#halo infinite rants

[cola-canine]

Halo: Infinite is great. A brute zapped and froze my Banshee causing it to fall and crush said brute.

[hidingoutbackstage]

Oh we’re gonna get more callbacks. Cute. Don’t overplay your hand though guys

[my-keys]

i know it's been out for a few years now and what i'm about to say has been said before but i cannot stand the use of skins in halo infinite

i would so much rather have forced colors in team modes and custom colors for ffa only over this shit. every purple armor coating is fuck ugly and the ones that aren't are boring. every time i play infinite it just makes me wanna experience halo 3 and reach for the first time again. that was peak halo for me

[jame7t]

question from someone who checked out from infinite a while ago; has 343 even added anything beyond cosmetics and forge assets in the past year? feels like anytime I see a new update it's just forge maps they're putting in the queue

as far as i know there's been like, little to nothing. Some "new" gamemodes but it's still just adding stuff from previous games. 3 years into its life cycle. The game is ostensibly on life support aside from the frequently (and loudly) updated cash shop. Like, when a game wants to be a live service, it should justify a cash shop via actual content drops. Helldivers 2 releases monthly mini battlepasses & still manages numerous free content drops each month. Plus, it's prices are not absolutely divorced from reality. Sure, Helldivers is also 40 dollars, but it was a complete game on release and Helldivers' cash shop respects the fact that i've paid 40 bucks already.

Like, here's a wonderful selection from Halo Infinite's cash shop during the flood event:

These are 20-22 dollar armor sets. Also, Halo Infinite is "Free to play" but the campaign alone is still 60 bucks. "Okay, so the campaign being separate from multiplayer means those 60 bucks means a much larger campaign, right? No, because of course it doesn't. Halo infinite's campaign is technically larger in the sense that it has wider areas, but with less enemy variety, a complete lack of dynamic set pieces, literally three types of environment, & kind of a shit sandbox compared to previous games, it feels MUCH smaller. So, I paid 60 bucks for Halo, and because Halo says anyone can play for free now, all the people who bought campaign are now also stuck with the free to play prices, which is terrible. Also, to reiterate: Why are there 20 dollar armor sets in a game. why do you get to pay 22 dollars to havbe the flood shit on you. these items are priced like the game gets actual updates. Halo infinite has not received a (fun) new weapon since launch. (They added the bandit, which is a scope-less DMR from previous halo games, then added the bandit EVO, which is a variant so boring that i refused to google the difference at the time of writing this.) Anyway, Helldivers 2 cash shop costs like 2-3 bucks for armor sets, some show up cheaper. And the currency you buy them with? Incredibly easy to earn.

sorry for doing my gaming rant. if you want we can call it an infodump & we can pretend i said all this on the lap of a cooing milf who is voluptious &cares deeply about how mad i am at video games

[shadebloopnik]

"Even when stripped of all light, you're still the brightest of all I've ever laid eyes upon."

A shining Star, whether in Heaven or Hell

Lil design and sht rant that y'all can rlly skip cuz it aint much

Finaaaaally got to sharing this. Inserted my own lil pre-fall Lucifer design there. Was initially a bit frustrated with how the halos should look bc i don't usually do a lot of designing for those, but I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. I went with a huge princely crown vibe for Lucifer, inspired by his lil ball of flame in his demon form to represent his, like, Morningstar-ness. And yes, I hc his eyes being gold when he was in heaven; gives royal vibes. Also one of the reasons Alastor in this AU loves his demon form, as Luci's eyes shine in the same gold as it did back then, along with being surrounded by blood red sclera(huge upgrade in his opinion and infinitely hotter-)

For Alastor, I went with an earthy tone. My design for him in this AU went through a lot lol, tho they were subtle. Im sticking with this tho i think, the color scheme for me is just the right amount of simple and unassuming, as well as still standing out amongst other angels. Idk might change it who knows. I was originally going for antlers for his halo, but my finger slipped and it turned into that and I have no regrets-

He's the Earth to Lucifer's Morningstar

Also, the little flowers in his halo react to his mood! Halos are tangible in the Hellaverse, but I imagine ofc it bears a deep connection to their wearer. The roses bloom when he's happy, wilt a bit when upset, thorns get more prominent when angry, petals flare when startled, etc!

