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[Flipyap]

Just finished it again on solo legendary. Really pisses me off that so many storylines from 4 are just dropped.

"Halo 4 was a mistake, it's nothing but trash." - Bonnie G. Lucas-Ross

It was the right move. Let the expanded universe handle the cleanup, this game was better for not trying to fix that mess. I can't even imagine what this game would look like if they also had to catch everyone up on all that's happened in Halo 4's transmedia extravaganza.

Worts and all.

Nice.

 

[Trup1aya]

Sounds more like they painted themselves into a corner and needed a plot device to get Cortana back, and already retconned something.

They've always said they had a road map for this saga. I believe they always intended to bring Cortana back. And the Domain.

Gamers have no reason to think the domain was ever destroyed. A lore folks will likely see an explanation in extended media. Perhaps some precursor or wayward flood came by and fixed it.

 

[LordOfChaos]

The weirdest bit about the revive mechanic is that you can't move or crawl, and you can't fire. You're literally planted in place and left to wait.

The plot device is an Armor Lock

Spoiler

e

, so being immobile makes sense. Through the in-place moving in pain does not.

 

[Gestault]

Just finished it again on solo legendary. Really pisses me off that so many storylines from 4 are just dropped.

Cortana's rampancy, John's acting outside of UNSC command, and the return of Forerunner forces are the main story threads in that game. Are you saying those aren't the basis of Halo 5? They even push further with the Covenant civil war and the "decommissioning" of AIs, and the parallel with a disobeying Spartan.

The weirdest bit about the revive mechanic is that you can't move or crawl, and you can't fire. You're literally planted in place and left to wait.

Unless you're doing that weird belly-flop worm animation glitch, lol

 

[Estocolmo]

Just finished the campaign.

Definitely my least favorite campaign so far. The whole thing felt really empty. And by the end, it didn't feel any progress was made to the storyline.

Halo 5 could have been wrapped up within the first three levels with Chief as the only playable character. Blue Team should have been wiped out by Cortona and Chief should have gone after her.

Really bummed by this entry.

Plus, by the end I was playing just to finish it. I wasn't even having fun anymore. Waiting for your team mates to bring you back to life instead of just respawning is a real pain in the ass. The A.I.'s were useless. The Warden Eternal was a weeeaaak villain. And then we had to fight three of him. Really? 343 couldn't think of interesting gameplay segments so we fight three of the same guy at the same time.

Searching for intel felt so lame. Like you walk around, gather intel for two minutes by activating conversations then move on. Wtf.

I really don't understand why they chose to bring in Locke. He and Osiris add NOTHING to the story. I just don't understand. I wanna find the person that introduced this idea and slap them in the face. We got a subpar straight to video movie and played a majority of the game as a really lame character.

If you're going to use Locke, make him interesting. Make him question orders just like Chief did. Give him SOMETHING.

wtf has happened to Halo man =/

I sort of wish the entire Forerunner storyline was left in the past =/

1+

I agree with everything you say. The most prominent is that in the end you just didn't care and wanted everything to end as fast as possible. The first halo I have ever felt like this, actually not having fun.

 

[Tawpgun]

So is the Warden an AI?

EW said something like "The warden isn't a robot, I thought you knew that already?"

 

[Poodlestrike]

So is the Warden an AI?

EW said something like "The warden isn't a robot, I thought you knew that already?"

I took that to mean he wasn't an AI, but there's some ambiguity there. I was thinking he's some kind of super-composed... thing. A mind that somehow survived the process intact.

 

[LordOfChaos]

So is the Warden an AI?

EW said something like "The warden isn't a robot, I thought you knew that already?"

I took that to mean he wasn't an AI, but there's some ambiguity there. I was thinking he's some kind of super-composed... thing. A mind that somehow survived the process intact.

Plus Stinkie said it's a singular entity...I think the hint may have been that we met it before?

Master Builder? He's on a Builder facility after all...Though he's not a warrior.

