: Stuff like Loftus' thread above is the sort of stuff that brought me to the
: Halo community in the first place. There aren't really any other people
: you can talk the specifics of Elite anatomy with without getting weird
: looks.

: Nowadays it seems like people want to hear more about multiplayer as that
: gets refined further and further, and people just don't seem as interested
: in that anymore. Maybe it's changed too much from the typical Halo
: formula. I don't think so. I personally haven't had this much fun in Halo
: multiplayer since Halo 2. School and side projects have gotten in the way
: of what would normally be my relaxation time with MP though.

: In the end, I wish that when people got bored with multiplayer talk they'd
: return to the fiction stuff. Honestly, at this point in Halo's history,
: there's more fiction stuff to discuss than ever before. It's just more
: widespread and I think because we're oversaturated with content there
: isn't as much time to pick over all these details before the next thing is
: coming out. As a result, not as much time to discuss it.

: I don't think it's necessarily that people aren't picking through the same
: things, it just seems that for whatever reason, people are deciding not to
: post those thoughts as much. I know that's definitely the case with me.
: There's lots of threads I could have started as far as fiction goes. But I
: don't know why I haven't. Maybe I'm busy, or maybe I just feel like no one
: else really wants to talk about those things. Either way, I think that
: needs to change. The only way the forums are going to get interesting
: again is if people actually decide to post their thoughts. We never know
: where some random idea might lead once the community gets involved in the
: discussion!

: I think this down time will be good for the community. We need more down
: time, because it'll help us go back to what it was we liked about Halo in
: the first place. What it was that kept us going back to play the same
: games even when no new content had been released. And then want to talk
: about it with people. I'm still hopeful.

It's true, fiction is what really what got me into Halo. I loved the story. As soon as a new book was released, I would call up the book store and place an order. Australia usually had a two week delay on the American release date. And finally when the new book arrived I couldn't put it down.

Now I have two novels on my shelf, one partly read, I can't even remember its name, the sequel to GoO. And the other first Forerunner Trilogy novel untouched. Two entire trilogies are nearly out and I've barely touched them. The young me would be shaking his head.

But I think I hit my peak at Halo: Reach. I raised my expectations to high. I thought it was going to be the game of my dreams; The video game adaptation of the novel The Fall of Reach. However as more details emerged, and MC wasn't the main character, I still thought the events of the novel would be happening concurrently and we would hear about them as the game progressed... and it never happened. There was only confusion when so many elements of the game contradicted the book I loved. The Spartan IIIs were poorly introduced. I struggled to tell my friends how the Spartan IIIs fit into the game and how Hasley knew about them when she didn't know about them? Cortana? I wasn't a part of the HaloReachisnotcanon movement, but I just found it frustrating when so many things just couldn't reconcile to the book anymore when they easily could've.

And then when I wanted to talk fiction and Spartan IIIs, I started a thread, with one funny yet incorrect spelling mistake which made the post an entire joke (pubic/public). The first post was funny, not the 10th. I think I stopped talking fiction after that, as no one could look past the spelling mistake.

I played Halo multiplayer religiously up until Reach. To put it simply Bloom and armour abilities just killed Halo MP for me. I hate armour lock with all my being.

I got my hopes up again for Halo 4. Finally a really story driven Halo game. It's going to be amazing. And again the disappointment. How the main characters were silent when they should've been asking a thousand questions. I thought with all my additional Halo Lore knowledge I would know what's going on. I was so confused.

Now I just go back to my 14 year old posts and see what I really wanted in my Halo games.

http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive13.pl?read=380316 - Driving a Pelican in Multplayer

http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive11.pl?read=330416 - Meeting Spartan 001 (When I knew nothing about Halo I thought Spartan - 001 they would be an uber Spartan in Gold armour lol)

http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive11.pl?read=330411 Jetpacks, Grapelling Guns and being able to utilise the Warthog Winch (My wishlist for Halo 2)

Such a simple mind.

Shiska shut me down in that thread, saying that Jetpacks could never exist in Halo. Well I proved him wrong in Halo Reach haha. Also what happened to Shiska?

End of my reflections.