In a few hours one of the most eagerly awaited
video games finally goes on sale. preparing to rewrite retail history. A video game is expected to have bigger first
day revenues than any movie has ever had on opening night at the box office! Biggest retail launch in entertainment history. You know, dozens of grown men and probably
about 3 women have crawled out of their parents basements tonight to be first in line to buy
the new video game, Halo 2. Video gamers across the country are anxiously
awaiting the midnight release of a game called Halo 2. 45 minutes and counting for Halo 2 to go on
sale. There was only one ship. One? Are you sure? Yes. There was nothing I could do! The fleet that destroyed Reach was 50 times
this size. I need a weapon. Right this way. There are few sequels that come out as strong
and booming as Halo 2. But the question is: How do you build a worthy
sequel, off of a masterpiece like Combat Evolved, especially when no sequel or trilogy was planned
in the 1th place? Bungie answered that with a greater emphasis
on story, world building, an outrageous hype train, and a multiplayer that would forever
change the face of Xbox, and online gaming. No game up to this point had came out as guns
a-blazing as Halo 2 did, and it brought with it some of the sickest fucking guitar riffs
known to man. So sick, they even added the Halo 2 theme
to Guitar Hero 3, the most popular video game of 2007. This game is what cemented Halo as a serious
contender in the gaming market. It made Master Chief a recognizable icon,
it was one of the first games to really take on a more cinematic movie-like approach with
its campaign. Halo 2 even had the balls to cast big name
actors, like Ron Perlman, Keith David, Kevin Michael Richardson who has been in everything. As well as propelling voice actors like Jen
Taylor & Steve Downes into famous paragons of the video game industry. Halo 2 was so fucking cool they had bands
create music for the game, like Breaking Benjamin, Incubus, & Hoobastank. In fact, Breaking Benjamin didnt receive a
penny from having Blow Me Away in the game, they did it for free, for publicity, which
certainly paid off, as the song would be used in hundreds of mediocre montages across the
globe. If Halo CE was the golden child, then Halo
2 was the badass younger brother that just didnt give a fuck. But it aint all sunshine and rainbows, upon
its release Halo 2 was praised, but not without a heap of criticism aimed at its story, campaign,
level design, the E3 demo that had shockingly little to do with the actual game, and who
could forget DAT ENDING! Where Combat evolved got universal praise,
Halo 2 was seen as somewhat of a mixed bag. To make matters worse, since its release,
the comically hellish development has been revealed. With such wild controversy and praise surrounding
Halo 2, its time we pack an extra SMG, become the arbiter, and BXR our way straight into
this. So right off the bat, Halo 2 starts where
we ended in Combat Evolved, though not exactly in the same place. This is the first time we ever learn anything
about the Covenant that isnt just, Aliens in Space. Your ears and eyes are glued to the screen
as the events of Halo are recounted by the Covenant in a sort of trial. This is opening is fucking brilliant for several
reasons, one, we gain a better understanding of our enemy we see the Covenant has its own
society, rules, leaders, and hierarchy. Two it allows people who didnt play CE to
get a brief understanding of what happened, three, it adds more context to the events
of the first game and gives motivation to the covenant, 4, it sets the stage for Arbiters
conflict with the Chief. 5, we see that Captain Keyes legacy lives
on through his daughter, Miranda. And 6, the consequences of our actions are
being laid out before us, so what we did in the last game is having an immediate effect
on this one. I mean, you cant ask for much more in an opening
cutscene. It also plants the seeds for the character
arc of the Arbiter. Showing the Covenants perspective is only
half of the game, and as the cutscenes progress, we get a great dichotomy. The UNSC is celebrating their victory, while
the Covenant is enacting punishment for the Arbiters failure. You get a sense of what both sides are about
in just a few sentences and with some nice imagery. There can be no greater heresy! Let him be an example for ALL who would break
our covenant! Both sides are so similar in structure, Lord
Hoods equivalent are the prophets, Master Chief to the Arbiter, Tartarus to Johnson. But the Covenant are far more fanatical, theyre
