When I first experienced the Halo 5 campaign in its entirety I was bewildered. Lets start with why.
They killed off Jul M’dama immediately!
In the Kilo 5 trilogy Karen Traviss portrayed Jul M’dama as this smart and well organised leader (maybe not specifically w/ those attributes but something positive) and he was going to lead the storm covenant to greatness. I can’t understand why 343i decided to kill him off with the snap of a finger. No boss battle or epic showdown, just boring and shallow old Locke stabbing him in the neck after doing a short dance. Not to mention all his supporters died bloody immediately. They’re supposed to be Covenant Zealots 343, the best of the best of the elites and they all died like that?! Did Bungie not hand you the memo? Surely they would put up some fight and not seem like a bunch of silly untrained bandits which is far from what they are. I expected Jul M’dama to be a key player in the story or just a side villain at least with his Storm Covenant fleet posing somewhat of a threat to the UNSC.
They didn’t pick up with the sort-of cliffhanger from Halo 4’s Spartan Ops. Basically Halsey is captured by the group led by M’dama and FLEETCOM sends Spartan Palmer to execute Halsey. Palmer fails and leaves Halsey with an amputated left arm. She then answers Jul’s question of 'What is it you desire" with “It’s simple. I want revenge” in a cutscene. The idea of one of the greatest scientists in the UNSC siding with the Covenant would have made for some great story telling and new toys for the covenant too. It could also have added at least 3-4 hours to the lacking campaign if properly integrated into the story. I find it really stupid that 343 didn’t pursue this plot point as it had so much potential. Unless I’m a massive idiot for missing out on something like a book that explains this (if so, please tell me what it is).
The weird key things that displayed the location of all Forerunner constructs in the galaxy were not even touched in Halo 5’s story. Not even once. Again I feel 343 screwed up on this and could have done better! That was another plot point that would’ve added more interesting story to the campaign if only in a few cutscenes. I wish they’d commission someone to write a Halo book about the events between Halo 4 and 5 and tie up all these loose ends.
The Locke vs Chief battle that they built up to with the Hunt the Truth podcasts (which were great) ends up being a damn cutscene?! But you already know that. So what are your thoughts? I’d like to hear 'em!
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> When I first experienced the Halo 5 campaign in its entirety I was bewildered. Lets start with why.
>
> 1. They killed off Jul M’dama immediately!
> In the Kilo 5 trilogy Karen Traviss portrayed Jul M’dama as this smart and well organised leader (maybe not specifically w/ those attributes but something positive) and he was going to lead the storm covenant to greatness. I can’t understand why 343i decided to kill him off with the snap of a finger. No boss battle or epic showdown, just boring and shallow old Locke stabbing him in the neck after doing a short dance. Not to mention all his supporters died bloody immediately. They’re supposed to be Covenant Zealots 343, the best of the best of the elites and they all died like that?! Did Bungie not hand you the memo? Surely they would put up some fight and not seem like a bunch of silly untrained bandits which is far from what they are. I expected Jul M’dama to be a key player in the story or just a side villain at least with his Storm Covenant fleet posing somewhat of a threat to the UNSC.
Wasn’t Jul attacked from behind?
Also, Osiris did “get the jump” on him and his elites.
Pretty much all the post Halo 4 stuff was handled in books/comics. Buck becoming a Spartan is in the book Halo New Blood, what happened to the Diadact and the Janus key is in Halo Esclation, and there is the book Hunters in the Dark which Spartan Vale is in I believe.
Welcome to halo 5 i haven’t met one person who liked the campaign and I’m the same as you where I feel like it could of been so much better if they put even an ounce of thought into the campaign
100% agree. Poorly played on 343’s part. Killing Jul there didn’t even serve them – it could have happened when the Arbiter’s forces took Sunaion, at least, to coincide with “extinguishing the Covenant forever.” - That stuff was handled in the Halo Escalation comic series. Sometimes mishandled, I’d say. Many of the plots set up in Halo 4 were unceremoniously cauterized. - See #2. Janus Key got swiped by a metarch-class ancilla, and then its facility got wrecked. End of pivotal plot device. - Locke v Chief was never interesting for itself to me. What I saw in this proposed animosity was a shift in the balance, where humanity divides between the idealistic forces like Lord Hood and Chief and the pragmatic self-interested forces like Osman and Locke. In the same way that the post-war was sundering the sangheili, I thought the post-war would sunder the humans, and the lines of allegiance would transition to paradigms rather than races. Vadam & the UNSC versus Mdama & ONI. As for the physical confrontation itself, ehn. Halo has never done those well, so I wasn’t expecting to be wowed by their big fight whenever Halo 5 got around to it.
