What's wrong with the halo 4 story...

Games Halo 5: Guardians
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This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not flame or attack other members.

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

This is in my honest opinion what is wrong with the storyline in halo 4, and how it needs to evolve in halo 5.

Halo 4 is a great game, but not great HALO game. They decided to go for a younger audience with parents with big wallets. This shows in the gameplay with heavy aim assist, and mainstream casual multiplayer. In campaign mode the levels have become extremely linear aswell as the story.

What 343 decided to do is simplify the main plot of the GAME while adding additional backstory from the books prior to Halo 4’s release. This is bad… they took an amazing character from the books The Didact and turned him into the main “Bad Guy” in the new trilogy. The formula 343i went with for the didact is “look that’s the badguy! You have to kill the bad guy!”. All you do in halo 4 is…

-land on reqiuem
-Meet didact
-Follow didact
-Kill didact
-Sacrifice main character

There is no explaination of why he is evil, and why he wants to kill humans. His prometheans are also awfuly thought out. They would be great if they werent shown to the player as minions for the didact. They have no personalities, and are simply controlled by the didact to kill humans(which was not explained) which is a boring way to take things.

The covenant is basically the exact same as the prometheans. They are hardly explained in the game and are all being lead by another “bad guy” jul m’dama. So they ruined the incredible diversity, and creativity over both the forerunners, and the covenant.

I also didn’t like the way cortana died. You cant kill of an AI without making it cheesy so I guess it was ok for what they were doing. So that was fine, but to me the only meaningful thing in the linear storyline was useless…

Long story short… Halo 4 is made for idiots who want to a quick, simple, and meaningless story so they can jump into the multiplayer as fast as possible.

This better change in halo 5.

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> Long story short… Halo 4 is made for idiots who want to a quick, simple, and meaningless story so they can jump into the multiplayer as fast as possible.

Hardly. The Halo 4 story expands several kinds of media, with 80% not really being mentioned in game.

And BTW, if somebody prefers Multiplayer and played the campaign for the achievements, doesn’t make them idiots just because you think so.

And Didact is not dead, BTW.

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I stopped reading after you said “Halo 4 is a great game”.

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Quick suggestion, when you’re trying to criticise a game’s story, maybe don’t start your argument out with gameplay elements that have no impact on said story. It makes it hard to take the argument seriously.

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I love the Halo 4 story, I thought it was one of the best of the series so far. Ok, you had to watch the terminals to understand the Didact and the Prometheans a bit more but they were there, it’s not 343’s fault if you didn’t watch them

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> I love the Halo 4 story, I thought it was one of the best of the series so far. Ok, you had to watch the terminals to understand the Didact and the Prometheans a bit more but they were there, it’s not 343’s fault if you didn’t watch them

To be fair, you had to go to Waypoint to watch them. That is, after finding them of course. Anyone without Xbox Live can’t use Waypoint and so naturally wouldn’t be able to view them. They were on Waypoint due to the rushed nature of Halo 4’s development, in which they didn’t have enough time to put them into the actual game before it shipped.

OT: Halo 4 isn’t as barebones as you make it out to be OP. They took a great character from the books and brought him into the games and continued his story. He was already a bad guy, so they didn’t just turn him into one in Halo 4. There are two Didacts. The Ur-Didact is the original Didact and is the one in Halo 4. He is the bad one of the two. Then you have the IsoDidact, who is obviously the second Didact. He is the one responsible for activating the Halo array. He is the good one of the two. And the Didact didn’t turn Humans into Prometheans to kill Humans. He turned them into Prometheans as punishment and wanted to use them as soldiers to fight the Flood. As Prometheans, these former Humans are no longer themselves and are under the control of the Didact.

Jul’ Mdama was also from the books and is a great character. Now, in the games, they didn’t explain his backstory, so I’ll give you that one. But if you read the books, you’d know he isn’t just some bad guy.

And Cortana’s death was always inevitable. Even back during the Bungie days they established that Smart AI’s, Cortana included, had a seven year lifespan. Once those seven years were up, they would go rampant and think themselves to death. Cortana was 7 to 8 years old by the time of Halo 4. She was going to die one way or another unless some deus ex machina saved her. And I think her death was beautifully done. If you weren’t getting the hints before, it was clear in her final moments: She is far more Human than the Master Chief. She may be an AI, but in a way she’s still Human. The same can’t be said for the Chief who acts like a robot that does what its told and nothing more. As soon as he realized he had survived, he went seeking his next objective: Getting out of that Hard Light bubble. He didn’t stop to ask questions, or take a breather, or anything a normal Human would do. He did what a robot would do: It had completed its previous task, and is now searching for its next task to complete.

The story of Halo 4 was a lot deeper than you give it credit for. Far deeper than any of Bungie’s games. So if Halo 4 was any indication, Halo 5: Guardians is likely going to be just as good. Though they better turn The Next 72 Hours into a prologue cinematic, because that’s some crucial stuff for Halo 5. And not everyone reads the comics.

