Possible Halo 3 Story Leak

[bapenguin]

Joystiq (http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000640061748/) is reporting that a 118 Page PDF has leaked out onto the internet outlining the story for Halo 3. An alleged 118-page draft for a Halo 3 script has surfaced on the web that is credited to Bungie’s Joseph Staten and dated: 12/05/2004. Either someone’s got a lot of time on his hands or Bungie’s got a mole. The document in question appears to have been written by someone with script-writing experience...

You can download the script from Riches Will Rust (http://www.richeswillrust.com/showthread.php?tid=75&pid=1475) (registration required)

Also from the forum post are details about the game itself. The game will be on 2 discs. Disc 1 will be the single player expierence. Of things mentioned are massive battles, space combat, and HUGE levels.

Disc 2 will contain the multiplayer expierence. Among things in multiplayer are 15 new maps, software modification protection, 3 class types and new game types.

Someone either has a LOT of time on their hands or it's the real deal.

[sTubbs]

Interesting. I have no doubt that there is some kind of script floating around Bungie, as they stated during the Halo 2 period that they were working on the story for both 2 and 3 at the same time. Although I am usually skeptical about such things, the fact that this is 118 pages only adds to the possibility that it is genuine. I mean nobody has this much time on their hands, right?

Oh, and for those of you who hate registrations, BugMeNot.com is your friend.

[Varsity]

BMN didn't give any valid UNs. I registered anyway...got to get in before the site goes down. ;)

Edit: Seems that they (or whoever) wrap it up better than Halo 2, but still leave room for further games.

[Ludoc]

Random guess as to what the Halo 3 script contains:

Act 1: MC/Marines fight the Prophets/flood on Earth. After battling large waves of them things look hopeless.
Act 2: Arbitor/Elites fight brutes/flood on High Charity/Halo After battling large waves of them things look hopeless.
Act 3: MC teams up with the Arbitor and defeat the flood/bad covies. everyone is happy.
After credits role: close up of the one infection form they failed to destroy escaping from crashed ship

Look, I'm a huge Halo fan but is this really news? There are no big suprises here, this isn't Metal Gear, it's a pretty straight forward story.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

I'm not big on multi-disc games on the consoles, but I suppose it is something that we will see a lot of on 360.

[Varsity]

Act 1: MC/Marines fight the Prophets/flood on Earth. After battling large waves of them things look hopeless.
Act 2: Arbitor/Elites fight brutes/flood on High Charity/Halo After battling large waves of them things look hopeless.
Act 3: MC teams up with the Arbitor and defeat the flood/bad covies. everyone is happy.
After credits role: close up of the one infection form they failed to destroy escaping from crashed shipNearly, but there's no after-credits scene and not everyone is happy.

[Orphiuchus]

I just dont get why people think halo has a good plot. Gah.

[Roc Ingersol]

I just dont get why people think halo has a good plot. Gah.
Because that's how low expectations for story in a video game really are.

[Borgboy]

That script is false (http://halo.bungie.org/oldnews.html?item=14187).

But Halo fans may be interested in this bit of Halo Movie news (http://halo.bungie.org/oldnews.html?item=14188). :)

[Wadmaasi]

Story and plot aren't the same thing. You can have an unoriginal plot and still tell a good story.

[Paltry]

It has a great plot... there are aliens and explosions and super soldiers and aliens and shit

[Ernst_Jager]

I liked the Halo story myself. Sometimes keeping it simple and doing it well means more.

[Zawath]

What a surprise that Bungie claims it to be false. I seriously doubt that anyone would spend so much time in creating a fake script like that. I think it's the real deal but Bungie just doesn't want to admit that they got a leak.

[jwbxx]

Make it so you can be a grunt in the multiplayer thats all i ask.

[Ludoc]

Make it so you can be a grunt in the multiplayer thats all i ask.

Only if they include a grunt voice masking option and a button to throw your hands in the air as you run away.

[insidious]

I'd love to read about Bungie finding out about the leak here, and the subsequent story of the company collectively shitting themselves as their intellectual property hop skipped and jumped across the internet.


/hates spoilers.

