Revisiting Halo's Most Disturbing Mission
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- Опубліковано 27 лип 2024
- If you were to ask someone what their least favourite Halo mission was, there's a high chance they might say Halo 3's penultimate level; Cortana. But after replaying it recently, I've come to the shocking realisation that it's honestly not that bad!
Twitter: @LaperLarden
Timestamps:
0:00 Previously on Laper Larden
0:17 Intro
1:13 So, about Cortana...
1:51 The Analysis
4:19 The Music
5:44 Addressing the Complaints
8:58 The Gravemind
11:44 Closing Thoughts
12:38 Like and Subscribe!
Music Credit
-The End by EVA - joshlis.bandcamp.com
Promoted by @RoyaltyFreePlanet - royaltyfreeplanet.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
bit.ly/RFP_CClicense
-Halo 3 Soundtrack Volumes 1 & 2 by Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori
-Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Menu Theme by Stephen Barton & Harry Gregson-Williams
-Cry of the Unheard & Forgotten by REPULSIVE
#Halo3 #HaloInfinite #TheFlood #Cortana - Ігри
I know this video is super subjective, but it's been nagging away at me in the back of my mind since I replayed Halo 3.
Give it another try! Look around some more and take your time with the level and try to look below the Flood-infested surface. There's a lot to unpack.
Thanks for this review. You almost shown the World how I did see this level all the time.
And to me... This level has one of the best if not THE best moment of the entire series. Saving cortana has so many emotions in it. The lighting is gorgeous.
And... A really uncommon opinion:
I like the moments when the game slows you down and throws some lines at you. Cortana lines always feel like some exhausting visions they bring you down to your knees. Same to the gravmind but in a more horrific way. His voice staggers you. Hurts you. You. are. helpless. against this immense threat.
I know why many people don't like the interruption and yeah it can be annoying. But it also can be enjoyable if you try to think about what they are saying. It helps to immers... At least for me
@@SilverViper1000 Cortana might have been annpying without Black Eye, but I'll be damned if the story beats don't hit the hardest here. It was honestly my favourite mission next to The Covenant and of course the legendary Warthog run.
12:13 “Behold the Anus!” If you get were this quotes from your awesome
I always thought after playing this lvl for the first time years ago that Bungie made these flood levels infuriating on purpose. Like how we the player should hate the flood as much as Chief.
I've always liked this level. Unlike the Library, it's not copypasted rooms for each level, padding out the mission's playtime. It's all nasty lookin' fleshy rooms and stuff, but there's variety in the play spaces. And no rocket flood, which is always a bonus.
F the Rocket Flood. All my homies *hate* Rocket Flood.
@@LaperLarden I can't hate the rocket flood because of a fucking hilarious experience I had, so one level I open the door into one of the short convenant hallway rooms, there was a high tier elite of some variety(maybe a couple?) and more importantly at the same time at the other door a rocket flood entered. Another small detail was there were many bodies on the ground and twice that amount of grenades, and in CE grenades on the ground explode when hit by other explosives, so i literally just backed out of the room, the door closed, and the explosions began and didn't stop for something like 15 full seconds.
When they died down i entered the hallway to find everything thoroughly dead. Fucking hilarious.
This mission was great, challenging but I still managed to beat the par score playing it on legendary for the first time. Gravity Hammers definitely didn’t help or anything
@@LaperLarden They're one of the best sources of entertainment in Cursed Halo at least.
There shoulda been rocket flood 🤣
I had a negative impression of this mission the first time I played Halo 3 many years ago, in part due to the labyrinthine structure that was all too easy to get lost in. I think, conceptually, it's one of the best ideas for a level, alongside The Library(unironically), but execution was a bit disappointing. What disappointed me most about the level was probably the fact that it was largely just reused cut content from the end of floodgate and doesn't even look like high charity. You don't get to see many of the ICONIC locations like the hanging gardens. The best moments were the references to high charity in Halo 2, like finding Cortana in the sanctum of the hierarchs. Also, the flood was actually fun to fight in Halo 3 (except for those hitscan needle shooting guys).
