AzureFlame26
25-01-2009, 10:46 PM
http://i39.tinypic.com/hvp75f.jpg
Our dear Halo is back brimming in full glory, even though ODST steps away from the core roots of being an elite Spartan warrior, the dev team at Bungie is working hard enough to give their 8 million + community some hype material to sculpt around with. Bungie’s weekly update (http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=16989) unearths a series details regarding the origins of our mystery hero and the timeline for the series.
----------------------------------------------------
Making the Jump(Why Brutes And Not Elites)
In the immediate wake of the Halo 3: ODST Trailer, series fans began their frame-by-frame assault, dissecting the footage for any visual leads that could help uncover the mysterious clues hidden in the dark, rain-soaked streets of New Mombasa. From “hidden dates” and fragmented Superintendent messages to some more obvious and overt looks at the new elements on display like the ODST-customized SMG and vision augmentations, few things were lost on those peering at the trailer through a magnified lens.
But there is one aspect of the trailer and accompanying coverage in particular that has caused a little bit of confusion among Halo aficionados and speculators from around the World Wide Web - the presence of Brute packs patrolling the darkened alleyways of New Mombasa. And perhaps conversely, the absence of the Elites.
We realize that the Elites are of a fan-favorite, so it’s probably wise to set aside your compassion and steel yourself for what is about to come. There are no Elites to fight in Halo 3: ODST.
Along the Path
The following is a cursory exploration of some of the more critical events along the Halo 2 and Halo 3 timelines. This examination is not meant to be exhaustive, but rather a set of waypoints to guide you along as we look back at key events and characters that influenced and impacted the Covenant schism, circa 2552.
October 20: New Mombasa, Kenya is destroyed by the Slipstream Space Rupture Backlash from the Prophet of Regret’s ship.
November 2: The Prophet of Regret’s ship and In Amber Clad arrive at Delta Halo. Prophet of Regret liquidated by SPARTAN-117.
November 3: Prophet of Truth leaves High Charity for Earth in Forerunner dreadnought.
November 8: The Forerunner dreadnought arrives in the Sol system and proceeds to Earth at near relativistic speed.
November 17: The Forerunner dreadnought arrives at Earth. SPARTAN-117 ejects and lands in the Kenyan jungle.
What’s written in these few entries is important in the context of understanding the overall story presented in the Halo trilogy. But what exists between the lines is where you should focus most of your attention. This is where the majority of the events that unfold during Halo 3: ODST take place. And it is in also in these moments that the Prophet of Truth did much of his puppeteer’s manipulations. The thirteen day span between the dates of October 20th and November 2nd provided the High Prophet with all the time he needed to redeploy Brute-led Covenant forces, their mission objectives relayed sub rosa, into the heart of New Mombasa.
But why Brutes?
In the wake of Regret’s shameful retreat from New Mombasa, the Prophet of Truth continued his maneuvering - one eye always on his ultimate goal: his rightful and holy ascension. For Truth, his own personal passage was paramount. His Godhood would not be denied. Everything else was secondary.
And though Truth’s duplicitous scheming doesn’t come to full fruition until the Elite Honor Guard’s failure to protect the Prophet of Regret affords him with the final leverage needed to appoint the Brutes to the lofty position, his plans were never made in haste. They were well laid. When the time came to return his attention to Earth, his expendable regiments needed to be led by Jiralhanae, not Sangheili.
Leaving the Elites to scour Earth in search of a Holy Forerunner relic, and ultimately to uncover the most precious and sacrosanct Forerunner artifact in existence - the very portal that opened upon the Ark itself - would have placed all Truth’s aspirations upon the shoulders of a species he had already decided to cast aside, a species splintered by heresy and derision, even amongst their own ranks.
Truth’s divisive mandate had been set in motion. The Elites had exhausted their usefulness to him, they would not be allowed to meddle in his affairs any longer, and he would not place his rightful transcendence into the hands of incompetents. His word was law.
So the Prophet of Truth deploys Brutes. And the Brutes were eager to prove that their loyalty and battle prowess had earned them a seat at the side of the Hierarchs, as the honored protectors of the sacred Covenant. Such blind faith and eagerness marked them as near perfect pawns for Truth to sacrifice.
