For an age, people have criticised the art style of halo 4/5, people have criticised updated movement, and generally have criticised the way the series was headed. 343i would go on to show us Infinite, a return to form, and it would be praised by veterans and new-comers alike, making an unlikely alliance, a truce, peace at last.
But of course, peace is fickle and humanity has always fought wars, and this would prove no different. Those with their insecurities rose up, championing surprisingly a resistance to this return to form, they wanted attention, they wanted the limelight, they wanted their insincere opinions heard.
How did the playerbase know of the disingenous and the insincerity of a select few? They recognised the overwhelming pleadings of the past, from the times of Master Chief’s adventures on the ark until the time of the Rise of the Created. These pleadings often spoke of a continuation of the ethos of his triumphant victory over San’shyuum and their allies, the fanatical Covenant…
343i would listen to this, much to the bane of the genuine, loyal player-base, as they would accomodate and also having a desire to market and be profitable as any game developer would. And therein rose the core problem, that people chose their time in the spot-light for opinions they didn’t share, proved by their own comments of the past as “we want an updated version of halo 3, we want the old style back”.
This push for a continuation of the art style/movement and ambience of Chief’s adventures around the Rise of the Created strained 343i, and the genuine fan-base at large. As they knew Halo’s problems, they knew what would increase player enjoyment, activity and engagement but a few select would choose to go against the grain, only because they could, to the detriment of Series and the player-base at large from seeing Master Chief ascend and take his true title as Reclaimer.