Halo 4

[-Zer0-]

This. Fucking this. Or at the very least a additional appearance of Halsey aside from that tease of a prologue.

Spoiler: show

With Halo 5 supposedly being darker along the way, I'm guessing they'll play a significant role in the stories to come. Linda was also offered conscription into the Spartan IV program so she should still be around. I'm hoping we hear more from the Gray Team and Spirit of Fire in this saga.

[Aylee]

Swat is live <3

[Buffy]

Ok, I've only played the first 3, never played any of the ODST, watched the web-isodes, now have played Halo 4.

I'm super confused:

Spoiler: show

What just happened? Ok, chief woke up at start, hooked up with Infinity through a strange series of events, met this Didact dude.

The forefunners are humans? Fleeing the flood, they built the halo rings?

The Didact is some other race? What?

Seriously, I got no idea wtf just happened, can someone explain to me like I'm a 4 year old?

[-Zer0-]

Ok, I've only played the first 3, never played any of the ODST, watched the web-isodes, now have played Halo 4.

I'm super confused:

Spoiler: show

What just happened? Ok, chief woke up at start, hooked up with Infinity through a strange series of events, met this Didact dude.

The forefunners are humans? Fleeing the flood, they built the halo rings?

The Didact is some other race? What?

Seriously, I got no idea wtf just happened, can someone explain to me like I'm a 4 year old?

Spoiler: show

I haven't read every bit of Halo media but this is what I've gathered. I think it's right for the most part...

So you know, throughout the Halo universe, you learn that Humans aren't the only species. Humanity first encounters the Jackals and quickly afterwards, the entire Covenant. The Covenant, throughout their years, learn of the Forerunners, an ancient species of sentient life forms that created the Halo Array and many various technology far more advanced than anything they'd ever witnessed. However, their ideals and understandings of the Forerunners are flawed and pushed to radical extremities by the Prophets, which result in fanatic beliefs that the Forerunners will lead them to godhood via the Great Journey by use of the Halo Array.

We learn throughout the series that the Halo Array is actually a weapon, built as the last measure against the Flood, the parasitic life forms bent on taking over all sentient life throughout the galaxy.

In the books and various media, we learn that the Forerunners were preceeded by another ancient race of beings called the Precursors, who originally held the Mantle of Responsibility and vast technological wealth and power throughout the galaxy. The Forerunners rose up and overthrew the Precursors in a great war. This led the Precursors to create the Flood parasite as an act of revenge. The Precursors sealed the Flood away in some sort of tube or vial, but it was lost throughout the ages.

Throughout the millenia, the ancient humans eventually came into existence and stumbled upon the Flood in an archaeological excavation. After several generations, the Flood was able to manifest itself in a certain species and rose up to take over anything and everything. This led the ancient humans to flee and struggle for survival, which I think was what the Librarian was referring to when she was telling Chief about the violent uprising of humans. The ancient humans went to war with the Forerunners, with the Forerunners eventually killing most of the humans, not knowing they were running from the Flood. The Flood arrives soon after, and the Forerunners fight a losing battle, weakened after thousands of years fighting the humans. They create the Halo Array and fire it, eliminating every living being in the galaxy, but not before storing their genetic codes.

Chief and humanity, along with every living species in the galaxy are a product of the Forerunners restoring life to the galaxy.

The Didact is a Forerunner, who was punished for killing the humans and imprisoned in a timelock. He tricks Chief into releasing him from imprisonment on Requiem, starting the events of Halo 4.

Diehard Halo fans correct me!

[Mythe_Seraph]

Won't lie at all, that was a pretty awesome and simple explanation. Thank you.

[Hank]

Spoiler: show

It wasn't just killing humans that got Didact locked up. He was using the Composer, that weapon he gets at the end of 4, to convert humans into Prometheans as a way to make them immune to the Flood; if they were machines, they wouldn't be susceptible to the Flood as they required biological beings to be their host. The Forerunners considered the resulting conversion of humans to Prometheans an abomination, but Didact was still ok with it so they locked him up. I'm wondering what that means for all the humans that were hit with the Composer at the very end of the game. I assume it will be a factor in Halo 5.

Also, I'm pretty sure it's only implied that the Precursors created the Flood, but never outright proven.

Also, fun fact, apparently the Composer was used to create 343 Guilty Spark, who was once Human.

At this point, as pure speculation, I assume 5 and 6 will involve restoring Cortana, resulting in her becoming organic by humanity perfecting the Composer.

[Burningthought]

Spoiler: show

It wasn't just killing humans that got Didact locked up. He was using the Composer, that weapon he gets at the end of 4, to convert humans into Prometheans as a way to make them immune to the Flood; if they were machines, they wouldn't be susceptible to the Flood as they required biological beings to be their host. The Forerunners considered the resulting conversion of humans to Prometheans an abomination, but Didact was still ok with it so they locked him up. I'm wondering what that means for all the humans that were hit with the Composer at the very end of the game. I assume it will be a factor in Halo 5.

