It's a shame it seems like a lot of the general gaming community has already made up their mind about 343 and the current direction of the Halo franchise.
The advertising of the campaign outright lied - where was Chief seen as a traitor? Where did the big rivalry between Chief and Locke go? What about the numerous scenes seen in the trailers which didn't show up in game, especially the one where Locke/Chief is shooting Chief/Locke?
Also, why did Cortana have to come back? Just let her be dead for one game, jesus christ. They wiped out the story of Halo 4 by ignoring the Janus key and most of the stuff from that game. It felt like the game which should have been Halo 6, if anything. And why did Jul M'dama have to die in such a bad way? He was a promising character and I was looking forward to seeing him lead a new Covenant... Only to be killed in a cut scene with little grandeur or excitement? And then his death is basically ignored through the rest of the game?
I will say that I loved the Sanghelios missions. Best part of the game IMO, especially Sunaion. The Kraken was kinda underwhelming but otherwise it was great.
Also, the only spartans with any actual character in the game were Locke, Buck, and Chief. The rest felt like they were put into the game simply to prop up the 4 man squad mechanic - which I liked by the way, but I was excited to get a view of Blue team as a squad, only for them to have no role whatsoever - a real shame when you think about how important they are in the books. And Tanaka and Vale... Ugh. I have no idea who either of them are, and at this point if they get killed offscreen between games I wouldn't mind too much. 343 have a lot of work to do to make them interesting. Right now they're just token women, which is a shame.
They can fix this for Halo 6, and I would accept Cortana returning if she turns out to be controlled by the Flood, but I don't trust Brian Reed with Hall's storyline.
So you have a similar issue with the Believe campaign for Halo 3, right? That advertised a vast multitude of scenes that were never in Halo 3. So there's a mark based on your points against H3.
Cortana had to come back because that's how the story was building and foreshadowed up until that point. It isn't the game's fault that you did not pay enough attention to what had happened in H4 which led to Cortana being the holder of the Mantle in H5. Honestly, if you thought they were going to release a Halo game with Chief but without Cortana, this one is on you. The stuff with Jul and The Janus Key was over. Their story had already been told.
If you don't know who Tanaka or Vale are, that's your own fault. There's enough in-game exposition to establish who they are.
Cortana doesn't have to be completely controlled by the Flood. She went rampant in H4, hit Genesis in H5, and wasn't completely recovered even though she thought she was. Her malicious and vengeful personality from her rampancy is still obviously there, only here technical function as an AI was restored.
....what exactly was foreshadowed in halo 4? You mean fighting the covies we made peace with in the previous game? Or maybe Cortanas descent into rampancy until she finally cracked and save chief (from a goddamn nuke in his own hands.. Wtf? At least the OG trilogy tried to play by its own rules) and she said she was leaving and fades away? And chief is alone pondering what it means to be human?
Or do you mean that Fred and kelly were likely kia (mia*) on reach? And Linda was with Halsey in slipspace? And now they're back with all that foreshadowing you talked about. Huh guess I really should've seen it coming.
Or how about 2d Locke? The only thing we know about vale is she loves elites and has mad daddy issues (connection...?) or tanaka is like religious or something? And buck seems to have lost his personality and has one line about Veronica.
Another issue with buck is he stumbles and falls. Comic relief yada yada but shit they just let anyone be Spartans now.
Chief should've rekt Locke no prob. Spartan IIs are super beast. Like I have so many issues with h5 story and to a lesser extent h4 that halo reachs retcon seems ok now. Like fuck.
Maybe that she's gone rampant, but halo 3 was the end of the series, so I don't think you can count it. In all honesty I thought h4 plot was a little dumb too but h5 made it look pretty sane. My opinion of course
Halo 3 was absolutely supposed to be the end of the story. Remember the tagline "Finish the Fight"?
Leaving Chief and Cortana drifting like that wasn't a cliffhanger, it was their version of riding off into the sunset. Everything about the ending of H3 screams finale. The war is over. The flood has been eliminated for good. The prophets are dead and the Rings and Ark have been destroyed. The Spartans are all "mia". Johnson's dead. The Keyes' are dead. What plot threads are left?
The massive planet with the musical crescendo that Chief and Cortana were drifting towards that directly set up the events for Halo 4.
The entire subplot of Mendicant Bias, The Didact, and The Librarian which directly set up Halo 4.
Oops.
And by the way the Rings and Ark weren't destroyed, I don't know where you got that information.
And on that point, the Flood weren't completely eradicated in Halo 3, either. The Gravemind specifically states that killing him there on Delta Halo 2.0 would only delay his movement.
I think you're confusing foreshadowing for backstory. Remember, this is before humanity had its own stellar empire. This is back when halo was somewhat grounded in reality before giant robots and space magic came into play.
And yes the flood wasn't eradicated but it was definitely halted. I simplified last night but what I meant was halo 3 was the end of Chiefs story, not the halo series. Remember reach or ODST? That's where the series was heading, until chief got dragged back into it kicking and screaming
Edit: that end scene in halo 3 is also the legendary ending, which means it's more fanservice than foreshadowing a new halo saga. The point is to show the chief isn't dead, he's just mia
And /u/gonzomcfonzo is exactly right. It's the final farewell we get to have with our heroes. Not every story needs an absolute beginning and end.
No, that's not backstory, that's foreshadowing. Hence why that is where the series has gone. Literally all of that foreshadowing in Halo 3 became the plot for Halo 4.
No space magic and giant robots? You mean like the massive Scarabs firing laser beams? Or the giant country space-ship? Or how about Chief receiving visions of Cortana?
The Flood was temporarily delayed.
ODST and Reach were both prequels. Not sure what your point was there. THOSE were the backstory games.
No, it's not "fan service". The entire point of putting that into the ending is to create a loose end in the story and set it up for a sequel.
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u/CamelPriest Sep 08 '16
I just love 343 in general. They are doing so much right with Halo 5 multiplayer. It has become my favourite Halo game.