I showed my girlfriend Halo a few years ago, and when she heard Never Forget, she told me it felt like she was feeling nostalgia for something she had never experienced before. It's such a perfect way to describe it
So, fun fact, "Never Forget" was named as such because Martin O'Donnell fully produced the track but then completely forgot it existed until every part of the game has its music. Then near the end of game development he found the track and knew it had to go somewhere, so "Never Forget" ended up as a menu song that can sometimes show up. However, the name has taken on a meaning entirely of its own by the fans as it's been played at countless funerals and is basically the rallying cry of nostalgic fans.
I want Never Forget to be played on my funeral lmao. I love that song and I've listened to it like a million times and I still cry because of the memories.
18:26 Ah yes, I remember my 9-year-old self being so hyped to play this game, booting it up on the old Xbox 360, and then having this song hit me like a truck on the main menu. Didn’t really know why it hit me so hard at the time but looking back, it’s clear how much these stories, and the beautiful music written to enhance them, really stuck with me.
Yes. Even if it's just a video game... the struggles of humanity, chief and the arbiter. We were there every step of the way. Along side friends that played with us. It is commonly thought... this is nostalgic music. And it truly is.
The choral vocals are like an old friend to Halo players, we played the death out of the games after they released, and then didn't get the next installment for 3-4yrs, so it's always like someone you've not seen in ages walking into the room. Things are a little different and pushing the style further, and then the next game pushes that even further when it releases. Going through CE to 3, then to ODST and Reach, is an actual journey of how Marty and Michael progressed their skills as composers while working on this franchise.
Halo is one of the most important game franchises to me, I played Combat Evolved when I was only Three years old (I'm 24 now) my dad was a huge gamer) and I would often play with him and his friends and still beat his friends cause of how much I played the game, I could never beat my Dad at it though lol Halo 2 I probably enjoyed even more than Combat Evolved growing up, it just seemed so grand in comparison with the story and new songs, even many remixes of old tracks Halo 3 made me into an avid Xbox player single handedly growing up, the Campaign, the Multiplayer, Forge, and the Music all tying it together, it was such an amazing finale to the original trilogy. The song "Tribute" legit made me cry when it was used in game because of the accompanying scene... Everytime I hear the soundtrack no matter which game, whether it be CE, 2, 3, even from ODST, Reach, and the newest games too, I get reminded of all the good times I've had playing each and every game Even with the direction Halo has gone in recent years, I don't think anything will ever stop me from loving the franchise and especially the Music The music in the 343 entries is no slouch at all and goes so hard But Marty O' Donnell is something else, man. He's an amazing composer and nothing has truly topped his work in the Halo franchise imo Halo is truly Legendary, and the Music plays such a huge part of that for sure
Three Gates is an adaptation of Leonidas from the second game's soundtrack, a song that plays as the protagonist crosses a lake to assassinate the prophet of regret, one of the religious leaders of the Covenant. One of my favourites from the Halo 2 soundtrack.
Your reaction to Never Forget is me every single time I hear it to this day. Halo 3 was a big part of my childhood and that song alone just makes me think of it and reminisce. To this day, it’s part of my playlist to try to fall asleep at times. The whole entire video I was waiting for it and your reaction didn’t let down! Thanks for listening to this soundtrack. Absolutely stunning.
I just watched all of your react content for this trilogy and I am still amazed at how music can tell a story. I literally saw the story from beginning to end in my mind just listening to the music and hearing your reaction.
So Halo is a very sad and emotional set of games with an incredible story. Finish the Fight is a song used in the promotional trailers but a version did play in the games and it was a very intense scene. Halo 3 had probably the highest stakes so the entire story was very intense. The tone is definitely much darker in Halo 3 than it was in the others. Humanity is on the backfoot trying to survive. Halo 3 is the most emotional of the original three games. You are correct Tribute is the song played at the very end. The game had a very somber but uplifting ending. A we lost a lot of good people along the way but the war is finally over type of ending.
"I will never forget that feeling I just felt" encompasses everyone who played this masterful franchise. You just can't describe that "feeling" the Halo soundtrack gives you, to 100% accuracy. Such a unique bunch of video games.
I just wanted to say thank you for making me want to play these games again. I've been going through some hard times recently and haven't been able to do anything, but watching you react to all of the trilogy soundtracks made me remember why I played these games to begin with. Started the download about halfway through the video. I can't wait to relive my childhood and play the very thing that shielded me through a traumatic time. Thank you for making these videos, and if you ever do play the games I hope you enjoy them as much as we did. These stories have brought friends, family, and strangers from around the world together in a way that is forever remembered as the best days of our lives, and there isn't a single day I'm not wishing to go back. I can Never Forget.
We all felt "Never forget", now if you feel it that way being and adult, now imagine me, 15 years, right after the school with my best friend listening to this... that was shocking! I drop a tear without my friend notice it only to see him also dropping a tear! it was amazing!
It's funny how Never Forget just binds itself to whatever you feel most emotion for. Post game nostalgia, multiplayer lobbies, or just basking in the H2 menu as a kid.
Marty O'Donnell always does a great job of creating moments in music. I guess that's the benefit of composing alongside a game. But at the same time, everything is purposeful. One more edit because I jumped around, but "Keep What You Steal" starts when the player rescues Cortana (their AI homie from all the games) and she says "You found me... but i feel like something is wrong. Part of me is broken. I think you're too late". And the master chief responds "You know me, when I make a promise..." because he promised her at the end of Halo 2 that he'd come back for her. And he did. And she of course says in response "you keep it... I really do know how to pick em." At this time, chief is also kneeled down and resting his head on his arms looking at the tiny AI's hologram as she gets to her feet and back to her senses. The final line that makes that the most emotional moment in the entire franchise is when she says "Keep your head down... there's two of us in here again, remember?" which is the very first thing she says to the player in Halo 1. "Never Forget" is always the one that gets me... and every other kid who grew up on Halo, I'm sure. We'll never forget the Bungie Halo games.
