Will Cortana come back in Halo 5?

 Will Cortana come back in Halo 5?

Or as it should properly be called;

 Should Cortana come back in Halo 5 and why?

Which one of us is the machine?

 For all the hate Halo 4 got it was a damn fine game. People didn't like it because it wasn't the glory that is its predecessor: Halo 3. Its like how people say Portal 2 was never as good as the original Portal, you can't improve on perfection but you can still try your best, and Halo 4 performed well. 

It offered us a deeper insight into the relationship between Chief and Cortana, and don't try to deny there is one, and threw in a few questions to ask ourselves as the player. So my question is this; Should Cortana return in Halo 5's storyline, and why? Putting all sobbing and heartbroken feelings aside, I'm going to have to say no. We as fans desperately want Chief and his half-naked blue hologram sort-of-girlfriend to share a touching reunion, and the prospect of a storyline depicting Chief's frantic struggle to bring back his only true friend would be widely accepted into the arms of the community, but it would leave Halo 4 entirely redundant. What would be the purpose of Chief discovering his humanity at the loss of his friend be if his friend just popped right back all like "Hi looks like I am the machine now lets bang because its the future". No. We don't want that. 

Cortana's loss inspired players to ask question (after a few hours of crying and rocking back and forth) the morality and humanity of Master Chief. Viewing our once-silent and badass protagonist become totally devastated at her loss brings us closer to him, he becomes more human. Despite all his skills and training, he can't always save the day. 

Any story arc about reviving Cortana or booting up another version of her would devalue the things we learnt from seeing Chief's moment of weakness, we don't want him to just become a faceless killing machine again. Her death also acts as a plot device, preventing the future timeline of the games becoming repetitive. Destroying a safe and dependable part of the story throws the player in the dark, its like starting all over again. People have speculated that since Chief is carrying Cortana's AI chip in the Halo 5 trailer, he must be trying to save her. I'd say no, Chief wouldn't want a copy or a different version of his friend, he'd want the real deal. I for one would get pretty angry if they had some big Forerunner machine that could bring AI back, it'd seem cheap and I've already talked about how it makes Halo 4 redundant. You have to draw the line between what you want from a fanboy perspective, and what would make a good game and progress the story. The Reclaimer trilogy is meant to be about Chief discovering his humanity; that he is not a machine. 

So in conclusion, I want Cortana back. I really really do, she gave Chief a motive to look at himself and question his placement and role. But I also don't think it will benefit the game or future games, I'll be incredibly surprised if Chief does anything to reclaim her. What do you think? "Screw this, I want to stare at some blue butt while she scans things", or something like that? Leave me a comment saying why you think Cortana should or should not return for Halo 5.

Why does Master Chief's armour change drastically from Halo 3 to Halo 4?

Why does Master Chief's armor change drastically from Halo 3 to Halo 4? 

I’m going to start off by saying that Master Chief’s armour change is not 100% because of a change in Bungie’s art directive. Sure we’ve seen some desaturation of the Mjölnir Spartan armour as Halo progresses and advances graphically, but I’m focusing on the obvious huge change between Halo 3 and Halo 4. Chief was in Cryo-sleep for his whole 4 years, seven months and 10 days “holiday break” to escape the events of Halo 3, so he could’ve hardly just got up for a bit to change. Anyway why would another full Spartan suit casually be on the Forward Unto Dawn? Chief is the last Spartan, so it’s clear the armour he’s wearing is the same as in Halo 3. So why does it look different, and is there a cannon reason?

Halo novel ‘Glasslands’ gives us the first clue. In the book (which is Bungie confirmed and cannon) that the Mjölnir mark 7 power armour had Nano-machines capable of repairing and altering the suit. However Chief sports the Mark 6 in Halo 3, so that’s not the straight up answer. It is related though, so keep that in mind. On the other hand, Frank O’ Conner; the franchise development director for 343 Studios directly stated that the Chief’s armour had been repaired by Nano-bots. This proves that Halo 4’s armour is exactly the same as in Halo 4, just an upgraded design. So how did that happen if his suit doesn’t have the self-repair bots built in?

