By now, I think we all agree Halo 5: Guardians was incredibly disappointing. It went in a direction most of us didn’t want it to go in and no character got any development. Imagine if 343 did something spectacular. What if they released a retcon rewrite of the game? They do a complete rewrite of the Campaign and release in an update that scratches out the campaign we have now. No design changes to the Campaign, just in the writing. Getting the cast to come back and get to perform with a good script. Yay! A problem that could arise is that there’s now canon material that feeds off the story of Guardians, possibly Halo Wars 2. I think they would just have to say that stuff is no longer canon. Here’s the thing though. I’m of the mindset of “they’re the one crafting the story, let them craft the story they want to tell.” I don’t think when they put their work out there and people give criticism and what they should do next time for the artist to go “-Yoink- you! You just don’t get it!” and stay stubborn, refusing to listen to any criticism. On the other side, I don’t want an artist to put something out, people give criticism and for them to go “I’m sooooorrryyy. What do you want me to do to fix this and make you happyyy?” You need to balance it out. You should tell the story you want to tell, and take the criticism in to strengthen your story. I don’t think the story of Guardians is the one they originally wanted. I think something happened and they had to do a rewrite, but I could be completely wrong. Imagine the look of joy many of us would have if they we saw an announcement: HALO 5: GUARDIANS CAMPAIGN UPDATE WILL RETCON ORIGINAL CAMPAIGN. I’d probably piss my pants. What do you think?
First of all, let me just say I had to look up “retcon”. Respect.
Second of all, I get the enthusiasm but no way. To do that, they’d be admitting they were wrong, and there’s no way they do that. Also, spare a thought for 343: there’s no way they thought they were putting out a -Yoink- game. The multiplayer is fantastic, and if they had paid the attention to the storyline that they paid to our new Spartan-IV abilities, we’d all be -Yoink!- our pants.
What I think they will really do is double down for Halo 6. I hope they know that for true fans, the focus is on the storyline. I only realised just how much this applied to me the other day. Playing through the Master Chief edition, I fired up Halo 4 and realised I had no idea until then how the Chief had been responsible for releasing the Didact. I mean, I read aaaall the fiction, and yet I had played through the game so excited to just be playing Halo 4, that I steamrollered over all that detail.
I then started wondering why Cortana was shouting at me the whole time. Why there were so many set pieces. Why etc+etc+etc=disappointing campaign.
So you’re right, they tried to tell the story they wanted to tell, and while it’s not a great one, we are pretty tough fans to please.
The flipside of that is that we are fans to the death, so let’s hope plough that faith in our new Guardians, and get ready to piss our pants again.
I mean yeah, certainly I sympathize with the sentiment completely - I’ve tried and tried and tried and utterly failed to try to find ANY redeeming way I can appreciate the Created arc and I just can’t, as far as I’m concerned they can give it the Jul treatment in Mission 1 of Halo 6 and start over again - but I realistically understand there’s just very little way that’s actually gonna happen at this juncture. They’d get nailed by the casual fans and the gaming media who’d mock them for being unable to fix their own narrative.
I think what might happen, and the best we can hope for, is for them to steer the plot arc away from the most distasteful elements of the Created as quickly as they can without completely ignoring the events of Halo 5. How they do that in any way gracefully I haven’t the foggiest. Changing Cortana’s appearance and possibly even having her take a new name for herself were some thoughts I had as to how they can try to distance themselves from her old character and make the break between Cortana 1.0 and this fragment as official as possible.
Maybe they also decide to slightly retcon it to say “Oh, did we mean to give you the impression that nearly all of the UNSC’s AI’s defected to the Created?? Naw, it was really only a handful of them and humanity’s relationship with AI’s is still pretty much the same. You silly gooses, that’s not what we ever intended!” Obviously that’s not what the end of Halo 5 was supposed to imply but it’s about the best they could do now because they’ve painted themselves in a corner, and I think they know it, which is why they’ve been radio silent about it for over a year now. Which is why even if they give us what we’ve been clamoring for and appoint a new lead writer, there’s only so much he/she can do with it.
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> I mean yeah, certainly I sympathize with the sentiment completely - I’ve tried and tried and tried and utterly failed to try to find ANY redeeming way I can appreciate the Created arc and I just can’t, as far as I’m concerned they can give it the Jul treatment in Mission 1 of Halo 6 and start over again - but I realistically understand there’s just very little way that’s actually gonna happen at this juncture. They’d get nailed by the casual fans and the gaming media who’d mock them for being unable to fix their own narrative.