basically like if the catholic church acquired incredibly sophisticated technology, and then
if there were three popes that all started calling themselves, Gods and conquering other
worlds. With badass names like Truth, Mercy & Regret,
we get a sense of the Covenant hierarchy and what makes them tick. In the classic graphics this scene where arbiter
walks down the hall was one of the first times a video game actually looked like a movie
to me. The lighting, the music, the dialogue, everything
just screamed cinematic. We want our game to look like a movie we want
it to look like something thats just unbelievable to experience. They marketed Halo 2 like a movie, and it
paid off like a movie, breaking the world record for most revenue generated by an entertainment
product in the first 24 hours. This game, outgrossed Dead Mans Chest just
to put that in perspective. And what Blur did with the remastered cutscenes
is basically how I saw this game back in 2004. The story for Halo 2 grew out of all the elements
that werent seen in CE. This process began with the end of Halo and
realizing all the stuff we had left out. In Halo 1 we focused on the humans perspective,
their fate at the hands of the covenant. But we never really got too much into the
covenant side of the story itself What are the motivations of the Flood, the
Covenant, and how does it all tie together? What is the bigger picture beyond the one
Halo ring? This game certainly had a great beginning,
but delving behind the scenes opened up a can of lekogolo worms
The Bungie process of making cool games has worked up until now. But is it possible that theres an amount of
pressure or an ambition beyond what we can actually do? So if were gonna talk Halo 2 campaign then
we gotta talk about the development of it, as that shapes much of what is wrong and right
with Halo 2. The notorious yet brilliant E3 trailer, took
7 months for Bungie to complete and showed much of the game that would later be scrapped
and described as all smoke and mirrors. What you good people are about to see, is
an operation in progress. This is a real time feed! No smoke and mirrors prerecorded bullshit! *Cheering
This whole section had to be cut as the Xbox couldnt handle that environment, couldnt render
it. The cliffhanger ending was a result of massive
story cuts because of being forced to ship the game on time. No you know we cant wait another year. You know, Im sorry. We cant wait! This game has to come out now! Its really great to have this deadline that
we cant move at all because it forces us to kind of finish it. When the producers come over and pry our hands
from the keyboard and say, ok! You cant touch it anymore, weve got to start
manufacturing these disks. I think thats the point where were gonna have
to stop and thats gonna be the end of it. And many Bungie employees felt the lack of
polish at release was a result of Halo 2s shortcomings. There is seemingly no end to the ideas and
features that were cut from Halo 2 because of time constraints and a deadly ambition. You know, what I knew about the campaign was
they probably cut, I mean, at least a third of the total game. Maybe as much as half, I dont honestly know. And thats why Halo 2 ended up with such a
jarring ending Its truly staggering, there were plans for
a whole level to be on a Covenant ship but instead they had to settle for this awesome
cutscene. There were those Flood Juggernaut forms found
hidden in the files, and so on. It makes you wonder, what if? What if this game had launched the way Bungie
intended it? Well it probably wouldve been one of the greatest
games of all time without a doubt, and I think it still is. But I can understand why some Halo fans were
upset when the game didnt launch the way they expected. Bungie had made a lot of promises and didnt
fulfill them all which is typical for game development. Quite frankly, I think its a miracle that
Halo 2 released in the state it did. But however upset you might have been or still
are with Halo 2, I dont think anyone was more upset than Bungie themselves. I dont think anbody in this world has ever
done anything worthwhile without being their own worst critic. We messed up, like we didnt have the design
down, we didnt have the story down. Once we actually started to see how long the
missions were taking to produce and how long they were taking to design and script, it
just it just wasnt gonna work. After doing extensive research into Halo 2s
development, it seems the cause of the massive cuts was Bungies own optimism and ambition. No real malice behind it, just bad luck mixed