Halo.Bungie’s archives contain a useful source for this theory. In a news bulletin for September 5^th, community manager Jessica Angelshay stated that the chief’s armour (in Halo 4) was “Very fancy, very custom, very unique Cortana special armour”. This leads us to believe that Cortana had some play in the changes to the Mjölnir mark 6, after all she did just kinda sit there and kill time for like 4 years. Having direct control to the Cryo-pod that that Chief was housed in, she could’ve made changes to the suit to prep him for future battles when she wakes him. But that still doesn’t explain everything, since there aren’t Nano-bots just floating about on the Forward Unto Dawn, where did the Nano-machines come from?

Every Halo player has driven a Warthog at some point, probably flipping it off a cliff or succumbing to the terrible steering AI. Did you know that they get their fuel from using Nano-machines to convert water sources into Hydrogen fuel? And where are the Warthogs stored? That’s right, on the big ol’ spaceship that Chief was sleeping on. We know they’re on board somewhere as Chief finds some later to drive, and an AI who has full control over the ship could easily re-purpose them to fix the armour. I think it’s fairly safe to say at this point that Chiefs new look is a nice little gift from Cortana herself. Well she had to have some hobby in all that time.  

So why did the large gash on the right hand side of the breastplate remain? Well we never see a full shot of Chief’s armour until he’s crashed on Requiem, the co-op mode doesn’t count as it is not canon. It could be argued that the gash occurred as a result of Chief’s fall, though that it’s on the exact same side as the mark in Halo 3 is a little suspicious… But the final end-game is a fact from the essential visual guide to Halo. A small note literally states that the Chief’s armour was upgraded by Cortana, the design based on an old iteration of the mark 4. Another good point towards this is the one of the first lines chief says as he’s leaving the pod; “You’ve been busy”, which could be seen as an off-hand compliment to Cortana’s work. In conclusion, I would say all facts point towards the armour from Halo 4 being an upgraded version of set seen in Halo 3, and not a whole new model.

Sources:
Halo Bulletin - 09.05.2012
http://halo.bungie.org/halobulletins/65

The Science Behind Halo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjswo...

I got Thorn! - Destiny exotic review and guide.

As a seasoned guardian, I've only owned two good hand cannons. "The last word", and "The Devil You Don't". I'd never really choose one straight up, when selecting gear I'd normally choose either a scout rifle or a pulse rife as my primary. That was until I got Thorn. 

Some will argue that a low fire rate can impede your ability to breeze through strikes, but after getting into the playstyle handcannons can be extremely fluid and a pleasure to use. The high impact makes them devastating in PVP, and Thorn's special perk obliterates shields in PVE. It is an all round amazing weapon, aesthetically and in practice, I'll walk through the bounty guide and then discuss the weapons perks and why its great.

You'll need to randomly win an exotic bounty, namely "A Light in the Dark". These can be rewarded at complete random from the bounty collector, you'll just have to get lucky. However, turning in multiple bounties at once seems to make them crop up more, but I've got no evidence to concrete that.

Complete the summoning pits strike on the moon. Any difficulty, breeze through on the lowest original level to get this step out the way. You don't even need to get a huge amount of kills or land the final blow on Phogoth or whatever, just completed the strike and you'll be directed to the next step of the bounty. That's the easy part done.

Back to the moon! For the next step you must mow down 500 Hive. Red health bar enemies give you 2 points, yellow ultras and majors give you 20. Defeating Phogoth again gives you 50 points, so I'd suggest running the summoning pits strike a couple of times on a harder difficulty. If the weekly nightfall is on the moon that week go for that, there'll be tonnes of ultras to take down.

Time to equip your shotgun, You have to head to the crucible for the next step. This part of the bounty requires you to earn 500 void kill points. That's not just normal any old kills, that's specifically void damage. This'll be easier if you're an voidwalker warlock or striker titan, but hunters will find this step considerably harder as they have no void abilities in either subclass. 

Each kill gives you 5 points, but you'll loose 2 points per death. I found this to be the hardest part of the bounty, as I suck at Crucible, aside Iron Banner. I was lucky enough to have a void damage shotgun, "The Comedian", and with various voidwalker abilities I managed to get this done in an evening.