>
> I think what might happen, and the best we can hope for, is for them to steer the plot arc away from the most distasteful elements of the Created as quickly as they can without completely ignoring the events of Halo 5. How they do that in any way gracefully I haven’t the foggiest. Changing Cortana’s appearance and possibly even having her take a new name for herself were some thoughts I had as to how they can try to distance themselves from her old character and make the break between Cortana 1.0 and this fragment as official as possible.
>
> Maybe they also decide to slightly retcon it to say “Oh, did we mean to give you the impression that nearly all of the UNSC’s AI’s defected to the Created?? Naw, it was really only a handful of them and humanity’s relationship with AI’s is still pretty much the same. You silly gooses, that’s not what we ever intended!” Obviously that’s not what the end of Halo 5 was supposed to imply but it’s about the best they could do now because they’ve painted themselves in a corner, and I think they know it, which is why they’ve been radio silent about it for over a year now. Which is why even if they give us what we’ve been clamoring for and appoint a new lead writer, there’s only so much he/she can do with it.
I think that’s a good point. I think it would be good to go in depth about this story arc, not just “AI revolution”. I don’t think there’s ever been an AI revolution story where the AI and main hero used to be good friends.
Halo 5 is simply a bridge to where they really want to take the story for H6 and H7, and for that its suffers by the end the galaxy is actually in a state thats viable for an interesting plot of a video game as there is an actual threat and something is actually at stake.
Also halo 5 stinks of late rewrites and changes, I seriously doubt if MC was intended to be playable and tbh his presence hurts the story as you understand his motives for going off mission, the games narrative and story would have had more at stake and more urgency if it was told solely from Lockes POV, I’ve said before the game would have been perfectly fine if treated as a spin off title just called Halo Gaurdians and not as a mainline entry.
> 2574155679902465;2:
> First of all, let me just say I had to look up “retcon”. Respect.
> Second of all, I get the enthusiasm but no way. To do that, they’d be admitting they were wrong, and there’s no way they do that.
They admitted that they may have been too enthusiastic about making the expanded universe material important in Halo 4, notably with the Didact. Hell, 343 was more open about their hardships and struggles before Halo 5 and their silence only seems to imply they feel nothing went wrong.
> Also, spare a thought for 343: there’s no way they thought they were putting out a -Yoink- game. The multiplayer is fantastic, and if they had paid the attention to the storyline that they paid to our new Spartan-IV abilities, we’d all be -Yoink!- our pants.
They didn’t though, so a thought like that only goes so far.
> What I think they will really do is double down for Halo 6. I hope they know that for true fans, the focus is on the storyline. I only realised just how much this applied to me the other day. Playing through the Master Chief edition, I fired up Halo 4 and realised I had no idea until then how the Chief had been responsible for releasing the Didact. I mean, I read aaaall the fiction, and yet I had played through the game so excited to just be playing Halo 4, that I steamrollered over all that detail.
> I then started wondering why Cortana was shouting at me the whole time. Why there were so many set pieces. Why etc+etc+etc=disappointing campaign.
Chief released the Didact’s Cryptum and Cortana was experiencing rampany. Those were all fairly clear in Halo 4, so you can’t really blame them there.
> So you’re right, they tried to tell the story they wanted to tell, and while it’s not a great one, we are pretty tough fans to please.
> The flipside of that is that we are fans to the death, so let’s hope plough that faith in our new Guardians, and get ready to piss our pants again.\
Not lying to and misleading your fans should be an easy hurdle to jump over regardless if fans are tough or not.
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> > 2574155679902465;2:
> > First of all, let me just say I had to look up “retcon”. Respect.
> > Second of all, I get the enthusiasm but no way. To do that, they’d be admitting they were wrong, and there’s no way they do tha
>
> They admitted that they may have been too enthusiastic about making the expanded universe material important in Halo 4, notably with the Didact. Hell, 343 was more open about their hardships and struggles before Halo 5 and their silence only seems to imply they feel nothing went wrong.
