One of the things I found most engaging in Halo 4 was Cortana’s story, the impact her rampancy had on her relationship with the Master Chief and the impact it had on the wider story.
Halo 5 had a number of flaws but Cortana going rogue was intriguing, was there something deeper to her motivation? Halo 5 also ended on a pretty interesting cliff-hanger with the ‘goodies’ really on the back foot and seemingly in a position where they would have to fight almost impossible odds.
Halo Infinite, for me, didn’t do Cortana or her story justice. We learn of some pretty deplorable acts she took whilst trying to enforce her rule such as the attack on Earth and the destruction of the Atriox’s home world but then her redemption is basically “yeah I shouldn’t have done that, guess I’ll just die now”, it didn’t really have any emotional weight to it and felt like it made her arc in 4 and 5 completely pointless.
For me it was really unsatisfying and not nearly as emotional as her death, her reunion with Chief or her subsequent betrayal.
I’d say what Infinite does makes the best of a terrible situation, but it’s still pretty bad. I remember Frank O’Connor himself giving people grief and belittling fans who felt she was evil in Halo 5…
And then she destroys the Brute homeworld and commits genocide.
It’s probably the most insulting thing they’ve done story wise.
Because someone who isn’t evil will totally subjugate the galaxy and threaten them with war if they don’t bend, and then EMP a planet just to catch the only thing that can stop them - all while EMPing every plane, satellite, and anyone on life support.
With all due respect, please get real. Cortana grew a twirlable mustache in 5.
Kinda glad Cortana’s story is laid to rest. Just about every game revolved around MC running around like a dog rescuing his damsel in distress. Also think The Weapon is more cute anyways
She wasn’t so much of a damsel in 4. She needed help, for sure, but it was she who in the end saved Chief and went out more on her terms. Why 343 felt bringing her back and evil and never really explaining why will boggle me forever.
I think if the Gravemind was behind Cortana becoming evil that would’ve been better, because it’s exactly what happened with Mindicant Bias. Just because an AI is not organic that does not make it immune to the Flood as it will just use the logic plague instead physical assimilation.
When Cortana realized she was about to lose the battle at Zeta Halo, in her madness, she should’ve unleashed the Flood. Her logic being that if her version of “peace” will not last then the Flood will end all conflict and establish another form of “peace”.
Instead we have Didact 2.0 pulling the same “The _____ are returning…”
After pulling off a genocide, and threatening the same to Earth there really is no redemption there unless she was not in control of her actions. Perhaps they could’ve wrote Cortana to wrestle with the logic plague and briefly regain control just long enough to aid Chief, or whoever before returning to mustache twirling.
Nah man, it really just boils down to Cortana forgetting she and Chief were a team. That’s basically the justification we get for her actions in her own words.
The entire problem with Halo 5 was that it cheapened her death and growth in Master Chief by bringing her right back.
Cortana’s death in Halo 4 triggered a sense of loss in Chief never felt before, because after being with her for so long, they are basically parts of each other. The loss of Cortana going forward would have caused Chief to be more on edge if anything, as well as a renewed resolve to not lose anything ever again.
BUT THEN CAME HALO 5’S GENIUS WRITING TEAM WHICH CONVINENTLY BROUGHT HER BACK AND A MAIN VILLAIN.
Nay, they didn’t even do that, they brought her back just to keep pushing back her meeting with the main cast, forcing you to fight Turdface Eternal over and over until you finally meet her and she’s like “lol”
Yeah there were a few directions they could have gone, her being evil could have been due to the Gravemind or something to do with the Forerunners corrupting her, it could have been her having to pretend to be evil for some reason and in Infinite they could have shown how secretly she was helping in some way but instead it basically seemed to be “oh I forgot we were a team, I’m good again but now I must kill myself, bye”
Words can not describe how glad I am that the Cortana storyline finally came to an end.
I really didn’t expect cortanas conclusion to be something amazing - this rampancy stuff has been dragged through the campaign since 2007.
I was totally fine with her beeing our A.I., but making her the main character of the plot for 3 or 4 games in a row was a bit too much.
I’m looking for new adventures, I really thought that we would be busy fixing her broken character for the rest of my life.
I agree. The whole Chief rescuing his damsel in distress thing was way over used for story plot. Either way Infinite’s story was way better than Halo5 thank God.
I was really disappointed with how it all turned out. I’ve gone back to CE and 2 recently in mcc and to think how her story ended up. What a shame. I like the weapon though.
Cortana’s Story in infinite makes even the Bad Halo 5 version of her look good in comparison.
It also disnt helo that Escharum’s Dialogue was absolutely awful as in cringy, and the Harbinger was utterly forgettable and boring.
Like how many times have we seen sci fi games call their villain the “hArbInGEr” before ? A Million times. Did they not remember Mass Effect ? Come up with some decent sounding Villain names, 343.