Halo | Just Dustin Echoes

By Ragnarok Flames Go To PostAdmiral I can respect your opinion on a lot of things but not on this. Fuck karen Traviss and her mediocre writing. She fucked Mandalorians, The CoG and Now Halo. Fuck her shitty books. Shes fucking awful.

If you read her stuff as stand alone stories they aren't bad but yeah she tends to straight up destroy canon.

btw i watched Kamen Rider when i was young and a few years back Gackt pulled me right back in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH7z7cz7bws
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUgYZhFrpMI

By nillapuddin Go To Post3 motha fuckin weeks til Metal Gear.

Dude. I'm with ya. I'm so impatient right now. Looks fucking incredible.

By Invert Go To PostHunters in the dark was a good read. I'm reading the Thursday war right now and it's pretty good so far. It's hard to beat the Forerunner trilogy though.

I've wondered before what a Halo novel would have to be about that could possibly place it higher than Silentium, but... Man... That'd be a tall order.

By Wesleyshark Go To PostDude. I'm with ya. I'm so impatient right now. Looks fucking incredible. I've wondered before what a Halo novel would have to be about that could possibly place it higher than Silentium, but… Man… That'd be a tall order.

Silentium really topped it all off. The Cryptum and Primordium were good, but you dont really begin to appreciate them until you've finished Silentium. The foundation that Gregg Bear laid, and then capitalized on them with SIlentium was magnificent.

I usually pick up a few books the months before a release of a new mainline halo. I read The Fall of Reach, Saints Testimony, New Blood, and Hunters in the dark last week :D. Gonna try to hammer through the K-5 Series before Last Light comes out in september

By derpface123 Go To PostI just dredged up my 360 to play some Reach…It's unplayable. No, not for any reason you think Reach is a godawful game, no.It's the framerate. After so much time with MCC and 60fps games in general, going back to 30 fps Reach was so jarring to me. I got a little used to it after a bit but it felt all wrong to me.Thank you based 343 for prioritizing 60fps for Halo 5 instead of maximum sparkly graphics. The game will be so much better because of it.

Reach struggles to maintain 30fps. It often dips to 20fps.

Okay, finally settling back in after the insanity that was RTX this year. I've obviously missed a lot and even posted while drunk once or twice. Nice. Gonna work on a couple of videos that I hope to have done by tomorrow for people who enjoy our content then talk about something else that I'm working on a little bit on the side later on in the week. Thanks for reading this even though it really doesn't apply the conversation at hand so I'll chime in a bit on topical things...

-Karen Traviss is an OK writer, her books weren't good, but they weren't bad.
-I imagine/Hope that we hit about 300 pages before October 27, as I imagine the thread to pick up before then. Maybe even an OT2.
-Wesley getting banned from GAF is kind of funny, but I want him to watch this video from Boogie2988.

By ultimota Go To PostIf you read her stuff as stand alone stories they aren't bad but yeah she tends to straight up destroy canon. btw i watched Kamen Rider when i was young and a few years back Gackt pulled me right back inhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH7z7cz7bwshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUgYZhFrpMI

Apparently Kamen Rider Drive is pretty good. And Gaim was written by the Urobutcher.

By derpface123 Go To PostI like Carter's helmet. I'm glad it's returning in Halo 5.

Yeah, Reach's armor as a whole was brilliant. Loved every piece.

By Mix Go To PostOkay, finally settling back in after the insanity that was RTX this year. I've obviously missed a lot and even posted while drunk once or twice. Nice. Gonna work on a couple of videos that I hope to have done by tomorrow for people who enjoy our content then talk about something else that I'm working on a little bit on the side later on in the week. Thanks for reading this even though it really doesn't apply the conversation at hand so I'll chime in a bit on topical things…-Karen Traviss is an OK writer, her books weren't good, but they weren't bad. -I imagine/Hope that we hit about 300 pages before October 27, as I imagine the thread to pick up before then. Maybe even an OT2.-Wesley getting banned from GAF is kind of funny, but I want him to watch this video from Boogie2988.