with a strong desire to make the most epic sequel EVER. Despite the hell they went through, Id say
they achieved what they set out to do For the most part. It was extremely challenging to wrap all those
different, you know, ambitious angles into one, nice, smooth polished product. And especially at the end for the campaign
it just, there wasnt enough runway to land what we really wanted to land. But when it comes to gameplay youd think it
would be an automatic improvement. Were it not for the absurd Legendary difficulty
and at times piss poor level design, Id say it is. I love Halo 2 to death, but no matter how
many times Ive played it on legendary, no matter how good I think I am I always get
pissed off. Because its just not fair. But life isnt fair, Act Man sssshhhut up! Games should be fair! When you got level design thats so bad, and
enemies that are so strong you can literally die before you even see your fucking crosshair
appear, you know something is wrong. There really is no sweet spot for Halo 2 difficulty,
Ive tried it on heroic with a variety of skulls. But it doesnt have that perfection that Combat
Evolved did, where each difficulty feels like exactly what its supposed to be. And for whatever reason, probably time constraints,
quick note, any time something in Halo 2 feels off, 99% of the time its time constraints,
but for whatever reason Bungie decided to simplify the gameplay. No health bar, regenerating health. And this took away one of the best parts of
CE when you had a full bar of health, you could afford to play recklessly, and you could
get away with some crazy shit, you strategized around your health bar and available health
packs. But in Halo 2 they said fuck all that! You dont get no STINKIN health bar! I can think of no better way to illustrate
and prove the ludicrous difficulty of Halo 2 than this: So in Halo 1 it takes exactly
23 shots to kill you with a plasma rifle, now do you have any idea how many it takes
in Halo 2? You want a hint? 6. 6 fucking shots and youre dead. They shoot the guns faster too, a single burst
can kill you in less than a second. What the flipyap is this, Warzone Firefight? The exact time to kills I recorded just by
standing still was 10 seconds for CE and 1 & 1/6th seconds for Halo 2. I mean, what in Truths name happened? Well from what I understand, the development
of Halo 2 as we all know was hellish at best. So in a time crunch, Bungie realized the game
wasnt difficult enough but didnt have time to properly balance and tweak the number of
enemies and how tough they were. So what they did was ramp up the lethality
as they didnt have time to go through every encounter to rebalance it. So what we got, was a frustrating and difficult
legendary experience. And if youd like an in-depth video on what
makes it so difficult, keep your eyes peeled for an incoming collab with Hokiebird428:
Why Is Halo 2s Campaign SO DIFFICULT?! And Sniper jackals, I dont got say shit about
those guys. Their reputation as one of the most deadly
enemies in video games speaks for itself. Lets not forget, co-op had increased difficulty
because if either person died it reset to checkpoint, as if legendary wasnt difficult
enough without a permanent iron skull on. But even with its absurd difficulty, the level
design, for the most part, is inferior to CE. Remember all those big areas with vehicles
that made the world feel expansive and open. Well a lot of the sections became incredibly
linear, or condensed into smaller, tighter locations. There are some standouts like the Banshee
section in The Heretic or the tank part in Delta Halo, but I dont understand why these
levels dont offer you more paths to move around, a wider, open area. or that same expansive, explorer type feeling
you got in CE. Dont get me wrong, the level design isnt terrible
its just not as good as CE and a badass younger brother like Halo 2 shouldve nailed that. But good news is there are hardly any repeated
sections like Combat Evolved had. Of course, those are just the negative points. And for me, its much more enjoyable on heroic
with the mythic skull on. The amount of new sandbox elements in Halo
2 is UNREAL! Dual-wielding always felt so satisfying, and
just blasting things to bits! The guy is on the front cover with with 2
SMGs, bro! And what I love most was adding the sentinel
beam and energy sword as weapons for the player to use. It was like, oh yea those awesome, cool weapons
you saw in the first game?! Now you can use them! You got Covenant carbines, snipers, Brute
plasma rifles brute shot grenade launchers. The gauss warthog, Spectre, boosts for the
