Halo 1/2/3

[Aaron]

As I mentioned in the ODST thread, my understanding of the Halo storyline is basically "super space marine saves galaxy". That said, if I play then out of order am I going to miss anything critical? 2 and 3 are reasonably easy to get but I haven't seen Halo 1 in a good while.

So basically am I going to be lost if I play 3 first or is the story so basic or pointless that it won't matter?

[General Zod]

You can easily play Halo 3 without needing to know what happened in 1 or 2. Any relevant character information you could just look up on Wikis to fill in the gaps if you're really curious. There's something about Cortana needing to be recovered in H3 but the specifics aren't all that important.

[Vehrec]

The one thing you'll miss out on that you might like is the incredibly atmospheric bits of Halo:CE that should be played in a dark room to maximize the horror. The plot is fairly predictable, but when the mid game twist hits it does so with the force of a sledgehammer. That single level does survival horror better than half the horror games out there, partly because it's so unexpected on a blind play through.

So yeah, play Halo if you want to understand who the hell 343 Guilty Spark is, Where Cortana got that plot critical green stick thing, and a few other background things.

[Losonti Tokash]

You can get Halo 1 off of Xbox Live for like 10 bucks.

[Aaron]

You can get Halo 1 off of Xbox Live for like 10 bucks.

Oh, excellent. I never even thought to check there, thanks.

[chitoryu12]

Pretty much any question about the plot and characters can be answered by Halopedia. They have information on the games, books, comics, I Love Bees, etc., so you can learn more about the plotline than the games alone will tell you, all without having to slog through hours worth of the expanded universe yourself.

[JointStrikeFighter]

Halo 1 is the best halo anyway.

[Losonti Tokash]

Halo 1 is the best halo anyway.

Only because of the teleport maze. Fuckin shotguns + no shields + king of the hill +teleporter maze=best gametype ever.

[Stark]

Anything where you can stand behind a teleporter and not be seen due to the teleporter showing what's on the other side is awesome.

And JSF how can Halo1 be best when Halo Wars is out?

[Wing Commander MAD]

The one thing you'll miss out on that you might like is the incredibly atmospheric bits of Halo:CE that should be played in a dark room to maximize the horror. The plot is fairly predictable, but when the mid game twist hits it does so with the force of a sledgehammer. That single level does survival horror better than half the horror games out there, partly because it's so unexpected on a blind play through.

So yeah, play Halo if you want to understand who the hell 343 Guilty Spark is, Where Cortana got that plot critical green stick thing, and a few other background things.

Spoiler

I assume you're referring to 343 Guilty Spark (level where you first encounter the Flood) and not the Library (or as I like to call it on higher difficulties "Oh why God Doesn't It End"). I will echo that survival horry bit, especially because I got lost somehow trying to escape on my first play through. That was probaly one of the most memorable game experiences I've ever had.

It's probably not necessary to play them in order, though I'd recommend it for the best experience. I say playing 2 before 3 is an absolute must thuogh. I will point out that if you use the wiki that information may seem somewhat conflicting, as the second book had parts where it seemed to diverge from in game events which was kinda confusing (also probably why its the only book to cover the material a game covered). Heck I'm still not sure which version of events is held higher (or which I like better).

[Stark]

I think it's more fun to play Halo3 and asking fans to explain all the stupid shit.

I played it with JSF, and by halfway through he was just saying 'yeah, it's just dumb'. Halo3 made him not a Halo fan, and was so boring I dropped out of coop halfway through and just watched him magic hammer his way through the game.

Man, that anyone thinks the Library is 'survial horror' or produces any positive response is amazing to me. The response it produced in me was 'snore let's recylce some map geometry and spawn some more badguys in this room, ho hum'. When 343 said 'three doors down, 8 to go' I just turned off the game because I have a dick and don't like to get fucked by hopeless developers.

[JointStrikeFighter]

It doesn't help that after Halo1 any pretense of semi-tacticool was dropped to create the quake SUPER TWITCH HALO2 BUTTON X PATROL

[DPDarkPrimus]

Halo 2 was disappointing from the perspective of closure, but it introduced the Arbiter, who, unlike Master "generic super soldier" Chief, actually had character motivation, development, etc.

