HALO 2'S LOST STORY: ACT 2 

Wow that 2D cutscene with puppets on popsicles sticks was AMAZING

In Amber Clad blowing by two cruisers just to drop Chief on the ring is insane

It never made sense to me that humans WEREN'T forerunners in the later reveal. It's heavily implied in Halo CE, and EXPLICITLY STATED in Halo 3, and clearly it was their plan for the end of Halo 2... but nope! Humans are totally unique from Forerunners, time to make an entirely separate lore explanation for why humans can interact with forerunner tech despite the fact that they didn't build it, and why Forerunners just didn't repopulate the universe with their own race but did it for everyone else. That TOTALLY makes more sense than humans being forerunner!

This has been a phenomenal watch. You did such a good job piecing everything together

30:53 Holy hell, I somehow never made that connection! That makes so much sense in context of the "Forerunners were actually humans" reveal.

Oh dude man, that part where cortana's holopanel gets shot so she cant be retrieved, dude that hit hard. I would have cared SO much more in halo 3 about reuniting after THAT. But instead in halo 2 we got the weakest excuse ever?? "Sorry chief I gotta blow up high charity but I'm actually not going to but you gotta come back and get me then" like what????? The whole thing made no sense when you thought about it and I never really cared about the need to get cortana back in 3. But yeah, this? This perfect little bit drama would have made halo 2 and 3's story noticeably more enjoyable for me. The storyboards, and then you editing these almost into animatics.., you are making me dream of a fan overhaul mod that adds in all these missing levels and makes halo 2 actually not a tiny mess of a story with great moments, but instead a strong lengthed epic experience. And then later we could uncut Halo 3's game too... my god the future of fan halo is bright, there's so much for us to do!

I believe when Tartarus refers to his incompetent race he refers the the failure of the arbiter and elites when protecting the halo from the first game

4:46 Before Staten did ODST and heavily alluded to Dante's Inferno throughout the game (making ODSTs gain their Helljumpers moniker because they literally land Feet First into Hell), I wonder what would've happened if them landing on a “holy” relic like Delta Halo gained them an entirely different nickname, “Cloudjumpers” traversing this “heavenly” place that makes a divine wind rush through the stars which offers “salvation” to all who believe in the Great Journey. What if we would've gotten that and we would've seen the ODSTs as ophanim or fallen angels who guarded Earth (our throne in the universe). Before someone tells me I'm high AF or something: I said all of this because Joseph Staten studied theology and his approach when writing for the instalments that he participated in were heavily reliant on religious themes (Halo 2 REALLY focuses on the Covenant's zealotry and ODST is basically a story of men who survive going through Hell on Earth).

I just noticed the open tabs at 0:30 damn that's so embarrassing, how could you? brb clearing my browser history

I really don't know why 343 industries keeps pushing the idea that forerunners and humans are different entities when they were clearly set up as one and the same. 343 guilty spark was a reliable source of information considering that he didn't lie one time in the entire trilogy. Now I know what you may be thinking. "Well didn't he lie about Halo's true purpose in CE?" No, not technically. Guilty spark assumed that chief knew what the rings did and was totally down with following protocol that they set up in the first place. During Halo 2 he learned what happens when you assume so he just started telling anyone and everyone what the rings did. And finally in Halo 3 he flat out tells chief that they're the child of his makers "YOU ARE FORERUNNER. BUT THIS RING IS MINE." even if forerunners and humans were completely different, It doesn't make much sense to build shit around human touch if they really thought they were going to take on the responsibility of the mantle. Even if there were defectors. Plus I think I like it better if Humans were reclaiming their lost heritage from a hundred thousand years ago and that they were so far advanced at that point that they couldn't even recognize themselves.