Or...The Warden? Transferred into an...Eternal body/mind?

http://www.halopedia.org/The_Warden

 

[Captain Zyrain]

I mean Faber supposedly died defending the Greater Ark.. I guess maybe somehow he got absorbed into the Domain? Seems like a stretch though.. and I rather preferred his end.

The Warden being the Didact is interesting, and seemingly plays into what we know.. except the audio logs.. the unknown Forerunner Builder mentions that he was surprised to see the Warden up and going again.. suggesting he'd been around pre-Halos firing.. which would rule out the Didact.

Could be "The Warden", as we now know most/all Monitors were at some point likely derived from people and are not robots/AI in the traditional sense. Could just be a similar naming scheme by the Forerunners though..

Clearly he has motives and reasons for doing whatever it is he's doing... hmmm

 

[Gestault]

Could be "The Warden", as we now know most/all Monitors were at some point likely derived from people and are not robots/AI in the traditional sense. Could just be a similar naming scheme by the Forerunners though

This was basically how I read it, because I couldn't think of a particular character to tie him to otherwise. I thought it was sort of a joke about how some people assumed Master Chief was a robot from a glance.

 

[Olengie]

Guilty Spark used the salvaged mind of Chakas. I wouldn't be surprised if The Warden Eternal was a living being that became composed but managed to retain a singular intelligence.

 

[Flipyap]

I took that to mean he wasn't an AI, but there's some ambiguity there. I was thinking he's some kind of super-composed... thing. A mind that somehow survived the process intact.

Well, AIs aren't robots and the Warden exists outside of his robot bodies. I think Exuberant was mainly making a distinction between a defense automaton and a self-aware digital being. Or it was just a joke about Exuberant assuming that Osiris are too dumb to understand the difference.

 

[Razdek]

I hope squad gameplay and team Osiris is not in Halo 6. 343 should have learned from Halo 2's backlash from the arbitor missions that players want to play as MC and his story not some lame characters like Locke. Halo was about grand battles and there was none of that in this one.

 

[LordOfChaos]

I hope squad gameplay and team Osiris is not in Halo 6. 343 should have learned from Halo 2's backlash from the arbitor missions that players want to play as MC and his story not some lame characters like Locke. Halo was about grand battles and there was none of that in this one.

Yet look at all the love Arbie gets now

 

[SaganIsGOAT]

Arby is the best character in Halo

*Bungie's Arbiter

 

[Poodlestrike]

Arby is the best character in Halo

*Bungie's Arbiter

He was pretty great in H5 too. Not enough screen time, but there's a lot of that going around.

 

[LordOfChaos]

Arby is the best character in Halo

*Bungie's Arbiter

He was pretty great in H5 too. Not enough screen time, but there's a lot of that going around.

There should one million percent be Chief and Arbie buddy cop hyjinx in the next Halo.

They're all on Sanghelios, with Osiris and Halsey...Could get interesting.

 

[spootime]

Honestly I swear I have played a different game then everyone else. Like I don't think people need to like it, but when people say it's the worst campaign thus far, I just... find it hard to believe we played the same game.

I say that as someone who liked it, but also understand that it has problems. Since Halo 5 very much felt like a game where 343i was like: "Okay, we want to tell this story... But we can't really do it all in one game. So let's use Halo 5 as the set-up game." Basically another Halo 2 Scenario. But at least to our knowledge, there wasn't the development troubles Bungie had back then.

Halo 6 is set up to be a very different game due to the story, and I'm honestly really excited to see where this goes. Worts and all.

How much you liked the campaign probably depends on how invested in the storytelling you are. I agree that this campaign plays pretty well. Definitely better than reach and halo 4. I wouldn't put it above any in the original trilogy however.

I also agree that this seems like a setup game. But I think a lot of the stories deficiencies (dialogue, pacing, characters, etc) are pretty inexcusable in 2015. With games like TLoU coming out there's really no excuse to have story elements THIS BAD in a AAA videogame.

 

[Flipyap]

Arby is the best character in Halo

*Bungie's Arbiter

343's Arbiter isn't bad, too bad he looks like a shapeless pile of spikes. Blur's Arbiter was also pretty hot, I thought his nude scenes were very tastefully done.