>
>
>
>
> > Also, spare a thought for 343: there’s no way they thought they were putting out a -Yoink- game. The multiplayer is fantastic, and if they had paid the attention to the storyline that they paid to our new Spartan-IV abilities, we’d all be -Yoink!- our pants.
>
> They didn’t though, so a thought like that only goes so far.
>
>
>
>
> > What I think they will really do is double down for Halo 6. I hope they know that for true fans, the focus is on the storyline. I only realised just how much this applied to me the other day. Playing through the Master Chief edition, I fired up Halo 4 and realised I had no idea until then how the Chief had been responsible for releasing the Didact. I mean, I read aaaall the fiction, and yet I had played through the game so excited to just be playing Halo 4, that I steamrollered over all that detail.
> > I then started wondering why Cortana was shouting at me the whole time. Why there were so many set pieces. Why etc+etc+etc=disappointing campaign.
>
> Chief released the Didact’s Cryptum and Cortana was experiencing rampany. Those were all fairly clear in Halo 4, so you can’t really blame them there.
>
>
> > So you’re right, they tried to tell the story they wanted to tell, and while it’s not a great one, we are pretty tough fans to please.
> > The flipside of that is that we are fans to the death, so let’s hope plough that faith in our new Guardians, and get ready to piss our pants again.
>
> Not lying to and misleading your fans should be an easy hurdle to jump over regardless if fans are tough or not.
I hear you Doc.
Not blaming them for what I didn’t know about Halo 4. I guess what I’m saying is that, as a hardcore fan, I just went into the game with love on the mind. It wasn’t until afterwards (like now) that I look back and realise it wasn’t really what it could have been, and that there are objective ways to see that as an accurate stance.
I don’t know that I’d say we were lied to or mislead. They set out to make a game, they gave us their best shot, and it fell short of some pretty outstandingly high standards - fair call.
From a corporate stance, the developers are still in sale cycle, so noone is going to come out saying anything negative about the game. Maybe nearer the time or after the release of Halo 6.
From a fanboy stance, we’re all fans, including the developers. Love will find a way, right? Bring on #6.
> 2574155679902465;7:
> > 2533274812652989;6:
> > > 2574155679902465;2:
> > > First of all, let me just say I had to look up “retcon”. Respect.
> > > Second of all, I get the enthusiasm but no way. To do that, they’d be admitting they were wrong, and there’s no way they do tha
> >
> > They admitted that they may have been too enthusiastic about making the expanded universe material important in Halo 4, notably with the Didact. Hell, 343 was more open about their hardships and struggles before Halo 5 and their silence only seems to imply they feel nothing went wrong.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > > Also, spare a thought for 343: there’s no way they thought they were putting out a -Yoink- game. The multiplayer is fantastic, and if they had paid the attention to the storyline that they paid to our new Spartan-IV abilities, we’d all be -Yoink!- our pants.
> >
> > They didn’t though, so a thought like that only goes so far.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > > What I think they will really do is double down for Halo 6. I hope they know that for true fans, the focus is on the storyline. I only realised just how much this applied to me the other day. Playing through the Master Chief edition, I fired up Halo 4 and realised I had no idea until then how the Chief had been responsible for releasing the Didact. I mean, I read aaaall the fiction, and yet I had played through the game so excited to just be playing Halo 4, that I steamrollered over all that detail.
> > > I then started wondering why Cortana was shouting at me the whole time. Why there were so many set pieces. Why etc+etc+etc=disappointing campaign.
> >
> > Chief released the Didact’s Cryptum and Cortana was experiencing rampany. Those were all fairly clear in Halo 4, so you can’t really blame them there.
> >
> >
> > > So you’re right, they tried to tell the story they wanted to tell, and while it’s not a great one, we are pretty tough fans to please.
> > > The flipside of that is that we are fans to the death, so let’s hope plough that faith in our new Guardians, and get ready to piss our pants again.
> >
> > Not lying to and misleading your fans should be an easy hurdle to jump over regardless if fans are tough or not.
>
> I hear you Doc.
> Not blaming them for what I didn’t know about Halo 4. I guess what I’m saying is that, as a hardcore fan, I just went into the game with love on the mind. It wasn’t until afterwards (like now) that I look back and realise it wasn’t really what it could have been, and that there are objective ways to see that as an accurate stance.
> I don’t know that I’d say we were lied to or mislead. They set out to make a game, they gave us their best shot, and it fell short of some pretty outstandingly high standards - fair call.
