Halo2 story

[Wesly]

So i finished Halo2 yesterday. I played it in a slow pace on normal and it took me a week (could have easily finished it in 2 or 3 days if i slept less and played more intensively).

I won't give my review about the game (let's just say imo Halo1>Halo2),...but did anyone understand anything about the story??

<spoiler warning>

I understood:
-that Earth was attacked by the Covenant leaded by one of the Prophets
-that Arbiter after being tortured was chosen as holy hitman to do tasks for the Prophets.
-that Master Chief (MC from now on) and his crew found the new Halo by pursuing the Prohet that attacked Earth.
-that Arbiters species was betrayed by the prophets and after enlightment from the Gravemind creature decided to work together with MC to stop activation of the Halo ring.
-that the Halo rings were built by a species called Forerunners with goal to eliminate the Flood. It was activated and thereby the Forerunners were also destroyed.
-Activation of the ring was stopped by arbiter, but an emergency system activated all other existing Halo rings and is waiting for activation from the Ark.

I didn't understand:
-what the Ark is (is it a ship? An installation or a planet?).
-why Covenants attacked Earth (maybe because Earth contained the Ark?).
-how the Covenants found the new Halo ring (clearly they didn't know about it at the start of Halo2).
-why killing the prophet by MC was important (why exactly was he ordered to do that?)
-how the Flood survived Halo1 (or the Forerunners activation of the Halo rings).
-who or what is the gravemind (Flood mastermind?).
-what was MC doing at the end and why was he onboard that ship to Earth (what kind of ship was that and why was it heading to earth?)
-what happened to the other prophets (two died).
-what Cortana was meaning at the end during the conversation with the Gravemind.

Anybody care to discuss or explain the story?

[Lunar Aura]

Did you like the multiplayer?

[Wesly]

I haven't really played that part yet (i got this game just a week, i don't have Xbox Live and i prefer to play beat'm-ups with my friends; MK Deception rules ).
I'm sure it's great (Banshee battles whoohoo!)

But why did you ask?

[Lunar Aura]

Originally Posted by Wesly

I haven't really played that part yet (i got this game just a week, i don't have Xbox Live and i prefer to play beat'm-ups with my friends; MK Deception rules ).
I'm sure it's great (Banshee battles whoohoo!)

But why did you ask?

Cuz I also don't have LIVE but I would like to play against more people over xbConnect

[Johnmcl7]

Originally Posted by Lunar Aura

Cuz I also don't have LIVE but I would like to play against more people over xbConnect

If you don't have Live, then why do you have an Xbox Live gamertag in your location info?

John

[Murmillo]

Well, it seems like, Bungie, with out admiting it, have admited that they sort of had to cut out/trim the 3rd chapter of Halo2 to meet the Nov 9th deadline. So, a lot of those loose ends that were to be tided together in the 3rd chapter .. havn't. But as for "fan fiction" goes....

Originally Posted by Wesly

So i finished Halo2 yesterday. I played it in a slow pace on normal and it took me a week (could have easily finished it in 2 or 3 days if i slept less and played more intensively).

I won't give my review about the game (let's just say imo Halo1>Halo2),...but did anyone understand anything about the story??

<spoiler warning>
I didn't understand:
-what the Ark is (is it a ship? An installation or a planet?).
It has been "hinted" thru out the two games, that the humans are related or possible decendents of the Forerunners. The books, and even Halo2 have hinted about our "special" connection to Forerunner tech. This is a story line down the road which bungie doesn't want to leak, so for now. This is our best guess.
-why Covenants attacked Earth (maybe because Earth contained the Ark?).
Again, related to the first question. Maybe Earth was once a Forerunner base, outpost, "last stand" against the flood. 3rd Chapter or even Halo3 will discuss. Rumor has, that there is more to Mombassa(sp) the city where Regret landed then what we have been told.
-how the Covenants found the new Halo ring (clearly they didn't know about it at the start of Halo2).
The Convenant just found.. not that hard to believe. If they can put over 500 ships to attack a planet, you think they have a few hundred more searching.
-why killing the prophet by MC was important (why exactly was he ordered to do that?)
Since we know that there are 3 prophets ruling the Convenant, any chance at killing the leaders, take it. I forget what Regret was about to do. But he was a leader, need dead and MC was happy to help.
-how the Flood survived Halo1 (or the Forerunners activation of the Halo rings).
The Halo Rings don't kill the flood, they kill the floods food. Floods food is any organic life with sufficent bio mass. They then starve to death. Does this take 100 years. 1000 years.. 10,000 years?. Nobody knows. Only bungie, and they havn't told us.
-who or what is the gravemind (Flood mastermind?).
Very most likly.
-what was MC doing at the end and why was he onboard that ship to Earth (what kind of ship was that and why was it heading to earth?)
That was a Forrunner ship, with MC following the last prophet. The Prophet was headed back to earth for.., the arc as rumors go.
-what happened to the other prophets (two died).
Both were killed at the hands of MC. You killed Regret at the end of Chapter 1. Then the flood/you killed the 2nd one (can't remember the name). And your chasing the 3rd. As for OTHER prophets.. who knows. They could be around, but they arn't rulling the Convie.
-what Cortana was meaning at the end during the conversation with the Gravemind.
I'm not sure myself.

