UK Filmmaker Kai Zammit reacts to all cutscenes from Halo Reach. Lots of cinematics to cover here so let's get the filmmaking talk going!
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🟧 View the original video here: • Halo Reach - All Cutsc...
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Halo Wars 1 cutscenes, they are absolutely amazing.
Would recommend Halo 3 ODST. Like Reach, it's not the halo space opera style. It's surprisingly grounded and gritty without being edgey. Should you do it, I would highly reccomend listening to 'deference for darkness' before you watch the cinematics, and 'traffic jam' after. Both are in game ost and both beautifully paint the start and the end of that story.
noble 6 did fall from space I believe, he was wearing a reentry pack which he used to not become a pancake
You really should check out the trailer campaigns for halo 3 and reach, halo 3 release trailers have such an emotional weight of what masterchief meant for the human race in a war that felt hopeless. Id advise watching the extended cuts
GEARS OF WAR franchise after Halo! No other game series felt as cinematic as Gears to me.
One of my favorite things about the foreshadowing at the beginning of the game is that (at least in the original version) the first thing you do is customize your spartan, before the campaign begins. So right after you finish making your helmet, the camera pans down to show that same helmet lying in the dirt with a broken visor.
Back then, The customisation would’ve been limited though (Cus you weren’t even level 1 yet) So your selection to my knowledge was slim to None. Maybe Operator Helmet and EOD were equippable if you could afford them with the 5,000 cR the game gives you off the rip.
@@Indeficiency You had 4 helmets to choose from, 2 for free and 2 you could get with starting credits (+1 if you pre-ordered or bought it day 1), not to mention the entire selection of primary/secondary colors to personalize. Just as starting options, that's a great selection imo, plenty to get something recognizable at the beginning.
Halsey talking didn’t give it away?
Nah, you could have started without customizing anything thing. The game didn’t bring up the menu or anything.
You could play multiplayer first@@Indeficiency
Juun wasnt escorting Halsey for her safety, he was there to put a bullet in her head if it looked like the covenant would capture her
I love the subtext implied in his line "I'll do what's necessary"
@@KeyvanJuanez Halsey also knew thats why Carter put Juun in that Pelican
@@beardthebartender7644 Oh yeah, it would be unmistakable. It's a nice little piece of character development for Carter, shows that even in these circumstances he was thinking big picture and planning for contingencies. I assume nobody would enjoy learning that they're going to travel with their potential killer, but halsey's indignation at the suggestion also reinforces her as a fairly self-interested character.
You guys ever seen the fan made graphic novel that's pretty much canon: "A Fistful Of Arrows"?
jun died when escorting Halsey because he missed a stair and broke his neck (real) (not fake)
“That lone wolf stuff, stays behind” And in the end, the lone wolf did stay behind.
Can’t believe I never caught this
The last mission is literally titled 'lone wolf' :(
Me too wtf I was young when I played this still one of my favorite games
this had never occured to me until now.. wow.. all these years and i didnt realize he as the lone wolf stayed behind indeed... good observation.
Glad someone else caught that. Also notice in the second mission beginning cutscene, the Spartans are shown in the order they die.
Some people pointed out that the members of Noble Team died how they lived. - Jorge: demolitions (set off the slipspace bomb) - Kat: intelligence (sniped through the head) - Carter: leader (went down with the ship) - Emile: CQC (stabbed by an energy sword) - Noble Six: lone wolf (died alone and surrounded by Covenant hours later)
Interesting
The last mission is called lone wolf and is endless unless you “die” then it pops you into that cutscene. I’m sure you knew this though.
@@Frungle_ you do realise at the beginning he is literally told his lone wolf stuff wont fly because they are a team. i'm sure you knew this though. XD
Yeah thats the point...@@IronScytheGamers
wasnt for three days more like 5 hours
Interesting fact about Kat's death: Throughout the game, you encounter Zealot Elites multiple times, who were members of The Devoted Sentries. The Devoted Sentries were a special forces team assigned to recover Forerunner artifacts. During the fall of Reach, the Covenant recognized the importance of Noble Team and tasked the Devoted Sentries with killing any member of Noble Team they encountered. During the glassing of New Alexandria, when Carter asked Kat if the link was secure and if the Covenant could trace them, he was correct. The Covenant did trace them and issued the order to the closest member of the Devoted Sentries to pursue and kill Noble Team. This makes Kat's death seem more like a premeditated assassination rather than an opportunist's kill. At the end of the game, the Devout Sentries were assigned the task of preventing what was left of Noble Team from taking Cortana to the Pillar of Autumn. This is why they surprised Emile, killed him from behind, and seized control of the MAC cannon to prevent Noble 6 from stopping the glassing and allowing the ship to escape. Halo Reach tells the story of Noble Team, but behind the scenes, it's also the story of how the Devout Sentries hunted Noble Team and enabled the Covenant to glass the planet. They are the Covenant's counterpart of Noble Team. It's sad because, technically, they succeeded.
I can't believe I've never learned this, what a cool parallel, and impactful writing for the Covenant as well! Awesome facts
@@straultzeewait until you discover the covenant version of the master chief
Low-key wish we'd gotten a Devoted Sentinels campaign kinda like the Arbiter missions in Halo 2 or like what the marketing promised for Halo 5
Always wanted another Campain from the Covenant's side, stories like that would be interesting to play out and get their side of the War, the Arbiter's missions in Halo 2 are highly underrated IMO
You say they succeeded but they really didn't. They killed Noble team, sure, but since Noble completed their mission Halo was found, the Elites broke off from the Covenant, High Charity was obliterated by the Flood and Humanity survived. It's like the Germans defeating France and Britain at Dunkirk and then losing the war because they weren't able to win the battle fast enough.
For even more context of the weight of Kat’s death at 38:26, if you look at the date it cuts to; They carried her body for two days.
Holy shit really? I thought it would maybe have been hours at most
golly gosh gee ‼
@@jakebatty530 they were actually in the bunker for two days and change waiting for the radiation to lower, plasma to cool and covenant to leave. Then carried her out.
Not to mention if you watch his reaction. He looks at her for a moment then lowers his shoulders with a sigh. Her death means a lot to the leader.
lo pomp lo
"This may sound stupid but it doesn't feel like Halo". Exactly, that's the point and it's done quite masterfully to articulate the difference between "the best" and "the second best". Noble Team is one of the most legendary teams of spartans out there and even when all working together, they can barely serve but to buy time for Cortana and Chief to get off planet. It has that Halo 3: ODST feeling to it, where it puts you in the shoes of someone in the Halo universe that isn't the Master Chief, and emphasizes the importance of military operation and strategy for them where as the Chief is simply an unstoppable force of nature. In "Traditional Halo" Chief is basically a god. He is the deus ex machina of the grand space opera. He operates on the highest echelon of the Covenant vs. Human war, practically being singlehandedly responsible for saving humanity. His actions are grand and epic and accompanied by swelling scores and wide camera shots to show the magnitude of every single one of his actions and how everything Chief does has some impact on the greater war effort. The entire point of Reach is to show that "even the second best couldn't really hold a candle to him, humanity was completely overwhelmed without Chief". Noble Team is full of certified badasses and they are still on the backfoot for pretty much the entire game. The only 'REAL' victory Noble Team achieves throughout the whole game is to get the Pillar of Autumn off planet with Chief and Cortana aboard, as everything else they do ends up either not really mattering or being immediately walked back right in their faces to devastating effect (such as Jorge's sacrifice only to have the entire Fleet of Particular Justice warp in right after). Noble Six is one of TWO spartans, I'm sure you can guess the other, classed "Hyper-Lethal-Vector" or "Spartans that can singlehandedly wipe out an entire army"; and EVEN STILL Reach falls with him on planet with a full team of spartans providing support. Reach is a story of tragedy. Halo is a story of triumph in the face of tragedy.
