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What the hell is going on with Halo?

sainraja

Member
I am not sure why people are getting hung up over the fact that Master Chief takes his helmet off. People expecting them to do that in the show are just being a bit ridiculous if you ask me. In the game, the reason for not showing him without a face was different. This is a TV show where MC is a character who does have a face. He's not a robot with a fixed helmet on top of him. One of the things I felt like the game could have done better with was MC's personality.
 
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01011001

Banned
The lack of interest is probably related to the fact it doesn't take place in the mainline Halo universe. So it basically adds nothing to the plot of the books and games.

yeah, that is the reason I am completely ignoring it... also it can only be bad lets be completely honest here, the day the decided to make the story revolve around the main characters of the games it was doomed to be shit.

what they should have done is a canon side story
 

Venza

Banned
Halo started to slip when in Infinite they didn’t add the sculpted fit female spartan asses in multiplayer from 5. (It was 4 where the lore and required expanded universe reading was becoming convoluted and nigh inaccessible for newcomers just playing the games.)
 

Hezekiah

Banned
When they said they plan on revealing Master Chief, I already knew it would bomb with the core halo fan base and was aimed at people vaguely families with the franchise or just at Sci fi fans.

I'll still watch it once it's fully released but it's not something I expect to blow me away in any way but be a mediocre halo series. But I'll give it a shot to convince me otherwise.
I see lots of people mentioning this, but did they have any choice in terms of revealing him?

I mean a faceless hero throughout isn't going to appeal to the mainstream. Same reason I guess they had the Mandolorian take off his helmet several times.
 

Ulysses 31

Member
I see lots of people mentioning this, but did they have any choice in terms of revealing him?

I mean a faceless hero throughout isn't going to appeal to the mainstream. Same reason I guess they had the Mandolorian take off his helmet several times.
Did they really have to do it in the first ep without building up any mystique around him first? 🤷‍♀️
 
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Sega Orphan

Banned
They forgot to edit out the wooden prop gun in one scene.
9gywFBU.jpg
 

Hezekiah

Banned
Did they really have to do it in the first ep without building up any mystique around him first? 🤷‍♀️
Just watching it now, waiting for the reveal. The action is OK, some nods to the game.

The CGI isn't terrible, but not great either. I can already tell that the actress playing Kwan can't act.
 

Lognor

Banned
The Witcher would like a word…
The Witcher had the huge advantage of being on Netflix. I don't know how Halo will end up doing in the ratings, but clearly it would do much better on a service people actually subscribe to!

I personally am waiting for the entire season to be out to decide if it's worth my time. If it's a passable binge show I'll check it out.
 

ZehDon

Member
It doesn't really surprise me that Microsoft aren't heavily marketing the show. Judging from the reactions to the first two episodes, they know the show won't land well and will be cancelled after it's second season. Why promote something that's going sully the brand further. 343i has ran Halo into the ground, and Halo Infinite was sent out to die - and I suspect the show was, too.
 

anothertech

Member
So the long awaited Halo series came out this week and where is all the interest or advertising?

  • Nothing on Xbox
  • Nothing on Xbox's Socials, yesterday the fact that Xbox were sponsoring the French National Football team was the big news for them
  • Nothing in Halo Infinite
  • No crossovers in Infinite
  • Not even advertised on Gaming sites
  • Outside of the US, hard to find a place streaming it until the last minute
  • Speaking of which, you'd think you could by it Episode by Episode on Xbox


Did they just send this out to die?

I've not seen it yet (I'm in the UK so only found out that Sky is streaming it, and I hate Sky so the High Seas for me)
Paramount +

That is all
 

ShaikhCroft

Member
To be honest I had no expectations from it but I kinda like the first episode! The only thing I wanted more was John Brenthal casted as Master Chief if they need to show his face!
 

CamHostage

Member
It is weird that Xbox isn't going nuts for its flagship franchise having a dedicated series on now. I think Microsoft has a hard time promoting it when it's not an international rollout, and not easily accessible without both an app and an independent subscription. Halo Infinite has had its own development delays for post-launch content, so they can't prioritize synching up much special with the show either. They did a little bit of a co-promotion online, at least.