Audio- High Up Above
It’s pretty incredible how much impact audio can have. The crisp patter of rain on pavement. The distant roll of thunder. The sharp, violent crack of lightning overhead. This concert of conspirators was almost enough to make the representative version New Mombasa feel as if it was under the shadow of an angry storm. But those elements, like Halo 3: ODST itself, were still being formed.
In the most recent stable build, the atmospheric illusion provided by the sonic simulations has been augmented with some freshly painted in visual effects. A thin sheet of rain now slants down from a dark blanket of racing clouds. Wind mingles with sprays of vapor and mist. Heat lightning draws soft, blue highlights while sporadic ground strikes bleach everything, for brief moments, stark white.
Gameplay-”Down Below”
The city of New Mombasa itself has also been given some new treatments of its own. The buildings of the interior proper are now fitted with some electronic information displays. There are more signs of life.
Police transports, emergency lights still blinking red and blue, sit empty with doors wide open. A pair of black stripes burned onto the pavement leads to an abandoned metro bus left curiously angled on the sidewalk as if the driver had a momentary lapse and careened off the road and into the side of a small, squat building. The passengers seem to have forgotten their luggage. The burned out husk of a nearby Wraith might have something to do with the haste in which the driver slammed on the brakes and with which the occupants spilled out onto the street.
Out on the horizon, skyscrapers loom, sheer walls stabbing up into the clouds from the heart of the city. Faint fingers of eerie blue light, dimmed by weather and distance, briefly splay out from behind the buildings as if grasping at something, and then fade away into the night sky.
Opposite, the sky is ablaze. Clouds are consumed by ash, smoke, and roiling fire. Arcs of electricity snake and climb upon some unseen thing.
Under the Helmet
The low-light vision enhancement has also been tweaked since we first laid eyes on it in the representative build. What was once a rhythmic pulse that spread out across the visual field like a wave has now been made more static and subtle. Stark white lines have been eschewed in favor of a more subdued effect.
The technology behind it is still useful, but the graphical tweaks here - which we should mention are far from final and subject to change - appear to be aimed at prolonged use. Where before the effect was crisp and vibrant, it’s now been dialed down to meet somewhere between the realms of eyestrain and effectiveness.
~
Our dear Halo is back brimming in full glory, even though ODST steps away from the core roots of being an elite Spartan warrior, the dev team at Bungie is working hard enough to give their 8 million + community some hype material to sculpt around with. Bungie’s weekly update (http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=16989) unearths a series details regarding the origins of our mystery hero and the timeline for the series.
----------------------------------------------------
Making the Jump(Why Brutes And Not Elites)
In the immediate wake of the Halo 3: ODST Trailer, series fans began their frame-by-frame assault, dissecting the footage for any visual leads that could help uncover the mysterious clues hidden in the dark, rain-soaked streets of New Mombasa. From “hidden dates” and fragmented Superintendent messages to some more obvious and overt looks at the new elements on display like the ODST-customized SMG and vision augmentations, few things were lost on those peering at the trailer through a magnified lens.
But there is one aspect of the trailer and accompanying coverage in particular that has caused a little bit of confusion among Halo aficionados and speculators from around the World Wide Web - the presence of Brute packs patrolling the darkened alleyways of New Mombasa. And perhaps conversely, the absence of the Elites.
We realize that the Elites are of a fan-favorite, so it’s probably wise to set aside your compassion and steel yourself for what is about to come. There are no Elites to fight in Halo 3: ODST.
Along the Path
The following is a cursory exploration of some of the more critical events along the Halo 2 and Halo 3 timelines. This examination is not meant to be exhaustive, but rather a set of waypoints to guide you along as we look back at key events and characters that influenced and impacted the Covenant schism, circa 2552.
October 20: New Mombasa, Kenya is destroyed by the Slipstream Space Rupture Backlash from the Prophet of Regret’s ship.
November 2: The Prophet of Regret’s ship and In Amber Clad arrive at Delta Halo. Prophet of Regret liquidated by SPARTAN-117.
November 3: Prophet of Truth leaves High Charity for Earth in Forerunner dreadnought.
November 8: The Forerunner dreadnought arrives in the Sol system and proceeds to Earth at near relativistic speed.