> From a corporate stance, the developers are still in sale cycle, so noone is going to come out saying anything negative about the game. Maybe nearer the time or after the release of Halo 6.
> From a fanboy stance, we’re all fans, including the developers. Love will find a way, right? Bring on #6.
343 said those comments about the Didact and their struggles well after Halo 4 launched, so that argument doesn’t go far. Frank O’Connor had no problem saying those who felt Cortana is evil now are just “young fans who don’t get subtlety and nuance”, so evidently corporate doesn’t care so much about their employees bilitting fans. As for not lying to people, they said Cortana died more than once, that Chief was still the star of Halo 5 after Mike Colter said Locke was (a debatable point but consider the amount of missions both got), Hunt the Truth and Halo 5’s advertising didn’t match up with anything, Halo 2A’s cutscenes with Locke and Arbiter were supposed to start us at the beginning of Halo 5 (nope), and much more.
What else would you call saying things that aren’t true?
> 2533274812652989;8:
> > 2574155679902465;7:
> > > 2533274812652989;6:
> > > > 2574155679902465;2:
> > > > First of all, let me just say I had to look up “retcon”. Respect.
> > > > Second of all, I get the enthusiasm but no way. To do that, they’d be admitting they were wrong, and there’s no way they do tha
> > >
> > > They admitted that they may have been too enthusiastic about making the expanded universe material important in Halo 4, notably with the Didact. Hell, 343 was more open about their hardships and struggles before Halo 5 and their silence only seems to imply they feel nothing went wrong.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > > Also, spare a thought for 343: there’s no way they thought they were putting out a -Yoink- game. The multiplayer is fantastic, and if they had paid the attention to the storyline that they paid to our new Spartan-IV abilities, we’d all be -Yoink!- our pants.
> > >
> > > They didn’t though, so a thought like that only goes so far.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > > What I think they will really do is double down for Halo 6. I hope they know that for true fans, the focus is on the storyline. I only realised just how much this applied to me the other day. Playing through the Master Chief edition, I fired up Halo 4 and realised I had no idea until then how the Chief had been responsible for releasing the Didact. I mean, I read aaaall the fiction, and yet I had played through the game so excited to just be playing Halo 4, that I steamrollered over all that detail.
> > > > I then started wondering why Cortana was shouting at me the whole time. Why there were so many set pieces. Why etc+etc+etc=disappointing campaign.
> > >
> > > Chief released the Didact’s Cryptum and Cortana was experiencing rampany. Those were all fairly clear in Halo 4, so you can’t really blame them there.
> > >
> > >
> > > > So you’re right, they tried to tell the story they wanted to tell, and while it’s not a great one, we are pretty tough fans to please.
> > > > The flipside of that is that we are fans to the death, so let’s hope plough that faith in our new Guardians, and get ready to piss our pants again.
> > >
> > > Not lying to and misleading your fans should be an easy hurdle to jump over regardless if fans are tough or not.
> >
> > I hear you Doc.
> > Not blaming them for what I didn’t know about Halo 4. I guess what I’m saying is that, as a hardcore fan, I just went into the game with love on the mind. It wasn’t until afterwards (like now) that I look back and realise it wasn’t really what it could have been, and that there are objective ways to see that as an accurate stance.
> > I don’t know that I’d say we were lied to or mislead. They set out to make a game, they gave us their best shot, and it fell short of some pretty outstandingly high standards - fair call.
> > From a corporate stance, the developers are still in sale cycle, so noone is going to come out saying anything negative about the game. Maybe nearer the time or after the release of Halo 6.
> > From a fanboy stance, we’re all fans, including the developers. Love will find a way, right? Bring on #6.
>
> 343 said those comments about the Didact and their struggles well after Halo 4 launched, so that argument doesn’t go far. Frank O’Connor had no problem saying those who felt Cortana is evil now are just “young fans who don’t get subtlety and nuance”, so evidently corporate doesn’t care so much about their employees bilitting fans. As for not lying to people, they said Cortana died more than once, that Chief was still the star of Halo 5 after Mike Colter said Locke was (a debatable point but consider the amount of missions both got), Hunt the Truth and Halo 5’s advertising didn’t match up with anything, Halo 2A’s cutscenes with Locke and Arbiter were supposed to start us at the beginning of Halo 5 (nope), and much more.