Also observe as I do not draw them with wings, y'all can't force meee

Also guess who's an idiot- lmfao i didn't realize I never posted these when i finished them around a week ago lmao. And no, I have not given up on this little Angelic Alastor AU of mine. Yes, im shocked too, I usually lose all motivation for my ideas and the fact that this is living through abt a month now??? I just...wow ok im really into this.

[joltning]

I’M REALLY REALLY HOPING FOR GOOD TUCKER CONTENT THIS SEASON. CHORUS TRILOGY WAS THE BEST HE’S EVER GOTTEN AND HE’S JUST BEEN GOING DOWNHILL SINCE (s18 was the fucking BOTTOM OF THE BARREL for him oh my fucking gd) but Tucker getting corrupted by the Meta COULD BE REALLY REALLY interesting, so I HAVE HOPE. He’s my favorite character and he CAN be a really well done and written character but I’m KIIINDA worried that he’s gonna be corrupted by the Meta WAY too quickly that we’re not even gonna GET much content of Tucker being Tucker, he’s just gonna quickly become an antagonist, and I REFUSE TO LET MY GUY GO OUT LIKE THAT. Thank you for listening rant over, I’m shaking like a leaf until s19 drops

thank you for acknowledging s18 Tucker they totally get him wrong in the Second he’s introduced. the very implication that he wash and Carolina just left caboose even after all their found family spiel always hurts me

tuckers one of my favorites too and honestly I feel like he doesn’t need much more characterization, he’s one of the more solid characters and the fans definitely complain for simmons and sarge development for a reason (a focus arc, I mean. They’ve had plenty of silent characterization, sarge becoming more accustomed to the blues and grif, his speech in s8, simmons becoming less of a brown noser and more outspoken,) but the way his character has just been drilled into the ground is a lil horrendous. I want him to have a good note

Honestly? rvb has always been twisty as fuck. reveals out the wazoo. alpha director. alpha ai. felix bad. Carolina daughter. I’m betting that Tucker isn’t the big bad he’s portrayed as.

The Meta’s whole goal was to collect the ais and armor enhancements of other freelancer to power up and ‘become human.’ With meta tucker, all of the ai would already be in his head, so there would be no reason to attack any of them, unless you’re counting epsilon himself (which is sure to be conflicting asf to tucker if true). Notice how even after he has them in compromising positions, he doesn’t make any moves to actually kill them.

The timing of this is weird too. Wash in the hospital means it presumably takes place after s17 but before s18. So, where’s lopez? There could, of course, be multiple simulations running at once but that would suck Ass.

If my theory of halo infinite being the simulation game (as CE and Reach were before) then there’s a possibility they’ll be out eventually too. There were spottings of the filming on MCC.

I propose the idea that this season is epsilon’s final simulation before giving up for good. His worst case scenario. The thing he fears would happen the most. And Tucker’s role in this is to ‘collect’ him, and end the simulation so he can move on.

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

☕️

I wanna hear more angry halo rants. Or happy ones if you’re done with the negativity

I should be more positive, It's literally amazing anytime a video game is made and it functions. A lot of talented people worked really really hard on this game, for so long!, and under so much scrutiny!

And I like a lot of the parts of Halo Infinite. I did enjoy Chief getting hit over the head with emotional conversation topics like steel chairs. I like the MP because it feels good to play and I put on the cat ears and the rainbow nameplate and cause problems. Some of the social playlists feel like Halo 3 custom games again.

I love the effort and work that the artists put into Infinite's world. I love the little campsites and details. The Banished campsites look different from the UNSC ones. The voice acting is good! The little stories in the audio files are heartbreaking! Rubicon Protocol expanded on that and the stories of the Spartan IVs we found in an interesting way.

Also the campaign has fun open world bits where you can drive your minivan of chieflings around and they say funny shit. You can give them lazer guns and vaporize the enemies.

This marine is shooting his shot and I'm all for it. Past Halo games had Chief being flirted with or made fun of or outright bullied by marines so seeing this again just hits.