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Halo 4 was really good. Didn’t like the unnecessary changes like Chief’s armor in Cryo, Forward unto dawn changing and ECT. But i do not like the idea of a living forerunner. It’s not a good idea at all. Forerunners are supposed to be mysterious and most importantly dead… Plot hole: if the didact survived the halos firing in his little ball why didn’t all the forerunners do the same? (They might have explained it) and the Prometheans are cool but don’t seem like they fit in to Halo. Halo 4 was a great game but it could have been better.

But neverless i like the prometheans, the didact, and i think Halo 4 had an amazing story and it is one of my favorite halo games. We’ve just been introduced into a new era of halo and Halo 5 will expand on it.

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> Halo 4 was really good. Didn’t like the unnecessary changes like Chief’s armor in Cryo, Forward unto dawn changing and ECT. But i do not like the idea of a living forerunner. It’s not a good idea at all. Forerunners are supposed to be mysterious and most importantly dead… Plot hole: if the didact survived the halos firing in his little ball why didn’t all the forerunners do the same? (They might have explained it) and the Prometheans are cool but don’t seem like they fit in to Halo. Halo 4 was a great game but it could have been better. Hopefully Halo 5 will make up for halo 4

Do some reading. The Shield Worlds were the Didacts answer to the Halo Array. The Shield Worlds acted as a Halo radiation repellent. Anything inside the Shield Worlds would survive the firing of the Halo Array. The Ur-Didact was locked inside his Cryptum, inside of Requiem which is one of many Shield Worlds, when the Halo Array was fired by the IsoDidact. Thus he survived. Likewise, the Forerunners present on Installation 00(The Lesser Ark) survived the firing of the Array as well since they were outside the arrays range. That means the IsoDidact and the new LifeShaper Chant-to-Green survived the arrays firing. All surviving Forerunners went into exile. Exactly where is a mystery.

And I get what you’re saying about the Forerunners being mysterious, but that was a long time ago. Keeping them mysterious was fine for Halo 1 and 2, but by Halo 3, the mystery was wearing off and it was time to learn something. Halo 4 went even further. But at the same time, 343 Industries provided us with a second, far older, and mysterious race: The Precursors. Sure, we learn the origins of the Flood, their relation to the Precursors, what the Precursors could do, what their technology was like, and how their civilization ended, but we know nothing of the vast majority of their history. Though, I can guarantee that we won’t find anything of theirs since the Halo array destroyed all of it.

EDIT: And of course you go and edit your post while I’m replying. XD

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>

‘Halo 4 is a great game’…

So a great game is just a game ‘made for idiots who want to a quick, simple, and meaningless story so they can jump into multiplayer as fast as possible’ ?

‘The formula 343i went with for the didact is "look that’s the badguy! You have to kill the bad guy!’

Yes because the Prophets weren’t exactly that, they had loads of redeeming qualities that made you regret having to kill them…

There is plenty of back story surrounding the Didact and why he is what he is. A lot of it is just in other media, I personally would prefer if they put a little more back story in the game.

You didn’t like the way Cortana died, so that makes it wrong? It isn’t wrong it is you not liking it, I liked it, and I am sure many others did.

‘Long story short… Halo 4 is made for idiots who want to a quick, simple, and meaningless story so they can jump into the multiplayer as fast as possible.’

I really hate these kind of comments, it is just pretentious to think that everyone who liked the campaign is simply an idiot, because you didn’t like it.

It always comes down to the same thing, bashing Halo 4. We all know it wasn’t anywhere near as popular as Halo 1-3. This thread is however another way of just reiterating what so many have already said.

Obviously everyone has their opinion but when so many have already pointed out Halo 4’s many flaws it is just needless to repeat it over and over.

343 have accepted that it wasn’t popular and have taken it into account when making Halo 5 so just be positive and look forward to the game.

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The following is personal opinion:

For the story, I found myself more disappointed than anything. Maybe the Greg Bear novels spoiled my expectations… his description of the Forerunners was much more entertaining than 343’s iteration. Seeing them on screen (and not even them, for the most part, but their Knights) was a let down.

Most of the non-Chief/Cortana/Lasky characters were poorly written, too. I know Halo had to introduce new characters, but I didn’t really fear or sympathize with the enemy, or sympathize or root for the good guys. They seemed fitted to the narrative, whereas IMHO a good story is always character driven.

Plot wise, character wise, and in just about any way I can think of, I was disappointed in the Halo 4 story. This is all personal preference, of course, but I really didn’t leave Halo 4 feeling satisfied with the story.

That being said, I think it will serve decently to set us up going forward. A bit of a stumble, perhaps, but the potential is still there for an epic CE or H3 type story arc.

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Its a great story idea told in a moronic manner.

It isn’t hard to put together a coherent plot line, but much harder to convey that plot in a compelling manner. Even goofy and simple plot lines can be done very well.

Halo 4 is not a masterfully done piece of fiction, though it has its moments.

