I still might prefer the Maw. I'd have to play them side by side I think.
This is hands down my favorite mission in all of Halo and one of in all of gaming, and I think it should be in the conversation for the best of Halo alongside the Covenant and Silent Cartographer. Not only is it's story, themes, and narrative beats are all perfect and such, an entire video can be made based off of all that, but it's gameplay perfectly reflects it as well in my opinion.
How did I not know there was a Seinfeld reference in bloody Halo until today?!
There's something so comforting about hearing Chief say "We'll head for the portal and we'll all go home."
I'm glad you learned how to pronounce Tsavo Highway since the last video! Lol
The only downside is that I do think the level was too short, much like Halo 3s campaign itself.
Isnt it funny that 343 betrays the player and the studio of the same name also betrays the player
Hey Ben, I appreciate what you do.
Cheers CJ - appreciate the support too mate.
Who could have known he was evil the whole time
-Sgt Dude
I thought this video would help explain this, but I still don't understand to this day. Why is the plan to fire the unfinished ring right after we just united with the Flood to stop the original ring from firing? Wouldn't it be a gigantic risk to take not knowing what the effect would be right after we just risked everything to stop a ring from firing? And if it's so all of the Flood are destroyed in a self-destruct, why was it assumed that the Gravemind would transport all of the Flood to the same location when he had High Charity and only sent one ship to Earth earlier? I love Halo 3 and it's my favorite game of all time, but this has always confused the Hell out of me.
@@JustinWilliams-ed2ug Thank you! I totally blanked out about the whole array having to fire to wipe out the galaxy instead of just one ring. I agree that the post-Bungie games are all pretty bad. I do like the Halo Wars games, though and Infinite was surprisingly good even though it can't recover the state of the series by itself after 4 and 5 took it in such a weird direction.
ive have always wished halo 3 was longer.
Another awesome level review.
I do have one question though. Which I'd be keen to know your thoughts on....
Should the warthog run have had a timer, like on The Maw?
I guess the collapsing environment acted as a timer of sorts. If you stayed still you'd have died eventually. And canonically speaking Cortana wouldn't have been able to give a to-the-second countdown, like she could with a UNSC vessel she was intimately familiar with. But I think the timer on The Maw added a tension that wasn't in Halo's ending....
Actually that begs another question... If Halo DID have a timer, should it have been checkpointed? Whenever I've played The Maw there are no checkpoints from start to finish - maybe Halo's warthog run would have been more frustrating to restart?
Actually that begs a THIRD question (I did not intend this comment to get this long, honestly :p). What is the time difference between the warthog run on The Maw and Halo? Halo feels longer but I'd need to time it... Anyways, would love to hear your (or anyones!) thoughts :)
I don't know how to explain this but as Halo 2 and 3 came, the UNSC got more and more dumber for the sake of it. Halo CE felt like the UNSC operated to a proper military. An example of this in Halo 3, why did the humans on the Ark suddenly abandon Forward Unto Dawn and how was Johnson able to crew him by himself? I know it's stupid to complain about it but that was just something I never could let go. Things like Captain Keyes going completely dumb by trying to operate in a Pelican, she's a ship captain. Or trying to save Johnson, I get you want to rescue him but with the Covenant about to fire the rings, killing him may be the only chance you had and one man arming it was just....stupid.
I've never known where to find the ghosts to run through and get the achievement
I didn't realise there were ghosts until I read this comment and Googled it!
The soundtrack piece "greatest journey" that plays during Johnson's death is absolutely beautiful and fits so well in this scene. And was the only part of a videogame that made me cry
Just finished replaying this level on Legendary last Friday night with some loved ones, great timing and wonderful video as always, Ben. I almost completed the Warthog run in a single first try!
Your voice around 1:33 sounds a lot like one of the kids in Little Kuribro’s Yugioh Abridged
I'm not familiar but going to take this as a compliment.
An amazing ending to an amazing trilogy of an amazing era of gaming. (dw, im counting odst and reach but this is the end of the trilogy.)
Rest In Peace Bungie.
I’ve always been annoyed you can’t keep any of your weapons once you confront me Guilty Spark. The weapons respawn and you get just a stock AR and pistol.
you don't even get a pistol, you just get an AR. But at least you can leave your preferred weapons in the hold-out area in front of the door to retrieve them after you come back out
Yeh that's annoying, weapon consistency is important, especially in a game like Halo.
"Were it so easy." gets me every time
I like how his summary up to this point is the entire game. Lol. I mean true, this is the last level, but you can’t leave any details out.
Love how you spell out the connections across games. Some of these I was concious of, but not all of them!
one more for the algorithm
XD just finished halo 3 around 20 hours ago xD great timing
@@Benplaysgames. Ill switch the price for an ol' dick sucking bro
Man, I remember seeing the legendary ending back in the day and being so excited to see what came next. Sigh…
What exactly did we do in this level again? When i played I thought we activated the Halo, killing the flood or something, but that doesn't make sense on second thought because the Halo kills its food. So what did we do? And if the Flood was killed, how would they return?
The Halo was so old, so it malfunctioned and blew up a lot of the Ark. I believe it stranded the Flood until HW2.
@@standman-ft7zo no, Wars 2 straight up retconned the end of 3, first the base game states that the Ark always keeps a nearly completed ring at it’s center at all times, then the Flood DLC retcons High Charity being blown up and the ring being fired to wipe out the flood.
Videos so high quality it feels like i should be paying for it, nice job as always.
Legend
It took me a while for the Halo 3 hog run to grow on me. Visually it was like someone's cobbled together forge map (even though I'm not a fan of 343's overuse of hex pillars, I think I'd prefer them in this unfinished ring context).
Jumps were especially a headache, with a tendency to nosedive and continuously roll on the steepest ones, right into a newly opened pit. Plus 3's flippy hog physics also meant everything could flip it (sentinel beams mid air, infection forms, the range form spikes).
Knowing where to go on a a first run was a bummer too during 9:37, since it looked like a dead end.
What saved it for me was the general tone and final cutscene, plus finally having a gunner - a badass one at that
I've always been able to breeze through Halo's run with no issues, which is unusual as I'm not exactly a gaming God, but then as I was gathering some extra footage for this video, I suddenly managed to die three times in quick succession. Made me more empathetic to the plight of others.
This used to be my favorite mission in Halo 3
❤️
Such a giant of a game.
i was here kek
I'm sorry what exactly looks so bad about those CEA corridors? That's like the least egregious thing about the remaster. And does every Halo youtube video have to have some part complaining about a 343 game? Half the time it barely even relates to the video. I'm so tired of hearing it. This video has practically nothing to even do with CEA aside from a similar location.
Bro, the entire level is designed around looking like one from CE but with better graphics, making a comparison to CEA is totally fair
CEA’s art style looks awful, Forerunner structures especially, they aren’t as bad as Halo 4/5’s over use of chrome and lens flair lights, but they still completely kill the mood and tone of multiple levels.
You’re really running out of ideas for video topics aren’t you
Not at all, I intend to make a video about every Halo level Bungie ever created eventually!
@@BenPlaysGames that will be great. I’m excited to see that. Please make sure you don’t forget Reach
@@BenPlaysGames I really enjoyed this one! Thanks very much for covering it - this was my favorite level in Halo 3, partially because of the nostalgia.
@@internets6501 lol you went from "You're running out of ideas aren't you? 😏" to "I'm excited to see your next video!! 😆 "
@@PotatoFi Cheers Joel, and no worries! Still got a few left to do too.