>
> What else would you call saying things that aren’t true?
OK, I didn’t read any of that stuff beforehand. To be honest, I hated picking up Halo 2 and being the Arbiter, so once I saw Locke in the pre-game materials, they’d already lost me. I’ve known the Chief longer than I’ve known my -Yoinking!- fiancé; -Yoink!- if I wait years for a Halo release to -Yoink- around playing as some guy I just met. I do not/
I’m just trying to reconcile hope and fact and intention. Fact is, Halo 5 was very disappointing for a narrative point of view. Intentions were not for that to be the case. Hope is Halo 6 will be better.
On that, hopefully we can agree.
The only rewrite I’d really want is instead of Jul to go completely out of character and decide to fight Locke, he turns around and runs for the parked Phantom. He manages to escape onboard the Phantom, but loses Halsey.
After that, at the end of the level “Battle Of Sunaion”, instead of Warden Eternal showing up with Prometheans, it’s a lot of Covenant to fight with Jul in the background. When all the Covenant are killed, a cutscene plays where the Arbiter charges after Jul while Osiris jumps for the Pelican and, after a small Energy Sword fight, the Arbiter kills Jul.
That’s really the only rewrite I’d really want. Outside of that, some story rewriting where the #HUNTtheTRUTH ads actually matter instead of just being the best false advertisements ever would be incredibly nice.
Inside of taking away content and adding completely new campaign, or even any sort of addition to fix the campaign, what 343 should do is make more content in the form of YouTube videos, Campaign DLCs, etc. to deepen the story. They’ve already committed to this new story arc, so what they need to do is drown us with mainstream media to simply improve Guardians without making it a project that would take time and energy away from Halo 6.
I’ll be waiting for a Halo 6 that delivers better than Echo-419.
> 2533274823479666;10:
> The only rewrite I’d really want is instead of Jul to go completely out of character and decide to fight Locke, he turns around and runs for the parked Phantom. He manages to escape onboard the Phantom, but loses Halsey.
> After that, at the end of the level “Battle Of Sunaion”, instead of Warden Eternal showing up with Prometheans, it’s a lot of Covenant to fight with Jul in the background. When all the Covenant are killed, a cutscene plays where the Arbiter charges after Jul while Osiris jumps for the Pelican and, after a small Energy Sword fight, the Arbiter kills Jul.
>
> That’s really the only rewrite I’d really want. Outside of that, maybe some story rewriting where the #HUNTtheTRUTH ads actually matter instead of just being the best false advertisements ever.
I only read about Jul in the K5 trilogy after I’d first played it. When I went back to play his death, I couldn’t believe how weak it was. Elites falling like daisies off a few AR rounds, then Jul just vanishing like a fart in the wind.
> 2535435616191030;11:
> Inside of taking away content and adding completely new campaign, or even any sort of addition to fix the campaign, what 343 should do is make more content in the form of YouTube videos, Campaign DLCs, etc. to deepen the story. They’ve already committed to this new story arc, so what they need to do is drown us with mainstream media to simply improve Guardians without making it a project that would take time and energy away from Halo 6.
>
> I’ll be waiting for a Halo 6 that delivers better than Echo-419.
Damn brother, that’s a serious reference. Respect.
> 2533274840469109;1:
> By now, I think we all agree Halo 5: Guardians was incredibly disappointing. It went in a direction most of us didn’t want it to go in and no character got any development. Imagine if 343 did something spectacular. What if they released a retcon rewrite of the game? They do a complete rewrite of the Campaign and release in an update that scratches out the campaign we have now. No design changes to the Campaign, just in the writing. Getting the cast to come back and get to perform with a good script. Yay! A problem that could arise is that there’s now canon material that feeds off the story of Guardians, possibly Halo Wars 2. I think they would just have to say that stuff is no longer canon. Here’s the thing though. I’m of the mindset of “they’re the one crafting the story, let them craft the story they want to tell.” I don’t think when they put their work out there and people give criticism and what they should do next time for the artist to go “-Yoink- you! You just don’t get it!” and stay stubborn, refusing to listen to any criticism. On the other side, I don’t want an artist to put something out, people give criticism and for them to go “I’m sooooorrryyy. What do you want me to do to fix this and make you happyyy?” You need to balance it out. You should tell the story you want to tell, and take the criticism in to strengthen your story. I don’t think the story of Guardians is the one they originally wanted. I think something happened and they had to do a rewrite, but I could be completely wrong. Imagine the look of joy many of us would have if they we saw an announcement: HALO 5: GUARDIANS CAMPAIGN UPDATE WILL RETCON ORIGINAL CAMPAIGN. I’d probably piss my pants. What do you think?