Anybody care to discuss or explain the story?

We need chapter 3!!

[Jamar]

I just finished Halo 2... Was a great game but I didn't see the end coming. I thought I was half way through lol. I too am confused as hell. The bit with Cortana at the end only made it worse... Two or three more years till we get something new? I hope they at least release another interlude book. First Strike was pretty good. I'm going to have to re-read it because I still thought there were a couple of spartans left. Well, kudos to bungie I just wish the ending wasn't so abrupt... Felt a little like Matrix Revolutions to me.

[Alstrong]

Regret wanted to activate Halo hence the MC going off and killing him.

One thing that was odd about finding another halo was.... the time involved in traveling there. Think about it. These halos have maximum firing of 25000 light years in radius.... they would be spaced very far apart... time distortions again ala First Strike? maybe....

[Johnmcl7]

Originally Posted by Alstrong

Regret wanted to activate Halo hence the MC going off and killing him.

One thing that was odd about finding another halo was.... the time involved in traveling there. Think about it. These halos have maximum firing of 25000 light years in radius.... they would be spaced very far apart... time distortions again ala First Strike? maybe....

There's no figures or anything so we can't tell how fast the covenant ships are through slipspace, however since the ship jumped straight from earth to the new Halo, we can assume they are very fast and with their vast fleet they can easily search through many solar systems. However, it would explain why they were so desperate to recover the artifact as it would make it much easier for them to find more Halos.

I would have liked a bit more of a tie-in with the books, just a bit more at the start of the intro scene to show what the MC did after blowing up Halo since we get a bit of the covenant history for the Arbiter. I guess anything could have happened, from the very first trailer they showed, I assumed the MC was on the Gettysburg, which would make sense since they knew the covenant had found earth but it sounds like the ship is called the 'Spoke' , I would like to know what happened in between the Gettysburg and getting to earth. Clearly Johnson survived so it's entirely possible Dr Halsey and a couple of the other Spartans survive, it would have been really cool to have other spartans in the storyline since they were not designed as lone soldiers, from a gameplay element it would have been good to have someone else to fight along and work with. Of course you can do this with the co-op mode, would have been nice in the storyline though, the poor MC has been pretty much left on his own most of the time from his spartan brothers and sisters.

Just one more thing on the Flood surviving the original Halo's being activated, in the first game while you are fighting through the flood, the Monitor tells you that some of the flood were kept on Halo for observation, which the Monitor reflects may have been a mistake - they were possibly kept in some sort of stasis, hence they survived the Halo pulses. This does look a bit stupid given they went to such lengths of wiping out themselves and everything else, but the Monitor did say the Forerunner's needed the Flood for their survival, so whatever happened to them could possibly happen to the humans in their future so the Flood could have been left for more extensive studying in case they were needed for human survival.

John

[castroltran]

man...I don't how it's possible but my little 10 year old brother beat this game is 2 days. And he is about 5 hours from beating metal gear solid 3. Maybe I will ask him the story and I will post on the net.

[Sotos]

I saw and played a part in my Friends Xbox
Nothing really so special about it

It had good action but i was not so thrilled to tell you the truth




I prefer Half life 2 PC as a game

[Temujin]

After reading the books, I was quite annoyed with some of the "lost" pieces of information in the game.

