Zangor

Was playing through the campaign again. Just before I reached the target locator to destroy the gravity well, I saw this "little" beauty.

Well it seems I'm not getting anyone on my side here, which is fine either way. I was just seeing if I could get enough people to go along with this in hopes that we could maybe get a variant in the next map pack, like how they apparently added in the Strider and the Scanner with the first one. Not really entitlement, just hoping that if enought people got together in agreement 343i might go along with it too. Not really meaning to come off as a 'gime' person, just one who wanted to voice their opinions out there. Even if no one agrees (which no one seems to) it isn't like there arent enough choices for armor.

So I realize that this might just get ignored by 343i right from the start, I really feel the need to try. In Halo Reach the EOD helmet was my go-to, I loved how it looked and everything about it. In Halo 4 we go back to the old style of it though, and it just doesn't look as good with the two eyes. I realize that my opinion may not be shared by the many of you, but for those who agree I hope to have your support in this. My hope is to get enough people to poll here to bring notice to the want for change that 343i to hopefully accept this and bring a new variant of the EOD helm. Thank you for your time and I hope to have your support! -Zangor

This cutscene brought the whole "Man vs. Machine" motif to a close in my opinion. It was beautiful, and while I may not approve of it because of it being space wizard magic, it was definitly a defining moment in the character developement of the Chief, when he becomes more "human" than "machine". Was a very emotional cutscene, and I feel it is the best example of what sets this game apart from the other Halo games.

At the time we can assume the opening cutscene takes place those would have to be the Mark-IV suits (assumed). From what we have seen of the Mk.IV it is very similar to the Mk.VI, but bulkier, and without shielding. Those Spartans had shields, and it looked like the current Mk.VI, so I'm going to go with the thought that 343i did it because it would be easier to use something they had already than designing a new one to put in... the Halo purist in me was pissed at that either way, but to be honest I was nerdgasming to hard to the entire cutscene to give a damn about it.

The Arbiter coming back all depends on what happens in the next of the "Glasslands" series of books. -SPOILER- In the last book we have, "The Thursday War", the Elites are split between two factions in a brutal civil war. The Arbiter leads the faction hoping for peace with humanity and recovery from the war and the dependency on the Prophets for technology. Jul M'dama, a name many who have played Spartan Op's should recognize, leads the opposing faction, which still believe the Forrunners as gods and seek to destroy the Arbiter and his allies, humanity included of course. With ONI prodding both factions hoping for mutual annihilation we end the book with the knowledge that things aren't going well for the Arbiter, and from there we can suppose that his faction loses with the knowledge we have from Jul M'dama's appearance in Spartan Op's and the fact that there doesn't seem to be any 'friendly' Elites. So yeah, I really don't think the Arbiter is going to make an appearance again, which is a shame because I liked his character.

To JONxJITSU: I will find you first! Though I don't really 'camp' with active camo, it is about the only useful armor mod to me. I mainly use it to avoid detection when I notice someone on my radar, then I attack when ready. I guess you could call me a camper dispite the fact that I move around alot. You would be suprised by how many people don't notice you come out of camo and rush you on their radars. I've chased down my fair share of people for a decent while without them even turning around before I get them. Use what you have I guess, and if they don't use thier radars then I get an easy kill.

Already have both the LE and the controller paid, now just wait til Nov. 6th... Voting? Bah, I have Halo 4! Much more important!

I think the idea of an easter egg would be really neat, but it should be a more subtle one. Like finding a crate of Sweet William Cigars with a note "Deliver to Sgt. A.J.". Who could be anyone from Sgt. Allen Jacobs, to a hint at the beloved Sgt. Avery Johnson. Bringing an A.I. of him is, in my opinion, a terrible idea. Please, just no. It would either have to be a 'Dumb' A.I. or a 'Smart' A.I. copied from his so very dead brain (R.I.P.). So yeah, something subtle for his true fans to find, anything obvious would just be an eyesore.

