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[Surface of Me]

Honestly dont get the hate for the story. The in game chatter fills up a lot and the cut scenes I thought for the most part were well done. I enjoyed the beginning of actually hunting the chief, the Sanghelious arc, and where it takes it in the end.

I have a feeling the ending is the perfect excuse to keep fighting Covenant species, maybe not Elites though. They can just say they serve Cortana now instead of the Covenant.

 

[akidnamededdy]

I really wish 343 would stop assuming everyone who enjoys Halo games and their stories enjoys them enough to read half a dozen books or whatever the hell it takes to understand the plot anymore.

 

[Bornstellar]

I really wish 343 would stop assuming everyone who enjoys Halo games and their stories enjoys them enough to read half a dozen books or whatever the hell it takes to understand the plot anymore.

What about the plot was so confusing that required book knowledge?

 

[Forsythia]

Just finished the game, and I think it was a good campaign. You play too much as Osiris, sure, and the cliffhanger is dumb, but I really liked it. Too bad we didn't get a true current gen nude Cortana, though. But she doesn't look too bad in that outfit, was expecting way worse after I saw a blurry screenshot before.

And for once the story was actually pretty understandable for those who haven't read the books. I do wish there was some explanation about Blue Team, as I guess a lot of people thought John was the only Spartan II left.

 

[Poodlestrike]

There's a very frustrating inconsistency with Nornfang in the campaign.

It is on the ground and usable in Blue Team's ship when Osiris finds it, so Linda left it behind, right?

During the cutscenes in the first Genesis level, this seems to be the case, as her sniper is a regular UNSC sniper rifle.

But in-game, she will always be equipped with Nornfang. I can almost look past this, I guess 343 didn't think to code her with a different weapon, whatever, but it doesn't end there!

In later cutscenes, such as when Osiris meets Blue Team on Genesis and when Cortana reveals herself, her sniper is Nornfang!

Really bothers me tbh, simple continuity like that should easily be kept in check by 343.

I actually remember reading something pre-launch about how the Blue Team weapons aren't actually unique. They remake them between missions by re-customizing standard kit. Not sure where Linda would get the supplies to redo her paintjob, but there you go.

 

[LordOfChaos]

finished heroic co-op.

Youtubed for a legendary ending, saw nothing different.

Was I looking at the wrong thing or is there really no difference between legendary ending and heroic?

I'm not sure what it is, but people always call the Halo 4 end clip the legendary ending, but I saw it on normal too. Some people don't. Not sure why.

 

[Random17]

What about the plot was so confusing that required book knowledge?

Better question; what book knowledge boosts the plot like Halo 4?

Answer: none. The Guardians and the Warden are both new, and we still know very little about the Domain, even in the books. Cortana's behaviour is weird...

 

[ClosingADoor]

And for once the story was actually pretty understandable for those who haven't read the books. I do wish there was some explanation about Blue Team, as I guess a lot of people thought John was the only Spartan II left.

Honestly, they should have left hem be the only Spartan II, last of his kind. They already made Spartan not special anymore, and now even the Spartan IIs popup everywhere. Everybody is a Spartan lately in the books and games.

 

[jackdoe]

My main issue with Locke is that they somehow introduced a main character with even less of a personality than Master Chief. He follows orders exactly like Master Chief. However where Master Chief had interactions with Cortana to help define a personality, Locke has no one. Osiris as a team mostly interacts with Buck. Actually, Buck has the most personality out of everyone in Blue Team and Osiris. I can't say much about Fred and Linda from the campaign, Kelly and Tanaka I only remember for their accents, and Vale for her poor Sanghelli.

 

[Justinh]

Just finished the game, and I think it was a good campaign. You play too much as Osiris, sure, and the cliffhanger is dumb, but I really liked it.

I think I feel the same way. I kinda like the way they're going with Cortana, too.

Halo 6's team should be MC, Arbiter Buck and Exuberant.

Just as long as there's Buck. I want to Buck moar! Seriously though, I like him as a side character, and I thought Locke was just... forgettable and boring. I guess I'll go rewatch Nightfall or something to see if there's something there I'm just not catching.