I actually love the fact that rather than going with distorted electric guitars again for that latest rendition of the original theme, they chose to go with piano as the lead instrument. In the original game, the theme was just the theme, unadorned, like a badass but still noob main character heading into the thick of it. Then with 'Mjolnir Mix' in Halo 2, we got the guitars just wailing and screaming away, like the badass in his prime having just levelled up massively, still charging in. 'One Final Effort' then utilised the maturity and finesse of the piano to represent the MC at their absolute pinnacle, dancing through the most hellish of warzones unscathed - a twinkle-toed, duel-wielding, armoured-up-to-the-gills maestro of death. It's all so brilliant.
Youve simply GOT to do a video contrasting all of the "A Walk in the Woods" renditions from each game. A Walk in the Woods Heretic, Hero Zealous Champion Another walk Walking away, & Through the Trees
Halo 3 was my first real adult game. (When I was 11 lol) Looking back it’s amazing how the music alone can take me back to those 2007-08 days. The Halo OSTs truly are some of the best in existence.
Really sucks how the sequels robbed a lot of the emotional impact of Halo 3's ending. The music still carries that climactic feeling, but at the time the story also worked really well as a capstone to the franchise. Those two together really had an insane level of emotional impact at the end. But now, after knowing that Master Chief didn't make the ultimate sacrifice, and the Human/Covenant war hadn't truly ended, the ending of Halo 3's story just sort of rings hollow for me.
5:41 is the theme that kicks up during my favorite moment in any halo game: when the Forward Unto Dawn lands overtop of you on the Ark, and you see the scale of the ship up close
The first track of Three gates (13:00) actually is called "leonidas returns". It's a reference to master chief, the main character, who is part of a secret military experiment where the subjects are called Spartans. And master chief is kind of the leader of the Spartans.
Keep what you steal, is a reference/complinetary name to a line that happens in the mission this song is used in. "I'm a thief, but I keep what I steal" There are no direct 'this is exactly what this means' but my interpretation is Cortana, the character that says this line to us, is telling us that she still has the key that she stole in the first game. A key to a superweapon we destroyed, but has now has been rebuilt. This time we need to activate it. The reason Cortana would be using indirect dialouge is that she is currently captured, and is using a sort of code to get us to come and save her and the key. I've also seen other interpretations that the person she is based on named Catherine Halsey (as Cortana is an AI made from a cloned brain) is that Catherine, kidnapped 100's of children to make super soldiers, one of which is the player character. Cortana was allowed to choose which Super soldier she was paired with, and she chose the player character and was able to escape a planet's destruction with us. So maybe in her eyes, she Stole us from Catherine/Death, and she intends to stay with us. At the time of this game, All of these super soldiers are dead or missing. Lost one might say, so her "Mother/Creator" Catherine lost what she stole, whereas Cortana intends to keep us. The 'ominousness' at the end of Keep what you steal is used when we're escaping from the place Cortana was held captive, destroying it, and escaping The Flood, which are the zombies of the Halo games, as they close in on us to consume us.
_Keep What You Steal_ is a reference to Cortana being a "thief who keeps what she steals". She goes missing at the end of the second game. So this track is about a missing person.
I don’t know if you’d ever be down to play these games for videos but I would love to see your reactions to this game series. Seeing how emotional just hearing the music can make a person makes me want to see them react to the narrative/gameplay moments the music is connected to.
Halo is so damn important to me. I used tonplay with my brother and father, but my brother has a job now and my dad is un able to play😢. I will never forget these games❤
Yeah there is a heavy story aspect to Halo, there isn't another FPS game that takes its story this seriously, its got everything; war, conflict, hate, passion, religion, broken hearts, new friendships, the beginning of life, its end and even a bit of love You really gotta play the game to get it. Halo 2 is my favorite, in that one there is a character that after being horribly punished for failling abysmaly, he is put in a position where he is expectd to be a martyr and find a heroic way to die to redeem himself, only to be betrayed. Im telling you the story of these games goes above and beyond just like its music
Watching someone react to just the music and not knowing what the story is about or know the moments that the music builds on is fucking INSANE to me! It makes me want to sit her on the couch and be like "girl, buckle up! Were going for a wild ride!"
Halo 3 is a perfect example of not the game defining the music nor the music defining the game but they perfectly meld to tell the story. Anyone that's played can tell you exactly what song goes where by the name, the first note of each track even. "Keep What You Steal" for example, was a heart tugger the first run for many and then that end... We knew there was a fight and what was to come after
I know 343 mostly made Halo Legends, but when it was in like Origins Pt. 2, I remember when Cortana is recounting human history and talking about war, as Never Forget plays, it just made me sooo fucking sad...