I think the campaign gets more hate than it deserves. Sure the story, script weren’t great and offing Jul in a cut scene, recycled warden fights were lame, but the environments and missions were great IMO. Swords of Sanghelios is one of the best missions in the whole series. Sanghelios was very well done.
> 2533275021303660;1:
> When I first experienced the Halo 5 campaign in its entirety I was bewildered. Lets start with why.
>
> 1. They killed off Jul M’dama immediately!
This irritated me a lot when it first happened but I’ve come to the conclusion that 343i only killed him off because they thought that the Community overall didn’t like his character, they weren’t sure what to do with him, and that they wanted to emphasize how powerful Fireteam Osiris is when working as a unit.
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> 2. They didn’t pick up with the sort-of cliffhanger from Halo 4’s Spartan Ops.
Now that I think about it, they really didn’t pick up where that storyline left off, nor did they say anything about the Janus Key (which I thought was pretty important for everyone considering that it was a map that could lead them to powerful Forerunner artifacts and weapons).
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> 3. The weird key things that displayed the location of all Forerunner constructs in the galaxy were not even touched in Halo 5’s story.
It’s called the “Janus Key” and I agree, I feel that the storyline had so much potential but they just got rid of it, probably because they didn’t feel that the Community didn’t like Halo 4’s storylines (which is what I read somewhere, and is possibly the reason for all those storylines getting scrapped).
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> 4. The Locke vs Chief battle that they built up to with the Hunt the Truth podcasts (which were great) ends up being a damn cutscene?!
Agreed, this was pretty disappointing and I figured that their first encounter would’ve been more important or suspenseful than it was. I heard several rumors that Halo 5 had a troubled development so I’m wondering if they scrapped Halo 5’s original story and started over, thus almost breaking ties with the amazing and compelling “Hunt the Truth Campaign” and confusing many fans over why things didn’t happen how we expected them to (based on the podcasts). Also, the fight itself seemed pretty dumb. Spartans are supposed to be fast and trained fighters but Locke and Chief looked like two elderly ex-MMA fighters trying to settle a bet.
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> Pretty much all the post Halo 4 stuff was handled in books/comics. Buck becoming a Spartan is in the book Halo New Blood, what happened to the Diadact and the Janus key is in Halo Esclation, and there is the book Hunters in the Dark which Spartan Vale is in I believe.
Yep the place it kinda needed to be but shouldn’t all be at.
So I see you’re one of the new players in the wave of “Christmas Noobs”. Don’t worry, not trying to be offensive, that’s just popular terminology around this time. One question for you. Did you play Halo 4? If yes, did you play the Campaign? If yes, did you like it? If no, then you have your reasoning behind every single thing wrong with the Halo 5: Guardians’s campaign. Look, nobody liked Halo 4. Nobody. Everyone hated what the game had to offer, including Multiplayer and especially Campaign (bit more emphasis on Multiplayer, though). Don’t ask me why, but they did.
As such, 343’s writing department attempted to do damage control by ending off all potential story arcs that the campaign and Spartan Ops set up. Jul Mdama? People don’t like Spartan Ops, kill him off. Didact? People hated his character, put him into “storytime jail”. Janus Key? People hated the concept, resolve it in a comic that nobody reads. Cortana? People hated the attempt to “humanize” Chief through Cortana’s death, so they bring her back and make her evil.
So really, when it comes down to it, the mess that is Halo 5: Guardians’s campaign boils down to two things: the immensely negative community reception to Halo 4 and 343’s writing department screwing up in their damage control attempts. There you go.
