Examining The End Of Halo 2

[@BenPlaysGames]

✅ Subscribe: kzbin.info 🖱 Support the channel: www.patreon.com/ben_plays_games And with that, I've created a video on every single level in the trilogy! Thank you for all your support and kind words, I'm so happy to have reached this point.

[@ninja1man4u]

I like how arbiter doesn't instigate the final boss battle. He really grew a lot as a character from the first mission to the last

[@KeyvanJuanez]

It sets up an interesting comparison to the heretic leader too. Both were in a similar situation but where the heretic leader immediately started shooting, arbiter gives them time to hear the message and make their choice. Tartarus still instigates the fight, but still.

[@QuarrelsomeLocalOaf]

​@@KeyvanJuanez(George Lucas voice) It's like poetry, it rhymes

[@shreksnow1918]

@KeyvanJuanez In the Halo 2 storyboards upon meeting the heretic leader you would’ve first had a boss fight. Then, after he’s laying on the ground mortally wounded he would’ve tried to tell the Arbiter what the Rings did, before one of Tartarus and his Brutes killed him and collected Spark just as they were about to reveal what the Rings did. Too bad that didn’t happen. It would’ve made more sense than the heretic leader shooting the Arbiter right as Spark was about to explain what the Rings were designed for.

[@Starwarsfan066]

​@shreksnow1918 wow.. really?

[@shreksnow1918]

@Starwarsfan066 Yes. Check out C3Sabertooth’s videos where he animated the Halo 2 story boards. He also has a video called We Were Forerunners (you can probably take a wild guess what that one is about). Both are super interesting.

[@cjschaff317]

Side note, I’ve always loved how UNSC vehicles are animals and Covenant vehicles are mostly ghoulish. Ghosts, banshee, spectre, etc. Halo 2 is my favorite campaign for the lore and storyline. The Arbiter’s redemption arc can’t be topped.

[@shreksnow1918]

His arc would’ve been so much better had we gotten Halo 2’s original ending where upon confronting Truth he would’ve thrown his helmet on the ground rejecting the mantle that Truth gave him. He also would’ve seen a “Forerunner” skeleton and learned that humanity are the children and true successors of his gods. Unfortunately, aside from killing Truth he barely does anything of note in 3. 3 has quite possibly the best campaign, but the WORST story of the original trilogy. It’s a pretty big step down compared to how things were in 2, and it’s especially bad when you take into account how 2 was originally supposed to end.

[@cjschaff317]

@@shreksnow1918 I’ll admit, I loved halo 3 upon release. I think the feeling of it was a rushed wrap up. But still

[@BenPlaysGames]

Halo 2 is the peak for the series' storytelling and one of the best video game stories full stop. I like most of the other games in their own way, but 2 is so many levels above them all.

[@zac9235]

@@BenPlaysGamesI just finished Halo two for the very first time and I got to say it kinda sucks the story isn’t bad for the most part but that ending absolutely sucks. The ending makes the game feel unfinished.

[@DrOmnipotent]

Keith David was flawless as the Arbiter.

[@BenPlaysGames]

100% agree, superb from start to finish.

[@Jacksonrox13]

Doesn't Kevin Michael Richardson play Tartarus? His voice sounds _very_ familiar.

[@CrimsonCoqqk]

Something I didn't notice my first playthrough but in the many that came afterwards. If you take a beam rifle into the fight with tartar sauce, you can drop his shields yourself and beat his cheeks like a bongo drum. There is also the goofy tactic of breaking a banshee's wings and flying it inside to use in the final battle as well

[@BenPlaysGames]

I did the banshee tactic on my semi-recent legendary stream, makes it much more bearable. The beam rifle thing is awesome too, genuinely didn't know about that until this morning having seen a few people's comments.

[@yincimaster8530]

@@BenPlaysGames There is also a Spectre tactic which you can use to spawn up to 4 johnsons and cheese the fight.

[@CrimsonCoqqk]

@@yincimaster8530 I didn't even know about that one

[@yincimaster8530]

@@CrimsonCoqqk I did it once for the lolz, it's a lot more difficult to pull off since you need to keep a Spectre alive until the end and also maneuver it into a specific position but once you've done it and get the game to think Johnson is "gone" and having it spawn a new one until Tartarus' shield is basically non-existent is pretty hilarious.

[@caramelldansen2204]

We mustn't forget the inhumane conditions that the workers behind Halo 2 had to suffer through when analysing the condition it released in.

[@shreksnow1918]

Bungie knew well in advance that stuff like the e3 demo would never be able to run on the original Xbox, and yet they still wasted a good chunk of development expending time and resources into something they KNEW would ultimately be scrapped. They should’ve just focused on the actual game and rained in the devs who were all doing their own things with barely any communication between the groups. What they went through is obviously horrible, but they’re just as much to blame for the problems as Microsoft is.

