I suspect I'm the oldest who still posts here, so let me be cranky, Robot!

My bad. We all get to yell at clouds every once in a while.

I just wish Lorraine didn't have to spend so much time explaining the significance of the MacWorld demo, for example. You're right. I'm not being fair to Myelin, and she chose him.

I certainly know what it's like to be a newbie fan. I've gotten into post-WWII Japanese cinema lately, and as much as I enjoy it, I know there's as mountain of context I just can't get as a 21st century American, and that's okay. It's prompted me to read, and the more I learn, the more there is to appreciate, and there's something awesome about understanding the past. It keeps you humble about the present, for one thing. Circle of life, like you said. We tend to think of people in the past as different from us, but they're mostly not, for better or worse.

Truth. The context can change, but the hardware is largely the same. We love, hate, experience joy, grapple with what it means to feel secure and it rarely is an exception to the vast experience of humanity. Dead people's thoughts are often very insightful.

I feel like I should've kept my feelings to myself.

Nope. Judging by the responses, I think we all felt it. For me, it felt like a mischaracterization of genre (perhaps on our part).

It really bugged me that he was so ignorant of the previous context for Lorraine. When I said, "great interview," I meant it was great to let her digest her new situation in a long informal manner. I've never heard her talk outside of soundbites and it was refreshing to have that perspective.

As an interviewer, he's a nice enough guy, but he just was not informed on the subject matter. I think that can be forgiven because he runs a destiny-focused channel, they knew each other, and it was more informal in nature as a way to engage the community. In other words, this wasn't set up to be serious journalism.

Don't get me wrong. I didn't want Mike freaking Wallace. I didn't mind informal or casual.

Beyond that, we're all getting older and it may not be fair to expect everyone to "get it." I definitely have some knowledge gaps about things I came to be a fan of after they had already had a storied history. For instance, I love D&D and Heather and I have been running a game for friends for the last 6-7 years. However, I know nothing beyond some stories of the earlier versions of the game and its relation with the public. I wasn't around when people were ostracized for their passion for instance. I would have enjoyed an interview of this type for a grizzled ancient in D&D while an older fan would probably have found it more flat. Fathers and Sons, the Circle of Life, etc. It makes me wonder how many things I've come to later in their lifespan and enjoyed it just that little bit less because I was missing context. On the other hand, I wonder how much I enjoyed them just a little bit more because I was missing context.

I suspect I'm the oldest who still posts here, so let me be cranky, Robot! I just wish Lorraine didn't have to spend so much time explaining the significance of the MacWorld demo, for example. You're right. I'm not being fair to Myelin, and she chose him.

I certainly know what it's like to be a newbie fan. I've gotten into post-WWII Japanese cinema lately, and as much as I enjoy it, I know there's as mountain of context I just can't get as a 21st century American, and that's okay. It's prompted me to read, and the more I learn, the more there is to appreciate, and there's something awesome about understanding the past. It keeps you humble about the present, for one thing. Circle of life, like you said. We tend to think of people in the past as different from us, but they're mostly not, for better or worse. All that's a tangent, though.

I feel like I should've kept my feelings to myself. Sorry for being a grump. The interview got better the further it went, for sure, and I could have done a better job of acknowledging that. I certainly don't love Lorraine any less, and Myelin is a good bloke.

As an interviewer, he's a nice enough guy, but he just was not informed on the subject matter. I think that can be forgiven because he runs a destiny-focused channel, they knew each other, and it was more informal in nature as a way to engage the community. In other words, this wasn't set up to be serious journalism.

Beyond that, we're all getting older and it may not be fair to expect everyone to "get it." I definitely have some knowledge gaps about things I came to be a fan of after they had already had a storied history. For instance, I love D&D and Heather and I have been running a game for friends for the last 6-7 years. However, I know nothing beyond some stories of the earlier versions of the game and its relation with the public. I wasn't around when people were ostracized for their passion for instance. I would have enjoyed an interview of this type for a grizzled ancient in D&D while an older fan would probably have found it more flat. Fathers and Sons, the Circle of Life, etc. It makes me wonder how many things I've come to later in their lifespan and enjoyed it just that little bit less because I was missing context. On the other hand, I wonder how much I enjoyed them just a little bit more because I was missing context.

Regardless of his Bungie lore knowledge, and as much as I enjoyed listening to Lorraine, I didn't find this to be a super compelling interview. I'll give him a bit of a break on interview prep, because I think it really was supposed to be a more casual chat than a proper interview, but even so, it feels like someone a little more skillful at doing that could have extracted a lot more here.

A more knowledgeable fan wouldn't have needed to prep very much, and the starting point would've been less shallow. I take your point, though. A better listener would not have needed much prep.

I'm not talking about juicy details of current Bungie; I just mean more of the stories Lorraine seemed willing and eager to tell. It seems like every time it started to get really interesting, he pulled her in a different direction instead of just letting her continue or asking compelling questions to dig deeper.

