Halo 5's Story, but Better! How I'd Do It

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

So, I’d just finished Halo 5’s Campaign and boy what a doozy. Having many days ago seen the trailers for this game as well as having experienced Halo 4’s (kinda okay but not quite) story as well, I’d formulated an idea of what the plot of Halo 5 would be. Needless to say, I was quite disappointed… So, to vent somewhat, here’s my idea of what Halo 5’s story shoulda been, edited slightly from the experience of Halo 5’s plot. Just a heads-up, spoilers for Halo 4 and 5, in case you couldn’t tell already.

The year is 2558. Almost a year had passed since the Master Chief had utterly destroyed the Composer and the Didact, as well as lost Cortana. The event had emotionally scarred him, but shortly afterward he was once again cleared for duty. The first level picks up with Chief leading a four-Spartan team to hunt down Jul-M’dama and the fugitive Catherine Halsey. A mission he has reservations about, but agrees to anyway. Among his team is Spartan Buck, Kelly-087, and Spartan Vale. The mission goes without a hitch, more or less, and culminates in a boss fight with Jul that’s rather reminiscent of the fight against the Heretic Leader in Halo 2. With the death of Jul-M’dama, the Covenant soon falls completely. However, Doctor Halsey had escaped, and the order falls on Chief’s fireteam to go after her.

Unfortunately, the Chief has bigger concerns on his mind, plagued with visions of the Didact’s return, as well as Cortana held his prisoner. The UNSC worries his sanity might be going from the stress of combat, and pull him from active duty, ordering he take medical leave and having some within ONI keep watch on him. He eventually escapes watch in search of Didact and Cortana, and it falls to his old fireteam, now led by Spartan Locke, to hunt him down.

This marks a point where gameplay is divided into two types of missions: Master Chief missions are played by only one player (or one player and however many clones of Chief) walk through various Forerunner installations, hunting clues to the Didact and Cortana’s possible whereabouts, crushing minor pitiful resistance from rogue Covenant and Promethean defenses and activating various Forerunner tech in search of the Didact; and Fireteam Osiris missions, where four characters hunt down the Master Chief and fight off the defenses he activates before it can become a threat to various colonies.

Along the way, Fireteam Osirirs’ thoughts on the matter are slowly revealed. Locke used to look up to the Chief, and finds his betrayal of the UNSC to be a form of personal betrayal. Buck doesn’t know what to think of this, and if it weren’t a direct order from the UNSC, he’d just as well stay out of it. Vale too didn’t really know the Master Chief all that well, but she has a duty to carry out in following orders. Kelly, however, had grown up alongside the Chief, training alongside him as well. She’d take every opportunity to try to get everyone to just give up the search.

Finally, the Chief would find evidence that would point him to the shattered remains of the Ark, and head back to New Mombasa to reactivate the portal leading there. This would be the only mission where the player fights human opposition. Once on the Ark, this would finally be the point where Osiris catches up with the Chief, just as he’s about to activate one of the Ark’s greatest weapons: the Guardians, an overwhelming force meant to police the galaxy, and second only to the Halo rings in destructive power. Now, facing their objective, Fireteam Osiris starts to fall apart. Locke would gladly oppose the Chief, and Vale would stand with him if only because of her orders. Kelly would actually defect and stand by the Chief. And, Buck would want no part in this and stand aside.

This would lead to a PvP battle, Players 1 and 3 playing Chief and Kelly, and Players 2 and 4 playing Locke and Vale. This would also be a story split into two endings.

Ending 1:
Locke and Vale kill the Master Chief and Kelly-087. They rationalize this was the only way things could’ve played out and return home with the tags of the two fallen. Both Locke and Vale are considered war criminals by all but their superiors, who also realized this might’ve been the only way. For his defiance of orders, Buck would be stripped of rank and discharged from service.

Ending 2: The Chief and Kelly kill Locke and Vale. Buck just straight-up gives in and decides to try to find his own way off the Ark, while the Chief and Kelly finally activate the Guardian, the arena for the final level. Onboard, Master Chief, Kelly, a Master Chief clone, and a Kelly clone, depending on how many people are playing, fight powerful Forerunner resistance. Eventually, they find solid proof that both the Didact and Cortana are gone for good. Doesn’t stop the Chief from seeing the both of them, however, much to the confusion and dismay of Kelly. However, they soon have bigger problems on their hands, as they find the ship is controlled by the Warden Eternal, who serves as the game’s final boss. The two fight him off, but soon find he’s got millions of bodies, and simply throws them off the Guardian, taking off for places unknown within the galaxy, leaving Chief, Kelly, and Buck stranded on the ruins of the Ark.

