First off, I’m not suggesting a plot for the game.
I’d just like to give some ideas that could be in the story.
I’d also like to say that when I played Halo 4, I had almost no idea what was going on.
I’d never read the books and I was on the Waypoint forums for 8 months to Halo 4’s launch so I had a pretty good idea of what would appear in the story and why.
But still, I was confused by the story and it seemed like I had to read the books to truly understand it all.
I feel as if 343 failed hard in this regard; Bungie never let any of the extended Halo lore interfere with their campaigns and they all played out brilliantly.
But I have read the Fall of Reach now, so I’d say I’m further than I was in Halo lore.
So I’d like this campaign to explain and delve into showing us (and explaining) the outer universe.
Anyways:
We see Chief wandering in the desert “looking” for something right?
He’s on a journey - both a literal one and a metaphorical character-driven one after the death of Cortana.
So I think this would be a great opportunity to explore his origin and dig up some depth for the character.
I think Chief should have ‘struggles’ while he’s travelling.
He’s a broken soul by the beginning of the game.
So let’s say he has to make a jump across a wide gap between cliffs. A Chief of 5 years ago, 10 years ago or 25 years ago could make it but this Chief can’t.
So he falls into the deep pit of darkness that rests at the bottom of the gap between the cliffs. John’s lost (multiple meanings here).
We then go into a flashback where we control a younger Chief at the age of six. We play out the King of the Hill game that happens in Fall of Reach.
6 year old John shouldn’t talk or have his face shown here imo. This goes on until a cutscene starts.
A young dark-haired woman in a lab-coat walks up to him and causes all kids to pause the game.
(Back to first person) She brings John out into private, says “I’m Dr Catherine Halsey” and she asks him “What were you doing there John?”.
It then cuts to black and goes to a dark dusty place with a light flickering on & off slowly from the fallen Chief’s helmet. He replies solemnly, now out of the flashback “I was winning”.
This is how Master Chief’s helmet cracks too.
Then moving on (Chief tries to make his way out of the bottom of the cliff - hence some fighting sections as he comes across Forerunner AI (Like the Prometheans) that are out of their slumber.
Chief makes it back to where he jumped off (show a brief cutscene before this of him climbing up with determination.)
He finds the will to make it across - to win - from that flashback, makes the jump and lands easily on the other side.
That’s it, that’s one of the examples of a “struggle” I think Master Chief could go through in this campaign.
I think they should be spread across the entire campaign and not be part of the plot but feed into the story. They’re character development for Chief.
ALSO I don’t want any showing of younger Chief’s face - all the time we play young John should be in first person. Any cut-scene while we’re in a flashback should also not have Chief’s face or body in it.
And I don’t want the times where we play a younger Chief to be counted as gameplay sections - except if we go into flashbacks where he fights against Insurrectionists (Sam’s death flashback anyone?) or Covenant.
So, what are your guy’s opinions on this?
