This scene hits even harder when you realize no one onboard the Autumn, except for the Chief, Cortana, and Johnson will survive the upcoming chain of events that await them.
The amount of effort they put into making the takeoff look realistic is mind blowing. The way that giant ship moves, the thrusters adjusting perfectly to match its changes in direction... it’s flawless. It looks real and at least for me it made a world of difference with immersion. They could have cut corners there and they didn’t.
I don't know. I don't think you could move a ship of that size with those thrusters. And it always is kinda weird how the ships in Halo can just fly in the atmosphere of planets like they just float or something like that. I guess it would be a bit more realistic if the ship would just start like a rocket. Ya know, just standing like a giant tower and starting straight upwards. Maybe with additional thrusters for the start.
@@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei some smaller UNSC ships have much more powerful grav generators (proportionaly) to larger capital ships, hence why we see frigates in atmosphere, or colony ships which are ment to land or post war UNSC ships due to advancements in technology
He gets to see humanity live another day. Continue the fight elsewhere. Perhaps turn the tide, even. This could not be done without doing what was absolutely necessary. What was the sacrifice? He stayed behind
Not gonna lie, the first time I've seen this scene I teared up as well. Just the whole picture of Noble Six stepping down the ladder of the MAC emplacement while he stared at the Autumn taking off while carrying humanity's last hope in the losing war stirred some deep emotion within me. I was barely thirteen at the time.
You can see Noble 6 emotionally grasping the reality as he slowly climbs down the ladder watching the Pillar of Autumn. He is witnessing the last of humanity leaving Reach, leaving him behind. He may have accomplished his mission, but his fight is far from over. But this time, there will be no extraction, no reinforcements, no supply, no escape, all alone. He is to be Humanity’s Last Man Standing on Reach and he is preparing himself to give the Covenant a Final Stand they will not forget.
@@SoldierOfFate I legit cried when Halsey said "Everything except for your courage. That you gave to us, and with it we can rebuild." Even if this was said by someone not relevant to any Halo game this line would make someone proud, a believer in hope and honor in a cold world.
To think that the remaining survivors in the pillar of autumn thought they where finally saved but in a few weeks they all died horrible deaths by covenant and flood and the only survivors were just chief and Sargent Johnson!
It was kind of an incompetent leadership thing. After keyes was taken out of the picture, an odst took command of the survivors and when he was told that chief was going to blow up the ring, he decided to take the downed covenant ship with his 100-600 survivors. After taking it he decided to not properly clean the ship from flood and to take it directly to earth, risking flood infection on good ol‘ terra and the covenant locating it. There was an odst officer who understood how bad that was and decided to blow up the ship where a good mutiny would have done the trick as well, wich is why there’s no survivors. There was also a marine traitor who got the command bridge crew killed, probably directly causing the lack of good leaders after keyes disappearance
@@Gekkko Yep. Slipspace takes along time. That's why Cryopods are in UNSC ships. Slipspace is fast but it's not teleportation (it's almost teleportation for forunners) for the Humans and Covernant though Covernant slipspace engines are faster than human ones. Hence why the pillar of autumn was beaten to the halo ring.
To think everything that went on during the events of the original trilogy was only possible because of Noble Team's sacrifice on Reach We couldn't have finished the fight without them
In the book the Pillar of Autumn was being refitted so it could launch an attack on the covenant homeworld. It was carrying all of the remaining Spartan-IIs and a large sum of marines and vehicles. Most of the spartans left the ship by the end of Halo: Reach to defend reach, with only Master Chief and a few others left aboard for the upcoming space battle before the jump to halo. All other Spartans aboard would be Missing in Action or Wounded in the battle over reach, save John. I'm 5 years too late anyway, so if I got soething weong no one will care.