I can agree with that. I would've loved to have seen more familiar places from the missions we spent in High Charity during Halo 2 or potentially even totally new areas that weren't covered head to toe in Flood goo, but for what the mission is, it's alright. I think I read somewhere (and this could be total B.S) but there was a cut part of the mission where Chief ventured into the Mausoleum of the Arbiter where the Flood had reanimated all the corpses of the deceased Arbiter's and they started busting out of their coffins in the walls and jumping down to attack Chief. Sounds absolutely crazy, but I would've loved something like that.
Yeah the part that gets me about it now is knowing that its repurposed "Floodgate Part 2" (complete with cruiser bridge) and wondering what Bungie could've done if they had the time to properly execute it.
@@LaperLarden its true
I’ve always loved this mission for its themes and story-telling, but I love it SO much more after this video.
I had no idea the Gravemind had those lines about Chief and the Arbiter, real creepy stuff!
Also, I just loved the visuals of the mission. The pristine blue and indigo Covenant hallways contrast so creepily to the yellow fleshy biomass, almost acting as complementary colors.
I really wanna go back and play this now👀
Gotta play it with the lights off as well. Really adds to the experience. Before the server shut down I was fortunate enough to get Halo 3 running on my TV with a makeshift surround sound setup. Let me tell you, everybody's gangster till those Flood start speaking Gravemind from behind you.
Never thought I would see someone try to make curtains seem like a good level
Good job noticing the use of the High Charity theme from Halo 2 in the mission. I always loved that little progression of chords. So simple but instantly recognizable.
And that transition of reloading the shotgun too at 6:47! Fucking smooooooooth.
I feel like the scariest part is the thought of suddenly being plunged into darkness as your leader abandons ship without you knowing it. Just sitting in a corner for what feels like hours, waiting for something to happen while the other survivors are fighting for their lives
I love the logic behind the grave mind actually being a mind of graves, seeing chief and arbiter as just another corps for his own gain, calling the chief an armoured casket and arby the pallbearer was such a clever tbh I don't even know it was just clever lol
People did not like this level? Damn I loved this mission back in the day.
3:20 DUDE HOLY HELL
I never made that connection in all my time with this game.
I've spent a long time puzzling myself over High Charity's design but that just snapped it all into place
Now you know! And knowing is half the battle!
@@LaperLarden GO JOE!
I'm glad you brought up and paid attention to the in game Gravemind dialogue and quotes, never before have I seen voice acting so uniquely implemented in Halo or other games and fiction for that matter, bait out the quotes from a single combat form and the Gravemind speaks normally, trigger a battle or spotted quote from far away and you can hear his voice seemingly carried on the wind as a faint incomprehensible whisper, but find yourself surrounded and his voice BELLOWS in unity from host to host.
Personally Cortana's atmosphere doesn't do it for me, the level's way too bright (would've been the perfect level to give the H3 flashlight a reason to exist), the Cortana & Gravemind Moments intrude way too much on your experience, and the gameplay is way too abysmal to be proper Flood horror.
The Library on the other hand is a near-masterclass in Flood atmosphere and gameplay, as are basically all of CE's Flood levels imo.
The mission halo 2 high charity has the best set of light and dark, making you rely on your flashlight, that would’ve make halo 3 cortana into a better mission with dark and foggy corridors and lot of floodscreams.
Halo CE has indeed the better use of the flashlight, just like in ODST rookie you have the VIRS.
"I've never heard someone say something so controversial yet so brave"
I loved the art design here and interactive environment. I think if "The Library" suffered from too much repetition, this suffers from the opposite, where everything is simply too different for the first time through the campaign. Replayability is great, once you know the layout of the level, but if you don't it's just fighting hordes of enemies looking everywhere for the exit. And the longer you spend in the room, the more of those spiky flood forms start shooting you from the ceiling.
My absolute favorite mission is grave mind, appearing infront of the grunt, saving the marines and bringing them with you observing high charity and the mausoleum at the end. On top of all that it also is very difficult on legendary which makes it more fun.
I've always appreciated this mission due to the fact that it shows just how committed Chief was to Cortana: he knows the danger and the horror that the Flood bring - especially so here where he last left Cortana - yet he is willing to go to hell and back to get her home. The frustration, annoyance, fear, and other negative emotions the player feels very well may be Chief's as he comes to her aid.