I disagree. I don't believe Chief is a "god" as you said in the story. The games and books show us that Master Chief is not special in any sort of way. He is not particularly special in any field, he's considered just well rounded and average. That's what makes Chief special, he's the equivalent of an average Spartan but he's still the one who saves humanity. This is further emphasized in books like when he almost gets infected by the flood in Alpha's Library, and he's shaking from the encounter. Or when he saw the Jenkins recording and he wanted to literally abandon the mission. He feels fear just like any other person, but he pushes it back to complete the mission because he knows he has to. I agree with what you said about the camera shots and the tracks, they make his actions feel very impactful in the story. But I don't agree that it's solely chief doing everything, this ties back to how he isn't special in any regard and he constantly has the marines provide him backup in multiple missions. But other than that, I agree with your perspective on how the death of Noble Six helps elevate the character of Master Chief
@@eliasgalindo5578 I believe Cortona said it best. adlibbing it was luck. somehow you always came out on top.
@@eliasgalindo5578 Yep, this is spot on. Chief was a great Spartan but not the best at any one thing. He just happened to be the one in the right place at the right time and did his duty.
Not to change the subject, but this is exactly why I loved MoH 2010 so much. Rather than Noble, it was our real life John Chapman. It's the age old land stand. Not giving an inch and taking anything you can before the end. The switch to "if I die, maybe they'll live", and it's incredible that a medium like video games can capture and radiate such an emotional moment
I mean, Master Chief had the one thing none of the other Spartans had, and that was Cortana. That's what Halsey needed to get off the planet in order for the war to be won. It was never just Chief alone throughout his whole trilogy, and to write a whole essay about just him and his badassery really does a great disservice to the woman in his head. Noble Team died so that Chief and Cortana, the dream team, could join as one and turn the tide. Yes, Reach still fell, but that's war. It sucks, and it's messy, and even the biggest of badasses can succumb to the unfairness and brutality of it. But Noble Team still scored the victory that mattered most in the end. It's not about Chief being better or Noble being worse. Context matters.
38:16 Those elements won't work this this story because this isn't a story about retribution or revenge. This is a story about loss against all efforts given. There's no happy ending with Reach. It's a tragic masterpiece of storytelling.
But if you look closely enough that revenge story is there, during that scene the sniper that kills Kat is the same Field Marshal that escapes at the end of the first mission. That same Field Marshal is on the Phantom that drops in and kills Emile, when you run up to the Mac cannon he's the last Elite there trying to stop you. That rivalry is there from the start of the game, it's just nowhere close to being the focus.
"IM READY!! HOW BOUT YOU!!?" The hardest last words ever.
Man really did go down swinging, not even a plasma blade to the gut could put him down fast enough
Blademaster “Demon, don’t you see? After we kill you we will gain access to the shield world. Your death meant nothing” “HA, don’t you know? Spartans never die”-Kurt-051. detonated a bomb wiping out a entire covenant fleet to save blue team and keep the covenant off of the shield world
@@UNSCPILOTspine lungs kidneys n all still in for the kill
“I’ve got the mass” was also a great line
FRRR
"Slipspace rupture detected" that scene is one of the hardest and most iconic scenes in Halo, where Jorge literally *just* sacrificed himself thinking he saved Reach, only to reveal practically the whole Covenant fleet showing up immediately after. I dont think Kai realized what he was seeing in that moment, or the impact of it, as he was so focused on the shot with Jorge
We could all be so lucky
@@LizardOnAMushroom2358Reach had been good to him, it was time he repaid the favor.
I literally came here to comment about that scene. Always hits me so hard. Jorge was my favorite character, very closely followed by Kat. We truly could all be so lucky to go out believing we had saved the ones we loved.
Yup
Same here... he was so busy talking about how he wished the prior scene was shot differently that he missed the entire gravity of what was happening. I couldn't wait to see what his reaction was gonna be if that scene only for him to be completely oblivious to it.
Just a note on the squad composition for Kai. George is a Spartan 2, the rest are Spartan 3s. Noble 6 was a member of the headhunters program which consisted of Spartans that excelled at working alone and were tasked with the elimination or high valued targets. It was briefly mentioned in the novel Ghosts of Onyx
Which is why he is labeled hyper lethal because most head hunters were suicide missions to kill said target yet he always made it back.
Its not confirmed or denied that Noble 6 was a headhunter last i checked..though heavily implied and i wouldnt be surprised.
@@Darren_117it makes some sense Noble 6 would be one, considering Headhunters, iirc(could be wrong on this info), were a classified program from Oni. Of course in the beginning mentioning "black ink" and such. Then again, as you said, confirmed or denied
@@Darren_117 from what i know, Six was confirmed by a writer at bungie he wasn't a headhunter, but something more. ONI considered him to be their personal GrimReaper. every mission he was sent on was a headhunter like mission, being a suicide mission and he came back. headhunters were never alone, always in 2 man teams. Six did it by himself. thats why hes classified as "Hyper Lethal Vector"
The S3 lore for Headhunters and Noble has been expanded a bit; they're meant to have the same genetic markers that the 2s had, but weren't alive at the time. So their augmentations put them above and beyond their S3 classes and justified the extraction and cost of having Mjolnir instead of SPI.
46:24 One thing I always liked about this scene that is extremely subtle is when Carter tells Jun to "Make sure nothing falls into enemy hands". He basically ordered Jun to kill Halsey in the event they are attacked by the Covenant en route to castle base.
Mind you Six' final battle where he dies is a legendary Mission in gaming history. The mission consists of a seemingly endless wasteland, infinite enemies and It simply says "Current Objective: Survive" on the screen. The game literally goes on forever until you get killed by the shear number of enemies coming at you. Plus: When you get hit without shields, the screen gets splintered just like Six' visor gets shattered, impairing the players vision. It's a very memorable moment in all of Halo.
Playing it for the first time, it was such a welcome surprise, as I thought the game was already over. And the piano music in the cutscene - fantastic.
@@spark_bears What is the term for that feeling being transported there? It is this mix of sadness because of the certain outcome and heroic determination to take as many with you as you can before going down.
@@Leon_der_Luftige I don't know what the term for that is, but you've described it very well!
The missions called "Lone Wolf"
@@Leon_der_Luftige Noble 6 and the rest of Noble Team are examples of a classic Tragic Hero; we're cheering them on to succeed despite knowing the outcome is tragedy. If you're looking for the term of gameplay and narrative being in synch, you're looking for ludonarrative harmony, which the mission Lone Wolf is a perfect example of that.
Kai: at 6:26 the civillian is speaking Hungarian with Jorge. The instant before the elite drops down, she warns Jorge "They're still here," and you see his body language react a split second before the enemy appears. The detail in the storytelling of Reach is out of this world.
This game deserves an Anniversary remake, keeping all the subtle details though. It would look stunning
I never noticed that detail.
Just wish the Hungarian in this game was less shite Either they got people with *really* weird accents, or non-hungarian speakers who just phonetically read out the words without any of the proper pronounciations
The way he quickly raises his head up as a moment of realization 😂 looks almost cartoony
Holy shit. I hadn't even realized. When I first played it I just assumed his spartan/spidey senses were tingling lmao. What a cool little detail.
I love how all of the cameras feel tangible, like in the mission with Jun where you get some sniping in, the “camera man” steps over the same rock that Jun and Noble 6 step over. The scene after Jorge’s sacrifice where noble 6 walks up the hill to look at new Alexandria, and the “camera man” walks up behind him and you can see the camera bob of each step. It feels so real and personal.
I remember reading something about this, that they did all of their cinematic directing to make it look like a war-documentary of sorts.
Cameraman the 7th member of Noble team
Same with after 6 reaches PlanetSide again, the camera is mounted on the re-entry pack that they used to get back
@@cyqry And it was a brilliant move! It made everything more impactful and immersive.
One of my favorite examples of this is during the into sequence on New Alexandria when 6 jumps over a ledge and the camera tracks him and as he hops over the other side. Looks so fucking cool
The end of reach gives me chills everytime. The marketing for this game told halo fans that read the books everything. "Before it begins, you know how it ends"
Fun fact, the red elite at the start of the game with the horns, the “Field Marshall”; he’s the one who snipes Cat, he’s the one who also finishes off Emile, his forces are the ones responsible for Carters sacrifice as well. Hes a silent no named antagonist. In the gameplay, he is the final enemy before you get to the mac cannon to save the Pillar of Autumn, the ship Master Chief is on. He’s a bastard to kill too.
