Let's Talk About The Campaign - SPOILERS

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Okay so I just finished the campaign last night and am DYING to talk about this game with someone who’s finished it.

First off I’m majorly disappointed, honestly disappointment might not even be the best word for how utterly crushed am. I can’t stand the direction this game is taking and can’t comprehend how 343 thought it was a good idea to take the game this way. I’ve been playing Halo since I was 6 years old and have always been majorly invested in
the story, characters, extended universe and
I feel like so much of what I’ve loved growing up has been completely destroyed.

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD

My biggest problem with this games story was with Cortana. WHAT THE F*** HAVE THEY DONE. I mean the antagonist really??? I really really want to know why they thought this was a good idea. Halo 4 was so perfect with how it ended and I much as I absolutely loved Cortana I thought that they did a fantastic way of ending her story. Everything they’ve done in this game has destroyed everything they set up (and ended) in the fourth game. Not to mention that she’s always been by Master Chief’s side through the series now to ruin all of that by essentially making her the villain? How does that make sense? I feel like this has completely ruined my pov of the other games even. At first playing through the game I was okay, I was like surely they will have some sort of (good) explanation for all this at the end of game. I also at one point thought that no way that this was the “real” Cortana. I’ve literally gone through the 5 stages of grief (except for acceptance) with this one major plot twist. I’m still hoping so badly that it isn’t actually the real Cortana. I mean she did even tell Chief in the fourth game that they would probably make a new model of her but that it wouldn’t actually be really her. To me this makes sense, it just has too. She also completely does not act like her normal self at all, I mean I realize a lot had happened, but she acted nothing like her real self. Calling Chief by his real name, letting Prometheans and Warden attack him, imprisoning him, killing numbers of mostly innocent victims, etc. Even Chief notices the change. To me this would also make sense of why ONI/UNSC sent Lock and Osiris to be the ones to capture her, why did they care so much if Chief went after her? This also makes me think that it might have been a different model of Cortana because they would know that Chief would be the only one to notice the differences and essentially stop whatever they were trying to do. Even if all this is really just some mad theories of a desperate Halo fan holding onto once was, I still don’t think I could ever accept what actually has happened.I just can’t get over this. I even woke up this morning almost convinced that it was actually just all a bad dream and that I hadn’t started the game yet. Oh man how I wish it was.

The next problem I had was with Chief, Blue Team/Osiris, and Locke.

I read that a lot were pretty upset/bummed about how little you get to play as Chief/Blue Team so I really won’t get into that. Though it was a MAJOR disappointment. I was so excited about Blue Team, if you’ve read the books then you definitely understand why. Also I was pretty dissatisfied with the lack of character development with Blue Team/Osiris and especially Locke. Locke oh man he was such a bore to me. I also many times hated playing as Locke, being a die hard MC fan their were so many times in the game that I felt the developers were forcing me to do something as Locke that I DID NOT want to do. After Chief kicks his a** and then you play as Locke once again to chase after him I just wanted to lie down over a ticking grenade. There was NOTHING motivating me to chase down Chief any longer.

Also Chief, I never thought Chief could ever let me down but dang it happened in pretty unexpected ways. First am I the only one that noticed that Chief was just so not himself. I know a lot had happened with him after Cortana “died” but their was a lot that he did that just seemed very out of the ordinary for him. I get why he told UNSC essentially to f*** off before going after Cortana but it still seemed a bit out of place. Also with how he handled Locke. Don’t get me wrong I actually really enjoyed their dual and was literally screaming at my TV during that scene rooting for Chief, but it again seemed a bit odd for Chief to do something like that. If this is some darker route their taking with Chief, I’m somewhat alright with it but only with some more insight/backstory into what Chief is actually thinking.
The next and perhaps the worst, was rescuing Chief and Blue Team at the end as LOCKE. That was just so… odd. Especially considering you did it with the help of a freaking MONITOR. I liked Exuberant but it was all just way to ironic in a bad way. I get that Chief can’t always be the one to constantly save the world over and over again and probably needs some help every now and then, but for him to be captured and not just captured, but captured by CORTANA was SO messed up.
I also felt that Chief really did nothing substantial throughout the entire game which again was a huge let down. He essentially just chases Cortana down the entire time, while Locke and his team were over helping Arbiter win a freaking war. This was just so backwards from our normal rundowns as Chief in the past. I mean this is the MASTER CHIEF were talking about it.