seeing you enjoy what ive been playing since i was a kid is so eye watering to watch. i love this game/s so much and seeing others enjoy it brings me so much joy
Beautiful reactions! "Keep What You Steal" is when the main character you play as, Master Chief, boards an alien ship to steal back what was his, a computer AI called Cortana. So it's imperative to do what the title says or humanity is at risk ;)
The original Halo trilogy is, in my opinion, one of the greatest stories told through the medium. Set far in the future yet war being waged is ancient, spanning millennia. A story of great loss, unlikely allies, and most importantly, perseverance and hope. Truly a masterpiece
Some music plays during the game itself (usually the more action-packed tunes) and then the cinematics include parts of each song too. Especially epilogues. The music and lore tie the story to the gameplay itself so every moment in game feels like it's part of the story. Youre exploring the universe as you explore the music. You really should play 1-3 to understand 😊
16:24 it is the end of Halo 3 😭 it’s always hard for me to not cry hearing this song. Yeah there is a massive story aspect! The song Tribute plays as Admiral Hood talks about everyone who died in the human covenant war. He then shakes hands with one of the aliens who started the war that was slaughtering trillions of humans but they realized it was wrong and joined humanity to stop the covenant from lying about what the Halo Rings do. They even have pictures from all the people who died during the trilogy on a memorial wall
I wanna advise to you: Halo 4: - Awaken -117 -arrival -To galaxy - Mantis -Green and blue Halo 3 ODST: -Overture -Deference of darkness -Asphalt and ablution - Traffic jam -Neon nigth .-The ligth at the end 😉😁
15.25 Lord Admiral Hood: For us, the storm has passed. The war is over. And let us never forget those who journeyed into the howling dark, and did not return. For their decision required courage beyond measure.
I think I just found my new fav UA-camr. I was talking to my partner about how shocked many people might be to hear just how transcendent VGM can be. Thank you for existing 😊
Greetings. Fellow musician/game nerd here. First of all, love that your videos feel like a music listening/appreciation session with a fellow music nerd. Feels like home. Second of all, if you only ever play one first person shooter, please for the love of god let it be the Halo series, at least the early games. It changed the landscape of video games, and nothing like it has come since. It is a sci-fi masterwork deserving of your time and attention. If the music hasn't already given you a glimpse of that, just imagine this ost being perfectly timed and placed in plot points of a sci-fi epic that you are journeying through. Sincerely, a new fan.
Very briefly on the story side, the story of Halo involves heroism and sacrifice, fighting against insurmountable forces that seek the end of all life in the galaxy. There's both great loss and steadfast resilience. The end of Halo 3 leaves the feeling of triumph and desolation. It seems likely that you may be lost forever, but the hope remains of being found in time, and that the story might not be over yet.
I was emotional listening to these pieces. It comes from the immaculate story that it is connected to. I also shed tears partially due to how Halo (the game) devolved afterwards. Halo 1,2 and 3 were just so good; the story, the characters, the music.
This one is so good! It’s a bit painful as well because its where we lost Marty and bungie. I was so glad when they announced 343 industries and halo 4 cause it was like getting a piece of childhood back
The music in these games has always made me feel like an infinitesimally small point in the center of an infinitely large universe. I feel like I have little knowledge of that universe, but complete control over it
Halo's soundtrack reflects what makes it unique among FPS games. The games are so much more than their gunplay (which is in-and-of-itself unique among FPS games). Halo also features much deeper philosophical themes about humanity, civilization and the cosmos than you'll get in many other FPS games where the focus is primarily the action and gunplay. It even integrates those ideas into it's gameplay in subtle ways (for example, the weapons/vehicles of the various alien factions and human weapons/vehicles each have drastically different combat functions, advantages, and disadvantages that reflect the differences in each civilization that created them). The games do so much to bake their overarching themes into every element that the experience of playing them is unlike any other fps. Basically, Halo is an FPS set within an epic space opera, where all the drama and intrigue characteristic of a space opera seeps down into the moment to moment FPS gameplay. It's as cinematic as it is action oriented.
I find it very reassuring that you also feel emotions during ‘Never Forget’ just from the music because that song is so incredibly nostalgic for me. I know tons of people have already mentioned Halo’s story I just wanted to hop on that bandwagon and encourage you to check out the story. Maybe check out the Polygon Vid that BDG did on the halo novels for info and also lots of funny.
Its not that ‘Never Forget’ makes me feel emotions but it’s that it makes me feel and miss the good old days of halo 3 oblong multiplayer - where I firmly believe the pinnacle of online gaming stands, it was so far ahead of its time and we didn’t even know it. Also just sitting in the main menu just to listen to this song and the cinematic in the background plus the soft lightning crashes. Oh how no other game will ever hold up to this one for me.
Every SINGLE TIME I do a Halo 3 run, the level I most look forward to is “The Covenant” for one major reason…how FUCKING EPIC AND INTENSE THE TWIN SCARAB FIGHT IS WHILE “ONE FINAL EFFORT” BLASTS IN THE BACKGROUND!!!!! On my list of “video game moments where the soundtrack made the level”, that will always be in the top five.
Never forget hits hard for players. You play the game over and over, for maybe years, and one by one your friends leave the game.....One day you boot it up.....hear this music; see no one online and then turn of the game while not knowing this was your last Halo 3 session...
Ever since I saw the CE & 2 reaction, I knew I need the third!!!!!! 10:31 lol I was totally waiting for you to hear the theme! That reaction was expected! But you gotta love it!