Mind you I still think it's a great game. It almost seems like they just glimpsed over the books and tried to create a cohesive story (which seems to have backfired).

Wesly - you might want to play the game through a second time, it does answer some of your questions.

I do agree with John. The other Spartans are completely removed, which I didn't like. After how they really helped in First Strike; it would have been nice way to make the plot flow better if they were at the medal ceremony.

Once again Earth is the "epicenter." At the end of 2 it does state that Earth is supposed to trigger all the other Halos (I found this piece the least bit surprising).

There really doesn't seem to be any point, now, in reading the books. It's too bad, because Eric Nylund did a good job in fleshing out the "Halo Universe."

[Alstrong]

Originally Posted by Johnmcl7

There's no figures or anything so we can't tell how fast the covenant ships are through slipspace, however since the ship jumped straight from earth to the new Halo, we can assume they are very fast and with their vast fleet they can easily search through many solar systems. However, it would explain why they were so desperate to recover the artifact as it would make it much easier for them to find more Halos.

They'd have to be fast to travel at least 50 000 light years in that amount of time. Evenly spaced Halos.... I mean, after all those years, if they really could travel that fast, all they'd need to do was send a couple ships and keep traveling. That they JUST found it now is odd.

I'm thinking that little artifact in First Strike may still have an effect....

[Alstrong]

Originally Posted by Johnmcl7

it sounds like the ship is called the 'Spoke'

I figured "on the spoke" was just an expression. *shrug* Like "we're here and ready"

Clearly Johnson survived so it's entirely possible Dr Halsey and a couple of the other Spartans survive.

I thought you read First Strike?

The poor MC has been pretty much left on his own most of the time from his spartan brothers and sisters.

I wonder if that was the point, to emphasize the fact that he is very much Earth's last hope.

they were possibly kept in some sort of stasis, hence they survived the Halo pulses.

Well, the halos only kill the Flood's "food", not the little pure flood..balloon/popcorn/things.

[Wesly]

Originally Posted by Murmillo

Well, it seems like, Bungie, with out admiting it, have admited that they sort of had to cut out/trim the 3rd chapter of Halo2 to meet the Nov 9th deadline. So, a lot of those loose ends that were to be tided together in the 3rd chapter .. havn't. But as for "fan fiction" goes....
We need chapter 3!!

Thanks for the answers. Thats exactly what i was looking for.
The story in the game indeed looks very incomplete and rushed to me.

-what was MC doing at the end and why was he onboard that ship to Earth (what kind of ship was that and why was it heading to earth?)
That was a Forrunner ship, with MC following the last prophet. The Prophet was headed back to earth for.., the arc as rumors go.

So the Prophet assumed the Brutes would fail in launching the Halo Ring, but put all rings in standby-mode?

what the Ark is (is it a ship? An installation or a planet?).
It has been "hinted" thru out the two games, that the humans are related or possible decendents of the Forerunners. The books, and even Halo2 have hinted about our "special" connection to Forerunner tech. This is a story line down the road which bungie doesn't want to leak, so for now. This is our best guess.

Interesting. So is the "special link" the reason why Miranda Keyes was forced to insert the Index and activate the Halo ring (always wondered why the Prophets brought Miranda and Johnson with them)?

Originally Posted by Johnmcl7

Just one more thing on the Flood surviving the original Halo's being activated, in the first game while you are fighting through the flood, the Monitor tells you that some of the flood were kept on Halo for observation, which the Monitor reflects may have been a mistake - they were possibly kept in some sort of stasis, hence they survived the Halo pulses. This does look a bit stupid given they went to such lengths of wiping out themselves and everything else, but the Monitor did say the Forerunner's needed the Flood for their survival, so whatever happened to them could possibly happen to the humans in their future so the Flood could have been left for more extensive studying in case they were needed for human survival.
John

That indeed sounds very contradicting to me. Why bother killing your own and every other species in the whole galaxy because of a dangerous parasite threat,....but then instead of completely killing the threat off (by starvation).... keeping it alive by own choice on all the Halo rings (which inevitably will be visited by other species in times. You got seven or more of them afterall) and put the galaxy in danger again?

