Halo 5: Guardians General Discussion

[Drizzy_Dan]

Lots of news lately with the cover art being revealed. So I noticed we don't actually have a general discussion about Halo 5: Guardians for some reason so I'm glad to start one and I'd love for anyone interested to get involved with speculation and thoughts. I'll be chiming in here every time news is released. So to start here's what Frank O'Connor tweeted earlier today:

 

https://twitter.com/franklez/status/593615744329383936

 

 

https://twitter.com/franklez/status/593631312059179008

 

The guesses that were on Twitter made before this Tweet include:

-Cortana

-The Arbiter

-Buck

-Fred

-Linda

-Kelly

-Halsey

 

And the following were guessed in a single Tweet just before Frankie said that somebody had guessed it.

-Iso-Didact

-Mendicant Bias

-Gravemind

-Mendez

-A Precursor

-Offensive Bias

 

Considering that there's no reason that only hardcore lore fans would be excited for the people in the top list, and that most of them are already practically confirmed, I'm betting that it's one of the people on the bottom list.  We already heard Mendez in HtT, a Precursor isn't exactly a "who," and we've already guessed Mendicant.  The Iso-Didact is probably dead, and the Gravemind has already appeared in the games.  I'm betting on OB, though MB could be who he was referring to as well.

 

Also:

https://twitter.com/franklez/status/593657281935380480

 

 

Little something I picked up from MoaHerder on HaloArchive to help people out in making speculations and such. 

 

 

 

Also if anyone wants to mention obesity, they can. But the post can't solely be about obesity.

[Drizzy_Dan]

Spoiler for Team Locke's members, don't look unless you want a spoiler:

 

 

This just in: Tanaka confirmed to be the white Spartan on Team Locke by Escalation.

http://i.imgur.com/Zr0V4eP.png?1

 

[rrhuntington]

Well that's... Unexpected. I would have expected

to be the Red one. That pretty much also says to me that, if in fact she/he is the white one, then Romeo is almost certainly not on this team. Unless he is that ODST variant and not Buck. Or that ODST looking person could be neither, but I doubt it.

Edited May 27, 2015 by Schpy Destruct

[Drizzy_Dan]

It's believed that the team consists of Tanaka in white on the far left, Macer in the red, Locke as Locke, and Buck in the rear wearing ODST variant armor.

[Drizzy_Dan]

 

E3 Campaign Trailer Analysis:

 

Ok so we start off with some dialogue from Buck and Locke which is great. It shows Buck's caring side. He's the won who's always going to want a peaceful way out of things if possible. He doesn't mind cutting down Covies of Jul's faction but when it comes to the Chief and Blue Team, I feel he doesn't want things to get physical if they don't have to be. Never mind that though let's get to the visuals. At this point in the beginning we see Chief after he falls into a cave mentioned in Ready Up Live's campaign coverage. He falls into this cave and hears Cortana's voice starting scattered sort of but then the audio focuses and says "Chief." Another thing to point out is the silhouette in his visor at 00:40 but we'll get to that later.

 

00:23 seems to indicate some prior relationship between the Arbiter Thel Vadam and Spartan Locke as Jameson Locke says "I'm a Spartan now, sir," to which Thel responds, "I know who you are."

 

00:31 shows Osiris getting onto the Arbiter's gold Lich, possibly a mobile base of operations. Tanaka's hair is not buzzed short, it's confirmed to be tightly fastened into a bow. Notice the Mantises making a return in this sequence. 

 

Back at 00:40 we see a Guardian rise in front of Chief (not sure if it's real or not) and then in his visor is the silhouette of Cortana who then tells him that the Domain is open and the Reclamation is beginning. 

 

00:43 shows Osiris with Thel and his team. I can't make Usze, Ntho, or Rtas out of any of the Sangheili there so I'm assuming these are just some of his Swords of Sanghelios brethren and they may make appearances later. 