That is not cannon but thanks for misleading a bunch of people with a fan-cannon idea.
@@Berrandeynit's cannon you neak
@Berrandeyn so they used the same elite model in specific places and you don't think it was intentional?
@@michaelostergren3516it’s 50/50, not like it’s some unique design😂
@Berrandeyn good Job for making yourself look like an absolute clown bro 💀🙏
Jorge's Death is actually so much more emotional when you realize that he died believing he would save Reach, only for the Convenant Fleet to arrive, making is sacrifice almost worthless
I did not miss the Arbiters fleet. If that's what you mean ✌🏻. I hear and see all.
@@kaizammitso on Jorge’s death mjolnir armor doesn’t boost strength when the helmet is not equipped so he just picked up a 1000lbs spartan by himself. Noble 6 did fall from orbit mjolnir is rated for it, master chief survives falling from orbit twice in game once at the start of halo 3 and once at the start of halo 4. The backpack looking thing that noble 6 grabs his handgun from was called an orbital re-entry kit😂
Not only that, but Jorge had also just seen Sword Base get nuked by the Covenant. He died thinking Halsey was dead.
@@thepattyroach6395 also dont forget it's the gel layer is what's mostly protects Spartan from orbit drop
Not worthless, if he hadn't destroyed the Long Night of Solace then the Pillar of Autumn would have never made it off Reach. His death was integral to humanity's victory
9:41 the spin offs (namely Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach) tried to take a more boots on the ground approach, its why they're such beloved titles.
I loved his reaction to the Grafton getting dusted, we all felt it, the joy of seeing the close range MAC shot, followed by the despair of the glassing beam tearing it in half. This is a beautiful scene
It is, I kinda wish after George hypes up the firing of a ship bourne MAC gun in atmosphere that there could have been a little more impact, like a pressure wave that shakes the pelican or something, other than that small detail it's a great scene.
@@Ripsometime halo 3 and reaches MACs were very disapointing vs lore. New cutwcenes like with halo 2s would be awsome.
Fun Fact about the cutscenes, they were all done using in game assets and engine. for example the opening scene was one of the devs driving the warthog to the base.
In essence, making the "handheld" feeling more literal than expected.
they always did this, even covenent ships that dropped more enemies where driven by them, they didnt had any option or didnt wanted to make some nonsense if they just could do it by themself. Still like the CGI Cutscenes from Halo Wars more tho.
It was like that for Halo 1 was well. Someone was controlling Master Chief
Couple of things you missed, -as soon as we watch jorge sacrifice himself to take out the covenant supercarrier, 5 seconds later, 7-8 more warp in above reach's atmosphere -noble 6 really did fall from space, after which the corpse of the supercarrier fell in after him (spartans can 'lock' their armour to absorb impacts like that)
Master Chief did the same in the beginning of Halo 3.
Noble 6 has a orbital re-entry pack on his back, part of the pilot equipment when flying the experimental Sabre. You can see it on his back in the cutscenes.
You can see the parachute/re-entry pack on Nobel 6's back during the later parts of the Long Night of Solice mission, Jorge notably did not have his as the AI pointed out when he jumped from the Saber. I've played Reach far too many times XD
@@UNSCPILOTsame, best halo game
Yeah like others said, Noble 6 had a re-entry pack, 117 however did not, which is what made Johnson and the other marines unsure about his state and thought he died.
36:11 the answer is found in the original manual, master chief is part of a strike team that was being prepared on reach, they were going to attack an important covenant space station but the attack on reach disrupted the mission, leading to the events of the original game from 2001
Operation RED FLAG, they weren't just attacking an important covenant station, they planned to hijack a cruiser and pose as a ship returning to high charity, take a prohet hierarch hostage and use them as leverage to sue for peace. Like most things in Halo, it was one of those incredible long odds missions that had to succeed if humanity were to ever have a chance to stop the covenant. And that small hope was crused with reach, making the discovery of Halo even more important.
Sorry correction, not a cruiser, a carrier. Honestly as much as spartans are legendary, an assault on high charity seems literally impossible. And it was pretty much luck that the Prophet of Regret later accidentally found earth, they had tracked a forunner artificat there (the portal device that lead to the ark) and were surprised to find it was the capital of their greatest enemy. It makes sense that they wouldn't have known, even looking through a poweful telescope at earth form the location of installation 04 25000 light years away (last known location of high charity), would have shown a pre-humanity earth, no signs of technology etc. The desruction of Halo was the first nail in the covenant's coffin, taking him out was the second.
Everytime I think about the greatest stories, I always think of Reach. This level of synergy between cinematography and music score is so rarely found. However what really sets Reach apart for any other story is how bafflingly quick and easy it was to care about the characters despite how much the focus was on the planet Reach itself. The body language and dialogue of the characters is amazing, but the focus on the setting created a stunning and unique atmosphere filled with beautiful visuals to harmonize with the characters. Reach will always be the gold standard for me with how well it controls the atmosphere throughout the entire story.
Bungie called Reach their Swan Song to Halo, and I think they earned it. The last entry in the franchise from its original studio, and they went with a tragic yet heroic storyline as the capstone, rather than one that reveled in itself. A beautiful choice. The big sentimental guy went in big explosion protecting his home. The smart comms member was shot in the head after a communication drew attention to the team. The ghost sniper disappeared from the story. The captain went down with his ship. The man who lived by the sword died by the sword. And the former lone wolf died alone. Team Noble Sacrifice.
Damn, it’s even more beautiful when you put it that way.
Dude the way you summed up reach is nothing short of poetic. I don't usually do this, but I actually need to save your comment...
Gold
And then bungie went on to make a failing and garbage franchise
@@Deluvenai Actually, this was Bungie's last Halo. All rights for making games (Halo 4, 5, Infinite) was given to Microsoft after it. Bungie never fell off with their Halos.
I like that Noble 6 didn’t protest that Jorge was electing himself to sacrifice, it really gives you a further sense of duty these guys have
For sure. Spartans are engineered to make hard calls, and it’d feel so false to see one get emotional like that in a combat situation. Not to mention Six themself. They’re set up as a very quiet character. They never react emotionally, and always make the most technically correct call. Six knows they’re more valuable to Reach than Jorge, and I’ve no doubt Jorge agrees. Nevermind how much it would meddle with the scene of the covenant fleet arriving. “No Jorge, it isn’t worth it” and then immediately proving that it wasn’t worth it. That feels pretty darn gross to me.
@@mr.figgles9482in the book Ghosts of Onyx they state like 3 or 4 times that the most emotional thing a spartan will really do is to put.their hand on another spartans shoulder Kurt being probably the most emotionally expressive SII isn't even noticed to be any different from a normal Spartan , only being noticed by Dr Halsey. . . Who is basically his mom so it makes sense that she of all people would notice his perinatal instincts
@@mr.figgles9482 So while I love that scene and it is iconic, I do feel as though six saying a word or two to Jorge at the end would've been even better to drive it home. Just a word, like, 'See you.' or 'Jorge.' or even just 'Sir.' would've really driven it home without compromising any characterization.
@@taichi2245 everyone’s favourite actor Brian Cranston once said, it isn’t when characters cry, but when characters try very hard not to cry, that the emotions hit the audience. Leaving Six silent left a space for you to fill. Instead of letting you watch Six react, hopefully, you’re drawn to imagine. It pulls you in and invites you to imagine what six is feeling, and what you’re feeling in sync. It’s what I like about reading fiction. I’m a participant in the world, and I feel much more attached to it because at the end of the day, I’m creating the emotions. The page may say “Joseph was sad” but I’m characterizing that sadness. Overall, I think it’s a smart way to involve the players more, on top of every other lore reason. Nothing works for everyone, but I think the emotional potential and lore satisfaction of this choice outweighed what you’d get out of any dialogue.
My opinion on that moment is bungie always want you to feel you are noble six, so that silence is for you to choose how noble six responds to Jorge sacrificing himself.