Yeah you posted drunk, got me to get drunk, and didn't even play Halo.

By Gnome Scat Go To PostYeah, Reach's armor as a whole was brilliant. Loved every piece.

Haunted was pretty cool, wished it was for all helmets.

I saw someone hint that Halo GAF found a new home so I came here. Good to see this thread going strong.

By demi Go To PostI saw someone hint that Halo GAF found a new home so I came here. Good to see this thread going strong.

.who are you on GAF?

By Mix Go To Post.who are you on GAF?

I was a lurker. Never signed up.

By demi Go To PostI was a lurker. Never signed up.

Welcome new blood.

new rule, you still gotta do the survey

B]How long have you been a member of NeoGAF? How long have you lurked?

How old are you? What country or state are you posting from? (Optional)

How long have you been a Halo fan? Have you played all the games?

What mode do you spend most of your time in?
(i.e. Multiplayer, Campaign, Forge, Firefight, Theater)

What is your favorite playlist?
(i.e. MLG, Action Sack)

Help us get to know you better. (Optional)
Examples of things to include:
– Any HaloGaffers you know in real life.
– Other Halo sites/forums you have been a member of.
– Any other games you spend a lot of time playing.
– Personal bio stuff. (occupation/hobbies/etc.)

Fill it out and let us know who you are! It's fun!

Who has time to play Halo when I'm busying carving out my African Jewish Empire in Crusader Kings?

Lurked for ten years.
I am 27 years old and live in California.
I've been a Halo fan for eight years. I've played all of the console versions except Halo Wars.
Spend most of my time in multiplayer in Big Team Battle.
I play a lot of Battlefield (Battlefront coming up), Counter Strike GO, Marvel Heroes, Path Of Exile, Diablo 3.

By Poodlestrike Go To PostWho has time to play Halo when I'm busying carving out my African Jewish Empire in Crusader Kings?

OO Reminds me I need to play some Rome Total War 2 and continue my rampage with the Parthians.

By nillapuddin Go To Post3 motha fuckin weeks til Metal Gear.

so excited. trying to replay Ground Zeroes and get all the achievements, but I forgot how tricky some of it was.

By Ricky Ricardo Go To PostSelf-fulfilling prophecy I guessLooking at some of the nonsense I've seen over Gamescom … ugh. Not even worth the fight.

Some of these bans..just..what? People were digging hard for "The Order" comparison. What in Remedy's past would ever make someone who has actually played one of their games, think they would ever make anything like "The Order"? Most people making that comparison were asspained about the game they had been championing so hard ( many times in threads about xbox exclusives) wasn't a very good game, and was trying hard to be a film. But it wasn't good at that either.

By PsychoRaven Go To PostThis is why I tend to just shut up on GAF and keep it light. It used to be a lot like this place. You could go and speak your mind and debate shit. Chat in your little communities. Now everything gets locked by modbot just because someone doesn't like the thread or discussion. Then you get banned if you have a different opinion on things such as SJWs, etc. They've become an echo chamber. Not to mention the hypocrisy there. Take this recent Halo leak. They don't allow scans of magazines for example but they'll gladly allow leaked videos of games etc. If you're not going to allow one then why the other? Oh and god forbid you have something bad to say about a developer or for example in this case Kotaku. That's a ban now. Forget the fact that if a poster made a thread like that article they'd be banned. Then oh rumors we can't have that unless it's a GAF approved site. We can't even discuss it unless it's from IGN, Kotaku, etc because well it's a tales from my ass and locked. Last but not least you had better not try to call them out on this shit either cause that's a ban. Hell I wouldn't be surprised to see myself banned for this post over here by a mod who gets butt hurt by it over there.Sorry for ranting. Just needed to let it out.

