The Psychology of Halo: Combat Evolved (CE)
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- čas přidán 7. 04. 2024
- The original Halo trilogy clearly stands out among the 343 sequels, the halo tv show, and even the halo novels... but why? Is it dumb luck or is Halo CE actually really deep? In this video I take a DEEP DIVE wink into the meaning of Halo CE, as well as the mystery of Bungie's Halo, and why it has yet to be replicated.
Alt titles: HALO CE is Deeper than you remember
This is the first video in a series I'm doing about Bungie and their original Halo trilogy. So if you like it, stay tuned, there's more to come!
Let me know what you'd like to see next,
Thanks for watching!
Check out my other work on instagram: bit.ly/3vmGKWj - Hry
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An idiot admires complexity, a genius admires simplicity
Absolutely agree. Also love your videos dude! Would love to collaborate sometime!
I've always thought Halo's ability to consistently challenge what you think you know about the world is really special. Each twist doesn't feel cheap at all, and those moments are completely earned. Just ramping up that urgency in interesting ways that actually (in the case of the flood) actually change how you play the game. It's extremely special and really rare to see. I will always love Halo CE
The halo show as well as 343 have missed a simple point: making a world that is completely different to our own YET entirely the same in terms of theory.
So yeah, we don’t have wars in space; yet the reason the UNSC and The covenant are fighting is the same reasons that humans on earth fight. We get to escape the reality of our world all while having the same emotional turmoil we actively still have.
Well written
I clicked on your video, and then was like, “nah, I’m busy,” and was about to turn it off, and then I saw all of the work you put into the video with your pool dive scene, and was like, “well, he put a lot of work into that…guess I’ll stay,” and then I watched the entire video…and then I liked it so much that I subscribed. A series of events, that was. 😂
Jason Jones, project lead on Halo CE and Halo 2 put it best:
"So much of a game's story is about leaning flavor to the times when you're playing it. It's about making you believe you're actually fighting on this ring world light years from Earth again aliens called the Covenant - rather than being up at 2am trying to finish some stupid video game."
The Halo universe has implications and interesting things to hash out, but without taking the time to build the substructure first, it fells bloated, confusing and (heh) alienating. They aren't trying to say "child solider good" - they are starting with the games design (substructure) and fitting a story to justify it so it's not just mashing buttons. Too many games try to do it the other way around and unfortunately, there's only one Hideo Kojima, so 90% of them feel like bloated, frustrating messes. This is also the biggest problem with the Halo show - it didn't take the time to build the substructure (war with the Covenant and the battle of Installation 04) first. UNSC corruption or exploitation of children in a dystopian future can be a great story... but you have to earn it.
You should 1000% check out the precursor to Halo, the Marathon trilogy. Though told only through terminals, its story is insane & has many direct connections to CE that I think you would enjoy.
Thanks, I’ll have to check it out! I’ve never played them or known much about them other than that they were developed by bungie.
@@themeaninginbetween a good place to start is Hidden Xperia's videos on the marathon trilogy
@@themeaninginbetweenThey're great. They're just overall amazing, but they can be very confusing at times. Like to the point of crazy
@@GlitchyGamers18I’d be careful, Hidden Xperia can misinterpret sometimes
I love that you brought psychology into halo.
Having grown up more with the later Halo entries/spin-off stories, I think there's some good stuff in those. But I agree - Halo CE just has got so many things going for it: the creepiness of the ring due to how vast yet empty it is; the ominous, ancient and foreboding tone provided by the music; the classic feeling of the beginning (very much like the original Star Wars); the sense of duty and loss; the twist that is the Flood… all of these are just excellent. To me, it's a seminal video game with a great popcorn sci-action story which is executed very well. I always recommend it to my friends even if they don't really play video games.
Very glad to see someone put forth a well-educated analysis of the first Halo game on CZcams. I've never put together how Jung/mythology factors into all of this, but it's so obvious once you present it like you did. We need more people on CZcams/the internet in general talking about just how cool Halo is on a well-researched level, and it looks like you're gonna lead the charge. Very much a big fan of what you're doing on this channel (nice RvB vid! Just watched the Halo 2/religion one and really liked it). Subscribed!