[@caramelldansen2204]

@@shreksnow1918 Workers are not bosses. At the end of the day, I don't really care if the orders came from Microsoft to make themselves money, or from Bungie's corporate to make money for Microsoft, the end result is still the same; *workers' lives were worsened for profit, and we're all worse off for it.*

[@BenPlaysGames]

It's a tricky one isn't it. On the one hand, I do feel that ultimately you can really only judge the product that was released, yet at the same time it's hard to ignore all the issues behind the scenes which led to that end product. But then the question becomes: "How much of a concession do we give developers who have had to rush their game out?" If we started doing that too frequently, I'd guess half the video games released would need a pass to varying degrees. Totally understand your views regarding workers lives' being worsened for profit, as I have first hand experience - I quite my job earlier this year due to stress/burn out, having had no choice but to work absurd hours for weeks on end so someone else could make money I didn't see a single penny of. One thing I'll always be extraordinarily grateful for is KZbin giving me the buffer to be able to do that. It doesn't replace my salary, but it's given me enough leeway that I was able to take a few months off to enjoy my wedding and then start looking for something new.

[@brianmckee2267]

Crunch is a failure of management. Its testament to how talented the devs at bungie were that the game released in the state it did

[@alecgutierrez5653]

Trivia: You actually can take out Tartarus' shields yourself. Whether by design or unintended consequence, any Beam Rifle shot that makes contact with him will remove his shields.

[@BenPlaysGames]

Had no idea, that's awesome. Will try that out today.

[@I_dcd]

​@@BenPlaysGamesI think you find the beam rifles at the banshees

[@Dorian_Kellum]

One thing I never really realized is that the Covenant had basically won at this point. Chief was MIA after Regret, then he was stuck on High Charity. Keyes and Johnson were both captured. If the Prophets had waited an extra day to betray the Elites, or have Tartarus bring the Arbiter back to High Charity first, they would have lit the ring. I’d love to know what Johnson and Keyes were thinking after not hearing from Chief after Regret, or while being led onto the Phantoms

[@shreksnow1918]

We know from the Halo 2 storyboards that Truth actually had a coherent reason to cause the Great Schism and kill off the other two Prophets. Inside of the Ark (later changed to the portal to the Ark in 3) there was a special room called the Dara Vault. This housed a sarcophagus that contained a “Forerunner” skeleton that acted as the template for the Ark’s machinery to guide the evolution of indigenous life along a desired path (located in East Africa where modern humans first originated some 100,000 years ago. This also happens to be when Forerunner disappeared from the galactic scene when the Array was fired). He knew all along that the Halos would kill everything, and he wanted to wipe the slate clean so that he could become God by having the Ark create a new species based on his genome. He caused the civil war so the Covenant would be too distracted with killing each other to realize that he was planning their destruction, and had the other two Prophets killed off as a way to eliminate competition. In a way the Great Journey was very real, but only ONE could walk it. Then Halo 3 happened and they COMPLETELY ruined his character (it’s like comparing Prequel Palpatine to Disney Star Wars Palpatine).

[@I_dcd]

​@@shreksnow1918Awesome backstory of the original ending. Thanks for sharing it

[@I_dcd]

​@@shreksnow1918Also we don't talk about what happened with Palpatine, been a long long time since I've seen a character assassination like that, f*** Disney

[@TheMysticalTank]

0:50 “You could then chose to jump into a wrath or phantom.” I think you meant to say Spector there.

[@BenPlaysGames]

Yeh this one's my bad. I actually caught that mistake while writing the script but somehow forgot to change it. Bird brained haha.

[@woodsyjones]

AND SO IT COMPLETES!!! Congratulations brother, you really finished the trilogy! Now I will wait for the Ultimate version for bedtime listening 🔥🔥

[@BenPlaysGames]

Cheers again dude! I've got all the videos cut up in the editor and nearly ready to go, just need to add some lines here and there so a few of them flow better into each other. I'd say it will be ready by end of next week latest but hopefully by mid-next week.

[@inductivegrunt94]

This level really is amazing in both gameplay and story, ground vehicle combat with a Wrath, followed by an on foot sequence with Hunters and a prison break, then a flying part with Johnson and his Scarab, and the last boss fight were all amazing in their own right. You can even cheese the last boss by bringing a vehicle with you, I use the Banshee as it's the easiest one to get in and is very powerful with both its weapons. All in all an amazing finish to this game, and an amazing video to finish out the Halo trilogy. Great work on this, and the video series as a whole.

[@gabe1298]

I remember once trying so hard to park my banshee on Johnson's scarab. Sadly he always moved too much for it to stay aboard, but even marooned, it was a lot of fun being ferried across the canyon for a young boy lol

[@BenPlaysGames]

Halo game were always my favourite for abusing the physics etc. I remember getting the PC version of Combat Evolved and going mad with a hex editor. You could make an assault rifle shoot fuel rods, for example, was so cool.