I am glad more and more people are realizing how bad Gaf has become. I got a perm when i went into a Phil Spencer thread ( Speaking of which, Gaf has a mad on for this guy. Every thread where his name is so much as mentioned turns into a shit show. Did this guy run over someone's dog or what?) where he tweeted about showing off some new games for E3. A mod comes along and changes the thread title to something more inflammatory, which brought in the usual suspects and killed any chance for an actual conversation. Then if anyone confronted the shit posters they were banned. ( myself included) Most xbox thread in the gaming section turned to shit pretty quickly and got so bad that having a discussion about an xbox exclusive was an exorcize in futility. One would have to wade through pages of shit posts before getting to any decent ones. Mod for the most part ( excluding M0dus) would turn a blind eye or even join in the fun! Then if you dare say something about it, you're either accused of having a "persecution complex" or banned . Or both.

The thing with Kotaku us funny because you can shit on Polygon all you want there.

By ABADGUY Go To PostI am glad more and more people are realizing how bad Gaf has become.

I went looking for that thread and found this on top of P1.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1093593

Traviss doesn't deserve people being apologists for her - if you're going to contribute to a beloved universe do your research.

Human Weakness was very good, however.

By NOKYARD Go To PostI went looking for that thread and found this on top of P1.http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1093593

Now it's back to that shitty Kotaku thread ( people are still being banned for telling it like it is) where people are dog piling on Quantum Break. You can tell that game has them legit shook right now, i thought they would start the dog piling once Digital Foundry does a piece on it but Kotaku came first i guess. Gonna be very interesting revisiting these threads a year from now when QB and Scalebound release.

By Captain Friendo Go To PostTraviss doesn't deserve people being apologists for her - if you're going to contribute to a beloved universe do your research.Human Weakness was very good, however.

She did do her research. She literally was given the information required to write Kilo-5 and emailed with Frankie and other members of the 343i story team.

The line people quote about her is taken out of context so badly. She was saying that she likes to go in blind into a universe as it allows her to be more creative when writing for it.

By Ragnarok Flames Go To PostI say we cap it at 20000 posts. And start a new thread. But we don't have a post per page count.

Reilo confirmed somewhere that its 50 ppp.


Also welcome new people.

By Lord of Admirals Go To PostShe did do her research. She literally was given the information required to write Kilo-5 and emailed with Frankie and other members of the 343i story team.The line people quote about her is taken out of context so badly. She was saying that she likes to go in blind into a universe as it allows her to be more creative when writing for it.

And yet the evidence is in the storytelling. Characters acting drastically different from their previous incarnations, for one. Her personal politics being unanimously shared by the leading characters.

I'm sure most of us can at least agree she never should have been given a whole trilogy.

As someone that read everything in the Star Wars EU from Zahn onwards I loved KT's books. The Mando stuff was probably my favourite SW EU since Zahn and Stackpole. While I wasn't overly keen on the way her material was treated by TCW I could understand it as I never really had issues with EU stuff being treated as canon in the same way some of the folks on TFN etc do. Mind you the shit she took from the idiots on TFN was, IMO, completely out of order back in the day.......

Her Halo stuff? Enjoyed it for what it was, controversially I got on with it better than I did the Bear stuff.

Now, before Wes has a fit - what I mean by that is that I really found the Bear trilogy to be a slog to get through - awesome stuff in it which I thoroughly enjoyed - just perhaps a writing style issue. I can't recall Rogue Planet having that same issue so I can only assume it was something affected specifically for that trilogy. A point of view/perspective thing maybe.

By Captain Friendo Go To PostAnd yet the evidence is in the storytelling. Characters acting drastically different from their previous incarnations, for one. Her personal politics being unanimously shared by the leading characters.I'm sure most of us can at least agree she never should have been given a whole trilogy.

Whether or not you think she did a good job with the material given to her is irrelevant. It's silly to hold on to the notion that she put no effort in sticking to the pre-established lore of the Halo universe when writing the novels. Evidently, 343i found her works to be acceptable.

Something I've always really liked about H4 which I've seen a number of people have complaining about is 343's use of colour.

I love how they use a very similiar colour palette for each different environment. It creates a very unique identity and atmosphere for each level and area. It also allows for some very rapid and effective atmospheric shifts mid level. I think Reclaimer is a really good example.
Initially it's bright, with the occassional splash of colour. It sets the tone as one of "getting shit done"; you're rolling out in the Mammoth killing Covenant and blowing stuff up.