[stawbabyfloofs]

hi!!! I'm a Natsuki fictive from the Spices Collective and I was wondering if I could request CG!yuri???

headcanons, x reader, x my source... anything please?

I had something really small but really really awful just happen and I really need my Yuyu but she's not close to front at all so making this request, no matter how long it'll take for you to make it or even if you decline it, would help me lots

i dunno my age range but it's not younger than 3 and not older than 10, I want bottles with Yuyu and sippy cups if she's not giving me a drink, I like pacis a ton and often play LoL and Halo Infinite with one in

that's all I know go nuts from there

OFC!! Thank you for asking and I hope this helps! Caregiver Yuri x Regressor (Gender Neu)

Summary: Yuri notices something is up and comforts you with a bottle feeding. It was pretty late, inching near nighttime to be more specific. You were on the floor playing a video game, and you weren't quite sure how long you've been playing, but you were sure of one thing- your paci wasn't in your mouth anymore. Maybe it fell out while focusing pretty hard? You thought, seeing it inches away from you. "Darling, are you still playing that game? Oh, Halo Infinite, right?" Yuri opens the door with a faint smile. Maybe you felt lonely, or you just had a rough day, but whatever it was, you knew you wanted your Yuyu and her attention. It didn't take a genius to figure that out, considering how long you looked in her direction and you forgetting to answer her. "Awww, sweetie," Yuri coos softly, "Are you feeling alright?" Yuri asks, her purple eyes meeting yours. That was all it took for you to open up to her. Yuri's pretty shy and reserved, but she's a really great listener. Between your rants, she was giving many nods and back rubs, assuring you that it was going to be okay and she'd always be there for you, reminding you that's what caregivers are for. After letting some feelings out, you had a new want. "Can I have a bottle? But from Yuyu!" You asked, wanting some comfort. "Mhm, would angel milk be alright, love?" She asked, making sure you were comfortable with it. And with a nod, Yuri asked you to find a cozy spot on the couch for the two of you, which you happily obliged. You ran to the couch and grabbed a blanket, excitedly clutching it while watching Yuri heat up the bottle for you. She turned around and gave a quick smile before taking the bottle out of the microwave and testing a drop to make sure it was the perfect temperature. You always thought Yuyu knew you so well and cared about getting the small things perfect, like mastering the perfect angel milk recipe! After a quick nod, she was headed your way and sat on the couch next to you. Wasting no time, you crawled into her lap. It took shuffling on her part for you both to get comfy, but then you were snuggled against her soft, beige turtleneck as she pulled the blanket over the two of you. "Open up for Yuyu, honey." Yuri cooed, her soft eyes looking down at you as she held the bottle near you. You opened your mouth and you soon had the taste of milk there. A smile spread to your face and it even got to Yuri too. Suckling on the bottle was a calming, rhythmic experience, and it reminded you of why you loved it so much. Bottles with Yuri meant quality time as she held you tightly, so it gave you a feeling that you were safe and there was nothing she'd let hurt you. It meant extra attention as she'd hum some songs, and sometimes recite one of her more appropriate poems to you. It felt nice to know she had her eye on you the whole time too, quickly wiping away any stray droplets of milk. That was rare though, you were a big kid, you thought. It just happens sometimes when you're so relaxed and a little dribbles out. Yuyu didn't seem to mind though, she was always happy to clean you up. "Slow down, Bug, you might get a tummy ache if you keep up," Yuri said calmly, using her mommy voice, "We don't want that, now do we?" Focusing on suckling a little slower, you thought about how you got the nickname Bug. Whenever you're not playing your games, there were times were you'd barge in on Yuri reading, and you'd sit next to her as she read. It became so common that whenever you joined her, she'd read out loud so you could follow her, even if the book was boring. (You just wanted to be near her) Though recently, she got you some more age-appropriate books that you read while sitting next to her. After a while, she called you her little book Bug because you'd always be there while she was reading, no matter what. The thought let out a little giggle that convinced Yuri to play with your hair. After a couple minutes, it was clear your bottle was now empty, yet you still felt a little upset when she pulled it away.

She paused for a minute, seeming to be thinking of something. "How about I go clean off your paci and we'll play your favorite game together, since I know you love to play with one in. How's that my little love?" Yuri spoke, softly. "Yeah! That sounds awesome!"

