So I just finished Halo 5... We need to talk

[TopWargamer]

SPOILERS!

If you haven't beaten Halo 5 yet, don't read this thread. You have been warned.

 

If you know me you know that my favorite game series ever is Halo. I love it. The story is superb. But Halo 5 really messes with well, everything. First off, I went to the midnight launch around 8 hours ago, waited for the to install for an hour, and then marathon'd the campaign for the next six hours. It was a super short game,but it was really fun/entertaining. BUT! There are a few things we need to desperately talk about. Luckily I made a list of "sins" as I was playing Halo 5. Why? Because I played Halo 4. 

 

Anyways, here are the notes I took of the campaign and my general thoughts on them.

 

(In no particular order)

1) Master Chief (sort of) abandoning the UNSC way too easily. Seriously 343i, you could have done a much better job at this. Everything started too quickly and abruptly. It really needed to be expanded out more. Master Chief had a dream or vision or whatever the hell that was, then knows that Cortana is on Meridian because magic. UNSC calls him back and says that Locke's team will handle it and Master Chief says "lol nope" and basically runs off. That's how this game starts. That's how "the greatest hunt in gaming history" began. How lame. Poor execution, as simple as that.

 

2) (This one is just me being a picky Halo nerd.) Hunters travel/fight in pairs of two. Your first encounter with the Hunters had them in a group of 3. It should have been 2, 4 ,6, etc.

 

3) The Dominion was (obviously) thrown into Halo 5's plot just to bring back Cortana. It's apparently some kind of Forerunner space magic that makes AIs live forever. Well okay fine, the only problem is that the Dominion isn't covered in any Halo related material ever (games, books, etc. included) up until Halo 5. 

 

4) Cortana essentially being "Queen of the Promethians/Forerunners." I cannot even begin to describe how stupid this is. Basically once Cortana cures her rampancy by using space magic, she finds the Forerunner world of Genesis, and the Promethians instantly decide to help her and basically make her their ruler, because plot or some shit like that. That would never happen (even though it did, gggrrr). Why? Okay, let's take a crash course in human-Forerunner relations. In a nutshell, the Ur-Didact (not the Iso-Didact) hated the humans because the Mantle of Responsibility was supposed to be passed to them and he thought the Forerunners should remain the keepers of the Mantle forever. Ur-Didact had a device known as the Composer which was used to convert organic (afaik mostly human) lives into machine-esque beings that would follow his commands (aka the Promethians). Blah blah blah stuff happened and Ur-Didact was locked up until Halo 4. So since those Promoethians were basically his personal army, he almost 99.99% made them despise the humans. Therefore the Promethians would never follow a human or something of human origin.

 

5) Cortana turning kind of evil just cause. Her plan is to bring galactic peace. Cool, eh? Nah man, it's peace through fear (aka giant robots, essentially, known as Guardians) and anybody who dares opposes this "peace" would die, because that's how the Forerunners did it. Okay, why? Why do this Cortana? Not once has Cortana ever been this way in any sort of Halo media, and now all of sudden she's gone crazyish. Please 343i, if you're going to change the story of Halo around, DO IT WELL DAMMIT.

 

6) Cortana trying to give the Mantle of Responsibility to AIs. Get over yourself girl, the Precursors said it was for the humans. Plus it just made for a kinda lame plot.

 

7) Master Chief was kind of shoved aside this game in favor of Spartan Locke. Personally I have no problem with there being a new playable main character, but I really would have loved for them to have equal screen time. Halo 5 was really focused on Spartan Locke and not so much on the Chief, even though he is the main protagonist.

 

And ya that's pretty much it. So if you've beaten the game, I'd like to know your thoughts and would love to discuss these seven points.

[Muz]

People still play this game?

[TopWargamer]

People still play this game?

It's only one of the largest, most popular, and most recognizable gaming brands in history, so yes, people still very actively play Halo.

[Muz]

It's only one of the largest, most popular, and most recognizable gaming brands in history, so yes, people still very actively play Halo.

I'd say was, I don't think it's that popular anymore.

[TopWargamer]

I'd say was, I don't think it's that popular anymore.

Then you're sorely mistaken.

[RuffRuffmcgruff]

I'd say was, I don't think it's that popular anymore.

 Completely agree, pretty sure Halo 4 helped to start putting the nails in the coffin, as sad as it is only a matter of time before the lid is finally shut.

[SubTract]

It's only one of the largest, most popular, and most recognizable gaming brands in history, so yes, people still very actively play Halo.

 

It may be popular but there are at least 3 games that are more popular. That's just in the last 3 months.

