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> I find it really ironic. I love 343 and to my mind Halo has gone in all the right directions lore-wise since they took over, particularly in the way of more intricate things like interspecies politics and making other races to the humans and Sangheili more complex and not just ‘Uhhh uhh Brutes and Prophets bad’ like Bungie did, yet we can’t hope to get to play as any of them in the games. Where are these decisions coming from? Why are we not getting that same kind of representation in the games? We did get it in Halo 5, a lot of it in fact with the sole exception of actually being able to play as the species we want to play as- owing to my belief that if we had Elites in 5, it would be the perfect Halo game for me, but unfortunately it was too reliant on things like the lore so most people didn’t understand it needs then didn’t like that game and irrationally hated characters like Locke who are actually brilliant when you look past the campaign. It’s tragic and I don’t understand how they seem to be doing all the right things- heck, Halo: Legacy of Onyx has Human teenagers, Sangheili teenagers and Unggoy teenagers all going to a high school together and for crying out loud, and yet when it comes to actually playing and interacting with these big facets of the lore, they fall short. Imagine an Ancient Human-Forerunner war game, that would be AMAZING, but imagine my disappointment when I learn that you can’t play as any of the different human species and only get to play as -Yoink!- sapiens when there were florians, Denisovans, etc.
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> As far as I’m concerned, Halo, and truthfully a lot of sci if franchises need to take a page out of the Mass Effect book- those games are all about interspecies politics and about humanity accepting that we’re not the centre of the universe and we’re no better than any other species. Because we aren’t. Halo, to me, should be doing that much more, and I’m glad that it’s getting there, but clearly, that attitude needs to be more prominent as I feel that would definitely grow and hasten the interest in different species being added to the player’s sandbox. Imagine a Halo game where you can play not only as a Spartan or an Elite, but as a Jiralhanae, a San’Shyuum Prelate, a Marine, an ODST, an Unggoy, Kig-Yar, even a Yonhet or a Yanme’e Drone, a Promethean Soldier or a Knight. Halo has so much cool stuff to explore and invest in but we constantly default back to the boring old standard. So much of sci if does this, and it really annoys me that we can’t get over ourselves and truly enjoy all these different species. But of course, it all starts in the principles you adopt, and how you make people care for all these facets of the lore through the games. Because as much as I can ramble on about how much I want to play as a San’Shyuum Prelate, how many Halo fans actually know anything about the San’Shyuum? How many know of the war between the Stoics and Reformists? How many know that the Covenant’s San’Shyuum have no homeworld to go back to because they don’t have control over their own homeworld? How many know that Jiralhanae bodyguards are employed by a human private security company owned by a Forerunner A.I right now? The minute Halo stops limiting this kind of knowledge to books and becomes a truly complex and well thought out science fiction adventure video game is the minute all this can be a lot more attainable.
The problem with having that many species playable is the hitboxes and models of the playable character. The Spartans, Elites, and Brutes all have similar builds compared to all those other species, so its much easier to get the hitboxes and models fair, especially for Brutes, because they have a very similar build to Spartans, unlike the elites.
The Sangheili as a race are kinda weird looking, awesome, but weird looking. They have bird legs, mandibles, four fingers, a hinged head, hooves, and they stand hunched over. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Elites much more than Brutes, but Brutes are so much more similar in shape and proportion to Spartans, that making Brutes playable would be much more fair.
There are ways around this though, if you make Elites stand less hunched, and make their heads a little bit less hinged and higher, than headshoting them from behind would be much more accurate and fair. Making the hooves slightly smaller would also help. All the parts of the Elites legs and body that are bigger than Spartans could just not be apart of the hitbox, like armor pieces, they looks more bulky, but its really just a skin.
With having all those different species playable, it would take a lot of effort to make the hitboxes and models fair. Especially with the Promethean Knights. I think it would be much more ideal just to have Spartans, Elites, and Brutes playable in multiplayer social matchmaking. In competitive modes make only Spartans playable, so everyone doesn’t complain about it “Not being fair”.
Personally, I love your idea of having all those species playable, but it would take such a long time to make armor and cosmetics for all those species, and the idea of having Spartans, Elites, Brutes, Prelates, Marines, ODST’s, Grunts, Jackals, Yonhet, Drones, and Prometheans all running around in one multiplayer map making chaos sounds too, well, chaotic in my opinion.