ghosts and banshees, ability to pilot the wraith, new turrets, the phantoms. It was all great stuff! And of course all the new types of enemies! White Elites & grunts, brutes, Drones, jet
pack elites, Sentinels with shields and a stronger weapon, those giant ass robots, the
enforcers Those giant robots, the enforcers they could pick up your vehicle and squish
ya like a bug. Hunters no longer had that pitiful one shot
weakness and were buffed with improved melee attacks and a freaking beam cannon! Some Elite flood forms had shields, I mean,
whatever you say about Halo 2, you cant say it didnt feel new. Or add in a bunch of awesome new stuff
Now think back to CE and what the levels were like, basically everything was rooted in place,
you couldnt move anything. But Halo 2 added moveable objects, things
you could manipulate. Things you could destroy. As vehicles took damage theyd have chunks
and debris flying off, I mean that was really cool stuff! It may seem somewhat simple, but holy shit
does it create an immersive world, when you can just run around, hit stuff and watch it
fly all over the place. And its crazy think a lot of FPS games even
released TODAY, dont have this type of environmental interaction. Fights between factions are back, making gameplay
fun, dynamic and not always a you vs. them sort of gameplay. And though awesome, its not as grandiose in
scale as CE. When I talked with Hardy Lebel, the lead designer
of CEs multiplayer. He said that Bungie had seen GTA Vice City
and were so enthralled by the idea of vehiclejacking, they added it into Halo. Which was freaking awesome! And it was a good way to balance vehicles
and give players on foot more options. Also the AI of your allies was VASTLY improved! Now your teammates actually contributed and
helped out! Instead of firing 3 round bursts every 5 minutes
from a 60 round gun. Smart players utilized the new mechanic of
giving your allies guns, in order to maximize kill potential and survivability. This added a new layer of strategy that made
replaying the levels so fun. And holy mother of Posiedon theres a part
where you get to fight with GODDAMN HUNTERS! That right there is the most badass thing
in existence. 10 out of 10. Halo 2 also added boss fights, a first for
the series that would never really be fleshed out in the later games except for Scarabs
& Guilty Spark in Halo 3 and Warden Eternal in Halo 5. And we all know how that went. While not the greatest example of boss fights
in FPS games, you gotta respect the ambition. The bosses you fought were more impactful
because you, the player had to take them down. Which is much more satisfying than watching
a cutscene. Honestly, if Halo 2 had the same satisfying
fair difficulty that CE did, Id say its the best game in the seri *burp Id say its the
best game in the series no question. Because this game added so many new weapons,
vehicles, elements, sandbox tools, but its not as easy to enjoy all that when the game
(for me) is either too hard or too easy. And thats Halo 2s most critical fault. People identify with humans, people care about
humans more so we really have to we really have to put The Arbiter in a position in the
story where he matters and where the player cares about him. You want to look at this guy and you want
to see that woah hes just as cool as the Master Chief. Depending on your view, one of Halo 2s best
or worst additions was being able to play as The Arbiter. We are the arm of the prophets, Arbiter. And you are the blade. The Arbiter was one of Halo 2s most controversial
additions, as people wanted and expected to play as the Chief. Quite frankly, Id agree with them, that is,
if Arbiter wasnt such a badass, likeable character. Youve drawn quite a crowd. If they came to here me beg, they will be
disappointed. Bungie had HUGE balls to go forward with this
decision of a campaign split between two perspectives, but it ultimately paid off. The Arbiter is to elites, what Chief is to
humans. Both are revered, iconic figures that carry
the weight and hopes of their people. And this is fitting given that Elites were
always meant to be your equal, now Chief has one. Now there is that idea that Halo 2 had false
marketing and showed a game or story that people expected. Like saving Earth and all of that, but it
wasnt false marketing. Obviously they omitted the role of Arbiter
because that was a twist. As the player at the start of the game you
dont realize that youre actually going to play this Elite general whos been disgraced. But you get this quick glimpse at, Ahh thats
the flipside of what happened to the Covenant at the end of the first game. Couple levels into the game you realize, Oh