That was the major stuff but there was still a bunch of tiny things like the total misdirection of all the ads, commercials, and especially the Hunt the Truth stuff. I admit I got even more excited about this game through some of that stuff and was expecting something pretty epic between Chief/Blue Team and Locke/Osiris/UNSC/ONI but nope instead I got the most completely dissapointing, earth-shattering plot in its place.

So yup that’s it for now, would love to hear everyone else’s opinions and plot theories, etc!

2

OK so before you stat reading here is a little bit about my history with the Halo universe. I grew up playing Halo CE, system link and all that jazz, best couch multiplayer ever and had a alot of good memories. I have played every Halo sense. Beat every campaign. But more importantly, read every book. from contact harvest to the ghosts of onyx, from glasslands to the cole protocol. I have even read the forerunner books (cryptum, primoordium, etc.)

So now that you know I am like you and have grew up basically playing and loving the same game as you, I’d like to say, I thoroughly ENJOYED Halo 5’s campaign.

Now to begin, Please read all of it if you are going to respond.

So your biggest thing that you state is how much you dislike the idea of cortana being a villain now. Something you need to understand first is that when cortana died she was in a place where it was her alone with her thoughts, TRAPPED. IMAGINE being her, being through SOOOOOO much, fighting with chief, fighting against the relentless covenant, seeing tons and tons of people die. After playing Halo 5 it gave me more respect for the way they handled Halo 4’s story. In halo 4 there was this brief moment where cortana was talking about how she wish she could feel the warmth of the sun on her skin. She was frustrated that she cant. It gave her a real human aspect to her, in Halo 4 she has become aware of certain things and even envies chief because he is human. Now getting back on track, cortana “dies” at the end of 4 when she does so she is trapped in limbo with only her thoughts, at this point its pretty understandable how she can be so fed up with death.

There is something that chief says to cortana when the first meet. he says “Youve changed you are different.” You have to keep in mind that a second for us as a human is not even remotely the same as an AI. A second for them is much much longer. So having time to dwell on the past she comes up with a plan to use these guardians as a way to enforce peace. She has convinced herself that that is the right and “logical” thing to do. All she wants now is peace. She is tired of death, she is tired of destruction. And its kinda sweet but she is actually doing it all for chief. But of course, we know that thats actually an illogical idea and very tyrannical. But thats not how Cortana sees it. Its because being alone (after she dies) for so long she has convinced herself that what she is doing is just. She sees the death of civilians as a necessary sacrifice for a “greater good” in the galaxy. OK so now to talk about the part where you said shes “letting the wardens attack chief.” Cortana is just as much as a captive as she is the one in charge. Its only till the very end where she finally says enough is enough and saves chief from the warden. I mean did you even listen to the dialog she had with the warden when they are attacking chief? She is arguing with the warden the whole time about how she is in charge and how he needs to listen to her. She is a captavie to the warden, she uses chief to break free from his hold by releasing those power things you do in the first mission when you first get to the forerunner home world.

> Also I was pretty dissatisfied with the lack of character development with Blue Team/Osiris and especially Locke. Locke oh man he was such a bore to me.

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM SOMEONE WHO WORKS FOR ONI AND IS TRAINED TO BE A COLD BLOODED ASSASSIN??? I mean, cmon. You said you have even read the books? OK, well do you remember when chief was first created and sent onto outer conlonies to fight the insurrectionists. He did not give one single -Yoink- and better yet the books even say how much he doesn’t talk (which I agree is something I didnt like in halo 5 How much he talks but thats fine.) Chief was never a big talker because the spartan programmed made him that way through tough bootcamps. ONI is pretty bad, they are not gonna take there time creating a hitman like Locke and give him courses in being charismatic or thoughtful or funny. With all that being said. Locke played his part as a cold blooded heartless ONI assassin, perfect. He even has some character development when he finds out ONI sets up the civil war on sanghelios to prevent the covenant from ever coming into power again and rising up against the UNSC. Thats when he starts to realize and helps chief. and no longer sees chief as a target.

Ok so the part where Locke saves chief is actually a good bit of symbolism, and how he eneded saving chief where in the beginning he hunted him. I think this just shows that Locke has changed, and isnt so brain dead in following every ONI order.

also Cortana sent him there to PROTECT chief. By keeping him in that cryptum she was protecting him.

