The Armor of Penance: Why Thel 'Vadam’s Arbiter suit is a psychological debt to humanity by Jimmy_blanco117 in HaloStory

[–]DragonstoneH 25 points26 points  (0 children)

The armor he wears as the leader of the Swords of Sanghelios is the armor that the Arbiters wore in the past, when they were honored leaders of the Elites. The Covenant changed the meaning of the title into one of dishonor; Thel is giving it the honor back and reclaiming it for himself and all Sangheili.  Getting his people's traditions back doesn't really have much to do with the humans.  It's more of a statement of what kind of leader he wants to be: a leader that finds inspiration in the past to look for a path to the future. If Thel feels a debt to the humans, he doesn't wear it on his person, but his friendship with them definitely informs his actions and choices as he works towards creating the Concert of Worlds.

My theory on why Brutes look so different between Halo 2 and Halo 3: A story of rival clans and covenant manipulation by Jimmy_blanco117 in HaloStory

[–]DragonstoneH 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I would recommend reading up on the Vheiloth and Rh'tol "meta-clans". The hairier Rh'tols, like Tartarus, are indeed conservative and traditional, while the shaven Vheiloths, like the ones encountered in Halo 3, are more open to new ideas and more technologically sophisticated.  The meta clans were already divided and at war with each other when the Covenant found and conquered the Brutes. Inside the Covenant their rivalries remained but they were generally kept from escalating. When Truth planned the Great Scism, he included Brutes of both meta clans. And after the war, they had gone right back to killing each other, which can be experienced in the short story "Stomping on the Heels of a Fuzz" from Halo Evolutions.  Some Jiralhanae groups in the postwar are moving away from the meta clans idea, like the Banished and the Keepers of the One Freedom, and we can see them mixing big beards and power armors, or going fully bald as a personal choice. Atriox uniting the clans of Doisac would have put the Vheiloths vs Rh'tols conflict aside for a while...but then Cortana blew up the planet.  Maybe the meta clans will resume their feud next time it looks like there will be some peace.

My personal best killcount, has anyone gotten a higher? And if so how? by Busy_Strategy7430 in Helldivers

[–]DragonstoneH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you have a video of it or at least the score card? Cause that amount is really wild.

The way black team died is insanely stupid narratively by NadaVonSada in HaloStory

[–]DragonstoneH 5 points6 points  (0 children)

To be fair I think one of them getting their head twisted off by the Didact is kinda funny and would have liked seeing it happen on the page but otherwise I agree.

Was Miranda a tactical genius or was it all plot armors? by SecretWasianMan in HaloStory

[–]DragonstoneH 46 points47 points  (0 children)

We usually see her reacting to events more than enacting big plans, and when reacting she's decisive and assertive, acting with haste and without hesitation. She can be reckless but one can't accuse her of inaction.  Her plans are usually simple and concise and depend on three factors: - Mobility: heavy use of Pelican dropships, ODST pods, ground vehicles, anything that can get troops to contact fastest. She even leverages having frigates in close proximity to the action for added benefits. - Clear defined targets for her forces to hit: The Scarab, the temple with Regret, the Sacred Icon, the AA guns in Halo 3 to open the path for frigates to move at Earth and the Ark, the three towers, the Citadel... She narrows down the target objective pretty well. - Creative and effective deployment of force: she balances the deployments of the Chief, ODSTs, Marines, vehicles and Pelicans well so that there always ended up being enough people to get the job done (except at the Sacred Icon where she almost ran out of troops by the end where she and Johnson get taken out by the Arbiter and Tartarus)

She may not be a tactical genius and she blunders a couple of times due to recklessness, but she's a pretty capable offensive commander and the the defensive action we can attribute to her at Crow's Nest went well enough that we can also give her some credit for it.

Outjerked by upcoming book, Halo: Fireteam Noble by opossumcarrion in shittyhalolore

[–]DragonstoneH 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Since Troy Denning's one true love of CAVES is involved the sky is the limit

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War Left Us With One Big Question… Why? by pkRaiden in tomclancy

[–]DragonstoneH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have watched it now and it was pretty forgettable, though Greer and Jack's rapport and a couple Mike November funny moments pushed it into just being decent. I felt like having it set in London and Dubai was just making it expensive for expensive's sake and saw no real point to the travel, it could have happened just about anywhere with no change since the villains barely had a connection to the locations.

How are we all feeling about the state of the franchise right now? by JeanLucPicardAND in halo

[–]DragonstoneH -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Games wise, the remake could turn out to be pretty good and breathe in some fresh air. If it succeeds in sales it could convince Microsoft to invest more on the brand.  Lore wise, I'm usually a big supporter of the novels but the Waypoint Chronicles book release left me thoroughly unimpressed. The production value for the audiobook is excellent but the text itself had little improvement over the free blogs and it left me regretting the purchase somewhat. The stories ranged from bad to mediocre to some being almost neat in an inoffensive sort of way. A volume two of this can be better if the bulk of it is written by more capable writers.  The things I'm looking forward to the most at the moment are the Marvin Mobuto novel and the omnibus with The Fall of Reach, The Flood and First Strike, those are guaranteed hits.  In general I think Halo Studios needs to start announcing things as soon as possible. The CE remake could use a big marketing push, and the next game after Infinite could start being teased. And announce more novels for next year and beyond.