my god! I get to play this guy. And the same thing goes for the Gravemind
and the Flood. Of course we see in these trailers that the
defense of Earth was meant to be a big subject. And its not like it didnt have any screen
time or missions in the campaign that we got. But it was downplayed. So no, Halo 2 didnt have any false marketing. And these two characters are glimpses into
both sides of this giant war, and instead of viewing as a boring, one-sided aliens are
bad humans good, the addition of the Arbiter allows this conflict to be fleshed out. This time around, its essentially were telling
two stories simultaneously, were going back from level to level. So just to illustrate how important Thel Vadamee
is, lets imagine how different Halo 2 would be without him. Wed have nobody on the opposing side to relate
to or guide us through the Covenant. And because Shipmaster is such a crucial point
of Arbiters character arc, hed be scrapped too. And without the story of Halo 2 having a larger
emphasis on the Covenant side, I dont think playable Elites ever wouldve been a thing
in Halo. The Covenant civil war would be trashed, and
what wed be left with is 4 villains we know next to nothing about, in a plot that would
be the exact same as combat evolved. Without Arbiter we completely lose any understanding
or empathy of the Covenant. So I think Halo 2 is better off with the Arbiter
as we gain so much from his presence, especially a great rivalry between two pinnacles of badass. Relax. Id rather not piss this thing off. Demon! What makes Halo 2s story so AWESOME, you ask? Well, its the characters of course! They all serve a purpose, they all got motivations,
friends, enemies, rivals. Theyre all likeable whether hero or villain. It doesnt matter how deep the lore is, or
how complexly woven the universe is if we dont have characters that we can understand
or relate to. So lets take a look at Halo 2s cast. Chief is more or less the same, but this time
around hes got some brand new armor, and a chip on his shoulder, hes like yea I fucking
destroyed that ring that was gonna kill everything, yeah fuck yeah! Chief barely speaks in this game, in fact
I think hes got only 15 lines of dialogue, but his character is shown through his actions
and whats happening around him. Not to mention this guy has the best freakin
one-liners. Just one question: what if you miss? I wont. Cortana who I think looks the coolest in og
graphics, has a new haircut and is back with her signature wit and cunning. She always has a plan and she always has a
backup plan. Then we got Johnson who works as the comic
relief alongside Cortana, he helps you out from time to time, and always keeps the troops
motivated, like a real Sergeant would. Miranda and Lord Hood mostly serve as exposition,
and what they say usually raises the stakes, or reveals the danger. And this is fine because not every character
needs to be as deep and complex as Harry Potter. Guilty Spark is back, but his screen time
was reduced. He reveals the truth to both the heretics,
arbiter, and Tartarus. He also helps you out in the final level with
shutting down the ring. Course the marines, grunts, elites, brutes
all got their own personas and add some personality, charm and comedy to the gameplay. Now the Gravemind is viewed by many as a controversial,
unnecessary, character. People thought this venus fly trap being the
brains of the flood eliminated any mystery behind the Flood. But I say, we had the mystery in the 1st game,
and that was good enough. So now were like oh holy fuck this is the
king of the flood?! Definitely one of the coolest video game characters
and its existence makes sense when we look back at what happened to Captain Keyes, who
was going to become a new Gravemind. Just the idea of thousands of sentient beings
clumped together with their knowledge and memories to create and fuel this abomination
with only the goal of consuming all life in the galaxy, I mean thats fucking scary and
creepy! Without the Gravemind, a 2nd appearance of
the Flood wouldve turned them into cliche space zombies. So hes a welcome addition to the cast. Tartarus is the big brute that helps characterize
and give insight into this new, formidable race. A violent, barbaric alien species that roam
in packs. That huge ass gravity hammer shows that he
means business, and he serves no one but the hierarchs, looking to prove himself and his
race as superior to the Elites. The Heretic Leader represents a side of the
covenant that disbanded, seeing through the lies and manipulation of the Prophets, fighting