Also, I'm pretty sure it's only implied that the Precursors created the Flood, but never outright proven.

Also, fun fact, apparently the Composer was used to create 343 Guilty Spark, who was once Human.

At this point, as pure speculation, I assume 5 and 6 will involve restoring Cortana, resulting in her becoming organic by humanity perfecting the Composer.

Awesome, I'm happy enough with that speculation that i'll skip Halo 5 and 6 and avoid buying Xbox Next and just go full on Sony.

[Hank]

And actually, that's probably what it's going to be, both to save Cortana and also all the humans that I am imagine were converted to Prometheans at the end of 4. Such an accomplishment would push Humanity back into Tier 1 or maybe even Tier 0, cementing their Reclamation and achieving the Mantle. Because for all of Didact's concerns with Humanity, the Sangheili are just as advanced, and actually, they hit the technology check points faster than Humanity after the rings reset everything. I'm pretty sure, anyway.

[Siya]

What's up with all the hackers in swat? Either the kill cam lags like no tomorrow, or people are hacking. Constantly see people aim at walls and shoot me or shoot 3 feet to the left of me and kill me....

[myreality]

[Pooky]

What's up with all the hackers in swat? Either the kill cam lags like no tomorrow, or people are hacking. Constantly see people aim at walls and shoot me or shoot 3 feet to the left of me and kill me....

Kill cams lag like crazy

[Qalbert]

I went through the man cannon on ragnarok and got sniped, in the killcam I literally wasn't even in the dude's scope, killcam is busted as fuck

[Myrrh_Quetz]

I've been in a lot of maps in the last two days that have it so lag heavy that I can't even get a single kill. I'm dead before I can fire off my first shot. It's been fucking annoying.

[Jakson]

Spoiler: show

I haven't read every bit of Halo media but this is what I've gathered. I think it's right for the most part...

So you know, throughout the Halo universe, you learn that Humans aren't the only species. Humanity first encounters the Jackals and quickly afterwards, the entire Covenant. The Covenant, throughout their years, learn of the Forerunners, an ancient species of sentient life forms that created the Halo Array and many various technology far more advanced than anything they'd ever witnessed. However, their ideals and understandings of the Forerunners are flawed and pushed to radical extremities by the Prophets, which result in fanatic beliefs that the Forerunners will lead them to godhood via the Great Journey by use of the Halo Array.

We learn throughout the series that the Halo Array is actually a weapon, built as the last measure against the Flood, the parasitic life forms bent on taking over all sentient life throughout the galaxy.

In the books and various media, we learn that the Forerunners were preceeded by another ancient race of beings called the Precursors, who originally held the Mantle of Responsibility and vast technological wealth and power throughout the galaxy. The Forerunners rose up and overthrew the Precursors in a great war. This led the Precursors to create the Flood parasite as an act of revenge. The Precursors sealed the Flood away in some sort of tube or vial, but it was lost throughout the ages.

Throughout the millenia, the ancient humans eventually came into existence and stumbled upon the Flood in an archaeological excavation. After several generations, the Flood was able to manifest itself in a certain species and rose up to take over anything and everything. This led the ancient humans to flee and struggle for survival, which I think was what the Librarian was referring to when she was telling Chief about the violent uprising of humans. The ancient humans went to war with the Forerunners, with the Forerunners eventually killing most of the humans, not knowing they were running from the Flood. The Flood arrives soon after, and the Forerunners fight a losing battle, weakened after thousands of years fighting the humans. They create the Halo Array and fire it, eliminating every living being in the galaxy, but not before storing their genetic codes.

Chief and humanity, along with every living species in the galaxy are a product of the Forerunners restoring life to the galaxy.

The Didact is a Forerunner, who was punished for killing the humans and imprisoned in a timelock. He tricks Chief into releasing him from imprisonment on Requiem, starting the events of Halo 4.

Diehard Halo fans correct me!

Spoiler: show

I didn't see anything that says that they actually fired the rings - if they did, how did the flood come back and cause the events of Halo 1-3? I assumed they meant to fire them but instead either left the galaxy, went into hiding, converted themselves to some mechanical/digital format a la the Prometheans, or just died. The Didact looked fleshy before getting his armor on after the Chief releases him, so either he got out of the way when the halos fired (which, couldn't all of the forerunners do that?) or the halos were fired after he was imprisoned, meaning his prison protected him (which, if there is a technology that would save the prisoners, then you'd think they'd protect themselves as well). This makes me think the halos were never fired, which would make sense why the flood and the Didact were still alive. The librarian messed with the human genetic code during the Didact's use of the Composer, and only after he was stopped did she deposit humans on Earth with the genesong unactivated (the Composer being out of commission made the genesong unnecessary).

Other than the Flood's resurgence, the modern day appearance of the Didact, other Forerunners, Humans, The Covenant, and any other life could be explained by later Halos by saying that the rings were fired while the Librarian (and maybe some other sympathetic Forerunners) hid in some Halo-proof shielding, then came out, seeded planets with life, then died at some later point. It would just make the Forerunners look a little goofy if they actually did go through all the trouble of building Halos and all the other work they did, and the flood survive the firing of the Halos anyway.