Time for a quick stop to the tower to buy an Infusion of Light. This is super simple, buy it for 1 mote of light from The Speaker. He'll then direct you to take down Xyor the Unwed.

- Level 26

- Epic modifier

- No matchmaking 

Time to make your decent into the Hellmouth for the final time to take down Xyor. All enemies have super tough shields, and if you linger in the blasts from any Wizard you're going down in a matter of seconds. I found this stage really hard the first time, don't be fooled by it being only a level 26 strike. You're going to want somethings good at blasting down shields, like a fire-damage fusion rifle or shotgun. You'll want a member of your fireteam to hang back and keep the shields down while you reload, this can take a while. Keep going slow and you'll make it to the final boss fight. Do not kill Phogoth! Keep him alive till the third dropship spawns, you're going to have to just keep killing the enemies till then. Xyor herself is pretty easy to take down once she spawns, after that you don't even have to complete the strike.

Return to the Speaker to collect your hard earned reward, and man was that hard earned. I've done all the exotic bounties now and this was by far the hardest but it's so worth it.

So was all that worth it? I'd say yes, Thorn is a much sought-after prize, it's a real badge of your worth as a guardian.

It handles beautifully, it's very fluid and fun to use even if you don't really prefer hand cannons like me. I'm yet to unlock it's signature perk of lingering damage, but I'll probably get that done tonight. Even without said perk though this beauty far surpasses some other exotics which I originally held with high regard. Personally I would say it's better than The Last Word exotic hand cannon, it performs above the bar in both PVE and PVP. If you come across this bounty I'd say go for it no matte what other bounties there are, you will not regret owning this testament to hard work and aesthetic quality. 

Bootiful.

First impressions of Twilight Princess!

Here's the second installment of my Windwaker VS Twilight Princess articles, so you should know that I'm going to make a lot of comparisons here to WW since I played that first. I was initially more excited by Windwaker, but I have to say that I've been pleasantly surprised by Twilight Princess. The beginning of the game has a much more homely feel than WW; you have to do lots of jobs for the Ordon villagers that really builds up the sense of a little community. The woodland setting is beautiful, and all the characters are charming and memorable. I particularly like the chieftain/mayor guy, he has rad mustache game. There's a really funny scene where him and Link being scolded for pushing the horse (whom I have aptly named Fukboy) too far, and they share a really comic glance at each other.

Speaking of characters, my favorite scene has been the opening, where Link and Rusl are sitting by the pond and chatting about the Twilight hour. Theres no music, but the scene is incredibly powerful in its simplicity and sincerity. Rusl also acts as a form of mentor for Link, giving him a wooden sword and tasking him with delivering a package to Hyrule so he can see the world outside of Ordon village. It's a homely and warm set up for the game, which only makes the dark comparisons later even more shocking. 

Before I talk about the darker side of the story, I want to address visuals and controls. My main peeve with WW was the terrible camera setup, but here TP vastly surpasses it. Now this is majoritively because of the advancement in technology between the Gamecube and the Wii, but still TP gets the points this round. Links controls very easily, I was apprehensive about the motion control sword-play, but there are ways to attack without swinging the Wii remote around. I particularly like the slingshot, its great fun to actively aim at targets, or just Z-target and smack B to launch a barrage of pellets at your target.

I was stuck with the fishing rod for a while, and I doubt I'll ever use that again for the rest of the game, but all the other items are useful and easy to use. I find the horse kind of hard to ride when turning corners, but that just be me screwing up. I suppose thats karma for calling the horse Fukboy.

 If I was hanging off a cliff and so was Midna and my girlfriend could only save one of us... she'd probably jump to Midna's rescue. Everyone loves a bad guy (or girl-imp-twilight-thing) and Midna fits the part, even though I got super freaked out when the Wii remote laughed like her for the first time. She ushers in the darker side of the game, taking Link across the beautifully bleak remains of Hyrule castle. Oh plus Link is a wolf now. So that happened. I like dashing in the wolf form, its pretty satisfying, but I really miss the green hero's garb. Windwaker instantly satisfied my desire to don the tunic in around the first 10-odd mins, but I'm having to work a little harder here to gain the right to wear it. Half of me is like "Ugh this is boring I just want my cool green hat" and the other half is all like "No but its building up a sense of achievement, it'll be so much cooler when you finally get it!". You're either going to love it or hate it, it's not as fast paced as WW but it really makes you work for that sense of adventure.