these heretics sets the stage for Arbiter to learn the truth and do whats right. The hierarchs are basically space popes as
I said before, they rule with religious fanaticism. Regret being younger and more reckless, Mercy
being older and wise, and Truth being the in-between manipulator of all. Hes cunning and vicious and will use any means
necessary to achieve power. Finally we got Arbiter, whos got the deepest
character arc. Starting off as a commander, then stripped
of his rank, his honor and pride. Subjugated to torture and humiliation in front
of a huge crowd. He learns to find new purpose in serving the
hierarchs as the Arbiter, but he isnt accepted by Shipmaster or Tartarus. Eventually coming face to face with the man
who destroyed everything he had. Everyone expects him to die, but as the story
progresses, both Tartarus and Shipmaster gain some respect for him. Near the end, theres a moment when Arbiter
is talking to Tartarus, and you can tell he doesnt want to fight. He wants Tartarus to learn and understand
the truth so it can come to a peaceful resolution. But the stubborn brute cant accept that hes
been manipulated and serving a lie, so he snaps. You see, every character represents a point
of view from a different group in the Halo universe. Because of this, we see and understand so
much more of what it is were taking part in. All these characters work and play off of
each other to form a cohesive universe and make it feel real. Dear Humanity, we regret being alien bastards,
we regret coming to Earth, and we most definitely regret the corp just blew up our raggedy ass
fleet! OOH RAH! Please use caution. This reclaimer is delicate. One more word, Oracle, and Ill RIP YOUR EYE
FROM ITS SOCKET!! The dialogue in Halo 2 gets its own section
because of how absolutely brilliant it is, and how incredible the voice acting and delivery
is. This is not your grave, but you are welcome
in it. man, how the hell did you make those - Oh
wait, thats Dee Bradley Baker! Aw man that guy is known for making all sorts
of crazy noises with his mouth! Those of you that have ever written your own
stories or fanfiction know that dialogue is one of the hardest things to do well. Without a doubt, this game has some of the
best writing Ive ever seen in a video game. Nearly every line is quotable, memorable,
and memeable. If I had to narrow down the list of quotes
to use in this video, itd probably be about 80% of Halo 2s story. One vivid memory I have playing this game
with my friends was the speech Half-Jaw gives to his troops. The 1st time I saw this, my buddy had recited
the speech verbatim as it played. And thats when I realized what the characters
were saying was so powerful. On the blood of our fathers, on the blood
of our sons, we swore to uphold The Covenant. Even to our dying breath! The dialogue in Halo 2 does EVERYTHING, it
makes you feel like a badass. Your pal, wheres he going? It makes you laugh. You told me there wouldnt be any cameras. And you told me you were gonna wear something
nice! It makes you sad. Tartarus the prophets have betrayed us. It makes you scared. And most important when it comes to video
games, it gives you the information you need to know in an interesting way. Because lets be honest exposition in video
games is usually handled in, well the most boring, non-engaging, sleep-inducing way. But take this section here, allow me to point
out how brilliantly this is handled. Maam theres an object coming into view now. Cortana, what exactly am I looking at? That is another Halo. Say what?! So this is what my father found. Mirandas facial expression indicates something
serious, were wondering what she sees. She asks the question and as the floating
debris flies off screen to reveal the Halo Cortana says, that is another Halo. So this is what my father. Events are being repeated and the twist that
there are more Halo rings was honestly unexpected, and mind-blowing at the time. Johnsons surprise is meant to mimic the surprise
we, the audience feel in the moment! And the way his cigar falls out of his mouth
adds a littlbe bit of comedy too. Theres so much packed into every moment of
Halo 2s story I could describe it for hours. Sir, permission to leave the station. For what purpose, Master Chief? To give the Covenant back their bomb. Permission granted. I love this because Lord Hood starts off all
serious, then hes just like alright fuck it! The game opts for a less is more style of
storytelling. For example, with two lines of dialogue, Halo
