The Halo Thread v3: Zealots, Zealots EVERYWHERE

[duck]

:siren::siren: [highlight][b]HEY YOU - IF FACEPUNCHREACH'S FRIEND LIST IS FULL, ADD FacepunchActual INSTEAD[/b][/highlight] :siren::siren:

[img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1164025/zealots_everywhere.png[/img]

Halo is a game series started in the late 90s by Bungie LLC. Originally conceived as a strategy game for the Mac, Halo was turned to an FPS when Microsoft bought out Bungie in 1999. Halo was announced as a flagship title for the upcoming Xbox, beginning the series.

[b]Storyline - Story Spoilers ahead[/b]
Halo's heart is in it's rich story. So, as such, it needs quick summation. Halo takes place primarily between the years of 2552-2554, following Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, and his AI companion, Cortana. Introduced in the second game was The Arbiter, also known as Thel 'Vadam, a Covenant Elite who was exiled for his [sp]loss of the Halo in the first game[/sp]. Long story short, an alien parasite known as the Flood was invading the galaxy a few million years ago, and after a long and costly war, the Forerunner race, the dominant species in the Milky Way, created the Halo Array and the Shield System(AKA, the Sword and Shield). The Halo Array was a series of super weapons that could be individually fired or triggered from The Ark, a salvation and control station outside our galaxy. The Forerunner were doomed, and, unable to flee into their shield worlds, was forced to trigger the Halos in order to save the rest of the galaxy. All life was extinguished, starving the parasitic Flood(also killing a great amount of them) and driving them to extinction in the Milky Way. In the 2500s, humanity has reached the stars, and is now in the midst of a situation resembling Warhammer 40k. There are massive insurrections in the UNSC and many colony worlds have seceded from the main empire. In 2525, this is made worse by the arrival of The Covenant, a conglomerate of alien species who see humanity as a threat to their religious salvation, and seek nothing but the total and utter annihilation of man. Prior to this, the Spartan Program was created to quell the insurrection, as main UNSC forces were too little. John, AKA the Master Chief, was the most promising candidate, and became the leader of the primary squad, Blue Team. So now the stage is set, the Halos are out there, somewhere, the Spartans have been deployed numerous times against the Covenant and the games are soon to come. Read more at the Halo Wiki or play the games, and read the books.

[b]Games[/b]

[b][highlight]CHRONOLOGICALLY ORDERED[/highlight][/b]

[b]Halo: WARS[/b]
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f2/Halo_wars.png[/img]
Halo Wars takes place in 2531, and a deviation from the Halo series as it's an RTS. The plot is kinda stale, but it adds a bit of data previously unknown, and is a fun game all around.

[b]Halo: Reach[/b]
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/Halo-_Reach_box_art.png[/img]
This is the most recent game, but it's the prequel to the events of Halo CE. Reach takes place in September 2552, around a month before Halo 1, during the Fall of Reach. You play a Spartan III, a somewhat lower form of Spartan II(like the Chief). Your spartan and his squad are one of the few Spartan forces on the ground on Reach, and may be all that stands between the Covenant and whatever awesome plot device that Bungie decides to pull out. Other than that, feel free to post plot details (but [b]PLEASE USE SPOILER TAGS[/b] ([noparse][sp][/sp][/noparse]). The multiplayer beta ran in May, and featured multiple game types, a preview of the armor customization and a snippet of the weapons and maps available in the final game.

[b]Halo: Combat Evolved[/b]
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b7/Halobox.jpg[/img]
Halo was the first game in the series. Named after the main setting of the game, Installation 04("Halo"), the game features the first appearance of the Master Chief and Cortana. Beginning in 2552, it starts after the Fall of Reach(see: Halo Reach). The UNSC Pillar of Autumn, running from the Covenant assault on the fortress world of Reach, and carrying the Master Chief, FTLs to the Halo due to an accident caused by a Forerunner artifact recovered by the Chief. There, the Autumn is crashed on the ring, and the Master Chief, Cortana and the rest of the crew fight to survive and escape the Halo. However, they find much more than just the Covenant; the Flood is there, and the Chief learns the true nature of the Ring. This is the game that started it all. Succeeded with no online multiplayer until the 2003 PC edition, and with the same maps until launch. That's a good game.