Wait, is Dare dead now? I can't remember what happened to her.

 

[victreeb3l]

I'm not sure what it is, but people always call the Halo 4 end clip the legendary ending, but I saw it on normal too. Some people don't. Not sure why.

I believe in Legendary, you see MC's eyes when his helmet comes off whereas in the others it just goes black.

 

[16BitNova]

So wait.... I thought the domain was gone. How did Cortana just happen to fall in it? Also what's up with the warden, what is his job who is he?

Can someone explain to me what exactly "The Domain" is and why some believe it was destroyed?

 

[Poodlestrike]

Can someone explain to me what exactly "The Domain" is and why some believe it was destroyed?

The Domain was a communications network/storage system/learning tool/ thing the Forerunners inherited from the Precursors which played a major role in their society. Being based on neural physics, it was presumed destroyed when the Halo Array fired, but apparently scraps of it survived. Cortana entered one, achieved metastability, and proceeded to repair the rest.

 

[BizzyBum]

Honestly, 343i needs to be called out on their totally false and misleading advertising for this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCZ...7pwc_LIrc&annotation_id=annotation_4032931741

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht7pwc_LIrc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCP0GSB2A8E

This gives off a way more ominous vibe than the actual game. Yeah, MC and Locke are adversaries in the beginning but it culminated early on with a lame fistfight (which is totally out of character for the Master Chief, IMO) and ended with them helping each other by the end of the game.

Either 343i played us like damn fiddles, or these trailers were their original vision for the story and it was heavily modified in the final product.

 

[Double Donut]

I actually remember reading something pre-launch about how the Blue Team weapons aren't actually unique. They remake them between missions by re-customizing standard kit. Not sure where Linda would get the supplies to redo her paintjob, but there you go.

Even then there's still things that are just blatant errors.

Such as when Osiris meets Blue Team on Genesis. When Blue Team turns around and aims their weapons, it's Nornfang.

Then in the very next cutscene after Cortana teleports Blue Team, it's a normal sniper.

 

[Einchy]

Honestly, 343i needs to be called out on their totally false and misleading advertising for this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCZ...7pwc_LIrc&annotation_id=annotation_4032931741

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht7pwc_LIrc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCP0GSB2A8E

This gives off a way more ominous vibe than the actual game. Yeah, MC and Locke are adversaries in the beginning but it culminated early on with a lame fistfight (which is totally out of character for the Master Chief, IMO) and ended with them helping each other by the end of the game.

Either 343i played us like damn fiddles, or these trailers were their original vision for the story and it was heavily modified in the final product.

People will say that advertising doesn't always and has never really reflected on the actual game for past Halo games.

However, everything from the ads, previews, Hunt and Truth and pretty much everything that was shown pre-Halo 5 coming out really hyped up that the MC was seen as some kind of traitor that seemed to have been framed for something horrible.

All of this culminated with Locke punching the MC and then nothing at all.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

What about the plot was so confusing that required book knowledge?

Agreed. This game had no plot to even be confused about. Just 5 hours of walking places after Cortana.

 

[victreeb3l]

Yeah, the marketing was really misleading. Even MC going "rogue" didn't really end up being a big deal. I mean the commercials had the damn UNSC saying that John was KIA.

I enjoyed what I played but I cant say thats what I expected or wanted.

 

[diaspora]

Honestly, this whole reveal about Cortana seems like it should have been obvious in retrospect. I mean, plugging an AI into strange forerunner machines was never going to end well.

 

[golem]

Overall I liked H5 and the way the story is progressing but 343 still needs help with their storytelling. The whole hunt the chief thing felt rushed and there wasn't any actual tension produced by that plot device.

The non-shooty levels which were supposed to give the player a breather and convey some plot points mostly fell flat. There were some interesting things to learn on Meridian but they should have added more conversations with the civilians milling about, let them interact more with the spartans. Also the mission objectives flashing across the visor every few seconds were annoying. I felt the Sanghelios section didn't have much to it at all. And why is everyone so eager to trust Halsey in H5?

Finally, is it just me or am I crazy in saying I sort of miss the flood? Hoping to see a keymind or at least a gravemind make an appearance soon, especially since they can logic plague all these sucker AIs.