[Jakson]

Also, yes, all this lag is fucking infuriating.

[Hank]

Spoiler: show

They did fire the rings, which is why the Forerunners no longer exist. It was a last ditch effort to halt the Flood. Didact survived because he was imprisoned on a Shield World, synthetic planets built by the Forerunners to shelter them from the Halo blasts. I assume some Forerunners took shelter on some of the shield worlds, as Requiem is not the only one. Whether they're still in hiding, I do not know.

The Flood still exist because some were kept on some of the rings for the purpose of study. I assume they were in some sort of cryo sleep, similar to Didact. They were able to escape after the Covenant accidentally unleashed them. It's good to note that the firing of the Halo Array didn't actually kill the Flood, only their food source (sentient beings). They eventually died out, after which the Forerunner-built AIs reseeded planets with the archived specimens of the various sentient species that had been wiped out by the rings firing.

[Serra]

Spoiler: show

Agreeing with Hank -- the Forerunners did fire the Halo arrays originally, wiping out life, thus starving the Flood of its food source.

One problem I have with the recent entries into the franchise is that they seem to be retconning a lot of things established by Bungie to tell their own take on the story. For instance, I'm pretty sure the early games established that the Flood came out of the unknown reaches of space that the Forerunners had not explored. The rings were built to wipe out life in all known areas of space (save for the Ark where the indexes of genetic material from the galaxy was stored -- the Flood don't find the Ark till Halo 3 when they follow the battle there), but there was always a concern that the Flood could come back from wherever they came from.

More importantly however, the whole story with Didact is a retcon of the story told through the consoles in Halo 3. In Halo 3, it's established that he is the military commander who eventually fired the rings, and that The Librarian chose to remain on Earth -- going so far as to destroy her Key ships to strand herself on Earth. Didact argues with her to come back to the safety of the Ark and hesitates in firing the arrays, but finally does. It's possible for him to still be alive since the Ark was out of the range of the Halos and he could have entered hibernation on his own -- but the whole bit where she shoots him and freezes him is a major contradiction.

Also, this whole bit about humans once being advanced and then reverted back to an unevolved state is stupid..

[Hank]

Spoiler: show

Technically, the Flood did attack the Forerunners from deep space, but that's because the Flood fled to deep space 10,000 years prior to the Forerunner-Flood War in order to escape Humanity, who had figured out a way to defeat the Flood. It was only after the retreat of the Flood during the Human-Forerunner war that the Forerunners built the Halo Array as preparation for their expected return.

I agree, though. I became annoyed at the whole concept of Humanity having fought the Forerunners before. Back in Halo 3 I thought it was implied that Humanity was actually a direct descendant of the Forerunners. I thought Halo 1 even supported this when 343 Guilty Spark starts speaking to the Chief as if the Chief was the one who fired the rings the first time (like, human and Forerunner DNA was so similar it threw off the AI, while explaining why Humanity could activate and manipulate the Forerunner technology on the rings and Ark while other species couldn't). Plus, it would make more sense that the Prophets would try to cover up the truth that humans were actually the descendants of the gods they worshipped, rather than their gods' respected nemesis. I was under the impression that Humanity was still in its infancy when they decided to fire the rings, which is why they were catalogued and why the Librarian took pity.

I think they now explain the concept of Humanity being devolved as a punishment by the Forerunners. But yeah, I'm not too happy with how dangerously close to convoluted the story is becoming thanks to retconing and trying to squeeze more expanded universe in.

[Jakson]

Yeah, I'd forgotten about the terminals vids from the Halo: Anniversary edition. So let me get this straight:

Spoiler: show

Forerunner-Precursor war: Fore's winning, Pre's make flood as last ditch effort

Forerunners contain Flood.

Humans stumble across Flood, unleash it, start moving to other systems. Forerunners take this as an act of aggression.

Human-Forerunner war: Humans lose. Becomes Flood-Forerunner war.

Forerunners start to lose war against Flood, build Halos, Arks, and Shield Worlds (that they hadn't already) but then either die out or disappear after activating the Halos. Only confirmed to survive are AIs and the Didact. (This is the part I have the most problem with, but I suppose 5+6 will deal with the rest of the Forerunners, either stating they died or where they've been hanging out. I can't see them dying out because they could have hid on Requiem, and I doubt they would build so much shit out in the galaxy and in the 10k years they had after killing the flood that they wouldn't go back out and reclaim (lol) some or all of it until the Didact comes round so many years later.)

Planets are seeded with life by AIs, which also contain samples of the Flood and primitive humans. Humans are seeded on Earth.

---Intermission: Long ass time-------------

Covenant find the Ark or whatever had the Flood samples and release them and/or Flood that survived the Halos found the Covenant, effectively the same.

All the games here.

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Unrelated, got my first killtrocity today woo woo

[Salodin]

SWAT is freaking amazingly fun. Found my new favorite game mode.