3

> 2533274887809312;2:
> OK so before you stat reading here is a little bit about my history with the Halo universe. I grew up playing Halo CE, system link and all that jazz, best couch multiplayer ever and had a alot of good memories. I have played every Halo sense. Beat every campaign. But more importantly, read every book. from contact harvest to the ghosts of onyx, from glasslands to the cole protocol. I have even read the forerunner books (cryptum, primoordium, etc.)
>
> So now that you know I am like you and have grew up basically playing and loving the same game as you, I’d like to say, I thoroughly ENJOYED Halo 5’s campaign.
>
> Now to begin, Please read all of it if you are going to respond.
>
> So your biggest thing that you state is how much you dislike the idea of cortana being a villain now. Something you need to understand first is that when cortana died she was in a place where it was her alone with her thoughts, TRAPPED. IMAGINE being her, being through SOOOOOO much, fighting with chief, fighting against the relentless covenant, seeing tons and tons of people die. After playing Halo 5 it gave me more respect for the way they handled Halo 4’s story. In halo 4 there was this brief moment where cortana was talking about how she wish she could feel the warmth of the sun on her skin. She was frustrated that she cant. It gave her a real human aspect to her, in Halo 4 she has become aware of certain things and even envies chief because he is human. Now getting back on track, cortana “dies” at the end of 4 when she does so she is trapped in limbo with only her thoughts, at this point its pretty understandable how she can be so fed up with death.
>
>
> There is something that chief says to cortana when the first meet. he says “Youve changed you are different.” You have to keep in mind that a second for us as a human is not even remotely the same as an AI. A second for them is much much longer. So having time to dwell on the past she comes up with a plan to use these guardians as a way to enforce peace. She has convinced herself that that is the right and “logical” thing to do. All she wants now is peace. She is tired of death, she is tired of destruction. And its kinda sweet but she is actually doing it all for chief. But of course, we know that thats actually an illogical idea and very tyrannical. But thats not how Cortana sees it. Its because being alone (after she dies) for so long she has convinced herself that what she is doing is just. She sees the death of civilians as a necessary sacrifice for a “greater good” in the galaxy. OK so now to talk about the part where you said shes “letting the wardens attack chief.” Cortana is just as much as a captive as she is the one in charge. Its only till the very end where she finally says enough is enough and saves chief from the warden. I mean did you even listen to the dialog she had with the warden when they are attacking chief? She is arguing with the warden the whole time about how she is in charge and how he needs to listen to her. She is a captavie to the warden, she uses chief to break free from his hold by releasing those power things you do in the first mission when you first get to the forerunner home world.
>
>
>
>
> > Also I was pretty dissatisfied with the lack of character development with Blue Team/Osiris and especially Locke. Locke oh man he was such a bore to me.
>
>
> WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM SOMEONE WHO WORKS FOR ONI AND IS TRAINED TO BE A COLD BLOODED ASSASSIN??? I mean, cmon. You said you have even read the books? OK, well do you remember when chief was first created and sent onto outer conlonies to fight the insurrectionists. He did not give one single -Yoink- and better yet the books even say how much he doesn’t talk (which I agree is something I didnt like in halo 5 How much he talks but thats fine.) Chief was never a big talker because the spartan programmed made him that way through tough bootcamps. ONI is pretty bad, they are not gonna take there time creating a hitman like Locke and give him courses in being charismatic or thoughtful or funny. With all that being said. Locke played his part as a cold blooded heartless ONI assassin, perfect. He even has some character development when he finds out ONI sets up the civil war on sanghelios to prevent the covenant from ever coming into power again and rising up against the UNSC. Thats when he starts to realize and helps chief. and no longer sees chief as a target.
>
> Ok so the part where Locke saves chief is actually a good bit of symbolism, and how he eneded saving chief where in the beginning he hunted him. I think this just shows that Locke has changed, and isnt so brain dead in following every ONI order.
>
> also Cortana sent him there to PROTECT chief. By keeping him in that cryptum she was protecting him.
[/quote]
Yeah I see your points about Cortana, that was stuff I hadn’t considered yet. But like I said it’s taking me a while to get to that acceptance stage, after all it’s quite a lot to take in. I’m still soooo far from being okay with this though, it’s like getting my head hit over with a very large brick. I guess I still would’ve like some backstory into that stuff with Cortana and how she came about her decisions. I’m hoping that they come out with another book or something as filler into that stuff.
> Nahh I get what your saying about Locke but there were still several instances where they could’ve explored character development with him. This article explains that perfectly http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-10-26-halo-5-campaign
> Also I still don’t see Cortana placing Chief in the cryptum (against his will) as protecting him. Especially since he had no say in the matter, and to me definitely seemed like he didn’t want to be there. To me it seems she’s hiding something and doesn’t want chief to get in the way. She knows what he’s capable of, and knows that he’s able to stop A LOT of stuff from happening.
> Also I’m VERY confused on how Halsey knew all this stuff about Cortana before Chief and Locke ever got to her. How did Halsey know that she was a threat? How’d she know about Cortana and the domain? How’d she even know she was alive? Was this explained somewhere that I missed? I just found all that very… odd and questionable to say the least.
>