 

[DudeWithNoName]

Honestly, 343i needs to be called out on their totally false and misleading advertising for this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCZ...7pwc_LIrc&annotation_id=annotation_4032931741

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht7pwc_LIrc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCP0GSB2A8E

This gives off a way more ominous vibe than the actual game. Yeah, MC and Locke are adversaries in the beginning but it culminated early on with a lame fistfight (which is totally out of character for the Master Chief, IMO) and ended with them helping each other by the end of the game.

Either 343i played us like damn fiddles, or these trailers were their original vision for the story and it was heavily modified in the final product.

Mitch? That you?

 

[Tengrave]

How in the hell do they do a Hunt the Truth season 3 now even if they wanted to? I like the game a lot but calling it "The greatest hunt in gaming history" is way off.

 

[Brojito]

The Hunt for the Truth thing was complete BS. The entire storyline they were hyping up through ads never happened. FFS it's even on the back cover of the game box and yet Chief vs Locke plays no meaningful part in the story. It's beyond misleading...

Since this conflict never happens, it also means that Locke and crew are completely pointless in the story. Why are we playing as these guys? The story barely even makes an effort to make you care about them. I couldn't even tell you anything meaningful about these characters... Vale is really into Elites, I guess. Buck is Nathan Fillion. Tanaka, uh, says the words before drops? Locke is... Stoic? Emotionless?

But as it turns out, Fireteam Osiris actually isn't the blandest group of characters in the game. Because on the other side, you've got Blue Team, who basically announce their names at the beginning and then do nothing for the entire rest of the story. Again, why are these "characters" here? What purpose do they serve other than just fan-service? Apparently Blue Team is really cool in the books, but here they're nothing more than cardboard cutouts.

Does 343's lead writer know about things like "character arcs"? If they wanted to do like a Halo 2 thing with the story, did they think to go back and look at why people like the Arbiter as a character? Or what the purpose of having a multi-perspective story is?

Then there's Cortana, and yet another humans vs. AIs plot out of nowhere, because that concept certainly hasn't been run into the ground yet. Here's what I don't understand... Is she supposed to be rampant? Because that's the only thing that could believable explain this sudden change of character and motivation. But the game tells you several times that Cortana found a "cure" and fixed herself, apparently, so... I guess she's not rampant? She just found the Domain and suddenly became a crazy megalomaniac who wants to take over the galaxy. So Cortana is OK with killing thousands, possibly millions of people just to play the role of enforcer and "save the galaxy from itself." Which is not only totally out of character for her, it's also ironic because the galaxy is probably the most stable in Halo 5 than it's ever been. The Elites have beaten back the Covenant to their last stronghold, the Flood is gone, the Didact is gone, etc.

343 needs a new writer, this shit is terrible.

 

[Poodlestrike]

How in the hell do they do a Hunt the Truth season 3 now even if they wanted to? I like the game a lot but calling it "The greatest hunt in gaming history" is way off.

Well, Hunt the Truth was more about pursuing... well, the truth, than it was about pursuing the Chief specifically. S3 could follow an anti-Cortana resistance movement, probably lead by ONI who's suddenly up against something even more pervasive and powerful than they are.

Also, IIRC, the marketing always promised it as the START of the greatest hunt in gaming history... storyline's not over yet

The Hunt for the Truth thing was complete BS. The entire storyline they were hyping up through ads never happened. FFS it's even on the back cover of the game box and yet Chief vs Locke plays no meaningful part in the story. It's beyond misleading...

Since this conflict never happens, it also means that Locke and crew are completely pointless in the story. Why are we playing as these guys? The story barely even makes an effort to make you care about them. I couldn't even tell you anything meaningful about these characters... Vale is really into Elites, I guess. Buck is Nathan Fillion. Tanaka, uh, says the words before drops? Locke is... Stoic? Emotionless?

But as it turns out, Fireteam Osiris actually isn't the blandest group of characters in the game. Because on the other side, you've got Blue Team, who basically announce their names at the beginning and then do nothing for the entire rest of the story. Again, why are these "characters" here? What purpose do they serve other than just fan-service? Apparently Blue Team is really cool in the books, but here they're nothing more than cardboard cutouts.

