Re: Halo General

by **DigDog** Wed Nov 14, 2012 4:20 am

Fact is there is no viable reason to portray Cortana that way and make ''her'' a more lifelike female in every new game. Unless you consider catering to your male focus groups of teenagers a viable reason, that is.

by **Erik** Wed Nov 14, 2012 4:45 am

While it is possible that it is just for the fans, the character seems to have been based off of a real woman in the story, so it only makes sense to make her more human-like. Her boobs aren't unrealistically large, and are entirely covered in Halo 4 compared to them being almost not covered in Halo 3. After Halo 3, Cortana had been fleshed out completely so they couldn't just change her body, so when they wanted to make her more relatable in Halo 4 they simply covered up the older model and tweaked her hair/face to make her seem like a woman and not simply a tool to be used by Master Chief.

The first book was published before the first game was released, so there's no room to complain about them taking story line information from an outside source. You can read a wiki rather than an entire book if you don't want to pay for it, because a proper summary is available on almost anything that is big enough to have an empire of games/books/movies.

by Leb Wed Nov 14, 2012 4:57 am

All this time I thought Halo really did start with HUMANS IN SPESS ALSO AT WAR WITH ALIENS SAVE THEM NOW OH HERE'S THIS MYSTERIOUS SPESS ARTIFACT LET'S GO THERE TOO SINCE THE ALIUMS ARE THERE. I don't think any books, comics, novels or whatever about NEW HOT GAMES even ship out here to Finland. I didn't even know there were any Gears of War novels until the third one showed up and then there was Jace.

It sort of makes more sense now that there was a book on before all that jazz, so does this mean that that Halo game which is about all the Spartans that end up dead by the end is what that book is about or...?

Also I don't think Cortana ever came across as "a tool to be used", what with her being an actual artificial intelligence. Then again, it's been a long time so maybe I've just glossed over all the misogyny that you seem to be implying here.

by **DigDog** Wed Nov 14, 2012 5:01 am

Let's go with "the character seems to have been based off of a real woman in the story, so it only makes sense to make her more human-like" for a minute here.

Why are they not giving her a few clothes? Would that make her less human-like? Not enough human-like? Would it end up in a fashion war?

by **Erik** Wed Nov 14, 2012 5:16 am

I was under the impression that she was wearing some sort of jump suit on in Halo 4, compared to being almost butt-naked in Halo 3. Maybe I'm not looking at her correctly and those two strips are not part of a suit, but rather the only things covering her at all.

Leb, I mean that the player didn't really care about Cortana in the first game and just thought of her as something to handle all of the technological aspects of Master Chief's missions. She was like a calculator, something to use when your lack of knowledge or time require it. She wasn't important to the character, just an asset. Cortana was developed to be more like a partner to Master Chief so that the player would actually care if something were to happen to her and want to help her, rather than finding a replacement.

Notice how in Halo 3 she looks like a sex icon, and in Halo 4 she looks more like a regular woman. You should be arguing about her hair changing every game, because why does an AI need haircuts?

by Leb Wed Nov 14, 2012 5:23 am

Okay first, I'm not sure what to say to your "sex symbol" thing because if anything, H4 Cortana IS a sex symbol. JUST.. LOOK AT HER! THEY PAID THAT MUCH ATTENTION TO MAKING SURE HER BREASTS ARE JUST THE RIGHT SHAPE. Dare I tell you to go compare her to some other perfect woman and their breasts?

Anyway.

Uhhh, I guess your point about Cortana in the first Halo would be accurate, as long as the player was one just playing the game as a pew-pew shooter and didn't really care about stuff like what's being said and all that? At least I recall there being enough interaction between Cortana and Captain King to make it look like some sort of Good Cop, Bad Cop duo, except more like Crazed War Vet & Stuck On The Ride. Or was that just the 2nd game? I really can't remember, it's been years since I last played the first game.

Also because this amused me and it's sort of related:

Dig Dog says:
"The AI's pick the form that they want to be in."
Oh come ON
That's just a ridiculous answer

Leborog the Forgetful says:
...so since through the 3 games it becomes obvious that Cortana is more than interested in Captain King
Her way of making it obvious is to... be naked?
God damn this really is misogyny, huh
Is it?

Dig Dog says
It would go well with the ''boobs get bigger'' scenario though

by **DigDog** Wed Nov 14, 2012 5:27 am

A jump suit with a hole for her navel?

Also compared to Halo 1 she looks like a sex icon in Halo 4 too.

Serina in Halo Wars was wearing clothes. I don't see a valid reason for Cortana to run around naked, other than to sell more games and marketing purposes.