[b]Halo 2[/b]
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/92/Halo2-cover.png[/img]
Halo 2 is the 2004 sequel to Halo: Combat Evolved. Taking place roughly a month after the events of Halo, the Master Chief has returned back to Earth, and at the Covenant capital city of High Charity(giant squid-looking space station), Thel 'Vadam is branded as the Arbiter for his [sp]loss of the Halo(he was the commander of the Covenant Fleet at Halo)[/sp]. What follows is a plot spanning several days as the Chief and the Arbiter fight through the invasion of Earth, the Flood and eventually another Halo, this time with much more at stake. Kicks off Halo 3, but before that...

[b]Halo 3: ODST[/b]
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/Halo_3_ODST_Box_Art.png[/img]
Taking place in New Mombasa in the weeks prior to Halo 3, and starting midway through Halo 2, you play as an unnamed rookie ODST(Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, think of them as US Army Rangers or SAS units), who had the misfortune of dropping into New Mombasa shortly before it was destroyed. Filling in some major plot points between Halo 2 and 3, the game adds a lot of context to the series. Also added is the Firefight game mode, pushing up to four players in an onslaught against the Covenant. The goal is to survive as long as possible and get as many kills as possible. ODST also includes a second disk containing the Halo 3 Multiplayer in full, with three additional maps(Mythic Map Pack II).

[b]Halo 3[/b]
[img]http://i27.tinypic.com/2ypfcz5.jpg[/img]
Halo 3 concludes the Halo trilogy's main plot. It's now several weeks since the end of Halo 2, in late 2552(presumably November, with Halo 1 in September). The Arbiter and the Elites are now the main faction in the Covenant Civil war, choosing to ally with the UNSC. The Chief has been MIA since the end of Halo 2, but reappears at the beginning(durr). The Covenant have been excavating something near the city of New Mombasa in Africa. It is a portal to The Ark, the control center of the Halo array. With the four factions(the remnants of the UNSC, the Sangheili[species known as the Elites], the Covenant and the Flood) poised and ready to begin the final battle of the war, they all enter the portal, some in chase of the others, in one final battle to either use the Halos or stop them once and for all.

[b]Machinima[/b]
Halo, due to it's popularity, customization and multiplayer choices, has become a major haven for machinima creators. The most known of all is Red vs Blue, by Rooster Teeth. It began during the Halo 1 era, and continued all the way through Halo 3 and is likely to continue into Reach. Halo 3 made the machinima scene far more accessible due to the addition of the Theater, which allows players to view real-time reconstructions of a game they previously played, allowing for complex camera angles to be used.

[b]The Books[/b]
The Halo series is not limited to games. As of June 2010, there are 7 books available in the series.

Halo: The Fall of Reach- Essentially, this is the most important book of all. It documents the pre-game events of the Halo universe and gives all you need to know about the Master Chief. Very good read.

Halo: The Flood- A somewhat mediocre retelling of Halo: Combat Evolved, but still an interesting book. Adds a bit of depth to the main story of the game, and pretty entertaining to read. I call it mediocre because of it's characterization of the Master Chief, which saw him as more of an action hero and less of a soldier.

Halo: First Strike- Bridging the gap between Halos 1 and 2, the book recounts how the Master Chief, Sergeant Johnson, Cortana and the rest of the Spartans made it home to Earth. Adds a lot of details to the plot, and has some seriously interesting scenes. Answers many questions about Halo 2.

Halo: Ghosts of Onyx- Ghosts is my personal favorite, and seems to be the most well received of the Halo books. Focusing around "Shadow Chief", Kurt(whom I call the Shadow Chief because of the fact that his capabilities seem to rival those of the Chief, yet his role was often as the Chief's support), the book takes place on the secret world Onyx, where the UNSC is training Spartan IIIs. This book introduces the concept of Shield Worlds, the Spartan IIIs and SPI armor.

Halo: Contact Harvest- Following the first contact with the Covenant at Harvest, the book centers around Sergeant Johnson during the pivotal days during the violent battle that was Humanity's first encounter with aliens. I found it to be a very good book, as it adds a lot of character to Johnson and it gives a lot of clarity about the first contact, the Covenant's political layout and the enigmatic Engineers.

Halo: The Cole Protocol- This one is a bit of a toss up for me, as it centers around the character of Captain Keyes, who was a main plot center in Halo 1. The game takes place in the 2530s, and introduces the Arbiter outside of his role as the Arbiter, merely being Thel 'Vadam. For that, this book is good. It also provides some back story into the Insurrection in the UNSC and has a few really awesome battle scenes. It also goes into detail about Gray Team, a group of Spartans that was basically given guns, pointed to Covenant space and told to fuck shit up.