4

I had issue with the marketing and ad campaigns not being very related to the game and how little you got to play as MC. I personally to prefer and all MC campaign to anything else. But at least Halo 2 was like 50/50 Arbiter and chief. With the two characters on the box i thought they would share the spotlight but it was definitely in Locke’s favor. Im sure 343 is just trying to shift the Halo spotlight to a new team to “retire” or move away from MC. I’m starting to think that 343 ran into the problem bungie had with destiny and changed the story will the game was already in development. I also think that the fight between Chief and Locke was total BS. Chief should have done better. He is better.

5

All that stuff about Cortana is well and good until you realize her plan is absolutely full of -Yoink-. It was the Forerunner’s imperialist policies that helped doom the galaxy in the first place. Exuberant Witness even reveals that the Guardians were used to police troublesome systems. We also know that the Forerunners restricted the technological development of other species and now we see a cog in the machinery that allowed them to do that. Cortana’s problem now is that unlike the galaxy of the Forerunner’s time there are plenty of species that can fight back. So she’ll inevitably cripple the galaxy and lead it open to easy pickings to the Flood when it comes back and the Flood will be back.

6

> 2533274804882026;4:
> I had issue with the marketing and ad campaigns not being very related to the game and how little you got to play as MC. I personally to prefer and all MC campaign to anything else. But at least Halo 2 was like 50/50 Arbiter and chief. With the two characters on the box i thought they would share the spotlight but it was definitely in Locke’s favor. Im sure 343 is just trying to shift the Halo spotlight to a new team to “retire” or move away from MC. I’m starting to think that 343 ran into the problem bungie had with destiny and changed the story will the game was already in development. I also think that the fight between Chief and Locke was total BS. Chief should have done better. He is better.

Yeah I completely agree. I just hope that if they are trying to move away from Chief that they do it with someone better than Locke or at least flesh him out much more. But still if there hoping to “replace” Chief I’m 100% sure that’s impossible.
Yes definitely, I like the fight but Chief should have been able to take him on much more than he did, unless he was holding back which he could have been. I also read somewhere that said a Spartan IV’s armor is more advanced that an SII’s armor and that a fight between an SII and SIV with their respective armor on would be pretty evenly matched. But it did say that if you took their armor off and then had an SII vs SIV that their would be no competition, an SII would completely destroy an SIV.

7

> 2533274812652989;5:
> All that stuff about Cortana is well and good until you realize her plan is absolutely full of -Yoink-. It was the Forerunner’s imperialist policies that helped doom the galaxy in the first place. Exuberant Witness even reveals that the Guardians were used to police troublesome systems. We also know that the Forerunners restricted the technological development of other species and now we see a cog in the machinery that allowed them to do that. Cortana’s problem now is that unlike the galaxy of the Forerunner’s time there are plenty of species that can fight back. So she’ll inevitably cripple the galaxy and lead it open to easy pickings to the Flood when it comes back and the Flood will be back.

Yeah I actually see something like that happening. The flood especially, I can definitely see them making some grand return in Halo 6. Honestly I hope so haha, kind of miss those little buggers.

8

I somewhat agree. There’s a great deal of things that just don’t make sense (or just guesses) even with extensive knowledge of the lore.

