Halo 5: Guardians General Discussion

[haloman 2]

when locke says "this is your last chance to come back peacefully" it almost sounds like he doesnt even want to fight cheif or for the mater stop him

it almost seems that by that point in the story and cutscene (whenever that is) locke is picking up on what is really going on or at least isnt sure he should continue his hunt or not.

 

by his tone he almost seemed hesitant to stop cheif

 

at least thats what i took from it

 

also when you first see the new forrunner

he seems like he is on blue teams side but then goes all guilty spark on them and betrays them like all forrunner related things do

[Is not JL]

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.

Halsey is armless in the shot of her walking next to Palmer. The fact that the cinematography in the opening sequence places Halsey's back to us as she stands in front of a giant blue light heavily supports the idea that this is a flashback. After all, which dead glowing blue person did Halsey spend time with when inside a ONI scientific facility?

 

 

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.

People have speculated this for quite some time now; 343 has repeatedly emphasised that they wish to maintain the player population from one game to the next. They've also gotten rid of all paid map DLC packs, and Microsoft probably grills them to still get revenue, so how else to keep the player population as well as get tons of money by releasing expansionary DLC each year that continues the story of Guardians? Halo 5: Different Subtext Here could be releasing each year, focusing on the narrative, up until Halo 6. Similar, in some ways, to Destiny's model of having a comet release every other year.

 

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Speculation time! We've gotten a TON of info on the game's story, while still maintaining secrecy over the real endgame and who the big bad even is. 343 has cleverly focused their marketing on the Hunt, pitting Chief against Locke, and by doing so they've never needed to do 'An Ancient Evil Awakens' this time around.

 

But I think we have enough information to start placing events into a timeline, following a three act structure.

 

 

Inciting Incident: Well, for the entire world, this has to be Guardians' awakening. People are dying, worlds are getting attacked. Big stuff happening - and that's what initially starts Fireteam Osiris' mission in Kamchatka. But it could also be Chief's vision of Cortana in Blue Team - 'The Domain is Open ... Meridian is next' - clearly this is the inciting incident for Chief going AWOL.

 

Plot Point 1: Well, this occurs right at the end of act 1, so I'd expect this to occur towards the end of Mission 4 or 5. My guess is that at this point, both Blue team and Osiris are in Meridian, which we know is full of Forerunner artifacts (If not for that planet, Regret would never have found Earth so quickly). That shot where Chief spots Osiris, then immediately hurries his pace? The sequence where Fireteam Osiris hops through portals and parkours across bridges in a massive Forerunner chamber filled with an orange glow? Locke confronting the Chief and that ending in a fight that cracks Chief's visor?

 

That is plot point 1. After all, both lead characters are making a solid decision that dictates the consequences - Chief doesn't go back to the UNSC, Locke goes on the Hunt. This leads right into Act 2, the act of conflict; Blue team and Osiris are now actively against each other, and the stakes must be rising if Chief decides that to save the Galaxy he needs to be alone. And supporting this idea would be cracking the visor - it's heavily symbolic and I think it ties in exactly with the first plot point.

 

My guess is that the portal leads from Meridian to Planet Fungus, what with the weird, giant fungi we see surrounding the lush green Forerunner surroundings. It is here that the Guardian teleports in through slipspace, and here that Chief meets the Warden Eternal - and does not engage in combat. We see this in the Believe trailers.

 

Following the three act structure, I would place Behind Enemy Lines and Sunaion Station (CANNOT wait to play in the Battle of Sunaion) right before Plot Point 2. 

 

______

 

Syd Fields' three act structure isn't the only thing we can use to pinpoint the narrative events. We also have Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey Monomyth:

 

 

And again, I think we can place Halo 5's storyline to fit with this structure. We have two lead characters - Chief and Locke - and I think both their character development will fit, although we don't have the entire story yet (So I'll just put down what I think fits, and what seems to fit with the Hero's Journey so far)

 

The Call to Adventure: For Both Chief and Locke, this initially begins with their respective missions - Retrieving Dr. Halsey and Scuttling the Argent Moon, respectively. 

