We have an ongoing Halo thread, but it's all about whether the game is trash or gold.
On a less confrontational note, did anyone explore the full depth of the terminals present in Halo 3? I've been reading up on them, and the sheer depth of the story is simply amazing. It's no wonder that so many people have complained the Halo story is confusing -- there's layers upon layers of detail here.
I would note, in particular, Bungie's knack for dropping hints -- they allude to grand secrets and conspiracies in a really tantalizing way, and they leave a few Big Questions open to speculation. There's just enough evidence present to assure you that they know what's really going on, but not enough to give it away.
I really admire the storytelling method used in the Halo games. There's a surface narrative (kill the aliens!) which appeals to simplistic preteens, and beneath that there's layers of depth -- the whole epic of Forerunner and Precursor -- for anyone who cares to look.
Additionally, the Flood -- the ubervillains of the series -- even get to tell their own side of things, and by the time I'd finished reading some of the Gravemind's arguments, I was almost sympathizing with them. Very compelling storytelling.
Check this out for a good summary of the story told in the Halo 3 terminals:
http://blog.ascendantjustice.com/halo-3/the-terminals/Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else who followed the Halo story had any speculation, questions, or comments? There are a few unanswered questions left at the end of Halo 3 (the Precursors? the role of humanity? Where did the surviving Forerunner go?) and this community certainly does have a knack for theorizing.
I wish that the kind of hints and substory that are strewn about the Halo games were present in Freespace 2. It might give us more of an edge in figuring out some of the questions regarding the Shivans and their ultimate purpose. This isn't meant as criticism of FS2 or Halo, but I do think it'd be interesting to contrast the two storytelling styles.