My Thoughts On The Ending (spoiler)
#1
Sat, 12/01/2012 - 17:50
My Thoughts On The Ending (spoiler)
Not exactly a spoiler, but I figured I'd be safe. When Cortana touched the Chief in the end video, I think she really did that (physically.) I believe that she had taken on the form of the hard light, because she physically interacted with the Didact, and her copies came from the light bridge. I think that's exactly how she saved the Chief from the destruction of the nuke; the hard light must be physically strong enough to keep the blast out, as it is strong enough to be the paneling of a ship traveling through slipspace (as evidenced by the book Cryptum.) My theory is, she surrounded him in the hard light box he had his conversation with her in at the end of the game, and she was able to touch him. She did say "I've always wanted to do that." This is a really minor thing, but I think it explains how the Chief survived the ship exploding, the nuke in his face, and the Harry Potter's-last-conversation-with-Dumbledore moment he had with Cortana before he was rescued in space.
I agree completely.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER about books + game, in case you haven't read Greg Bear books, stop reading now!
I can't say why - maybe because its the theme of the whole thing - but the very last line really stuck with me "She said that to me once - about being a machine." I really dig that for some reason. And it was delivered well.
My guess it has something to do with the composer - if it can take people and turn them into programs and put them in Knights, why can't it a take a program and put it into another body. Kinda like the Didact was imprinted over Bornstellar... Maybe the way they close this whole thing out is to put Cortana in the flesh so there is a real end to the love story...
If she comes back in the next halo game as a person/machine/android and her and chief have some love thing going on, I'll never play another halo campaign again.
I agree it would be kinda lame, but I would still play. ;)
I remember Frankie once saying it wasn't a love story. Whatever the "It" was couldn't have been the partnership of MC and Cortana. That partnership has evolved through the series and the caring relationship they had by the end of Halo 3 was obvious to me. Seeing that heartfelt loving goodbye at the end of 4 was exactly the kind of love story ending I was expecting. MC has taken his armor off and is rejoining the rest of humanity for awhile. MC has saved humanity countless times and has taken nothing for himself because he doesn't know how to. That was part of the problem of being a brainwashed child soldier. Do your duty like a machine, was all he knew. As a result of Cortana becoming less of a machine and MC becoming more of a person there certainly is a strong possibility they will get together again physically. Could be in the flesh or as machines like 343 Guilty Spark. Both options are available in the Forerunner world. Or maybe both the Chief and Cortana have been comletely retired. You only have to look at the Spartan 4 characters to see they are more normal people and that's the direction 343i is going to continue taking the series.
The story about everything confuses me. BUT I think that he no longer needs the Mjolnir combat "skin". I believe he can now summon his combat skin. We will see though.
Wait, he can summon his own combat skin? That's a possibility? Yay for technology, I guess?
Well, didn't the didact summon his own armor. I thought it was funny that his wife called his armor his "combat skin". I am thinking he no longer needs mjolnir...but I may be reading too much into the word "skin".
I don't know what a didact is.
Edited to add: Is it this?: https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/players/GOV/halo4/servicerecord
WTF is that Dixon? That's what I want to roll with, minimalistic armor :)
Apparently, it's the "armor" of some moderator somewhere.
Combat Skin was discussed by 343 Guilty Spark in Halo:CE. He tells you to upgrade yours.
It was also discussed in one of the books - The Flood perhaps? - where it was revealed that John 117 was not the first try for a Reclaimer. Deep in the Library, they stumbled across the mangled body of a Marine Sargent - I think it even mentions his name - but 343 GS made some comment to the effect of: "Although incredibly brave, his combat skin was inadequate. I was worried about the reclaimers". I'll be damned if I can find it though. Maybe I'm making it up.
All forerunner wore some kind of combat skin. Level 12 was considered minimum for combat personel. According to 343 GS, the Mjolnir armor is considered level 2. ;)
http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Combat_Skin
This is why none of the 2O2P writers will touch a Halo 4 review...
Why is that? Not everyone will agree with a review anyway - even on a game that doesn't have the depth of lore of Halo. ;)
I would have to agree that not everyone agrees. However that's a lot of research just to get lynched in the end. The review would have to come from somebody who loves the series and has played every multiplayer configuration, in every game, as well as single player campaigns: part of a good, comprehensive review is highlighting what's better and lamenting what was lost. There's no substitute for experience. That being said, if one of you Halo guys would care to do a write up on Halo 4, I'm sure ElektraFi would throw it up on the front page and give you full credit.
I doubt that many 2O2P folks would be subject to influence, especially since they have been playing the game for a month and have had ample time to form their own opinions. However, these reviews do not exist in the 2O2P universe alone: I make sure they find their way to Raptr, Reddit, Digg, Facebook, and Twitter This not only extends the reach of the writer's work but gives 2O2P a modicum of social media exposure. These are the folks that would likely be influenced the most by a review, even a month later, especially when you consider the time of year.Most of the games reviewed by the writing staff are purchased by the writers: we are not given review copies like Machinima or Game Informer, and are not paid for our efforts. Consequently, our reviews are not always as timely as the bigger names but they're certainly just as comprehensive.
I picked up Halo 4 during the LAN but have played no competitive multiplayer, and cooperative only on one occasion. I don't know what forging is, but in other games it means that you have to make your own gear. I doubt that the nomenclature means the same thing in Halo...I'm guessing it's a map-making mode or something. I played the first two games, about 15 minutes of Halo 3, never even touched ODST, and played through single player campaign on Reach: I doubt that I would qualify as a Halo guy. Were I to write this review I would have to treat it a research project. The Forza car pack reviews that I write generally take an entire weekend to write, and I'm a Forza guy: i have played over 1300 hours of Forza 3 and more than 1500 hours of Forza 4...I qualify. If it takes me all day Saturday and Sunday to collect screenshots, run lap times, find interesting facts about each car in the car pack,and then write the review on my game of choice, then it would likely take a full month to accrue the experience and knowledge to write a credible Halo 4 review. I certainly won't begrudge you for being unwilling to do the same.
I liked her better when she was crazy...
I think it is all about John-117 reclaiming his humanity after being a trained war machine for over 30 years. Remember the "Scanned" trailer we saw awhile back? The focus on the young boy named John and hearing his mother calling him out before the scene transited to something else?
Recall the scene with the conversation between John-117 and Commander Thomas Lasky at the end of the game following the destruction of the Composer. What they were talking about? Something just hitted John-117 right there when "machine" is mentioned.
When Cortana "touched" MC for the first time, to me, she wasn't touching his armor, she was touching John-117's heart and knew there is a human being beneath the armor.
This is why I love "ROM" comic books from Marvel when I was growing up. If you know who/what is ROM, then you do understand what I'm talking about..gif "58")
I still have a shit ton of ROM comics somewhere
The next game will have MC with a new verison of "Cortana" and then their last game will have the actual Cortana come back as a real being. That's what I am calling. When she saved MC said that (not exact words) only part of her was left down there on the ship. I kind of agree with the hardlight theory that she is a physical thing right now and eventually will be a person I think.
Also something I was wondering, which may be completely stupid, but could 343 be trying to turn the series away from MC? I can't shake the feeling that MC taking off his armor means something more than a break. Maybe (hopefully) it means his armor will be upgraded, and I hope they aren't going to try to introduce a new main character.
Ugh, that's a lot of work. Halo is too big of a subject for me to do it proper service.