Embarking on the emotional voyage that is the soundtrack to Halo: Combat Evolved (Halo CE), Halo 2 and Halo 3 as a stand alone soundtrack is merely the introduction to an entire symphony that is Halo… The feelings you felt and the tears you cried would only be amplified by the story told within this franchise. Imagine if you will, a young version of yourself begins this journey in Halo CE alone, being told that humans have discovered life beyond the stars and incredible ancient structures that predate the thought of existence itself, suspended in time for you to explore. Amidst this exploration a Great War between Humans and the Covenant erupt and you find your entire peoples lives are at stake… Then pure evil enters, an evil so vile that you and the Covenant fight together to survive and many of you lose… Later, you continue your journey in Halo 2 where you can continue this story with an ally. Caught up in political righteousness and a religious crusade through the cosmos you and this unconventional ally have your eyes open to the truth of all existence, by the vile evil, who proves the repetition in all of history. Later you gather in the story of Halo 3 where you suffer great loss both of your people and some of your close ally’s. Then you’re betrayed, sabotaged and see friends fall to corruption. But you don’t stop pushing through. At your lowest point the great evil that plagues the galaxy takes away something so precious to you and you struggle to take it back. By the end of it all, the survivors gather at a memorial to honor a planets population worth of loss and you are left drifting through space… Top this story off with millennia’s worth of lore, years worth of your time playing with friends and even your creative imagination conjuring heroes in your mind that live out these scenarios and you’ve got a pocket of time that is worth experiencing for eternity. I can speak for myself in saying that listening to you react to these songs, showing pure genuine reaction to something new to you made me cry at every song recollecting memories I forgot I had myself. I won’t be able to revisit these games with fresh eyes to experience the wonders of halo for the first time ever again, but seeing others feel what I felt all those years ago comes damn well close.
I wish you could've reacted to the Halo 3 Warthog Run OST. The one pulled from the level itself rather than from the OST, since the one in the Officially Released OST omits a pretty awesome part. In the OST it's called "Greatest Journey".
Not me tearing up on my way to work this morning from all these sound tracks; please play the games. Start with CE, 2, 3, ODST, then finally Reach. I recognized every track and where it presents in game; and yes you’re shooting things during some of these; but a good amount are music on the main menu. Nostalgia hit me hard today, worst part is realizing it’ll never be this good again
O'Donnell and John Powell from the How to Train Your Dragon franchise aren't dissimilar as composers I think. Both rely heavily on recurring motifs and themes for characters
Now play the entire campaign and experience the vibes of playing the game while music like this plays in the background! It’s a journey and experience you need.
The story of Halo - to me - is about the best of humanity from all backgrounds, walks of life and alignments coming together to fight an insurmountable threat that both (through the forerunners, flood and ancient, deadly technology) represents the apathy of the entropic and meaningless universe as well as (through the covenant) unchecked reverence and emotion (almost like human kind fighting our own past).
“Thank you Halo for making me feel many things” Me and many others who loved playing these games feel the same way 😊 And thank you Emily for making us feel them all over again!
I commented this on your first Halo video but if you haven't played/heard much of it before then I think you'd love the Mass Effect trilogy's soundtrack
![[UA] Eternal Fire проти NAVI | EPL Season 20 Malta](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/chvlsDygrZM/mqdefault.jpg)
Halo is probably the only game series where I can hear a song and think "oh, that's from this segment". so iconic.
Listening to tribute I swear I could just hear Lord Hoods monolog.
Is the Dawn rated for atmosphere?
When I was 8 years old, this was the only game I played for almost a year. So I know this feeling just as well friend.
@@levi22es one way to find out, grab some cover
You should try a game called 'Valley'.
I showed my girlfriend Halo a few years ago, and when she heard Never Forget, she told me it felt like she was feeling nostalgia for something she had never experienced before. It's such a perfect way to describe it
Anemoia.
Anemoia.
Anemoia.
Ammonia.
This has been an incredible three-month journey, and I'm glad to have shared it with you all. Here's to three more! 😂
So, fun fact, "Never Forget" was named as such because Martin O'Donnell fully produced the track but then completely forgot it existed until every part of the game has its music. Then near the end of game development he found the track and knew it had to go somewhere, so "Never Forget" ended up as a menu song that can sometimes show up.
However, the name has taken on a meaning entirely of its own by the fans as it's been played at countless funerals and is basically the rallying cry of nostalgic fans.
No way this is true, right? The version in Halo 2 is named Unforgotten lmao
@@tom2matI was about to say lol. Maybe Unforgotten's backstory but def not Never Forget.
@@tom2mat it's basically what Martin said during a 2 hour interview with KeyofGeebz on Geebz's gaming channel RPGeebz
@@tom2mat It’s true, just for Halo 2.
Reminds me of band of brothers
I want Never Forget to be played on my funeral lmao. I love that song and I've listened to it like a million times and I still cry because of the memories.
based
18:24 "Never forget"
I'M NOT CRYING UR CRYING
We're all crying 😭
"Tank beats ghost...
Tank beats hunter...
Tank beats everything!"
19:50 she had the same reaction as the majority of us 🤦♂️😞😭
18:26 Ah yes, I remember my 9-year-old self being so hyped to play this game, booting it up on the old Xbox 360, and then having this song hit me like a truck on the main menu. Didn’t really know why it hit me so hard at the time but looking back, it’s clear how much these stories, and the beautiful music written to enhance them, really stuck with me.
Yes. Even if it's just a video game... the struggles of humanity, chief and the arbiter. We were there every step of the way. Along side friends that played with us.
It is commonly thought... this is nostalgic music. And it truly is.
I feel this nostalgia every time I boot up MCC on PC. Halo 3 is still great in 2024
The choral vocals are like an old friend to Halo players, we played the death out of the games after they released, and then didn't get the next installment for 3-4yrs, so it's always like someone you've not seen in ages walking into the room. Things are a little different and pushing the style further, and then the next game pushes that even further when it releases. Going through CE to 3, then to ODST and Reach, is an actual journey of how Marty and Michael progressed their skills as composers while working on this franchise.