[@gabe1298]

@@BenPlaysGames I can imagine some mod creators got their first taste through editors like that and War/Starcraft's!

[@saxpackabs]

6:07 I had the pathfinding issue in the original Halo 2, but not on Master Chief Collection. Loved the mission though

[@GaryJojo]

My favorite of the mission is getting Johnson to shoot while I stay in front of the door. Me and friends would play this mission for hours, seeing who would move out the way first, trying to get a banshee and ghost through the door, and just sit back watch countless Elites are sent into the meat grinder that is Tartus. And then promptly teabag him after every defeat. Great times.

[@jimpraxis3878]

It's interesting when looking at the Halo 2 storyboards, because it suggests that this back and forth setup was how the 3rd act of the game was going to go. The narrative idea they were trying to communicate (per the director's commentary) was that Chief's levels and Arbiter's levels were happening almost simultaneously, and the storyboards suggest there was going to be ongoing switches until the two teamed up for the last level (or few levels). It was an interesting way to play with narrative in a game, and one of the many reasons why Halo 2's fate is such a shame.

[@BenPlaysGames]

That would been brilliant. That being said, I don't hate how the final third functions at present, although Chief's end feels quite anticlimactic, seeing as you his last appearance is High Charity before he later shows up for 30 seconds right at the death.

[@jimpraxis3878]

@@BenPlaysGames Bungie did a good job salvaging a workable story, but yeah, the consequence was Chief's anticlimactic conclusion and the worst cliffhanger of 2004. All that "battle for Earth" aspect was going to be in the cut 3rd act too, fighting through the ruins of Mombassa and the buried Ark

[@Korlinium]

I've never triggered it myself, but Johnson's dialogue when you're in the way of the Scarab beam is hilarious. I also didn't realize just how much variety Halo 2's finale had; nice job pointing that out. I only just now realized you had finished analyzing all of Halo 2's levels (and with it, the original trilogy!). I really like your method of analyzing these levels; it's easy to understand, no time feels wasted, and yet you manage to cover a lot of ground in a relatively short period.

[@justinnyugen7015]

For people like me who've played this level over and over, here are some fun ways to try Great Journey: - Park the specter near enemy wraith and hijack it. You'll have a 2 wraith beach assault. - After clearing the bridge, you can melee your first hunter pair across (Feather skull helps). Once you past the next load zone, they'll follow you into the holding cells and you can have up to 4 allied hunters + 2 elite councillors at once! - Hijacking banshees on the beach by the control room, you can have Brute buddies whose AI don't know what to do when kicked out of their banshee. They just slowly walk towards you - Banshee in control room glitch - Drive specter (either the one on the beach from the beginning pushed off the cliff or a hijacked one) into control room (video tutorials are available). Causes Johnson to hop in the seat and then duplicate himself. You can have a specter full of johnsons, drive onto the control platform vs tartarus, get them out of the seats so they can beam rifle Tartarus to death without you having to fire a single bullet - Standing directly on top of the control panel console messes with Tartarus's pathfinding. A step back and he'll try to go around. Step forward and he'll try the other way. You can lock him in there (at least until brute reinforcements come)

[@BenPlaysGames]

Love this, will try some myself today as already going back to use the beam rifle on Tartarus.

[@Jacob-360]

My second favourite final level in the franchise, I love the gameplay and story in this mission, you have a tank section, on foot section, banshee section and a boss battle and the music throughout the level is amazing.

[@imdefender]

I always fly a banshee into the last boss battle :)

[@darkspark5854]

Me after examining the ending of halo 2: mmm. That’s some good fucking halo

[@BenPlaysGames]

+1

[@Loch_Ness_Lachster]

@BenPlaysGames you called the spectre a phantom. Not sure if anyone else has noticed this.

[@BenPlaysGames]

Many, many people have noticed haha. I always watch my videos back at least twice before publishing and somehow that one still slipped through!

[@ebomb1133]

Despite Halo 2's ending being a cliff hanger, I absolutely adore all of it. Maybe its bc I didn't get into the series until right before Reach released. I went straight from Halo 2 to Halo 3, but I can see where that would've been excruciating to wait 2-3 years between games to find out what happened. Arbiter's character arc, the battles, the lore, all of it still holds a special place in my heart. Awesome coverage of these my dude, I've enjoyed every retrospective you've made on all the missions.

[@I_dcd]

I believe the reason reason so many people hated that ending at the time was because the story was so damn good that they wanted its epic finale right away. However we were all treated with the absolutely legendary Halo 3 as a result. The anticipation that ending brought made 3 one of the most popular games ever pre-release and it shattered sales records, ONCE AGAIN BACK TO BACK I might add.

[@drewmike681]

This is my favorite mission in H2. It's so varied, and it keeps escalating to the "ok" boss battle. The vehicle combat is fun and it does feel like the last hurrah for The Arbiter. Great video, as per usual.