So in conclusion I liked what I played of Twilight Princess. I thought I would like Windwaker more by miles, and I kinda do a little, but both games are very individual. They're both beautiful in their own way, complex in their own way and have their own individual quirks. 

I have got as far as the first spirit, Ordona, and plan to play a bit more tonight. I'll keep posting updates on both games, right now I can't determine a favorite because they're so different, and good for different reasons. So what your favorite? Leave me a comment and a +1 if you liked my first impression.

More game related things coming soon, I've been a bit weighed down by Zelda recently but I'll start posting other game theories and reviews. I played the original Sims the other day so who knows what articles the future of this blog holds...

(spoiler I killed my Sim in the first 5 mins it wasn't fun.) 

First impressions of The Windwaker!

Anyone following my blog knows I've been super excited to play Windwaker for some time now, I've always favored Toon Link's style more and this game looks gorgeous.

I wrote a blog post describing my expectations for the game, in contrast to Twilight Princess which should arrive today or tomorrow, and I'm glad to say it met all of them. Time to talk about the good, the bad and the... well there isn't anything ugly. This game looks fantastic, the cell-shaded art and islands are all bright and scream out with character. 

I've been playing it on my GameCube for a couple of days now, and I've just defeated Gohma and left Dragon Roost Island to find the next pearl. This game may get better or worse (though i can hardly see the latter happening) but this is my impression and so far I love it. Let's talk about why.

1. It's so happy! The game has a lovely bright feel to it, you really feel like you're going on a big adventure, even smashing the enemies with your sword is energetic and fun. All the NPCs are unique and quirky, and you can't help smile at that soundtrack.

2. The story is really captivating, I love games with deep lore and this alternate flooded Hyrule is really intriguing. I've heard lots of complaints about having to sail too much, but I've just started and what little of it I've done was really enjoyable.

I love the way Link's courage is inspired by his quest to find his sister, its so touching and sweet that you can't help root for the little green guy.

3. The enemies and combat are fun and rewarding, the grapple-hook is great fun to use in combat as you can steal treasure and rupees from bad guys mid-combat! Even little things like putting your sword and shield on your back is satisfying.

That list could go on, but those are my top three favorite things so far. My one peeve with the game is the controls system, the left stick which is used for camera control is inverted. I've tried looking in the menu for invert options, but I can't see any. This can be pretty annoying for someone who's used to FPS and Xbox controls, but I'm slowly adapting. This made the boss fight with Gohma particularly hard, but it was still great fun and I loved it to bits.

I'll probably put up more posts as I progress in the game, so keep your telescope handy for more Windwaker articles on the horizon.

Oh, also Twilight Princess gets here soon as I mentioned so look out or that too. It could be fun to compare the games, who knows?

So whats your impression of Windwaker? Love it or hate it? Comment below, especially if you know how to un-invert the look controls!

The Windwaker VS Twilight Princess.

Ok, this isn't a review of such, this covers my expectations for both the games.

I've ordered Windwaker for the Gamecube and Twilight Princess for the Wii, and I'd like to address my expectations for both the games. Again, this is coming from someone who has a limited experience of Zelda, but overall off the bat I like the look of Toon Link better. However my girlfriend is the biggest Twilight Princess fan ever, so I guess I'll do both games justice and talk about what I'm looking forward to, and what I'm iffy about.

Twilight Princess.