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This started off interesting, but I’m not sure I really like the whole PvP thing you did at the end; that’s to say, multiple endings wouldn’t really work in Halo as it’d be near impossible to keep the continuity consistent for the next game. And why is Chief’s team different? I was alright with Locke’s team, and Blue team is good if written well enough, unlike how they were in Halo 5.

But again, interesting ideas. With competent execution this can definitely be better than the base game.

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> 2533274895603860;2:
> This started off interesting, but I’m not sure I really like the whole PvP thing you did at the end; that’s to say, multiple endings wouldn’t really work in Halo as it’d be near impossible to keep the continuity consistent for the next game. And why is Chief’s team different? I was alright with Locke’s team, and Blue team is good if written well enough, unlike how they were in Halo 5.
>
> But again, interesting ideas. With competent execution this can definitely be better than the base game.

Yeah, I was always iffy about choosing the ending, but I knew in some way, the player should have to play one spartan team fighting the other. Come to think of it, a straight fight would do the trick. As for switching the teams, I’ve never quite been a fan of other Spartans going with the Chief. This would be a journey he’d make alone, at least initially. The choice of members was specifically for the PvP ending, but change it to something different and we could full-on have Blue Team. …And Buck.

4

My biggest concern is why Kelly would be split off from the rest of Blue Team. From what we’ve seen in all of the extended lore, Blue Team stick together. Always.

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> 2533274808386392;4:
> My biggest concern is why Kelly would be split off from the rest of Blue Team. From what we’ve seen in all of the extended lore, Blue Team stick together. Always.

That is true. I’ll admit, my knowledge of extended lore is heavily limited, so unfortunately throughout the game I was lost on just about every playable character except Buck, Locke, and Chief. But, yes, if that’s the case, then perhaps it would simply be Team Osiris against the Master Chief.

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The way I would have wrote is that the game starts immediately after Halo 4. Chief is reunited with Blue Team. There is a optional files you can view on Blue Team for those who are unfamiliar with them to provide exposition. It follows the comic storyline where Chief encounters the Didact again. Chief goes on a mission to find Black Team dead and the Didact alive. Chief defeats the Didact again but he survives but seriously hurt and disappears to recover.

Fast forward a few months after Spartan Ops where we have the mission that started Halo 5. There will actually be a boss fight this time and rescue Dr. Halsey.

The Blue Team mission happens exactly the same except for the end. Blue Team intercepts a transmission from the Covenant. According to the transmission, Cortana may be still alive and there may be links to the activity going on the colonies. Chief wants to investigate but Lasky informs Chief that he has orders to send another team instead. Chief informs Lasky he is going anyways. Lasky agrees with Chief and trust his judgment but warns him that ONI will not like this. Blue Team leaves and heads to a highly populated human colony.

Fireteam Osiris recieves orders from ONI to bring Chief home and may not be emotionally stable to find Cortana. Halsey is worried about what Chief might do if they try to stop him.

Blue Team arrives at the colony (large city) that is now under heavy attack by the Covenant who believe some sort of artifact is there (the Gaurdian) They fight there way through the city as the Promethians begin their assault. Blue Team gets to a communication center to inform the UNSC of the current situation when Cortana hacks it. It is one of the rampant fragments of Cortans that suevived (one of the more aggressive versions of her). She tells Chief to trust her and to come to the Meridian and to only bring Blue Team, and they should come alone and not inform the UNSC. Blue Team is uneasy but Cortana ensures them that there is a good reason for this. She doesn’t have time to say it in person but gives them coordinates on Merdian on where to go. Blue Team leave the planet before the Gaurdian is activated.

Fireteam Osiris meanwhile arrives on the planet just before Blue Team leaves. They begin to track Blue Team to the location where they are but fail to get there before Blue Team flies off. Osiris calls in their ship to get off the planet (flying section where who fight Covenant and Promethians) but the Gaurdian activates and slip spaces rupture wipes out much of the city and their ship. They crash and find their way through the rubble. They eventually get another ship off the planet but they wonder what is Blue Team is up to. Has Chief gone rogue and become a traitor.

The Govenor of Meridian orders a evacuation and the UNSC hears about it. If there is a strong Promethian presence there may be a Gaurdian. If there is a Gaurdian, considering he was there at the last activation, Blue Team may also be there.

The rest of Halo 5 happens exactly the same with less Wardien fights and Chief easily beating Locke (Locke sucker punches him though and breaks his visor to try to stop Chief from leaving after Chief knocks the armor lock device out of his hand). It would have been Locke to throw the first punch. There is also hints of the Didact angry of his loss of control over the Promethians. He is near the end of his recovery but has no army. He turns to the last remains of the Covenant for help.