Halo is one of the most important game franchises to me, I played Combat Evolved when I was only Three years old (I'm 24 now) my dad was a huge gamer) and I would often play with him and his friends and still beat his friends cause of how much I played the game, I could never beat my Dad at it though lol
Halo 2 I probably enjoyed even more than Combat Evolved growing up, it just seemed so grand in comparison with the story and new songs, even many remixes of old tracks
Halo 3 made me into an avid Xbox player single handedly growing up, the Campaign, the Multiplayer, Forge, and the Music all tying it together, it was such an amazing finale to the original trilogy. The song "Tribute" legit made me cry when it was used in game because of the accompanying scene...
Everytime I hear the soundtrack no matter which game, whether it be CE, 2, 3, even from ODST, Reach, and the newest games too, I get reminded of all the good times I've had playing each and every game
Even with the direction Halo has gone in recent years, I don't think anything will ever stop me from loving the franchise and especially the Music
The music in the 343 entries is no slouch at all and goes so hard
But Marty O' Donnell is something else, man. He's an amazing composer and nothing has truly topped his work in the Halo franchise imo
Halo is truly Legendary, and the Music plays such a huge part of that for sure
We have such a similar story it’s crazy
halo beats destiny any day this music is unmatched
@@itsbearbaby9224I was about to say this is so similar to how I fell in love with video games
Three Gates is an adaptation of Leonidas from the second game's soundtrack, a song that plays as the protagonist crosses a lake to assassinate the prophet of regret, one of the religious leaders of the Covenant. One of my favourites from the Halo 2 soundtrack.
Leonidas from the Delta Halo Suite is my favorite, too! Crossing the gondola while avoiding Jackals on Legendary with the Beam Rifle kept me amped!
at 5:38 seeing the Frigate coming in hot to give us the scorpion.... God what an experience Bungie Halo was
Your reaction to Never Forget is me every single time I hear it to this day. Halo 3 was a big part of my childhood and that song alone just makes me think of it and reminisce. To this day, it’s part of my playlist to try to fall asleep at times. The whole entire video I was waiting for it and your reaction didn’t let down! Thanks for listening to this soundtrack. Absolutely stunning.
I just watched all of your react content for this trilogy and I am still amazed at how music can tell a story. I literally saw the story from beginning to end in my mind just listening to the music and hearing your reaction.
So Halo is a very sad and emotional set of games with an incredible story. Finish the Fight is a song used in the promotional trailers but a version did play in the games and it was a very intense scene. Halo 3 had probably the highest stakes so the entire story was very intense. The tone is definitely much darker in Halo 3 than it was in the others. Humanity is on the backfoot trying to survive. Halo 3 is the most emotional of the original three games. You are correct Tribute is the song played at the very end. The game had a very somber but uplifting ending. A we lost a lot of good people along the way but the war is finally over type of ending.
I don't think the tone is darker in Halo 3, I will say it's probably the most serious of the trilogy
@@peanutgallery4 Definitely most serious. The stakes are the biggest in 3. Humanity is on the brink of extinction because of the Covenant's actions.
@@crazyguy_1233More likely because of the flood infection
@@khronosis6934 Shh trying to keep out spoilers just in case this person wants to play Halo.
I was patiently waiting for the reaction to the key change at 19:40 after seeing the reaction to the piano/vocal segment. Did not disappoint. xD
"I will never forget that feeling I just felt" encompasses everyone who played this masterful franchise. You just can't describe that "feeling" the Halo soundtrack gives you, to 100% accuracy. Such a unique bunch of video games.
The first strike of the piano in finish the fight mentally shatters any thoughts you have and forces you to focus on the music. I love it.
CAN'T WAIT for watching you listening to ODST's soundtrack. It is one of the most special soundtracks in Halo and a real standout.
Great reaction!
Final Effort always throws me back in time. Fucking chills
I just wanted to say thank you for making me want to play these games again. I've been going through some hard times recently and haven't been able to do anything, but watching you react to all of the trilogy soundtracks made me remember why I played these games to begin with.
Started the download about halfway through the video. I can't wait to relive my childhood and play the very thing that shielded me through a traumatic time. Thank you for making these videos, and if you ever do play the games I hope you enjoy them as much as we did. These stories have brought friends, family, and strangers from around the world together in a way that is forever remembered as the best days of our lives, and there isn't a single day I'm not wishing to go back. I can Never Forget.
We all felt "Never forget", now if you feel it that way being and adult, now imagine me, 15 years, right after the school with my best friend listening to this... that was shocking! I drop a tear without my friend notice it only to see him also dropping a tear! it was amazing!
It's funny how Never Forget just binds itself to whatever you feel most emotion for. Post game nostalgia, multiplayer lobbies, or just basking in the H2 menu as a kid.
Marty O'Donnell always does a great job of creating moments in music. I guess that's the benefit of composing alongside a game. But at the same time, everything is purposeful.
One more edit because I jumped around, but "Keep What You Steal" starts when the player rescues Cortana (their AI homie from all the games) and she says "You found me... but i feel like something is wrong. Part of me is broken. I think you're too late". And the master chief responds "You know me, when I make a promise..." because he promised her at the end of Halo 2 that he'd come back for her. And he did. And she of course says in response "you keep it... I really do know how to pick em." At this time, chief is also kneeled down and resting his head on his arms looking at the tiny AI's hologram as she gets to her feet and back to her senses. The final line that makes that the most emotional moment in the entire franchise is when she says "Keep your head down... there's two of us in here again, remember?" which is the very first thing she says to the player in Halo 1.