Spoiler

More weird skinny space lizard butts next time, plz Stinkles.

 

[Double Donut]

I hope squad gameplay and team Osiris is not in Halo 6. 343 should have learned from Halo 2's backlash from the arbitor missions that players want to play as MC and his story not some lame characters like Locke. Halo was about grand battles and there was none of that in this one.

This is exactly why 343 tried to branch off of Chief.

In this huge and wonderful universe known as Halo, you can't keep relying on one character to do literally everything and drive the story. There are plenty of other cool people in this universe, and I am glad that we got to see some.

I'm personally overjoyed that we got a mainline Halo game where Chief wasn't the star, really mixed things up.

 

[LordOfChaos]

343's Arbiter isn't bad, too bad he looks like a shapeless pile of spikes. Blur's Arbiter was also pretty hot, I thought his nude scenes were very tastefully done.

Spoiler

More weird skinny space lizard butts next time, plz Stinkles.

I like the H2A arbiters design. The gold porcupine cloak is a bit too "remember how badass this guy is?!"

 

[Detective]

Me from the more thread:
Just finished the game..mix feeling to be honest.
Where do you guys think we go from here?

And why was Locke presented at all? The whole game could have been the Chief actually. It would have been better game.
Visiting worlds and haunting and what not.

Seems like 343 are trying way too hard to inprint their name in any way possible. We give you Agent Locke.

Halo has its solid foundation. MC a solid character who doesn't need a side kick or a VS dude.

All you could have done is revolutionized the franshise on other way. Like big scale or something . Halo has many great places to visit. Plants. Explore. Locate Blue team. Visit arbiter home world. Not rush through it. You just burn all the great Cards.

The whole Locke thing is really unnecessary.
It would have been much better game if it's was MC. Traveling all those worlds. Finding blue team on an unexplored world. Helping them. And they helps him larer.

 

[JTripper]

Sharing my post from the OT:

After going through the campaign a second time on solo legendary, I have to say it's a pretty fun one despite the horrible Warden Eternals. I like the individual missions way more than any of Halo 4's (even though I think Halo 4's story was better told) and they have certain elements that remind me of classic Halo levels.

- Sword of Sanghelios might be my favorite in the game since it reminds me so much of the large maps with huge battles in Halo 3 and seeing the Arbiter for the first time since then was a great fan moment.

- Battle of Sunaion seems ripped straight out of Halo 2.

- Segments from Behind Enemy Lines (the one with the kraken) and the last level really remind me of Assault on the Control Room from Halo CE.

Oh and that legendary ending, even though it was literally 5 seconds long, really excited me.

 

[Hastati]

Just finished it again on solo legendary. Really pisses me off that so many storylines from 4 are just dropped.

I really don't understand how no one at 343 said having Chief in the game for 3 missions is a bad idea. And if somebody did then they should be running the company.

It seemed to me like they were trying to create a new generation of characters to replace the Chief and the Spartan 2 backstory, so they could make a new story arc around Osiris after retiring Chief and Cortana to breathe new life into the series. Or at least designed the narrative of the game around that mentality, considering that Locke had significantly more playtime. Trying to capitalize on the cool spartan superhero brand beyond just a single character.

Not that I liked that choice at all, and personally would have preferred playing more as the chief, but the game gave me the impression of a slow-transition reboot.

 

[Flipyap]

I like the H2A arbiters design. The gold porcupine cloak is a bit too "remember how badass this guy is?!"

The Halo 2 Anniversary model is really nice and impressively faithful to the original. I'm glad they didn't use 343's mouth-breathing Elites as a base and gave them proper mandibles with no stupid molars (why would they put molars on mandibles?! They can't be used to grind anything! Ever!).

My biggest issue with the porcupine suit is that he no longer has a face. When he speaks, it's just two metal plates flapping in a sea of spikes.

 

[Solidsoul]

Hey guys, i'd like to see your thoughts.

What are the issues working against the idea that Warden Eternal is Didact?

Like what's a list of things that make it impossible. I know Frankie said it's not him but...it literally makes all the sense in the world that it is.