 

00:46 is worth mentioning because of Thel's information to Locke: "Sunaion - the Covenant's final stronghold. That is where you'll find the Master Chief, and the Guardian he seeks." So it seems that everyone is aware that the large Sentinels are Guardians. 

 

01:25 you see Locke activate the Artemis which is like 3D radar scan of the immediate area for any evidence to support their hunt. They find an AR and Vale uses her ability to identify it as the Master Chief's so I believe these two instances are indications of each member having character-specific abilities where Locke's is the Artemis and Vale's is a DNA scanner of sorts. 

 

01:32 we see the first shot of team commands where Locke points Vale to the AR found. Another notable feature is that team chatter is abundant. 

 

02:13 Osiris spots the Guardian in Sunaion. Again they know what it is and what it looks like and apparently how it's used because Buck asks if they think Chief is already on board. Also worth noting that the Guardian is illuminated with blue lights indicating either neutral control or possibly control from the Librarian. 

 

03:15 we see orbs of light that appear to be the Prometheans' new preferred method of travel. The light flies around looking for a good spot to land and opens a portal there.

 

03:30 is our first look at a Phaeton in action shooting at Osiris and downing Vale. Locke uses team commands to order Buck to shoot it down with his Hydra and orders Tanaka to revive Vale.

 

03:52 we see the new enemy Promethean Soldiers in gameplay for the first time and it seems Fireteam Osiris is on the up and up again knowing exactly what they are probably due to prior engagements.

 

04:20 Locke reveals the new weapon the Plasma Caster which is shaped like a Storm Rifle but shoots Plasma Grenades like the Grenade Launcher from Reach. It also has a charge feature that will shoot a Plasma Grenade much faster and more accurately sticking to the enemy before overheating. 

 

04:31 not too important except that I found it kinda interesting that the Promethean Soldiers speak English instead of screeching.

 

04:51 revealed that like Promethean Knights, the Promethan Soldiers will have variants and ranks like the Soldier Captains seen here.

 

05:01 "I am the Warden Eternal. Keeper of the Domain and her secrets." This is obviously important because it introduces a new seemingly high ranking Promethean into the mix of chaos. The introduction tells me they haven't met before but he knows who Master Chief is and seems to support him and is actively going against Locke. The Warden Eternal has some badass Promethean armor with an even badder sword that takes down Locke's shield and health in one blow. I call him a Promethean and not a Forerunner because he seems to have been a previously composed human that was promoted. He doesn't have a structure like the Didact, he is lit inside and reveals to have a skull just like the other Prometheans. 

 

05:22 Extremely important. It shows a mano a mano duel between Jameson Locke and Jul Mdama with Dr. Halsey in the audience. Locke slides under Jul's sword and cuts his leg with his combat knife. Really hoping that's not the end for Jul Mdama.

 

05:29 Mgalekgolo forming from the Lekgolo on the ground. Very cool feature that I hope we see more than once during the campaign. Right after that we see a Spirit dropship opening from the sides like we've never seen before. And after that a gigantic Harvester comes into view. And if you freeze on 05:37 just right you'll see the new Wraith model. It's like the old one minus the back bottom part where you shove grenades. It's like half floating it's weird. 

 

 

Ok that's it for my analysis please add anything you saw that I didn't say or anything that's worth mentioning!

[Fishy]

Take note from the video of the campaign demo

 

 

 

 

1:09, Buck implies that nobody else knows about what they're going to do. Leaving their mission classified.

 

2:28, Grunt flies in from out of nowhere and explodes.

 

2:57, Guardian is capable of obliterating aircraft and structures with a single pulse.

 

5:08, Promethean (Soldier) can speak English, fluently.

 

6:12, Spirits are back, and with modifications for deployment it seems.

 

[Drizzy_Dan]

[Drizzy_Dan]

https://twitter.com/JoshingtonState/status/630380785011441664

[BATMAN]

So I'd just like to say I'm going against my policy of going dark for video games that I'm amped for...

