[Turnsky]

Originally posted by Jetmech Jr.

Spoiler:

As for the 'embodiement of Past sins," the Gravemind said that. Also, apart from Guilty Spark, Penitent Tangent also said that the Halo's were fired once, something along the lines of 'This station has a successful fire ratio of 100,000,000 (or something) simulated, and 1 actual..."

[/B]

that and..

Spoiler:

343 told pretty much everybody that the forerunners had to activate the halo devices themselves... so... yeah

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Jetmech Jr.

Spoiler:

As for the 'embodiement of Past sins," the Gravemind said that. Also, apart from Guilty Spark, Penitent Tangent also said that the Halo's were fired once, something along the lines of 'This station has a successful fire ratio of 100,000,000 (or something) simulated, and 1 actual..."

[/B]

Spoiler:

So is there an actual date set for the firing?

[Turnsky]

Spoiler:

another thing, guilty spark mentioned that the effective range is 3 radii of the galactic center.... so, basically, we're screwed.. mind you, what is the ark, precisely?.. a main control room?... or a means of preserving the life that the halos could so potentially destroy? i mean, if the forerunners /knew/ the potential devastation that their weapon of last resort could wreak, then it stands to reason that they could've also made a "failsafe" for when that had to occur...

[aldo_14]

whoops

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Turnsky

Spoiler:

another thing, guilty spark mentioned that the effective range is 3 radii of the galactic center.... so, basically, we're screwed.. mind you, what is the ark, precisely?.. a main control room?... or a means of preserving the life that the halos could so potentially destroy? i mean, if the forerunners /knew/ the potential devastation that their weapon of last resort could wreak, then it stands to reason that they could've also made a "failsafe" for when that had to occur...

[/B]

Spoiler:

Why not neither?

Bungie seems to be using a lot of biblical mythology... the 'Ark of the Covenant' was what held the 10 commandments - i.e. how to avoid mortal sin.  

If the flood / gravemind are the mebodiment of 'mortal sin', then maybe the Ark is the cure to them... the Covenant believe it's simply to fire the Halos, but what if it's something else entirely?  After all, the Forerunners kept the Flood around on Halo to find a permanent solution to them - maybe the ark is or will become (i.e. could be an AI studying the flood over time) that solution, and something seperate from the Halos.  When the Ark finds the solution to the Flood, maybe it then closes the Halos, as they are now no longer required.  And if it fails, or an outbreak occurs, it waxes the galaxy.

Worth noting that the Forerunners both wanted and needed complete and utter devastation - the threat posed by a 'critical mass' flood must have been immense, as they signed their own death warrant to stop it / them.

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by aldo_14

Spoiler:

Why not neither?

Bungie seems to be using a lot of biblical mythology... the 'Ark of the Covenant' was what held the 10 commandments - i.e. how to avoid mortal sin.  

If the flood / gravemind are the mebodiment of 'mortal sin', then maybe the Ark is the cure to them... the Covenant believe it's simply to fire the Halos, but what if it's something else entirely?  After all, the Forerunners kept the Flood around on Halo to find a permanent solution to them - maybe the ark is or will become (i.e. could be an AI studying the flood over time) that solution, and something seperate from the Halos.  When the Ark finds the solution to the Flood, maybe it then closes the Halos, as they are now no longer required.  And if it fails, or an outbreak occurs, it waxes the galaxy.

Worth noting that the Forerunners both wanted and needed complete and utter devastation - the threat posed by a 'critical mass' flood must have been immense, as they signed their own death warrant to stop it / them.

[/B]

Spoiler:

you have a good point.. what about that forerunner ship in high charity?... cortana noted it had an "unusually formidable AI, especially for a covenant construct".... i'm guessing that that particular constuct was of forerunner design..

but yeah, i agree, the halos are weapons of last resort.. so, the implication that the forerunners were studying alternatives to "cleaning the slate" are fairly obvious, so, there's three theories of the ark's purpose (one of which is a small fact) a control center for firing all 7 halos.. a shelter of life, possibly the forerunners.. or a research center for wiping out the flood once and for all.

and what about the ark's location?... the earth?.. well, that's a bit of a no-brainer, since this planet is on the edge of this galaxy, and capable of supporting life.. the curious thing is, of all the planets on the outer edge.. why earth?...

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Turnsky

Spoiler:

you have a good point.. what about that forerunner ship in high charity?... cortana noted it had an "unusually formidable AI, especially for a covenant construct".... i'm guessing that that particular constuct was of forerunner design..

but yeah, i agree, the halos are weapons of last resort.. so, the implication that the forerunners were studying alternatives to "cleaning the slate" are fairly obvious, so, there's three theories of the ark's purpose (one of which is a small fact) a control center for firing all 7 halos.. a shelter of life, possibly the forerunners.. or a research center for wiping out the flood once and for all.

and what about the ark's location?... the earth?.. well, that's a bit of a no-brainer, since this planet is on the edge of this galaxy, and capable of supporting life.. the curious thing is, of all the planets on the outer edge.. why earth?...

[/B]

Spoiler:

I don't know about High Charity - I don't have the game or an X-box, so I'm going by spoilers (I like the story more than the actual game, at least based on HaloPc.... anyways).

It's not impossible a Forerunner AI could have went rampant and assisted the Covenenant, is it?  Possibly said AI wants to contain the current flood outbreaks and is manipulating the Covenant in order to do so.  

Or it could simply be part of a pan-galactic power play between rival groups of forerunner AIs - one set in charge of the Halos and reluctant to surrender their power*, the other in charge of the Ark and seeking to neutralise the need for having the Halos.

