Monday, December 7, 2020

Halo 2 - Fall, to Rise - A Blind Playthrough - Finale

That's right, everyone. We've reached the legendary cliffhanger that took 3 years and an entire console generation to resolve. Even people like me, who didn't play the Halo campaigns growing up, knew about "finishing this fight".

But of course, the journey is more important than the destination. So join us as we try to stop the Covenant from making a terrible mistake.

Something I made note of in the stream, but feel the need to repeat here, is that it was a bold, but appropriate, choice on Bungie's part to end the game with the Arbiter instead of the Master Chief. For the most part, the Arbiter's story is, by far, the more important one of the two. He is the one that gives us an insight into Covenant culture and how it's formed by a fundamental misconception about the nature of Halo.

More important, he's the one that goes through an entire character arc, from start to finish, as he is forced to accept than everything he has ever been led to believe is false, eventually siding with the humans he once believed were savages out to destroy his people. Watching him stand side-by-side with Johnston and Miranda at the end of game marks a strong capstone in that story.

Giving that character the room to develop couldn't have been an easy call, even if it was the correct one ultimately. Since Master Chief is the poster boy for the series, especially at the time, it would have made sense from a marketing perspective to bookend the game with him.

It's no where near on the same level as pulling a Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2, but it's definitely brave in it's own way.

While we certainly won't be waiting 3 years like people did in real time to "finish the fight", we won't be diving right into Halo 3 just yet. Next week, we return to our favorite Bandicoot to celebrate his triumphant return.

It's.
About.
Time.

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