 

Meeting the Mentor/Supernatural Aid: Locke meets Dr. Halsey, the character who knows how to stop the Guardians. Meanwhile, Chief has a vision of Cortana, who tells him that the Domain is open.

 

Trials: Well, the fact that there's a music piece in Halo 5 called 'The Trials' shows how music tells a story too, huh! Anyways, for both Locke and Chief they have the Covenant to contend with, an all new Forerunner threat, but at the same time they're also starting to understand that they oppose each other. The Hunt begins.

 

The First Threshold: Well, this links back up to Plot Point 1. Here, both characters make their decisions. Chief, for the first time ever in his whole life, openly questions and goes against his military indoctrination. And Locke decides that he MUST hunt down the Master Chief - the saviour of Humanity, and Hero of the UNSC. Both are tough decisions; and, with the Chief, there's a literal threshold he crosses as he approaches that big portal we've seen. 

 

At this point, they've entered their Special World - the Unknown. Chief has no idea how to function without the UNSC - he has no intel, no backup, no fallback location, not even Cortana. And I think we can tell from the voice acting that there's a descent - I've never heard Chief sound as 'dark' as he appears in the Believe trailers. Approaching the inmost cave, meeting the god - My guess? These are the Forerunners - the Warden Eternal, to be specific, who begins to unveil and unravel more of the mystery. 

 

So far that's all I've got. If my ideas are correct - then it also shows how well 343 has marketed their game, as I'm super hyped after having seen only tidbits of footage from just the first act of the game, and a little bit.

 

 

[Drizzy_Dan]

JL great post! Did you have anything in mind for plot point 2 or is that just your general outline of how the story will go? Also did you make the first little graph yourself? Nice touch!

[Is not JL]

no i took it from gugle

 

Well, we know that Behind Enemy Lines follows Fireteam Osiris; they land on Sanghelios, and their first objective is to get something that Dr. Halsey had there, some kind of Forerunner Artifact. I have no idea what Plot Point 2 could be - but I'd bet that it's related with the Forerunners' and their overarching plot, and that way, linked to the Artifact and then back to Chief and Locke. If there's any cutscene footage I've seen that I'd place near that plot-point, it'd be Locke and the Arbiter's discussion around that holotank table inside a tent. 

 

 

[Drizzy_Dan]

no i took it from gugle

 

Well, we know that Behind Enemy Lines follows Fireteam Osiris; they land on Sanghelios, and their first objective is to get something that Dr. Halsey had there, some kind of Forerunner Artifact. I have no idea what Plot Point 2 could be - but I'd bet that it's related with the Forerunners' and their overarching plot, and that way, linked to the Artifact and then back to Chief and Locke. If there's any cutscene footage I've seen that I'd place near that plot-point, it'd be Locke and the Arbiter's discussion around that holotank table inside a tent. 

 

I thought Enemy Lines was a mission to reach the Arbiter to aid him in his fight before the Battle of Sunaoin and get information that Sangheili supposedly have on the Guardians?

[Is not JL]

No. Behind Enemy Lines follows Osiris as they try to recover a Forerunner constructor to activate a Guardian (presumably the one on Sanghelios); the Covenant, in the meantime, have a Kraken blocking Osiris' way and the Arbiter sends the Swords of Sanghelios to help destroy the Kraken.

 

Speaking of the Arbiter, he is one of the few characters who could also be a mentor to Spartan Locke - in fact, probably more so than Catherine Halsey, whose negative outlook on both the S-IV Program as well as ONI has been made all but abundantly clear. Apart from Halo: Nightfall, Thel is the only character who has been shown being a guide to Locke - ever since one of the earliest pieces of footage featuring Locke (MCC's announcement trailer) and an environment we were going to see in Halo 5 (Sanghelios). 

 

I can't wait to see how integral Thel Vadam will be to the story of Halo 5. 

[Drizzy_Dan]

The achievement list is here: https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/community/blog-posts/halo-5-guardians-achievements-revealed

 

 

 

Seems that there are more than one Warden! Interesting!