Did PlayStation blow out Uncharted on PS4/5? I'm not remembering or seeing much archival evidence of PlayStation blowing that out either (PS Blog did do one feature story on the Uncharted movie), maybe these non-game events just don't fit into the internal marketing system the way they used?
 

CuNi

Member
I see lots of people mentioning this, but did they have any choice in terms of revealing him?

I mean a faceless hero throughout isn't going to appeal to the mainstream. Same reason I guess they had the Mandolorian take off his helmet several times.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the Mandalorian wasn't a Character that fans were already familiar with for a very long time but never saw his face.
We also have Boba Fett who never got a face reveal in Star Wars Episode 6 and he was a big fan favorite despite that, so it's not like it's impossible.
By this point, his "face-reveal" would be a huge moment to see happen on screen. We know how he looks, it was described in the books etc. so it's not a complete mystery box, but still, seeing how he looks now, after all the main Halo-games and how those affected him, is something many core fans die to know.

Doing a complete 180 to what the games have been doing just ruins the character and spits into the face of the original story creators intention.
Darth Vader also wasn't completely revealed until the last movie. Imagine if you would have had games for over 20 years with Darth Vader and you always saw him in his suit, his face kept a big secret, then a series comes along and just spoils this by making him take off the helmet. It just ruins the fun and mysterie about that character and shows how little respect the creators have to the games and their story.

"Well yeah, you kept his identity a secret, but you know what. Yeah we're not gonna do that, sorry!", this is how this looks like, at least too me.
I also dislike the cast choice for Miranda and Jakob Keyes, but that would be another huge topic that was debated to death when the cast was announced.
 
I think the absolute mess of how the new game's been handled in terms of updates, and even pissed off a lot of the core community, has dampened a lot of whatever excitement there was for this show. That, and apparently it's not even about Master Chief, but some new girl, and the creators didn't pay attention to the lore in the games or books, so it might not even be a passing adaptation.

TBH this seems like the weakest Halo has ever been as a franchise in terms of general reception, hard to see if it will ever genuinely recover. If it does, it'll probably begin with a complete rebranding and relaunch of Halo Infinite, or just dropping that and moving on to a new Halo altogether.

It's a tv series based on a video game. It was dead on the drawing board.

Sonic's had good tv shows. Good movies, too. The first MK movie is legit. I even like the Alice RE films, corny as they are.
 
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Krappadizzle

Gold Member
Correct me if I am wrong, but the Mandalorian wasn't a Character that fans were already familiar with for a very long time but never saw his face.
We also have Boba Fett who never got a face reveal in Star Wars Episode 6 and he was a big fan favorite despite that, so it's not like it's impossible.
By this point, his "face-reveal" would be a huge moment to see happen on screen. We know how he looks, it was described in the books etc. so it's not a complete mystery box, but still, seeing how he looks now, after all the main Halo-games and how those affected him, is something many core fans die to know.

Doing a complete 180 to what the games have been doing just ruins the character and spits into the face of the original story creators intention.
Darth Vader also wasn't completely revealed until the last movie. Imagine if you would have had games for over 20 years with Darth Vader and you always saw him in his suit, his face kept a big secret, then a series comes along and just spoils this by making him take off the helmet. It just ruins the fun and mysterie about that character and shows how little respect the creators have to the games and their story.

"Well yeah, you kept his identity a secret, but you know what. Yeah we're not gonna do that, sorry!", this is how this looks like, at least too me.
I also dislike the cast choice for Miranda and Jakob Keyes, but that would be another huge topic that was debated to death when the cast was announced.
I wouldn't say it ruined the character, not by a long shot. That's hyperbole at it's finest. I do think the face reveal was premature, probably would have been better to let that "Machine" persona/mythology play out a bit more to strengthen the face reveal.

I think the actor that plays Commander Keys def. projects the strength and persona of the character of Keys at his core, I'm fine with it, but I do see the complaints and can't really argue against them. Though, Miranda...She's acted awfully, that was a bad casting job.
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
Complete butchery of the lore, insulting game releases since Reach, pathetic excuse for a show - is it any wonder why people are having a hard time giving a shit? Aside from the die hard console warriors, most fans have written off the franchise for dead.
 