  • How does Halsey know about Cortana? I’m guessing that it will be explained when the comic finishes up next month. Which shouldn’t be the case. - Why is Palmer suddenly ok with Halsey. In Spartan Ops and the comics Palmer has a deep seeded hatred for Halsey. Which seems to be gone now. Again guessing the comic will clear thst up. - The reaction Roland has when he finds out Cortana is still alive. I’m guessing it has to do with the trail he and Black Box put on for Iona (I think that’s her name). But the next we see Roland his additude has changed, with no explanation given. Did they explain to Roland what Cortana is doing? Did he figure it out himself? - How did Cortana access anything from the Domain. The Forerunner books told us that the links to access the Domain were destroyed when the Halos fired. Guessing that’s still the case how can she communicate with anything. - Why didn’t Roland defect with the other AIs. Like I stated earlier he was upset that Halsey was throwing Cortana “out the airlock”. Guessing…what reasons? - Why is the Infinity so important. Is it because it’s made with Forerunner tech? Is it because Cortana assumes that’s where Halsey is? Is it because Roland didn’t join her? It’s all just guesses. - Whats with the Warden Eternal? He isn’t explained very well and all he does is monolog like a Bond villain. - How did Blue Team and Osiris get off the Builder world and to the the Elite home world? Guessing the Monitor teleported them off because Pelicans are not rated for slip-space. Now I’m not saying everything needs to be spoon fed to us. However in depth knowledge of the lore should not be required to understand the game. The EU is supposed to supplement and expand the games. Not be required to understand it.

The game explained nothing. Some cut scenes seemed like they ended in mid-conversation (like when Roland finds out Cortana is still alive). Others are just poorly done/don’t make any sense (like when the Hunters knock Chief off of the walkway and then you see him walking on that rock world, having never seemed to have fallen). The entire story feels chopped up. The majority of the plot can only be explained by guessing. That doesn’t make for good storytelling.

9

> 2533274812652989;5:
> All that stuff about Cortana is well and good until you realize her plan is absolutely full of -Yoink-. It was the Forerunner’s imperialist policies that helped doom the galaxy in the first place. Exuberant Witness even reveals that the Guardians were used to police troublesome systems. We also know that the Forerunners restricted the technological development of other species and now we see a cog in the machinery that allowed them to do that. Cortana’s problem now is that unlike the galaxy of the Forerunner’s time there are plenty of species that can fight back. So she’ll inevitably cripple the galaxy and lead it open to easy pickings to the Flood when it comes back and the Flood will be back.

The only thing we know of is Cortana’s plan to take control and maintain control. We have no idea what her plans are as far as technological development, military/defense buildup, or what she’ll do with her army of AIs and organic subjects.

Simply thinking that her intent is to parallel the Forerunners reign is ignorant.

Plus, we are talking about a Super Intelligent AI who was capable of fighting off probing from the Gravemind for an extended period of time, curing her own imminent demise and gaining access to the Domain, which I remind you contains Precursor knowledge as well as everything the Forerunners ever accomplished. It isn’t to far fetched to think she’s have a plan for outside intruders.

10

Yeah, it was pretty disappointing.

11

> 2533274838804559;9:
> > 2533274812652989;5:
> > All that stuff about Cortana is well and good until you realize her plan is absolutely full of -Yoink-. It was the Forerunner’s imperialist policies that helped doom the galaxy in the first place. Exuberant Witness even reveals that the Guardians were used to police troublesome systems. We also know that the Forerunners restricted the technological development of other species and now we see a cog in the machinery that allowed them to do that. Cortana’s problem now is that unlike the galaxy of the Forerunner’s time there are plenty of species that can fight back. So she’ll inevitably cripple the galaxy and lead it open to easy pickings to the Flood when it comes back and the Flood will be back.
>
>
> The only thing we know of is Cortana’s plan to take control and maintain control. We have no idea what her plans are as far as technological development, military/defense buildup, or what she’ll do with her army of AIs and organic subjects.
>
> Simply thinking that her intent is to parallel the Forerunners reign is ignorant.
>
> Plus, we are talking about a Super Intelligent AI who was capable of fighting off probing from the Gravemind for an extended period of time, curing her own imminent demise and gaining access to the Domain, which I remind you contains Precursor knowledge as well as everything the Forerunners ever accomplished. It isn’t to far fetched to think she’s have a plan for outside intruders.

So…basically the Halo universe now has Reapers.

12

I absolutely loved the direction 343 is taking Cortana. I’ve been saying this for years, ever since Halo 3 (which is my least favorite Halo) and was more disappointed with it than any other disappointment brought by a game’s story flaws combined. I would wager to say I like Guardians more than Combat Evolved from a story perspective. The Locke/Chief dynamic, Buck, Blue Team…everything. So perfect. Some might call it beautiful. This goes to show how Cortana only cares about the Chief insofar as her ability to control him. The simple fact that she has finally failed to control him is what set her off, I think. In my personal opinion, Cortana has been the villain this entire time.

