I felt the urge to reminisce and really put it out there why Halo 2 meant so much to me. I mean, it's a video game, and even to other gamers, it's really hard to express and to explain how and why a video game meant so much, but I have so much love for the game I feel I should share it with you beautiful people. I was going to make another thread about gaming stories and encourage people to tell their stories and nostalgia trips, but I feel like not many people on TYM played Halo 2 or will appreciate what I have to say since I'm apart of the Illuminati, everything wrong with our community apparently. But I digress, on to memory lane.
One weekend after my football game (I was the star player and was an amazing athlete, in case you were wondering), a friend on my football team invited me over to hang out and play some video games. I've been a gamer since I was old enough to hold a controller, so I would never pass up an opportunity to play some games. So we get there and he said, "have you ever played Halo?", I responded "No, I've never even heard of it". Keep in mind, this was back when all that mattered to me was football and school, so even though I was a gamer, I wasn't as big of a gamer as I am now. So we were playing it, and it reminded me a lot of Golden Eye 007 for the N64. After two games, we did an FFA on Lockout, with 3 of us. We all were playing on the same screen, like you had to do back in the day. I completely bodied them, and it's the first time I heard someone use an excuse for why I was winning, they called me a "screen looker". Since I was little, it was always very hard for me to take it easy on people I was playing a video game with, not many people liked that I guess.
After playing for hours, I was hooked. They told me Halo 2 was coming out soon, and that I should get an XBOX and Halo 2 so I could practice and get better. This was before XBL was common, only select few people had it and everyone went to their house to play on it. So I begged for it for Christmas, and got it, #spoiled. I still didn't have XBL for awhile, as we still had dial-up and we didn't really need high speed for anything at the moment. I remember going to another friends house who had XBL and they all played Halo 2 a lot more than I did, online and offline. So they were like "we will take it easy on you, so don't get too mad", "XBL really makes you better, and we all have gotten a lot better". First game was FFA, I won fairly easily, and some of them were pissed, others were impressed. "How in the hell are you so good and you don't even have XBL?", it was pretty cool to get praise for something other than sports, lol.
When I finally got XBL, I will never forget playing against someone else around the world, with a full screen (not split screen), and talking to them with a headset. That was one of the best feelings I've ever had, the very definition of a nerdgasm. We only had one xbox, so my bro and I had to split screen when we both wanted to play, but I had been split screening since I was 5, so it wasn't a problem. Thinking back, I can't believe how good either one of us did on split screen, especially on a small standard definition tube tv.
I was addicted to the game, my bro was addicted, most of my friends were addicted, and a lot of us were really good. One day I was playing a custom game on Lockout. It was just a random FFA game before we went into matchmaking. A guy named "XsV Soul" was pooping on everyone, even myself. I was like, "um, who is this guy? Do any of you know him?", they were like "yeah, he goes to our high school, his name is Kevin I think". We invited him to play some team slayer, and he played for a bit. He was good, really good, and even better than me in fact, which was rare (self props).
One day while at school, my friend was like, "yo, that's him, that's XsV Soul". He looked normal, was outgoing and everything, so I said "hey, wassup? It's Phoenix from Halo 2". We became friends, and is still one of my best friends today. My life would be a lot worse if it weren't for him being in it, and I owe it all to Halo 2.
We were playing one day, and there was this other kid who was pooping on kids with a sniper. This was also in a custom game. I asked Kevin, "do you know this guy, he's beasting?". He said "Yeah, that's Ryan, he's Elliot's brother, they both go to our high school". Again I was shocked, so many great Halo players who I never even met that goes to the same school as me. I knew Elliot, but just barely. And again, I met him at school afterwards. He was quiet and shy, they opposite of Kevin. We eventually all started hanging out, Ryan, Kevin, me and my bro.
Then there was this kid named Ronnie, one of the best snipers I've ever seen, even better than me and Ryan. I knew Ronnie for awhile, we used to hang out and smoke and wreak havoc at the Mall of Georgia. Yeah, we were "those kids" who would loiter in the mall and severely rustle the jimmies of the rent a cops. He was a good person, and was really good at Halo. We were good friends, and he had a daughter which made it to where he didn't have time to hang out as much, but I still saw him from time to time and we kept in touch. We would reminisce about Halo and the good days.
A year ago on Halloween night, he was hit by a car and died instantly. It was like a knife to the heart. He was still friends with me and all of our old Halo 2 buddies, which seeing them all at his funeral was such a bittersweet moment. I'll never forget him, and it's another reason Halo 2 means so much to me and I'll definitely be emotional playing it again. He was more of a friend before Halo 2, but without Halo 2 I don't think we would have been as much of friends as we were.
There's a lot more to say, but I've already written a book, and I doubt anyone even cares or will even read all of this. I just wanted to share, and I'm hype for Halo 2 nd the MCC, so I needed to "vent".