Most of the spartan-2s were redeployed to protect generators for the Mac guns on the surface and Chief and 3 others were sent to neutralize a ONI prowler that didn’t wipe its Navigation data in accordance with the Cold Protocol (which says to delete the nav data to prevent human worlds from being compromised) and only chief and Linda who was in a coma made it back to the Autumn with Johnson
Imagine. You're watching the only chance of survival fading away as you're surrounded in an overtaken world that was once yours. You're staring deep into the sky. Such beautiful clouds. Heavenly as the sun surrounds you with its warm just like the first day you came to existence. You feel the wind hitting your back slightly colder than before. Is the change in temperature giving you chills, or do you feel your cold blood flowing through your spine as you try to hold yourself up while you stare death with your empty eyes? Knowing there's no survival at this point, you just move forward wondering what corner will be your last breath. What sights will you never see? What sounds will you no longer hear? What force will you never overcome? It's quite nostalgic, quite heartbreaking, quite beautiful. You won't BE anymore. There's no question after that. You'll just be a part of an answer. Today there is victory, but not your victory. You'll have yours. I'm sure there'll be another time.
Halo 1-4 were better in every way, they had great mystery, suspense and good character's, all this game did was depict the fall of reach, which it did well, but these character's were all forgettable, and the story was bland.
@@dukenuke3851 well let's just agree to disagree I believe reach has the best depiction of the covenant and halo 4s campaign was mostly forgettable to me
@@retroelite1019 best depiction? They were shown to be just bad aliens, in halo 2 and 3, it showed them to be an interesting and complex faction, halo 4 is debatable but halo 1-3 totally beats reach and 4. Not to mention the flood are the best antagonists, due to being the horrific creatures they are, their introduction stopped halo from being just bad aliens vs good humans, epic twist, hope they return.
@@dukenuke3851 I'm not really good at debating but I'll admit i just really like the covenant in reach because they're shown to speak their native tongue as opposed to English which the elites would have a hard time pronouncing certain words with their mandibles and the covenant in reach were shown to be a force to be reckoned with rather than just the bad guys in the rest of the franchise
@@retroelite1019 so you'd prefer halo was just about bad aliens that destroy all humans THE END....? I agree that reach showed the covenant at their strongest, but what made halo 1-3 great was all the Huge twists and turns, release of the flood! and the great schism, it added tension and complexity to a story that would of otherwise been what I said at the beginning of this comment.
@@zvoro I'm talking about the shot of Six descending the ladder, sorry my timestamp is a little off. But yeah I knew you could do that, on MCC it unlocks the achievement "see? he is in the game!" or something like that.
All and all, Noble Team were the lucky ones. At least most of them died thinking they saved the day. A large amount of those men on the Pillar of Autumn probably would have chosen to die on Reach if they knew what was waiting for them in a few weeks time. That's a chilling thought to think about given all they saw and sacrificed up to that point.
@@HistoryApex The Combine presence on Earth would fall that day. If an ordinary man in an HEV Mk V Suit can do it in like 2 weeks. A MJOLNIR Mk V/B Armor equipped Spartan-III Supersoldier should do so in a fraction of the time. Combine Energy pulses don't seem to be that much more powerful than bullets of our time. Noble Six's Shields should be able to take quite a few shots before showing signs of damage and even then it would recharge after a few seconds.
@@HistoryApex Give the Spartan-IIIs MJOLNIR Armor in Operation Torpedo and they'd probably win with minimal casualties lol. They were given SPI Armor which was comparable to ODST Armor. 300 Spartan-IIIs with MJOLNIR would conquer Earth within days.
I don't care how old this game is, it is an absolute masterpiece and was the best game I've ever played! Were it not for Noble Team, Our halo trilogy may have never have happened.
Agreed! Reach was awesome but also the end of an era for Halo. No Halo title has been as good since. 4 was okay, but had many flaws. However it was probably 343’s best attempt at a Halo game. 5 was pay to win, advanced mobility garbage. Infinite is live service, play dress up your Spartan experience with hyper inflated prices. Essential game modes and key features make it in 1+ years after launch. Halo is down bad right now.