LET'S GOOOOOOO! Another banger! The animations are FANTASTIC and your AI looks great! Your closed captions cracked me up: 10:03 [ WORLD'S MOST UNCOMFORTABLE SILENCE ] 18:10 [ OFFSCREEN HENTAI ] And I don't care how silly it is 25:57 Mercy going Super Saiyan with his magic stick is so hype and I am all for it. His line "Though I am well aware my life is forfeit... I refuse to give it willingly!" sets it up perfectly. I did not see it coming from the elderly prophet, a welcome subversion! But also 26:59 the fact that chief proceeds to drag Mercy with him as he clambers onto the ship had me DYING of laughter because the only reason I could think for Chief to bring him was to scare the shit out of him, what a jerk lmao

19:24 such a disturbing scene. to see all sorts of species such as 'humans/elites/brutes' and all others just being thrown in a pit like that is very horrifying knowing what's happening, their all just soldiers with families back home and this is their fate. it's Dark but it's also Great story telling by joe himself and i wish to see this side of Halo 2 com to light in a full new halo game with every cut enemy and cutscene in new graphics. you sir deserve more subscribers and much more views on this. Thanks for putting all this together because Halo 2 has always been my favorite game and been a big part of my life. knowing Microsoft rushed this game out is very upsetting and to think what Halo 2 could have been if bungie have taken their time with this game and release as a full game with lots of content. Keep up the great Work!

Holy shit! An explanation for Truth’s dumbass plan! Can’t wait for Part 3. Truth’s plan has always bothered me in both Halo 2 and 3, it makes no fucking sense

Leftover files from early builds in the Halo 2 modding kit explain Chief's presence in the Quarantine Zone storyboards: Originally after killing Regret the Chief was to steal his Command Shuttle to escape and rendezvous with Miranda and Johnson. There's even leftover dialogue scripts about how Cortana hails Johnson for extract after killing Regret but there's too many Banshees preventing him from getting near.

I would love to see someone remaster this game making all fo the cut content return like these cutscenes and missions

Once again, incredibly based. I won't even lie, seeing this gave me those feelings of watching the Halo 2 cutscenes for the first time

Once again the way you've mastered the movement and flow of these cutscenes is exquisite! I'm so glad you lean into all the other audio cue's here and there to really ground it in what we know. That touch with the Elite watching chief drop pod in had me in stitches. I love these videos, you're one of the few channels I have the bell 'rung' for! Well done mate!

I can't believe this only has 741 views at the moment. These are sooo well done. I bet they'll blow up at some point though. Definitely looking forward to the third act!

This is probably the best Halo content I've ever come across. There's so much I didn't know about the original script of Halo 2 and this is showing it all perfectly. Also I like how you used Halo legends music it's my second favorite soundtrack in the franchise.

5:38 yo that transition is SICK

Sick animation and storytelling, got myself into the edge of my seat with this alternate Halo 2's Lore. That's why i hate the corporations with the "we don't have much time to release this story" policy, in their thirst for money they are willing to sacrifice a good story and cut it just to reach an absurd deadline just to gain more money of a franchise.

honestly I find the whole entirety of the previous version of sacred icon and the forerunner tank to be far more compelling. also, that gravemind scene is horrific but brillaint; the teeth being skulls, the bodies being cast into the pit, the omniscience of it, how EVERYTHING is the gravemind as you pointed out, its too good. EDIT: wow, the 3rd act in the final game was the 2nd act in the OG, incredible. and that Cortana death fakeout would have been legendary, though "Don't make a girl a promise, if you know you can't keep it" was good enough

I’m imagining an alternate universe where the cyclops fight still happens and there being Internet memes that’re like “and then a random cyclops appears” or maybe like the Touhou hijack, cyclops hijack.

I absolutely love the videos you've done on Halo: Combat Evolved and now Halo 2. As a huge Halo fan and an animation geek, it's like they're specifically made for me lol. Your animation has let me understand the storyboards much better than I did when I initially looked at them. I can't wait for the video on the ending!

This is altogether admirable work. All the background details are fascinating, and no matter how I tried, I hardly saw the animations slip into the originals. The commander driving her massive spaceship by hand is spectacular. Does she also aim the spinal gun manually? That's like shooting nukes from the hip. Also, the Chief physically reaching for the hands of an AI is so corny. I love it! And I prefer how they ended up doing the separation in the game. I feel that a cold calculated self-sacrifice is the most suitable way for AIs to die. They are tools, not people (at least until rampancy).