The thing about noble 6, they aren't meant to have a face. Noble 6, is the player, 6 is you. You are the hero who sacrificed themself for the greater good. That's the amazing thing about reach, it lets you sit in the seat of your own story. 6 can have whatever background you want. Whatever personality you want. Whatever armor you want.
What makes all these cutscenes even better is the context through game play, but even without that you can almost understand **everything** which shows how good they actually are, but having that extra dialog during gameplay helps (plus all the emotional moments you dont see during the cutscenes)
I was just thinking this too while watching the video. There really is a lot of missing context by skipping the gameplay segments.
Canonically, Noble 6 fought for literal hours against an entire army of Covenant soldiers and vehicles before succumbing to the overwhelming numbers
Wasnt it weeks or months until they literally glassed the planet?
@@logan12satcom83I think I read somewhere that Noble 6 was on planet fighting for days after he was left, but specifically the mission Lone Wolf was hours of fighting
This was written nowhere, he is mentioned in the books about 2 times, if you can find proof of this, then show it.
@@UnderusedWeightin game dates between the cutscenes. Bottom right corner, the last scene we see before we see noble 6 die is about a 2 week jump (I think, I didn’t actually look at it I just remember from people pointing it out ). Between the pillar of autumn arriving in September 19th, Noble 6 held out to August 30th, where he had coordinated the last remaining defenders of reach (the corpses you find littered around the final map). I’ll go back and edit this when I find the time between the pillar of autumn taking off and August 30th Just went back; it was hours not days. I was wrong and I admit that.
@@blabbobabboo5218its all good just had to clarify, Ive heard this thing going around for years lol
29:45 “Slipspace rupture detected.” “Slipspace rupture detected.” “Slipspace rupture detected.” “Slipspace rupture detected.” “Slipspace rupture detected.” “Slipspace rupture detected.” There’s a lot more (obviously) in the game, but there’s some cinematic moments like the Savannah being destroyed, the MAC rounds being shot in Alexandria, or in the finale when you take that last mini-MAC shot. Reach’s teasers were focused on Noble Team, but in the end we became more focused on Reach itself - like the planet was a character dying along with us. It’s the long shots of Reach’s environment and scenery, plus the emotional music - not the most catchy of the Halo series, but definitely the most mood fitting.
That's how it felt for me when it began flooding here lol, my phone just kept going "Red rainfall warning" for the past few days it was kinda funny
29:45 Thel Vadamee comes to reach
Yeah, the progressive downfall of Reach where the pallet goes from blue to orange and the sea level rises up. She dies overtime, and in the end 6 is the last one standing to witness her.
New alexandria hits different especially with all the glassing when you do each objective and all the buildings collapsing
Honestly a sad moment. At least Reach was eventually terraformed and rebuilt. Hell, in 2610 theres even a statue of Noble Team in New Alexandria.
26:15 "You should use music as a character, a character that talks to you directly" Never had I thought of it like that, but as soon as he said it, I definitely knew what he meant. This game is just a masterpiece, one of the best games ever 💥
It’s amazing when you look back and realize the end of all of Noble team were symbolic to what they were in the team. Jorge, the heavy ordinance, dies detonating a carrier. Kat, the brains of the team, is shot though the head. Jun, the long range recon, manages to escape undetected. Carter, the captain, goes down with his ship. Emile, the close quarters expert, dies in a blade fight. And Nobel Six, The Lone Wolf, is the last man on Reach. Honestly beautiful storytelling character wise.
WOW
The irony of Jorge's death is not just that. But also being reach born and raised (atleast in a Spartan II sense) and swearing he'd die there. He died in orbit of the planet, not on it. LITERALLY JUST out of...Reach.
Reach is just an actual masterpiece in every way, the ambience, music, vibe, the plot, the graphics and cinematics
...but the multiplayer is still subjective in taste 😂 hence why it was dropped from MLG. But I agree, the campaign as a standalone game is incredible and probably my favorite, next to CE.
100% agree
@@MilesamanjaroI think the reason beyond bloom was the base settings and maps weren’t like h3 and to get there you had to adjust the settings and make a map with h3 movement in mind. The jumping was interesting but in reach you can barely get over a players head. I think even the elites need some stat changes to get to h3. Also the patch that reduce bloom and undo shield quirks. It took too long to get it where they wanted it and they and the majority moved on.
I know right. It's a shame they didn't make this the theme for the Halo show. It seems like a no brainer to open the first season with this story
Reach's story is phenomenal, but their multiplayer, not so much. Lol
Dr. Halsey is like a mother figure to the Spartan II's. Jorge is the only Spartan II on noble team, which is why she talks to him differently. Everyone else in Noble are Spartan III's. Kat's death may seem cheap and out of nowhere, like where are her shields? You have to remember that their shields are affected by radiation spikes. So they got hit before entering the elevator and were down as they were running for safety.
I thought Jun was a Spartan 2 just like Jorge and the rest are 3's.
@@Emerald_Knightjust Jorge I believe. Jun is a 3 but went on to manage the 4s later on
@@Emerald_Knight Jun is a III, his code lists him, carter, and emile as Alpha class. Kat and noble 6 are Beta class.
@@demoAnimation that's the two classes that lost like 300 Spartans each right? So Kurt and Mendez were Training the last company on Onyx.
Bare in mind to he didn't call her mom, in his accent, Ma'am is pronounced mom.
It’s incredibly refreshing to watch Halo content and have the creator be well versed in the lore with minimal hiccups. Wonderfully refreshing, it makes their entire analysis more meaningful and hold weight. Amazing Halo content and content overall on this channel, a definite sub from me, cannot wait for more Halo content
35:52 Chief wasn't active at this point in time. (He was in cryo) The end of Reach leads into the start of Halo: CE There also weren't many remaining spartans 2s other than a select few teams.
Man watching someone react to reach, while actually knowing about halo lore. Is so refreshing, making it alot more fun to watch someone react to these amazingly crafted scenes.
Man, couldnt agree more. Probably the best reaction videos of Halo games i've seen in a long time
Dammit, I didn't understand Reach lore And that's why I liked Halo Combat Envolved story more even tho Captain Keyes was portrayed a bit weird Where can I learn more about Reach's Lore?
Seen the cutscenes again I love it much more than before TOTALLY Dam I love Both Halo Reach and Halo Combat Envolved I am going to play Halo 2 in 2 or 3 weeks
@@eduespro Halo Reach and Halo : The Fall of Reach (the book) are both supposed to tell you how Reach fell to the Covenant but the story they tell isn't coherent with one another, especially when it comes to the Pillar of Autumn and Chief's location. The cannon tries to explain the discrepencies though, but not very successfuly imo. A good way to learn more about Reach to me would definitely be to read the book, which also delves into the origin of the Spartan-II program. That or Halopedia for a quicker read ;)
@@vincentellenrieder Okay thanks going to Maybe soon or after finishing All Halos to avoid spoilers
A big thing i love about reach is how the cameras feel like they are grounded and actually in universe, it makes it feel a lot more real to me, like we are watching footage from the war
yeah every other halo tried to hard to be real or was purposely goofy in a way
It's very reminiscent of those early 2000s war documentaries where emergent fpv camera footage and even using third party/person camera footage. While Halo 1-3 is very epic with Master Chief, Halo Reach was very grounded since Spartan IIIs were meant to be more expendable than Spartan IIs
It definitely amplified all of the pain towards the end.
The cinematic cameras i like to think of as spirits of marines or maybe even the past noble 6 watching everything
@@amithabraham2224 Pretty sure that was intentional. If you bought the Halo Reach deluxe edition, it came with a book and chest that was written as if you were one of the settlers years after the Fall of Reach and the campaign does play out as if you're watching recordings and whatever is left that you can still find to piece together the story of Noble and how Reach fell.