2 shows us that the Arbiter is a highly important rank with a long history. Do you know where we are? The mausoleum of The Arbiter. Quite so! Here rests the vanguard of The Great Journey,
every Arbiter from first to last. Each one created and consumed in times of
extraordinary crisis. And with this line by Mercy, we learn that
the formation of the Covenant came with it numerous conflicts. The taming of the Hunters, the Grunt Rebellion,
were it not for the Arbiters the Covenant wouldve broken long ago! With the location these characters are in
and the few lines of dialogue they say, we learn so much about the story and the universe. These key points could serve as excellent
areas to flesh out in the expanded material. So now as a player, youre thinking about the
bigger picture How was the covenant formed? You become curious about stuff like that. Now its one thing to write good dialogue,
but it adds a whole new layer when the body language of a character reflects what they
are expressing. When Arbiter says, I am already dead, indeed. We see the great shame in his body language,
hes groveling, covering his mark of shame. We see Thel Vadam at his most vulnerable in
the presence of the Heirarchs and his peoples most sacred role. Even on my knees I do not belong in their
presence. Halo 2 is also good with the subtle moments,
like when Shipmaster is giving his speech the grunts are kinda fuckin around. Then in another scene we see a grunt slip
while trying to get on a turret. You might think these are inconsequential
details, but they reinforce the role of the grunt. And these details are all over Halo 2, from
the way the different characters move, react, and its especially well-captured in the remastered
cutscenes making their facial expressions much more realistic. One of the coolest details about Halo 2 that
you probably didnt notice, was when shipmaster is giving his speech, all the other Elites
are reciting it, and you see their mouths moving, but in this scene we see Arbiter isnt. This small detail shows us that Arbiter is
not one of them, hes something of an outcast which is reinforced in the coming dialogue. This armor suits you, but it cannot hide that
mark. Nothing ever will. You are The Arbiter, the will of the Prophets. But these are my elites, their lives matter
to me yours does not. That makes two of us. Hmmm
Theres a reason why you hang on to every word that is said in Halo 2, of course its written
well, but each character has a different way of expressing themselves, they have unique
discernible personalities. Its short, sweet and none of it is without
purpose. If there was a golden standard for dialogue
in video games and especially first person shooters, this is it. Chief, when you get to Earth, good luck! After Im through with Truth dont make a girl
a promise, if you know you cant keep it. Theres a lot of stuff that happens in Halo
2, it almost borders on being TOO much. But the game strikes a nice balance, and it
neither spends too much or too little time on one plot point. Its a split focus, as Chief you gotta defend
Earth, then you discover a new ring, you move in to take out one of the Prophets to cripple
the Covenant, then you get captured and have to track down the index to prevent the ring
from firing. On the flip side, as the Arbiter you work
with covenant allies to quell the heretics, then you must retrieve the sacred icon, figure
out the truth, get betrayed. Betrayel! Betrayed! And finally mount up with shipmaster to stop
Tartarus from activating the ring. But because were switching sides and theres
so much going on and the cut content, some things arent really explained. Like how the Covenant found Earth, or how
Guilty Spark ended up with the heretics. But thankfully, many of these gaps were filled
in the terminals, and great job by 343 on expanding the story and background of a game
we all love. We get to see the taming of the Hunters, the
Heretics learning the Truth, the history of the Arbiter and Thel Vadamee, how important
his role is. We see the grunt rebellion, and who knew I
could feel empathy for such hideous creatures. And the way this Arbiter hands a plasma pistol
to this Grunt Leader, brings a tear to my eye, and gives new respect to what I used
to see as nothing but lowly canon fodder. One of the reasons why Halo 2s story turned
out the way it did, is because writer, Joe Staten kept pushing for more and more, he
kept pushing the boundaries. And I think his immense passion to tell this
story, this vision he had, to share it with the world, is part of the reason why the story
of Halo 2 is as good as it is. Were actually pretty good at slamming stuff
in right at the end. As a matter of fact, I think we do some of
