That old thread is too old and long winded, I think it's time to start afresh. I'll post in here frequently with my own takes on each piece of the Halo Story I've experienced. And I'll be happy to answer any questions you might post here.
Also there was this neat thing a few days ago.
Spoiler
Yep. Halo Infinite is coming,And it is coming to PC.
I know Halo's an old bag, and most aren't really interested anymore. Kind of saddens me, because of how richly built Halo's mythology has become.
A few useful fan-cultivated (Not me, before anyone asks) links if you're interested in diving in at some point:
And here's my own TL;DR chronological order of the "Important" stuff (there's a lot more, but I don't think they're important for enjoyment)
Spoiler
Blue denotes the 'main series' Green denotes a game not on the mainline. Otherwise, all others are books.
The Forerunner Saga (Halo: Cryptum, Halo: Primordium, Halo: Silentium) - The Story of the Forerunners' final days.
Broken Circle - The Story of how the Covenant began, and how it broke
Contact Harvest -The Story of how the Human-Covenant War began, and Sgt. Johnson's backstory.
Halo Wars 1 -The Story of the Spirit of Fire
Halo: Reach* -The Fall of Reach from the perspective of NOBLE Team
The Fall of Reach -The Origin Story of the Master Chief and the other Spartan-IIs, and how Reach fell.
Halo: Combat Evolved
First Strike -The Story of what happened after Reach and Halo: CE, and before Halo 2
Halo 2
Halo 3: ODST -The Story of Alpha-Nine, the "ODSTeam"
Halo 3
Ghosts of Onyx -The Story of the Spartan-IIIs begins, and what happened to Blue Team and Dr. Halsey after Reach.
Kilo-5 Trilogy (Glasslands, Thursday War, Mortal Dictata) -More Dr. Halsey, Blue Team, and the S-IIIs; The Story of what happened after Halo 3
Last Light -More Blue Team and S-IIIs
Retribution -Sequel to Last Light
New Blood -The Story of what happened to the ODSTeam, and how Buck became a Spartan-IV
Hunters in the Dark -The Story of the Return to the Ark, and the first time Humans and Sangheili (Elites) work together after the war. Spartan Vale's origin story.
Halo 4(and Spartan Ops side missions)
Escalation* -The Story of what happens between Halo 4 and Halo 5.
Halo 5: Guardians
Halo Wars 2 -The Spirit of Fire returns, The Story of how the Banished come to power.
Bad Blood -The Story of what happened immediate after Halo 5, starring Buck and Fireteam Osiris, Master Chief and Blue Team, and the old ODSTeam
Halo Infinite
*I recommend just reading a synopsis of this, because it's pretty terribly written for something rather important.
*Really only including Reach because it's one of the games. It doesn't really serve any story value that The Fall of Reach didn't tell better.
Next week, June 26th, is the release of Halo: Bad Blood, a sequel to Halo 5: Guardians on the games side, and also a sequel to Halo: New Blood, which itself is a sequel to the old spinoff Halo 3: ODST, Starring everyone's favorite Nathan Fillion, Nathan Fillion as Nathan Fillion Spartan (former ODST) Edward Buck.
Spoiler
Just hours following their climactic battle on the Forerunner planet Genesis, the Spartans of Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris find themselves running for their lives from the malevolent machinations of the now-renegade artificial intelligence Cortana. But even as they attempt to stay one step ahead, trouble seems to find Spartan Edward Buck no matter where he turns.
A secret mission enacted by the Office of Naval Intelligence could possibly help turn the tide, and has Buck reluctantly agreeing to reform his old team, Alpha-Nine. Because if the band is really getting back together for this one, that means everybody—including the Spartan who Buck never wants to see again, the one who committed the ultimate betrayal of trust….
I'm finally gonna sit down and play Halo Wars 2 today. (I should probably mention that as of right now, Halo Wars 1 is on Steam, and in the Summer Sale! HW2 is also on PC, but through the W10 store.)
I've played it on and off, but I haven't bothered to sit down and finish it, because RTS simply isn't really a genre I experience much. But I did keep up with it for the story.
Halo Wars 2 is not just a sequel, but a side-story to a different part of the universe during and after Halo 5: Guardians. The events of HW2 lead me to believe they will be coming into play in Halo Infinite.
Mainly by way of introducing the new faction, the Covenant remnant known as the Banished. Particularly, this is Atriox's story:
Halo has needed replenishment in the Rogues gallery for a while. Atriox and the other ones from Halo 5 are a good start.
Blue denotes the 'main series' Green denotes a game not on the mainline. Otherwise, all others are books.
The Forerunner Saga (Halo: Cryptum, Halo: Primordium, Halo: Silentium) - The Story of the Forerunners' final days.
Broken Circle - The Story of how the Covenant began, and how it broke
Contact Harvest -The Story of how the Human-Covenant War began, and Sgt. Johnson's backstory.
Halo Wars 1 -The Story of the Spirit of Fire
The Fall of Reach -The Origin Story of the Master Chief and the other Spartan-IIs, and how Reach fell.
Halo: Combat Evolved
First Strike -The Story of what happened after Reach and Halo: CE, and before Halo 2
Halo 2
Halo 3: ODST -The Story of Alpha-Nine, the "ODSTeam"
Halo 3
Ghosts of Onyx -The Story of the Spartan-IIIs begins, and what happened to Blue Team and Dr. Halsey after Reach.
Kilo-5 Trilogy (Glasslands, Thursday War, Mortal Dictata) -More Dr. Halsey, Blue Team, and the S-IIIs; The Story of what happened after Halo 3
Last Light -More Blue Team and S-IIIs
Retribution -Sequel to Last Light
New Blood -The Story of what happened to the ODSTeam, and how Buck became a Spartan-IV
Hunters in the Dark -The Story of the Return to the Ark, and the first time Humans and Sangheili (Elites) work together after the war. Spartan Vale's origin story.
Halo 4(and Spartan Ops side missions)
Escalation* -The Story of what happens between Halo 4 and Halo 5.
Halo 5: Guardians
Halo Wars 2 -The Spirit of Fire returns, The Story of how the Banished come to power.
Bad Blood -The Story of what happened immediate after Halo 5, starring Buck and Fireteam Osiris, Master Chief and Blue Team, and the old ODSTeam
Halo Infinite
*I recommend just reading a synopsis of this, because it's pretty terribly written for something rather important.
Did you leave out Halo Reach on purpose or by accident?
Did you leave out Halo Reach on purpose or by accident?
Kinda on purpose, but I had changed my mind. I clearly forgot to go back and add it.
I've really soured on Reach these 8 years since it's been out. It introduced a lot of the unpopular gameplay elements that Halo 4 got crucified for, despite being mechanically the same as the former.
And it seems like it went out of its way to introduce problems that compromise the Fall of Reach book, which IMO told the same story, but way better.
A few days after the Halo Infinite trailer dropped, Marty O'Donnell (the composer of the Bungie-era Halo games, and Destiny 1 before he was fired without cause during D1's development) posted a winky wink comment on twitter:
Nobody thought much of it, since it was a piece of music he had come up with years ago. But then, a few days ago, couple of people met up with him at a Seattle coffee shop. You might know some of them.
So that's Joseph Staten (Head writer of the original 3 Halo games, currently works as Overall Senior Creative Director for Microsoft Studios), Jen Taylor (Voice actor of Cortana and Dr. Catherine Halsey) with Marty.
And then just a little bit ago:
Either he's trolling us real good, or Marty's coming back to Halo, and then the WHOLE band is officially back together. Marty, Frankie, Joe Staten, and the voice actors.