Does 343's lead writer know about things like "character arcs"? If they wanted to do like a Halo 2 thing with the story, did they think to go back and look at why people like the Arbiter as a character? Or what the purpose of having a multi-perspective story is?

Then there's Cortana, and yet another humans vs. AIs plot out of nowhere, because that concept certainly hasn't been run into the ground yet. Here's what I don't understand... Is she supposed to be rampant? Because that's the only thing that could believable explain this sudden change of character and motivation. But the game tells you several times that Cortana found a "cure" and fixed herself, apparently, so... I guess she's not rampant? She just found the Domain and suddenly became a crazy megalomaniac who wants to take over the galaxy. So Cortana is OK with killing thousands, possibly millions of people just to play the role of enforcer and "save the galaxy from itself." Which is not only totally out of character for her, it's also ironic because the galaxy is probably the most stable in Halo 5 than it's ever been. The Elites have beaten back the Covenant to their last stronghold, the Flood is gone, the Didact is gone, etc.

343 needs a new writer, this shit is terrible.

The core thing about Cortana is... she's not wrong. The UNSC is essentially running a junta at this point, the Swords of Sanghelios are a fundamentally warlike culture, there's still people fighting and killing eachother all across the galaxy. Maybe she can do it better.

 

[kmag]

The Hunt for the Truth thing was complete BS. The entire storyline they were hyping up through ads never happened. FFS it's even on the back cover of the game box and yet Chief vs Locke plays no meaningful part in the story. It's beyond misleading...

Since this conflict never happens, it also means that Locke and crew are completely pointless in the story. Why are we playing as these guys? The story barely even makes an effort to make you care about them. I couldn't even tell you anything meaningful about these characters... Vale is really into Elites, I guess. Buck is Nathan Fillion. Tanaka, uh, says the words before drops? Locke is... Stoic? Emotionless?

But as it turns out, Fireteam Osiris actually isn't the blandest group of characters in the game. Because on the other side, you've got Blue Team, who basically announce their names at the beginning and then do nothing for the entire rest of the story. Again, why are these "characters" here? What purpose do they serve other than just fan-service? Apparently Blue Team is really cool in the books, but here they're nothing more than cardboard cutouts.

Does 343's lead writer know about things like "character arcs"? If they wanted to do like a Halo 2 thing with the story, did they think to go back and look at why people like the Arbiter as a character? Or what the purpose of having a multi-perspective story is?

Then there's Cortana, and yet another humans vs. AIs plot out of nowhere, because that concept certainly hasn't been run into the ground yet. Here's what I don't understand... Is she supposed to be rampant? Because that's the only thing that could believable explain this sudden change of character and motivation. But the game tells you several times that Cortana found a "cure" and fixed herself, apparently, so... I guess she's not rampant? She just found the Domain and suddenly became a crazy megalomaniac who wants to take over the galaxy. So Cortana is OK with killing thousands, possibly millions of people just to play the role of enforcer and "save the galaxy from itself." Which is not only totally out of character for her, it's also ironic because the galaxy is probably the most stable in Halo 5 than it's ever been. The Elites have beaten back the Covenant to their last stronghold, the Flood is gone, the Didact is gone, etc.

343 needs a new writer, this shit is terrible.

Honestly it really should have been a Halo 3 redux at the beginning at least

1. Open with the first Blue team mission on the abandoned UNC station. Have Chief have his Cortana "message"
2. Have MC and Blue team* go on a multi mission chase to 'rescue' Cortana from some sort of forerunner installation/ other macguffiny type thing. Hell it could even be the Warden.
3. Then have MC get split up with blue team but reunite with Cortana, and have Cortana have MC complete some missions for X reason while in essence it's just part of Cortana's plan
4. Have the final chapter be "it was me all along, James" revealing Cortana's plan and her asking MC to join her having slowly introduced her supposed reasoning during the previous missions.

*didn't actually have to be Blue team, it could have been Osiris with MC

but no they wanted to have the sell of something new in the MC vs Locke misleading campaign.