22:47 she's smart enough to keep the low key and simple nature of her current position while manipulating those above her to work how she wants ("She's always had him dialed in"). It lets her avoid long bureaucratic processes that she just sees as a waste of time. she's pragmatic and blunt so for field related matters, she just wants people on the field working with her to get shit done efficiently (basically just her immediate commander)
Also worth noting that she is by no means "low" in ranking. Shes a LtCMDR which is an O-4 in the Navy. That's extremely impressive considering the average age of Spartan IIIs.
I JUST realized… in the intro Jun is in the Hornet separate from the rest of noble team…
At a certain point before Kats cutscene, he mentioned masterchief being on reach fighting but according to the Fall of Reach, he was in orbit boarding a space station to start the "Cole protocol" on a bunch of docked ships there. The Cole protocol basically says that if you are being boarded, you must get rid of all navigation history. That way, the covenant can't get to Earth after they take control.
Didn't the covenant think that earth was just a random space system before they came in, remember hearing that in first strike or one of the early halo books anyways
@@kekkoinen Yes, they didn't know Earth was the homeworld of the human race. Cortana directly says this in Halo 2 and the terminals show Regret finding a Forerunner Artifact that points towards the Ark Portal on Earth (I think First Strike mentions this too). Encountering Humans on Earth was a surprise to them.
@@DZMoops ok, but wasnt just a normla system for them either then, i should probably re-read the first few books again
According to Bungie when books and game conflicts the game is superior.
The Games and books are separate and distinct tellings of the same stories. Think of them as alternate realities. The Book Chief was already heading out of system on the Autumn when the Covvies hit Reach. The Game Chief was sitting in cryostasis on the Autumn docked on Reach which was waiting for Cortana so they could get out. Both escape, and both blind jump to the First Ring, but that's basically the only narrative similarity.
What I love most about Reach is the immersion. The storytelling is amazing and the dialogue feels so natural making it feel grounded in reality without losing its sci-fi spectacle
I agree!
Suspension of disbelief if by far one of Halos best traits. This was a world with a *lot* of thought poured into it, and it stands the test of time as one of the more grounded and believable sci-fi worlds.
One thing I loved so much about Reach is the way each of noble teams personalities feed into how they die, Jorge, sacrificing himself for his homeplanet, Reach, Kat, being the tech wiz, using her head, was shot in the head, Carter, being the leader of the group, or "Captain", went down with his ship to protect his men, Emile, being aggressive and having experience in CQC, died with a sword through his chest, and his knife to his killer's neck, and Six, the lone wold, dying by himself after withstanding the armies of the covenant for six days straight.
I tell you dude, watching this was great. Leading up to the reveal of Cortana I was geeking out for you and the look on your face when you heard the "Keep What You Steal" track from Halo 3 coming in...priceless. I shed a tear every time I get to this cutscene. The storytelling was just so good.
A few things: - Jorge-052 is the only spartan 2 in Noble team. - Spartans have access to atmosphere reentry packs, so they don't need a drop pod or anything, hurts like hell but they can do it without dying. - If you pay attention to Carter's voice and the timeline they give it, it becomes clear that he hasn't slept for days. - I didn't bring my shovel, commander. Edit: - Around the beginning when Jorge tries to coax "mum's scientist daughter" she's likely saying something along the lines of "They're still here" as Jorge reacts before the zealots drop, ambushing the rest of noble team
George also takes off his reentry pack to float over to the pelican during the sabre cutscene, you hear him ask 6 for the override to take the pack off
@@seansweeney2074 Yeah the AI warns that "Mspec reentry pack disengaged" (or whatever the name of it was)
Wait what are the rest of Noble team? I thought they were apart of the last batches of the Spartan-II program
@@andromedadrexy694 No they're Spartan 3's except jorge who's a 2.
@@shcdemolisher well, learned something new. Isnt chief a Spartan 2 as well?
"Our victory - Your victory, was so close, I wished you could've been there to see it" Is a line that always goes HARD
“That AI chose you” Cortana don’t miss
I needed this video, man... I needed you reacting to it and appreciating it as much as I have. I've shown the game to others, but they've never understood in a way that has ever validated my massive emotions over this game. Thank you.
One subtle thing i love is the way everyone dies. Kat, the brains of the group dies with a headshot, unforseen. Jorge dies in vain, thinking he just saved his homework, until the while fleet showed up immediately after his sacrifice Emile dies in hand to hand combat, his specitalty. Captain dies sacrificing himself for his team and the mission. Noble six dies alone, forshadowed by the "lone wolf stuff stays behind" in the beginning.
Also to add to this, Jorge dies in an explosion, his specialty and the Captain "went down with the ship".
Another thing to note is that if Kat hadn’t missed the button on the elevator, there was a chance that she could’ve lived. Yes, they were already being hunted down one by one, so it’s an unlikely theory. The wave of the blast knocked out electronics as well as their shields. It was a perfect trap. But at the tunnel, the other half of Noble Team had already crossed the opening when 6 and Kat got out of the elevator.
Also consider Jorge's love for Reach and not even being able to die on its soil.
Juun(the master of evasion and stealth) was the last of noble to survive
@@Ponch126 I've always heard that as part of her nervousness. But what you said makes a ton of sense!
29:47 this part here- you spend the entire game so far fighting the invading army of a single carrier (mind you the largest Covenant ship humanity had ever seen up to that point), you finally defeat it, costing even a member of Noble Team, and it's all just thrown right back at your face with this simple, quiet(ish), one-shot for just a few seconds. If the game hadn't made you relate to the powerlessness of the situation yet, it certainly had now, and it only took a few seconds of screen time. From here, the game takes a very dramatic and grim turn. The retaliation from the first half of the game- open vistas and large organized forces- now replaced for the rest of the game with chaos, fire, destruction, survival, overwhelming defeat, and a last-ditch fight for time to save as many as you can before it all inevitably falls.
The scene at 9mins where Jorge talks with the girl, Emile says “he forgets what he is sometimes” saying that Jorge has humility or sensitivity for a Spartan which they’re designed and trained to be war machines, their only purpose for being is war. Later on before Jorge dies it’s a somber moment of his last words. He says “Reach has been good to me, don’t deny me this” Jorge was born on Reach then put into the Spartan 2 program. He didnt want to be denied saving his home. A few scenes later in the city Six meets Carter briefly, and the dialogue to me is both characters gratitude toward Jorge. Six tells Carter “I’m sorry I came alone” partly apologizing to Carter for his team member dying. Carter tells six “make him proud” which for me making a person proud is emotionally a very important thing. It hits a certain part of the heart, making someone proud is bringing honor to them. It’s a brief moment but the emotion portrayed well represents what Jorges character was. During the scene where noble team gets Halsey and cortana, Jun goes with Halsey to escort her. During this Carter says something alone the line of don’t let anything fall into enemy hands, and Jun responds “I’ll do what’s necessary” he’s promising that if they’re attacked and Halsey is at risk of capture he’ll kill her to protect the information she has. And yes you state that Jun goes on to train others, he recruits and trains Spartan 4s, the Spartans in Halo 4/5 each fate of noble team represents their own character Carter: the leader, commander “Goes down with the ship” Kat: the intelligence, brains of the group Is shot through the head Jun: the sniper, the distant killer Fades away not to be seen again Emile: the close quarters combatant Dies being stabbed whilst stabbing his killer Jorge: the one who is most outwardly emotional and compassionate to people, Sacrifices himself trying to save the planet Six: the “Lone Wolf” Dies fighting alone, no support, no allies, no one to come. He is the last to join the team and is the last one to die on reach. There is a lot to say about the Narrative and storytelling of Reach and one comment wouldn’t be enough to explain it from the atmosphere to emotions, the way the music tells the feelings of the characters, and the growing despair of the story. All parts of reach are beautifully pieced together. Even though it shows the ending at the start, it is the second image the same one show in the beginning but with grass and snow everywhere, the final lines paired with the knowledge of its impact of the rest of the Halo games that is when you feel the ending more than you are seeing it.
So if I remember correctly (cause it's been a while) chief wasn't in the pillar of autumn the whole time. He was on a mission in space and picked up by the pillar before it jumped, he was also with Linda who was dead but was brought along with them with the hopes they could resuscitate her, which they eventually managed to do
So noble team recovered a fragment of cortana from Halsey. That fragment had taken the information from that forerunner structure, which included the location of halo. Their random slip space jump wasn’t so random
Wow that’s a neat detail I never knew
I was going to like this comment but it's currently sitting at 117 likes, so I'll leave it there!