@@MegaMan.exe20XX All of the original trilogy plus ODST and Reach were fantastic. H3 was probably my favorite out of all of them. But that is a tough decision as all are so amazing. What I meant with my comment above was all 5 of the Bungie titles were great. Reach was the last of the greats. Everything that came out after Reach has not been nearly as good.
@@LethalThreat Eh, fair enough. I can understand that. I'mma be honest, 5 multiplayer was good, but the campaign, oh god, I just wanna drink bleach after that. But infinite is good, the multiplayer & campaign is good too.
@@MegaMan.exe20XX 5 would have been so much better if there wasn’t Spartan abilities or sprint. That and launched complete from day 1 with no micro transactions. 5 might have been top 3 material if that happened.
Goddammit I love this video so much. Always gives me chills knowing that the adventure I began in 2001 as a 8 year old boy starts right after this scene in Combat Evolved. Halo is the friggin best
Agreed friend. I’ve also played since 2001. I still consider Halo my #1 favorite gaming series to this day, but I love the older Bungie titles of H:CE-Reach far more than the later 343i ones. HCE and H2 Anniversary were amazing though. 343 nailed them perfectly.
I am a latecomer to the franchise (never played the games since I never owned any of the XBoxes but I did read some of the novels, and later got the MC Collection for the PC) but I'd be lying if I said the original trilogy and Reach (didn't play 4 yet) aren't masterpieces.
@@debbiebernhardt5406 he could of. But against an overwhelming covenant fleet would likely result in capture of the AI which is highly unacceptable in the UNSC. After he isn’t the master chief with his absurd luck
Back when I was growing up. Halo was the game that me happy. When I saw this cutscene, TEARS dripped out of my eyes as I watch this cutscene. Halo changed my life, And makes me who I am today
Looking back, the way Noble Six goes out is fucking epic, but a part of me wish they made him living a cliffhanger, and did a campaign DLC for Reach where Six lived, and had to make his way through Glassed New Alexandria, Sword Base, etc coming across pockets of resistance still trying to survive, with no actual chance of survival. Eventually, Six makes it back to where it all began, Noble Teams FOB where Colonel Holland briefed them on the Visegrad Relay. He, some civilians and marines he found used the abandoned UNSC gear to form a rudimentary base. This is where the final stand happens. Waves of Covenant descend upon the makeshift base until the Civilians and Marines are all gone, and only Six is left to fight the horde. He puts up a valiant fight, but in the end succumbs to his wounds fighting Zealots. But before dying, it’s revealed that Six planted explosives around the base, and blows them up - taking down the split-jawed bastards with him in a blaze of glory.
That only takes away from the whole premise of the game. “From the beginning you know the end”. The title card of the game, when it says “Reach” its literally preceded by the burning mountain and destroyed helmet, and followed by you in first person view putting that helmet on. If you understand the significance of this you’d see that 6 had to die or it takes away the impact
You will be remembered, 6...without you and the rest of Noble Team's efforts, humanity would have never stood a chance. He got to see humanity live to fight another day, getting both Chief and Cortana off of Reach, but at what cost? His own life. Watching this scene where he gets off of the ladder and stares as the Autumn gets off the ground and into the skies brings a tear to my eye. Rest in peace, Noble 6
Xbox HonorGuard Ra I'm pretty sure an orbital elevator was out of the question. The covenant outnumbered the UNSC 10 to 1 during the battle of reach, securing and defending a space elevator would be impossible and a waste of resources considering what the UNSC had to deal with
@@Cyndaquil790 that's where your kinda wrong cuz the number of ships that invaded reach was supposed to be 200 or something cuz. I mean they glassed it in like 30 something hours. *All of it burned and turned to glass* . Oh and the Pillar of autumn was the only functioning ship left on reach
Of all the missions in reach this one definitely felt the most like a desperate suicide mission. The mongoose ride past all the covenant scarabs and encampments, Emile’s resigned gung-ho attitude about the mission, and later his sacrifice on the Mack cannon. It all really helps to build the somber and browbeaten tone.