Note I'm not saying the above is good or even particularly better than what we go, but it would have given them opportunity to actually show a bit of growth of the actual main characters.

 

[Orca]

I really wish 343 would stop assuming everyone who enjoys Halo games and their stories enjoys them enough to read half a dozen books or whatever the hell it takes to understand the plot anymore.

I haven't read any of them and I think I'm following along fine. There's probably a lot of backstory I don't know, but everything in the game seems all right.

 

[CryptiK]

People will say that advertising doesn't always and has never really reflected on the actual game for past Halo games.

However, everything from the ads, previews, Hunt and Truth and pretty much everything that was shown pre-Halo 5 coming out really hyped up that the MC was seen as some kind of traitor that seemed to have been framed for something horrible.

All of this culminated with Locke punching the MC and then nothing at all.

The worst offender was when they showed the swords of sanghelios trailer and made it seem that Blue Team had gone through the area and you had to scan where they had been etc. None of that is in the game and Blue team are long gone by then.

I mean look at this shit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKbStE0Cz8Y

 

[Brojito]

Honestly it really should have been a Halo 3 redux at the beginning at least

1. Open with the first Blue team mission on the abandoned UNC station. Have Chief have his Cortana "message"
2. Have MC and Blue team* go on a multi mission chase to 'rescue' Cortana from some sort of forerunner installation/ other macguffiny type thing. Hell it could even be the Warden.
3. Then have MC get split up with blue team but reunite with Cortana, and have Cortana have MC complete some missions for X reason while in essence it's just part of Cortana's plan
4. Have the final chapter be "it was me all along, James" revealing Cortana's plan and her asking MC to join her having slowly introduced her supposed reasoning during the previous missions.

*didn't actually have to be Blue team, it could have been Osiris with MC

but no they wanted to have the sell of something new in the MC vs Locke misleading campaign.

They should have cut out Osiris completely, in my opinion. Just replace them with MC and Blue Team and then use the extra screentime to now develop these characters properly. Locke's entire purpose basically began and ended with the ad campaign.

The Argent Moon mission was also pointless, if you think about it. There was nothing in that mission that had any relevance to the rest of the story, save for the random vision Master Chief has. He could have had it anywhere else.

The story should have been opened with Blue Team leading the assault on the snow planet to rescue Halsey and kill Jul. Blue Team takes out Jul because they're badasses, and then we could also work Master Chief's vision in by having him come into contact with some Forerunner device on the planet.

This also means we could get a nice scene between Halsey and her Spartan IIs - we could use this opportunity to actually learn about Blue Team and why they're important, and set up the rest of the story. Maybe replace Argent Moon with a flashback mission or something, if you really wanted to show why MC and Blue Team were close. Then set off trying to find Cortana.

 

[User 73706]

I actually remember reading something pre-launch about how the Blue Team weapons aren't actually unique. They remake them between missions by re-customizing standard kit. Not sure where Linda would get the supplies to redo her paintjob, but there you go.

All those scopes on her helmet are actually containers for stencils, glitter and spray paint. It's like how Jorge keeps his cookies in that canister on his chest plate.

 

[RoKKeR]

The thing I keep coming back to is the complete lack of mystery in the game that the marketing campaign built up prior to launch. "The official story is that the Master Chief is dead."

Where the hell was any of that??? The story really picks up in the second half of the game and it definitely takes you for a ride, but man, it's like the marketing and story teams were on completely different planets. Where is Chief being labeled as a traitor in this game? Where is the duality between Locke's side of the story and Chief's side? Where is the wider scope portraying the public reaction to the cataclysmic Guardian events touched on in the ad campaigns and Hunt the Truth?

?

Absolutely nowhere. I understand marketing is about creating a tone and building excitement for the game, but man... that stuff was setting up to be intriguing. And that is my biggest disappointment with the game. Not necessarily the story itself, just that it ignored everything that made the campaign sound so interesting prior to launch.

 

[Einchy]

They should hire their marketing team to write Halo 6's story.

