Apologies for the wall of text

by Beorn , <End of Failed Timeline>, Monday, May 13, 2013, 10:50 (4221 days ago) @ GrimBrother One

It's a tough call, because while I agree with a fair bit of what you say, there are things that literally just come across much better in a book, and not very well (if at all) in a game. Books and movies have had this similar relationship for decades. Some of the most amazing bits of the Halo universe have come about because of the books, and while I would love for more to be incorporated and revealed in the games themselves, I wouldn't want to just forgo the excellent book experience and simply be left without those moments just because they don't translate well into the game medium. It's certainly a delicate balance, and I actually think that the Halo series - for all our flak - overall does an excellent job; certainly way better than many other franchises do with the relationship between their various media forms (Star Wars for example).

You make a very good point about the balance between the different mediums. Books really can tell a more expansive story, and I think the first couple of Halo books did a nice job of exploring side stories and character background in an enjoyable format while avoiding direct conflict with the games. I really enjoyed those books and they helped me form a more complete picture of the universe and emotional connection to the characters. The books worked with and expanded upon the story rather than working against what we already knew.

I think the turning point for many of us was when the scope of the games and books grew to the point where they began to cross over and collide, sometimes with dramatic results. As a fan, I was torn about these conflicts; the effort and canonical sacrifices required to reconcile those differences ended up souring the greater universe a bit.

Halo 4 pushed that even further when the books carried the entire weight of the story and the game was just left flapping in the wind. I've been a Halo fan since the day the Cortana letters hit the Marathon Story Page and I really think I would have been completely lost in Halo 4 if I hadn't read Cryptum and Primordium first. Silentium—released half a year after the game—is required to really get a grasp on what the character motivations are through the course of Halo 4, and even then the exposition relating to these motivations is tenuous at best (I still have a few chapters to go, but it seems that the real heart of our characters isn't revealed until the last quarter of the book). Compounded with Greg Bear's difficult and meandering storytelling, these three books are a slog. I'm not really enjoying them, and I'm only continuing to read them because I feel like I'll be missing a big chunk of the picture without them.

Maybe we can pin these changes (?errors) on Microsoft's influence, maybe not. Bungie is far too tactful to ever come out and say something like that directly, but we'll find out the truth in how they handle the Destiny IP. The Activision announcement ViDoc made a fairly strong point that ownership and freedom for Bungie was a large part of their deal, so going forward there will be nobody else to point a finger at. My gut feeling, though, is that Bungie is going to do right by the players, and if that means books are in order then I think they'll be done right (i.e., The Fall of Reach style).