[@mernyr]

I never understood the hate for the arbiter and the new perspective we get on the covenant. You’ve got a internal view on our enemy from the first game and see how they operate and we get the arbiter who’s the more fleshed out character to contrast how chief was always intended as a blank slate. I doubt halo would’ve been as popular as it was had it not been for the inclusion of the arbiter not too mention we had Keith David being an absolute legend with his voice acting.

[@Maddsyz27]

FYI you can drop tartarus's shield yourself, if you use the energy sword, you can drop his shield after 4-7 hits, otherwise dual plasma rifles work well too. as well as the banshee repeaters

[@LastRedStar]

Something I always wanted to know; what do Bungie devs (from the Halo days) think when they see Halo 2 Remastered? I know Marty occasionally pops in, but other than that, I don't think I've seen any bungie dev (former or otherwise) ever really shed light on how they feel. Excellent video man! "The hunter's have come to fight by our side!" Is always my favorite line in this mission.

[@XelitexX360]

Congrats on completing the analysis of the trilogy! I for sure love this type of videos so I would definitely love to see it for the ODST campaign (have you done that?!). As usual spot on analysis, playing as the Arbiter was a fresh take in Halo and one that is for sure missed today, it's unfortunate how less involved his character has been in the Halo Series since Halo 3 (which just like you mention, unless playing Co-op he's more of a sidekick/character). Hopefully we can see more of this type of videos, in other Halo games or just other games in general. Cheers!!

[@BenPlaysGames]

Thanks! I've done some ODST stuff (think I'm about halfway through) and will look to finish up the rest of it in the new year. You can find the playlist here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpDIaHWigsyLrtU&ab_channel=BenPlaysGames I've also done videos for every level in Combat Evolved, 3 and Reach, as well as separate retrospectives on Combat Evolved and Reach. That's also all up on the channel if you fancy checking it out.

[@TheKpa11]

That part where you save Johnson and the marines seems like a pretty nice role play moment I think most of us meleed the one brute while camoed so you don’t hear the flavor text between Johnson and the brutes So you can let the dialogue play out, then attack to sort of complete the scene It reminds me of the original modern warfare 2 at that snow base. The enemy counts down for you to surrender and you can wait until he gets to one to detonate the explosives or just do it as soon as he starts counting

[@pchurch692]

Thanks for the consistently great content! Halo 2 was my first Halo experience, and still remember the fighting alongside Hunters, and the Tartarus fight was memorable despite the flaws that slow it down. Cool ending to the campaign, even though the cliffhanger was too much haha. Great video as always, hope you're doing well fam!

[@HYDRAdude]

The friendly AI path finding issues are definitely in the original Xbox version of the game. I still remember it happening the first time I played the level.

[@justinnyugen7015]

The double Needler elite in the beginning is definitely more broken in Mcc though. He rarely follows me after the first Brute room. Sometimes he’s still standing in the crate after saying the hunters have come to our aid

[@PandaJerk007]

I love this video! you strike a good balance of talking about the gameplay/level design and also the story/lore. Like I found it really interesting when you looked at the prophets' choice to replace the Elites with Brutes. The Elites were their loyal longterm partner, but the Elites were too smart and beginning to question things.

[@colbytabor4069]

Funny dialogue from johnson can be heard if you block the door with your banshee where he warns you to move then just fires anyway if you dont move

[@alemachupichu6940]

When Johnson shoot the door with the scarab, you can choose to stay between him and the door, he will warn you and if you don’t move johnson will shoot, killing the arbiter LOL Oh and something else, you can actually deactivate tartarus’ shield by yourself without johnson’s help if you have a beam rifle, the more you know…

[@levi22es]

Keep doing these with the rest of the Halo series. I can’t get enough haha.

[@BenPlaysGames]

My plan is to at least finish all of Bungie's games. I've done a video for every level in CE, 2, 3 and Reach, and will definitely finish ODST as well. I've done a few bits on 4, 5 and Infinite, but not sure what the long term plans are for those at present.

[@yincimaster8530]

@@BenPlaysGames I think covering the MCC is what your ultimate goal should be. However we need future content so covering the newer Halos should definitely be in your future plans

[@Starwarsfan066]

Lately ive been watching your halo breakdown videos and they have been a real treat. New sub here!

[@BenPlaysGames]

Welcome to the channel dude, appreciate the support!

[@Starwarsfan066]

@@BenPlaysGames I've been like watching all of your halo videos. Even watched the "Halo killer" video. As someone who is getting tired of the content I've been seeing, you bring a new take on video games and manage to tell a story we all already know, but bring a new light to it. Thank you for the refreshing content and keep up the good work!

[@Starwarsfan066]

@BenPlaysGames hey I'm not sure if you're going to see any comments so I am commenting here. I think you should feel very proud of yourself. I've been watching your videos and liking em and seeing the man, the myth, the legend Marty O'donnell commenting on not one but TWO of your videos and leaving heartfelt messages. That is something incredibly impressive and you need to keep this up! Show him the Halo community is alive and well and misses him dearly!