I think the biggest issue with the marketing V what was actually in the game is that past Halo game's had marketing that didn't reflect that game but it never claimed to. This whole marketing campaign was about what the story was actually going to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRMUYpH7bQk

ODST was never like that but it's not like they showed actual ODST character in that ad and made it seem like that's what the story was going to be about. In Hunt the Truth the Guardians were destroying colonies and ONI was trying to cover it up and it seemed MC went AWOL to stop it. Where was any of that? We never even saw ONI in the game, they were supposed to be a big part of the story or at least seemed from all the media they put out.

Man, I really enjoyed the actual gameplay and most of the levels were pretty good but the story was a huge letdown.

 

[RoKKeR]

They should hire their marketing team to write Halo 6 story.

Yes. Marketing team + whoever wrote the Hunt the Truth podcast. Hopefully then we will get a human story with character develop, mystery, motivations beyond "Commander Lasky told me to", that sort of thing.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

The thing I keep coming back to is the complete lack of mystery in the game that the marketing campaign built up prior to launch. "The official story is that the Master Chief is dead."

Where the hell was any of that??? The story really picks up in the second half of the game and it definitely takes you for a ride, but man, it's like the marketing and story teams were on completely different planets. Where is Chief being labeled as a traitor in this game? Where is the duality between Locke's side of the story and Chief's side? Where is the wider scope portraying the public reaction to the cataclysmic Guardian events touched on in the ad campaigns and Hunt the Truth?

?

Absolutely nowhere. I understand marketing is about creating a tone and building excitement for the game, but man... that stuff was setting up to be intriguing. And that is my biggest disappointment with the game. Not necessarily the story itself, just that it ignored everything that made the campaign sound so interesting prior to launch.

Wow. I completely forgot about any of this traitor stuff. MC is dead. Etc. Etc. That is just plain fucked up how much of a lie their marketing was. I don't understand it...at all. I hope 343 hears people's complaints, because in the end they're going to make bank on this game and it would be easy to think "Wow. People really loved this game. Let's make another just like it."

 

[Plywood]

I haven't read any of them and I think I'm following along fine. There's probably a lot of backstory I don't know, but everything in the game seems all right.

It's easy enough to follow the events that are presented in front of you yes, but for those not following the extended universe there's a lot that gets left in the dark for them.

Who is blue team, what is rampancy, how did Cortana cure it, what is the domain, who are Osiris, who gave Locke his orders, etc? These are just some questions I could see someone who doesn't know the EU asking, some of which I've actually seen asked mind you.

While I suppose if you've been keeping up with the ad campaign / EU I'm sure you'd be wondering why Chief was announced dead if Spartans are supposedly listed MIA and how any of the events in #huntthetruth coincide or have an effect on the events or characters in H5 or beyond among other things.

From what I understand the writer for Halo 5(Brian Reed) ignored all prior canon such as and most notably the Greg Bear Forerunner trilogy as well as the #huntthetruth setup which comes across as a massive oversight on 343's part, unless it was intentional which only makes it all the more confusing and pointless. There's nothing there storywise for those following the EU there's just no payoff whatsoever and neither is there anything substantial enough for those who just play the campaign. No one wins.

As it is Halo 2 remains the best self-contained story in the series and I wish more games as a whole would take notes from it.

 

[Sushigod7]

Honestly, 343i needs to be called out on their totally false and misleading advertising for this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCZ...7pwc_LIrc&annotation_id=annotation_4032931741

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht7pwc_LIrc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCP0GSB2A8E

This gives off a way more ominous vibe than the actual game. Yeah, MC and Locke are adversaries in the beginning but it culminated early on with a lame fistfight (which is totally out of character for the Master Chief, IMO) and ended with them helping each other by the end of the game.

Either 343i played us like damn fiddles, or these trailers were their original vision for the story and it was heavily modified in the final product.

Really was a ridiculous direction they went there for marketing. I'd missed that first one (or forgot it).

 

[victreeb3l]

The worst offender was when they showed the swords of sanghelios trailer and made it seem that Blue Team had gone through the area and you had to scan where they had been etc. None of that is in the game and Blue team are long gone by then.

I mean look at this shit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKbStE0Cz8Y

I never saw that footage but man so many events and dialogues changed. Then again it's a live demo and I expect a lot of these things to be scripted. Stuff like Locke directing the team by name instead of generic commands like "Form up on me / Get that weapon" etc.