You know, humans actually being forerunners descendants means that a voice line of guilty spark in the second cut scene of the maw of Halo CE makes MUCH more sense. While going through the data banks of the Pillar of Autumn, he says: "You can't imagine how exciting this is! To have a record of all of OUR lost time! Human history, is it? Fascinating!" (Emphasis added) In the current lore, Humans are the reclaimers, the inheritor of the Mantle of Responsibility from the actual forerunners, who were in conflict with humanity's ancestors while they were fight/fleeing the flood. Given this title and responsibility after the forerunners realized their mistake in setting humanity back to the bottom of the tech tree, as a form of reconciliation/penance. But if there was such a distinct forerunner/humanity divide, why would guilt spark talk about OUR lost time, not your lost time or your process of reclamation or something? Why is it the shared lost time between him, a forerunner construct, and humanity? You've also mentioned in the lost story of Halo CE video, how the monitor refers to 'us', likely reffering to the monitor and sentinels. But why and how would the Pillar of Autumn have any records of the the monitor/sentinals when refering to 'our' lost time? Never mind that it is immediatly followed by 'Human history is it? fascinating!' so clearly that 'our' is not refering to a collection of data on Forerunner AI hiveminds. Well, that voice line makes a lot more sense if humanity was what the forerunners became after emerging from the ark.

I’m just imagining this cutscenes if Blur animated them for Halo 2: Anniversary… If only Halo 2 wasn’t rushed. I hope one day a team like the one that worked on SPV3 can somehow bring all of this to life.

Only a few videos in and I already I'm hooked on this series hehe. Ya know it's actually this kind of concept work and early drafting that made me originally fall in love with Halo. I was first introduced to the franchise when I stumbled upon a book titled "The Art of Halo: Creating a Virtual World" back in 2004. I'd never seen or heard of halo before but I was immediately captivated by the artwork in that book. I loved seeing the thought process as it developed. On that note I actually wanted to mention I think that book might be the source of the idea that the docking ring was early concept art of High Charity. On page 70 it has that concept art with text that says "The _High Charity_ - a massive 'worldship' and the seat of power of the Covenant Prophets. Artwork by Eddie Smith." I'll just add though that the title page of that book does say "With additional material by Frank O'Connor". So take that for what you will XD

Gravemind dialogue was on point

i love this videos

I still don’t know whether I prefer the Forerunners being ancient humans or a separate species. I think ancient humans would have worked better thematically with just the original trilogy but the separate species works pretty well for the modern lore of Halo. I love the Forerunner Saga and it would have been a shame if we never got that.

Really makes me wish Halo never strayed away from the Arbiter as a character to play as. Even if it weren't the arbiter, just multiple species involved, not just strictly a humanity series. Made it stand out from the crowd back then, and was an AWESOME storytelling ability to give the campaign missions crazy variety without being so jarring

Spartans never die they fall from heaven!

Great to see another installment! Can’t wait for the game to finish up. Would be curious to see your take on the Halo 3 storyboards as well, though if I remember correctly they’re mostly very close to what we got in the final product.

28:53 I was expecting you to use the "CORTANA" scream from Halo 4's ending.

The gravemind's teeth being the skulls of all his victims is metal as fuck.

Around 22:15 you can spot an engineer on the left side!

I hope if Halo ever gets the big screen film franchise treatment properly. It is written by Joe Staten and they do the original vision that he wanted to do in the series. This stuff is incredible. Halo 2 was already fleshed out, but this is next level.

@18:15 you earned your like good sir

This video series is absolutely phenomenal and I love the time and care put into it. Thank you for bringing these story boards to life!

Criminally underrated at only 3,397 views, 420 likes! Utterly incredible. I do recall hearing somewhere specifically that Halo 3 was always going to center around finding Cortana, though I can't remember where... Plans or no, Halo 3 was always going to happen unless Halo 2 *really* bombed, but I can't help but wonder just what the plan would have been for H3 if H2's ending had gone to plan. Brutes can easily fit into an Elite's role comfortably enough, but a game full of presumably flood near exclusively sounds like a chore.

Love these! Can't wait for part 3!

This is great. Thank you for doing this!