[@ratatosk02]

Little nitpick, the vehicle other than the Wraith at the start of the level that you could jump in and drive is a Spectre, not a Phantom. The Phantom is a Covenant dropship that succeeds the Spirit (the dropship in Halo CE). The Spectre is basically the Covenant's version of the Warthog, but can seat 4 individuals as opposed to 3, with 2 passengers instead of 1. If you have 2 guys on the sides with either carbines or beam rifles, it's pretty op.

[@BenPlaysGames]

It's funny, as I noticed I'd written it wrong in the script, went to double check, realised I'd got it wrong and then somehow went back to the script and forgot to make the edit. I've zero short term memory, so honestly not completely surprised it happened haha.

[@Grapelordz]

My friend and I were playing this level last year on legendary. During the fight with Tartarus, I had a carbine and beam rifle and was sniping Tartarus's shields and brutes, my friend was in the banshee shooting at Tartarus. At some point for whatever reason he smashes his hammer on the ground and our player score skyrocketed. I saw all the numbers but my friend apparently got all the kills, about 500 kills that came out of no where. We ended up in the top 24 in the world with player score for that level. Ngl it was quite a moment. Watching the recordings I still have no idea what happened

[@MoebiusChungus]

Another banger of a video. Any future game analysis to look forward to? Mass effect? Dishonored? Deus ex? I’m here for whatever you got Ben.

[@BenPlaysGames]

Thank you! Plenty to come but now sure what as it's always a bit scattergun - I just write whatever takes my fancy on any particular day. Definitely something on Condemned: Criminal Origins coming very soon, as I've nearly finished working on it. I have also covered a few Dishonored missions already too: A Crack In The Slab - kzbin.info/www/bejne/hn-2eHVji7SAetE The Clockwork Mansion - kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnjXkGOQmsuhq9k

[@trollsquad1827]

The last brute encounter before the boss battle can be skipped if you time camo properly and sneak past the first wave before the door closes. Was always my go to for that part.

[@Ben_Jammin94]

I remember the first time I played this and rested on my laurels when I had Hunter allies… to only watch in horror as a berserk brute beat them all to death.

[@BenPlaysGames]

This is a sad indictment of the brutes' ridiculous health pools.

[@fastmadcow]

Small error and I do mean small. You said “pick the wraith or the phantom” the title chapter for the timestamp is also “wraith or phantom”. The second vehicle to choose from is the Spectre. Great video as always man I look forward to more mission and game reviews!

[@BenPlaysGames]

I've been pretty good about avoiding errors in recent months but one always manages to slip through eventually! And thank you too my man, plenty more to come.

[@uriahl2331]

Hooked on your halo videos lately. Quality stuff!

[@BenPlaysGames]

Thanks, appreciate the support!

[@gipadonimus]

You're right about hunters and elites getting stuck in corridors. Playing on Xbox as a kid and constantly trying to get them to follow me, pushing them just to have them run back. I can't forget lol, too much time wasted.

[@castleguard_of_xbox360]

14:08 "I will ask and you will answer"- Job 4?:6/8

[@annasoH323]

I didn't think they'd end the game on an Arbiter mission, so I didn't go into this mission playing it like it was the last one, if that makes sense. So, when the game ended, I was kind of left with a feeling like I had eaten the whole dinner thinking it was the appetizer. Going through this video is helpful, giving me a moment to digest the whole thing and appreciate it for what it is and not for what it isn't.

[@maxgeorge6049]

I love all halo, especially halo 2, love your videos man!

[@BenPlaysGames]

Likewise, and cheers Max!

[@KOSMOS1701A]

I remember beating Halo 2 on the OG Xbox back when it came out, teaming up with Half-jaw (at least for more than 30 seconds only for the "i'll follow when reinforcements arrive" to drop) and then johnson made my 15 year old self cheer, although i never did get the chance to beat the game on legendary because i just wasn't that good a gamer yet, maybe i should take another swing at it.

[@A-SavageRedneck]

Can confirm the ai did stop followrandomly in og halo 2. Theres also a couple parts where gold elite would get stuck in a loop walking up aand down hills in uprising mission.

[@randomhiphop5055]

About the pathfinding with the hunters... naw it was always bad. I never even realized they could follow you the entire way because of how broken it was lol.

[@BenPlaysGames]

I tried so many times to get the bloody things to follow me properly, glad to hear it's broken and that it wasn't just me.

[@yincimaster8530]

@@BenPlaysGames Issue in that particular section seemed to be the loading. Whenever they were in the corridor, you'd have to reload the sections by going back and then they would follow you onto the bridge. However, if they didn't get killed by the Phantom, they'd get stuck on the bridge. Never been able to get them past, sadly.

