I think the reason the original 3 Halo campaigns are so much better is because no matter what, every action is based around what you the player does. If you go back and listen to all the game commentaries, they are constantly reinivating their story board because every moment needs to live up to a level where the player is left with their mouth open and fully engaged.
In the new titles, rather than being at the center of attention, you’re a spectator of the story rather then being the character of the story. Cut scenes are great and needed every once in a while but being inside an actual moment that could be captured with a cutscenes is much more enriching. And button mash scripted events are just lazy.
In all I think there should be some serious restructuring as to how the writers and level designers are imagining and putting them selves inside the games and saying what about this moment I’m in is actually crucial and amazing for me to experience.
I agree with this assessment. I read elsewhere that Locke essentially has no effect on the narrative until the very last level, where he saves Blue Team in a token sort of way to show that he’s now “the real MVP” and on Chief’s level somehow.
Everything else pretty much just happens as if Team Osiris weren’t even there, it’s kinda strange how little agency his action have.
I’m certain at this point that the Halo 5 that 343 wanted to make, and the Halo 5 that 343 did make, are rather different games in terms of scope and narrative. Perhaps that’s why we don’t know anything about Halo 6 yet…
It’s kinda tragic if you look at 343 closely, you can see a team that absolutely loves the source material and wants nothing more than to make what they think will be everyone’s favourite Halo game, but it seems to me that they have learned the hard way that not everyone will be pleased, no matter what direction they decide to take the franchise in, and I blame that on Bungie for dividing the fanbase in to “Classic” and “Modern” groups with the advent of Reach.
I always type too much, so I’ll stop now.
There’s plenty of wishlist threads you can contribute to in a constructive manner. 