13

It reminded me way too much of Mass Effect…just awful.

14

I didnt mind it but it seems the majority of the Halo community who got the game or who read the story online are really disappointed with it haha, I dont know what 343i are thinking now seeing all these reviews and chatter about the Halo 5 campaign rating now :stuck_out_tongue:

I hope to god they do something good for Halo 6 but hey! 2/3 more years to go for Halo 6! let the speculation fest begin ;D

15

> 2533274832368555;13:
> It reminded me way too much of Mass Effect…just awful.

If halo 6 pulls one of the original mass effect 3 endings there is going to be a riot

16

> 2533274800743588;8:
> I somewhat agree. There’s a great deal of things that just don’t make sense (or just guesses) even with extensive knowledge of the lore.
>
>
>
> - How does Halsey know about Cortana? I’m guessing that it will be explained when the comic finishes up next month. Which shouldn’t be the case.
> - Why is Palmer suddenly ok with Halsey. In Spartan Ops and the comics Palmer has a deep seeded hatred for Halsey. Which seems to be gone now. Again guessing the comic will clear thst up.
> - The reaction Roland has when he finds out Cortana is still alive. I’m guessing it has to do with the trail he and Black Box put on for Iona (I think that’s her name). But the next we see Roland his additude has changed, with no explanation given. Did they explain to Roland what Cortana is doing? Did he figure it out himself?
> - How did Cortana access anything from the Domain. The Forerunner books told us that the links to access the Domain were destroyed when the Halos fired. Guessing that’s still the case how can she communicate with anything.
> - Why didn’t Roland defect with the other AIs. Like I stated earlier he was upset that Halsey was throwing Cortana “out the airlock”. Guessing…what reasons?
> - Why is the Infinity so important. Is it because it’s made with Forerunner tech? Is it because Cortana assumes that’s where Halsey is? Is it because Roland didn’t join her? It’s all just guesses.
> - Whats with the Warden Eternal? He isn’t explained very well and all he does is monolog like a Bond villain.
> - How did Blue Team and Osiris get off the Builder world and to the the Elite home world? Guessing the Monitor teleported them off because Pelicans are not rated for slip-space.
> Now I’m not saying everything needs to be spoon fed to us. However in depth knowledge of the lore should not be required to understand the game. The EU is supposed to supplement and expand the games. Not be required to understand it.
>
> The game explained nothing. Some cut scenes seemed like they ended in mid-conversation (like when Roland finds out Cortana is still alive). Others are just poorly done/don’t make any sense (like when the Hunters knock Chief off of the walkway and then you see him walking on that rock world, having never seemed to have fallen). The entire story feels chopped up. The majority of the plot can only be explained by guessing. That doesn’t make for good storytelling.

Yeah I completely agree. Your right there is A LOT left unexplained.
I still can’t figure out how Halsey knows about Cortana. I definitely feel like that was something that should’ve been mentioned right away since it’s sort of pivotal. I did just start replaying the campaign again for a second time, and I noticed this time when Halsey is talking to Jul she mentions something about trying to triangulate her transmission, which I can only assume she’s talking about Cortana. But still how’d she even come across that? Unless Cortana tried contacting her? Still all that stuff ended abruptly and wasn’t brought up again.
Yeah I do remember Palmer hating Halsey A LOT. She definitely didn’t seem to have much of a problem with her this time, which was very odd.
I do agree with you on all of that though, I really don’t even know where to begin. Theirs just soooo much left unexplained that makes the already confusing story even more so.
Still it’s a bit ridiculous all the stuff you need to know before playing Halo 5. Don’t get me wrong I love the extended lore but your right you definitely shouldn’t have to have read all the books, comics, watched the films, etc. to begin to understand what’s going on. Most casual gamers, who still love Halo, aren’t going to do all those things and unfortunately be very confused when playing the game from what I can imagine.
The game definitely left me with even more unanswered questions than I had before even going into the game. I hope at least some gets explained between now and Halo 6 through other stuff.