So taking what we know, and adding in what Episode 3 showed us. This takes place sometime in 2525-2529 (I personally assume late 2525, or very early into 2526), because of the Mk-IV Mjolnir clad Spartans, we can also assume that the ONI censorship has indeed kept the Covenant a secret from just about everyone. Which... brings alot of questions to a close. I think I really jumped the gun on this rant, because Episode 3 really kinda brought all my doubts to a close. The cadets did not know of the alien threat, and the Spartans have not been made public for moral purposes. I think I need to make an apology to 343i for doubting them before seeing the end, so here's to a good last couple episodes of Forward Unto Dawn, and a great new Halo game!

The Mk-I Mjolnir was a power loader, the Mk-II was an armed and armored version of the Mk-I, the Mk-III was what the trainers were using in the bunkers on reach durring the "capture the flag" exersize, which is a bulky suit of power armor hooked up to a fusion generator via a long cable. The first suit of Mjolnir armor the S-IIs recieved was the Mk-IV, unshielded, looks even simpler than the Mk-V, which is what the Chief was using durring the events of the original Halo game. The one seen in the Forward Unto Dawn trailers bears all the visual characteristics of the Mk-VI versus the Mk-IV, or Mk-V. This is the supposed Mark-four. Used by the Spartans of Halo Wars. This is the Mark-five used by the Chief in Halo: Combat Evolved (Anniversary pic used) The Mark-Six (Used in Halo 2 and 3, this pic is from 3) And the Armor from Forward Unto Dawn I would say they took the Mk-VI from Halo 3, and touched it up to 'sorta' match to the Halo 4 Mk-VI(?) (edit: looked at a pic of the Halo 4 armor, looks nothing similar)

So I would like to start this rant by saying that anything I say can be made valid or invalid by simply finding a datestamp, or atleast finding somewhere it states when Forward Unto Dawn takes place. After watching the first two episodes back to back I got to thinking about how much of this seems so... broken. It is heavily implied (if not directly stated) that the major conflict of the time is the Insurrectionist War against the UNSC. There are many references to known theaters of war durring the fighting between the Insurrectionists and the UNSC, mainly from the main protagonists brother's video letters. Now to point out some fun dates and facts. (all taken from http://halostory.bun...y.timeline.html, which I can only assume is pretty official). 2494: First rebel insurrection in Eridanus system. This is the date given to the first conflict between the UNSC and the "Innies", three years after the ORION project, and a whopping 31 years before the first contact with the Covenant. 2513: Second rebel insurrection in Eridanus system, led by Colonel Robert Watts. This event takes place 12 years before First Contact, and four years before the start of the Spartan-II program. 2525: First Contact at Harvest, Spartan-II augmentations, Spartan-II group captures Colonel Robert Watts, Covenant Declaration of War, Project Mjolnir. 2525 is arguably the most important date in the Halo lore, the S-IIs are now at an approximate age of 12-14 (had to almost triple check the math there, but it is correct as an approximation for the entire group of S-IIs) and right up until the end of Halo 3 at the beginning of 2553 there is widespread chaos and destruction caused by the Covenant juggernaut. Now taking all this into consideration, where would Forward Unto Dawn take place? I would guess the year to be somewhere after the start of the Second Insurrection, around 2514-15. Which would make sense in the timeline because no one is pressured by the thought of the extermination of humanity. In comes my biggest fear, brought to life. We see the Master Friggen Cheif, Spartan-117, as is clearly marked on his Mark SIX (what?!) Mjolnir armor. So we have a suit of armor brought some thirty years in the past, equipped by a 4 or 5 year old version of the Chief? I'm all for good entertainment, but when you are a new company trying to take a VERY well known and loved game, spin out a new trilogy, and attempt at a live-action series, I would think you would, check your facts, check the timeline, make sure every detail is PERFECT to bring some credibility to yourselves. If we end up seeing the Chief having shields on his armor durring the next episode, I'm turing it off and changing my reservation to the normal copy of Halo 4, because you would have shamed yourselves and us by letting this go. As stated, please someone come up with some credible ideas or counters to any of this, because I really want to be proven wrong. I WANT to have faith in this company to do well, and having them make this go against known events like this really makes me scared of trusting them to do me right with a game I love.