Eee! I was very excited to write this :D (I only saw this request tonight, so I immediately got to work on it)

[cobalt-owl]

I hope yall don't mind but I'm gonna hard rant about how Halo Infinite has reminded me of how I feel after coming back to try it again after all this time, after the first time I ever uninstalled a Halo game.

I have such a love hate relationship with Halo, specifically Halo Infinite. The franchise easily has my favorite written aliens in scifi as well as a wonderful theme and shockingly good books. Halo infinite also brings wonderful gameplay mechanics and changes that makes it more satisfying to play, not to mention the forge.

But

It also brings out the most greedy scummy bullshit I've seen in almost any game franchise. Making so many promises about "you will earn your cosmetics, not pay for them like in the original halo games" but then you can get basically no cosmetics without buying season passes because 343 still hasn't learned to just make halo and NOT base it on another franchise like cod or titanfall or fortnite. They even put armor color behind a pay wall. YOUR ARMOR COLOR. Majority of the color combos given are absolute garbage or are forever locked because you didn't play at a specific time period or they're divided by "armor cores". This all because they wanted to make the multiplayer "free to play" but still charge $60 for a mediocre campaign that is STILL BROKEN. After all of this, the slap to the face of the halo TV show, and the fact they held off on an important game mode like Infection so it could fit in their unwanted live service story. It feels like they actively don't give two shits about their community which is probably why there's less than 5,000 players on infinite at a time! Don't even get me started on the lack of playable Elites!

I WANT it to succeed, I WANT to see it blow up with a following. I see they put effort in the mechanics, the beautiful art design (hell I even got the concept art book), the freedom they gave in the forge game mode, the armor sets they supply that they know only long time fans and people who have read the books would care for. I was originally happy it was all falling apart for the amount of lies and empty promises that 343 made, but now I'm just depressed because I had so much hope for something from my childhood to not be ruined by corporate bs and self-righteous like franches such as star wars. That the one light I had after losing both my jobs and all my savings to covid to feel some joy from before everything fell apart slipped through my fingers like ice melted in summer heat. Now, just like the bright blue armor shader, I'm either having to settle with it or drop it entirely.

I suppose it's my fault for having such an attachment to a video game.

[campmurderparty]

jeannie & ford.

“Unsurprising!” jeannie commented with a slight roll of her eyes. Though she liked tara well enough on most days, it didn’t mean that she never had any bratty thoughts about the bartender. In general, she felt like she was the one keeping the whole of merlotte’s together (the other employees thought the complete opposite, that jeannie didn’t do enough sidework and had horrible work ethic). When she was in the weeds, no one was really jumping up to help her, but that was mostly her own fault. Everything felt like jeannie’s fault, so she tried very hard to put the blame on everyone else. The man in front of her probably wouldn’t be exempt from her wrath if he pissed her off–something incredibly easy to do.

For now, though, he was seeing her good side. Which only strengthened when he uttered his order.

A tru blood!

Ha-cha-cha, jeannie thought. An actual vampire sitting at the bar? Somehow, it felt like the busy restaurant slowed down around her. No longer did she hear arlene’s bitching about being oversat or mrs. fortenberry’s shrill rants. No longer did the bright lights blind her, lowering until there was just a halo around the vampire, the rest of the world falling into the shadow of the chiaroscuro. She hoped he was actually a vampire and not some loser that wanted to trick or scare her. One time some college kid ordered a tru blood on a dare and tried to convince her that he was going to bite her neck later when she was to leave work. He was entirely convincing.

Looking at the man now, it didn’t take much convincing to make her believe he was the real deal. At first glance, he seemed like any other customer that walked through merlotte’s doors. Just another hick in a hick town that jeannie was desperate to leave again… only that she had nowhere else to go. Bon temps was a glue trap and she was the fly that willingly landed on it, only to dream of flying free again someday. For just a brief second, she hoped that he’d be the one to free her. She heard so many stories of other girls her age that got swept off their feet by some romantic man that drank her blood and took her on extravagant vacations. She also heard about girls her age that got murdered by a hungry vampire that either blitz attacked from behind or seduced them with false promises. Maybe mrs. fortenberry was right to tell anyone that would listen to never look in a vampire’s eyes, that they could make you do things with just their gaze.