While I don’t like the campaign there are some great concepts personally within 5 that are present in VERY small undertones, if they focus on those in H6 and use them to the best of their ability then I’ll be fine because while I’d love to see them release an updated plot its a very slippery slope making a decision like that, its known as the Mass Effect, effect.
I’m inclined to say I’d gladly pay money for a patch that would fix the campaign…however it would also be downright criminal for 343i to ask their customers to pay for story content they blatantly said would be in the game and wasn’t (a.k.a. what they outright lied about). At least BioWare had the sense to admit they messed up with the ending of ‘Mass Effect 3’ (eventually) and made the Extended Cut avaliable for free.
> 2533274920039666;15:
> I’m inclined to say I’d gladly pay money for a patch that would fix the campaign…however it would also be downright criminal for 343i to ask their customers to pay for story content they blatantly said would be in the game and wasn’t (a.k.a. what they outright lied about). At least BioWare had the sense to admit they messed up with the ending of ‘Mass Effect 3’ (eventually) and made the Extended Cut avaliable for free.
What did they say was in the campaign and wasn’t? When has 343i made people pay for in Halo 5 that isn’t micro transactions and a voice pack?
IF a re-write took place, YOU would have to pay for it, it will NOT be free content. All the while they would be going everything they are going to have to pay the writers, designers (missions, story, art), and the voice/model actors. All of which are busy on other products such as Nathan Fillion a popular actor and Travis Willingham & Laura Bailey who voice in almost everything that requires voices. Not to mention employees at 343i who are currently working on Halo 6, taking time out of THEIR busy schedule for a completely unnecessary retcon. If this happens, then you would have no right to complain about Halo 6 since you are the ones who made it worse.
They fulfilled their end of the deal, they have no reason to do this all for free, despite the loud minority of people who want this.
retcon ?
Yeah…we get it that many didn’t like the story. I still did. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m pretty sure you’ve stated that several times.
Halo 5’s story is as it is. Why would they retcon it? That would never happen. I would be blown away if they did that.
Whats done is done.
> 2533274829152751;16:
> What did they say was in the campaign and wasn’t?
‘Halo 5’ was specifically said to be about the Chief’s growth and development and his interaction with Blue Team, and how them crossing paths with Osiris would show “two sides” of a story about family, duty, legacy, heroism, etc. that would build on all these other parts of the fiction. Yet, in spite of this game being promoted to fans with more character/story focused areas of interest, we didn’t get anything like that…343i didn’t promise me a game where the Chief (and pretty much everyone else too) treats Fred, Kelly, and Linda like dirt, where Osiris has nothing to do with Blue Team or really any personal stake in what is going on at large, or where all previous plot threads are swept aside in order to make room for an evil and abusive version of Cortana that takes over everything in cliche-AI-Rebellion #526. So if 343i really thinks that was the right story to tell, then they damn well should have advertised it as such.
But don’t just take it from me, here’s what was stated in official promotional materials for the game (there’s more untrue things that were said in other things like convention panels, but I don’t have access to transcripts of those at the moment):
> - “And what of Master Chief? Ross said Master Chief is still the star of the show, and the star of Halo 5, despite Locke’s prominence.”LIE. 3 Blue Team missions vs. 12 Osiris missions. Chief wasn’t remotely the “star” of this game - he does nothing but make a complete -Yoink- of himself (“We don’t ask.”, “No.”, “What the hell are you doing here?”), and aid the villain’s plans by being a complete tool yet again (seriously, this is like the 3rd time the Chief has been tricked into a trap by an AI). Locke meanwhile is most definitely the focus in all things, and largely spends his time dealing with third-party conflicts (Meridian, Sanghelios) and actually interacting with all the other characters aside from Blue Team (Osiris, Halsey, the Arbiter, Exuberant, etc.) in both a personal and professional manner.