Exactly. It really bothered me.

It seems like every time it started to get really interesting, he pulled her in a different direction instead of just letting her continue or asking compelling questions to dig deeper.

Didn't see this yet, but man this is interviewing 101. If they are talking about something interesting, let them keep talking about it!

but I wish he knew Bungie lore halfway as well as he knows Destiny lore

I thought the oddball being Captain Keyes was common lore, and who the hell doesn't know Ling-Ling?! But, again, that's sort of a sign of the change both in Bungie and the community. How would anyone who jumped on board with Destiny know Ling-Ling? Do they even know the Webmaster? That stuff just doesn't happen any more. Maybe there are new in-jokes I'm not aware of, because, even for as long as I played Destiny, I wasn't connected to Bungie the same way I was during Halo.

Regardless of his Bungie lore knowledge, and as much as I enjoyed listening to Lorraine, I didn't find this to be a super compelling interview. I'll give him a bit of a break on interview prep, because I think it really was supposed to be a more casual chat than a proper interview, but even so, it feels like someone a little more skillful at doing that could have extracted a lot more here. And I'm not talking about juicy details of current Bungie; I just mean more of the stories Lorraine seemed willing and eager to tell. It seems like every time it started to get really interesting, he pulled her in a different direction instead of just letting her continue or asking compelling questions to dig deeper.

Lorraine is a sweetheart, and she indulged him, but it was clear she expected him to know some things he didn't, and I got frustrated at his seemingly not understanding basic stuff, like code names for example, that had to be explained. I kept thinking about how much richer the interview could have been had a long-time fan done the interviewing (Hey Lorraine! [makes a "call me" gesture]). I'm not saying the interview should not have been accessible to newer fans, but a good, prepared interviewer could have easily made it so with a few "for viewers who don't know" asides. I admit I'm jealous, so keep that in mind if I say I don't think he was a great listener. Then again, I don't know how streamers game and talk to live commenters at the same time. I couldn't. God knows I don't think anyone could do that while also trying to do one of the hardest things in the world, which is really listening to someone who's talking.

Make no mistake—I’m not trying to minimize the love and care and work that went into creating it, especially on an individual level, nor do I want to minimize (or even compare) it’s artistic merit as a project. I’m truly happy it exists (both as an addition in the game and as beautiful books).

Here's a fun fact.

Names were being thrown around for people to do the Graphic Novel, and Pete Parsons really wanted Alan Moore for some reason. After being told there would be exactly zero chance of him doing it, Pete just said:

"Everyone has their price."

🤦‍♂️

That is funny.

To be fair, it's 17 years later and those stories are STILL not finished.

I think it's worth remembering that Bungie still went to the trouble of creating that lore in the first place, whether or not it was originally intended for separate publication.

Let's all quote Lindsay Ellis:

"No meaning, only Lore."

The Halo Graphic Novel was literally the exact moment in time that I first began to doubt Bungie.

https://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive25.pl?read=735437

EDIT: I don’t actually know how to phrase it, but calling it “creatively bankrupt” is far, far harsher than I actually intend. What’s a much softer version of that?

Afterthought.

I’ve been trying to figure out a response without sounding like an asshole, but maybe I just am, so I can’t.

I don’t want to downplay the effort and passion that undoubtedly went in to making the grimoire books a reality. I’m sure it wasn’t easy, and they’re beautiful books (or at least the first one is—it’s the only one I bought).

But I see a world of difference in packaging already existing stories from the game and making a collection of original comics from renowned artists. Like, packaging the lore books into actual books just seems like an obvious thing to do. Maybe this makes me look totally silly and callous, but the Grimoire books feel more like merchandise, whereas the graphic novel feels like art. That is a highly reductive and unfair of me, and I don’t actually think the Grimoire books aren’t art. But one feels like a business play, and one feels like a passion project. Again, I know that’s unfair, and maybe it’s just my nostalgia talking, but everything modern Bungie does feels like a business decision instead of someone asking “what’s the coolest thing we could do here?”

Maybe I’m just too jaded now and that’s the only difference, and I absolutely will not discount that possibility.

Don’t forget this: https://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=170156

I get what you’re saying as a whole regarding Bungie’s actions or motivation vs. the actual art and talent that was used to develop something as excellent as the actual writing within the Grimoire.

That lore is all great, and I am genuinely glad it exists, but even that seems like a cop out, because it exists in place of any actual narrative that should drive the video game they make. Like, even the lore books themselves seem like a sort of creatively bankrupt shortcut used instead of writing an actual story and making cutscenes. That’s admittedly in a better situation than it used to be, but it still seems like they lean on those lore books to make anything happening in the game have any narrative meaning whatsoever.

EDIT: I don’t actually know how to phrase it, but calling it “creatively bankrupt” is far, far harsher than I actually intend. What’s a much softer version of that?