Could he compel her to do his bidding over a bartop? Was she safe from his power when he wore that hat? 

It didn’t take her a moment to believe that he was the real deal, despite the good ol’ boy accent and the uniformly outfit. Sitting at the bar, he blended in seamlessly, didn’t he? Almost seamlessly. Now that he had her full attention, she noticed there was something a little dark about him. Something that suggested a hint of danger, a hint of gravitas. A command for respect that jeannie was unlikely to give. Which made him infinitely more interesting than any other patron. Cowpoke dracula. Wow!

“Alright then.” jeannie’s smile grew into something genuine, incredibly intrigued. She began to search underneath the bar until she found the one box of tru blood that sam had leftover. The others had been thrown out since no one ever ordered them. Until now, of course. Popping back up, she brandished one bottle on the counter in front of him. “Sorry, we only have A-neg. I hope that’s okay.” putting one hand on her hip and the other on the bar, she leaned forward and watched carefully. “Oh, do you need me to microwave it or somethin’? I didn’t read the directions before I gave it to you. Oops.” she was just too excited.

[gronjon44]

So I wanna talk about Halo Infinite and one of the most important parts of it

(⚠️SPOILERS⚠️for the game btw) so if you haven't beaten it then I suggest you skip this and then return later

So anyone who's beaten the game should understand when I say that, in Infinite, Chief is at arguably his lowest he's ever been; having lost one of his biggest battles with the Banished while on a mission to destroy Cortana permanently, he's already not having a great time.

But I wanna talk specifically one of the most important interactions in the entire game (and it happens roughly near the final mission)

This is the game where someone finally asks Chief the important question that I don't think anyone has ever actually asked: "Are you okay?"

Nowhere in any other game I believe, does anyone take the time to ask if he's actually OK also don't bring up Halo 3 with Sgt Johnson his vitals litterally went dark thats a different kind of concern

Weapon is the only one to ever ask if he's actually doing okay, and instead of giving him half assed response or an excuse he openly admits he isn't; Weapon asked him 3 separate times in the game if he was okay and he only ever answered once on the final time.

And can you blame him for not being okay?

Ever since Halo 3 Chief has had wave after wave of hardhip thrown at him, and it starts with Cortana being left behind on the Halo with Gravemind after Halo 2.

And when you look across the game you realize that a key part of its themes and plot is the pain/guilt that Chief feels towards everything that's happened (especially to Cortana)

Everything he believes in has been put to the test more times than ever, from Cortanas capture by the Gravemind, the battle with the Diadact, and the events of Halo 5 with her eventual Rampancy.

He constantly blames himself and burdens himself with everything that's happen, he's been doing it since before he met Cortana. It's pushed him so far that, at times, he doubts his own decisions more than ever, hoping that he did the right thing.

It's why the comment Echo-216 makes about how Chief respected Escharum in his final moments is so important, because he knows exactly what was going through his mind in those last moments.

Ans it isn't just present events of the games either.

The game draws from his origins before CE in the Fall of Reach Novel, where he suffered the loss of fellow soldier and close friend Spartan-034, Samuel (the pass codes for Weapons shutdown sequence all refference Sam)

And looking beyond that he still carries the weight of his mistakes, both past and present.

He's lost battles before, and he's always bounced back; the loss to Atriox and the Banished however, seem to have pushed him father than before, almost as far as when he lost Sam and his other Spartans during the events of Fall of Reach.

He's on the brink and facing odds that, for the first time in a long time, are showing cracks in that expressionless gold face plate.

Echo-216 said he wasn't like Chief, that he deserves to be buried in the Condors with the other UNSC soldiers who died fighting the Banished, but he's wrong.

Chief knows exactly how he feels, and knows they aren't different; Chief wishes he could've died protecting Cortana, that he could've been there to die with his Spartans who were left behind on Reach, to die with Sam when he sacrificed himself to stop the Covennant ship.

And it isn't just Cheif feeling the weight of his decisions, others carry that weight. Others... like Cortana.

