Didact's Campaign in Halo 5

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Looking back, Halo 2’s split campaign was a fresh, bold move; offering another perspective of the Covenant War, thus a richer story, and great, new gameplay possibilities (Working with Elites :D).

So… how bout reintroduce the split campaign in Halo 5, with the Didact instead to give new perspective for the Forunners!
Story: The Didact’s campaign could take place 100,000 yrs. ago with the Forunner Empire and the Flood wars; adding a new level of back story and depth. For those who read Greg Baer’s Forunner trilogy, the campaign could easily use that as a starting off point; imagine battling Flood again, Advanced Humans, and even Precursors. Most importantly, Mendicant Bias would be introduced; allowing for His total backstory to coincide with Master Chief discovering him in the present campaign. Mendicant Bias has been hinted ever since H3, and this would establish his character without confusion or unnecessary mystery.

Gameplay: Halo 4 really displayed the power of Didact to a great degree: Telekinesis, command over Promethians, levitation, etc. Now imagine a Didact in his prime; new Forunner weapons, crazy melee attacks, and oh the War Sphinxes! Didact’s powers and strength would be immensely great, but necessary for an immense challenge.

End Result: Didact’s campaign would be long and tragic, but would lay the foundation for Master Chief’s present day adventure. Seeing from the trailer, Master Chief seems to be going on an odyssey throughout the galaxy, and what not better for Didact’s campaign to interweave location by location, separated only by time. The end of Halo 5 could reveal Didact’s still alive, now confronting Chief face to face; with what the player has just played creating a sense of sympathy for both Didact and Chief. Just as Halo 1 set up the story and H2 expanded on it, Halo 5 can truly immerse the player in the Forunner story. So… would that be a good idea or no?

2

I don’t think the Didact participating in a lot of the actual combat of that war.

3

I’m not against side stories, but I’d rather not have flashbacks.

For one, it would require two completely different sandboxes, and none of that content could be in multiplayer and still make sense. It would also take much more time and resources to design a second, ancient human sandbox.

When we added the Brutes, they only received a small handful of weapons and two vehicles. This was justified by “oh, well, they just use covenant weapons”. That wouldn’t fly with an entire ancient civilization.

4

I’d rather have another Arby/MC split Campaign. I find that MC-only stories lack depth, but the ridiculously shallow Didact isn’t the answer.

5

I personally love Idea, but it has the problem of being high risk, high reward. If done well, It would be REALLY, REALLY good, but, if not handled well, it could result in absolute crap.

And if we were to add a split Arbiter to it as a “Three-way” (Heh, Derp) campaign, thats a hectic campaign.
But if the Xbone is all it’s meant to be, It can be done with some great sandbox and a long campaign again, like a 30 hour long campaign! (ten hours per character)

As for the reply about not being able to build maps around the Didact campaign, the OP said chief would be retracing the Didact’s footsteps and be in the same locations, if a bit worn down, but they are still there and integrated. and like he says, it would give 343 a chance to explain this whole ancient battle to the fans who do not read books, the Mendicant Bias and all that. Like I said, if done right, it could be absolutely amazing. but if done badly, it would be REALLY bad.

6

I wouldn’t mind a mission or two playing as someone other than John-117, but I don’t see the Didact as a suitable character for it, nor do I find the pre-Halo activation era as a suitable setting (both for gameplay reasons).

I could see a mission where you play as Gabriel Thorne (from Spartan Ops), and with the rest of Majestic Team as AI to help in that mission (otherwise, there’s no real difference between John and Thorn’s approach to combat). It could also give a more interesting, personal, and human aspect to the story. Imagine Majestic Team being given orders to retrieve/stop Master Chief from whatever his objective is (assuming that he aims to resurrect Cortana). What kind of interactions could be made when they make contact with him, especially under potentially hostile circumstances?

7

Ur-Didact Story… Forerunner Perspective
Possible Enemies: Precursor, Ancient Humans, Flood, Humans, Separatists, Brute Tribes*, Forerunner Remnant*, Jackal Pirates*

Possible Timelines: Origins, Pre San’Shyuum/Human-Forerunner War, San’Shyuum/Human-Forerunner War, Post San’Shyuum/Human-Forerunner War, Pre Forerunner-Flood War, Forerunner-Flood War Post Forerunner-Flood War, Post Human-Covenant War.

Possible Backstories: Ur-Didact, Iso-Didact, Mendicant Bias, Master Builder, Librarian, Offensive Bias, Riser, Chakas, Forthencho Primordial, Forerunner Ecumene, Human-San’Shyuum Empire, Promethean, Flood, Precursor, Mantle of Responsibility.