 

[DJ Lushious]

This is exactly why 343 tried to branch off of Chief.

In this huge and wonderful universe known as Halo, you can't keep relying on one character to do literally everything and drive the story. There are plenty of other cool people in this universe, and I am glad that we got to see some.

I perfectly agree that the Halo Universe is big and should be thoroughly explored beyond the mainline games. But handle those outside stories as Halo: XYZ, aka Halo: ODST. Let the numbered games follow Master Chief, as it's been his story for the longest (and everyone except you clamored to play Chief again throughout 5). Halo 5, to put it bluntly, should've been called Halo: Locke or some variation of that. I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said countless times in this thread, but playing primarily as Jameson was lame on so many levels.

Hell, spin off the series into another subseries, like Halo Wars.

The podcast Hunt the Truth setup this really outside image of the Chief and him going rogue. Yet we saw just a hint of that in 5. And I can't be the only one that felt Master Chief was awfully out of character in Halo 5. For one, he punches Locke first, in the face of reason (ha!). And his dialogue definitely felt like it was written by someone who doesn't quite understand who the Master Chief has been all of these games. "Like hell you will." That is so antagonistic, I can't think of any other time the Master Chief was that much of an asshole to anyone throughout the series. Get outta here with that shit, 343.

I had high hopes for Halo 5, I really did. 343 really let me down. Again. I have zero faith Halo 6 will be any better than its previous two entries. I'll still buy it, because Halo is one of my most beloved franchises in all of video games, but I'll be setting the bar very very low.

 

[Kalentan]

Nice.

ICwutUDidThere

Not going to lie... That was not intentional.

 

[watdaeff4]

Sounds more like they painted themselves into a corner and needed a plot device to get Cortana back, and already retconned something.

343 retconning the lore? No.......I'm shocked.


Shocked.

Spoiler

/s

I perfectly agree that the Halo Universe is big and should be thoroughly explored beyond the mainline games. But handle those outside stories as Halo: XYZ, aka Halo: ODST. Let the numbered games follow Master Chief, as it's been his story for the longest (and everyone except you clamored to play Chief again throughout 5). Halo 5, to put it bluntly, should've been called Halo: Locke or some variation of that. I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said countless times in this thread, but playing primarily as Jameson was lame on so many levels.

Hell, spin off the series into another subseries, like Halo Wars.

HALO 5 aka. The Poorly Disguised Pilot for Halo: Osiris Team Adventures

I would be ok with that.

 

[Obliterator]

This is exactly why 343 tried to branch off of Chief.

In this huge and wonderful universe known as Halo, you can't keep relying on one character to do literally everything and drive the story. There are plenty of other cool people in this universe, and I am glad that we got to see some.

I'm personally overjoyed that we got a mainline Halo game where Chief wasn't the star, really mixed things up.

I'd be cool with this if Locke wasn't so unreal boring. The dude has less personality than even Chief does. Might as well have Buck be the main character.

 

[Cuzco]

I honestly wish cortana had stayed dead. We could have let a new AI shine, and remember cortana for her heroic sacrifice. Theres plenty of room for great new AI characters, take Roland for example.

Psyche. I fucking hate that guy. Exuberant Witness on the other hand was the only addition to Halo 5 that truly felt like she belonged in a Halo game. Warden was meh. Cortana doesnt even sound like Cortana anymore.

Also i hate everyone on the Infinity in general. What happened to like Lord Hood and the military brass that actually felt like military and belonged in charge. Lasky is so whiny and melodramatic. Palmer as well, dear god I hate Palmer.

 

[Future]

I honestly wish cortana had stayed dead. We could have let a new AI shine, and remember cortana for her heroic sacrifice. Theres plenty of room for great new AI characters, take Roland for example.

Psyche. I fucking hate that guy. Exuberant Witness on the other hand was the only addition to Halo 5 that truly felt like she belonged in a Halo game. Warden was meh. Cortana doesnt even sound like Cortana anymore.

