I think that we can all agree that Halo 5’s narrative wasn’t as well constructed as could’ve been. Many people are claiming that the ads lied to us. Did they? We expected there to be a Hunt for Blue Team, and a tension filled rivalry between Locke and Chief. I’d say that vibe was there at the beginning of the game, but fell off after the Locke vs Chief cutscene. And what ensued was a story about Locke catching up to Chief. Blue Team reached the end of the game by mission 7. The second half of the Campaign was mostly Osiris catching up to them so everyone could be present for the Cortana is evil plot twist. But that isn’t the only issue here. Warden seems to come out of no where with little explanation. Cortana’s survival seemed a little too convenient. Not to mention the Domain’s significance isn’t fully explained. Blue Team suddenly wanting to go AWOL with Chief didn’t feel natural. Chief mentioned a chance of Cortana surviving and Blue Team suddenly decided they wanted to go AWOL to look for her without a second thought. Here you can read a couple other things I noted about the Campaign.
Overall, I think that the Campaign wasn’t all that bad, but it did little to learn from H4’s mistakes and made some odd decisions. I think that Osiris was a wasted investment. I didn’t feel much attachment to them as a whole by the end. Probably because I was starved of more time with Chief. That’s not to say I didn’t like them by the end. I just feel like they put too much effort into something that didn’t pay off. But what of the Hunt that could’ve been? Could Halo 5’s narrative have taken a different route? Perhaps, a Chief and Blue Team focused story could’ve worked with more potential for success and payoff. Let’s lay down the general framework. Be warned this is all just made up fanfic/story so if you hate this kind of stuff please turn away.
- The Guardians are appearing on various Colonies. The top brass of Humanity wants to get to the bottom of the situation. Chief is called back to Infinity to assist in the issue after he and Blue Team complete their Argent Moon mission. The Infinity, and Blue Team are tasked with visiting various colonies where Guardian events are occurring. As Chief visits the first colony to help deal with Promethean threats he begins to get cryptic “visions” from Cortana. We want Chief going AWOL to be a natural thing, so he won’t suddenly go running after the first Cryptic message. (#shotsfired). The Hunt for the Guardian takes them to Meridian where the Miners are report attacks from Prometheans. Of course, just as in the current story, Governor Sloan will avoid telling you about the Forerunner structure that was uncovered. The investigation will lead Blue Team to the Guardian, and it will begin to activate, same as it did in H5. But now, Warden will forbid Blue Team access to it. A different scenario than what we got, but still equally logical. After all, Warden really doesn’t want Chief around Cortana. Except this time around he’ll be defensive from the get go instead of letting Chief get to Genesis right away. And the rest will play out like normal. Chief and friends escape Meridian whilst Sloan abandons the Miners.
- The folks on board the UNSC concoct a plan to board the Guardian on Sanghelios. At this point Chief is contemplating what to do about his visions from Cortana and his encounter with the Warden. During the Meridian encounter Warden hinted that Cortana might be alive and kicking. So Chief is eager to find the truth. Blue Team is then deployed to track down Arbiter. This gives us the Chief/Arbiter Reunion a lot sooner in the Campaign. After finding Arbiter they help him in his assault on the last Stronghold of the Covenant. This is where Blue Team/Arbiter/Palmer would kill Jul’ Mdama and rescue Halsey. However, Chief would not have to time for a reunion with Halsey as the Guardian is preparing to leave. This is where the Chief goes AWOL. Due to the Promethean presence cutting off Reinforcements form the Infinity, Lasky believes that Chief and Blue Team aren’t in a good position to go after the Guardian. Chief makes the decision to go anyway, in hopes of finding Cortana. Arbiter chooses to do Chief a favor and gets a ship to help them to board the Guardian. Then they’re off to Genesis, against Lasky’s wishes.
- Once Chief reaches Genesis things would play out in a similar fashion to in the original. Warden attempts to stop him from getting to Cortana, whilst Cortana begins to contact and speak to Chief, letting him know she is in fact alive. Somewhere along the way Blue Team meets Exuberant, and she helps them get to Cortana. This scenario plays out a bit differently for the player, as we are finally reaching Cortana towards the end of the game after hunting her down for most of the early parts. Which gives us more time to have Chief and Blue Team together before the reunion with Cortana. After all, that’s one of the things we were curious about after Halo 5. Seeing Chief without Cortana. In H5 we got into direct contact with her pretty quickly, so having her potentially gone didn’t sink in for long. Blue Team makes their way to Cortana, with the 3rd Blue Team mission in H5 becoming the last mission here. The difference being that at the end scene, Cortana cuts off Chief from the rest of Blue Team so she can speak with him alone. She then attempts to trap him in the Crytum and leave Genesis. Instead of having an Osiris mission afterwards where Osiris stops her, we instead have a cinematic where Exuberant assists the rest of Blue Team in getting to Chief and they save him from Cortana before she leaves. Just like in the original ending they will magically end up with a pelican that they somehow got on Genesis and reunite with Arbiter/Halsey/Palmer… Yeah about that I have a question about H5’s ending. Where did their new Pelican come from? How did Locke/Chief get back to Sanghelios? If I’m forgetting something please let me know.
And that pretty much is my re-imagined Halo 5. I think I got in all the major plot details. This version revolves more around Chief’s hunt for Cortana It that allows for more personal time with Blue Team and Chief, Characters definitely worth the investment, that would end up paying off more than Osiris did. This version still keeps the squad combat and keeps general plot the same, as well as the ending, but unfortunately doesn’t fill the plot holes. The only thing my version lacks is the awesome fight between Locke and Chief. Thoughts opinions?