Story-wise, this is one of the best levels in the original trilogy.
Another great video. I always had an appreciation for Cortana. Not from a level design perspective, but through lore and the environment. I'm glad to see that someone talked about it and agrees that Cortana is not that bad, and even great at times. The Gravemind talking to the player was nothing new to me, but I had no idea that he referred to the Master Chief and the Arbiter that way. That was really interesting to find out about. Great work.
"HE🏒🏒" has to be the most Australian term I've ever heard.
FUN FACT: They also call Baby Cassowaries "Stripeys"
Fun fact I coined it from MattPatt of Game/Film Theory as he uses it all the time.
This really made me see cortana in a new light! Cortana is so frustrating because bungie wants you to see the flood as bad news, not just an extra, dead, covenant
Videos and analysis like this is why Laper Larden is becoming my favorite Halo UA-camr. Keep making them and I will keep watching them. 😇❤️🎮
every mission in halo 3 makes you think you are an unstopable force with an army taking care of your back, even just the arbiter or johnson
When you play cortana you feel like a simple soldier getting attacked in every angle possible, suffering from visions about cortana in his last breath and the flood overtaking the place, withow anybody or anything taking care of your back, suffering the closest thing to living hell until you find cortana and recover the last hope you have, then you feel determined and then you find arbiter has come to help you and you feel like.... its time to kick ass again
This level is supposed to be stressful. The developers knew what they were doing when they made this level. It’s supposed to be a change of pace and a dungeon crawl. The mission isn’t supposed to make feel good, it’s aiming to make you stressed, annoyed , scared and afraid. When you leave a high charity it’s supposed to feel like a relief that you survived and found your way out. I think people have the perception that if something isn’t exciting it’s inherently bad and forget to look at the broader context of things and how they mesh together
Well mission accomplished, the made a unfun video game. Maybe they should have added microtransactions into the Cortana level too, just to make it all the more stressful, annoying and to make you feel bad.
@@Edax_Royeaux stupid take. Not every single good game is supposed to be super easy and without difficulty. Elden Ring is pretty fuckin popular in case you didn’t know
i’ve been playing since day 1 and never caught on to the armoured casket and pallbearer speech, fair one mate.
My memories completing the mission is just the anxiety a felt as a kid desperately trying to get out ,getting lost and running low on ammo uufff that hit hard
Great video talking about the strengths and weaknesses of this level. Personally my biggest problem with this level is the fact that it’s literally just part 2 of Floodgate. Having learned about that some time ago, and playing through Halo 2 it’s so obvious that this isn’t High Charity. The architecture doesn’t match up, and you don’t visit any of the old locations. I’d be fine if they reused big chunks of the level design in 2 but with Flood biomass everywhere because then it would actually feel like High Charity. Another problem I have with the level is that it’s way too bright. They should have made it pitch black aside from flickering lights, and gave the Flood forms the faint green light from CE. Imagine if those disgusting pustules were to emit green light contrasted with the various other lights from the Covenant technology. Also, the level doesn’t really give the impression that all the biomass is the result of broken down Covenant. They could have done stuff like having twisted appendages sticking out of the flesh, blood splattering the floor/walls.
I didn’t really mind the gameplay that much. Yes, it had some terrible parts. But, those were easily manageable. I’m just disappointed that we didn’t get any big areas where we could have fought Juggernauts, or had a vehicle section where you get in a damaged vehicle and have to fight your way through the Flood. Kind of like the Sacred Icon (I think that’s the mission with Flood in vehicles. I’m bad with names so I keep forgetting what the levels are called).
Great video!
really good hell comparison, especially when you consider some of the famous epics(mainly thinking about greek ones) of people journeying into an underworld in order to bring back and therefore revive a lost love. I guess thats part of what makes the ending cinematic of the level so special, Chief saved Cortana. He took on a classical heroic task and succeeded.
edit: i just wished they kept the graveminds rhyming speech pattern, not kidding, it was kind of goofy but it also really made him feel like a classical demonic entity you read about in stories.
I liked this level. Opening cutscene was awesome. It was nice to tease us during the Floodgate level on what this level would ultimately be. Surprise appearance of Arbiter at the end was a nice touch too.