Also what is the great journey the covenants (Prophets) speak about?
I'm assuming killing of the whole galaxy and populating it with Covenants only...
Why are they eager to destroy themself? (they have all the knowledge about the Halo rings,...they got monitor which told them how to activate it).

The parallel between the Halo story and the bible story "Noah's Arc" is undeniable (Flood, Arc, 7 etc).
Do you think the Arc is a place (installation or planet) which is protected or safe (like the Arc in the bible story) from the blasts of the Halo rings? (which is again contradicting,...cause the Forerunners should have survived then).

Originally Posted by Temujin

Wesly - you might want to play the game through a second time, it does answer some of your questions.

I'm planning to do that (it's such a short game anyway).
But was i the only one who had trouble hearing the dialogs well (not talking about the cutscenes,...i have those subtitled)? I wish there was an option for seperate voice and music/effect volume.

[Alstrong]

Originally Posted by Wesly

So the Prophet assumed the Brutes would fail in launching the Halo Ring, but put all rings in standby-mode?

The Prophet expected the Brutes to activate Halo. The prophet possibly thought that the ark would save him (and whatever forces were with him) from the "divine wind" of the halos. The rings were put in stand-by when Keyes took out the Index.

Interesting. So is the "special link" the reason why Miranda Keyes was forced to insert the Index and activate the Halo ring (always wondered why the Prophets brought Miranda and Johnson with them)?

The Forerunner probably linked the utilization of the rings through DNA. The humans are known by the Monitors as Reclaimers, possibly meaning that humans are descended from the Forerunner and are to reclaim the Forerunner legacy -> the rings and possibly studying the Flood further to see if they can find a solution to the Flood problem.

Interesting that the Prophet of Truth knew that the humans were needed to activate the rings..... Seems like someone doesn't want the Reclaimer's reclaiming their heritage and overthrow his power over the Covenant.

That indeed sounds very contradicting to me. Why bother killing your own and every other species in the whole galaxy because of a dangerous parasite threat,....but then instead of completely killing the threat off (by starvation).... keeping it alive by own choice on all the Halo rings (which inevitably will be visited by other species in times. You got seven or more of them afterall) and put the galaxy in danger again?

Well, the rings were supposed to only be able to kill the infected organisms, not the Flood itself. Actually killing flood is perhaps harder than it appears in the game.

But then that booklet supposedly says the rings kills everything including Flood... *shrug*

Also what is the great journey the covenants (Prophets) speak about?
I'm assuming killing of the whole galaxy and populating it with Covenants only...

Probably transcendance. The prophets may think that the Forerunner's disappearance is due to them reaching a higher state of existance. The Ultimate Zen.

Why are they eager to destroy themself? (they have all the knowledge about the Halo rings,...they got monitor which told them how to activate it).

Just because they know how to activate them, doesn't mean that they know what it does exactly.

"There are things about Halo, even the hierarchs do not understand."

Quoted earlier, the prophet of Mercy mentions Halo's divine wind sweeping through the galaxy or something similar. The Prophet's interpretation is still way off even after GS343's interrogation.

The parallel between the Halo story and the bible story "Noah's Arc" is undeniable (Flood, Arc, 7 etc).
Do you think the Arc is a place (installation or planet) which is protected or safe (like the Arc in the bible story) from the blasts of the Halo rings? (which is again contradicting,...cause the Forerunners should have survived then).

Ark with a K.
Arc is a geometric description.

Going by the Bible, the Ark was a safehaven from the flood. Is it so contradicting? The Reclaimers just happen to be on the planet where the ark is probably located... (as GS talks about the ark, the scene changes to Earth). Plus, Africa is generally viewed as the spring from whence humans arose according to the anthropologic community.....

It would then not seem unlikely that a few Forerunner survived the blast and ended up seeding the human population as we know it. Technology lost over the years...

[GBZeuS]

Halo 2 is a cool game.

The reason you go and kill regret is BECAUSE HE WAS THE FIRST ONE TO ATTACK EARTH - ITS COMMON SENSE!

Anyhow, the coolest bit is when the Arbiter is going after the key:

Brute: The prophet regret is dead
Arbiter: Who killed him?
Brute: Who do you think?
Arbiter: The Demon is here?
Brute: After a little payback?
Arbiter: My mission is to get the key.

Or something like that... The Arbiter is far cooler than Master Chief.