Woah, woah, WOAH. This was awesome and amazingly well produced. 👏👏👏 Dare I say even on par with some old Waypoint animations that used still art. Great stuff - hope to see more!

this is literally a great work! keep it up king

Amazing Quality. So much work 💯💯

I was recently wondering why Cortana never detonated In Amber Clad to prevent the Gravemind from getting to Earth. I guess the answer in canon is that the Gravemind prevented her or persuaded her not to. But this original version sidesteps the whole issue! She was left behind because the Chief couldn't get her in time. That version would certainly have saved me some headaches in my rewriting of Halo 4.

Damn, these just keep getting better! I really can't wait for Act 3

This is amazing work, high production value and great execution. Really conveyed the direction and vibe of Bungies original vision, I often forgot I was watching story boards and was able to enjoy the story as is. One suggestion I would make is to actually remove the "Halo Channel" moniker from your Channel name. It ties you channels success/fate to a single franchise which is risky especially with a franchise as shaky as Halo right now (look at HiddenXperia now trying to diversify) and limits your channels scope.

This is so cool man

The amount of effort you put into this is insane only wish it had more views tho

I’m sorry: can we get Bungie to come back and seriously make this version of Halo?! Forerunner Tank sounds amazing, and their original idea for encountering the Gravemind sounds so… fucking… cool!!! I also think playing two separate campaigns would have been quite nice personally. One of my biggest gripes with Halo 2 is how disconnected it feels compared to Halo 1. I honestly lose track of who is where and why. I kinda end up forgetting that all of these events are taking place on Installation 05. They could be separate planets basically. Having two separate campaigns would have worked better to guide the player’s understanding of where we’re at. I think Sonic Adventure 2 did a really good job at this- it would have felt weird if you went back and forth between a hero level taking place in a city and then suddenly Eggman is in a desert trying to get to his base. Is his base near the city? Is it not? It could be, but I don’t know. The story being broken up into a hero and a dark campaign with both of them intersecting at various parts and having the final conclusion play out where you need to use multiple characters from both sides to win would have probably been pretty cool for Halo 2, but that was probably waaaay too much work.

this is a really cool channel i hope the owner of the channel gets more views this should not be just under 5k.... thank you for all the effort

I didn't expect your level of commitment, attention to detail, and quality of work to somehow improve from CE to 2, yet it did. The original storyboard for Gravemind is amazing!

After watching it in full… the editing is so slick you could do this with no narration from your self insert and it might be even better. Like a crowbcat thing idk just a thought I had. The self insert grew on me tho

So much chaos in that flood tank scene, I love it!

18:00 why did I laugh so hard at this?

Man I am very curious to hear what the original draft/motivation was for Truth. Awesome video, looking forward to the next one.

Great!