Never clicked on a video faster in my life
I had more fun playing The Library than Two Betrayals and Cortana. I also hate that Cortana's layout was just the inside of the crashed ship frop Floodgate, since the devs lacked time to finish the real High Charity level.
Honestly, I really liked the Cortana Level, even since the first time I played it. It's creepy, it's brutal, but it's not impossible. It forces you to be as resourceful as possible with what you can work with.
Halo’s soundtrack always gives me chills and goosebumps I love it.
This view of the mission also lines up with some people’s beliefs about the library, that it fits the story and the theme of the mission very well at the cost of the gameplay.
I LOVE CORTANA. It was the level where my brother got stuck in campaign and never came back to it. I picked up the controller (my first time playing campaign), and played while he was not home. Learned the difficulty and eventually beat it for him. This is when I started to actually play Halo. He was getting older and was not interested as much. So he let me keep the Xbox 360 in my room. The rest is history from there, haven't stopped playing Halo since. good memories.
I like Cortana, what people normally complain about this level is precisely what the level wants. A piece of a nightmare. The idea of an entire city/planet overrun by the flood was perfectly captured by this level. The extremely different level design is a nice change from the 2 previous forerunner landscape oriented levels. The only thing I don't like is that corridor full of pure ranged forms in Legendary. I hate those things with all my heart.
You and me both.
They should have added microtransactions into the Cortana level too, just to make it even more of a nightmare.
I've never understood why people didn't like this mission. It's horrible in a great way.
Ik speedrunners don't like being slowed by the Gravemind forcing his way into Chief's mind. Yet the writing and acting are incredible.
"Of course, you came for...her....
We exist together now. Two corpses...in one grave."
If you haven't already, look up the cut Gravemind dialogue. They cut some serious fucking gold.
I always thought symbolically the level Cortana was a peek into the future of what life would be like if the Flood ultimately succeed.
Fun video! For all the different weapons you used in your recording, I’m surprised that having to switch engagement style or rubbing out of amo constantly didn’t make the list of things that play with you psychologically.
It’s so badass that arbiter shows up with a fucking flame thrower
I’m going to make a statement that’s absolutely mad; I’ve never hated the Library or Cortana (the mission) that much. Sure, the level design can get frustrating and the amount of enemies are absurd, but that’s the point of those levels. And you can’t not say the levels don’t work aesthetically, because that’s where I think they excel at.
The Breaking on the other hand, isn’t a mission worth defending.
Yeah, to hell with The Breaking. At least the others played their part with flying colors.
@@elijahnajera5425 I guess I should probably explain why I think that way. The Breaking is indeed similar to the Library/Cortana, with overwhelming enemy numbers and linear/repetitive level design, Bungie’s missions at the very least more than made up for all that with CE’s and H3’s story and gameplay.
Those two games have great stories and fun as hell gameplay. Halo 5’s story speaks for itself, but I do think it’s core gameplay is also fun. It doesn’t really help that the Prometheans as a whole aren’t super liked among the Halo community when it comes to “fun enemy design”.
Agreed! Honestly whenever I play through CE and the library comes up I'm actually happy to go through the mission. While one less elevator ride and the originally planned interior might help, overall I find the flood gameplay addicting and fitting for that point in the story. Teleported against your will into a flood hive at the moment you thought you finally escaped it. Cortana does that plus the emotional weight of finding cortana plus more interesting set design.
I kinda have a soft spot for this mission, definitely not my favourite but oddly enough when playing on legendary i get far less frustrated with this level than i do with say the ark which is one of my favourites.
theres nothing like finding the dead odst hiding in the walls with his flamethrower and picking it up to carry his torch and finishing what he started, nice little bit of environmental storytelling.
the look of the level is great too, a disgusting lovecraftian hive contrasted with the metal surfaces of alien technology, complete with pregnant wall pimples full of infection forms, with an intense sunset peeking through the flesh curtains at the start before becoming very dimly lit as you go deeper into high charitys rotten bowels.