 

[Glass]

I still don't get how the 2 most recent live action ad's work with the campaigns story. Why did they need to declare Master Chief dead to everyone? The UNSC/ONI know exactly why Chief goes AWOL, it's not a mystery to them. Locke is using non lethal means to bring him in even.

 

[Brojito]

I have to believe that this was a Destiny situation and the story was rewritten halfway through development. I know that's a bit tinfoil-y but it's the only logical way to explain why so many things built up to nothing. Lots of things feel like holdovers from earlier plans.

I mean, the other alternative is that 343 just made up a fake story for the entire marketing of the game because it sounded cooler. Or they were clumsily trying to pull a bait and switch, except the switch part ended up being... nothing.

 

[Flipyap]

I really don't like the way they tiptoe around the issue of Locke working for the bad guys. Not only does it completely deflate the tension in the "hunt" part of the story, but it makes Locke seem kinda... slow.

Buck: "You know, we're kinda-sorta tasked with capturing THE hero of our entire species (and then some) and bringing him to a shady-ass top secret facility where he's surely going to be executed. This will proooobably make everyone hate us."
Locke: *blank stare* "You're not the only one here because of him."
Buck: *blank stare*

Even as the game ends, we're never told if Locke (the main protagonist!) ever had a change of heart and abandoned his messed up mission or if he's still sleepwalking from one improvised objective to the next, the way he has been throughout the game.

He might be a hitman whose missions would rob the series of three of its most interesting characters, which you'd expect to be a major conflict of interest for the player, but instead he's presented as the most inoffensive, selfless and impossibly polite dude in the known universe. They've tried so desperately to make him likable, they've managed to completely rob him of personality and the story of its advertised premise.

 

[DecepticonCora]

I have to believe that this was a Destiny situation and the story was rewritten halfway through development. I know that's a bit tinfoil-y but it's the only logical way to explain why so many things built up to nothing. Lots of things feel like holdovers from earlier plans.

I mean, the other alternative is that 343 just made up a fake story for the entire marketing of the game because it sounded cooler. Or they were clumsily trying to pull a bait and switch, except the switch part ended up being... nothing.

Try this. Replace Cortana with the Didact and see if the story still makes as much sense. It does for me. I kinda agree that something changed.

 

[TechOne]

Noble Team in Halo Reach dies so evil AI Jesus Cortana can survive and "save" humanity.

RIP Noble Team.

 

[PetulantChild]

The whole Locke and crew being completely useless thing has just made me trust 343i even less than I already did (being little to none, based on their attitudes towards criticism and the MCC debacle). Seriously why build this whole tone about ONI being scumbags with HTT? Why spend millions of dollars advertising that Chief had gone rogue when it amounts to literally nothing? I have a feeling it's because if they advertised the actual plot of the game with Cortana being alive and a fucking K-Mart discount Metal Gear villain (something else they flat out lied/mislead about) then a large group of people would probably know that the story was gonna be bullshit. I don't even understand what is going on in the heads of the leaders of 343 at all.

Noble Team in Halo Reach dies so evil AI Jesus Cortana can survive and "save" humanity.

RIP Noble Team.

This pisses me off so much. Ever since Halo 3 Cortana has been handled the same as Darth Vader in the Star Wars Prequels. Before she was a side character who was likable and part of a bigger thing, but because of popularity she became an all encompassing plot point, it's really freaking annoying.

 

[Brakke]

As it is Halo 2 remains the best self-contained story in the series and I wish more games as a whole would take notes from it.

"Finish the fight" tho. Halo 2 is the least contained.

 

[Einchy]

I don't mind this game being about Cortana again since Master Chief and Cortana's relationship is my favorite part of Halo games. However, I am bummed out that she's not evil and she won't be around much in Halo 6 (at least not in a friendly sense) but I do think the new approach is interesting.

I've complained comply about the length of Halo 5 already but I think that also was a big reason that the story just wasn't that great. All the plot points just happened back to back and they had no room to actually develop or have any weight to them.