"Never Forget" is always the one that gets me... and every other kid who grew up on Halo, I'm sure. We'll never forget the Bungie Halo games.
I actually love the fact that rather than going with distorted electric guitars again for that latest rendition of the original theme, they chose to go with piano as the lead instrument. In the original game, the theme was just the theme, unadorned, like a badass but still noob main character heading into the thick of it. Then with 'Mjolnir Mix' in Halo 2, we got the guitars just wailing and screaming away, like the badass in his prime having just levelled up massively, still charging in. 'One Final Effort' then utilised the maturity and finesse of the piano to represent the MC at their absolute pinnacle, dancing through the most hellish of warzones unscathed - a twinkle-toed, duel-wielding, armoured-up-to-the-gills maestro of death. It's all so brilliant.
Youve simply GOT to do a video contrasting all of the "A Walk in the Woods" renditions from each game.
A Walk in the Woods
Heretic, Hero
Zealous Champion
Another walk
Walking away, &
Through the Trees
20:32 thats actually a bit from the Halo 2 soundtrack "Unforgotten" that I just left a comment on the halo 2 video of yours recommending it 🥹
Halo 3 was my first real adult game. (When I was 11 lol) Looking back it’s amazing how the music alone can take me back to those 2007-08 days. The Halo OSTs truly are some of the best in existence.
“Never Forget” is like the feeling of waking up from a dream that you never wanted to
Really sucks how the sequels robbed a lot of the emotional impact of Halo 3's ending. The music still carries that climactic feeling, but at the time the story also worked really well as a capstone to the franchise. Those two together really had an insane level of emotional impact at the end. But now, after knowing that Master Chief didn't make the ultimate sacrifice, and the Human/Covenant war hadn't truly ended, the ending of Halo 3's story just sort of rings hollow for me.
Watching you play through the games would be a fun video. Seeing how the story unfolds and how the music kicks in would be a neat video
It's insane how with "Behold a Pale Horse" at certain segments I can vividly see different parts of the mission "The Ark"
Anyone else who shed a tear at Tribute in remembrance of those reported as missing in action?
5:41 is the theme that kicks up during my favorite moment in any halo game: when the Forward Unto Dawn lands overtop of you on the Ark, and you see the scale of the ship up close
The first track of Three gates (13:00) actually is called "leonidas returns".
It's a reference to master chief, the main character, who is part of a secret military experiment where the subjects are called Spartans. And master chief is kind of the leader of the Spartans.
21:07 "The Spice must flow."
Keep what you steal, is a reference/complinetary name to a line that happens in the mission this song is used in.
"I'm a thief, but I keep what I steal" There are no direct 'this is exactly what this means' but my interpretation is Cortana, the character that says this line to us, is telling us that she still has the key that she stole in the first game.
A key to a superweapon we destroyed, but has now has been rebuilt. This time we need to activate it.
The reason Cortana would be using indirect dialouge is that she is currently captured, and is using a sort of code to get us to come and save her and the key.
I've also seen other interpretations that the person she is based on named Catherine Halsey (as Cortana is an AI made from a cloned brain) is that Catherine, kidnapped 100's of children to make super soldiers, one of which is the player character.
Cortana was allowed to choose which Super soldier she was paired with, and she chose the player character and was able to escape a planet's destruction with us.
So maybe in her eyes, she Stole us from Catherine/Death, and she intends to stay with us.
At the time of this game, All of these super soldiers are dead or missing. Lost one might say, so her "Mother/Creator" Catherine lost what she stole, whereas Cortana intends to keep us.
The 'ominousness' at the end of Keep what you steal is used when we're escaping from the place Cortana was held captive, destroying it, and escaping The Flood, which are the zombies of the Halo games, as they close in on us to consume us.
"Never Forget, what if I forget?" Cut to Halo 4 vid and forgetting 😂
_Keep What You Steal_ is a reference to Cortana being a "thief who keeps what she steals". She goes missing at the end of the second game. So this track is about a missing person.
I don’t know if you’d ever be down to play these games for videos but I would love to see your reactions to this game series. Seeing how emotional just hearing the music can make a person makes me want to see them react to the narrative/gameplay moments the music is connected to.
Halo is so damn important to me. I used tonplay with my brother and father, but my brother has a job now and my dad is un able to play😢. I will never forget these games❤
Yeah there is a heavy story aspect to Halo, there isn't another FPS game that takes its story this seriously, its got everything; war, conflict, hate, passion, religion, broken hearts, new friendships, the beginning of life, its end and even a bit of love
You really gotta play the game to get it. Halo 2 is my favorite, in that one there is a character that after being horribly punished for failling abysmaly, he is put in a position where he is expectd to be a martyr and find a heroic way to die to redeem himself, only to be betrayed. Im telling you the story of these games goes above and beyond just like its music
Watching someone react to just the music and not knowing what the story is about or know the moments that the music builds on is fucking INSANE to me! It makes me want to sit her on the couch and be like "girl, buckle up! Were going for a wild ride!"
Halo 3 is a perfect example of not the game defining the music nor the music defining the game but they perfectly meld to tell the story. Anyone that's played can tell you exactly what song goes where by the name, the first note of each track even. "Keep What You Steal" for example, was a heart tugger the first run for many and then that end... We knew there was a fight and what was to come after
Never Forget makes me want to play Halo 3 online with my brother
Y'all remember the E3 trailer with Finish the Fight as the theme for and how wild everyone went?