 

 

[Drizzy_Dan]

 

Halo 5: LIVE October 26th from 3PM-9PM PDT

 

It gon be special y'all

[Is not JL]

 

Plot Point 1: Well, this occurs right at the end of act 1, so I'd expect this to occur towards the end of Mission 4 or 5. My guess is that at this point, both Blue team and Osiris are in Meridian

 

 

 

New footage further supports my claim - missions 3 and 4 follows Fireteam Osiris and takes place on Meridian.

 

Edited October 16, 2015 by Punkin Spice JLatte

[tmwk8]

I don't like the direction they're going with Cortana and Chief, just my opinion though.

[Drizzy_Dan]

I don't like the direction they're going with Cortana and Chief, just my opinion though.

 

I agree with you sir. I respect what 343 was trying to do with the story fully but I am neither impressed nor all too content.

 

Also, I know you haven't mentioned anything yet, but try to keep this conversation spoiler free until after this weekend.

[Qskeeeeee]

Is there firefight or something like it waves ???

[Drizzy_Dan]

Is there firefight or something like it waves ???

 

No but if you haven't tried Warzone I recommend it.

[Drizzy_Dan]

You may now discuss spoilers in here but please use spoiler tags and label properly.

[Azeraph]

Interesting direction 343has taken the story but there is obvious lines it could go either this way or that way. Not too thrilled with one characters development, it all feels like mass effect though it saddened me just a tad bit. I was hoping there might be whispers of the flood from outside the rim or precursors returning to take advantage of the void left by the forerunners. Why I would like to know was the point in assembling the guardians in one place? I mean think about it.

[Drizzy_Dan]

Interesting direction 343has taken the story but there is obvious lines it could go either this way or that way. Not too thrilled with one characters development, it all feels like mass effect though it saddened me just a tad bit. I was hoping there might be whispers of the flood from outside the rim or precursors returning to take advantage of the void left by the forerunners. Why I would like to know was the point in assembling the guardians in one place? I mean think about it.

 

This game raised so many questions. My favorite is: what truth were we hunting and did we find it?

[Dameon480]

I love this game. But i think they need to update the multiplayer right away. Put back infection, oddball, big team slayer, ect. Also put back loadouts and armor abilities. Put more.maps on the game and also fan favorite maps.

Also put back forge so people can make maps and file share it and later put if the map is awesome put it in multiplayer like halo reach did.

[Azeraph]

Read a book called The Dragon never sleeps by Glen Cook Written '87 so its really dated but it leaves you wondering. It has all the hallmarks of ancient mysteries, The desire to know who were the first ones to Ship AI's subsuming entire crews and going off on their own mission. Massive warships turning on one another as one of their own goes rogue to galaxy wide war breaks out between 2 empires. The difference is humanity are the bad guys still driven by consumption and power but are in our sunset years as a species.

 

There's not much mystery or sense of wonder in halo for myself personally, others new to the game might find it great and love it which I hope they do but the core mysteries have been answered.

 

Its obvious that this installment is about power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely though there is one tid bit that has me interested. Halsey, she knew about Cortana and possibly how and why she's going about reclamation.She also might have some particular reason to be afraid that Cortana was not a normal AI. Halsey might be afraid that Cortana was too an exact copy of herself.

 

oh in the dragon never sleeps these massive warships have soldiers ( marines ) that use power suits when deployed and are replaceable if KIA, their file is brought up and out pops a clone to replace them. The AI is the ships silent mothers but some have started to reach sentience from being in service for over 4000 years since each ships commission.

 

Not bad for a book written 12 years before bungy put together halos story. Sorry for bad grammar. I'm on my phone lol

[Drizzy_Dan]

I love this game. But i think they need to update the multiplayer right away. Put back infection, oddball, big team slayer, ect. Also put back loadouts and armor abilities. Put more.maps on the game and also fan favorite maps.

Also put back forge so people can make maps and file share it and later put if the map is awesome put it in multiplayer like halo reach did.

 

So you want Halo: Reach on Xbox One is what you're saying?

[Azeraph]

So, spoiler what if cortana is going to alter a halos output to that of a composer beam wave?

[Deroix]

Just a Ting

[Drizzy_Dan]

Just a Ting

 

those are just weapons with other weapons placed on top of them to make them look like different weapons.

[MaGmA]

Does anyone know if or when Halo 5 will be released on PC?