Halo 2
When longtime composer for Bungie, Marty O’Donnell, was let go a few years back, he didn’t waste any time spilling some tea about his former employers. Namely, he told IGN what the original plans for Halo 2’s ending were. It wasn’t originally supposed to have its famous cliffhanger ending. The ending that both infuriated and hyped up the fan base for the final game in the original trilogy, Halo 3.
Originally, instead of leaving it as a cliffhanger where Master Chief vows to finish the fight, it sounds like you were actually originally supposed to finish that fight right then and there in the ending. Here’s what O’Donnell told IGN:
“[T]he ending was you and the Dervish chasing the Prophet of Truth through the Ark and having a grand and glorious conclusion on Earth, finishing the fight right there,” he said, mentioning they had recorded the full ending with the actors prior to re-writes.
O’Donnell explains the disappointment shared by himself and the rest of the team at Bungie for having to throw away the original ending, but it was done strictly out of necessity.
We just couldn’t finish the plan, it was just impossible,” he said. “So, everything got re-jiggered, and we had the cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers.”
While cliffhangers kind of suck in the moment, as long as you get resolution eventually *cough Half-Life*, it’s not all bad.