I mentioned that I prefer Toon link, after putting most of my hours into Phantom Hourglass, however I love the look of a darker Hyrule. The scenery and atmosphere looks pretty spooki, and what I've seen of the Twilight realm looks kinda messed up. It follows that great tradition of Zelda games by doing the whole "Look guys we made a kids game here's a creature that'll haunt your nightmares". Take the moon in Majora's Mask, the Cubus Sisters in Phantom Hourglass, or... Agatha the bug princess in Hyrule Warriors. They're all wrong and misplaced, Twilight princess looks like the darkest of the lot though. I'm looking forward to the Wii remote combat and feel of the game, I do have one worry though. I'm not too keen on how Link looks, I like his clothes but there's something very off-putting about the way his face is done, like his mouth is always slightly open. I can't really complain though, I mean look at Toon Link's face. Those eyebrows probably weigh him down at least 50Kg. It's all a matter of preference I guess, I'm sure I'll forget about it once I get into the game. I tend to get sucked into the lore of deep games, hence all my Destiny posts. Jeez I'm glad I didn't have this blog while I was play Halo or Skyrim, this'd be jam packed with theory updates. It's because of these games that I've got a feeling I'm going to get sucked into this game and make tonnes of references that nobody will get but that doesn't matter because I'll still feel cool. 

The Windwaker

Honestly the moment I get onto the Great Ocean and that gorgeous music starts playing I will have reached a new state of nirvana. The visuals, the soundtrack, the scene of adventure! Man I am stoked for Windwaker. I loved playing the ocarina in Majora's Mask, so I'm excited to learn all the new songs for this new instrument. I also loved the sailing in PH, so it'll be interesting to see how the boat mechanics work in Windwaker. The only thing I feel like is missing from this game is the token creepy creature/thing that's a stamp of every Zelda. I may be wrong, but I haven't seen any spooki scary skeletons in any trailers or gameplay (write to me in the comments if there is and I'll search it up). 

I feel like the more lax open-worldiness of Windwaker is something I'd enjoy more than a more linear game like TP. I live by the sea (I can literally see it from my window) so the prospect of jumping in a boat and sailing off for adventures feels more like a more achievable adventure than turning into a dog and travelling with a ginger imp to another world. Mind you, what’s wrong with a bit of fantasy? I know I also mentioned that I look forward to using the Wii's motion controls to swing my sword about, but I really like the feel of the Gamecube remote, I hope Z targeting is as effective as it was in Majora's Mask. 

In conclusion, I'm excited for both games! I'll probably write separate reviews for them both once I've completed them (yes, they're being seen through to the end), then maybe I'll choose a favorite. However, that may be a harder job than it seems. My favourite game series is Halo, for the incredible universe and diverse lore, and I could never pick the top game from that series. At the end of the day I think I'll enjoy them both, the hype has already earned them a space on my revered games shelf.

Both are coming around mid-week, so expect first impression reviews sometime after that.

Do you have anything interesting to tell me about the games? Leave a comment and say which your favorite is. 

Raid with me, Guardians.

Do you need raid partners, or just casual fireteam members?

Destiny is all about having fun and taking on challenges with fellow guardians! Do you need a clan or fireteam to help with high level strikes and raids? Look no further, Below are the contact details for a friendly clan for players who just want to play some good games.
Chat to us for raids, feel free to send me a request or invite if you need any help with anything.

Clan-
The house of Phun

https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Detail/451852

Level 31 Sunsinger Warlock - 
Mr Tomcats / Tomsunny666

https://www.bungie.net/en/Profile/254/7785888

Metro - Last Light (Balanced argument)

Metro Last Light

Portrayal of characters.

Spoilers! Even though this game game out in 2013 there are still people who have not played this jewel of a game. Go play it before reading this review!
Or you could just read the review now to determine weather you'll like the game... But yeah anyway spoilers. Starting now.

In the year 2034, Russia has been nuked or something to destroy an alien race or something and this guy called Artyom runs around in the sewers where humanity has retreated or something. Actually as someone who did not play the first game in this series (Metro 2033, which I've heard is awful), all I do know is that the remains of the Russian population have retreated to the sewers to escape either the nukes or the aliens. They also all conveniently speak English, just with a Russian accent. However you don't really need to know anything about the previous game, as everything and everyone is neatly set out for you. for example beardy man approaches you and describes exactly the connection he shares with the protagonist. 