Arbiter Story… Sangheili Perspective
Possible Enemies: Humans, Storm Covenant, Servants of Abiding Truth, Brute Tribes*, Promethean, Flood, Forerunner Remnant*, Jackal Pirates*

Possible Timelines: Origins, Pre San’Shyuum-Sangheili War, San’Shyuum-Sangheili War, Post San’Shyuum-Sangheili War, Taming of the Hunters, Grunt Rebellion, Pre Human-Covenant War, Human-Covenant War, Post Human-Covenant War.

Possible Backstories: Thel’Vadam, Rtas’Vadum, Jul’Mdama, Avu Med’Telcam, Arbiter role, Sangheili civilization, Prophet of Truth, Prophet of Mercy, Prophet of Regret, Tartarus, unnamed Brute Chieftan in Halo: Esclation.

Gabriel Thorne Story… Human Perspective
Possible Enemies: Insurrectionist, Storm Covenant, Servants of Abiding Truth, Promethean, Flood, Brute Tribes*, Forerunner Remnant*, Jackal Pirates*

Possible Timelines: Origins, Human Civil War, Pre Human-Covenant War, Human-Covenant War, Post Human-Covenant War.

Possible Backstories: Sarah Palmer, Thomas Lasky, Gabriel Throne, Anthony Madsen, Tedra Grant, Carlo Hoya, Paul DeMarco, Catherine Halsey, Terrance Hood, Serin Osman, Maragret Parangosky, Roland, Spartan-IV Program, Spartan-III Program, Spartan-II Program.

In my opinion, I believe Arbiter has already offered what he can from a split campaign, otherwise we will get a lot of back story from dead foes; Gabriel Thorne would show some perspective but not enough that will teach us anything major about the story, unless he is split from the Master Chief; and the Ur-Didact is a forerunner, and so much potential for story perspective, and back stories as well as the fact that it is call the Reclaimer Saga… reclaimer being the forerunner word for a human.

side note: * means just mentioned in a book.

8

love the idea op i just think it should be its own game instead.

9

The Didact didn’t do much actual fighting.

10

I think the main reason the split campaign worked, was because the story lines ran parallel, and converged at the end of Delta Halo.
You played as Chief for a bit. Then you played as Arbiter for a bit. Then suddenly - BAM, they’re both together for one of the most important points in the overarching campaign of the first trilogy.

Playing the Didact’s perspective during the Human-Forerunner war doesn’t leave any room for convergent storylines - just two separate ones, really disconnected from one another.

11

Though true that Halo 2’s campaign story ran parallel between Arby and Chief, I think Master Chief following in the foot steps of Didact could create a similar effect. Didact’s campaign would fill in the Forunner universe that Master Chief is exploring and discovering in the present; particularly for Mendicant Bias, Precursors, or any Forunner stuff desired. Whether its Iso or Ur-Didact is another story.

12

Though true that Halo 2’s campaign story ran parallel between Arby and Chief, I think Master Chief following in the foot steps of Didact could create a similar effect. Didact’s campaign would fill in the Forunner universe that Master Chief is exploring and discovering in the present; particularly for Mendicant Bias, Precursors, or any Forunner stuff desired. Whether its Iso or Ur-Didact is another story.

13

Playing as the Didact would certainly make up for Chief’s nerfed gameplay performance… assuming they make Chief underwhelming again.

> I’d rather have another Arby/MC split Campaign. I find that MC-only stories lack depth, but the ridiculously shallow Didact isn’t the answer.

Or this.

14

One of the major complaints with Halo 4 was that unlike previous Halo games, the story was no longer self-containing. Meaning, most people (even those who played all previous entries) had zero clue about what was happening. I don’t think a split campaign would help out on that front.

15

Halo 2 had my least favorite campaign because it was split, so no. But if it’s that important, I’d honestly rather they just add a second campaign that’s separate from the main one that can be accessed from the menu.

But I don’t want another split Halo 2 style campaign or some flashback campaign like ODST. I never liked that style of storytelling.

16

I don’t know if I’d like to step into the Didact’s guise, but a game set during the Forerunner/Flood war is something I’ve been drooling about for years. They could do so much with it. All the technology, different locations, and the scope; oh my L3RD the scope! With the Xbox ONE on the horizon I wonder is this is something they’d ever consider [343i]. The Didact? Maybe not, but having the perspective from a Promethean under him would be something else.

17

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18

long live the didact!

19

It be rather boring, i dont recall him in either the books or in H4 doing much fighting. Giving orders yes but hitting the front lines not so much.

Would be cool if this was Halo Wars 2 since it’d work with this way better than as a FPS title.

20

As already mentioned Didact was commanding the battle not on the front lines. I believe this could only work if you were an actual Promethian Captain or something who was close to the Didact (not sure if that’s in lore so… Maybe not). And if anything it would have to be in the form of flashbacks that no one likes and it’s so much extra effort designing the guns etc and the war sphinxes. It’s battles we can’t just replicate on a console as a soldier, unless it really is massive.
I think it’s best to stick with the terminals.