For those unfamiliar, Machete Order is a re-ordering of the pre-Disney Star Wars in an attempt to improve the narrative cohesion that is lost by watching the six movies in either Release Order (IV - V - VI - I - II - III) where you know from the start how the Prequel Trilogy ends, or Chronological Order (I - VI) where plot revelations made in the Original Trilogy are not as impactful to you the viewer as they are to the characters because you’ve known them the whole time.
Machete Order re-orders the movies as IV - V - II - III - VI, removing episode I and creating sort of a “dual trilogy” where many parallels are drawn between Luke and Anakin that both conclude in Episode VI.
You can read more here: https://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2011/11/11/the-star-wars-saga-suggested-viewing-order/
I have revisited the idea of a “Machete Order” for Halo 5: Guardians every couple of months for the last few years. The idea (or hope) was that we could somehow improve the story presentation of Halo 5: Guardians only with the game itself. No rewriting of the story or anything, just the presentation of the story that is in the game improved by the re-ordering of levels/cutscenes.
Many Google Doc drafts with notes and scripts were created for this analysis. I tried multiple methods and playthroughs with levels re-ordered (specifically the placement of Blue Team levels) in an effort to maintain the mystery of Master Chief/Blue Team’s AWOL status for as long as possible.
My main frustration from Halo 5’s plot isn’t the plot itself, but rather I think Fireteam Osiris’ mission to catch Blue Team is framed differently to the characters than how you the player see it. Not once was I ever concerned that Blue Team would “be evil” and join Cortana, as you can see when playing their levels. But Fireteam Osiris doesn’t know this, which differs from my perspective of the plot.
In the end, the best way I found to improve Halo 5’s plot seems to be to completely remove the Blue Team missions except for The Breaking. (I wonder how the game would have been received if it launched like this or without any Blue Team missions at all…)
I think playing through in this manner allows Halo 5: Guardians to serve as a better continuation of Halo 4’s Spartan Ops. A narrative based around a Spartan IV Fireteam.
By only playing the Fireteam Osiris missions (and skipping the end of mission cutscenes/mission intro cutscenes that are from Blue Team’s perspective), we can maintain the tension of Fireteam Osiris being given a new mission: to capture the Master Chief/Blue Team who have suddenly gone AWOL with the reappearance of Cortana/The Guardian threat.
With this method, Master Chief/Blue Team’s intentions are not clear to the player or Fireteam Osiris, and the first time Blue Team is seen is then when they are entering the Guardian on Meridian. They immediately show a disregard to Fireteam Osiris, and the Master Chief has been given an antagonistic look with the red lighting.
Maintaining this Fireteam Osiris-only mission integrity, the next time Fireteam Osiris encounters Blue Team is on Genesis, at which point it is made clear to both the player and Fireteam Osiris that they understand Cortana is dangerous and we are all on the same side. In the normal presentation of the plot, this has already been clear to the player since the first Blue Team mission as far as I’m concerned, but Fireteam Osiris do not yet know it - TV Tropes - Dramatic Irony
Unfortunately I do not think this is a perfect solution for Halo 5’s story presentation, just the best I could come up with. I did try to incorporate the other two Blue Team missions, even as late game “flashbacks” so that the player could see what Blue Team was up to the whole time once its understood they are not bad, however for the sake of pacing I think it’s best they be removed entirely. Key pieces of information regarding Cortana and the Guardians are not given to the player if Blue Team and Reunion are skipped, which is unfortunate as well.
I wanted to make this post so I had it in writing here, and also so that others could give this playthrough a try, or even come up with their own Machete Order if they wanted.
Playthrough Guide:
If you own an Xbox Series X/SSD, the improved loading speed allows for faster skipping of cutscenes that need to be avoided to only view the game from Fireteam Osiris’ perspective up to The Breaking.
- Osiris (after completion, skip Blue Team intro cutscene/mission entirely) - Glassed - Meridian Station - Unconfirmed - Evacuation (after completion, skip Reunion intro cutscene/mission entirely) - Swords of Sanghelios - Alliance - Enemy Lines - Before the Storm - Battle of Sunaion - Genesis - The Breaking - Guardians
I feel like I got serious tunnel vision when trying to work this out with what pieces of story are given in which missions that it’s now just a blur and I don’t really know what a fresh set of eyes would think, haha!