"Oh hey, it me ... remember when we ... at that time when ... yeah that was cool."

Yeah that formula can be pretty much every character introduction. That aside, the NPC's are actually very believable, aside the bad guys who are literally Nazis and basically proclaim "we are evil" right at the beginning. However, I felt genuine connection to certain characters, such as the old fisherman who saved me from big mutated fish-woodlice, which played out a very enjoyable chase scene in which you shoot the mutants from the back of the boat as you escape. He was likable and had great voice acting/ dialogue. 

On the other hand the female sidekick was a nuisance. They overplayed the whole "You're a rookie" trope way too much, leaving you actively despising her as a partner. Oh and to make it worse, they snuck in a totally out of character sex scene with her which just felt wrong.

And then there's Pavel.

You meet Pavel after being captured on a surface expedition by the Nazi patrol guys. He is a communist and you a capitalist, which in the game are mortal enemies, but you build up a friendship with him through a process of saving each other, which feels genuine, The closest I can describe it is Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite, you really want to help this guy. He becomes a real friend, something which is very hard to accurately fashion in video games.
Now it gets interesting after he betrays you. The genuine hurt you feel as your wise-cracking comrade drugs you and hands you over to the enemy is really deep. The game has build up this harsh cold world where its every man for himself, and your one friend in it gives you a brutal reminder of that. Later on the game gives you the choice to kill Pavel. Now, after his betrayal I was pretty angry at him, and vowed that if I had the chance I'd get revenge. However a lot happened since that event, and when it came to the time I was honestly unsure whether it really is best served cold.
Metro is a gorgeous game, fueled by a beautiful bleak environment and unforgettable characters. It's a real gem, I'd suggest picking it up if you can, and starting your own adventure into the metro... 

Should you play Hyrule Warriors?

Should you play Hyrule Warriors? 

Attention! This review comes from someone who has not played a great deal of Zelda games, I'm literally just analyzing it as a game.

Hyrule Warriors, for what it is, is an all round damn fine game, bursting with character and addictive gameplay. It's a spin-off mash-up hybrid thing combining the wonderful world of Zelda with the huge-scale battlefield of Dynasty Warriors. Its not an actual cannon Zelda game, but eve if it was it'd stand out for being the only one where Link receives any form of military training. The plot is simple enough, an evil witch named Cia is being manipulated by Ganondorf to steal all the pieces of the Triforce. Cia is motivated party by power, and partly because she has a colossal crush on Link. Seriously, when you get to later levels you find her castle and its full of statues and paintings of Link. Ugh I don't even want to know what she does to those. On a side note there are some pretty cool easter eggs in there, for example you can find a statue of wolf Link from Twilight Princess. There's not of nice little details and funny moments, and the overall look of the game is beautiful. The WiiU really excels past competitor consoles when it comes to graphics, and Hyrule Warriors is no exception.

Plus did I mention you can play as Tingle? 10/10! 

The gameplay, visuals and soundtrack are what make this game a pleasure to play. You can pick your warrior from a huge range of characters from Zelda lore (spanning multiple games), which is satisfying to see old favorites. I'm just a little annoyed there wasn't any from the Windwaker-style Toon Link timeline, how come you can play as the goddamn postmaster but not Linebeck or maybe the Phantoms? I suppose the art style wouldn't have suited the game's own style, but hey it worked for Super Smash Bros! 

Aside that, the gameplay is super easy to learn and very satisfying to do. It's a bit of a button-masher, but don't let this fool you. The mechanics of capturing enemy keeps so your troops spawn there is pretty easy to get a hold on, but in the later levels taking your eyes off the mini map is fatal. Each level consists of you wiping out huge armies of tiny enemies, with occasional unique bosses and mini-bosses. Its ridiculous addictive, only looking at the timer do you realize just how many hours you've been sucked in for.

The soundtrack is a thing of beauty, I happily listen to it out of game, with many re-visitations of old nostalgic tracks. I especially like the new Skyloft theme, slaughtering thousands of tiny monsters doesn't feel so bad when you're rocking out to some fast paced tunes.