our best work that way. Now of course there is the ending. And I actually made a whole video on that
ending! So if you want to hear me talk about that,
check it out! Its a plot that keeps your attention from
start to finish, never loses momentum, it never gets dull. Youre jumping around throughout a lot of levels
but every section is just as entertaining as the last. If theres one thing that sticks with me from
Halo 2s story its the amount of feels I felt, while feeling. Nothing says good storytelling like a wide
range of emotions that you feel while experiencing it. And Marty O Donnel our lord and savior, praise
his name, absolutely KILLS it with the soundtrack, and I mean, KILLS IT! If I was stranded on an island with only one
Halo soundtrack, itd be Halo 2. Ill never forget the excitement I felt when
those drop pods crashed on Delta Halo. Or how worried I was when Chief got blasted
into the water. Or that holy fuck I get to use the energy
sword moment. Working with Steve Vai and Michael Salvatori,
Marty created a soundtrack with so many unique pieces that flow with the gameplay and cutscenes. Like when Tartarus and the Brutes are dragging
Arbiter to the Prophets, and that slow, creepy drumming beat serves to characterize the vast
& mysterious city of High Charity. What makes this campaign and story memorable
is it has so many of those moments that stick with you, vivid moments. For example, when you start the mission Uprising
and Arbiter looks at a bloody rock to pick up a plasma rifle, it sets the stage for what
youre about to see. The brutes have betrayed the elites and massacred
them. Youre able to feel empathy and sadness just
by the visuals and music, without a single word being said. This is why I made such a big deal about show
dont tell in my Halo 5 review. Compare and contrast these two tragedies. Alright, were shown the elites are being massacred,
but in Halo 5 were told 4 colonies have been destroyed by the Guardians. Alright when youre in the shoes of a character
and you experience something firsthand its way more impactful, then having it told to
you. By the Prophets! What have these brutes done? They have shed our brothers blood, and for
that they must DIE!! Halo 2 is chalk full of these moments. Like youll see the Mausoleum of the Arbiter
in one cutscene, then later in the game youll fight through that area as the Chief. Or in the 1th cutscene we see the Arbiters
trial and then in Gravemind we start the mission there. So the game feels connected and these locations
leave an imprint on us. Boo! Speaking of which, the Covenant technology
and High Charity in general just look so fucking fantastic! Now a narrative like this, becomes much more
powerful when it gives you something to think about. Or more importantly, when it teaches you something. It may be difficult to hold onto what we believed
in, but better to admit weve been living or serving a lie, than to keep pretending otherwise. Thats what Arbiter taught me, when to admit
Im wrong. What would the world be like, if it were ruled
entirely by religion? Theres more than what I listed here, but I
want you to think about what the greater message behind Halo 2 is, and share it in the comments. Its kinda hard to explain but you just feel
a lot of emotions when you play through Halo 2, and thats a sign that the story and game
has made a connection. Now this video is mostly about the campaign,
but its worth noting that Halo 2 cemented the series as a serious contender and franchise,
its what really made Master Chief the face of the Xbox and the cultural icon he is today. And none of this wouldve been possible if
it werent for the robust multiplayer and Xbox Live that kept people coming back. Giving players the ability to play as Elites
and customize them with the different colors, and emblems that showed up on your armor,
I mean that shit was awesome, it was revolutionary. And it was mind-blowing to play games of Halo
online on a console for the first time ever. And it was this jump into online multiplayer
that would fuel gaming culture, and hundreds of other games and companies would follow
suit, trying to emulate Halo 2s success. Overall, Halo 2 may have a campaign with no
perfect difficulty, it may have promised too many things it didnt deliver, it might not
have had as good of level design as CE, but what it does have is the best story in the
series. A story that makes you feel. Interesting new enemies to fight and weapons
to kill them with. And characters and dialogue that youll remember
for years. And that, is Why Halo 2s Campaign is SO AWESOME!?