I guess because it’s written by someone who doesn’t care about any of the established lore and just wants to try and make as much money as they can by pleasing everyone but the core fan base.

I was looking forward to this one but after seeing a few reviews and first thoughts I’m giving this one a miss. Far too much good TV out there to waste time with shit like this.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
yeah, that is the reason I am completely ignoring it... also it can only be bad lets be completely honest here, the day the decided to make the story revolve around the main characters of the games it was doomed to be shit.

what they should have done is a canon side story
Honestly they could have even just retold one of the books.

So its not frame for frame one of the games but gamers and nongamers can still feel like there is more story out there so they can either be sold on jumping into the games or just be content with a self contained story they can assume and/or read up a wiki for the extended universe.

Anything but "we wont even bother with the game" to see where the story should go.
I kinda get why the showrunners didnt want to be tied down by source material.....but at the same time....WTF why bother making something based on lore you wont actually bother referencing?

Might as well have called the show space marine 117 and called it day.
 

Corndog

Banned
So the long awaited Halo series came out this week and where is all the interest or advertising?

  • Nothing on Xbox
  • Nothing on Xbox's Socials, yesterday the fact that Xbox were sponsoring the French National Football team was the big news for them
  • Nothing in Halo Infinite
  • No crossovers in Infinite
  • Not even advertised on Gaming sites
  • Outside of the US, hard to find a place streaming it until the last minute
  • Speaking of which, you'd think you could by it Episode by Episode on Xbox


Did they just send this out to die?

I've not seen it yet (I'm in the UK so only found out that Sky is streaming it, and I hate Sky so the High Seas for me)
I heard it was pretty bad so maybe it’s for the best.
 
Not sure why the first episode isn’t free on paramount.

I was gonna give it a watch but im not subscribing to that service, especially since i watched Yellowstone already. I can’t see many non-halo fans subscribing to watch it, theres almost zero buzz around it as it is.

Maybe if it were on amazon prime or netflix it could have done better
 
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There's an ad on the bus station close to were I live.

I also received an Amazon Prime Video e-mail. Aparently, you can subscribe to Paramount+ or use the trial and watch through the Amazon Prime Video app/site.

But honestly being non-canon and rumors of Master Chief removing his helmet is putting me off.
This helmet thing is absolutely stupid, next game should have him taking it off if required. It just makes no sense anymore.
 

Robb

Gold Member
Yeah, it’s kinda strange. But the show itself doesn’t seem great anyway. I watched a trailer and it seemed one of the main bad guys were a human that’s part of the covenant.. which makes no sense.

I’m not really sure who the show is for, doesn’t seem like it’s made for Halo fans at least.
 
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Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Was that ever even speculated about? Or is it just something new to bash the game over.
Yeah, Alex from Digital Foundry was looking forward to the raytracing being added. I believe MS must've said something about it early on
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Honestly been wondering the same about Infinite. Came out with so much positive buzz and momentum and feels like it's just dying on the vine. No one is talking about it.

Its to be expected 4 months after launch I think. Especially with little to no updates. Everyone's moved onto elden ring.

I mean, imagine being horizon forbidden West. The conversation about your game lasted a week and then it was just lost to the bigger game.

Plus we live in a world now where everyone wants to move onto the next big thing asap. The only thing that can bring halo back is an incredible update from 343....which do we really think they can pull that off? I have my doubts.
 

Shubh_C63

Member
It really shouldn't be this hard to make a video game TV show with such good lore.
But I mean I liked book of Boba Fett so maybe an exception.
 

Ozzie666

Member
I'm not sure what to think of it after one episode, but I'll check out the second. The first half of the first episode, at times felt really cheesy. I'm not sure if it was the video game influenced parts, like the visor and shield sounds, or what. I didn't mind that Master Chief took his helmet off. The episode felt very unbalanced at times in terms of production and CGI quality. I think shows like Mandalorian, Raised by Wolves and even Foundation have kind of skewed my expectations a bit, maybe to unrealistic levels. The show also seems to have come a few years too late.
 
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