Also i hate everyone on the Infinity in general. What happened to like Lord Hood and the military brass that actually felt like military and belonged in charge. Lasky is so whiny and melodramatic. Palmer as well, dear god I hate Palmer.

Why bring cortana back to just be a baddie though. For like 10 minutes when you are flying the ships and she's in your earpiece I felt some nostalgia. I miss the duo

But I miss it mainly cuz every other character is ass. Locke and that whole unit. Chiefs unit. No personalities. Only when chief and cortana are talking did it feel like there was was any decent conversation goin. Warden and exuberant werent bad either.

Came in here happy I was not alone. Warden fights were crap. Entire middle Locke gameplay segment felt like filler. Too little chief

 

[Cuzco]

Why bring cortana back to just be a baddie though. For like 10 minutes when you are flying the ships and she's in your earpiece I felt some nostalgia. I miss the duo

But I miss it mainly cuz every other character is ass. Locke and that whole unit. Chiefs unit. No personalities. Only when chief and cortana are talking did it feel like there was was any decent conversation goin. Warden and exuberant werent bad either.

Came in here happy I was not alone. Warden fights were crap. Entire middle Locke gameplay segment felt like filler. Too little chief

it's such a shame too. I played through all the halo campaigns again before this one, with the first 3 obviously standing out. Nothing compares to Halo 3 though, Chief, Keyes, Johnson, the Arbiter, half-jaw and everyone felt like the intergalatic A team and it was awesome. Just watch this cutscene and tell me if you can find any other halo moment that compares outside of the original trilogy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmXEiDqjjj8&feature=youtu.be&t=1562

"Our fight is through the portal, with the brutes and the bastard Truth!" Everything from there on is straight badassary. By far my favorite part of halo ever.

 

[Flipyap]

Theres plenty of room for great new AI characters, take Roland for example.

Psyche. I fucking hate that guy.

Why do you fucking hate that guy?
I'm genuinely curious what there is to hate about that guy. He isn't much of a character yet.

 

[SaganIsGOAT]

I honestly wish cortana had stayed dead. We could have let a new AI shine, and remember cortana for her heroic sacrifice. Theres plenty of room for great new AI characters, take Roland for example.

Psyche. I fucking hate that guy. Exuberant Witness on the other hand was the only addition to Halo 5 that truly felt like she belonged in a Halo game. Warden was meh. Cortana doesnt even sound like Cortana anymore.

Also i hate everyone on the Infinity in general. What happened to like Lord Hood and the military brass that actually felt like military and belonged in charge. Lasky is so whiny and melodramatic. Palmer as well, dear god I hate Palmer.

That's a lot of hate for video game characters Jesus lol

Roland's fine and so is Lasky
Palmers gonna Palmer

 

[Walshicus]

Why bring cortana back to just be a baddie though.

You just answered your question. I mean they had the Didact as a villain and people complained he came from nowhere. We could have had the Flood again but people would bitch about that that and you know it. Cortana makes sense; and a galaxy-wide AI revolt/police action is to me at least an interesting end point to lead into the third act.

 

[Peterpan]

I might be the only one but I really liked Exuberant Witness, even more so than Guilty Spark. One of the few things I enjoyed of the story.

 

[Cuzco]

I might be the only one but I really liked Exuberant Witness, one of the few things I enjoyed of the story.

I feel like she was well liked by most? Def one of my favorite parts of the game. Felt like actual halo when she arrived.

 

[Future]

You just answered your question. I mean they had the Didact as a villain and people complained he came from nowhere. We could have had the Flood again but people would bitch about that that and you know it. Cortana makes sense; and a galaxy-wide AI revolt/police action is to me at least an interesting end point to lead into the third act.

So the only way to make a good villain is to manufacture one out of an established buddy? No way

it's such a shame too. I played through all the halo campaigns again before this one, with the first 3 obviously standing out. Nothing compares to Halo 3 though, Chief, Keyes, Johnson, the Arbiter, half-jaw and everyone felt like the intergalatic A team and it was awesome. Just watch this cutscene and tell me if you can find any other halo moment that compares outside of the original trilogy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmXEiDqjjj8&feature=youtu.be&t=1562

"Our fight is through the portal, with the brutes and the bastard Truth!" Everything from there on is straight badassary. By far my favorite part of halo ever.