Then when you hop out and make your way into the Forerunner structure the atmosphere immediately shifts.
It very effectively brings up the feelings of mystery associated with the Forerunners and helps set up for the Librarian cutscene. I don't think that shift would have been anywhere near as effective without the simple colour palettes.

It also allows them to highlight interesting objects in really cool ways, again from the Reclaimer level.

Plus it looks fucking gorgeous.

By Lord of Admirals Go To PostWhether or not you think she did a good job with the material given to her is irrelevant. It's silly to hold on to the notion that she put no effort in sticking to the pre-established lore of the Halo universe when writing the novels.

I'm not saying she put no effort into it, i'm saying she disregarded it.

By Captain Friendo Go To PostI'm not saying she put no effort into it, i'm saying she disregarded it.

If she truly disregarded it, surely 343i would have corrected her on that.

By Lord of Admirals Go To PostIf she truly disregarded it, surely 343i would have corrected her on that.

I believe in this instance, (while it is known 343 gives writers vague outlines for [most] stories but lets writers pick what in the halo universe they want to write about) Traviss was given what amounts to practically free reign over her trilogy which was probably left more unchecked than any of the other novels other than Nylund and Bear's, hence the claims that the Kilo-5 trilogy is very much Traviss. I also believe that this is not an uncommon thought.

That said, i'm fully aware that what i'm saying is heresay and will probably never be proven. Regardless, the whole trilogy feels to me like a grievous misstep in the characterisation of some of the universe's most beloved characters, and that is my opinion.

By Captain Friendo Go To PostI believe in this instance, (while it is known 343 gives writers vague outlines for [most] stories but lets writers pick what in the halo universe they want to write about) Traviss was given what amounts to practically free reign over her trilogy which was probably left more unchecked than any of the other novels other than Nylund and Bear's, hence the claims that the Kilo-5 trilogy is very much Traviss. I also believe that this is not an uncommon thought.That said, i'm fully aware that what i'm saying is heresay and will probably never be proven. Regardless, the whole trilogy feels to me like a grievous misstep in the characterisation of some of the universe's most beloved characters, and that is my opinion.

And I'm certainly not discounting it as I hold a somewhat similar opinion (nor would I if I didn't), but it's silly and foolish to blame any perceived issues with Kilo-5 solely on Traviss.

By Captain Friendo Go To Postthe whole trilogy feels to me like a grievous misstep in the characterisation of some of the universe's most beloved characters

I assume you are talking about Halsey?

By Lord of Admirals Go To PostAnd I'm certainly not discounting it as I hold a somewhat similar opinion (nor would I if I didn't), but it's silly and foolish to blame any perceived issues with Kilo-5 solely on Traviss.

Sorry then mate, but I don't think it's appropriate to shift the blame entirely onto 343 either when Traviss wrote the book and chose what the characters thought and did. If anything, it's a blame that should be shared.

By NotTheBatman Go To PostI assume you are talking about Halsey?

Halsey, Mendez, Lucy to a light degree, even Paragonsky.

Didn't Nylund write ghosts of onyx?

Halsey was kind of a cunt in that, and having plenty of crisis of conscience. So it's not like what KT was doing was totally new ground.

To be fair, I always thought Halsey was a bit cunty so I never understood the distaste for her suddenly being called out for said cuntishness........As for Lucy, isn't it a stretch to suggest she would be one of the universes most beloved characters, ditto for Paragonsky?

By NotTheBatman Go To PostAs for Lucy, isn't it a stretch to suggest she would be one of the universes most beloved characters, ditto for Paragonsky?

Hence me taking specific care to use the phrase "to a lesser extent."

By Captain Friendo Go To PostHence me taking specific care to use the phrase "to a lesser extent."

Aye.........Just the whole grevious misstep, beloved characters thing........I mean, bit OTT no?

Re Halsey - Surely everyone can get behind the idea that kidnapping kids, leaving essentially dean man walking clones for the parents, taking said kids and abusing them into fighting machines not too mention putting them through the various augmentations and subsequently killing or maiming half of them in the process is just a wee bit cunty? Therefore painting her as such in the eyes of some really isn't a stretch, or some massive mischaracterisation.

