As someone who has loved Halo since CE, I have to say this is a great campaign.
I’ve finished it, and here’s what I love.
Master Chief on a mission to save his girl. His sanity. BUT she’s gone from loopy to power hungry, terminator and sky-net style.
I love Buck. ANY Firefly fan or general supernerd will also love him.
Locke, people say, is boring. No. he’s the stalwart leader he needs to be. Chief is the same way. Buck is the personality. Deal with it.
Halsey is gold. Hero of mankind but committed crazy atrocities in saving humanity.
Forerunner are awesome, and I’m glad we’re REALLY delving into their lore now.
The Mantle has finally come into play. Any Halo nerd will know what it is before they even explain it, and be pumped its finally around. BUT WHAT IS IT?
**Blue Team.**People say they’re bland. No personality. Do you not know they were taken at age 6 and put into boot camp then injected with superhuman serum? They are soldiers. Nothing more.
Overall, the story finally takes on the broad scope we Halo nerds knew it someday would. While some may cal the story muddled, Halo purists and lore fanatics should easily follow the entire story and love it.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, whether you love or hate the story.
I love the chances playing the new Spartans from both teams. Both Vale and Linda are the most ‘feminine’ looking. That is great. I can’t wait for Halo 6.
I personally enjoyed it. Just like Halo 2. This is a nicer/shorter version of Halo 2 lol. The intro to Halo 5 left me wondering… Halsey drops the Journal you got in the Limited or Legendary Edition of Halo: Reach back in 2010. But why show this? I do like how the Legendary Ending to Halo 5 does give you some glimpse of what is to come, while still vague. I know this subject has been touched on, but I don’t know to what end…Gravemind. Given the fact he can absorb intelligence like a sandwich sitting on water… I can’t help but think… Is cortana even herself? Or is she part flood/gravemind now? Halo 3 left alot of Canonized questions that could instantly make 343 create the best second attempt at a Halo 3. Without the Flood what really could you hope to capture in the 6th Installation of this series? The orchestral score and reveal of the flood in the original Halo:CE was and is by far the best part of the game. It still gives me Goosebumps…
Anyways, long rant there and what I want to say is. Halo 5 could be the best stepping stone for its finale or its heel turn towards failure.
Story
I think this story was meant for those familiar with at least some of the books. As a fan of the books I found the story quite satisfying and moderately well paced. The original Halo story was mainly a knockoff of half a dozen po-Yoink-r novels and movies and for me doesn’t hold up well. The games only really started to come into their own, story wise, with Reach. Bottom line to me is you have to have prowled the Halopedia wiki or read the books to fully appreciate the game’s story.
Characters
I pretty much agree with the OP here. The characters are exactly what they are supposed to be with the lone exception of Halsey. Halsey has been treated very inconsistently in this universe and, while I like her in this game, she could have been handled better. Not the end of the world, didn’t ruin the game but still it bothered me.
The Mantle
This is either genius or it will turn into a cliche disaster. AI (Sky-net) verses Organics is not an interesting story anymore. AI, thanks to the Warden Eternal (via the Composer), being put into a position of being able to compete for the Mantle IS an intriguing idea. If it turns into The Matrix, M-Yoink- Effect, The Terminator, Transcendence, The Machine, Age of Ultron, Ex Machina, etc, etc, etc, that would be a terrible idea. However, if this takes the “simpler” route and becomes a battle over the Mantle (Hegemony over the galaxy) with AI and Organic life on both sides then I can appreciate that. The Mantle represents destiny and worthiness to rule over others. Mankind was always intended to fill this role before it was stolen from them by the Forerunners. The story of the evolution of life is conflict and struggle. Mankind’s destiny in this Halo universe should be one of exponential growth through conflict and ultimately - victory. The enemies don’t matter as much as the struggle, AI are just another player taking sides with rampancy as a motivator to side against humans. At their current state humans would be just as oppressive as Cortana if given the Mantle. However, the path to earning it (conflict) will make them wise enough to handle it responsibly (achieve their destiny). They might even end the very idea of the Mantle once it is achieved.
The Mantle of Responsibility is part of the Forerunners’ religion. It belongs to the most advanced civilization of the Galaxy, so that it has the responsibility of safeguarding the rest of the Milky Way.
Forerunners had the Mantle of Responsibility. But they committed the mistake of thinking this responsibility meant they were superior to all other species, including the Precursors, and ended up destroying them along with other species in order to make sure they were the most advanced civilization.
The Precursors, as revenge, became the Flood and decided that the Mantle had failed, the only way to have peace is to have all sentient beings become one, a Gravemind.
After firing the Halos, the Forerunners felt like they had failed the Mantle of Responsibility and gave it to humans, that’s why we are called Reclaimers by Forerunner AIs. The Reclamation consists of a new species (supposedly humanity) achieving the Mantle of Responsibility once and for all. That’s what the Didact was trying to avoid in Halo 4!
But now, Cortana thinks that SHE and other AIs deserve to be the responsible ones for the entire galaxy, considering they don’t have ambition, can be immortals, are superior to mortal beings, blah blah blah. So yeah, it looks like she’s about to make the same crime of hubris the Forerunners did in their time and think she must take advantage of their responsibility to take over the other Species.