I did not expect this to hit me as hard as it did 😭

And yes, I cried my eyes out again editing.

Reach has definitely shown me how much I have come to care about this franchise, this world, these characters, it feels pivotal to me.

Without a doubt, I wouldn’t have had the same reactions if lore and timelines were being cleared up along the way. Because I was hazy on the years and when things were taking place, it kept me second guessing the whole time. I know a lot of people can find that frustrating because it’s obvious to them, but only because they’ve known for 20 years.

I love how going in blind allows me to live in the chaos and confusion of the events that are unfolding right in front of me.

Thank you for coming along with me on this journey 💚

It was a pleasure to watch you play and feel genuine emotions.

That’s all we ever wanted.

Carter’s voice actor and the team that animated him deserve so much praise for their work throughout the final quarter of the game. His tone and body language become so dejected after Kat’s death that everything seems like an annoyance or an exercise in futility to him. You can tell when he’s receiving new information from Halsey on the tram that he is almost completely resigned to the notion that all of his team’s sacrifices, and any further action they might take are ultimately meaningless. Whatever their objective might be is completely arbitrary to him with Reach’s inevitable fall looming overhead. It’s amazing to see how he regains his fire and some existential strength after grasping the importance their final mission in such subtle ways like the bass/urgency returning to his voice. He’s able to die with a full heart.

when carter tells Jun to do whats necessary for nothing to fall into enemy hands.  it took me YEARS to learn that meant for Jun to Kill Halsey if needed  lol

18:16 the moment that give ptsd to our man Buck

That little classic piano melody when you realise it's Cortana hits so hard

“Folks need heroes chief, to give em hope...” - Sergeant Johnson

I’m not sure if this is 100% true but it’s said that since the very beginning there was a Zealot class team of elites who’s mission was to hunt and kill Noble team. They were in the Phantom that shot Kat, they also killed Emile and in the end Noble 6. They were the same team that you see on the very 1st mission as well. This game is full of “full circle” moments. Also how Noble team died every death is significant to how they are. Jorge would never wanted to leave reach (he died in space), Kat being the brains of the group (gets sniped in the head), Carter the leader (captain went down with his ship), Emile a close quarters expert (dies to a sword through the chest) and Noble 6 The lone Wolf call back to the very beginning (died alone). This masterpiece of a game is my #1 and has yet to be topped by any game ever.

I love the subtle but ominous line, “A Birthright, from a past civilization.”

CHILLS

Did you notice that the falcon you were defending at the beginning was being flown by Buck from ODST? The “we are the desperate measures” OST from the game was playing

18:15 Sgt. Buck! Hello Nathan Fillion!

EMP blast from the glassing took out their shields, thats why KAT died with one shot

Reach holds a special place in Halo. Its story, the sacrifice of the Noble team, the music, the cinematics, the perfect transition to Halo CE at the end.. So emotional, everything is brilliant !

The survival record for the mission "lone wolf" is over 21hours lol

that marine wasn't talking about the flood, nobody knew the flood existed until it got released on the halo

Love the genuine reaction to Cortana's appearance. Feel hit hard. Love to see it. Looking forward to your journey into Halo continuing.

On the falcon you escorted is buck halo odst

This level hits hard. People often say this is the point where we knew we were going to lose. 5:36 you can see a building collapse. The feeling of the Covenant ships just flying over and glassing the city. It’s the first time we see this happen. The Covenant just glassing a planet for absolutely no reason. That’s why Buck had PTSD from Reach. In ODST he has a panic attack when the Covenant carrier begins to excavate the city. Seeing the Covenant ships as the lightning flashes is so ominous. Seeing them that close and seeing them glass the planet means they have already taken orbital superiority. They have destroyed or disabled all orbital defenses and the UNSC fleet has been almost completely destroyed. Hundreds of UNSC ships have been destroyed. Only 1 out of every 10 UNSC ships destroyed escape. And the Covenant has also taken significant losses losing 130 ships. And the main Covenant fleet hasn’t even arrived yet. Arbiter is on his way with 60 ships. The total Covenant fleet at Reach was 314 ships. Kat’s line hits so hard. “I know we’re losing I want to know if we’ve lost.” That line encompasses the entire war for humanity. The turning point was Reach because for once the UNSC began to hit the Covenant back hard. The battle of Installation 04 hit the most powerful Covenant fleet and shattered it. Arbiter was left with only a small handful of ships at the end of the battle. Then Chief destroyed a fleet of 500 ships headed for Earth. And finally the Covenant and Flood destroyed over 1,000 of their own ships. In the last year they lost nearly 2,000 ships. Idk if you know this but Cortana is Halsey. Cortana was made from a clone of Halsey’s brain. So Cortana is partially on the Autumn. They split her in half so half could be with Chief while he was fighting on Reach and the other could decrypt the data. I believe Chief just got her not long before this too. In the final mission those are the Arbiter’s ships. You can see his ships looming when lightning strikes. 1:40:33 that ship is pretty important in the lore. It’s the UNSC Commonwealth. It was one of the first ships to be attacked in the war while it had every Spartan II on board. They were headed to get their first armor but the Covenant didn’t know that. They shot at it to send a message but had they destroyed it they would have killed every Spartan in existence in one shot. That was their biggest mistake because the Spartans began to whoop the Covenant’s butt. That one ship Noble 6 shot down was Arbiter’s. It’s important to mention Arbiter was responsible for 1 billion civilian deaths on Reach. That’s a huge reason Chief was so hostile towards him. And finally it’s cannon that Noble 6 fought for multiple hours alone killing hundreds of Covenant. The remaining Spartans met up for evac but the ship likely got shot down and all the remaining Spartans in the area were killed. This is rare because we never see a dead Spartan until Reach. Spartans are the best humanity has to throw at the Covenant and even here we were so outmatched that even the best humanity had wasn’t enough. Oh in 3 Cortana literally quotes Halsey from Fall of Reach. If you watch the movie you hear Halsey say the same words Cortana does.

On the mass driver section it became extra difficult because you activated the final sequence without clearing the enemies so you got stuck between 2 fights at the same time

1:18:39 I love the Halo music starting up in the background. Perfect timing when Pheonix realized who was on the screen.