Just replayed campaign and to be honest

Games Halo 5: Guardians
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The story and missions are really not THAT bad. Much in a way that a game goes through a “honey moon” I feel like H5 went through an anti-honeymoon. From a Halo perspective they are probably the weakest, but I don’t think they were as God awful as we originally thought. I’ve been replaying all the Halo’s to work my way to Infinite and have just finished H5. To be honest, and I know this opinion will be unpopular, I found that now that I’m going at this without the blur of the misleading marketing, and knowing what I’m going to get I did not hate on it as much as I did when it first was released.

I really enjoyed the game mechanics, I felt the art style on the elites was improved compared to that sandy skin tone of H4. I felt the armour abilities were enjoyable, smart scope I barely used but got some use from. I found the large maps fun because there were options in combat. I found the fireteam mechanics interesting because a death was not always a fail, and I made constant use of the orders (I do play action JRPGs usually, so I’m very used to taking in a lot of info and moving in extremely quick time compared to Western games).

Yes the characters needed work, as Locke did not develop much as a character, and yes Cortana could’ve been handled a touch better, but I found the concept that 343 was going for to be interesting. If I were to change aspects of the story I would do this:

  1. Market the game as a spin off game from day 1, like H3 ODST, or Halo Reach (don’t mention Chief, period)
  2. Have the anomalies be a complete mystery to the player as well as the characters
  3. Locke’s target should be a mystery to the player and we get little hints bit by bit. The player only knows it is someone important, but we are not told who at any point neither in marketing, or in the game
  4. Have Locke be hardcore ONI early game and slowly soften his views as he gets closer to his target
  5. Reveal to the player partway through that the target is the Chief (perhaps by Sanghelios, when he reveals it to the Arbiter), but we never confront Chief at any time…however as Locke learns more about what is going on and how ONI is allowing the planets to be taken down he begins to question his orders and his hardcore ONI attitude…especially considering who the Chief is
  6. Once Locke finally catches up to the Chief, have that be a big massive reveal and then surprise the player by giving us 1 level where we control Chief (if the game was never marketed as a mainline title, this 1 level would be a fun bonus rather than a tease because it was marketed as a spin off from day 1)

That’s it. Now as I prepare to dive through Halo Wars 2, and then play the Infinite campaign, I’m interested to see how it unfolds. I felt a minor sadness by the end because I could see a lot of potential in Osiris, if they were given a campaign length about H2 size and the entire game was about them, I bet we would’ve learned a lot about these characters and they would’ve been far more welcomed in the lore. However, because of how H5 was handled the characters will be sidelined and forgotten about for all of Halo (unless Infinite mentions them, please don’t tell me details beyond a yes or no answer, I’ve avoided spoilers of the story up till now).

Anyways…any thoughts? Agree, disagree? Ponic you’re insane there’s no fixing H5, 343 is terrible, bow down to Bungie, I want doughnuts?

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The problem with Halo 5’s campaign is that it doesn’t feature a narrative. A narrative requires three things:

  1. Setup
  2. Development
  3. Payoff

Halo 5 is essentially all setup and an abrupt pseudo payoff. It doesn’t adequately develop anything, and its ending feels like there was meant to be another level after it. Even Halo 2, while also featuring a cliffhanger ending, managed to work as a strong beginning+middle+end narrative.

It’s okay to like its ideas. But the execution is inexcusably bad for a supposedly professional product.

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Gameplay good “story” bad

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Without a single example.

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Yes I like the idea they were going for, I enjoyed all the characters we fight beside (such as Blue Team, and Arbiter), I like the ideas of the story. I agree with you it was a lot of build up with little payoff so the execution was weak. I just don’t feel it’s as awful as we thought. Like when we went to Sanghelios, I loved it. When the AI first joined Cortana, even relaying it now, I find myself a little off put because of how much the UNSC relies on them and the power they now have.

One game I played (and still do) was Command and Conquer. The fourth game in the series “Tiberian Twilight”, that game had a story I felt was objectively awful with no redeeming qualities, and was the worst story in a game I’ve ever played.

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I wouldve loved to see Locke play to his strengths as an ex-ONI agent turned spartan where hes a little more ruthless and cold in his demeanor. Instead of a whole fireteam" one additional chacter could help fully fleshout and progress development of story and characters. I wouldve rather seen Buck be Locke’s partner, a grizzled veteran, and a newly minted spartan. Hed have a more sunny disposition and optimism than Lockes cool calculating persona. Maybe he questions thier orders of tracking down the Chief, pushes Locke to see the whole picture.
Also i wouldve like to see the Chief as a more exploratory character, uncovering a mysterious signal that connects to the disappearances of the outer colonies. He’d have more of the “guns down” levels with platforming elements, and is later joined by non other than the Arbiter, who stumbles across the mysterious signals himself.

The fight between Chief and Locke wouldve been cooler if you could see two distinct styles, the Chief using his extensive expirience, natural abilities, and knowledge, whereas Locke relying more on his armor’s thrusters and brute force. Couldve made for a more dynamic scene.

Hindsight being 20/20, these changes couldve made Halo 5 more memorable and different than its counterparts. Also calling it Halo: Gaurdians, removing the 5, wouldve been more acceptable as well.

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