Most of the lore spergs are discordnigger newfags who haven't actually played the original xbox/360 games yet feel entitled to try and dictate reality for everyone else for some bizarre reason. Truly is a source of lolcows.
Did that Installation 00 game ever come out or was that just vaporware bullshit akin to yandere simulator? Since I remember that having a website you could sign up for and a "soon tm" when it came to playtesting it with playtests that never happened. Well the entire god damn MCC was released on PC with halo reach added to it since then and it was pvp only but had playable elites announced.
It has been a while, but I distinctly recall that Installation 00 was an ardent defender of the Halo TV show. I more or less dropped him after seeing maintain such a stubborn defense, even if the rest of his lore videos were decent enough.
As for the rest of the lore stuff, I for one did enjoy the original series of books that came out during Bungie's rein. Without them, we would not have gotten the ODSTs. Those were a nice addition to the Halo franchise. But I can understand Bungie's contempt for anyone else touching their baby, especially in light of what has happened to countless IPs over the years when they have been passed on to poor custodians. Halo, Star Wars, Doctor Who, just to name a few. At least during the run of those books and side games like Halo Wars, Bungie was there to apply *some* form of pressure. But seeing the state of both Halo and the nu-Bungie, I can't say there is any salvaging the franchise short of a complete retcon of the 343 saga. Some of the additions could be salvaged, such as the Banished. But like with Star Wars, there was such missed opportunities with 343's trilogy. At this point, I'd trust a mediocre fanfiction writer to come up with something better.
Actually, they
have come up with better. Granted, much of the stuff out there needs some TLC and refinement in order to be properly integrated into a decent set of lore proper, but it was a hell of a lot better than the total output of 343 at this point in time.
One crossover
fic I recall that at least managed to salvage Halo 5's abysmal story was that the experience from Fireteam Osiris's POV was more or less a dream, the only instance I can recall where having it just be a dream would be an actual improvement. Instead, Cortana activated those Forerunner sites on planets that at the point of 2552 had been thoroughly fucked over by the Covenant. There was no AI rebellion, just a fabrication inside the minds of Team Osiris via their neural lace to keep them busy and unharmed while Cortana did her thing, which was to reactivate and commander those powerful Forerunner ships and whatever else was out there to put the screws on what remained of the Neo-Coveneant and anyone else that dared threaten humanity. She did not learn of those human casualties due to her rampant state, too distracted and focused on getting her goals accomplished, and regretted causing so much damage to what accounted to those few human colonies that managed to reestablish themselves.
In other words, that fic alone showed more respect to John, Cortana, and the rest of the UNSC in a single chapter than 343 did in the entirety of their custodianship of Halo thus far. And it isn't the only one. It even managed to tweak the Banished to be more than just the villain of the week, altering them to having a strained relationship with the UNSC but otherwise remaining on even terms in retaining their own independence as a faction.
My point is, I rather trust any random fan than most anyone at 343 at this point. They have thoroughly illustrated their incompetence and contempt for the original source material, and I don't see that changing even if Microsoft gave them the boot. They'd just be replaced by more who would do the same. Halo as a franchise is not fit to survive for much longer, and it would be for the best it'd be laid to rest rather than twist its body to be something it is not.
If nothing else, part of that old ember is still alive in some form in the fandom, and that is through the few fan artists, writers, and modders that remain to keep the torch lit. Despite my anger at some of the design decisions I mentioned in those mods a few weeks back, I could tell those devs actually gave a damn to work miracles on an engine that was never meant to be modded in the first place. Properly tweaked, I could see those mods becoming something truly special. Same with any other fan output in the fandom, including those fan games that never seemed to get off the ground, such as Installation 01. From the quick look I gave of it, it seems it died a quiet death. The other few I remember popped up at the time I have been unable to locate, so I assume they have meant with a similar fate. Pity, seeing it would be nice to have an alternative to Halo MCC and Eldewrito's questionable security practicies.
(A video from five years ago detailing the project status.)
Scratch that, it seems there's been an update as of July 13.
Ver archivo adjunto Installation 01 - This Update is Unreal.png
So, it seems they have since swapped to the Unreal Engine. I'm not holding my breath for whether it'll come out or not. Ambitious projects of this nature usually end up dyng a quiet death more often than not. But I have some hope that *something* will come of it. Worst comes to worse, it'll just be another dead project in the end.
Project Contingency meanwhile seems to be similarly active in some capacity, last updated Jan 21 of this year.
At the very least, there is an active alpha of some form.
Again, I am not holding my breath. But if all goes well, maybe we'll see something come of these projects in a couple years or so. We'll just have to see.
In the meantime, there are other little things to occupy my time. Pipi seems be throwing out some banger animations, such as these few.
Brussell Studios also throws out a couple banger space battles too.
In any case, I am just happy there's something going on to keep that spark alive.