The original trilogy and especially ce are truly one of a kind stories. My first play through of ce i was 8 years old. And still to this day. Theres a true feeling of vast open desolate space on a foreign world. The game was so ahead of its time 23 years later people are making videos and content about it.
Great video
Great piece on CE, "The only Halo that matters".
Disagree
I don't think the Gravemind meant that he is the embodiment of all sins in the religious aspect. I think he meant it more so out of all the failings of all life, that all life must consume and eat and bring death to another. That peace with all life or among all life isn't possible. Therefore he is the moment to all of those failures and that it is the salvation a solution to the problem. but a corrupted one.
Awesome video, I'm looking forward to the Halo 3 breakdown!
I've been thinking about making a video about the themes of each Bungie game for a while, and instead of discouraging me these videos make me even more eager to make it!
Do it! These games can never have enough praise, and there is always new stuff to discover and learn about. We need more people to become aware of why these games are so great, so maybe someday we can get something like them again.
I don’t agree with the premise of this video. Is Halo CE simple? Yes. But new Halo isn’t bad because it has a level of specificity that strips the ability to interpret wildly.
If simplicity is a tool then subversion is also a tool and I don’t think that it’s reasonable to hold this form of storytelling against media just because it’s new. If stories have gotten more “nuanced” through subversion and if it seems like we really like this, then time will tell if this will have the staying power of our more simplistic, open, and interpretive tales.
Also, Brian Gilbert was talking about the halo books which were always more complicated than the original game from day 1. He’s talking about a different story than Combat Evolved and that plot point about Spartans being kidnapped as children was around since the bungie era so it’s not a problem with new Halo. I also disagree with Brian’s interpretation that the UNSC are good even with this nuance that they did bad stuff and I think you’re also wrong for basically taking his interpretation at face value as actually representative of Halo’s message (as a series, books and games) as a whole. Humanity’s back is against the wall and it’s not about “good” but about the “best”.
You make videos of really good quality, I will wait for the halo 3 video gladly
Bungie, old Bungie, really focused on playing with the concepts of the hero, of destiny “luck”, and on you being a part of that marriage in storytelling
That’s why Halo is compared to Marathon so much. It’s the same essential story.
This is great, chefs kiss! I love how fluent and interesting the video was. You are amazing at getting your points across and I’m sure your going to pop off!
These are all great, I can't wait for more.
Amazing video, love your style. Really interesting way to look at the halo story, great work
Thank you for this 🫡
wheres his foot??
Haha long story! But the foot has been fixed since this video and he’s back in tip top shape!
I was wondering the same thing
really interesting thoughts. halo has that feeling that i’ve never really had from another game before, and hearing you put some things into words i didn’t have were great. nice video!
This is an awesome video. Really high quality. Awesome stuff man keep it up 🤙
I’ve had friends that never played Halo (until now) tell me I just love it because of nostalgia and it’s not as crazy good or deep as I think it is. A part of me thought maybe they were right and I’m blinded by my love for the franchise since I was a kid. Thank you for reaffirming my belief that Halo is special. I could never articulate why exactly beside cold hard facts about how it revolutionized the industry with its physics, AI and controls. This video does the talking for me about how the story of Halo is so deeply rooted in me and why I haven’t lost interest despite me growing up. Amazing video.
Well done 👏
Your thorough analysis is a reminder of exactly why I appreciate this story and the fandom around it. This is the type of conversation I wish I could share and experience in-person. #deep
Sub'd!
Excellent analysis, keep up the good work.
Love the video, keep it up :3
Based take! Hope this channel takes off 👍🏻
Dude you deserve more views
I really liked this video and especially appreciate the critique of modern media’s seemingly endless obsession with moral ambiguity in almost every film or game today.
Sometimes it’s refreshing to forget about all of the “surprise, the good guys aren’t actually good!” tropes that dominate media and just have fun being the undeniable “good guy” of the story and feeling awesome while doing it.
This was very well done. This is what I was wanting to say as well
I hope this video and your channel blows up! Fantastic content!
Love your videos, maybe a deep dive of the flood video?
This video needs far more views
6:40 Jeez every story now needs a sad story for the enemy. Halo was just like "these guys want to kill us, they have better ships and guns than us, but we are still going to kill as many as we can". The Covenant are bad guys. They want to destory man kind. Sure we understand why in halo 2 and contact harvest. But its still pretty one sided why we should fight the Covenant
He’s done it again - another masterpiece.