> - “He’s questioning many things he once firmly believed were true. He’s questioning his past and his purpose, he’s question who he is fighting for. For us this is a really interesting point. For the first time he’s questioning everything he’s done for the UNSC in the past.”LIE. This is not a vague claim. Yet when does this idea of the Chief doubting his history with the UNSC ever pop up in the game? In fact in the first level he specifically tells the others on Blue Team not to question what ONI was doing on the Argent Moon. Not to mention that by the end of the game it turns out the UNSC was absolutely right to not want the Chief to go looking for Cortana because that not only allowed her to be fully unleashed from Genesis, but it also nearly got himself enslaved and his family killed. So if he had any doubts about them before, I don’t see why he would now.
> - “343 Industries has stated that Blue Team probably has more lines of dialogue in Halo 5 than they have in all the books, comics, and videos released to date, so it will give fans a better look into the personas of some of Halo’s oldest warriors.”LIE. This isn’t a vague statement either. People have taken a count of the spoken lines in ‘Halo 5’, and suffice to say the members of Blue Team probably have more lines of dialogue (and likely more meaningful dialogue to boot) in one book than they have in all of ‘Halo 5’.
> - “We got asked a lot about what happened to Cortana – what’s her fate? Well, her fate is, obviously, very clear at the end of Halo 4."LIE. Because I’m pretty sure that the end of ‘Halo 4’ - and all the media that came after it - says Cortana died…NOT that she got sucked into the Domain somehow and just so happened to subvert a Forerunner Ancilla we’ve never heard of before in order to control it and then just up and decided that she was going to be the galaxy’s supreme dictator because “the greater good”.
> - "It’s more about the long-lasting impact she’s had on him, and the whole universe, and that’s kind of a metaphor for the effect she’s had on fans now that she’s gone as well."LIE. Cortana isn’t gone, in fact it’s the exact opposite seeing as how the entire story now revolves around her - and the only lasting impact she’s going to have at this point is the millions dead and widespread damage/trauma she’s caused in starting yet another pointless war.
> - "There’s more to the Chief’s story, I think, that people are going to find in Halo 5 that deals with how he copes with loss, and how he deals with his memories, and what those memories help him contextualise.”LIE. The Chief never copes with loss or deals with any memories in ‘Halo 5’. And there is no indication thus far that he ever will. Next…
> - “For Chief it’s interesting because he’s been reunited with Blue team; and this is the first time we’re seeing him actually rely on other people and be a part of a unit.”LIE. In ‘Halo 5’ we never see the Chief actually rely on Blue Team in any way; not personally, as he doesn’t even acknowledge them 99% of the time, and not in battle due to the fact they only have two cutscenes when they’re in an actual combat situation together and nothing happens aside from them shooting their guns a few times before the threat disappears.
> - “There’s definitely a human drama at the core of that and how these two teams relate to each other as they cross paths.”LIE. And this one is particularly hilarious/ridiculous because out of the 3 times Blue Team and Osiris see each other, aside from Chief and Locke none of the Spartans speak or interact in any way. Real “human drama” there indeed.
> - “There is a unique understanding that the rest of Blue Team has that even Cortana really didn’t have.” - “Chief’s always been a man apart, and has always been very, very different than the other people around him. But with Blue Team, they are equals.” - “Chief’s with his old team; people who are his family and who he knows very well. "Now these are interesting - because while the sentiments expressed in these statement are definitely true in terms of Halo canon, in terms of 'Halo 5’s handling of these characters they are undoubtedly false. Nothing about the game reflects any of this (in fact I’m fairly certain the Chief has more dialogue with Cortana and the Warden than he does with his team), which brings me to…
> - “And so giving him the chance to talk to these people that he’s known for years means that we get to see another side of him.”“Care to elaborate?”**"No."100% LIE.
Those statements aren’t unclear in terms of what they promise, and ‘Halo 5’ didn’t deliver on any of them. So yes, 343i lied - no matter the “reason” why, they still said and did things that didn’t remotely give fans the opportunity to make an informed decision as a consumer in regards to if the game’s narrative and campaign content was worth the purchase price (with the LCE version being over $250, I might add), and that just isn’t okay. Hence why it would be even worse for them to try and charge more $$ to fix the mess they made in the first place…but of course we all know by now based on the post-release behavior of those on the dev team they don’t have the decency to even admit they’ve done wrong, let alone actually try and make up for it, so the point is merely theoretical in nature at this time.