Never Forget is Halo 3’s menu theme so for us forever fans it literally turns us into an emotional wreck
I know 343 mostly made Halo Legends, but when it was in like Origins Pt. 2, I remember when Cortana is recounting human history and talking about war, as Never Forget plays, it just made me sooo fucking sad...
seeing you enjoy what ive been playing since i was a kid is so eye watering to watch. i love this game/s so much and seeing others enjoy it brings me so much joy
Beautiful reactions!
"Keep What You Steal" is when the main character you play as, Master Chief, boards an alien ship to steal back what was his, a computer AI called Cortana.
So it's imperative to do what the title says or humanity is at risk ;)
The original Halo trilogy is, in my opinion, one of the greatest stories told through the medium. Set far in the future yet war being waged is ancient, spanning millennia. A story of great loss, unlikely allies, and most importantly, perseverance and hope. Truly a masterpiece
in the cutscene with a pale horse playing the opening to the covenant theres 3 phantoms and the pelican. the four horsemen
Some music plays during the game itself (usually the more action-packed tunes) and then the cinematics include parts of each song too. Especially epilogues. The music and lore tie the story to the gameplay itself so every moment in game feels like it's part of the story. Youre exploring the universe as you explore the music. You really should play 1-3 to understand 😊
16:24 it is the end of Halo 3 😭 it’s always hard for me to not cry hearing this song. Yeah there is a massive story aspect! The song Tribute plays as Admiral Hood talks about everyone who died in the human covenant war. He then shakes hands with one of the aliens who started the war that was slaughtering trillions of humans but they realized it was wrong and joined humanity to stop the covenant from lying about what the Halo Rings do. They even have pictures from all the people who died during the trilogy on a memorial wall
Keep What You Steal is a reference to a famous line from Cortana in Halo 3: "I'm a thief, but I keep what I steal".
Keep what you steal still gets me, as it comes with the sentence "You found me".
6:21 Respect for the inner reflection
A lot of the music in Halo 3 is built around the scene they go with which creates a really compelling story just through the music alone.
The fact that you felt so many of the exact emotions that the game's story was building on, to me, speaks volumes about Marty O'Donnell as a composer.
11:11 it is a reference to what Cortana says in the level when she’s like bugging out. But I could see it meaning stealing John’s Heart
"This feels like the ending of like a film" Oh it was so so much more than that. No film has ever impacted me the way Halo has.
I wanna advise to you:
Halo 4:
- Awaken
-117
-arrival
-To galaxy
- Mantis
-Green and blue
Halo 3 ODST:
-Overture
-Deference of darkness
-Asphalt and ablution
- Traffic jam
-Neon nigth
.-The ligth at the end
😉😁
15.25 Lord Admiral Hood: For us, the storm has passed. The war is over. And let us never forget those who journeyed into the howling dark, and did not return. For their decision required courage beyond measure.
If I listen to Tribute hard enough, I’d cry. So many childhood memories.
"We'll start things off, with finish the fight."
*Dunnnn*
Fucking chills bro. Love this shit
I think I just found my new fav UA-camr. I was talking to my partner about how shocked many people might be to hear just how transcendent VGM can be. Thank you for existing 😊
God that first song, from the Announcement Trailer brought tears to my eyes.
If she felt that much emotion with never forget, she’s going to be crying the entire time she listens to the ODST soundtrack
I got to wait so long for your reaction to Green and Blue from Halo 4!
10:14. "So much of me is wrong."
Edit: another halo game ost i think you'd like is halo wars. It's ost is very unique.
Greetings. Fellow musician/game nerd here. First of all, love that your videos feel like a music listening/appreciation session with a fellow music nerd. Feels like home. Second of all, if you only ever play one first person shooter, please for the love of god let it be the Halo series, at least the early games. It changed the landscape of video games, and nothing like it has come since. It is a sci-fi masterwork deserving of your time and attention. If the music hasn't already given you a glimpse of that, just imagine this ost being perfectly timed and placed in plot points of a sci-fi epic that you are journeying through. Sincerely, a new fan.
Very briefly on the story side, the story of Halo involves heroism and sacrifice, fighting against insurmountable forces that seek the end of all life in the galaxy. There's both great loss and steadfast resilience.
The end of Halo 3 leaves the feeling of triumph and desolation. It seems likely that you may be lost forever, but the hope remains of being found in time, and that the story might not be over yet.
I was emotional listening to these pieces. It comes from the immaculate story that it is connected to. I also shed tears partially due to how Halo (the game) devolved afterwards. Halo 1,2 and 3 were just so good; the story, the characters, the music.
This one is so good! It’s a bit painful as well because its where we lost Marty and bungie. I was so glad when they announced 343 industries and halo 4 cause it was like getting a piece of childhood back
The music in these games has always made me feel like an infinitesimally small point in the center of an infinitely large universe. I feel like I have little knowledge of that universe, but complete control over it
Halo's soundtrack reflects what makes it unique among FPS games. The games are so much more than their gunplay (which is in-and-of-itself unique among FPS games). Halo also features much deeper philosophical themes about humanity, civilization and the cosmos than you'll get in many other FPS games where the focus is primarily the action and gunplay. It even integrates those ideas into it's gameplay in subtle ways (for example, the weapons/vehicles of the various alien factions and human weapons/vehicles each have drastically different combat functions, advantages, and disadvantages that reflect the differences in each civilization that created them). The games do so much to bake their overarching themes into every element that the experience of playing them is unlike any other fps.