 

'kay, that being said, I can't wait for more information to come out. Normally, I avoid everything about a video game that I'm looking forward to just so I can get a perfect, unsoiled playthrough. However, I'm a little too interested and invested at this point to just ignore everything that's being shown to continue the hype train.

 

So, yeah.. choo choo, all aboard the hype train.

[Drizzy_Dan]

I haven't been updating this as much as i could have been but I'll tri now

[Drizzy_Dan]

 

https://insighteditions.com/product/the-art-of-halo-5-guardians/#

[Drizzy_Dan]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/brendanklinkenberg/heres-the-full-trailer-for-halo-5-guardians#.stymPYxlK

 

Official Guardians trailer is here and it is SEXY 

[Is not JL]

I LOVE Locke's armor. It's lithe and sleek, and in a sense reflects the design aesthetics of both the original trilogy of Halo as well as the new artistic style we've explored beginning with Reach. It's tight, fits the body, but it's also clearly made up individual pieces when looked at up close; heavily reminding me of the original description of MJOLNIR armor as a giant 3D Puzzle. It's proportions make the suit look really well built and athletic - I can imagine dem sexy muscles and toned abs underneath due to the ergonomic shapes of the armor plating. It makes the suit feel powerful, yet really reflecting the new mobility systems - a combination of Tank and Jet, working together to become a Human Body.

 

Not to mention, glowing blue lights. I love that stuff.

 

Only big annoyance I have with it is Asymmetrical triangle on top of the helmet. For a design that's meant to be nonintrusive and nondisruptive, I don't see why such a thing needed to be included. 

 

That piece of concept art where you see his back. Reminds me a lot of an Evangelion. 

[Drizzy_Dan]

So we've seen some major gameplay and footage from Halo 5 recently and we've found out a lot of things. IGN has the list of skulls up from what I've heard but I've not yet checked it out myself. 

 

The Blue Team opening cinematic was beautiful and I think I liked it better than Osiris's. Osiris's had a lot of action but Blue Team really knows how to clear a room and make it look easy. (Which it was for them). The silent gestures of the Chief say it all. He still misses Cortana, his soulmate of an AI. A lot of people complained about Spartans flying around which I'm sure they'll do again with this one but you have to understand that these thousand pound juggernaut's are barreling through zero g and steering with their thruster packs. Same can almost be said with Osiris. They're doing a high altitude drop leaving enough hangtime for them to steer around mountains and through ship gaps with the precision of a Spartan using their thrusters. 

 

Swords of Sanghelios has been renamed Enemy Lines according to ReadyUpLive. He showed off about 5 minutes each from Enemy Lines and Blue Team and let us see weapons we haven't seen yet like the Incineration Cannon, Railgun, and SAW. Data pads have been confirmed as seen in RUL's gameplay so I'm psyched about what story those will be telling.

 

Something that's really got me intrigued is the amount of different routes you can take through your mission depending on style or exploration or tactical advantage. It reminds me of Splinter Cell which is one of my favorite games. So adding in collectibles to the mix may sound tedious right now to some but think of the replayability it adds to this campaign. 

 

Does anyone else want to contribute to this thread at all?

[Drizzy_Dan]

Season 3 of The Sprint airing this October - 

 

[Drizzy_Dan]

This is the trailer we were going to get October 4th. "The Unofficial Story"

 

Let's hear some thoughts!

 

https://youtu.be/5wLvbc327Tk

[haloman 2]

i really like it, but i have to wonder how they got footage of "cheif dieing" from th previous trailer without getting anyone else of blue team in it or osiris

[Drizzy_Dan]

i really like it, but i have to wonder how they got footage of "cheif dieing" from th previous trailer without getting anyone else of blue team in it or osiris

 

ONI cameras caught the footage. Mi guess is it was edited and not everything was shown 

The Sprint Season 3 episodes 1 and 2 are up on Xbox's YouTube Channel: 

 

First episode is about the music of Halo 5 and it is nothing short of spectacular. The full orchestra sounds so deep and powerful.