@@steveh84 It’s been ruined so go ahead
Something Id Like to add for you Kai at [53:38] this is the cutscene before the final mission of the game. which is an endless survival mission where as you the player see how long you can hold out vs hoards of the covenant. each time you take damage it becomes harder, your helm begins to crack farther reducing your visibility. And then the cutscene at [54:10] is the moment you finally die. in Lore it has been said that noble six killed so many covenant during this short time. that they put out an all out distress call that Noble Six "must die on this day." Because at the time. He was singlehandedly the most deadly Spartan in the universe in the eyes of the covenant.
Hyper lethal 🫡
@@arctrooper7239 on god
Noble 6 fought like a spartan 2. I can't imagine if had been a Spartan 2 how much more damage he would have caused.
some say six is top 2 but no. hes top 1 alongside chief
@@joaoguijz10both take 1st place but personally, I place 6 over chief. Simply for one reason, 6 was a Spartan III that was as deadly as a Spartan II.
You keep pointing out the camera shake. Also note the positions specifically in space. The camera is always bolted to something. On the ground it's almost as if someone is filming them. It plays itself off like it's found footage. Like people in the future are trying to figure out what happened
Just so you know, there were a couple of cutscenes that didn't show, for example, in the mission Long Night of Solace, where you asked if they just entered the Corvette by landing the Pelican, there was a cutscene where they landed in a banshee bay type place, and then you started to play the mission and infiltrated the Corvette
The elite who sniped Kat and stabbed Emile was the same one who Carter told the team not to pursue when they were first investigating the relay. He wanted revenge for the rest of his squad, and even stayed close during the glassing just to get a shot at Noble team while the EMP had taken down their shields. So, you didn't have that moment you talked about, because it was his revenge, not yours.
he didn't want revenge per say, it was and elite strike team that was hunting noble team yes, but its confirmed they had orders too. They were actively doing it all game
not only that, but he was the only zealot class elite on the planet, as per standard procedure during the early human-covenant war, and in the mission where emile dies you actually kill him as the last elite encounter before you reach the Mac Cannon and save the pillar of autumn
@@cloutogelevatedtv9000I thought Emile stabbed him in the neck as his last “fuck you” to the enemy as they both fell off the gun?
@brotherkhrayn3525 That was a separate group of Zealots that were introduced after we eliminated the last of the original Zealot trio earlier in the mission. Emile dispatched 2 of 3 from this new Zealot team before his fate. The last of the Zealots from this new Zealot team delivers the fatal blow to Noble 6 in the last cutscene.
@@Milesamanjaro no it was the same group, its has a name they are called the Devoted Sentry's, zealot strike teams aren't like spartan teams, there is anywhere from 6-20 elites in a group
Your point on how the score should be treated as a character that speaks directly to the audience is exaclty what the Halo tv show doesn't understand. This is why the creators and actors have this idea that emotion cannot be expressed unless they constantly remove their helmets even when it makes no sense to do so. Reach, and all Halo games are proof that this is simply untrue. Also, when I was still in grad school for screenwriting I took a course on adaptations. For my final project, I adapted the first act of Reach to a film script. Easiest project I have ever done haha. A testimate to just how filmable this story is.
Halo 4 does this perfectly. The ending scene, where Chief talks to himself about Cortana and has his helmet on, does this perfectly. The scene where Cortana "dies" (Halo 5 was a sin and I won't forgive 343i for it) was executed so well because of the score that without it, it would feel awkward and weird. The show will never replicate that because it's makers are not as passionate as Marty and the early Bungie crew. And they're influenced by modern Hollywood.
@@Malohdek I agree with most of that, but I don't understand the "influenced by modern Hollywood" part. The final season of The Expanse (arguably one of the best sci-fi shows since Battlestar Galactica) came out two years ago. Is that show somehow not Hollywood? I just don't know what people mean when they complain about Hollywood like it's a single entity. "Hollywood," or more accurately, the film and TV industry is perfectly capable of producing a Halo adaptation that is true to form. Where this project went wrong was 343 management's stated pursuit of a "wider audience." What this initiative caused was a dulling effect on what makes Halo what it is. In the pursuit of greater market value, they lost the soul of Microsoft's most recognizable franchise. That's not "modern Hollywood," that's capitalism and its effect on art. Luckily, much of that leadership has since left the company, but it would be naive to think that their replacements won't serve corporate interests and investors in the exact same way. That is unless the higher-ups notice that the wider audience thing is actually losing them money 🤑🤑🤑
@AuricNova ypur understandibg of "Capitalism" makes no fucking sense considering all of those things are causing the TV and Film industry to LOSE MONEY by making things for a "wider audience" thats doesnt even fucking exist.
@@ryanparker4996 I assume you have access to 343's financial data then... 🤨 Feel free to share it, I'd love to take a look. Secondly, I literally said all of that. You just don't like that I'm dragging capitalism a little bit. The quest for more profit sometimes results in less profit, it is up to leadership to figure that out and alter their course. In reality the show probably made a good chunk of change regardless of the core fanbase's opinions. Would they have made more if they stayed true to Halo's story and themes? I don't know, the producers of the show don't know, and you certainly do not know unless you really do have their financial records as well as a magic orb to ponder. I think upper management is starting to see what most of us see. That the wider audience technique isn't good long-term, but maybe that's just copium. We'll find out soon.
@@AuricNova nah Im just accusing you of being a psuedo-intellectual lolbert who doesnt have the first clue about that which he speaks. Muh capitalism. Shut up. We dont have that anymore. Thats why everything sucks.
Best part about the intro to Noble team is you can immediately tell what they're like and even their rolls on the team. Jun: vigilant sniper Carter: he's the boss Kat: she's the smart one Jorge: he's the veteran big guy Emile: the edgy badass
As someone who played Reach when I was 12 or 13, I fully felt the weight of the story and the loss of noble team, I recognized the helmet at the beginning and it wasn’t until the Lone Wolf mission that I realized, we weren’t saving Reach or making it off world, we were just trying to survive and protect the future
"I didn't think Covenant take hostages." That's the fun part. They don't. Obviously the girl survived, but that's because Jorge and Six got to her in time.
That wasn't a hostage, that was a damned human shield
i love how they did the whole "first-person cutscenes" thing for Reach. Really sold the idea that you we're in the unit by seeing things from Noble 6' perspective. I also loved how 6' armor would change depending on your Multiplayer character. Any armor you put on your spartan gets put on 6 so that was a sick detail aswell
I always see people talking about how the character of Noble 6 is described as being everyone who plays em and that no matter how different you look it is still accurate to the game and not some sort of spoof.
My favorite game of all time man, I’ve played and been replaying it since I was 4 (16 now) still had to hold back tears just watching this all the way through, you gave me new insights into the cinematic aspects of the game that made me appreciate it even MORE than I already did. Great video man
Absolutely love this because from the very first scene you breakdown why this game is incredible. The music build up and then right away the first time we six stand up you’re like oh the camera looks up at him. Like that’s things as a game I never really noticed but when you think about it bungie is showing you that the person you’re about to play as is a hero and icon and when you think of the context that this game came after halo 3 where we were just playing as one of the most iconic character in gaming that really just shows how good bungie was at telling these stories that from the second you see your brand new protagonist you are seeing them as the hero that they are.
In 2022, I had the honor to play and finish Reach not two weeks before my little sister took her life. I went blind in 2014, but I was an avid Halo player until I was no longer able too. That being said, I played Reach so much as a teenager, that I ad all the missions memorized. I was able to be her own personal AI, giving her hints of weapon caches and alternate routes, while she did the running and shooting. You're Reactions as a first timer made me so happy for the time I had to play this amazing game with my sister. As a memorial, I had the Spartan-III emblem tattooed on my right arm, in honor of my baby sis.