Oh, did anyone notice Schreier popped up in that glorious shit thread on Gaf? Just me or was that an amusing damage control/throw Kotaku UK under the bus type of comment?

By NotTheBatman Go To PostTo be fair, I always thought Halsey was a bit cunty so I never understood the distaste for her suddenly being called out for said cuntishness……..As for Lucy, isn't it a stretch to suggest she would be one of the universes most beloved characters, ditto for Paragonsky?

She is a piece of shit, but the heat was distributed unevenly and came from a place of hypocrisy. Mendez and Parangosky got off scott free. If Traviss had bothered to investigate the thing she was writing about, the writing would have reflected that.

By NotTheBatman Go To PostAye………Just the whole grevious misstep, beloved characters thing……..I mean, bit OTT no?

Look, I can't just respond to every little nitpick you've had with my argument when all you've done is shat on it without writing up a counter, which Lord of Admirals at least did. Seriously mate come off it a bit, bloody hell.

By Lord of Admirals Go To PostShe did do her research. She literally was given the information required to write Kilo-5 and emailed with Frankie and other members of the 343i story team.The line people quote about her is taken out of context so badly. She was saying that she likes to go in blind into a universe as it allows her to be more creative when writing for it.

Exactly.

By daedalius Go To PostDidn't Nylund write ghosts of onyx?Halsey was kind of a cunt in that, and having plenty of crisis of conscience. So it's not like what KT was doing was totally new ground.

That's what has boggled me for years... Halsey has been a real asshole since Ghosts of Onyx, and arguably since Fall of Reach you can catch your first hints. Traviss took it ran with it, Spartan Ops solidified it, and Escalation is carrying it out. She's a brilliant scientist, and a motherly figure to many Spartans, but she's also a real jerk.

All of the sudden Traviss changes the character and makes her unlikable... No... She's been unlikable for a while. The k-5 books dig into that a great deal, from the perspective of people who had interacted with her on various levels. It was all necessary in setting up her actions in Spartan Ops and Escalation.

By JayEleven Go To PostShe is a piece of shit, but the heat was distributed unevenly and came from a place of hypocrisy. Mendez and Parangosky got off scott free.

My exact thought, to be honest.

By JayEleven Go To PostShe is a piece of shit, but the heat was distributed unevenly and came from a place of hypocrisy. Mendez and Parangosky got off scott free. If Traviss had bothered to investigate the thing she was writing about, the writing would have reflected that.

I've always viewed those books as through the eyes of ONI.

By JayEleven Go To PostShe is a piece of shit, but the heat was distributed unevenly and came from a place of hypocrisy.

Hmmmm, I thought that was kinda the point of the whole thing, ONI being massive hypocrits and showing that humanity isn't the cardboard cut out good guys as portrayed in the games, shades of grey type thing......Maybe not though. I can be very wrong - just ask the wife......

By Captain Friendo Go To PostLook, I can't just respond to every little nitpick you've had with my argument when all you've done is shat on it without writing up a counter, which Lord of Admirals at least did. Seriously mate come off it a bit, bloody hell.

Edit - In fact, I'm not even going to bother.......

"I've always viewed those books as through the eyes of ONI." - Me too.

By NotTheBatman Go To PostMe too.

Through that lens, the k5 books really shine.

Is it October 27th yet? No? Okay, going back to bed.

By nillapuddin Go To Post3 motha fuckin weeks til Metal Gear.

2 motha fuckin weeks til Gears of War! So many Gears lie in our future.

By Lord of Admirals Go To PostWhether or not you think she did a good job with the material given to her is irrelevant. It's silly to hold on to the notion that she put no effort in sticking to the pre-established lore of the Halo universe when writing the novels. Evidently, 343i found her works to be acceptable.

343 doesnt exactly have a good "acceptable work" track record. MCC

By Ragnarok Flames Go To Post343 doesnt exactly have a good "acceptable work" track record. MCC

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