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So sorry for the double post, but I noticed something about the MCC that you haven't mentioned in the video: the graphics toggle between original and remastered changes the music and sound effects between original and remastered, too! It's been really noticeable in Halo 2 when I've been swapping to check out how particularly scenic areas looked originally. These areas also tend to have the swelling orchestral music, and the difference in the music between original and remastered is very noticeable. Random Halo detail I found on the wiki that I find interesting: Cortana isn't kidding about the white armored ones being called 'Ultraviolets.' Turns out in the books it's revealed that Elites can in fact see ultraviolet light and the armor on that rank is painted accordingly. But to humans, who can't perceive that spectrum of light, it simply looks white. Cythereal fucked around with this message at 13:57 on Jul 15, 2021 |
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Jul 15, 2021 13:49
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Hey, so, there won't be a video this week either. It's a crappy time in the story to do it, but I'm going to have to take a (hopefully short) hiatus. There's some personal life and mental health stuff going on, so I just need some time to sort things out and clear off my plate before digging into LP work again.
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Jul 16, 2021 22:31
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Take care of yourself, duder
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Jul 17, 2021 01:20
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Yep, take care of yourself!
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Jul 17, 2021 01:45
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 XX - The Covenant and Arbiters We've been given an inside look at some of the Covenant's workings, but how about some broader context? side note: I'll probably have to re-evaluate my approach to bonus videos in the future, since worrying about getting this video "right" is what burned me out. I like bonus videos and feel like they add a lot to LPs as a whole, but they end up taking a lot more time and effort than I expect, and get less interest than normal videos overall.
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Aug 27, 2021 20:59
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Interesting stuff. Hope you are doing better.
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Aug 28, 2021 01:37
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Glad to hear things are working out for you now. As for the video content, I do remember the alternate booklet for Halo 2, as that was the one a lot of dormmates in college wound up getting (I think like 5 got the Covenant one and 2 got the normal human booklet). It was a very interesting twist that didn't click for us until the Arbiter's levels came up. Then we realized why there was an alternate booklet; it was a way to flesh out the world and not some silly marketing gimmick like some of us thought it was. Of course, back then it was still a paltry summation of the Covenant compared to the current amount of lore for the series.
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Aug 28, 2021 02:00
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The Elites in general feel extremely feudal Japan to me, space samurai, so the idea of the Arbiter as being a 'find redemption in a heroic death' position feels natural to me. It's honorable suicide.
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Aug 28, 2021 02:03
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Cythereal posted:The Elites in general feel extremely feudal Japan to me, space samurai, so the idea of the Arbiter as being a 'find redemption in a heroic death' position feels natural to me. It's honorable suicide. Not just you, either. That's the aesthetic they went for when they told the story of the Arbiter that turned the position into what it is now. Also, re: the booklet: it's actually written by the Arbiter you play as. Before he was the Arbiter, obviously. I think they say it was written while he was waiting for High Charity to show up so he could be crucified.
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Aug 28, 2021 03:24
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This was really cool to watch, thanks. I appreciate the context behind all of the species.
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Aug 28, 2021 16:50
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I had no idea about the alternate booklet, that's cool as hell.
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Aug 28, 2021 17:26
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Cythereal posted:The Elites in general feel extremely feudal Japan to me, space samurai, so the idea of the Arbiter as being a 'find redemption in a heroic death' position feels natural to me. It's honorable suicide. Can’t wait to see the Grunt Toyotomi Hideyoshi show up.
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Aug 28, 2021 22:46
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Deformed Church posted:I had no idea about the alternate booklet, that's cool as hell. I remember it being pretty easy to find a PDF of it with some googling. I'm not on my actual computer this weekend or I'd link it for you. The whole thing is kind of interesting to read, all of it written in that sort of overly formal prose. Ablative posted:Also, re: the booklet: it's actually written by the Arbiter you play as. Before he was the Arbiter, obviously. I think they say it was written while he was waiting for High Charity to show up so he could be crucified. I never knew/noticed that. It makes sense though, in his previous life he had a tooooon of experience facing off against humans. Possibly more than any other member of the Covenant.
