unforum

[scibtag]

And if there's a company that doesn't care about its customers, its Microsoft.

Ignore my cynicism. I'm hoping this will turn out to be more interesting with actual puzzles like last time as this goes on, the slow start is just a bit annoying.

[Acesnipe]

This idea came to me when I was looking at Halo artwork on Ign, but what if the Ark (or object on Earth) doesn't wipe out ALL life. I watched the original E3 trailer over again, and MC appears like he's casually walking towards the cliff overlooking the Ark. Also, I noted that all of the Covenant ships were heading towards it in the beginning, but as soon as it was "activated", all of the ships moved away from it. On top of all of that, there was a Covenant ship that was landed on the Ark itself and began to take off when the Ark was activated. Just tiny details that I noticed looking back.

[Phyltre]

[Elydo]

Actually, the covenant ships seem to be 'blown' back by a pressure wave from the ark opening. You can see the wave race outwards after the arms start rising, and when it hits the cliff the MC is standing upon. The covenant cruiser nearest the MC clearly gets blown sideways.

EDIT: Another thought here, but in The Ghosts Of Onyx the existence of at least one Shield World was revealed, and the book has been confirmed as canon by Bungie if I'm not mistaken, so the Ark on Earth wouldn't seem to be a refuge for the Forerunners during the firing of the Halo rings. The Shield Worlds were supposed to fulfill that purpose, though it remains to be seen if they succeeded or not. Evidence so far would appear to suggest not, though if escaping from the Shield Worlds' lobster trap is impossible even for the forerunners, it isn't impossible. The line in the transmission log

"{D-com} There is no peace left. No place where the parasite cannot reach. You were right about it all. Let us hope the final measure is not too late."

Would suggest that the idea the Shield Worlds were inviolate against the flood was mistaken. Then again, The Shield Worlds were designed around the firing of the Halo array, which that line would suggest was the option they were trying not to use. Confusing.

Regardless, the Ark, by it's very name, would suggest some sort of depository rather than sanctuary. However, why would such a depository be needed? The Halo array's purpose wasn't to eliminate all life from the galaxy, only such life as had evolved to a point the Flood could use it as a host. Lesser forms of life would have been unaffected. I could be mistaken but wasn't there even an implication that the Flood could only infest sentient life? It would mean that the rings were only designed to eliminate sentients, leaving a much greater pool of surviving life.

[Phyltre]

[Cloaked Hunter]

The DNS A record for unlock.msgamestudios.com (one of the sites used to "unlock" Server 05) points to 206.16.223.64, FYI. I'm sure most players could care less...

[rush]

[rush]

Another interesting Noah's Ark allusion: Iris is the personification a rainbow, a messenger between the gods and humans. Perhaps that means that this ARG is a link between the Forerunners and us.

[Joshy]

I thought that the rainbow was a promise from god to never flood the earth again.

Just wondering where you got what you were saying, obviously there are differences between sources or even sects.

[rush]

In Greek mythology Iris is the personification of a rainbow and a link between man and the Greek gods. In the Bible, the rainbow is a covenant between man and God. They both say essentially the same thing.

[ssx3master]

Hmmm...

[rush]

Re: Hmmm...

[Joshy]

Re: Hmmm...

[ssx3master]

Re: Hmmm...

[rush]

Allow my annoying light bulb to answer that question:

343 Guilty Spark: "Why naturally the Flood is simply too dangerous to release, and mass sterilization protocols may again need to be enacted. Of course, samples were kept here after the last catastrophic outbreak... for study. It seems... that decision may have been an error."