 

Edit: What's more interesting is this

[niofalpha]

1. I agree

 

2. I agree

 

3. The domain was mentioned in several books (The trilogy with Cryptum in it), and was mentioned in Halo 4 (The first time you activated a terminal), and possibly in Halo 3 terminals (If memory serves). It making Cortana last for ever could be because Forerunners had supper advanced Ai's, that could last longer and thus could have had a way to heal her?

 

4. A. The Iso- Didact hated humans because of the flood (He blamed it's creation on them, plus they blew up Forerunner cities that were infected with out warning). B. If I remember correctly the Domain was basically a control net for Forerunners. She got access to the domain (I believe in one of the Halo 4 cut scenes (The one after the Mission with the Elephant thing and they Librarian says Chief has a gift) the Librarian says Cortana is a gifted AI by the Foreunners" or something.) Which could have something to do with it... 

 

5. It was shown in Halo 4 She was going rampant, AI's go rampant after a few years. The Domain may have not fixed all of her rampancy, just her not dying...

 

6. Like she said in the game, humans lifes are too short. They can't last as long as AI's can, so they're not as suitable for long term plannings.

 

7. Yeah, I would have loved to see Blue Team's side of things on Meridian.

 

My biggest issue was that it was so predictable. I predicted the basic outline of the plot (Cortana surviving by the Domain, having power and being crazy (Always ends up good)) when Halo 4 had just come out...

 

I have a few theory's on what will happen in Halo 6.

[Serin]

It was once Bungie's plan to send Cortana off the deep end  back before Halo 1 launched. Curious that they've gone down that route here, but I dunno, I kinda like it.
Though.... I'll admit that I'm a little meh with just another AI's going nuts and imposing their will on organics. That trope has been done to death.

Ditto on what Niofalpha noted about the stuff in the novels. It makes much more sense if you've read them.

Halsey was part of the Librarian's plan, an eventuality that she planned for that would go on to create the Spartans. So given that Halsey is the culmination of milenia of planning, it makes sense that Cortana is equally as 'special' given she's a copy of Halsey's brain.
 

[IrshaadH]

My main gripe is that, as soon as the plot was sort of starting to mend itself, the campaign ended. My hope is that, in halo 6, they find out the composer merged the didact and cortana together, which is why she's still alive but evil. That way, this mess of a plot could somehow become believable.

Either way, I'm done with xbox and halo after this trilogy is over.

[trag1c]

Can they finally put this series to rest. Halo 1-2 we're unreal, 3 was not as good but still awesome. Halo 4 was a big turd and now its Halo 5 which is just another really terrible AAA game. As well as the really terrible movies they released. 

[Serin]

My main gripe is that, as soon as the plot was sort of starting to mend itself, the campaign ended. My hope is that, in halo 6, they find out the composer merged the didact and cortana together, which is why she's still alive but evil. That way, this mess of a plot could somehow become believable.

Either way, I'm done with xbox and halo after this trilogy is over.

She did repeat a bunch of the lines the Didact had in 4. 

[IrshaadH]

She did repeat a bunch of the lines the Didact had in 4.

Precisely. If they explain it that way, then set up a super spartan team consisting of chief, arbiter, Locke and palmer in the next game, 343 could actually redeem themselves.

Did anyone else realize the writers for halo 5 are the ones also responsible for spartan ops. Definitely explains a lot...

[Serin]

Crimson, go there and push a button.

[Ariito]

Short campaign .... ends off with a cliffhanger gr8 stuff. 

Halo 3 best halo 

[ivhyn]

In my opinion the campaign was beyond stupid and not very well executed while ending in a cliffhanger (and we know since Halo 2 that's not a good idea). There's way too many lose ends, too much lore that leads nowhere. Atleast they brought back a lot of the original expanded universe (Olly Olly Oxeen Free, Blue Team, Halsey's Journal, etc.)

The campaign was pretty much the only thing I had interest in in Halo 5.

 

(In no particular order)

1) Master Chief (sort of) abandoning the UNSC way too easily. Seriously 343i, you could have done a much better job at this. Everything started too quickly and abruptly. It really needed to be expanded out more. Master Chief had a dream or vision or whatever the hell that was, then knows that Cortana is on Meridian because magic. UNSC calls him back and says that Locke's team will handle it and Master Chief says "lol nope" and basically runs off. That's how this game starts. That's how "the greatest hunt in gaming history" began. How lame. Poor execution, as simple as that.

 

3) The Dominion was (obviously) thrown into Halo 5's plot just to bring back Cortana. It's apparently some kind of Forerunner space magic that makes AIs live forever. Well okay fine, the only problem is that the Dominion isn't covered in any Halo related material ever (games, books, etc. included) up until Halo 5. 