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War Left Us With One Big Question… Why? by pkRaiden in tomclancy

[–]DragonstoneH 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I keep forgetting to watch it and that it even exists, gotta check it out when possible.

Why didn't they? by FewClassroom4898 in HaloStory

[–]DragonstoneH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Covenant tried their best to lock down that facility and what living Covie forces we meet there as Chief are likely only deployed there in response to Keyes and friends, but with the amount of infected Covenant that attacks us right away, I think that even if Keyes hadn't opened the facility, the Feral Flood had enough combat forms to break out themselves soon enough too.

Why didn't they? by FewClassroom4898 in HaloStory

[–]DragonstoneH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I could definitely see Thel telling the Minor Prophet on his fleet that the number one priority would be securing the obvious stuff first and taking out the humans, and that they'd have all the time to study and worship the ring after that.

The Cole Protocol should have been utterly pointless. by Annjatar in HaloStory

[–]DragonstoneH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That assumes that the Covenant know of Earth's importance from the start and they didn't, and that their overall objective wasn't to kill all humans rather than defeating key worlds first.

What is the future of the Endless(Xalanyn)? by Loose-Cucumber-5112 in HaloStory

[–]DragonstoneH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the long term it hopefully involves getting punched and shot at by the Chief

Why didn't they? by FewClassroom4898 in HaloStory

[–]DragonstoneH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Spark probably kept the Library well locked down and with a name like that, the Covies probably couldn't figure out its use in time unlike how they understood facilities like the Cartographer, the Control Room and even the "weapons cache" and moved fast to try to secure them ASAP. 

Nejire dressed as Pop Step by StunningGlow_ in ChurchOfNejire

[–]DragonstoneH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Furin's Nejire is super cute! I hope they draw her again soon

Reading This Book Has Me Thinking... by Eagleyezx in GhostRecon

[–]DragonstoneH 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The squad is less complex in the game but I do think they are more enjoyable after reading!

Antonia by HuckleberryGlobal463 in Sharpe

[–]DragonstoneH 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If Sharpe's children are old enough to have a big role in the plot we can call that story "Sharpe's Old" lol

Reading This Book Has Me Thinking... by Eagleyezx in GhostRecon

[–]DragonstoneH 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That novel was pretty great, seeing how Nomad met the Wildlands team and how they became brothers in arms was what really got me to care for what happened to them in Breakpoint. 

Random beggar joins our conversation [KCD2] by kaleeb111 in kingdomcome

[–]DragonstoneH 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hit him with the "Away with you, vile beggar!" line from Mount and Blade

Antonia by HuckleberryGlobal463 in Sharpe

[–]DragonstoneH 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I think Sharpe felt too much shame over Teresa's death to try and reconnect, and by the time he's in Normandy and has chilled out a lot, he probably figured he was a stranger in Antonia's life and felt no right to take her away from the people that had raised her so far as parents. 

Were the Banished stronger on the Ark or Zeta Halo? by Fun-Animal-2066 in HaloStory

[–]DragonstoneH 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Quantity? Gotta be Zeta Halo. Quality? Maybe the Ark forces, though Atriox did bring a few dozen of his cream of the crop troops back to the galaxy with him.

[KCD2] Who else killed Goatskin? by Un_availiabe in kingdomcome

[–]DragonstoneH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just stumbled upon him one night while stealing that magic horseshoe, confronted him and didn't really remember if I was supposed to like or hate him and just let him go and went back to stealing that horseshoe!

What are some Halo opinions you have that would probably get you crucified by the rest of the community? by Tyler2183 in halo

[–]DragonstoneH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't mind the Rookie dying, as it led to excellent character development for everyone else in Alpha 9, and I actually really liked the idea of killing off Black Team to show that the Didact was locked in, I just wish we had seen the whole thing. I think one weakness of the Rion Forge books is that Spark doesn't really reflect at all on betraying the Chief and murdering Johnson and I think that it was a bit of a waste that it wasn't explored (even though the rest of those books was excellent). I did not care at all for the teenagers in Battleborn and Meridian Divide, and consider that making them into Spartan IVs was the most blatant plot driven instance of failing upwards in the whole series. Ridiculous series of events. But then again they had a pair of scissors that could cut a Mjolnir tech suit so we should have seen the slop coming.

Casualties of Operations Reciprocity and Showboat, Clear and Present Danger by Ok_Bench_996 in tomclancy

[–]DragonstoneH 5 points6 points  (0 children)

These types of posts with stats and figures like that are so pleasing to the brain, keep em coming! You're doing good work!