I can't believe i'm only now seeing your fantastic work with these, great stuff, and I can't thank you enough for being the impetus for us getting the storyboards! I'm obsessed with Halo 2's cut story beats, but there's a lot you point out here even I wasn't aware of (You also have helped me understand the storyboards better, I've always had trouble comprehending their order... I may actually email you sometime to ask further questions on that, or maybe you should that post panning image with the grid of different storyboards and mark which pages in the artstation upload go where?). Anyways, I'm gonna be replying to a bunch of stuff across all the videos you've posted so far here: Firstly, i'm VERY interested in seeing your theory for Truth's motivations: That topic is what I am most interested in and basically what all of my interest in Halo 2's early scripts revolve around. As you note, throughout the game, truth intentionally consolidates power: Even in the final story, he lets Chief kill regret and get away ("Had you not withdrawn our Phantoms, his murderer would have been within our grasp!") to remove Regret from the picture and give a impetus to put the Brutes in power, and then in the very next cutscene, we see Truth and Mercy claim they spoke to Spark who told them about the Index, when we know from the Arbiter/Oracle missions that Spark has no qualms telling the Covenant about the truth of the rings, so presumably if Truth spoke to Spark, he would know what they really do (that Mercy was present too is a bit perplexing, considering staten writes him as a true believer in Contact Harvest and even in the final game, the "and this time, none of you will be left behind" I had always assumed was a comment towards reuniting humanity witn the forerunners via the activation of the array, still believing in the Great Journey till the end; and then of course him leaving Mercy to die. The game gives us all the clues that Truth knows what the rings do, and is wanting to amass singular power and authority: If he really believed in the Great Journey, he';d have no need to do that (same for if the current canon explanation of Truth wanting to cleanse the galaxy to then repopulate it with Prophets). The community seems deadset on his motivations being to clear the galaxy and rule over it as a god, as an attempt to explain the massive shift in his personality and actions between H2 and H3, but that answer has never sat right with me: Why would Truth want to rule over an empty galaxy? Wouldn't his followers turn on him the moment it becomes apparent what happened? I feel like Staten's writing in H2 is smarter then that, unless I am reading into things too much (which, granted, the Mercy thing and the fact Truth sends Tartarus to activate the array does too, but the latter at least I am fairly sure is the result of things being shifted around due to cuts). My only real guess for what his plan was is that the medallion Staten mention existed in very early versions of the script, which I believe was made from the Forerunner slipspace crystal shards collected at the end of First Strike (Since those never come up again aside from in recent 343i books; Maybe that's part of what Mercy's staff is?) would have somehow altered the funcionality of the Halo array to not just wipe the galaxy clean: Maybe the Great Journey *was* real, and it would have opened up a slipspace portal to wherever ancient humanity/the forerunners went, which would then also give an origin for where Halo 3's version of the Ark comes from, since in Halo 2 it was just a location on Earth. Doesn't really explain why Truth is amassing power for himself, though.... and I guess it also doesn't align with the Forerunner/ancient human caskets we see in the storyboards on the Earth-Ark either... so yeah, I got nothing, other then that I DO think the Medallion was involved! Anyways, What I pointed out with the Phantoms and Regret is why I don't buy that the "desciion" Halfjaw mentions in the Sacred Icon cutscene was withdrawing the Phantoms: That already happened with Regret's death by then. I had always assumed Halfjaw's line here was less about Truth just then deciding to dissolve the Elite's council and to uplift the Brutes, and more that Truth had already stated that intent, the Elites threatened to secede, Halfjaw comes in to try to descalate things, and then Truth reaffirms his intent and then Halfjaw leaves to go "Sorry guys I couldn't change his mind". On that note, regarding your confusion with the placement of the counciler cutscene, I think it would have been placed at the start of Uprising: As you note, Gravemind, High Charity. Uprising, and Great Journey all got shifted around, maybe in the original order uprising came right after the Gravemind (like, the Gravemind Gravemind, not the mission) cutscene? I'm interested and a little skeptical of the idea of there being two Forerunner tank levels. The way all of the interviews and dev commentaries have been phrased is that there was only one of them, though I guess it could have been split like Outskirts/Metropolis, Arbiter/Oracle, Delta Halo/Regret, etc. Now that I think about it, though, the level you theorize that the Flood Hulk cutscene was tied to also was never mentioned anywhere? (I've also always been personally unclear if "Forerunner Ship" was it's own level or was just the dev name for the cut warthog run sequence at the end of High Charity, on that note). This is one of those things I'd like to talk further about with you over email/what you think the actual order and # of missions was in general. And finally, If you can work your Halo-2-cut-content-magic again and somehow get Joe or Marty or Lee to post some of the H2 scripts, I'd legit put you in my will or something :P

This was incredible, amazing work! The animation was fantastic!

I feel like those flood dropping corpses into the Gravemind would have been very welcome into the final version, i remember getting to that cinematic and being very confused as to what that thing underneath the Library was and how did it got there, is it flood? why is speaking rymes and giving us a sermon? Also i love the idea of the Gravemind spewing exposition by using Mercy and 2401 like sock puppets, genius! what a fun and creepy way to see dialog happening.

24:44 Go off, King. All my homies hate lazy Halotubers.

HAPPY NEW YEARS !!!

Can't wait to see part 3, great job! It does make me a little sad to see what could have been though, especially in regards to the forerunners. Not keeping the forerunners as ancient humans has to be the biggest misstep in the lore/overall narrative of halo.