in terms of gameplay i think the flood are at their best in halo 3, theyre still not as fun as the covenant but their new behaviours, mechanical tweaks and new units help "flesh" them out a lot more, it also helps that the flood are used a lot more sparingly in halo 3s campaign than previous campaigns, perhaps a little too sparingly, it wouldve been nice to see them pop in a bit more for some 3 way unsc v covenant v flood fights or vehicle combat against the flood which is sorely missing in halo 3.
though its unnerving at first i found the telepathic messaging from cortana and the gravemind really annoying throughout the campaign and its especially prevalent here constantly slowing you down, it wouldve also been nice to see an actual appearance from the gravemind itself, maybe even a bossfight though im sure bungie didnt want a repeat to the graveminds reception from fans in halo 2, still, a missed opportunity.
overall, still the weakest link in the chain but when the chain is as strong as halo 3s campaign id say thats pretty good, great video.
If you ever played this game on a difficulty higher than easy you would know this makes the library look like a spa. My mental health was genuinely tested on NORMAL.
Brilliant breakdown. I actually really liked it. I knew lore wise, Gravemind did a lot of psychological warfare but never picked up on the fact that he did it in this mission to Chief and Arbiter
Should say you got a subscriber out of this too so be proud of your work here and it gave me and my mates some ideas for a short story mod based between Halo 2 and 3. I've told them about this vid too so expect a few extra subscribers your way my man. You deserve it
Your channel is criminally underrated
The point about the Flood sharing the same voice is interesting in concept and goofy in execution. The idea of the Gravemind speaking through them is potentially unsettling, but one of the things I dislike about Halo 3's Flood is how.... cheesy they sound when speaking. I don't know if it has to do with the delivery or something else but it makes me take them less seriously. Maybe if said voice sounded more monstrous, more creepy, perhaps with multiple voices mixed in, it would have worked. Like if their voices sounded more like a collection of pained screams and screeches joining together to form words.
I wonder if Bungie took inspiration from System Shock 2's last level when designing this level, Cortana. There are a lot of similarities between the two level designs and not to mention The Many and The Flood as entities are similar in many ways as well.
friend and I did halo 3 legendary w/ mythic. cortana ended up actually being one of the easier levels because flood forms are (save for the pure forms) still relatively squishy. brute chieftans are absolutely monstrous with mythic enabled.
Going in knowing the lore, this level was always one of my lore favorites. The closest well get to a flood horror game. Sorry I'm 3 days late on comments.
tbh i never really understood why people hated the mission, i liked it. maybe not as much as the others and i ofc acknowledge how hard it was but i liked it.
Idk if it's cuz I'm super gone rn but this was fucking awesome bro. Loved it.
Sometimes I forget this level exists because my original 360 disc got scratched and this level was unable to load.
Cortana was originally the 2nd half of Floodgate - the doors and architecture in the level are that of a Covenant ship and not High Charity.
If they had more time for the game, I think it would have been quite interesting to see them realise Cortana as intended - perhaps using Gravemind/High Charity from Halo 2 as a basis, and making the Mausoleum flood-arbiter fight that they talked about.
Top notch content! you lad earned my sub :)
am i the only one who just loves quarantine zones chaotic encounters
The only reason I didn't liked this level is due to the horror and grotesque of it. I was a kid at the time and was sacred even from a terribly made horror flick that you see come out in January.
But now, years later I appreciate it and don't mind.Heck, compare to the Libraryin CE, you actually go around places that aren't copy and pasted. Along with going through short cuts and new ways on the second half. Love it.
My only complain now is the Gravemind and Cortana moments. A pain in the ass when going for the Par score and time achievements.
I really enjoyed this mission, it feel like a grind but something is keeping you going despite the odds
While the mission Cortana can be annoying at times I agree, because for me, the payoff is so worth it. The cutscene at the end when you finally get to Cortana is my favorite moment in any Halo campaign. The banter you have back and forth, the restoring of hope that not all is lost, it's pretty good.
I feel Floodgate is severly underrated and doesn't get much recognition. Imo it is the most fun flood level in the franchise.
Again, your content is so much good…
You deserve to he HiddenX size just because of the effort and quality
I don't know why cortana got so much hate, such a challenging mission, genuinely those last 3 missions of halo 3 sum up the essence of the whole series.