So, should you play Hyrule warriors? I would say yes! It's a quirky, fun and addictive little morsel to chew on until the must awaited release of the upcoming open-world Zelda game for the WiiU. So if you think that being a total boss and mowing down armies and saving Hyrule is all cool? Then you should be playing this game.

Plus get the Tingle DLC. Tingle is a lad. 

Destiny - The House of Wolves Information and thoughts.

The house of Wolves

Well it's time to ditch your hard earned raid gear again guardians, The House of Wolves drops in 2 months, bringing a shockingly high light level of 39!

So basically you can stop doing anything on the game, save up vanguard marks and just become top level on the first day. Nice one Destiny, way to make all our hard work redundant again. What we really need is a reforge system for old armor to boost it's level, but that's a different subject. 

The House of Wolves drops sometime during May, bringing with it a grand total of 3 new missions, 1 new strike, 1 new raid and 4 PVP maps. That's not very impressive, considering how long it's taking to make, and half the content is already in the game. The real focus for The House of Wolves is the weapons and armor, of which we're getting a boat load. However it is the armor itself  that's disgruntling guardians, as all the gear they earned now becomes ineffective.

On the other hand, I for one am excited by the look of the new gear and guns, we're getting way more exotics and more colorful armor, but it will be a shame to see my prize guns like the Saterienne Rapier become deficient. What do you think guardians? Ignoring all financial issues, does The House of Wolves look good? Discuss in the comments, I'll leave you with some leaked screenshots of Warlock gear.  

For more information see the article below:

http://www.vg247.com/2015/02/03/destiny-house-of-wolves-level-may-release/

Analysis of The Fallen.

"We have butchers at our gates - four-armed and eager for slaughter."

But what are The Fallen?

The Grimoire description of The Fallen is that they are ruthless scavengers. Brutal and uncaring, they arrived on their massive Ketches in the wake of the Collapse to loot and pillage our devastated worlds. There are hints of ancient nobility to the Fallen - the scars of lost grandeur. The Kells of their scattered Houses still claim to be royalty. But they leave only grief and wreckage in their wake. 
Little is know of their true motives, as they seem to fight the other various minions of the darkness and the guardians alike, which makes me wonder why? My theory is that either the Fallen used to be humans, or were in some way allied with the Light a long time ago.

It is obvious that the Fallen have an extreme sense of pride and patriarchy, with a strict caste system from all the way at the bottom with Dregs, to right at the top with the Kells and Aksor, the Archon Priest himself. This religious imaginary of their leaders makes me want to think they're a noble and distinguished race, so why are they so often described as scavengers and terrorists? Lets start by analyzing the individual names of their ranks.

Shank - Often known as a makeshift knife, or a small blade associated with either prison or criminals

Dreg - A word coming from Victorian times, a dreg is the scum you'd find at the bottom of a barrel. 

Vandel - Someone who has no respect for anything, and shows this by destroying anything they see fit.

Captain - A commander of some form of vessel, they have the final word and command their crew.

Barron - A lord of a grand estate.

(Archon) Priest - A noble man of extensive reverence, few stand above their might.

On a quick side note, I'm leaving the Servitors and Primes out for now, but they will be discussed later. So after that, you can see the progression of rank slowly move up, but they all have one defining feature; Corruption. A shank could've been a fine blade, but now it's broken and used by criminals. Dregs are only left in a barrel after the liquid or produce inside has soiled, and all the worst bits get pushed to the bottom. A Vandel usually has some reason to be violent, maybe they used to be an ordinary person till they overly disagreed with a specific policy? Captains can be associated with piracy,which is a fall from grace itself. Archon is a Greek word for Lord or Ruler, so the Archon Priest could be seen a a holy man abusing his power. In conclusion, they were all once something great that has now been soured and turned bad.

So that gives us some insight to the motives of the different sub-sects, we can see from their beliefs and titles that they have truly "Fallen". But what have they fallen from? They seem to have no home-world, choosing to ride around in their Ketch ships, so why did this once noble-race succumb to what they are today?