 

Second episode is about the making of the opening cutscene featuring Fireteam Osiris dropping onto Kamchatka. Some fun stuff going on.

 

Episodes 3 and 4 air October 26th right before the launch day of Halo 5 and episodes 5 and 6 air November 16. Stay tuned.

 

[Azaxx]

ONI cameras caught the footage. Mi guess is it was edited and not everything was shown 

The Sprint Season 3 episodes 1 and 2 are up on Xbox's YouTube Channel: 

 

First episode is about the music of Halo 5 and it is nothing short of spectacular. The full orchestra sounds so deep and powerful.

 

 

 

Second episode is about the making of the opening cutscene featuring Fireteam Osiris dropping onto Kamchatka. Some fun stuff going on.

 

 

 

Episodes 3 and 4 air October 26th right before the launch day of Halo 5 and episodes 5 and 6 air November 16. Stay tuned.

 

Kinda sucks we have to wait til the day before just to watch the final parts, would've been best to spread all 4 episodes over the course of the month in even succession.

[haloman 2]

ya but releasing them the day before halo 5 comes out makes it epic because you can have a halo themed ready for the next day to play halo 5 all day

plus it builds up the hype

[Drizzy_Dan]

[Is not JL]

If only The Fall of Reach was released on October 26th...

[Drizzy_Dan]

Official Halo 5: Guardians Launch Gameplay Trailer: 

 

 

Some notables:

 

Halsey has 2 arms in the beginning indicating that this is a flashback. Toa from Halo Canon has hypothesized that this could possibly be her entering her lab in Castle Base on Reach. There might be some tie to Reach here or this could just be for backstory on Halsey's relationship with ONI.

 

She's talking to Locke which means that this monologue is probably taking place after the first mission when she's captured by Osiris and brought back to Infinity.

 

"Once this is over, after all we have done, they will order you to kill us both." It seems that this mission may not be all that Locke thinks it is. Locke's mission is to bring the Chief back but Halsey is certain that once he does, he will be given the order to terminate Halsey and the Chief.

 

"I tried to warn you this was happening." Halsey says this to Palmer indicating that there was some kind of communication on the subject beforehand. 

 

Locke is holding his BR to John telling him to stand down. Here, it's shown that Chief doesn't have a crack in his visor yet. If we recall from the trailer released in theaters, Locke and Chief have a brawl here where Chief delivers quite a headbutt to Locke. Before entering the portal, Chief has that crack in his visor we see later on indicating Chief may have won this bout which is why he can walk through that portal with no opposition. 

 

It appears you will be fighting alongside the Arbiter in gameplay as Fireteam Osiris because you can see Locke walking up the stairs to find the Arbiter hip tossing a Zealot like a badass. 

 

There will be a fight with the Warden either before or after the little dialogue we have with him shown in the Believe Trailer. John gets slashed up.

 

2:07 if you pause at the right moment you see the Arbiter slashing an opposing Elite with an orange colored Prophet's Bane. it's beautiful. 

 

Lastly, this was a theory from a member on Halo Archive, but the fact that it says "experience the beginning of the greatest hunt in gaming history" may indicate that this hunt, whether it be for John or just for the truth, could span over more than just Halo 5: Guardians. 

[Guts]

Well at least at some point we get to fight the Warden Eternal.

 

I hope Lock put that crack in Chief's visor

[Drizzy_Dan]

Well at least at some point we get to fight the Warden Eternal.

 

I hope Lock put that crack in Chief's visor

 

I believe it was during that confrontation because if you see when he's holding the gun to Chief, there is no crack yet but before Chief enters the portal it is there. I think this is due to that headbutt to Locke we saw in the Theater Trailer that got cut upon internet release. I think Chief wins that bout which is why he's able to just walk through the portal.