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I enjoyed Halo 4’s campaign more than all the others combined. Probably because I’m a lore nut and I got all the subtle stuff, but that’s not the only reason. (Didact’s monologue: loregasm)

Characters finally display emotions other than inspiring military courage, for one thing. In the original trilogy the only bit with any apparent emotion is the end of 3. Pretty damn late. When Miranda Keyes died, I felt next to no connection, as she was merely generic soldier lady 001.

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As far as Halo 4’s story goes, at least the Chief isn’t the “Marathon Security Officer” revisited - Cortana is dead and the spotlight is on him now.

Regarding what you think of people who enjoyed Halo 4…

Share with us your tastes in entertainment, no go ahead.

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How can a character-driven story based off of the classic Hero’s Journey sagas of Classic Mythology be for “idiots”? Especially compared to the original trilogy (mostly Halo 2 & 3).

Those are all my favorite video games, but as far as story telling goes, Halo 4 follows a very ancient tradition of Heroic tales akin to Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey, Dante’s Inferno, Star Wars, etc.

And when taken as a whole, they seem to be following this bell-curve with Halo 4 and possibly Halo 5 being the climax or peak, to the extent of making the story of Combat Evolved seem trivial except for to establish the then-unknown hero and to get a glimpse at who and what we were dealing with. Then the next two games detail the hero’s rise and triumphant victories, followed by Halo 4’s humanizing of the hero and his self-evaluation, the “what’s my purpose?”/“who am I”/“what next” mentality, a low point, then … then, well, we’ll have to wait and see.

^I’m not sure how auto-aim fits into that, though. They’ve always had that in Halo, just not as “auto”.

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I liked halo 4 story they just need more detail but I liked it then again its opinion.

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I like how in Halo 4 the Master Chief is actually someone
-shots fired-
I never really cared about Chief that much in the first Trilogy, but 343 made me like him.

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I found the story enjoyable, but it did have some problems too. One of the problems I had with it was that while Master Chief did get more personality, I hated how the game outright tells that he is the chosen one. That is such a big cliche that just hearing it makes me facepalm. Seriously.

Another problem I had was that while I liked that the game constantly mentioned that Cortana might go rampant at anytime, her death was anticlimactic. “Hey, Chief, I saved you from a big kaboom. But now I’m dead. Bye.” That felt like yet another big cliche.

Last problem I had with the game was the lack of memorable characters. Except for Master Chief, Cortana and Didact, I can’t name any characters. Others were simply boring and not likeable.

I hope that 343 will try to avoid any cliches in the future and tries to focus on making more unique and memorable characters. Otherwise I can’t think of anything major to improve.

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> I found the story enjoyable, but it did have some problems too. One of the problems I had with it was that while Master Chief did get more personality, I hated how the game outright tells that he is the chosen one. That is such a big cliche that just hearing it makes me facepalm. Seriously.
>
> Another problem I had was that while I liked that the game constantly mentioned that Cortana might go rampant at anytime, her death was anticlimactic. “Hey, Chief, I saved you from a big kaboom. But now I’m dead. Bye.” That felt like yet another big cliche.
>
> Last problem I had with the game was the lack of memorable characters. Except for Master Chief, Cortana and Didact, I can’t name any characters. Others were simply boring and not likeable.
>
> I hope that 343 will try to avoid any cliches in the future and tries to focus on making more unique and memorable characters. Otherwise I can’t think of anything major to improve.

Yeah, I do like the campaign but the one thing that did ruin it a bit for me was the whole chosen one concept.

In the others he was just a soldier who was better than the rest, there was no destiny for him. This time around it seems like his path is laid out before him, and he is the super hero kind of guy.

It just feels to cliché, like you said. For the most part I enjoyed the campaign though.

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Campaign was good, borderline great. I understand that you think it was n00bified, which I feel like it was to some extent (didn’t really struggle on solo Legendary at all), with more powerful guns, less intelligent (and cheaper) AI, and more of an aim assist.

Really didn’t have a problem with the story though. I did have a problem that it was mostly assumed that in order to fully understand the plot on first playthrough, you had to have a thorough understanding of the expanded universe.

Characters were rather stereotypical, but served a purpose. Everyone was there to develop the Chief as an actual human being. From crotchety Del Rio, to Lasky, to Dr. Tilson, the purpose of ever character was to make John feel real, and for his relationship with Cortana to actually feel legitimate instead of bothersome (remember the pause scenes of her in Halo 3? so annoying).

Which honestly is a great thing. All great epic stories are character driven. Even though there were a few disappointing elements, on the whole it was a very good game.

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The only two issues with Halo 4’s story are:

-The Covenant’s return was NEVER explained in game, If you went from Halo 3 to Halo 4 you will be thinking to yourself “I thought I FINISHED THE FIGHT?!?!?! Why is it suddenly UNFINISHED?”

-The Didact was portrayed as a 2D villain

The high points of Halo 4’s story are:

-Chief and Cortana are developed well
-The emotion between Chief and Cortana is fantastic
-The plot is exciting and takes you to different environments
-There is a great moral to the story, it’s deep, it delves into the
concept of “man vs machine” and what it means to be human. For this,
the game had a very deep and intelligent story.