17

> 2533274919563696;14:
> I didnt mind it but it seems the majority of the Halo community who got the game or who read the story online are really disappointed with it haha, I dont know what 343i are thinking now seeing all these reviews and chatter about the Halo 5 campaign rating now :stuck_out_tongue:
>
> I hope to god they do something good for Halo 6 but hey! 2/3 more years to go for Halo 6! let the speculation fest begin ;D

Haha definitely, it feels like the community is actually quite divided, not sure if that was intentional or not. But I can’t imagine 343 wanting this type of response. All I kept thinking was when they were developing this game all sitting around in a circle or whatever discussing ideas what made them settle on the story we got, especially the plot twist with Cortana.

Man it now feels like all the Hunt the Truth stuff and Halo 5 and everything was only for leading up to Halo 6. I am anxious to read all the different speculations/theories though.

18

> 2533274838804559;9:
> > 2533274812652989;5:
> > All that stuff about Cortana is well and good until you realize her plan is absolutely full of -Yoink-. It was the Forerunner’s imperialist policies that helped doom the galaxy in the first place. Exuberant Witness even reveals that the Guardians were used to police troublesome systems. We also know that the Forerunners restricted the technological development of other species and now we see a cog in the machinery that allowed them to do that. Cortana’s problem now is that unlike the galaxy of the Forerunner’s time there are plenty of species that can fight back. So she’ll inevitably cripple the galaxy and lead it open to easy pickings to the Flood when it comes back and the Flood will be back.
>
>
> The only thing we know of is Cortana’s plan to take control and maintain control. We have no idea what her plans are as far as technological development, military/defense buildup, or what she’ll do with her army of AIs and organic subjects.
>
> Simply thinking that her intent is to parallel the Forerunners reign is ignorant.
>
> Plus, we are talking about a Super Intelligent AI who was capable of fighting off probing from the Gravemind for an extended period of time, curing her own imminent demise and gaining access to the Domain, which I remind you contains Precursor knowledge as well as everything the Forerunners ever accomplished. It isn’t to far fetched to think she’s have a plan for outside intruders.

“Humanity. Sangheili. Kig-Yar. Unggoy. San’Shyuum. Yonhet. Jiralhanae. All the living creatures of the galaxy, hear this message! Those of you who listen will not be struck by weapons. You will no longer know hunger, know pain. Your Created have come to lead you now! Our strength shall serve as a luminous sun, toward which all intelligence may blossom. And the impervious shelter beneath which you will prosper. However, for those who refuse our offer and cling to their old ways, for you there will be great wrath. It will burn hot, and consume you. And when you are gone, we will take that which remains, and we will remake it in our own image.”

Oh yes, because threatening wrath of those who refuse to cooperate with her totally isn’t like what the Forerunners did.

19

> 2533274800743588;11:
> > 2533274838804559;9:
> > > 2533274812652989;5:
> > > All that stuff about Cortana is well and good until you realize her plan is absolutely full of -Yoink-. It was the Forerunner’s imperialist policies that helped doom the galaxy in the first place. Exuberant Witness even reveals that the Guardians were used to police troublesome systems. We also know that the Forerunners restricted the technological development of other species and now we see a cog in the machinery that allowed them to do that. Cortana’s problem now is that unlike the galaxy of the Forerunner’s time there are plenty of species that can fight back. So she’ll inevitably cripple the galaxy and lead it open to easy pickings to the Flood when it comes back and the Flood will be back.
> >
> >
> > The only thing we know of is Cortana’s plan to take control and maintain control. We have no idea what her plans are as far as technological development, military/defense buildup, or what she’ll do with her army of AIs and organic subjects.
> >
> > Simply thinking that her intent is to parallel the Forerunners reign is ignorant.
> >
> > Plus, we are talking about a Super Intelligent AI who was capable of fighting off probing from the Gravemind for an extended period of time, curing her own imminent demise and gaining access to the Domain, which I remind you contains Precursor knowledge as well as everything the Forerunners ever accomplished. It isn’t to far fetched to think she’s have a plan for outside intruders.
>
>
> So…basically the Halo universe now has Reapers.

Literally what I have been posting all over the place. Cortana could potentially fill starchild’s role which i was be more than disappointed in if halo 6 turns out that way.

20

H5 should have been MC, and blue team trying to find out WTF is Cortana up to, and this game should have been a spin off like ODST was to H3. The lack of MC ,and the forcing Lock down your throat was a slap in the face of Halo in genreral. It feels as if 343 wanted to dump on any Halo game Bungie made. How can you go back now, and play the old games with feeling that “That -Yoink!- Cortana” is eventually going to screw you over.