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Aug 28, 2021 23:49
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FrenzyTheKillbot posted:I remember it being pretty easy to find a PDF of it with some googling. I'm not on my actual computer this weekend or I'd link it for you. The whole thing is kind of interesting to read, all of it written in that sort of overly formal prose. Oh, that was the first thing I did. It's pretty cool, I like the kind of begrudging respect in the writing about human weapons/vehicles, like he can't come out and say "the humans made some good guns" but the warrior in him has to accurately report they're pretty drat effective. edit: oh, here's the link for anyone who is looking: https://halo.wiki.gallery/images/0/09/H2_Covenant_Manual.pdf Deformed Church fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Aug 28, 2021 |
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Aug 28, 2021 23:53
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I just binged the whole series (and this thread). I loved Halo 1 and Halo 2 and all the books. Really impressed with the videos especially the most recent one about the lore, totally forgot about the 'spirits'. Love the banter between the hosts too. I would absolutely watch a live (or later-stream when i have time) of you playing the Halo Wars games, even if blind.
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Aug 31, 2021 02:53
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 10 - Gravemind After a very awkward meeting, the Master Chief takes the fight to the Covenant's home turf. This is a really important video. A whole lot of big deal things happen.
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Sep 3, 2021 18:01
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I don't know about Halo 2, but in ODST at least you can give marines fuel rod cannons. As for the prisoners, the books provide a hint to the brutes calling the area 'holding pens': in the books, most of the Covenant straight up eat humans. Elites won't, they consider it dishonorable, but jackals, grunts, drones, and brutes do, and they won't wait for humans to be dead before they chow down. There's a scene in Fall of Reach where the Chief explicitly makes note that it's common for human civilians to commit suicide if it looks like the Covenant is going to win a ground war because it's a much faster, and less painful, death than what awaits them if the Covenant take them alive. Given that at the start of this game High Charity was at the halo from Halo 1,and presumably only just moved to Delta Halo, I assumed the marines were probably from the Pillar of Autumn who were taken alive. Regarding the hunters' side in the civil war, the books noted that the hunters are divided on who to side with. Most of their leadership side with the elites on the basis that the elites treat them better, but some hunters side with the brutes out of sincere religious conviction that they're following the prophets. Officially, this is why the grunt government sided with the elites, too: the brutes treat them as nuisances and extra rations where the elites have shown them genuine respect in the wake of their rebellions, but many grunts who happened to be around brutes when the war broke out sided with the brutes rather than be killed and eaten immediately. Supposedly there are likewise jackals and drones on both sides of the war, some choosing sides out of sincere religious beliefs and some based on opportunity and other mundane reasons. I'll avoid talking about the Forerunner trilogy beyond that I read it, and it sheds a lot more light on the Gravemind's nature and motives.
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Sep 3, 2021 19:36
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Does Master Chief even care about the Flood's motives? When they show up didn't he just start  ?EDIT: I don't remember the Gravemind looking so creepy in the original. Outpost22 fucked around with this message at 01:59 on Sep 4, 2021 |
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Sep 4, 2021 01:08
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The Brute Shot does in fact do more melee damage, but only like two points more. Something you didn't mention: that gravity lift at the beginning of the level? That's where the Arbiter was tortured and branded at the beginning of the game! I think the shackles are even still there. e: the Marines probably came from the Library. Johnson had at least a few still around by the time they got to the Index. Ablative fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Sep 4, 2021 |
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Sep 4, 2021 01:31
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I loved the "this episode was recorded in April" disclaimer. A more optimistic time... I also adore the Gravemind, it is such a good concept to show the Flood is actually as big of a threat as the game makes them sound. Also, "I am a monument to all of your sins" is one of the best one lines in games
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Sep 4, 2021 05:59
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"I have listened. Through rock and metal and time. Now I shall talk, and you shall listen." is my personal favourite line. That whole cutscene is so good. His flappy lips in the anniversary graphics are also a personal highlight of the upgrade.Ablative posted:The Brute Shot does in fact do more melee damage, but only like two points more. My understanding is that's in halo 3, but it's a more significant boost in this game. It's also slightly faster than a regular melee attack, which is probably its more useful feature because if I'm meleeing and it wasn't already an instant kill I'm usually pretty hosed.