Basically, Halo is an FPS set within an epic space opera, where all the drama and intrigue characteristic of a space opera seeps down into the moment to moment FPS gameplay. It's as cinematic as it is action oriented.
“This is the way the world ends”
I find it very reassuring that you also feel emotions during ‘Never Forget’ just from the music because that song is so incredibly nostalgic for me.
I know tons of people have already mentioned Halo’s story I just wanted to hop on that bandwagon and encourage you to check out the story.
Maybe check out the Polygon Vid that BDG did on the halo novels for info and also lots of funny.
Gonna start off with a tension that’ll give you permanent anxiety if you don’t go and finish the fight.
Its not that ‘Never Forget’ makes me feel emotions but it’s that it makes me feel and miss the good old days of halo 3 oblong multiplayer - where I firmly believe the pinnacle of online gaming stands, it was so far ahead of its time and we didn’t even know it. Also just sitting in the main menu just to listen to this song and the cinematic in the background plus the soft lightning crashes.
Oh how no other game will ever hold up to this one for me.
Every SINGLE TIME I do a Halo 3 run, the level I most look forward to is “The Covenant” for one major reason…how FUCKING EPIC AND INTENSE THE TWIN SCARAB FIGHT IS WHILE “ONE FINAL EFFORT” BLASTS IN THE BACKGROUND!!!!! On my list of “video game moments where the soundtrack made the level”, that will always be in the top five.
Never forget hits hard for players.
You play the game over and over, for maybe years, and one by one your friends leave the game.....One day you boot it up.....hear this music; see no one online and then turn of the game while not knowing this was your last Halo 3 session...
5:40 “Is the dawn rated for atmosphere?!”
Ever since I saw the CE & 2 reaction, I knew I need the third!!!!!! 10:31 lol I was totally waiting for you to hear the theme! That reaction was expected! But you gotta love it!
Also
“Don’t make a girl a promise… If you know you can’t keep it…”
"I am your shield. I am your sword"
16:00 gets more and more devastating the more time passes
"You found me."
You know
"Keep your head down, there's two of us in here now. Remember? :D "
Embarking on the emotional voyage that is the soundtrack to Halo: Combat Evolved (Halo CE), Halo 2 and Halo 3 as a stand alone soundtrack is merely the introduction to an entire symphony that is Halo… The feelings you felt and the tears you cried would only be amplified by the story told within this franchise. Imagine if you will, a young version of yourself begins this journey in Halo CE alone, being told that humans have discovered life beyond the stars and incredible ancient structures that predate the thought of existence itself, suspended in time for you to explore. Amidst this exploration a Great War between Humans and the Covenant erupt and you find your entire peoples lives are at stake… Then pure evil enters, an evil so vile that you and the Covenant fight together to survive and many of you lose… Later, you continue your journey in Halo 2 where you can continue this story with an ally. Caught up in political righteousness and a religious crusade through the cosmos you and this unconventional ally have your eyes open to the truth of all existence, by the vile evil, who proves the repetition in all of history. Later you gather in the story of Halo 3 where you suffer great loss both of your people and some of your close ally’s. Then you’re betrayed, sabotaged and see friends fall to corruption. But you don’t stop pushing through. At your lowest point the great evil that plagues the galaxy takes away something so precious to you and you struggle to take it back. By the end of it all, the survivors gather at a memorial to honor a planets population worth of loss and you are left drifting through space… Top this story off with millennia’s worth of lore, years worth of your time playing with friends and even your creative imagination conjuring heroes in your mind that live out these scenarios and you’ve got a pocket of time that is worth experiencing for eternity. I can speak for myself in saying that listening to you react to these songs, showing pure genuine reaction to something new to you made me cry at every song recollecting memories I forgot I had myself. I won’t be able to revisit these games with fresh eyes to experience the wonders of halo for the first time ever again, but seeing others feel what I felt all those years ago comes damn well close.
From 18:30 onwards is a very accurate reaction to "Never Forget", beautiful track on the OST!!!
Never forget had about ten songs after it all for the closing credits
"Is there a story aspect to the game that I just have.. no clue about?"
Ohh you sweet girl...
I wish you could've reacted to the Halo 3 Warthog Run OST. The one pulled from the level itself rather than from the OST, since the one in the Officially Released OST omits a pretty awesome part. In the OST it's called "Greatest Journey".
Not me tearing up on my way to work this morning from all these sound tracks; please play the games. Start with CE, 2, 3, ODST, then finally Reach.
I recognized every track and where it presents in game; and yes you’re shooting things during some of these; but a good amount are music on the main menu.
Nostalgia hit me hard today, worst part is realizing it’ll never be this good again
O'Donnell and John Powell from the How to Train Your Dragon franchise aren't dissimilar as composers I think. Both rely heavily on recurring motifs and themes for characters
Now play the entire campaign and experience the vibes of playing the game while music like this plays in the background! It’s a journey and experience you need.
The story of Halo - to me - is about the best of humanity from all backgrounds, walks of life and alignments coming together to fight an insurmountable threat that both (through the forerunners, flood and ancient, deadly technology) represents the apathy of the entropic and meaningless universe as well as (through the covenant) unchecked reverence and emotion (almost like human kind fighting our own past).
“Thank you Halo for making me feel many things”
Me and many others who loved playing these games feel the same way 😊
And thank you Emily for making us feel them all over again!
I commented this on your first Halo video but if you haven't played/heard much of it before then I think you'd love the Mass Effect trilogy's soundtrack
This is what ive been waiting for, though i feel like halo 3 requires a part 2 reaction
Halo 2 and 3 really both need two parts