God Bless You Spartan
That is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard
You did good son...real good
I'm sorry you came alone, make her proud.
🫡
6:32 i love how they animated george here, before the elite even jumped down he knew it was there and they let you know that by making him subtly raise his head
that's because what she said was "They're still here."
@@Revan_Reborn oh I actually didn't know that, thank you for letting me know!
@@benvoli0c977 yeah, both her and Jorge and any civilians you see in the game speak Hungarian at times as Reach was settled by Hungarian colonists and the language was passed down.
The sudden movement would also have pinged on his HUD. Where you see his reaction
It’s a combination of the human girl warning them plus the minimap movement sensors.
Love the commentary. The story gets much better when you understand it from the Elite's perspective.
First video of yours that I've watched and mate I'm loving this. Pro commentary on media I'm already so familiar with is so interesting to watch, and comforting in a way to be watching something nostalgic. It really was such a high quality game
7 year old me didn't understand the story back in 2010 but wow almost 14 years later and a brain full of Halo lore later it still hits hard seeing them all fall with Reach. This was Bungie's best project without a doubt and my favorite game to this day, I wish we could get another one like it.
It feels good knowing that even though I was born the year CE came out, there are others who grew up with this cult classic and treasure similar memories.
I love that the game posters said, "From the beginning, you know the end." And then you experience the futile struggle of Noble Team and their sacrifice for the greater good.
i still cry when i see georges big moment. each of the spartan 2s is so special and important in their own way. its really hard to lose them. its like watching batman, or thor die, permenantly, no redos, no coming back. there are a limited number of these special people and they are dwindling
Halo Reach was such a treat for us. Got me all emotional while studying math. I don’t even have to watch the scenes, they’re burned into my memory with the audio alone.
I absolutely love how when Halsey is giving Cortana to noble team, the camera angle makes it look like Carter - being Noble 1 makes him an obvious choice - but then the camera pans to us. You made a comment about Six not saying anything to Jorge before his death, but you gotta remember Six is a "lone wolf" and I'm sure he knew Jorge had to die to complete the mission.
Jorge also tells 6 “don’t deny me this” RIP big guy 😢
23:40 The smiley face is the emblem you can put on your Spartan. The great thing about Reach is however you made your Spartan look for multiplayer via the armor customizations, that's how your version of Noble 6 you play as appears in the single-player campaign. Whoever recorded the gameplay footage looks to be using the base/stock armor set-up you get at the start of the game, including the base/stock emblem that shows up on your armor. 37:07 A nice little attention to detail, Kat actually missed hitting the elevator button the first time due to her vision being messed up from the initial flare of the glassing beams from the Covenant. Another attention to detail is the details in how each member of Noble Team dies. George always said he would never leave Reach and yet he dies in space not even on the planet. Kat was the brains of the team and she gets taking out by a Needle Rifle round through the head. Carter, the team leader, goes down with the ship to ensure the rest of his team can continue the mission. Emile loved the heat of battle and was definitely a more in the action fighter; and he ultimately gets stabbed in the back with an Energy Sword but still goes down fighting. Noble 6 was warned about being a team player at the start of the game by Carter, and in the end, they died alone. Jun, a sniper who is all about keeping his distance from his enemies, evacuates from Reach to escort Dr. Halsey and he is the only member of Noble Team to survive the Fall of Reach. At 51:25 if you hold right on the joystick that controls your aiming during this cutscene, the camera will pan to the right and you see, who is presumably Master Chief, in a cryo-chamber as a hidden Easter Egg.
Nitpicking here, but its Jorge The only Spartan 2 surrounded by Spartan 3's why he has a special connection to Halsey
I've seen this they die how they represented but to be honest who ever made this theory really was grasping at straws... Especially since Jorges contradicts his own words. And jorge also sacrificed him self for the mission similar carter but apparently jorge isn't leader. The team letting their gaurd down and kat getting shot in the head forgetting they are in hostel zone still is probably the most brainless things they could of done. It makes you wonder how she survived until then. The plasma flare thing is such head cannon explanation for a detail that could totally be attribute to panic. They are wearing helmets that are high tech space suits and kat is wearing air assault helmet to which should have eye protection from staring into sun due to it being aim for air combat. If she was blinded from plasma beam then it shows to lack of detail a want to make something be cool The same with her death spartan armor is emp resistant and likely hood of it short circuiting her shields long enough to get past the normal shield regen time but no badly enough that all of noble team has no shields for the rest of the game is ridiculous
Jorge*
@@prefrontalcortex2602 Except most of them were not wearing their helmets in the building with the exception of Emile and Noble 6. Kat didn't put her helmet on until she was already in the elevator with Noble 6. So yea...there was a chance that her vision could have been a little thrown off because she didn't put her helmet on until after the scene in question. You can literally see she looks back at the button to hit it again and shakes her head after missing the button the first time.
@@prefrontalcortex2602 Also...idk what you are talking about with the theory "grasping at straws" when it's not a theory...it's all sorta symbolic. Jun even said "Jorge never said he would leave Reach." and Jorge ended up being the only one who was physically off of the planet when he died during the attack on Reach. Kat was the brains and tactician of the team so it's kinda ironic/symbolic that she would die from a headshot. There is always the heroic theme of "the captain going down with the ship" in media and Carter, the team leader, literally goes down with the ship in a moment of self-sacrifice. Emile was a close-quarters combat specialist with his massive knife and shotgun and he ends up drying in close-quarter combat from an energy sword through the back. Noble 6 had a history of being a lone wolf type of individual and in the end, they literally died alone fighting a battle they couldn't win. Jun spent a lot of the game being recon and doing things form a distance...especially since he was a sniper/rifleman. And in the end, he ended up being the only survivor because he got the most distance from the planet when he left to escort Halsey. There is no "grasping at straws". Each outcome of each member of Noble Team is sort of symbolic or mirrors something about the type of character they are.
as a long time fan of halo, I absolutely loved watching this. great commentary, and alot of fun watching someone who isnt super familiar with the games but has clearly done some reading on the lore.
Such a trip seeing these cutscenes again. Reach was my first Halo game that I owned and played through by myself. And seeing this team over the course of the game definitely had an emotional impact by the end. Definitely started tearing up through this.
For the timeline: The conflict on Harvest (start of the Human-Covenant War) was in 2525 iirc, maybe 2526. The Covenant had eventually found whatever Forerunner relics they'd wanted from the planet and glassed it. That became their standard procedure for most human worlds; check it for Forerunner stuff, kill all the humans in your way while you're at it, and glass the thing when you're all done. Harvest was glassed in the early-mid 2530's; Reach starts in July of 2552 and ends in early September. By Reach's time, the Covenant had obliterated dozens if not hundreds of human colonies. As you could likely guess, only watching the cutscenes makes you miss _a lot_ of story elements. The first mission has the Spartans panic a little over realizing the Covenant are there; helps solidify the "we're totally f*cked" mindset you're supposed to have throughout the game.
Harvest first contact was 2525 but I think there were battles happening there in 2526 and for years after.
@@VainerCactus0 there were. Halo Wars took place in 2531.
@@L1LegoAnimationsYeah with harvest it was give and take
Man I started tearing up again listening to cortana's epilogue about your body staying on reach. By far the best story in any of the halo games, I've played through its entirety probably over a dozen times.
That's Dr. Halsey in the epilogue. And I agree; it's a damn good game.
@@spark_bears I see, they sound so similar I mixed them up lol. (If I'm not mistaken, Cortana is somehow based on Halsey's mind?)
@@thedudeguy242 Totally easy to mix them up! Jen Taylor rocks both of those roles. Cortana was created using the brain of a living clone of Dr. Halsey - that doesn't make Cortana a direct digital clone of Halsey, but there's certainly some major similarities.
@@spark_bearsit’s basically a better AI version wit all of Halseys knowledge
i love you for having so much knowledge of the lore beforehand
One thing I like about the cutscenes is that they're all in-engine. I think my favorite little detail is in the scene with the zealot ambush. Right before they drop down, the girl says "they are still here" in Hungarian, and because Jorge can understand her, he is able to anticipate them and dodge that sword swipe
I never knew that, such a cool detail.