[@PineappleStickers]

This level on the original Xbox had a glitch where Johnson would NEVER land enough shots for you to damage Tartarus. I played for hours and hours before learning there was no way i could ever beat it, short of the Johnson Duplication glitch. That left a sour taste

[@abrammill9365]

I've had problems with the AI allies stopping in hallways on the original Xbox, so it's not just a MCC thing.

[@vaniellys]

Hot take: Earth is the most boring place in Halo. I get it, you were promised battles on Earth, and you were disappointed. But personnally, I think that ODST's biggest flaw is the lack of variety in envrionnements, and Halo 3's first half boring. One of the reasons Halo 2 is my favorite is because we travel so much, from Earth, to a gas giant refinery, then a ringworld, and finally the mobile capital of an alien empire. Halo 2 was my first Halo, and this space opera feel to it reminded me a lot of Stargate, which I'm a big fan of, and also Star Wars. I love how we travel across the galaxy.

[@shreksnow1918]

Had we gotten the original ending Bungie wanted for Halo 2 where the Ark (later changed to the portal to the Ark in 3) was located in East Africa where modern humans first originated some 100,000 years ago it would’ve been a lot more interesting. Inside the Arbiter would’ve found a Forerunner skeleton that acted as a template for the Ark’s machinery to send out a signal guiding the evolution of indigenous life along a desired route. That would’ve been an AMAZING ending! Too bad Halo 3’s story was objectively awful with all the characters being downgraded, the writing was noticeably worse with Joseph Statin and Jason Jones being out of the picture, and Truth’s original voice actor didn’t want to reprise his role. Plus, 343 wouldn’t have been able to mess up the human Forerunner connection like they did years later (more specifically Frank O’Conner messed it up). Truth’s plan also made perfect sense in the storyboards with him knowing well in advance the Rings would kill everything, and it being his plan to wipe the slate clean and have the Ark create a new species based on his genome, becoming God that way. He had the other Prophets killed to get rid of competition, and caused the Great Schism as a way to keep the Covenant distracted with a civil war so they wouldn’t figure out what he was doing.

[@Kt_Dreamz]

not that this is important or well known and something that can be frustrating, you can knock out Tartarus' shield, although you yourself need a beam rifle which takes up a weapon slot and beam rifles can only be found in a weap cache before the bridge or at the prison break ( i believe) which takes up a slot and causes its own annoyance, great analysis on the ending.

[@BenPlaysGames]

Thanks mate! I actually had no idea you could do that, but makes sense considering it's how Johnson does it.

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

Your most wecome and I agree 100%! But yeah I felt that about the ending even after playing Halo 3 first... It's like slaming into a wall... But I do think since they needed to get the game out then after killing scope creep and the budget. It was handled well and in the context of the master cheif collaction it isn't all that bad if your treat 3/4s ending as the true one of the collevcrtion.

[@Digidragon55]

To be fair Tartarus WASN’T given much hints about what The Great Journey was really about compared towards The Arbiter.

[@BenPlaysGames]

He wasn't but it is pretty much spelled out for him at the end. Pretty stupid to ignore information shared by a piece of talking forerunner technology.

[@Digidragon55]

@@BenPlaysGames Well, no likes to feel that they have been supporting the wrong person for most of there life.

[@Digidragon55]

@@BenPlaysGames Another reason why Tartarus chose blind faith over the facts. Is that he has racial prejudice toward The Elites!

[@richardbarrett4488]

*Spector This egregious crim shall be forgiven only if you tell us how much you love Halo 2

[@TTSRebel]

I know this is entirely unrelated to the video itself but I just wanted to say I really appreciate the little gesture of inclusivity you do with saying “boys, girls, and Spartans” at the end of every video. It’s a very cute and thematically succinct way of saying that Halo is for everyone, which you don’t really see very often.

[@damen9578]

Love your videos. Definitely need more subscribers and views!

[@BenPlaysGames]

One can dream! Cheers for the support dude.

[@yarr_bro]

Tartarus still has such an iconic design for a Brute. Somehow even more menacing than Escharum or Atriox to me

[@BenPlaysGames]

I like Atriox and would be keen to see much more of him, especially after he gave Chief such a whooping at the start of Infinite, but Escharum was a wash. He talked a big game and coughed a lot but never really felt like that big a threat.

[@ugipse]

Chief and Cortana made such a horrible decision. Their options were as follows: 1. Follow Truth and fight the divided Covenant (albeit he ended up doing very little before Arby, Johnson and Keyes arrived). 2. Detonate In Amber Clad and cripple High Charity (I don’t buy that such a small ship would do the damage Cortana claimed). 3. Follow Tartarus and stop him activating Halo. By choosing option 1, Chief ignored the two bigger threats. Yes Cortana said she *could* detonate In Amber Clad, but why did she think that when 343GS thwarted her so easily last time? There was also no benefit to not detonating IAC. It could have crippled High Charity and maybe slowed the Forerunner Dreadnaught. Once the drive core was set to blow, Chief should have pulled back to minimum safe distance, then flown to Delta Halo’s control room if the blast didnt destroy the Ring also. What are anyone else’s thoughts on this? P.s. another good video Ben - but I of course have to call out that you misgendered a Spectre as a Phantom. Feels hurt man.