Halo: Evolutions- A book of short stories revolving around the Halo universe. Love them all. The poems are kinda cheesy, but the stories are fantastic, and most are considered Halo canon.

[b]Future of the Franchise[/b]

Halo Reach marks the end of Bungie's development of the series. 343 Industries, a subdivision of Microsoft Game Studios will now begin developing the series. Don't panic just yet, some of Bungie's staff, including Frank O'Connor, and a pretty shaped up staff will take the helm.

[b]Videos:[/b]

[media]http://youtube.com/watch?v=pxsaGq9AMFE[/media]
PM me some videos and I'll throw them up here (most of the videos in v2 didn't really apply to this new thread)

[b][highlight]Facepunch: Reach[/highlight] (AKA The Community)[/b]

Zezibesh has kindly thrown together a list of every armour in the armoury. [url=http://dl.dropbox.com/u/795329/Pictures/me/screnshot/fullarmory1.jpg]Click here for the juicy details (SPOILER ALERT)[/url]

[url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FPSPARTAN]The Steam Group[/url] is available for all of your group-orgy needs.

[quote]
Join up if you want. Anyone can post comments and I'll probably make the people who setup games officers so they can host events.

This will technically be connected to the FacepunchReach friend and his list, so we can stay connected one way or the other.

Description and Info:

Facepunch Spartans is a group pertaining to the Halo series and all lore surrounding the universe created by Bungie. We play to have fun and are a friendly community. Join us and lets stand united in defense humankind!

Additional Info:
P1X3L N1NJA will host games for the time being on Halo 3 (and Reach) for people to join and play. He will post announcements and events for when they shall take place. He runs on GMT time so you will need to figure out the times for your timezone.

Players who do great in the custom games or do something really great will become Player Of The Week and it will be announced who. They get a good week of glory before they must compete for the title once again.

Add FacepunchReach to your friends list and be connected to the members of this group as you plan games and post who kicked the most ass![/quote]

[url=http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11336433/cow%27s%20Halo%20Avatar%20Pack.rar]cowsayoink made some super-sexy avatars for you guys to start a fad with.[/url]

[url=http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=FacepunchReach][img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/1zprtpj.png[/img][/url]

(v2 credits - KingKombat, Zezibesh, Links, cowsaysoink, Trooper-guy1, P1X3l N1NJA and the rest of the regulars for most of the content in this thread, you guys rule)

(v3 credits - Arachnidus (for making the last thread) and whomever I've assassinated in matchmaking)

Notice anything astray in this thread, like typo's, canon deviations, or flat-out spelling mistakes? Fling me a PM, or if that isn't working, an email ([e-mail])

:siren:LIST OF APPLICABLE GAMES FOR HELMET NAMEPLATE:siren:
Halo PC
Halo 2 Xbox
Halo 3 Xbox
Halo 3 ODST Xbox
Halo Reach multiplayer Beta

:siren:IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A HALO PC KEY BUT PLAYED ALL THE OTHER GAMES YOU STILL WILL NOT GET THE HALO NAMEPLATE. YOU NEED 4 OF THE ABOVE TO GET THE HELMET.:siren:

(thanks to LordCrypto for the above)

[Rooster Assassi]

I just got Halo Reach as a surprise gift, and I was pleasantly surprised.

[escher]

I have to convince my parents to let me get Reach, I'm gonna try to barter for it. It sucks that all my friends just get games for free, but I have to work for them, it rocks that it'll make me a better worker later in life.

Now I gotta rev up my crocodile tears.

[Rooster Assassi]

I don't play online much, I can't get myself to get Gold, but 2 days of gold free + free weekend gold this week should get me through.

[ketchup]

Just finished up the campaign, the ending felt abrupt-ish. [sp]But I guess it really was going to end only one way, not like they could change the story. I liked the final see how long you can make it thing after the credits, that was a nice touch.[/sp]

All in all I really enjoyed the campaign, albeit very frustrating in some parts, even on Heroic difficulty.

[CondolentSarge]

Playing through the campaign right now, and I must say I am very pleased, it was definitely worth the wait.

[TurbisV2]

Zealots in Halo?

[duck]

Most of the content from v2 is now in here, going to fix up some new stuff!

[Ihasabucket]

I agree with the title. Zealots are everywhere... like really. :crying:

[Nick895]

I'm having a shitload of trouble on Legendary by myself. I keep running out of ammo.
Still awesome though.