This level on Legendary becomes a cakewalk on legendary if you keep a Brute Shot and Carbine/BR on you.
the extra 2 points of bruteshot melee damage instagibs combat forms with no shields and the grenades it fires stuns pure forms while the BR and carbine headshots the ranged combat forms.
Another amazing video.
Halo 3's default field of view is not 78. It's ~70 when playing in 16:9, and it scales aspect ratios by holding vertical constant, resulting in ~55 degrees for 4:3 and ~92 degrees in an 8:3 split-screen view.
I never knew that, i guess since on MCC the default is 78 thats where he got the figure
@@aceskeletonne7446 MCC's defaults aren't necessarily accurate to what the original games used. For example, the original version of CEA on Xbox 360 used 86 degrees for 16:9, because that's what you get if you start from the OG Xbox version's 4:3 view and horizontally expand the window while holding the vertical FoV constant; but MCC currently uses 78 for its CE default.
...Actually, the MCC FoV slider isn't even necessarily an accurate reflection of the actual rendering FoV in some cases. ODST's MCC default of "80" seems to match the original 360 game, but if you measure what the field of view actually is, it's closer to 90.
New Alexandria from Reach is my all time favorite Halo mission.
I suppose I can be considered certifiably insane amongst Halo players then, because sometimes when I need to destress I load up the Library or Cortana and just play through it.
Telling ya, Two Betrayls is Halo CE's slept on level.
Man. Imagine spelling Betrayals wrong, and only noticing after it's liked. Smh
Cortana is one of my Fav Halo missions not even lying
All valid stuff, agreed.
For me I’d say the second mission in H5 is underrated. The introduction of Blue Team, the space-station design, and even the level design I found enjoyable.
the sanghelios levels are pretty good, about the highlight of h5s campaign for me, even the kraken fight as heavily scripted and disappointing compared to the scarab battles as it is, still makes for a cool setpiece
Silent Cartographer will always be my favorite mission
Love your analysis here, and I think this is a great video even though I don't necessarily share the same opinion. I really enjoy the level from a conceptual standpoint but aside from not finding it very fun (I can't really get behind levels in a game purposefully being designed to be not fun, but that's more of a philosophical debate than anything) it just doesn't resemble High Charity from Halo 2 enough to feel like the same place. Sure, you can see the Mausoleum of the Arbiter in the distance and the covenant bits have vaguely the same colour scheme, but it's *not* the same. Most of the level's geometry is actually repurposed from the cut Flood Ship mission that was supposed to take place after Floodgate, which is why it reuses the Shadow of Intent's bridge and why it's doors resemble the doors found on the Truth and Reconciliation instead of the two tier doors found on Halo 2's High Charity.
I also feel like in the context of Halo 3 as a standalone game, it doesn't really make sense to introduce the level as almost entirely being enveloped in flood biomass from the very start. It's not all that impactful when you don't get to see the contrast of what High Charity was before it becomes unrecognizable. I think it would've worked better had the level started in one of the areas where the flood infestation hadn't gotten as far, and you were mostly just walking through the same type of rooms and hallways you saw in Halo 2, and then there would progressively be more and more biomass until you reach the rooms we see in the final game, where they are almost completely unrecognizable.
I could keep going on as I have a lot of thoughts on the level but this comment is getting pretty long as it is. I guess my thesis is that I really like the idea of the level but wish it could've been more. Great video though.
This is great mission scared me on first solo through and one I replayed most
I only ever hated this mission because I was actually really afraid of it. It really is the halo version of walking through hell.
I always loved cortana, never had an issue with beating this mission on legendary. LASO on the other hand sucked. I miss the flood being in the halo series so much. Casuals complained and complained about how “annoying” they are, but the entire setting of the halo universe is based around the flood. BRING THEM BACK
Exodus and New Alexandria from Halo Reach are some of my favorite missions. The hopeless atmosphere in the missions, human civilians getting caught in the crossfire and feeling the need to save as many as I can, and seeing a glassing happen up close and personal all make those missions still sit with me. Not to mention Marty's soundtrack once again brings out all the right emotions as you feel helpless as the Covenant lay waste to the city.
Also Halo 3 ODST video when?
