@Officer Hotpants
Well that’s the thing isn’t it? They
didn’t make it
exactly the same as what it was they made it
so much worse. The Precursors where just put in there to be the Forerunners of the Forerunners and in so doing devaluing and undermining their original narrative role in Bungie Halo. In the process they turned them into a civilization of self-aggrandising morons who have such a singular vision on “Muh Mantle!” that it overrides all common sense.
They only care about “Muh Mantle” because the Precursors chose them for it, but when they decided to choose Humanity instead, the Forerunners killed them all for it and fought a war with us because “We where chosen for Muh Mantle!”. The authority they are invoking for that justification is the same authority that decided Humans where a better pick, so already they’ve demonstrated themselves to be self-centered and egotistical beyond all reasonable measure.
The only reason they bothered to save the other species from the Flood is because “Muh Mantle” demanded it, they where obligated to this stupid code that they didn’t even earn anyway. Compare that to old canon where the Forerunners where simply the most advanced race in the galaxy and they chose to save the other races because they believed they had a right to exist, certainly they shouldn’t die to the Flood. They simply had morals and principles they believed in so strongly they ultimately choose to sacrifice themselves rather then take the coward’s way out and compromise on them.
Or you know what? The Banished could have actually been a
good faction that actually utilized all the potentially interesting ideas that they where given, instead of being used for nothing and ultimately thrown away. I’ve talked about some of this stuff before so forgive me if I’m repeating myself a bit but what if: Instead of Atriox being this big dummy writer’s pet with dreadnaught-class starship tier plot armour, he was instead an understrength but highly intelligent subversive leader, whose vision allowed him to maintain the only heretical movement to actually outlast the Covenant itself?
He could make allies with all manner of unorthodox forces, giving the Banished a truly unique armour composition, he may have even brought Insurrectionist survivors into his fold, since it’s mentioned in 343’s own dubious lore that they had no ideological opposition to it. Imagine if one of Atriox’s top lieutenants and best friend was an old Innie Commander, maybe leading a chapter of the Banished called the
Scars of Madrigal or something, using the standard Covenant lance formation but with
humans in Banished powered armour in place of Sanghelli or Jiralhanne commanders.
Here’s an idea: if such a character existed and was one of Atriox’s closest friends, maybe they could bond over their mutual distaste for the authorities leading their races on what they see as a tyrannical and destructive path? Maybe this could give them an
actual reason to declare war on the UNSC as comrades in arms, since I really don’t understand what why they do it in 343’s canon. I don’t even think they ever bother explaining it, they just wanted a replacement Covenant, and theirs is so much cooler then that lame Bungie stuff, you guys!
So much potential with the Banished as a faction, all of it squandered. Thanks 343, you even ruin your own good ideas.
But really, would it
kill them to
actually fucking expand the universe? Why can’t they even add a new alien species without the excuse of the “Covenant Fringe” to say “oh akctshually, they where always part of the Covenant, we just didn’t see them in the games”. Fuck off 343, the Milky Way is a
fucking galaxy, do you understand the
sheer fucking scale of that setting? It’s not unreasonable in the slightest to assume the overwhelming amount of space is not under Covenant influence and control, and that there may be other alien factions out there to fight. Get creative guys, you really want to make your mark on this setting, how about you expand and enrich it instead of shitting on the ideas of people more creative then you?
@Anonymous #F9D1
Don’t even get me started on that shit, I have no idea how the fuck humanity could even
afford the Infinity or the SPARTAN IV program, considering how you can afford an entire fleet of cruisers for the cost of
one set of MJOLNIR armour.
On the list of positionally good ideas squandered: a game set in the interim between Halo 3 and (a much better mind) Halo 4, where the UNSC has had to be economical just to survive. It could develop the squad mechanics that Halo: Reach dabbled with and bring them up to Republic Commando levels, the story bringing back the Rookie from Halo 3: ODST as the player character, now the Sergeant of his own ODST team.
This game would return to the Halo: CE approach to gameplay where the protagonist was more of an elite version of a marine rather then a power armoured god of war like in 2 and 3. The ODSTs would be one of several units testing out a new combat harness designed with the assistance of Vergil and other Huragok defectors from the Covenant. Since we know they could generate shields around targets even without power armour, they would have created an experimental shield emitter that could be fitted into marine armour, hence how the player character could have shields similar to Halo: CE levels without power armour or regression in technology.
And they could use it to show off the factions the Covenant has dissolved into, and maybe introduce a couple new species into the canon, some of which humanity may actually try to make alliances with in an attempt to help restart their ruined economy with trade agreements.
Just one of the things I would make if
I was in charge of post-Bungie Halo. I have a number of spin-off ideas that I think would be interesting…but enough about me I guess.