[@kawhigoatleonard2558]

Damn that barrel roll at 1:19 though

[@BenPlaysGames]

Entirely intentional I can assure you.

[@Fbiguy]

Fun fact! You can cheese the Tartarus boss fight by going to the lowest level of the structure and crouching! Tartarus is unable to kill you when you're crouched on that lowest level, setting you up for an easy win!

[@gipadonimus]

Honestly whatever the next Halo may be, I think they should really tone down the interpersonal relationship aspects of Chief/Cortana, and moreso the Weapon now too if she's the mainstay. You can still have that in it of course, but as the main focus, it's taken a lot of focus away from the entire title, Halo. We've seen plenty of religious delusion with the story too, and they'd really have to beat a dead horse imo to bring that back organically. The Banished are power hungry brute strength admirers, so what's the obvious next step? To me, it's a great chance for them to either succeed or fail in revitalizing the Flood while trying to control it; or/and if power is their main goal, then there are literally giant floating rings capable of killing everything, so have them try to get control of Halo to hold the universe hostage. Raises the stakes dramatically and brings Halo's urgency and relevance back into the game.

[@joshfoustcommunity8928]

Halo 2 was definitely a really good game! Ever since they fixed the mistakes in the anniversary version from the classic version, I really do appreciate the amount of detail in the anniversary version! This is why I prefer anniversary over classic because it improved it in every way!🙂

[@justinnyugen7015]

Eh, a lot of stuff was further broken in the Mcc version though, so I wouldn’t say fixed in every way. Most ways, but not every (melees on sleeping grunts now alert everyone and make Arbiter stealth sections useless, allied path finding is often worse than the original Xbox release and allies tend to get stuck, etc)

[@I_dcd]

​@@justinnyugen7015Another thing is how they drastically lowered the volume of the classic soundtrack in gameplay. Pisses me off they still haven't corrected that

[@I_dcd]

​@@justinnyugen7015I believe it was intentional to in a way force people to use their anniversary sound and graphics. Very disrespectful to Marty and Michael Salvatori

[@meiyo9106]

The pathfinding was a thing in the original. I distinctly remember having to push some of the AI towards where I needed to go just so their pathfinding would fix.

[@klop3re]

The pathing Bugs where there to in the original Version i played the game so much as a kid 😂

[@flyers668]

Your content is top tier

[@BenPlaysGames]

Thanks flyers!

[@TheJohnmurphy516]

fun fact your covenant allies kill all the marines when you get to Johnson despite them being friendly to you

[@raaaaaaaaaam496]

How many more levels do you have left? Also, have you considered more half life 2 analysis? I think Nova Prospekt, Follow Freeman, and Route Canal are all chapters with a lot to talk about.

[@BenPlaysGames]

Halo 2 is done, as is Combat Evolved, 3 and Reach (playlists for all of them are on the channel). ODST I'm roughly halfway through and the 4, 5 and Infinite I've not decided what to do about yet. Am definitely going to do, at minimum, a retrospective on each Half Life game at some point too.

[@syd4952]

You can bring down tarterus's shield yourself, you just never brought in a beam rifle.

[@OneOnOne1162]

I'm in what I guess is a minority who always really liked the ending. I'm a sucker for cliffhangers, tbh. I've always loved them. A lot of my favourite stories have lots of cliffhangers. For me it just makes the next one so much more exciting to start. Don't get me wrong, waiting so long for "Halo 3" was frustrating. But it definitely made the high of finally having it in my hands so much higher. I will admit, I was also disappointed with the lack of many levels on earth. That being said, I do think the game is great as it is and that never really affected my enjoyment of the ending very much. I didn't get the "Halo 2" I expected when I first bought it, but the one I did get was magnificent.

[@vaniellys]

I like this mission. It's nothing amazing, but it's unique enough that it stands out in my mind.

[@BenPlaysGames]

My thoughts exactly. Top of the middle of the pack for me.

[@yincimaster8530]

The only thing that has always bothered my about Halo 2 which was only brought to light after Halo 3 was released was that there's no gameplay of how Chief leaves the ship and crashlands on Earth. I haven't read the books and heard that's where you can find context for it, but it has always bothered me that he just aborts ship.

[@I_dcd]

It was in a graphic novel but I guess Bungie said themselves at the time they have a tradition to jump ahead without explanation to leave it up to the player to imagine what happened

[@iunnor]

If i remember correctly, if you somehow get hold of a beam rifle. You can take down Tartarsauce shield yourself.

[@justinnyugen7015]

Driving the specter into the control room will cause multiple Johnson’s to appear and kill Tartarus on their own if positioned correctly. I highly recommend trying this!