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> > 2533274816788253;3:
> > Pretty much all the post Halo 4 stuff was handled in books/comics. Buck becoming a Spartan is in the book Halo New Blood, what happened to the Diadact and the Janus key is in Halo Esclation, and there is the book Hunters in the Dark which Spartan Vale is in I believe.
>
> Yep the place it kinda needed to be but shouldn’t all be at.
I guess they figured H4 wasn’t popular enough so that is why they ended it all in outside media and wanted to start H5 in a new direction. While Spartan Ops want pretty much a flop and most didn’t like it, which the Spartan banter during the missions made me want to poke my eardrums out the cut scenes were AWESOME and very well done. They left a perfect jumping off point for H5. H5 should have been Chief “hunting” for Halsey, who was with the Convent and wanting revenge for her attempted assassination. Chief’s purpose for wanting to find Halsey would be to fix Cortana as Cortana pointed out the only way to fix her would be to get to Halsey. While hunting for Halsey guardians are being activated. We would then have Locke “hunting” for Chief. While hunting for Chief he begins to believe Chief maybe activating them, that could have been is Chief a traitor angle. We did see a trailer with Chief holding Cortana’s chip as a guardian rose up out of the sand… Then we would have actually been “hunting the truth”. So much potential that was squandered really.
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> So I see you’re one of the new players in the wave of “Christmas Noobs”. Don’t worry, not trying to be offensive, that’s just popular terminology around this time. One question for you. Did you play Halo 4? If yes, did you play the Campaign? If yes, did you like it? If no, then you have your reasoning behind every single thing wrong with the Halo 5: Guardians’s campaign. Look, nobody liked Halo 4. Nobody. Everyone hated what the game had to offer, including Multiplayer and especially Campaign (bit more emphasis on Multiplayer, though). Don’t ask me why, but they did.
>
> As such, 343’s writing department attempted to do damage control by ending off all potential story arcs that the campaign and Spartan Ops set up. Jul Mdama? People don’t like Spartan Ops, kill him off. Didact? People hated his character, put him into “storytime jail”. Janus Key? People hated the concept, resolve it in a comic that nobody reads. Cortana? People hated the attempt to “humanize” Chief through Cortana’s death, so they bring her back and make her evil.
>
> So really, when it comes down to it, the mess that is Halo 5: Guardians’s campaign boils down to two things: the immensely negative community reception to Halo 4 and 343’s writing department screwing up in their damage control attempts. There you go.
“Nobody liked halo 4” except for the people who thought that halo 4’s story was beautifully written (wich are a lot). Campaign is not that bad when you think about it because it still had the action set pieces that are in a halo game backed up by an amazing story and an ost that fit the game (even if you think that the ost is not like halo with a few exceptions, you gotta agree that the ost fits halo 4)
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> > 2535405116054664;12:
> > So I see you’re one of the new players in the wave of “Christmas Noobs”. Don’t worry, not trying to be offensive, that’s just popular terminology around this time. One question for you. Did you play Halo 4? If yes, did you play the Campaign? If yes, did you like it? If no, then you have your reasoning behind every single thing wrong with the Halo 5: Guardians’s campaign. Look, nobody liked Halo 4. Nobody. Everyone hated what the game had to offer, including Multiplayer and especially Campaign (bit more emphasis on Multiplayer, though). Don’t ask me why, but they did.
> >
> > As such, 343’s writing department attempted to do damage control by ending off all potential story arcs that the campaign and Spartan Ops set up. Jul Mdama? People don’t like Spartan Ops, kill him off. Didact? People hated his character, put him into “storytime jail”. Janus Key? People hated the concept, resolve it in a comic that nobody reads. Cortana? People hated the attempt to “humanize” Chief through Cortana’s death, so they bring her back and make her evil.
> >
> > So really, when it comes down to it, the mess that is Halo 5: Guardians’s campaign boils down to two things: the immensely negative community reception to Halo 4 and 343’s writing department screwing up in their damage control attempts. There you go.