Now that I got bit of the full picture, I think Arbiter's story was supposed to be a lot like the Odyssey. The opening for the Arbiter isn't like the opening to the Odyssey for starters, but you know who's name *IS* in Greek Mythology? Tartarus', although it isn't a name of a God or of a man, it is an inferno region in Greek Mythology. (Note, it is touched upon that Arbiter was the one to glass Reach and Hunt down The Pillar of Autumn, perhaps there were supposed to be similarities during the war; however it either was never touched upon or was forgotten.) Arbiter is branded a Traitor and A Heretic, (Odysseus wasn't branded a Traitor, just thought dead.) We also get introduced to Tartarus, The Brute Chieftain. He heats up a poker, (or is given a giant maul/spear thing.) and he brands him. Soon after he is imprisoned, similar to how Odysseus. Except for Odysseus he was held captive by a nymph, Arbiter was straight up in a death prison. Then the similarities drops there for now. Arbiter goes on a quest to fight the Heretics, (maybe it was also supposed to be like the Trojan stuff again.) He then goes to find the Index, while at it, fighting the flood. He encounters Miranda, Johnson and Master Chief. (Odysseus finds some lotus-eaters, however it isn't connected to this in anyway, he's trying to get back home) He engages the gang but fails to kill them or capture the Index. Arbiter tells Tartarus he didn't get the Index, Tartarus then would attack him and Arby would escape. Seemingly trying to get back in the favor of the Prophets, he continues to hunt down Chief and the gang. However a big circle fight happens where Arby meets the Chief in combat, but Tar Tar sauce pops up with a Phantom. Then a Cyclops appears, OH HEY ODYSSEUS FIGHTS A CYCLOPS, COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT! Then the both stories diverge from there again. The cyclops dies and then yada yada, they fall down the pit. They end up meeting the Grave-mind, this isn't really connected to thee Odyssey. Arbiter then continues to find the index to stop it from being activated. I'm gonna skip a-head a bit to try and narrow down this comment, so Arby falls deeper into the ark, and then he learns the truth about the forerunners. He leaves the Ark and goes back to the Covenant to tell them the truth, and he either takes control of the covenant which if that's the case would be similar to Odysseus returning to be king. And not to forget, there are 4 tracks in the soundtrack labeled "Movement of the Odyssey" Each one being number 1-4. The First one is heard in game, the song called "follow." I do not know if the other three are heard, though it's probably best I stop rambling. I should probably make this idea into a video or just give you the idea of making one possibly lol. So there's my piece of belief of what Arbiters story, something similar to the Odyssey.

Awwwww im sad now Chief being separated from Cortana like that almost made me cry especially with Respite playing

Storyboard Gravemind explicitly showing that it’s teeth are skulls is amazing looking. I think the Halo 2 remastered one looks fantastic, but I love the effect of the storyboard with him opening his mouth and the skulls are just so clear. EDIT: OOOOH OKAY!!! The original concept is really amazing actually. The fact that it wasn’t a distinct piece of him that was a face but one large tentacle just opens up so he can speak. I’m not sure which I prefer now LOL that concept sounds amazing, and it also explains why he can speak through the Flood in Halo 3. Everything that is the Flood is also the Gravemind. He is everything.

The Forerunner Tank 2 cutscene would be so eerie in the game if we saw the flood throwing those bodies into gravemind

This is awesome. Hey im curious, the ones you said were forerunner tank, why are they labled delta halo in the storyboard?

HEAT

Mother of God

The Forerunners being ancient humans vs them being a different species is something that I still feel 50/50 about, on one hand, it would've made the Covenant's genocidal campaign against Humanity much more tragic and, in a way, that could've meant that our eventual alliance with our former enemies would've been much more senseful, hell, maybe we would've even gotten a proper Jiralhanae friendly protagonist at some point, maybe even an Unggoy, alongside that, it would've been cool to see the UNSC and Mankind as a whole realize that those “alien” artifacts that we saw as a marvelous feat by aliens actually be the work of our ancestors super cool. On the other hand, the Forerunners actually being different from us makes the universe feel more diverse, their arrogance and then their self-destruction makes their grandiose aura crumble against the Flood satisfying in a way and us learning about their ways through their angle is such a cool approach to a superior collective that dies out because of how blind they were to their antipathy to other species who could've coexisted and even collaborated with them. A hidden truth that's mysterious and is eventually uncovered but only partially or a fully exposed threat that's marvelous yet deadly and is then crumbled due to the sheer hubris of their kind? I think that a good middle ground would've been the following: the Forerunners were actually ancient humans while the Forerunners that we know nowadays are some of them who went astray and denied their own humanity, in the process, they did their best to conceal this and they adopted an entirely different worldview and they even went on to be the antithesis of the ones who were once their own kin.