I'd like to point out that I don't think any of the other races could be related to humans. The Hive are humanoid, but as a physical representation of the darkness they have been designed by it's will to fright and deter guardians. They have no dreams of a goal, only death and consumption. The Cabal are a known-about race that destroy planets, seemingly humans have encountered them in the golden age, so they could not be related. The Vex are too mechanical. They could be an ancient human creation, however there would be tell-tale signs and documentation.  

Earlier I mentioned corruption, which links into my theory about the Fallen's decent, and how they once could've been human. We've seen how former guardian Eris Morn was corrupted and warped physically by being close to a great source of darkness, so much so that she even has three glowing hive eyes, streaming with black tears. Not a nice sight, sorry Eris. But that was only a short exposure, what would've happened if she was trapped deep down in the dark below for longer? Would she have fully become fully converted, her features becoming totally like the Hives? 

We know the darkness started outside our solar system, so my theory is that we are not it's first victim. If a human colony (lets call them Terra 2) had settled outside out solar system during the golden age, surely they would've been on the front line when the darkness attacked. At this time the humans on Earth would've just assumed that all outer colonies had been lost, and Eris has still a guardian so they no evidence of physical corruption. The people of Terra 2 would've been proud and courageous colonists, so it'd be stupid to think they wouldn't have put up a fight as the darkness swept in around them. Just like Eris, they would've been converted by the mere presence of the darkness around Terra 2, however they would've been too proud to run. This lasting corruption over generations could have warped them to their present form, this would explain their advanced tech and very human systems of progression. 

Finally succumbing to the darkness, they fled to the only planet they could call home aside their own; Earth. This is a pretty logical conclusion, they could have gone anywhere in any solar system that was free of the darkness, yet they chose to return home, however they brought vengeance with them. Jealous of the guardians and their powers, they fight to reclaim earth and bathe in the Traveler's light in hope that the corruption can be reversed somehow. 

This may be a little fat fetched for some people, but there are clear links between the Fallen and the guardians. The most common is the wolf imagery, which is defining aspect of the humans on Earth. They all travel in packs, and hunt their targets quick and clean strikes. They travel by ship and set up outposts, even their land transports, the Pikes, look a whole lot similar to the guardian's Sparrow bikes. Even the captains physically resemble wolves, sporting lot ear-like horns. They fight the Hive and Vex like guardians, they're the perfect example of nobility driven desperate by corruption. When killed, the Fallen give off bursts of white mist, which could be seen as the Light leaving their trapped forms. This is know as Ether, which is a strain of the atoms found in Oxygen. And what do humans breathe? Another point to that theory.  

Even if they weren't once humans, I find it hard to believe that they were not allied with humans at one point. 

Going with the original theory that they used to be human gives us a perfect explanation for the Servitors. They're balls of floating technology, allowing the Fallen to utilize star flight and communications. So they're spherical... Provide means for the race's advancement... and are often focus for worship and religious exercises? Does that sound a lot like the Traveler itself to you? The fallen constructed the Servitors to honor their lost god, If the humans lost their traveler wouldn't they idolize it in their fight for reclamation?  The Fallen are fighting party out of jealousy, why shouldn't they take back what is rightfully theirs? The darkness has corrupted their minds too, making them go through the last of humanity just to satisfy their pride. Their gear and clothing bears the look of a fallen nobility; once bright Armour and colorful capes now shredded and dirty. They've been forced to become scavengers, which only fuels their hatred and desperation the reclaim Earth. 

Equally though, they seem fascinated by the darkness. They're no longer scared of it, since they are almost part of it due to their corrupted dis-figuration, but they respect and adore it's power. Driven mad by their longing to become human again and be free, they revere the darkness in their own cautious way. They have essentially been driven mad with anger and wonder at the same time.This is best summed up in one of the only translated quotes from a Fallen lord, which I think is a fitting piece to end this theory.

"What others call dark which is not I know what it is but no time room calm given for an appropriate telling so I say only that what is not shadow is an ally and a wonder and I respect what I cannot steal from and you cannot take from the dark you can claim only pain from the dark and that is why the dark is worthy of love beyond all other love that astonishing ability to evade being robbed

I love what I will not name"

What do you think of this theory? any thoughts and comments would be appreciated.