[Mason]

Nah, Halo's plot does indeed suck due to the absolute lack of characters. No one is anything but exposition beyond the growling tough guy and sassy AI. And their backgrounds are never even hinted at.

If you read the Halo books or participated in the ILB thing then yeah, you know a ton about the world, and it isn't a bad sci-fi world. But the games themselves convey zero of that. They don't even allude to it. And since it is the games we're talking about, not the game/book/ILB gestalt, yeah, they have no plot.

And they could easily have a lot more life. I mean, if I understand things correctly, all AIs and Spartans had their natural human body taken from them at a young age, against their will. You don't think that'd engender some bitterness? Perhaps give them a skewed perspective on the rest of humanity? Nah, better to stick to exposition and one-liners.

That doesn't make them bad games (level design handles that), but it does make it goofy for people to get all protective over them. Saying that you think Halo games have great plots just indicates that you're very young and/or not very well-read.

It is perfectly credible that the document is a fake, too. Hell, whenever there's a Harry Potter release the p2p networks are clogged with fake versions of the novel, all meticulously kept to the precise length of the real one. And sadly, JKR's prose style isn't instantly discernable from that of a hyperactive 11-year-old. So a single fake Halo 3 fan-script is very believable.

[Morratut]

If this is a hoax then it is a good one. I'm pretty engrossed in it already :D

I may not read it though because it no doubt has possible spoilers in it :(

[Zeal]

I hope it's real. Bungie are the most elusive little shit heads in the industry.

I'd give ANYTHING for the Halo Bible to leak.

[bapenguin]

It's a first person shooter, it shouldn't have a big grand story with gripping dialogue. Sure it can have a great BACKSTORY behind it, but that doesn't have to be presented to the user.

Look at HL2, everyone PRAISES it for it's great story. What's the story? Run Gordon Run. Why? Well I don't know, but if you read and talk to people you can find out. Same thing.

[Ernst_Jager]

[QUOTE=Mason] Saying that you think Halo games have great plots just indicates that you're very young and/or not very well-read. [QUOTE]

I forgot, sorry. One of these days I will remember everyone isn't entitled to their own opinion, at least not on the internet.

[Zanzibar]

I'm not even gonna look at the comments here, but please, for the LOVE OF GOD, don't post anything anywhere on this site about what you read in the script leak without marking them as 'MAJOR SPOILERS.' I really, really don't want to know anything about the story.

If you must, go start a thread in the forum marked 'Halo 3 script leak - SPOILERS' or something like that.

[Mason]

It's a first person shooter, it shouldn't have a big grand story with gripping dialogue. Sure it can have a great BACKSTORY behind it, but that doesn't have to be presented to the user.

Look at HL2, everyone PRAISES it for it's great story. What's the story? Run Gordon Run. Why? Well I don't know, but if you read and talk to people you can find out. Same thing.

HL2 presents all of its backstory in-game. If you're curious about it, you can explore, listen to broadcasts and conversations, and talk to people. Halo relies on outside material to tell the bulk of its story, and only includes the absolute bare minimum of exposition in-game. That's the difference.

Choosing to like or not like HL2's story is subjective. Make up your own mind. But it cannot be denied that it takes an interesting approach to story-telling, which is especially worthwhile since it adopts a form of narrative which is unique to games. Exploring the things a game narrative can do which a cinematic narrative cannot is a Good Thing.

Halo 2 tries to emulate a big dumb sci-fi action film (with plenty of pretentious allusions in a fruitless bid for deeper meaning). That isn't an insult, tons of people love big dumb sci-fi action films. But when you figure in the plot holes and pathetic non-characterization and zero discussion about the state of the world and c., it doesn't even make a very good sci-fi action cinematic experience.

If you respond, first please explain why the Flood was being preserved on the very Halo installations which were designed to wipe-out the Flood.

[Zeal]

May be fake.

[Mason]

Saying that you think Halo games have great plots just indicates that you're very young and/or not very well-read.

I forgot, sorry. One of these days I will remember everyone isn't entitled to their own opinion, at least not on the internet.

You can have your opinion. I can have my opinion about your opinion. And so forth.

Freedom of expression doesn't equal freedom from being commented upon.

[Zeal]

Nevermind, this confirms it's fake.