7:40 I mean, just because he did a good job grabbing the index doesn't necessarily preclude him from being "an incompetent race." The Brutes are *highly* bigoted towards the Elites, and the game doesn't really make it secret. (Also, y'know, the entire reason he's the Arbiter is because he failed to protect the first Halo, and is forever branded a failure as a result)

Every Halo lost story video you upload gives me life. Strange, you didn't go with H2 Cortana purple in spite of it being your favorite color. Have you ever looked into deepfake voice tech for the dialog? There's unused voice lines instructing the player to shoot the eye of what is likely the Flood Cyclops, was featured in a Vengeful Vadam or GeneralHeed video. Do you search for information on your own? Haven't been part of the Halo fanbase in a very long time, never got too involved with the segment studying the prerelease side. I imagine Halopedia contributors would love to discuss this topic with you. Other noteworthy Halo historians I'm aware of are Vengeful Vadam and Masterz1337. The second might know the most out of everyone besides Bungie/Microsoft on the creation of the first game, and he doesn't mind chatting. There are ex/current Bungie employees who enjoy answering a few fan questions, please don't hound them as that's how we've lost contact with developers before. There's also the proto gaming community The Cutting Room Floor, they're very knowledgeable and popular (for this kind of topic). You could post on their Discord and see if any Halo fans come out of the woodwork, AFAIK they don't contain many. You might be able to create new fans, although you could also end up ignored as that's the fate of many lone researchers cataloging games only they care about.

So was Truth's Ultimate goal to finish the "Ascension" of Humanity? Regrets final words were, "This time none of you [humans] will be left behind. " This is referring to the forerunner as being ancient Humanity.

Also, I like your AI model rendition. I actually just want you to keep it for the third video but I understand if you don't.

Not sure if someone said it already but clearly Tartarus was toying with the arbiter when he was commending him. But the elites are incompetent' because they failed to protect the halo ring and the hierarch

03:02 - I take it that only an Elite would understand this 😂

Your comment about the "Excellent work" doesn't mean the line doesn't make sense in itself. He's congratulating Arbiter on an excellent job... for him to take credit for. I don't know how you get that it doesn't, but it still worked regardless. This was all a setup so that the Brutes didn't have to do anymore dirty work when the Elites could.

22:43 I'm pretty sure that these are elevators and not teleporters, could be wrong tho

I wish someone would mod Halo 2 anniversary to create a version with this original script

Holy

Wait I just realised Does this stuff with Tartarus imply he knows the truth of the Array?

The original gravemind scene went a lot harder.

Eh...Johnson rolling his eyes isn't as good as "SAY WHAT?!"

So in the storyboards, does Master Chief still kill the prophet of Regret? Does it punch him to death? How does Chief get away?

What I want a lot of people talking about the human forerunner split in 343’s era to understand is that, yes I feel the frustration, but it totally seems like a lot of Bungies staff was also conflicted about where to go with the forerunners. Halo 3’s terminals note it as such. But, I gotta remind you guys that 343 for years since the Forerunner trilogy has been setting up the continuation of bungies original concept, and it’s been recently canonized that forerunners and humans are sister races, descendant of the same ancestor species. Do I wish this was made more explicit? Yeah- but, I do believe that the whole debacle has really gotten out of hand, I’m frustrated too, trust me I am, hell frustrated enough to begin a whole ass writing project rewriting some of it, but I don’t believe 343 instated the split with malice intent or without reason. Humans and Forerunners are forever intwined with one another, both in Bungies era and now 343s, and it keeps getting more and more explicit as time goes on.

Wait how can you mispronounce Cairo?

First

This 2D animation is amazing but the reverse dialogue really kills the immersion. It would be better to use an AI voice instead of using reverse dialogue.