Her appearance would even be counter productive during battle. Imagine a well-sculpted, barely naked lady pops up on your HUD or whatever while you're fighting alien scum. A second or two of distraction is enough for you to meet your maker.

by **Erik** Wed Nov 14, 2012 5:51 am

Halo 4:

Here's a picture where you can actually distinguish clothing versus skin. While yes there is skin exposure, it definitely has better coverage than the Halo 3 Cortana.
Halo 3:
Halo General - Page 2 Cortana_h3

I don't believe Spartans like Master Chief have troubles with sexual desires according to the plot of the game, even having anti-social tendencies. It may be fanservice, but I remember the commercials of the new enemy screaming at Master Chief, not anything about Cortana, so it's not the main marketing point. At least there are no cutscenes where you can have sex with a character in a way like some modern games. I guess one sex symbol is excessive in a game though.

by Leb Wed Nov 14, 2012 6:00 am

I'm pretty sure that those line-things that cover the nipple-area of her breasts aren't actually clothes, buuut... This whole debate is getting stupid. Let's just settle this whole thing with "Ieb is a loser".

by **Erik** Wed Nov 14, 2012 6:06 am

^I'm fine with that.

by Leb Wed Nov 14, 2012 8:05 pm

Just kidding Erik confirmed for horny teenager with guilt-based defense mechanisms.

by **Tim Hortans** Thu Nov 15, 2012 5:44 am

Leb wrote:Okay first, I'm not sure what to say to your "sex symbol" thing because if anything, H4 Cortana IS a sex symbol. JUST.. LOOK AT HER! THEY PAID THAT MUCH ATTENTION TO MAKING SURE HER BREASTS ARE JUST THE RIGHT SHAPE. Dare I tell you to go compare her to some other perfect woman and their breasts?

Anyway.

Uhhh, I guess your point about Cortana in the first Halo would be accurate, as long as the player was one just playing the game as a pew-pew shooter and didn't really care about stuff like what's being said and all that? At least I recall there being enough interaction between Cortana and Captain King to make it look like some sort of Good Cop, Bad Cop duo, except more like Crazed War Vet & Stuck On The Ride. Or was that just the 2nd game? I really can't remember, it's been years since I last played the first game.

Also because this amused me and it's sort of related:

Dig Dog says:
"The AI's pick the form that they want to be in."
Oh come ON
That's just a ridiculous answer

Leborog the Forgetful says:
...so since through the 3 games it becomes obvious that Cortana is more than interested in Captain King
Her way of making it obvious is to... be naked?
God damn this really is misogyny, huh
Is it?

Dig Dog says
It would go well with the ''boobs get bigger'' scenario though

are you honestly mad because they made a female have more realistic breasts?

by Leb Thu Nov 15, 2012 5:50 am

Mad, no. Do I question the fact that a female AI avatar is always portrayed naked, when there's at least one AI in the same game setting that has clothes? Oh yes.

by **Tom Gaskarth** Thu Nov 15, 2012 5:56 am

Look Leb, all that's implied is that over 8 years Cortana has developed a crush on The Chief which he is oblivious to due to being socially inept. Much like the Halo fanbase.

Plus like I said before,

Spoiler:

Is the use of the sexy female form blantant fanservice?

Hell yes!

Is it justified within the Halo Lore?

Yes.

by **DigDog** Thu Nov 15, 2012 6:18 am

If this is true then it is the worst and probably most unimaginative visualisation of mental degradation I've seen in a while.

But at least you're acknowledging that it's blatant fanservice, unlike Erik who tries to defend it for whatever reasons.

by **Erik** Thu Nov 15, 2012 6:36 am

I admitted it was fan-service.

by **DigDog** Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:30 am

Where?

by **Erik** Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:35 am

Erik wrote:Halo 4:

It may be fanservice, but I remember the commercials of the new enemy screaming at Master Chief, not anything about Cortana, so it's not the main marketing point. At least there are no cutscenes where you can have sex with a character in a way like some modern games. I guess one sex symbol is excessive in a game though.

I read your responses, why don't you read mine? :(

by **DigDog** Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:44 am

That's not admitting it's fanservice. That's just saying that it's a possibility that it is fanservice, and then you continue to elaborate how it is probably not.

Wanna see an example of admitting something?

Is the use of the sexy female form blantant fanservice?

Hell yes!

That's how you admit something.

by **Erik** Thu Nov 15, 2012 10:45 am

I was agreeing with you, but seeing as I don't know everything about the game I am leaving the possibility of Cortana not being fan service available due to my personal lack of information about the series.

I then went on to say she is a sex symbol, which I thought you would interpret as me agreeing that she is most likely fan service.