MASTER CHIEF: In a few minutes, you'll be real impressed with me 'Propher-ass-kicking' abilities: A Giant shadow drops from above behind the master chief and with a single swipe by his bladed weapon, the master chief is knocked across the room and through the viewport behind the prophet. The viewport, which has been completely shattered shows thar far below, there is no light in the pit. The body of the spartan falls without stop. It seemed to be a certain kill.

Need a say more?

[Xerxes]

If you respond, first please explain why the Flood was being preserved on the very Halo installations which were designed to wipe-out the Flood.

It's been a minute... I thought the Halo's were like prisons, not a means to there destruction.

[Paltry]

well theyre not, they kill shit on a mass scale

[SpectralWolf]

The Halo installations are not designed to wipe out the Flood directly. They wipe out everything else so the Flood starve to death. The Forerunners wanted to study the Flood, but if they were to get loose, the emergency protocols would be to destroy everything else. There's no other way to destroy the Flood.

A loose analogy. If a laboratory were studying a rare and dangerous disease under controlled conditions. If a small outbreak were to occur, the lab and all it's personnel get quarantined or destroyed. In Halo's case, think of the effective blast radius of all 7 rings as the potential contamination zone. The solution seems extreme, but apparently it was the only solution available to the Forerunners. And we are led to believe that's what they did all those thousands of years ago.

[DanjoOlivaw]

--If you respond, first please explain why the Flood was being preserved on the very Halo installations which were designed to wipe-out the Flood.

The leaked script has a nifty take on why the flood seem to be preserved on the installations, but I wouldn't want to spoil in the event that this is actually a leaked Bungie script. Even if it is most likely just an attempt to get viewers to a forum, it is pretty entertaining. Excluding the over use of in game space battles I'd be pleased to hear that the next game had this plot down the road.

[KANG]

listen, i think that its a good point that the characters in Halo2 are not fleshed out to the point of being genius, but c'mon now, there'e a fucking war going on. a war for the survival of every living thing in the galaxy. i would think that the master chief could put aside any social, political, or personal problems he may have with human society (im looking at you mason). you have to look at the Halo games like this ok. the first game was contained to one Halo. you cover plenty of ground in it but you also backtrack (which i personally though worked for the story and pacing even if it was a bit repetitive). Halo 2 comes along and throws us all over the galaxy. it sets up so much that isnt answered or fleshed out, ending abruptly. to me it seems like Bungie reached a point where they could best start Halo 3. this may seem like they were lazy or whatever but i dont give a shit. Halo 2 doesn't answer anything, but i'll wait for Halo 3. from what i've seen, Bungie is looking to wrap up their Halo saga (at least this particular story) with Halo 3. i'm sure that Bungie will give us what we need to know about the characters to appreciate the storyline that they are presenting. So, mason is kind of right, the story isn't fucking Splinter Cell or Metal Gear, but don't underestimate it. the movie scenes worked because they told you want you needed to know and left you wanting to know more. do you really want the history of the fucking world between battles? i mean dude, i love Metal Gear, but i wouldn't want 2 hour movie scenes in Halo. that would break up the action in a game that is about action. Halo 2 may be just a big scifi shoot em up, but it has something that i respect, subtlety. in a game where shit blows up (and often), it deliberately presses our curiousity. now i'm rambling but my point is:
Halo was about Master Chief being badass and an intro to the story
Halo 2 introduced us to the galaxy
Halo 3 will hopefully give us answers and maybe a deeper look at the characters
finally, the writes of halo are not Dante or Poe or Hemingway, but they've written a better action scifi story than i've seen on most consoles (off topic, Doom 3 was pretty lame in my opinion). you guys may disagree but who didn't enjoy HALO 2 while it lasted? c'mon

[Deathbane27]

http://www.bungie.net/News/Story.aspx?link=5FF714DD-9CFF-4041-9BF9-C7A8EA7B172D

The alleged Halo 3 script doing the internet rounds in PDF form is either fake, or the fanfic of a dedicated Halo fan being passed off as real, so we won’t pass judgment here on this public forum, other than to say that it has nothing to do with Bungie or Joseph Staten, to whom it is attributed.

As ever, we will tell you what our next project is when we are good and ready. Avast!