[Stark]

The Arbiter actually had interesting levels too - all the semi-stealth silliness and such. His first level was the only part of Halo2 I liked.

[OmegaChief]

Man, that anyone thinks the Library is 'survial horror' or produces any positive response is amazing to me.

I think the survival horror comments might have been for the level before, "343 Guilty Spark" if I remember right, which while some of the underground sections could be called repetetive (And easy to get lost in) it does have a nice atmosphere if you don't know what's coming.

[DPDarkPrimus]

The Arbiter actually had interesting levels too - all the semi-stealth silliness and such. His first level was the only part of Halo2 I liked.

But he became the scapegoat for all of Halo 2's short-comings, despite most of the MC levels being the ones that were truly disappointing, and as such his part in Halo 3 was reduced to window dressing at most. I was genuinely looking forward to having more of his (and the rest of the Elites) explored in more depth.

[Ford Prefect]

the best part of Halo 3 is Forge plus that huge, empty warehouse map. It is totally boss.

[Crazedwraith]

Halo: CE was pretty much ruined for me the moment the flood turned up. It went from having an interesting variety of opponents with different weapons and tactics and so forth to 'lol zombie swarmz!'

[Crazedwraith]

Edit:Double post. No idea how that happened, an hour later.

[Oscar Wilde]

The Arbiter actually had interesting levels too - all the semi-stealth silliness and such. His first level was the only part of Halo2 I liked.

Only unfortunate that you don't get a "new" camo generator.

And that raises another point about the Halo universe being stupid: The humans built a better shield system, can they not capture and replicate the light bending shit elites have?

And fuck that, they can turn invisible, if they could get a silent weapon that ISN'T a sword (Genius all over, invisible + big glowy obvious sword) they could pretty much win the war.

Wait, am I applying logic to Halo?

[DPDarkPrimus]

The sword cloaks in Halo 3.

[chitoryu12]

The Arbiter actually had interesting levels too - all the semi-stealth silliness and such. His first level was the only part of Halo2 I liked.

Only unfortunate that you don't get a "new" camo generator.

And that raises another point about the Halo universe being stupid: The humans built a better shield system, can they not capture and replicate the light bending shit elites have?

And fuck that, they can turn invisible, if they could get a silent weapon that ISN'T a sword (Genius all over, invisible + big glowy obvious sword) they could pretty much win the war.

Wait, am I applying logic to Halo?

Actually, one of the novels (Ghosts of Onyx) has Spoiler

Spartan-III's with Semi-Powered Infiltration armor, which does feature a cloaking device, albiet one that's a bit spotty in the "working" department.

[Oscar Wilde]

The Arbiter actually had interesting levels too - all the semi-stealth silliness and such. His first level was the only part of Halo2 I liked.

Only unfortunate that you don't get a "new" camo generator.

And that raises another point about the Halo universe being stupid: The humans built a better shield system, can they not capture and replicate the light bending shit elites have?

And fuck that, they can turn invisible, if they could get a silent weapon that ISN'T a sword (Genius all over, invisible + big glowy obvious sword) they could pretty much win the war.

Wait, am I applying logic to Halo?

Actually, one of the novels (Ghosts of Onyx) has Spoiler

Spartan-III's with Semi-Powered Infiltration armor, which does feature a cloaking device, albiet one that's a bit spotty in the "working" department.

Again, humans can build superior shielding but can't improve teh light benders?

Seriously though, if the covs weren't some of the stupidest military forces in fiction ever, that wouldn't even be relevant, because their "elite" soldiers wouldn't get the shit beaten out of them regularly.

Oh, and can the covies not just get Chief into a building and plasma bombard the shit out of it?

Oh yeah, Bungies retarded, so sorry.

[Black Admiral]

And that raises another point about the Halo universe being stupid: The humans built a better shield system, can they not capture and replicate the light bending shit elites have?

They probably could've, if not for the fact that (according to The Flood, anyway) the Elites kitted with the cloaking device weren't deployed until shortly before Halo 1.

The SPI armour given to the Spartan-IIIs is an entirely separate development, and the main problem it suffered was that burning holes in it tends to mess up the camo effect.