Cortana fought everyone to do what she thought was right, to win a fight that she felt with evrry fiber of her being that she was the winner in. But she failed, she failed in the worst way.

In her own words, because of her, she created an enemy that was pointing a weapon right at the universe... an enemy that had nothing to lose.

Even the Weapon, someone who didn't even meet Cortana, felt the weight of her decisions, the weight of Chief's distrust, the sheer weight of everything around her...

And it nearly crushed her back.

She was ready to sacrifice herself, just like Cortana did, snd was ready to own up to her mistakes in and instant.

But she didn't have to, because in that moment, Chief saw that spark, the part of her that made Weapon part of Cortana. And he wouldn't lose her a second time.

Cortana was always the first person to know Chief, someone who wasn't a Spartan.

She didn't have to ask him anything because she knew him that well.

And to see someone else develop that trust with him, someone who he's only known for a few days maybe, and to see him openly admit just how hard it's been for him, says alot about Chief as a character and for Infinite as a game.

The sheer amount of humanity in this game is just out of this world and frankly, Halo Infinite has cemented itself as my favorite of the games.

[cola-canine]

Halo: Infinite is now finished! Combat and the grappling hook are probably the best parts of the game. As a casual Halo fan, the story was enough to keep me interested but I did have to consult my friends who are more experienced in the lore a few times. Short review, but I think I got out most of what I wanted to say with my first impressions.

Current ranking: Reach Halo 2 Infinite Halo 4 Halo 3 Halo 1 Halo 3: ODST [Haven't played Halo 5]

[mysteriouslypleasantcat]

ghost of tsushima as a game really is the best example of what I mean when i complain about white people being weebs. The game is hailed as being really good and authentic to the era that it was trying to portray by a lot of people.

But the issue is that the game isn’t authentic or historically accurate for anything that isn’t the japanese characters. Which is the issue i have with a lot of white people. That they only care about Japanese stuff, and is willing to put so much effort into making sure the Japanese stuff is accurate and authentic, but then cannot work the same effort into literally anything else. 

Here is concept art for a Mongolian pole arm, except instead actually doing real research, they just default to a European pole arm

or they make up shit like this that has no historical basis. And like that is the issue. Despite the Mongolians being a pretty big fucking part of the game, the devs cannot be fucking assed to do some research and actually look at the pole arms and weapons used by Mongolia during the invasion. They will literally fly to Japan to make sure they are as authentic as they can to Japanese stuff, but cannot even be assed to do a basic google search to make sure they are not just pulling shit out of their ass when it comes to the Mongolian side of things. And this isn’t the only example of this dev company doing shit like this. They are willing to fly to Japan to ensure that their portrayal of Japanese history is accurate and correct, but cannot be assed to go to any of the native american history museums within their own city to make sure their portrayal of their Native American character is respectful and accurate. And Sucker Punch Studios is not the only one that does shit like this. corvus belli, the creators of Infinity, despite literally having lore that the yujing is asian united under a hyper nationalistic China that is specifically using it’s history to try and appeal to it’s subjects, has no units that actually look historic or takes inspirations from history, except the JSA, a subfaction that is based on Japan. The JSA gets units that are clones of famous Japanese historic figures, but not the rest of Yujing. And despite the lore literally saying that Yujing is still heterogeneous, JSA is the only Yujing subfaction that gets any focus. JSA gets units that look like samurai, while the rest of Yujing is just generic scifi. Except the Shaolin monk warriors, a overused and overrepresented cliche at this point. Not to mention despite Yujing being all of asia, there’s no india based units, one korean based unit, no vietnam based unit, etc. Or look at Scythe, a fictional dieselpunk board game based on inter war period europe. Despite Japan having very little to do with inter war europe at the time, the setting still feels the need to shoehorn in a faction based on japan. While ignoring China, who although not particapting in world war 1, did send labourers over during the inter war period to help them rebuild, a perfect reason for a china based faction to be in the game set during that time., No faction based on the Ottoman empire or the Kingdom of Hejaz, or India, despite all those countries being active participants in world war 1.

or another example being Halo infinite literally creating a alternative universe just to explain why there’s a samurai armour in the game.