[@sookendestroy1]

Huh you make a good point with Bungie folding to the Arbiter outrage, they did the 343 thing and it showed with Halo 3.

[@BenPlaysGames]

The Arbiter is criminally underused in 3. I get it, though, the backlash in 2004 was pretty spectacular for a time.

[@torb-no]

I've always thought this level was kinda locked down and linear like a lot of Halo2, but because of this video I'm going to approach it with an more open mind the next time! You always make me appreciate or at least think about something I didn't with your videos! AFAIK originally there where supposed to be hunters (and others?) in Halo 3 as allies, but playtesting found players got confused so it got axed. I'd like to see something like that return one day though (if only for a level or two). Don't think I see course correcting as bad! I think a lot of good as come out of course corrections both for 343 but also Bungie (who did it some). IMO Halo 3 is a much better game than 2 because some of the changes they did to the game design and the sandbox, it's a middle way between 2 and CE in many ways. While I disliked H5, returning to even start for multiplayer was good! And with Infinite the corrections brought back classic art direction (arguably best in the series!), far more classic feeling gameplay (be gone ADS!) among other things. I'm hoping they'll course correct by not having an open world, removing upgrades and having equipment in campaign work more like Reach for an Infinite DLC or successor. Thanks for making the video as always!

[@KattalystFr]

Psss. it's a Spectre not a Phantom

[@BenPlaysGames]

Yep, my bad!

[@shaunmurray8132]

Where was the phantom??

[@DerAtorak]

Please keep this content coming #supportfromitaly 🇮🇹

[@Spacey_key]

You know you can bring a beam rifle to the Tartarus fight and kill him without Johnson?

[@BenPlaysGames]

I did not, just found out this morning reading all the comments!

[@klop3re]

You can kill tartarus shild with a snipe in his shoulder plate

[@partrock350]

This makes me wanna play halo 2, I think my least favorite bungie campaign to play thru but I’ll give it another go, great video as always 😎

[@BenPlaysGames]

Thank you Patrick! It's lower on my list too but have enjoyed going through it with a fine tooth comb recently. Having done that plus the recent legendary stream, I've had my fill for a while.

[@ONI_Agent_Bobcat]

Sorry to be that kind of person, but the vehicle is a specter not a phantom (both still are floaty spirits tho)

[@thescarlet9620]

The ally pathfinding was really bad on the 360 version of halo 2 as well, it’s an old issue.

[@archiemcewen2885]

If people already didn't know you can grab a beam rifle earlier in the mission to take down the shields of Tartarus.

[@justinnyugen7015]

You can also drive a specter into the room, which causes multiple Johnsons to appear. If positioned correctly, they can all kill Tartarus on their own!

[@zemil8460]

The pathfinding in the original Xbox release was also awful, I remember punching the hunters from one area to another in order to progress with them

[@I_dcd]

THE START OF THE GREAT JOURNEY

[@moreparrotsmoredereks2275]

15:30 You broke that hunter out of prison just to immediately stick him with a plasma grenade? Bit rude if you ask me

[@jordancourtney9142]

The phantom is such an odd vehicle to me tbh

[@CaptainAhab117]

I'm honestly never understood why the ending got so much hate for being a cliffhanger. We all knew this was supposed to be the second part of a trilogy, right? The ending has to be left somewhat open-ended because it isn't the true finally.

[@I_dcd]

I believe it was because the story was so damn good

[@MaDBoaB2o2o]

Halo 2 is the most flawed Halo title by Bungie. However it's narrative and character writing are by far the best in the series. I just wish Microsoft gave Bungie another year to make this game. It had some great gameplay ideas that never got to see their full fruition.

[@BenPlaysGames]

Completely agree, not my favourite in terms of gameplay, level design etc, but by far and away the best story Bungie produced.

[@skipdonaghue9451]

Ben, you're a stalwart, brother!

[@Wepospalient]

As somone who has played through the campaign countless times on both original xbox and vista, the pathfinding has just always been that bad on some levels, especially this one. I used to spend so much time meleeing and pushing my hunters and elites just to get them to actually pathfind into the next room.

[@ValWasTakenWasTaken]

Problems with Halo 2's ending can be partially explained by the fact that Halo 3 was supposed to be the final act of Halo 2.

[@kolkeet]

Pathfinding was terrible on the original too, im happy to go back and test if youd like

[@BenPlaysGames]

Ah for clarifying man but don't worry about checking - I was just intrigued as I know there are several places across different games in the Master Chief Collection where stuff is a bit wonky compared to the original.

[@thomaskedrick]

Weaponized pelican wish that they did not get rid of it

[@michaelmccaffety3131]

FINALLY!

[@TheKpa11]

I liked the original scarab design in halo 2. I didn’t really like how it looked in halo 3

[@kristijan8518]

Cortana is so hot in halo 2 anniversary 🥵

[@raceburke685]

Did no one ever bring a beam rifle to the boss fight?😂 it takes his shield down😂