I think my buddy BillPill has already done a great video on Halo 3 ODST that I could never attempt to top. Really in-depth analysis and a big segment on the music too.
@@LaperLarden I'll have to check it out then!!
I don't know about Stockholm Syndrome, but I do love the Library from CE.
When I started playing halo 3 everything was going smoothly until the mission Cortana, took me 2 years to finally do it...
Cortana has always stood out to me as the DOOM level. A level in which you have to be too angry to die.
I don't play it often but when I do, that djent song from doom eternal starts playing in my head.
knowing how bungie works and how they thought after watching halo 2 docs and stuff i dont even really think youre looking too far into it. i think this was all genuinely intentionally done because this mission was probably already planned and mapped out back during halo 2 and got taken out like the rest of halo 3, so they probably took part of halo 3's development putting even more deep thought into the visual design of the level and decided to even make it affect gameplay for a more atmospheric environment since the flood are such a horrifying omnipresent creature.
frankly the only problem i have with this level is the flood pure form turret that takes way too much to kill, if not for that i would completely agree with you
Yeah... Those sons of bitches. It's triggering a flashback just thinking about them.
I am a firm believer that gameplay comes before storytelling. I can appreciate for it's great moments, but it still sucks to play. I actually didn't know about the "casket", and this level still has a ton of details!
I played this for the first time as a multi-player xbl co op with some kids from school bc we were all stuck on legendary :)
I have a tactic to beat Halo 3 cortana on legendary, just put Doom & eternal music and suddenly your supposed speedrun turns into a Legendary John Wick speedrun.
Rip and tear flood until is done.
I think the big thing that makes me not like Cortana is the ranged pure Forms. If I could just delete them from Halo 3 I would love this mission
I'll have to give it another go now you've reframed it. I was the same with Guilty Spark, I would always avoid it and skip to the Library until someone pointed out just how brilliant it is
I remember beating halo 3 on both normal and heroic (I don’t think I’ll do legendary) and every time I played Cortana I always got so damn pissed
I fucking ADORE the library ! Yeah I said it 👀
cortana has always been one of my favorite levels
Actually a travesty that we've had 5 FPS halo games after halo 3 with NO FLOOD!?!?!?!!
As a massive High Charity fan i hated playing this mission because of how twisted and contorted she had become, and putting her down like a sick pet. Though part of me liked it because i felt in a way i was avenging her.
It follows the level "The Covenant". Such standards are probably at least partly the reason for its negative reception.
The mission Cortana never felt you walk in High Charity at all.
Ironicly the level they used for Cortana was supposed to be a mission on a Covenant ship that they scrapped and used it for Cortana instead.
This annoyes me a lot that we never got a "true" High Charity there flood has turned it into a hive.
This biggest complaint I have about the Flood in Halo 3 is just that I can't FREAKING UNDERSTAND THEIR DIALOGUE LOL.
I never knew what they said until you showed it in this video. They keep talking over themselves and it just sounds like a garbled mess.
I always knew the general gist like I could tell they would talk to me when they saw me for the first time and when I tried to hide etc, but I never knew what they were saying lol
I hate library and Cortana but love that they exist because they are very needed levels
In a way I’m right don’t lie
Nice video
If you're a cat owner, those circular doors do hit different. That is all I am going to say.
i know this sounds crazy, but i love the library from ce
So, when the Dreadnought left, and the station became powerless, how did Cortana manage to stay alive? Doesn't her function draw power from whatever system she's in?
I want HiddenXPeria on this right now!
This is a mind blowing level on a concept standpoint
The bad parts that make it not so great to me and maybe others, is the linearity of the level, the pure forms bad and annoying design, and is way too short to get immersed in the dreadful atmosphere
Also since we first played this mission with my brother, we found like a missed potential that none of the rooms and locations in H2 missions are visited again in Cortana...
TL:DR I don't enjoy much this level because it could have been even greater, and I think that's how other players feel about it
Jackals are under appreciated
I actually prefer The Libruary. I find it quite difficult to even see what is in front of me (plus, those ranger flood forms were created by the devil himself).
The Libruary just feels a bit more relaxed to me.
However, that's just my opinion. I get why you like Cortana more.