November 17: The Forerunner dreadnought arrives at Earth. SPARTAN-117 ejects and lands in the Kenyan jungle.
What’s written in these few entries is important in the context of understanding the overall story presented in the Halo trilogy. But what exists between the lines is where you should focus most of your attention. This is where the majority of the events that unfold during Halo 3: ODST take place. And it is in also in these moments that the Prophet of Truth did much of his puppeteer’s manipulations. The thirteen day span between the dates of October 20th and November 2nd provided the High Prophet with all the time he needed to redeploy Brute-led Covenant forces, their mission objectives relayed sub rosa, into the heart of New Mombasa.
But why Brutes?
In the wake of Regret’s shameful retreat from New Mombasa, the Prophet of Truth continued his maneuvering - one eye always on his ultimate goal: his rightful and holy ascension. For Truth, his own personal passage was paramount. His Godhood would not be denied. Everything else was secondary.
And though Truth’s duplicitous scheming doesn’t come to full fruition until the Elite Honor Guard’s failure to protect the Prophet of Regret affords him with the final leverage needed to appoint the Brutes to the lofty position, his plans were never made in haste. They were well laid. When the time came to return his attention to Earth, his expendable regiments needed to be led by Jiralhanae, not Sangheili.
Leaving the Elites to scour Earth in search of a Holy Forerunner relic, and ultimately to uncover the most precious and sacrosanct Forerunner artifact in existence - the very portal that opened upon the Ark itself - would have placed all Truth’s aspirations upon the shoulders of a species he had already decided to cast aside, a species splintered by heresy and derision, even amongst their own ranks.
Truth’s divisive mandate had been set in motion. The Elites had exhausted their usefulness to him, they would not be allowed to meddle in his affairs any longer, and he would not place his rightful transcendence into the hands of incompetents. His word was law.
So the Prophet of Truth deploys Brutes. And the Brutes were eager to prove that their loyalty and battle prowess had earned them a seat at the side of the Hierarchs, as the honored protectors of the sacred Covenant. Such blind faith and eagerness marked them as near perfect pawns for Truth to sacrifice.
Audio- High Up Above
It’s pretty incredible how much impact audio can have. The crisp patter of rain on pavement. The distant roll of thunder. The sharp, violent crack of lightning overhead. This concert of conspirators was almost enough to make the representative version New Mombasa feel as if it was under the shadow of an angry storm. But those elements, like Halo 3: ODST itself, were still being formed.
In the most recent stable build, the atmospheric illusion provided by the sonic simulations has been augmented with some freshly painted in visual effects. A thin sheet of rain now slants down from a dark blanket of racing clouds. Wind mingles with sprays of vapor and mist. Heat lightning draws soft, blue highlights while sporadic ground strikes bleach everything, for brief moments, stark white.
Gameplay-”Down Below”
The city of New Mombasa itself has also been given some new treatments of its own. The buildings of the interior proper are now fitted with some electronic information displays. There are more signs of life.
Police transports, emergency lights still blinking red and blue, sit empty with doors wide open. A pair of black stripes burned onto the pavement leads to an abandoned metro bus left curiously angled on the sidewalk as if the driver had a momentary lapse and careened off the road and into the side of a small, squat building. The passengers seem to have forgotten their luggage. The burned out husk of a nearby Wraith might have something to do with the haste in which the driver slammed on the brakes and with which the occupants spilled out onto the street.
Out on the horizon, skyscrapers loom, sheer walls stabbing up into the clouds from the heart of the city. Faint fingers of eerie blue light, dimmed by weather and distance, briefly splay out from behind the buildings as if grasping at something, and then fade away into the night sky.
Opposite, the sky is ablaze. Clouds are consumed by ash, smoke, and roiling fire. Arcs of electricity snake and climb upon some unseen thing.
Under the Helmet
The low-light vision enhancement has also been tweaked since we first laid eyes on it in the representative build. What was once a rhythmic pulse that spread out across the visual field like a wave has now been made more static and subtle. Stark white lines have been eschewed in favor of a more subdued effect.
The technology behind it is still useful, but the graphical tweaks here - which we should mention are far from final and subject to change - appear to be aimed at prolonged use. Where before the effect was crisp and vibrant, it’s now been dialed down to meet somewhere between the realms of eyestrain and effectiveness.
~