*I reckon the Halos would have to be destroyed once a flood cure was found, for obvious safety reasons.  Possibly why a human reclaimer is required... maybe the Forerunners either decided - or derived through observation - that humans were best suited to make the ultimate decision.  Or the easiest to manipulate into it....

[Setekh]

Originally posted by aldo_14

Spoiler:

maybe the Ark is the cure to them... the Covenant believe it's simply to fire the Halos, but what if it's something else entirely?

[/B]

Bigger spoilers than usual in this one, so be careful when you read it:

Spoiler:

At the very end of Halo 2 - the second last cutscene, in fact, after you fight the last battle - Keyes stops Tartarus (the big bad Brute) from activating Halo 05 by moving away the Index during the activation sequence. Guilty Spark then tells Sarge, Keyes and Arbiter that since the firing sequence was interrupted, all the other rings have now been put on standby, ready to be activated remotely. They ask where someone would want to go if they wanted to set off this remote activation to detonate all the rings, and Guilty Spark answers: "Why, the Ark, of course." The camera cuts to the Forerunner ship arriving in orbit around Earth, with the Master Chief and the Prophet of Truth on board. Cue credits. So yeah, at least one of the purposes of the Ark is to allow remote detonation of the rings.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Setekh


Bigger spoilers than usual in this one, so be careful when you read it:

Spoiler:

At the very end of Halo 2 - the second last cutscene, in fact, after you fight the last battle - Keyes stops Tartarus (the big bad Brute) from activating Halo 05 by moving away the Index during the activation sequence. Guilty Spark then tells Sarge, Keyes and Arbiter that since the firing sequence was interrupted, all the other rings have now been put on standby, ready to be activated remotely. They ask where someone would want to go if they wanted to set off this remote activation to detonate all the rings, and Guilty Spark answers: "Why, the Ark, of course." The camera cuts to the Forerunner ship arriving in orbit around Earth, with the Master Chief and the Prophet of Truth on board. Cue credits. So yeah, at least one of the purposes of the Ark is to allow remote detonation of the rings.

[/B]

Spoiler:

Assuming Guilty Spark is telling the truth and not manipulating the situation, though

I thought Keyes was dead and floodified?

[Setekh]

Spoiler:

Yeah, it's always a possibility. "I am a genius! Hahahaha... What he says lines up with 2401 Penitent Tangent, though (he's the monitor of Halo 05).

This is Keyes' daughter, Miranda.

[Gloriano]

Originally posted by aldo_14

Spoiler:

Assuming Guilty Spark is telling the truth and not manipulating the situation, though

I thought Keyes was dead and floodified?

[/B]

Spoiler:

it's keys Daughter who has also own ship

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Setekh

Spoiler:

Yeah, it's always a possibility. "I am a genius! Hahahaha... What he says lines up with 2401 Penitent Tangent, though (he's the monitor of Halo 05).

This is Keyes' daughter, Miranda.

[/B]

Spoiler:

Whose to say all the Monitors aren't nuts, or working together?  It's probably unlike, but you have to admit - it'd be a good way to twist the story and surprise people.  After all, how many games out-and-out lie to the player?

Ahh...rightyo.

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by aldo_14

Spoiler:

Whose to say all the Monitors aren't nuts, or working together?  It's probably unlike, but you have to admit - it'd be a good way to twist the story and surprise people.  After all, how many games out-and-out lie to the player?

Ahh...rightyo.

[/B]

Spoiler:

well, the monitors are basically AI constructs, so it's quite possible that they could go rampant.. altho, being a "monitor" their main purpose and design is just that to "monitor" the flood, and to enable containment protocols if necessary, which would be the activation of the halo's weapon.   i don't think 343 is rampant, tho, a little kooky, perhaps, but not entirely crazy..   he does like being asked questions tho, lending to the covenant referring them as "oracles".

i reckon, too that the reason that the prophet of regret did /not/ know that there'd be a human presence on earth, is because, they knew the location of the ark.... but didn't know it was on our homeworld, nor did they know that earth /is/ our homeworld.
so therefore, the small fleet that showed up at earth was more or less an expeditionary force..

maybe we'll find out all the truths about Halo, the forerunners, and everything in the next installment, they just about made that a certainty

just on a side note, it's rather funny to see what appears to be entire posts of just blank space.

[SKYNET-011]

Spoiler:

Has anyone tried connecting this forerunner mystery to the Marathon storyline?

[Taristin]

Spoiler:

In the very end, after the credits, Cortana and the gravemind are together. I was under the assumption that the 'unusually strong AI construct" was actually the gravemind. For, if he could 'listen through rock and ground' could he not also listen through circuit too?

I'd like to know what the dialogue between Cortana and the GM is. What is it that the GM wants to know from Cortana...?

[IceFire]

So I'm thinking that Christmas will come and I will have a Crystal X-Box, plus Halo 2, and a second controller.

I'm new to X-Box...anything special I should know?  I know X-Box Live comes free for 2 months but I'm not really interested in that at all.  Uhh thats about it...

[aldo_14]

Spoiler:

Cortana has been in Halos construct (pissing of GS no end) in the first game.  No doubt that would be of interest to Gravemind

[Taristin]

Aldo:  I didn't think about that...


Ice:  Nothing special to know... But be wary of that 2 month free trial. They want you to give them your credit card information in order to start it, and as soon as the two months is up, they automatically sign you up for more live service, unless you cancel your subscription...

I don't like that. So I go to www.xbconnect.com and use their wonderful free program and plug my XBox into my second ethernet card on my PC, and play live that way.

[Thorn]

You can also just plug it into a router instead of an second card.

[Taristin]

Yeaqh, but the router is all the way on the other side of the house., and the PC, Xbox and Tv are in my room anyway.Which reminds me... I feel like playing more...

I hear there's a skull somewhere, and a way to unlock a level? WTF?