• @yearningforfreedom
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    1 year ago

    Halo? I mean all of Humanity is on the backfoot in a war against a more technologically advanced genocidal Covenant who want to erase humanity for being related to the species they worship. They go from a population of like 50 billion to 200 million

    • @ComradeSalad
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      1 year ago

      If you read the actual Halo lore outside the games, the Human government prior to the war, for hundreds of years mind you, has been a fascist junta police state that basically exists only to serve the army and navy. During the original Human civil war led by the People’s Front (Communists based on Reach), all communists were exterminated, and the Spartan project, superhuman and mentally broken child soldiers, were designed to hunt down and eradicate any leftist resistance movement that still exists. You even start Halo: Reach on a mission to go hunt down some rebels, as a bunch of communications relays get blown and thats blamed on the communists, as it wasn’t known that the Covenant had already infiltrated Reach.

      Hell, during the war the UNSC essentially coups the few vestiges of “democratic” control, and then refuses to give up their control after the war, even after they “return” control back to the civilian government.

      • @TheAnonymouseJoker
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        1 year ago

        So that means that Oni might just be the most based game, if any of you heard about its plot and pre-Microsoft Bungie history. It was based on Ghost In The Shell, made in 2000 by Bungie West and Take-Two/Rockstar, and laid the foundation for Halo and Destiny. Halo came about 10 months after Oni, and its my duty as an Oni stan to tell everyone about this masterpiece that once was set to wipe out Tomb Raider.

        Oni is basically set before Halo, atleast as far as Bungie fandom can link. Oni’s World Coalition Government seems to be the fascist junta police state you seem to talk about.

        The game’s plot is set in 2032, with toxic polluted inhabitable Earth, governed by a WCG which is totalitarian and protects 80% of leftover habitable land (which is small), while protecting the rest toxic world in the name of wilderness preserves using TCTF police, which is used to oppress any WCG (politicians, policies) critics. Syndicate is TCTF’s enemy that wishes to control humanity by preventing air cleaning plants to function. Konoko is partially cyborged and works under TCTF, and her past is hidden by scientists which she discovers later on. She decides to defeat both TCTF and Syndicate alone, going rogue, to discover the truth behind her past (her father and mother discovered WCG and prohibited toxic area secrets). Konoko manages to save some of humanity from the toxic gas, which is interesting seeing how Halo plot proceeds later.

        It is interesting to see how Bungie, originally an independent studio, had a casual company culture, got bought by Microsoft, and then Halo plot became so anti leftist. Microsoft fully assimilated Bungie when the takeover happened immediately after Oni, and Oni itself was affected because its production was hurried and some features like multiplayer and few bosses, cut from released game.

        • @culpritus
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          31 year ago

          I loved Oni. One of the better TPS games - but had no idea about a possible connection to Halo universe. That’s really interesting.

    • @Shrike502
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      111 year ago

      Halo has elements at least, imo. Protagonist single handedly driving history, the atrocious things the Earth government does (including the creation of Spartans) are basically justified by the alien invasion, various junk like melee weapons being useful in a space age because “muh warrior monk culture”, etc

      • @PolandIsAStateOfMind
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        91 year ago

        I’m not even into Halo universe, but afaik it oozes fascism so much they need irrational space religious fundamentalists (aren’t they basically proxy for islamophobia?) as opponent.

        • @Shrike502
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          101 year ago

          Aye, pretty much. Complete with totally-not-Humvees, the usual trope of “future space military is just like present day USMC”, everyone being Anglo, etc

          • @PolandIsAStateOfMind
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            81 year ago

            And naming the supersoldier project “Spartan”, with obvious neonazi vibes, i half expected patches with “Molon labe” on them.

            • @Shrike502
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              101 year ago

              Well from what little I know about Halo, prior to the aliens the Earth government mostly waged war against its own people. Suppressing uprisings against shitty conditions and the oppression.

              In this context the name makes perfect sense.

              • @PolandIsAStateOfMind
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                31 year ago

                Even during the war. IIRC Halo: Reach starts when player is participating in smashing of outreach uprising, and during it they find planet being attacked by Covenant (which is known enemy by then).

                • @ComradeSalad
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                  1 year ago

                  “Oh shit, those aren’t communist rebels we can curbstomp easily, that’s a fucking Sangheeli Field Marshal”

        • @yearningforfreedom
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          1 year ago

          What’s the connection between the Covenant and islamophobic views of Islamic states other than they’re religious?

          • @PolandIsAStateOfMind
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            1 year ago

            That’s enough, we are talking about Usians here.

            Halo 1 released on november 2001, and while 9/11 likely did not had enough time to impact on game development, “islamic terrorism” had been the premier media bad guy in the 90’s after state propaganda ordered easing up on Russia after USSR destruction and China after its opening and seeming liberalisation.

            Plenty of people did connected it back then to the spinning up “war on terror”, even if it was unintended, and obvious glorification of US Armed Forces in the game didn’t helped.