[Zabe Aeiger]

I can't wait to play the campaign with my friends.

Now only if UPS hurried up :argh:

[Rooster Assassi]

I'm not good enough play legendary, normal still takes me forever to get through.
I just suck :gonk:

[Kid Cudi]

what a great op! its completely original and its not like you pretty much copied and pasted the other thread without putting any content! great title also that isn't a dumb meme!!

anyways, the campaign is great, first time i actually care about a halo story.

[Funky Pickle]

[QUOTE=Kid Cudi;24852364]great title also that isn't a dumb meme!![/QUOTE]
It's true. Play on Heroic.

Also, Arachnidus seems to be missing.

[Zabe Aeiger]

[QUOTE=Kid Cudi;24852364]what a great op! its completely original and its not like you pretty much copied and pasted the other thread without putting any content! great title also that isn't a dumb meme!!

anyways, the campaign is great, first time i actually care about a halo story.[/QUOTE]

He meant to copy paste it.

As for content it says in the OP that he is updating.

[Sadboi0317]

I don't like how some of the characters died. It seems like they were unnecessarily killed off. Also, [sp]What happened to Jun?[/sp]

[Zabe Aeiger]

Spoiler tag that first sentence

[PGunnii]

Oh god I almost cried when [sp]Jorge died[/sp]

[editline]09:37PM[/editline]

Like I was pretty close. I felt that pressure in my nose when [sp]he was all "Make it count"[/sp]

[MedicWine]

I need to clear my friends list and add random people from matchmaking.

Getting a custom game is pretty hard right now. Everyone on their own doin their own stuff. I don't even have any infection custom maps yet.

[escher]

Man, I'm terrible with spoiler tags. Haven't even played the game, and I know what happens, and my brain assumes that that means I can look at all the spoilers. Must resist. . . .

Also, give me ideas of how I can break down my parents into letting me buy this tomorrow.

[PGunnii]

I hate how everyone right now is all "LOL SNIPERS DMRS HEADSHOTS"

I can't get to play 2 Flag CTF on Hemmorhage like I always wanted to.

[editline]09:41PM[/editline]

"hey everyone lets be pro faggots"

[Miya]

halo reach is the best halo game since halo 1

[Agoat]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxsaGq9AMFE[/media]

Put this in the OP because I do cool shit.

[MedicWine]

[QUOTE=KingKombat;24852551]I hate how everyone right now is all "LOL SNIPERS DMRS HEADSHOTS"

I can't get to play 2 Flag CTF on Hemmorhage like I always wanted to.

[editline]09:41PM[/editline]

"hey everyone lets be pro faggots"[/QUOTE]

I hate when it's something like

(classic slayer)x1
(lamegamemode)x0
(Slayer DMR)x3
(infection)x3

What fucking good is that ONE guy on slayer doing?

Also, I think you shouldn't be able to change your vote. It's not really voting when everyone just hits all the buttons.

[duck]

[quote=agoat;24852607][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxsagq9amfe[/media]

put this in the op because I do cool shit.[/quote]

Double kill.

Also added

[MedicWine]

[QUOTE=Agoat;24852607][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxsaGq9AMFE[/media]

Put this in the OP [B]because I do cool shit.[/B][/QUOTE]

You do do cool shit

[editline]01:47AM[/editline]

omg likez this if u lold cuz i sed doodoo XD

[Ihasabucket]

Nice new image. :D

[ketchup]

[QUOTE=Kid Cudi;24852364]what a great op! its completely original and its not like you pretty much copied and pasted the other thread without putting any content! great title also that isn't a dumb meme!!.[/QUOTE]

Shut up no one cares.

It's not like the OP is even payed attention to after the first page anyway.

[MedicWine]

[QUOTE=ketchup;24852716]Shut up no one cares.

It's not like the OP is even payed attention to after the first page anyway.[/QUOTE]

What's the point of retyping a new OP anyway? It would have to say pretty much the same thing right?

[Agoat]

[QUOTE=KingKombat;24852551]I hate how everyone right now is all "LOL SNIPERS DMRS HEADSHOTS"

I can't get to play 2 Flag CTF on Hemmorhage like I always wanted to.

[editline]09:41PM[/editline]

"hey everyone lets be pro faggots"[/QUOTE]

Snipers is fun once in a while, but Hemmorhage is pretty broken right now. At least in Invasion Slayer, anyway.