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Sep 4, 2021 09:27
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Hah, that COVID discussion aged really well.
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Sep 4, 2021 19:35
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Gravemind is a lot more gribbly in that cutscene. In the original I remember him being much more Little Shop of Horrors. Though really for all the pretty speech its just "Please don't let the Covenant blow me up along with the whole galaxy again because you'll die too." Halo 2 does kind of suffer from a large lack of context in this part. Without the ~~lore~~ you brought up in the previous update I would have been just as confused now as I was then about why a civil war, why Elites vs Brutes, why are the grunts and Hunters (I think?) with the Elites, why the Jackals and Drones are just going along with the status quo. You're just thrust into the middle of it without much beyond "Well the Arbiter doesn't like the Brutes and the Brutes don't much like the Arbiter either."
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Sep 4, 2021 20:26
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Watching that hunter punt a jackal towards the end was beautiful.
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Sep 4, 2021 20:29
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Kibayasu posted:Gravemind is a lot more gribbly in that cutscene. In the original I remember him being much more Little Shop of Horrors. Though really for all the pretty speech its just "Please don't let the Covenant blow me up along with the whole galaxy again because you'll die too." The Gravemind specifically speaks in iambic heptameter - subtle, but once you see it, you appreciate the artfulness. Halo 2 was heavily cut to make its release date and you can really see the seams in the plot. I've always assumed the plan was to make the Covenant take longer to break apart. Former Bungie devs have gone on record as saying the original plan was for a whole extra third act, but this plot point had to be jammed into a single level so they went all-out at breakneck speed.
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Sep 4, 2021 20:54
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Cythereal posted:Regarding the hunters' side in the civil war, the books noted that the hunters are divided on who to side with. Most of their leadership side with the elites on the basis that the elites treat them better, but some hunters side with the brutes out of sincere religious conviction that they're following the prophets. Halo 2 actually makes the whole civil war seem kinda "clean" with well defined lines, Brutes vs. Elites and every other species chooses a side. We definitely find out later that the divisions between loyalists, separatists, and "other" is a whole lot more blurry. Like you say, a lot of the lower caste species end up siding with the leaders of whichever fleet they happened to be serving in, for the sake of survival rather than any ideology. Kibayasu posted:Halo 2 does kind of suffer from a large lack of context in this part. Without the ~~lore~~ you brought up in the previous update I would have been just as confused now as I was then about why a civil war, why Elites vs Brutes, why are the grunts and Hunters (I think?) with the Elites, why the Jackals and Drones are just going along with the status quo. You're just thrust into the middle of it without much beyond "Well the Arbiter doesn't like the Brutes and the Brutes don't much like the Arbiter either." Loxbourne posted:Halo 2 was heavily cut to make its release date and you can really see the seams in the plot. I've always assumed the plan was to make the Covenant take longer to break apart. Former Bungie devs have gone on record as saying the original plan was for a whole extra third act, but this plot point had to be jammed into a single level so they went all-out at breakneck speed. I think the game did an okay job introducing the animosity between Brutes and Elites, especially with the changing of the Honor Guard. But yeah it really needed a cutscene or level with some exposition as to how this thing kicked off. I mentioned it a little bit, but it's still so strange that the civil war is coinciding with Truth broadcasting about how great everything is going and how close they are to the Great Journey.
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Sep 5, 2021 02:50
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There are Grunts and Hunters on the Brutes' side during the Chief's levels, at least.
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Sep 5, 2021 03:04
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FrenzyTheKillbot posted:Halo 2 actually makes the whole civil war seem kinda "clean" with well defined lines, Brutes vs. Elites and every other species chooses a side. We definitely find out later that the divisions between loyalists, separatists, and "other" is a whole lot more blurry. Like you say, a lot of the lower caste species end up siding with the leaders of whichever fleet they happened to be serving in, for the sake of survival rather than any ideology. I actually really dig his everything is fine meme attitude. And it kind of makes sense given the end cutscene there pretty clearly spells out he doesn't care what happens to anyone but himself.