Locke goes from being cold and seeing the MC as "just another target" to realising that the MC needs to be saved in a matter of about 3 hours. This shift in focus for Locke should have carried some weight, there should have been some gravitas to it but because it comes and goes so quickly, there really isn't any.

I just can't wrap my head around how this game is actually shorter than ODST when ODST was supposed to be this small and quick campaign.

Hopefully 343 really takes the criticism to heart for Halo 6 or they'll be 0 to 3 in terms of memorable campaigns. All around I enjoyed their campaigns (mostly for the gameplay) but they are still leagues behind Bungie when you compare all of the games. Things like the Elites switches factions took time and they made sense. For 343, it either happens so quickly where the character development is thrown together or it just comes off as forced. Why exactly did Cortana just turn into Hitler overnight when she was completely fine for 3 games? Hell, even in Halo 4 when she was losing her mind she wasn't as fucking nuts as she is in Halo 5.

I'm rambling at this point but yeah, I dunno, 343's story team or whatever really needs to get their shit together for 6.

 

[Monocle]

343's story team got their shit together for Halo 5 tbh. It may not be a wonderful self-contained story like Halo CE or ODST, but it's so rich with lore, which it conveys in a much more coherent and accessible way than Halo 4. I know this isn't necessarily an either/or thing, but I'd rather the campaign be big on plot and light on melodrama rather than the other way around. (BTW, some of your issues with the story are explained in the datapads.)

Between Halo 5, Hunt the Truth, and Saint's Testimony, 343's nailing it.

 

[Bornstellar]

I don't mind this game being about Cortana again since Master Chief and Cortana's relationship is my favorite part of Halo games. However, I am bummed out that she's not evil and she won't be around much in Halo 6 (at least not in a friendly sense) but I do think the new approach is interesting.

I've complained comply about the length of Halo 5 already but I think that also was a big reason that the story just wasn't that great. All the plot points just happened back to back and they had no room to actually develop or have any weight to them.

Locke goes from being cold and seeing the MC as "just another target" to realising that the MC needs to be saved in a matter of about 3 hours. This shift in focus for Locke should have carried some weight, there should have been some gravitas to it but because it comes and goes so quickly, there really isn't any.

I just can't wrap my head around how this game is actually shorter than ODST when ODST was supposed to be this small and quick campaign.

Hopefully 343 really takes the criticism to heart for Halo 6 or they'll be 0 to 3 in terms of memorable campaigns. All around I enjoyed their campaigns (mostly for the gameplay) but they are still leagues behind Bungie when you compare all of the games. Things like the Elites switches factions took time and they made sense. For 343, it either happens so quickly where the character development is thrown together or it just comes off as forced. Why exactly did Cortana just turn into Hitler overnight when she was completely fine for 3 games? Hell, even in Halo 4 when she was losing her mind she wasn't as fucking nuts as she is in Halo 5.

I'm rambling at this point but yeah, I dunno, 343's story team or whatever really needs to get their shit together for 6.

The game sure as hell isn't short on Legendary. Maybe that's why I was fine with the plot? I had tons of breathing room between plot points, and was able to hear a lot of supplemental dialog from Osiris.

 

[Plywood]

"Finish the fight" tho. Halo 2 is the least contained.

In reference to the EU and barring the cliffhanger it does an excellent job of delivering information throughout the campaign without relying or expecting you to know information outside of the game, so yes it's the best self contained and granted the EU wasn't as fleshed out then, but that's missing the point.

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

Just finished the campaign on heroic co-op with my brother, took me nine and a half hours which is pretty good imo. Locke is still dull as fuck but damn, Blue team kicking ass together with the old Halo music playing was so good. SO GOOD.

 

[Monocle]

The game sure as hell isn't short on Legendary. Maybe that's why I was fine with the plot? I had tons of breathing room between plot points, and was able to hear a lot of supplemental dialog from Osiris.

Yep. No way is it ODST length if you actually slow down long enough to pay attention to the dialog and check out the environments a little. I wonder if people who complain about the length just rush through as fast as possible. It's not 343's job to satisfy players who treat the game like a timed arcade shooter (if that's what's really going on here).

 

[TheOddOne]

Saint's Testimony.

Sell me on this as best you can without spoiling, Monocle.