I never realized how good of a Team Lead Carter is after my casual playthroughs. Saving his teams from the Zealots, Backing them up when Halsey confronts them. Gives it all for them. Beautifully written.
This is class mate! First time stumbling across this channel, with one of my favourite games too, love it great commentary
47:10 Jun is a Spartan 3. He's also the one that proposed the Spartan 4 program after the events of Halo 3
I think the greatest thing about Reach is that the Main Character "Six" is you. It is the Spartan you use in PvP, Firefight, Forge, and Campaign. They even worked on the cutscenes to have every helmet in multiplayer and every armor piece on Noble Six in every cutscene. That is something alot of people miss watching cutscenes only because that gameplay aspect makes the foreshadowing, and eventual ending so much more impactful
It's more so that the cutscenes are ACTUALLY in game shot. You know how a lot of ads for games these days have that "In game engine footage"? Bungie has admitted to starting that. Because Reach actually did do it for the cutscenes in game. A Halo channel by the name of GeneralKidd (I believe that's the name, will check) has done a lot of stuff with Halo, including free cams during cutscenes. It is also why in the beginning of the second mission, where you see the UNCS engaging the covies in SWORD base, it is relatively unique each time. Because it is an actual battle between the NPCs. It is also why, because of how the cutscenes are made, it is possible to see stray plasma fire cross the screen for camera shots that just don't make sense. Essentially, your custom equipment is rendered as the cutscenes happen. It isn't Bungie doing it for each and every possible combination as you seem to imply. It is possible to alter the equipment or even characters as the cutscenes happen, because all it really is doing is having the camera move and apply filters from shot to shot. With cheats, you can change armor pieces on 6 and it will keep on going like nothing ever happened, but the armor will change. I will find the video and link it for the context on the SWORD base cutscene when I can. Or just the name, because KZhead doesn't like links. Found it. Generalkidd: Halo Reach - Who Fired That Mysterious Shot In The ONI Sword Base Intro? Go watch his other stuff too. But that one should give context on how the cutscenes were shot. It's also why the camera sequence where an ultra was kicking a marine in the version he watched was not in the video I shared. Because each instance is unique. Pretty cool I think.
Exactly, it’s like a self insert of sorts
yep, 6 is literally meant to be you, whereas chief was invisioned to be his own character, best part is that bungie gave 6 a badass backstory while keeping his name secret, meaning that YOU get that badass backstory, even better: 6's sacrfice, YOUR sacrifice, allowed the chief to win the war. bungie made you arguably the most integral part of halo's story, without you, none of the events of halo after reach wouldve been possible.
@@ALUCARD-us3il Yeah, which is also when I dislike when people want 6 to have survived. Making three ultimate sacrifice for a chance humanity might live is a much cooler sendoff for such a character opposed to them somehow surviving. I hope 343 keeps them dead.
There is a little Easter egg where at 51:25 you can turn the camera during this part of the cutscene to see Master Chief’s pod that he comes out of in the beginning of Halo 1!
You even get an achievement for it
*Halo Combat Evolved 🤦♀
@@flexydex8754 Yet you knew what game I was talking about 🤯
Not master chief btw just a simple Easter egg
Its literally master chief my guy @@Shoku116
The line that gets me every time is at the end when she says: “Our victory……. YOUR victory, was so close, I wish you could’ve lived to see it.”
Love your point on how they used shadows! Just noticed while watching that at 36:01 where the lighting strikes behind carter’s head in the background, it shows a silhouette of the covanant ship that causes the EMP blast making the squad move to a different location and possibly being what made KAT’s bed… almost like in horror films where light flashes a glimpse of the monster in the shadows right before it kills a character. There are certain things i wish i appreciated more in this campaign.
Wait till he finds out the ellite zealot at the start is actually hunting noble team throughout the game
Learning about that made killing him in the end feel incredible
Source?
@@Johnspartan296I don’t know if it’s confirmed in the lore but ik the devs intended that zealot to be the final boss fight even changing his ai making him swap weapons when his shields broke.
It’s a field marshal you encounter him in winter contingency Carter says do not pursue you se him again when Kay is shot and when Emile is stabbed
One of my favorite thing about reach's story is the irony in every character's death. Jorge, who was born and raised on reach and who wanted to die on her soil in her defense, died in a wasted sacrafice in space. Kat, the brains of the noble team died taking a needle to the head. Carter, the team leader went down with the ship. Emile, the close quarters expert died in close quaters combat. Noble six, the lone wolf turned team player died a lone wolf, and Jun, the sniper that kept his distance did just that and survived. They did a similar thing with the prohets in the original trilogy, and ive thought it was a great layer of depth.
17:19 its drop pods with O.D.S.T.s in them (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) they're just well trained soldiers.
If you didn't realize while watching all of the cut scenes, body language plays a big part in telling the story, too. Some of the body language isn't very noticeable, such as: Jorge realizing the elite's were above them the whole time, so in turn, he tilts his head up slightly 6:33. Another example of this is when they go to blow up the Covenant's spire and the UNSC's briget gets shot down after they shoot the spire, noble six moves his leg slightly to brace for the explosions shock wave 19:33 . In that same scene, when six sits down after Jorge catches him, Six then takes a sigh of relief because he didn't think he was going to make it 18:55 Edit: Canonacly, Six survived 6 hours fighting off Elites, Grunts, Jackles, and Ghosts (The purple Covenant ground vehicle)
The planet goes from a beautiful green with blue sky’s to a fire red and a hue of purple in the sky. The invading force is so great the color of the atmosphere changes with so many enemy ships in orbit.
pretty sure it from all the ionized air caused by you know, the planet being glassed
"As a kid i would've never of appreciated that" damn this is so true. watching this in college and really enjoying it so far. This game is phenomenal, the detail, the story, the art. Hope you play through it as some point, my personal favourite of all of the games.
The foreshadowing is incredible in this game, truly. "That lone wolf stuff, stays behind" and it does, Noble 6 chooses to stay behind. When the spartans are shown in the opening cutscene of the second game, they're shown in the order they die with something that correlates to their death. First, Jorge. Hes looking down at Reach. "Reach has been good to me." Second, Kat. Shes using her head to try and unlock something. Shot in the head. Third, Carter. Staring at the enemy ship. The CPT goes down with the ship. Fourth, Emile. Emile with his back to everyone. Killed by something that sneaks up on him. The dialogue is also incredible, with several lines that hit very hard. "I know we're losing, I want to know if we've lost." "I'll honor him my own way." And he does, by dying fighting on Reach.
An iconic part of kats death is “thats war, no names no faces.” Esspecially at that time they didnt have access to the same info this was first engagement
30:23 he definitely fell from space like Chief in Halo 3. Six had a reentry pack on his back which I believe is what he grabbed the magnum from after landing.
yeah, he still gets hurt though because in the next mission you're missing about half your health
@@jimbothegymbro7086 well he is a spartan 3, unlike chief or jorge, so his armour, isn't as strong as theirs, on top of that spartan armour lock will prevent the body inside the armour from being damaged as much as possible by using the armour and the underarmour gel suit to mitigate that damage, but it won't prevent those things from being damaged in the process, ever recorded instance in lore of spartans falling from heights like that and using armour lock have shown damages that needed repairs at a later date. so it makes sense that in the next mission you will be missing half your health, reentry pack or not
Chief used a forerunner door to take the impact and survive.
can we all just agree that at the end of such a brillaint campaign... being greeted with words 'SURVIVE'... was the greatest mission from the halo franchise. the desire it gave you to never surrender while taking shots from every angle after an emotional campaign, giving you the chance to go out like a true martyr... as the screen slowly cracks building desperation
These cinematics always gave me shivers. It was awesome. It felt like a genuine film that I just had the pleasure of playing a part in. It was good. Very good.
Some of my favorite bits about Halo Reach’s finale: the foot with the sword at the very end of the fight was Thel ‘Vadem, the Arbiter. And Noble 6 lasted 7 hours canonically after the Pillar of Autumn launched before he was finally killed