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Sep 5, 2021 06:21
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FoolyCharged posted:I actually really dig his everything is fine meme attitude. I always thought this was deliberate irony - the Prophet of Regret is a reckless idiot who takes an unauthorised jaunt to Earth and loses most of his fleet, the Prophet of Mercy is a bloodthirsty maniac who is introduced demanding genocide in the opening cutscene and insists on the Arbiter's execution, and the Prophet of Truth is a liar with a flair for propaganda who cheerily sacrifices his own brethren.
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Sep 5, 2021 14:55
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Kibayasu posted:Halo 2 does kind of suffer from a large lack of context in this part. Without the ~~lore~~ you brought up in the previous update I would have been just as confused now as I was then about why a civil war, why Elites vs Brutes, why are the grunts and Hunters (I think?) with the Elites, why the Jackals and Drones are just going along with the status quo. You're just thrust into the middle of it without much beyond "Well the Arbiter doesn't like the Brutes and the Brutes don't much like the Arbiter either." Quoting this because Frenzy's lore video really helped me a lot. I would have had no idea why the hell things were happening (or what the big "building" in the middle of the city was) if I hadn't watched it. One thing I'm still confused about - one of the Covenant mention the Parasite being released. I thought it was always down in it's "empty grave"?
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Sep 6, 2021 14:56
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Megillah Gorilla posted:One thing I'm still confused about - one of the Covenant mention the Parasite being released. I thought it was always down in it's "empty grave"? "Parasite" refers to the Flood as a whole, not just the Gravemind.
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Sep 6, 2021 18:57
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I always took it to mean that they had broken out of the quarantine zone, now that the Humans and Covenant have delivered them vehicles and weapons.
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Sep 6, 2021 19:42
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Oh yeah, on this ring the Flood and sentinels have been fighting in a stalemate for forever, hadn't they? Then: quote:How was the flood released in Halo 2? Pretty sure you even pointed it out in the video with the gondola ride.
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Sep 7, 2021 08:18
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I must've missed it, got a time stamp?
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Sep 8, 2021 16:46
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You first see the wall of the dam on the gondola ride in video #7. Here's a timestamp where the captain of In Amber Clad mentions the barrier, during the second gondola ride in the video and Frenzy talks about what it is immediately after, but doesn't mention its relationship to containing the Flood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz3XcHXqGyc&t=1566s The Arbiter is the one who turns off the barrier wall in the next video so they can get inside and grab the key and get betrayed and kicked off a ledge and all that. EDIT: It also means the part where the Gravemind grabs the Master Chief and drags him under the lake makes a lot more sense. It was just on the other side of the wall all along. Ditto with grabbing the corpse of the Prophet and turning it into a meat pupper. And, of course, catching the Arbiter. Megillah Gorilla fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Sep 8, 2021 |
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Sep 8, 2021 17:35
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Ablative posted:The Brute Shot does in fact do more melee damage, but only like two points more. The brute shot does twice as much damage as a normal melee attack in 2 and 20 more damage in 3 (90 compared to the usual 70).
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Sep 8, 2021 18:09
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I found the puppetised Prophet quite disturbing when I first played Halo 2. How does that twisted resurrection work? Is his consciousness stuck as half a corpse sticking out of the Gravemind? Yeah, he wasn't a great individual and probably deserved every one of the Chief's facepunches during the bossfight but...that's not a good way to go.
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Sep 8, 2021 23:02
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I think the gravemind is just keeping him alive, just treating him like you would a muppet.
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Sep 8, 2021 23:57
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Rigged Death Trap posted:I think the gravemind is just keeping him alive, just treating him like you would a muppet. He got punched in the skull several times by a man whose fist probably weighs more than he did, and then the entire structure he was in was vaporised by high-intensity plasma. He was not alive by the time the Gravemind got its tentacles on him.
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Sep 9, 2021 00:46
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 11 - Uprising Time for the Arbiter to get a little payback on the traitorous Brutes.
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Sep 10, 2021 20:30
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