 

4) Cortana essentially being "Queen of the Promethians/Forerunners." I cannot even begin to describe how stupid this is. Basically once Cortana cures her rampancy by using space magic, she finds the Forerunner world of Genesis, and the Promethians instantly decide to help her and basically make her their ruler, because plot or some shit like that. That would never happen (even though it did, gggrrr). Why? Okay, let's take a crash course in human-Forerunner relations. In a nutshell, the Ur-Didact (not the Iso-Didact) hated the humans because the Mantle of Responsibility was supposed to be passed to them and he thought the Forerunners should remain the keepers of the Mantle forever. Ur-Didact had a device known as the Composer which was used to convert organic (afaik mostly human) lives into machine-esque beings that would follow his commands (aka the Promethians). Blah blah blah stuff happened and Ur-Didact was locked up until Halo 4. So since those Promoethians were basically his personal army, he almost 99.99% made them despise the humans. Therefore the Promethians would never follow a human or something of human origin.

 

5) Cortana turning kind of evil just cause. Her plan is to bring galactic peace. Cool, eh? Nah man, it's peace through fear (aka giant robots, essentially, known as Guardians) and anybody who dares opposes this "peace" would die, because that's how the Forerunners did it. Okay, why? Why do this Cortana? Not once has Cortana ever been this way in any sort of Halo media, and now all of sudden she's gone crazyish. Please 343i, if you're going to change the story of Halo around, DO IT WELL DAMMIT.

 

6) Cortana trying to give the Mantle of Responsibility to AIs. Get over yourself girl, the Precursors said it was for the humans. Plus it just made for a kinda lame plot.

 

7) Master Chief was kind of shoved aside this game in favor of Spartan Locke. Personally I have no problem with there being a new playable main character, but I really would have loved for them to have equal screen time. Halo 5 was really focused on Spartan Locke and not so much on the Chief, even though he is the main protagonist.

So firstly, yes, contrary to the marketing, Chief going AWOL wasn't really taken anywhere, except for the fact that he abandon's his duty (he doesn't really have anything different than fighting for the UNSC) and now he vanishes for a dead AI companion that he desperately needs as she was the most human thing he had in the last few years.

 

Secondly, it's Domain   like the forerunner internet where minds and information collide. Cortana seems to think that the UNSC restricts (idk if that's the case because if not then there's even less reason for her rampage) intelligent AI's to a lifecycle of ~7 years while she's pretty much immortal in the Domain.

 

Thirdly, maybe the forerunner AI's like Warden Eternal wanted to join Cortana in the domain (just like other UNSC AI (like Governor Sloan)) and therefore attacked Osiris.

OR - just maybe - the didact still lives in the domain as I'm not sure if he was composed or destroyed (after Halo 4 when Blue team encounter him) and controls Cortana to keep the humans from getting the mantle of responsibility.

 

Also, the mantle was there before the forerunners existed, and while they used cruel ways to keep smaller lifeforms from rising (remember when the humans were sent back to the stoneage when they started colonizing), I don't think it was the precursor's intention to reign with terror (and I don't think they did,but how are we supposed to know, maybe the precursors terrorized the galaxy while the forerunners were actually the good guys... who knows). They essentially made a plan to take the Mantle away from the forerunners in form of the flood, they weren't able to fight it back and failed the test. I think in one of the books (Primordium iirc) there's a few pages where the last precursor says that humans are the next to be tested for the Mantle (because the forerunners failed).

 

This is an example of how 343i's story just doesn't line up correctly.
I liked how in bungie's universe, the forerunners were still mythical creatures that destroyed themselves, while 343i took the "mythical" part from the forerunners, made them crazy injust lunatics and created a new race that has that "mythical" factor again while coming up with a dumb reason to stick it all together. At this point, the plotline of Halo is a fragmented mess and one of the reasons why I stopped caring for it.

 

Just my 

[Guest]

I can't stand the way they told the story, the two teams,switching back and forth between master cheif and the other guy, I only played it for an hour or so, gonna exchange it for a good game....if I'm playin halo it needs to be master cheif

[Curufinwe_wins]

The game story felt like it was written by a 12 year old. And even though hpthe game was fairly short by halo standards, it was 2.5 hours of cutscenes/plottext and literally didnt move one bit.

[SnakeDrone]

Just saying

[GoldSrc]

I thought Halo 4 was meh, so I didn't had high hopes for Halo 5.

I may watch a walkthrough some day.

[Kuyth]

It has it's great moments, including that extra scene when you finish the game on legendary.. Multiplayer is amazing also.