Yo what the hell this channel is sick!
Thank you, this honestly puts to words exactly what I've felt with this game. It's not the graphics or the gunplay that make it resonate with me ever since I was 10, but the archetypes and symbolic storytelling. The human-like AI construct and the machine-like human in power armor, it's all so good! Great video, thank you! 👍
Man I love this analysis. Love games. Love Hero stories. Love Halo.
Appreciate the support! More of these to come soon!
You're video made me think about what makes the plot of Halo feel different from other video games. It's a very modernist work in its themes and characters, most games lean more post-modern in their narratives.
I don't know if what I said even means anything, but I think other people will get what I mean.
100% agree!
@@themeaninginbetween I should have waited until I finished the video before commenting lol
love this vid
cool editing
No idea what bro is on about but it sounds deep 🔥
This guy is probably on meds. He talks like he sniffed 3 lines before making this nothing burger of a video.
I think you’re misusing “depth”. Your language and delivery is very flowery but “depth” implies complication and nuance which is antithetical to your promotion of the use of simple tropes where everyone already has a solid understanding. I can understand “depth”, In the concept of “immersion” which is what I thought that you meant since you literally used images of being sunken in water but you described it verbally as this universal understanding across culture and a timeless appeal. Those things don’t mean depth.
Instant subscribe
Is it possible to enjoy new entries for expanding the universe while also enjoying the original for being subtle? I think so !
I love how this all ties into the HEAVY attachment and references to biblical themes, names, events, etc.
It's not a story about the christian mythos, per se, but it stands upon the pillars that hold religious texts (the Bible specifically) to create a story that is just as based on and tied to very primal things about the human experience.
I also like how a certain interpretation of Halo could be that all of our religions are some either genetic or memetic holdover of our species' memories of time before the very first firing of the rings. It turns all the in-game references to the Bible and other religions on their heads... and then all the IRL religions actually become a reference to Halo lore haha
This game is great and its not all nostalgia. I only played the about a year ago.
good video
something about CE is more replayable then every other halo. I don't... I don't know why. it just is. maybe the A.I is more unpredictable? as the A.I got smarter in later halos, you had less "elites dive off cliffs" and "grunts and jackals run away".
Haha I completely agree!
nice ray-ban glasses
❤
343 was made in order top sell Halo as a brand and not to make Halo Games.
Also the Flood isn't bad they created all life and are allied with Humanity... Ancient Humanity... They're not bad just hostile as a test for the mantle.
Starting to notice a pattern with the excess amounts of Halo CE retrospectives/essays recently. They all go over the same talking points but always tend to add some irrelevant hypothetical statement, that more or less serve to supplement their content on an already over-analysed game. There's been two liminal space-themed essays of CE for God's sake, that's how easy it is to impress the Halo fandom.
I get that Halo CE is a very easy target to fabricate these talking points on for content and there's been a drought for Halo stuff lately - but Halo CE is a sci-fi action game, you go somewhere extra-terrestrial, you shoot stuff with twists and turns here and there, blow something up at the climax and get out. End of story.
You had me up until you started ranting about “postmodernism”, subverting expectations and challenging existing power structures is not “postmodernist” by any means, u can see these themes in Dante’s Inferno(critiquing the church and other political institutions), the entirety of Marxism(challenging the entire system of capitalism), Frankenstein novel and creature from the black lagoon movie (subverting the “monster born bad and evil“ troupe). So i do agree that its simply a different kind of storytelling but disagree about what kind
Halo >>>>>>>>> call of duty
This video goes h*rd
Halo can be deep, but you're looking way too into it and finding patterns that aren't there at all. This video veers off into a completely strange tangent very quickly, then goes into things that aren't true in reality, like the collective unconscious, etc.
I disagree, he's onto something.
Essayists need something easy and digestible to inject unrelated trivia to make content. They use 'slick' editing to win over people and have them treat the essayist's opinion as fact. Halo fans, especially those of CE, are very susceptible to this. Unfortunately, Halo CE has been a very easy target for these types of videos recently and it sucks.
Another glorified and overly-edited CE retrospective, that devolves into tangents about random crap that has nothing to do with Halo CE.