Like what i am trying to say is that white people will almost always have the time and put in the effort to have japanese shit in their game, but then refuse to put the same effort into any other Asian and middle eastern culture. Even when it would make sense to. And that’s not even getting into people  being dismissive of Chinese stuff in general, only to call it japanese stuff when it is actually good, cuz they don’t know any better. I’ve seen people literally call Chinese words Japanese, call games clearly based on China, based on Japan. Call Donghua Anime. And that shit just bothers me. but what can I do? It’s not like i can force people to give a shit about china.

[vibe-spartan-nostalgia]

HALO SCREAMING TIME

I have been thinking of this constantly and as a fanbase we need to go the fuck off about this game and how ballsy 343 was for doing what it did back in 2012.

The opening of this game is one of my favourite things in Halo simply because it actually explores the intense ramifications of something like the Spartan program (I know the books did this, but seeing it in-game was really special), and, on a separate note, has graphics that legit embarrass some modern games.

To take a franchise as old and as important as Halo and actually lend it a whole new sense of character and emotion with your DEBUT TITLE was a move severely underappreciated at the time. 343 really went “oh, this franchise? WELL NOW THERE ARE REAL HUMAN EMOTIONS IN IT ASIDE FROM INSPIRING MILITARY COURAGE!” And in this scene, Chief’s utter disregard of the possibility that he could fail in a task where someone close to him is concerned is some amazing characterisation, and his body language is one of Halo 4′s many crowning achievements.

Also ok look I wanna jump forward a bit to the scenes on Ivanoff Station because there are a lot of temporary NPCs to be rescued in the Halo franchise, but the sheer amount of character they inject into Tillson in the short time she’s on-screen lends so much more agency to the mission and Chief’s involvement in the lives he touches.

Which leads greatly into Tillson’s death, featuring an amazing three-line pass:

“These people are gone”

“And more will follow if the Didact reaches Earth.”

“...they’ll pair you with another AI...”

The one thing that makes Chief turn his head is a reminder of Cortana’s inevitable fate, and it is a reality he is not prepared to accept. It is Master Chief, in the context of the games, finally lending a real sense of weight and stakes in a way he interacts with those he cares about.

Bringing us, of course, to Cortana’s death, which, once again, is 343 punching you in the stomach for thinking they were just going to do Halo 3 again.

Even now, face to face with Cortana’s death, Chief is unwilling to accept it, and it opens up so many new ways for him to explore himself as a human being and maybe finally break free of the emotional shackles he’s been in for his entire life.

“Our duty, as soldiers is to protect humanity, whatever the cost.”

“You say that like soldiers and humanity are two different things... soldiers aren’t machines... we’re just people. I’ll let you have the deck to yourself.”

“She said that to me once, about being a machine.”

15 year-old me was NOT ready for that kind of writing lemme tell you that

Halo 4 was a really special entry in a really special franchise and it opened up just so many brilliant narrative avenues  to take as Halo started to mature and grow with its audience, sacrificing the gung-ho explosive fun in favour of a more thoughtful exploration of characters.

AND THEN IN THE VERY FIRST SCENE OF HALO 5: G*ARDIANS THEY JUST PUT THE GUNG-HO EXPLOSIVENESS BACK

To wrap some kind of point up in all this, Halo 4 is my boo and I am terrified that with Halo Infinite, 343 will jump backwards to satisfy the whinging fanboys who just want constant remakes of Halo 3.

Love y’all, thanks for listening. I am going to go into a coma now

[this-is-an-uncreative-username]

Some people make me SICK

Playing weird skull, PICK IT UP. Sir I have a skewer clasped firmly in my hands and im not putting it away for you or your wife. JUST PICK UP THE STUPID head looking ball ass. It's not that hard. We will WIN SIR.

I am in tears

[partyinvalhalla]

l hate how Halo gets stereotyped as being for a bunch of sexist dudebros when the media itself has the best female representation that me, a woman, has seen. I mean Halo's got characters like Dr. Halsey, Kat, Cortana, Sarah Palmer, Serin, Linda, Kelly, and Olivia, and that's not even all of them. It's got women in science, badass female supersoldiers, heads of wierd shadow organizations, female alien space pirates, and so much more

How the fuck does nobody talk about this!