>
> “Nobody liked halo 4” except for the people who thought that halo 4’s story was beautifully written (wich are a lot). Campaign is not that bad when you think about it because it still had the action set pieces that are in a halo game backed up by an amazing story and an ost that fit the game (even if you think that the ost is not like halo with a few exceptions, you gotta agree that the ost fits halo 4)
True. Personally I did like Halo 4 in general (and you’re right on the OST) I’m not sure I agree about the story’s reception, though. From what I saw around its release, the vast majority hated the story, and even to this day I still see a good amount of people hating on it. Sure, more people may like it now, but back around launch, next to nobody did. That’s what I was trying to say, at least. Sorry if I wasn’t clear.
Ah, I feel bad for all of the new players who just got the game who are just now experiencing the awful disappointment known as Halo 5’s campaign. It’s sad to see all future Halo stories be prematurely ruined by the lead writer (who I shall not name) and narrative team’s incompetence.
> 2535405116054664;12:
> So I see you’re one of the new players in the wave of “Christmas Noobs”. Don’t worry, not trying to be offensive, that’s just popular terminology around this time. One question for you. Did you play Halo 4? If yes, did you play the Campaign? If yes, did you like it? If no, then you have your reasoning behind every single thing wrong with the Halo 5: Guardians’s campaign. Look, nobody liked Halo 4. Nobody. Everyone hated what the game had to offer, including Multiplayer and especially Campaign (bit more emphasis on Multiplayer, though). Don’t ask me why, but they did.
>
> As such, 343’s writing department attempted to do damage control by ending off all potential story arcs that the campaign and Spartan Ops set up. Jul Mdama? People don’t like Spartan Ops, kill him off. Didact? People hated his character, put him into “storytime jail”. Janus Key? People hated the concept, resolve it in a comic that nobody reads. Cortana? People hated the attempt to “humanize” Chief through Cortana’s death, so they bring her back and make her evil.
>
> So really, when it comes down to it, the mess that is Halo 5: Guardians’s campaign boils down to two things: the immensely negative community reception to Halo 4 and 343’s writing department screwing up in their damage control attempts. There you go.
Halo 4’s campaign was a lot better than this travesty that is Halo 5’s. I loved the direction master chief was going in with his humanity and that crap got tossed out the window and never mentioned again.
> 2535405116054664;12:
> So I see you’re one of the new players in the wave of “Christmas Noobs”. Don’t worry, not trying to be offensive, that’s just popular terminology around this time. One question for you. Did you play Halo 4? If yes, did you play the Campaign? If yes, did you like it? If no, then you have your reasoning behind every single thing wrong with the Halo 5: Guardians’s campaign. Look, nobody liked Halo 4. Nobody. Everyone hated what the game had to offer, including Multiplayer and especially Campaign (bit more emphasis on Multiplayer, though). Don’t ask me why, but they did.
>
> As such, 343’s writing department attempted to do damage control by ending off all potential story arcs that the campaign and Spartan Ops set up. Jul Mdama? People don’t like Spartan Ops, kill him off. Didact? People hated his character, put him into “storytime jail”. Janus Key? People hated the concept, resolve it in a comic that nobody reads. Cortana? People hated the attempt to “humanize” Chief through Cortana’s death, so they bring her back and make her evil.
>
> So really, when it comes down to it, the mess that is Halo 5: Guardians’s campaign boils down to two things: the immensely negative community reception to Halo 4 and 343’s writing department screwing up in their damage control attempts. There you go.
This. Also, if you believe LNG, Microsoft is also the third factor to blame for the story.
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> > 2535405116054664;12:
> > snip
>
> Halo 4’s campaign was a lot better than this travesty that is Halo 5’s. I loved the direction master chief was going in with his humanity and that crap got tossed out the window and never mentioned again.
Like I said before, I know that and I, like a lot of others, came to like Halo 4’s story. What I was saying was that on release, the vast majority didn’t, and because of that 343 went into “damage control mode” and began writing things out of relevancy. I suppose if the initial reception to Halo 4 was a bit more positive, we wouldn’t be in this situation with Halo 5.