Good moment. Also reminded me that they've been fucking with cortana since Halo 3. There she was damaged, halo 4 she's going insane, halo 5 she is insane and now going to destroy the world. At least she was still trust worthy there though. I just don't know why story wise you would fuck with that relationship.

 

[Future]

I might be the only one but I really liked Exuberant Witness, even more so than Guilty Spark. One of the few things I enjoyed of the story.

She was great. Much better than yellow new ship AI dude. Even AI need to have personalities and memorable lines.

 

[blamite]

Personally, I vastly preferred Osiris to Blue Team, with the complaint that Locke just had waaaay too little personality or motivation. The rest of the team was great though, especially Buck and Vale.

Blue Team has a ton of characterization from the books that just totally went to waste... and Fred and Linda's VAs gave some of the most stiff, bored lie readings I've heard in a game since vanilla Destiny.

I'm hoping Halo 6 continues improves on the characterizations all around and keeps the Osiris/Blue Team split going with both teams in more constant communication, or maybe mixed things up from time to time... maybe something happens and we end up with MC, Kelly, Buck, and Vale grouped together for some missions while Locke is with Fred, Linda, and Tanaka? Or whatever, there's 8 characters, no reason to keep them in the same two groups of 4 all the time.

I might be the only one but I really liked Exuberant Witness, even more so than Guilty Spark. One of the few things I enjoyed of the story.

You're not alone, Exuberant was literally the best part of the campaign! Such an adorable character, and a great change for a Monitor.

 

[Flipyap]

You're not alone, Exuberant was literally the best part of the campaign! Such an adorable character, and a great change for a Monitor.

What change? She's written the exact same way as Guilty Spark, except she doesn't add anything to the story.

 

[dragonelite]

What change? She's written the exact same way as Guilty Spark, except she doesn't add anything to the story.

It was fun to have some comic relief at the latter part of the campaign.

 

[Cuzco]

If the story wasn't such garbage, this Halo would be absolutely amazing. I mean the campaign in terms of gameplay was stellar, huge step up over Halo 4's level, enemy, and gunplay design. My favorite addition is the way that dialogue in battle reacts to your actions, with Exuberant witness being the standout obviously.

 

[Flipyap]

It was fun to have some comic relief at the latter part of the campaign.

Sure, but Guilty Spark managed to handle those duties while also being an important character with his own story arc. Exuberant is just kind of... there.
All the time spent with her feels rather wasteful when the game didn't have any story time to spare for 7 of its 8 protagonists.

 

[Flintty]

I finished on HC last night. Main points...

Negatives:
Not enough Masterchief missions, too much Locke
Cortana turning into the worst ex-wife ever
Team mate A.I was really REALLY bad - especially when reviving.
I still don't really understand what is going on!
Not enough of a 'big world' (I want that Halo CE feeling!)

Positives:
Masterchief is still the awesome
Exuberent
Some of the set pieces were pretty stunning
The worlds looked gorgeous
Cortana looked gorgeous

 

[Toa TAK]

Lol @ "worst ex-wife ever".

I might be the only one but I really liked Exuberant Witness, even more so than Guilty Spark. One of the few things I enjoyed of the story.

Yes, she's much better and much more helpful than Spark. She's leagues ahead of him.

 

[krang]

Just a thought, this is the first main line Halo game that doesn't feature a Halo somewhere in the campaign, isn't it?

 

[Toa TAK]

Just a thought, this is the first main line Halo game that doesn't feature a Halo somewhere in the campaign, isn't it?

Minus the Legendary ending, yeah.

Even Halo 4's Halo was only there in passing. Literally.
Hopefully 6 brings things full circle.

 

[krang]

Minus the Legendary ending, yeah.

Even Halo 4's Halo was only there in passing. Literally.
Hopefully 6 brings things full circle.

ISWYDT

On a different note, I like how this sets up Halo 6. I'm a sucker for a good rag tag group of mismatched heroes.