Hear me out here. What if instead of taking off immediately. Keyes pelican waited for 6 to get down onto the landing platform. If he jumped from the cannon's nest he would have been down by the platform in 2 seconds. Then they could have boarded the PoA as it took off just like in the cutscene but with noble 6. I mean I assume that he'd be quite important regarding that he's the only other Spartan to get put in the same category as Master chief right??
Ngl , when you can buy Emile's helmet , and then there is an option to ride the other mongoose , ride with Emile or make Emile climb out and you will drive with him. The fact that two men have the same helmet and they both look badass riding together is epic.
@@jamesxiaolong2199 That and Six felt like it was his destiny and duty to die on Reach. By this point everyone except Jun were dead, and it would be dishonorable for him to run away when all his teammates were buried on this planet. United, even in death.
@@jamesxiaolong2199 Perhaps not, but I'd be damned if it wasn't built up with the other Spartans/soldiers they fought alongside. To compare, the Chief himself was summed up as someone that would obey your every orders if you were his superior, die for you if you were his friend, and god have mercy if you were his enemy.
Yes that would have been a nice touch to this video. These videos are old and I hope to get around to recording brand new 4K60 versions from the MCC on PC. On that version I will be sure to include the Master Chief. Thanks for watching!
Imagine Halo Reach ended right here and the next game was an open world game where you need to survive as Noble Six. Collect supplies, build a fort, slay covies
This might be a scene that caused problems with Halo's canon, but you can't deny this scene and the ship itself are beautiful, music completes the whole takeoff too
If you’re still wondering, they were probably in a hurry because of that large covenant armada that was shown after the space mission. And plus they had Cortana on them
one interesting albeit unlikely detail is the 4 thrusters. At this point, only 6, Jun, Emile and Carter. These 4 are the reason the pillar gets off reach, and are left behind on world. 1 by 1 (they don’t all fall off simultaneously but sequentially) the boosters fall INTO THE PIT; in order to let the BLUE POWERED SHIP(again super reading into it but “the package is blue lol)take off ABOVE THE STORM (but we only hear that they are out; never seeing their destination.) I believe this made the scene more visceral; these are all conscious decisions that may have no intended meaning but gain meaning. i personally found this scene amazing for reasons like this.
Ok someone please God help me when this game first came out there was a video that was this exact cutscene except it was an alternate ending where if you shot at certain locks holding the pillar of autumn in place, when the cutscene hit a laser of some kind from a covenant ship would shoot right through the autumn and it would fall and crash backwards and then it would show Chief inside his glass case falling with the ship as a sort of Easter egg ending Anybody else remember that video??
I just omit 80% of "The Maw" and make the Autumn 3.84 Kilometers long (To fit the Hangar Bays which are 200 meters long, and even that wouldn't be enough as the Hangars aren't visible on the outside of the ship).
@@Giblet12 true. Maybe the Dawn entered a Wormhole that altered the vessel into a super sized Strident Frigate. As well as changed the weapons and equipment aboard the vessel.
You running one of the Original Xbox One consoles? They are wildly underpowered for a long time now and have frequent frame drops/instability with the MCC. I film all my modern cutscenes on a very powerful gaming PC to avoid these performance issues.
@@LethalThreat i use pc mcc im just curious back then on why reach is much smoother than halo ce and halo 2 anniversary it was before i knew it was a remake lol
Six had to cover the Pillar of Autumn from approaching Covenant ships. There were more Covenant on the way so the Autumn had to depart immediately or risk being destroyed on the ground. The departure window Six created was just enough time for the POA to escape when it did.
Halo Infinite was missing ANY similar scenes! anything thats even remotely cinematic! its 95% of the time the camera circling arrount Chief and Weapon, or Exposition and Trash Talk by Esheraum Holograms!
Seriously, though, WHY do they have a giant spaceship land and take off from the planet when they could had done it all from orbit with a giant space elevator connected space station as the dock? It's much cheaper and convenient.
