Updated theory: On page 3 on this forum it’s stated Gen 3 armor is being introduced to that has a more classic look.
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My theory is the beginning of the game John is wearing his Cortana modified Mark VI and is able to confront her but she is able to manipulate (the nanobots possibly) the armor cause she literally created it.
John gets back to the Infinity and chooses the classic Mark VI variant, cause our 117 is now a OLD SCHOOL badass.
I think it’s because the majority of the fanbase didn’t like the Halo 4/5 art style and 343i pumped the breaks.
But he is not using the old armor. It looks more like a mix of old and new armor.
But definitely it could canonically be about created being able to control the new armor to some degree but I already have enough Metal Gear Solid vibes in Halo as it has been so far.
The exact reasons don’t matter to me as much as just the sheer fact that this looks like an original Halo game. And I am pumped!
I liked what they did with MC’s armor, but the rest of the Spartans looked like they were drawn by environmental artists.
To please fans and make money
I hope the only reason is that it’s a retcon. To many people complained that Chief’s armour (and the whole art-style changed) so they’ve gone back. I know they said that his armour changed between 3&4 because of the nanobots but the real reason is because 343 wanted to put their artistic stamp on the franchise and separate their games from Bungie’s. That’s why all the other designs changed. Now they’ve gone back to the old style and I hope that they explain it by saying straight up that it’s a retcon. Chief’s not in his old armour, he’s been in the same armour since Halo 3. You’ve just got to use your imagination when playing 4&5 now.
It doesn’t have to be a retcon. At the end of Halo 5, Chief is in known space and reunited with Dr. Halsey (the person who created Mjolnir in the first place). He is no longer in the middle of an unknown galaxy where he wouldn’t be able to get new equipment.
I think 343 should trash that stupid nanobots thing and just say he found his old armor or got it back from Halsey or whatever. When Halo 4 was nearing release and I heard Chief’s armor changed cause of nanobots, that was one of the first times I really had my issues with 343 and their storytelling. It’s very unlikely the entire style and composition of Chief’s armor could change that drastically without new parts.
> 2658598172887564;8:
> It doesn’t have to be a retcon. At the end of Halo 5, Chief is in known space and reunited with Dr. Halsey (the person who created Mjolnir in the first place). He is no longer in the middle of an unknown galaxy where he wouldn’t be able to get new equipment.
I’d rather a retcon than some forced explanation, because even if they come up with the explanation, the real reason is always going to be because they wanted to go back to the original artstyle. I’d only want them to explain it via plot if they have a plot centric reason for his armour changing, like for example arbiter getting his armour in the beginning of Halo 2.
Any lore explanation will be forced and nonsensical (this includeds the suggestion of OP). The people who liked the Halo 4 armor will be disappointed regardless of the explanation, and the people who wanted the classic art style will rejoice regardless of the explanation. I’d just go with a retcon. Forget the nanobots, Chief used the same armor the whole time, Halo 4 and 5 were just an exercise in artistic expression.
> 2533274825830455;11:
> Any lore explanation will be forced and nonsensical (this includeds the suggestion of OP). The people who liked the Halo 4 armor will be disappointed regardless of the explanation, and the people who wanted the classic art style will rejoice regardless of the explanation. I’d just go with a retcon. Forget the nanobots, Chief used the same armor the whole time, Halo 4 and 5 were just an exercise in artistic expression.
100% this. You’ll just have to use your imagination when playing 4&5, pretend Chief is in classic armour. As I said in my post in this thread, the only time I’d want them to explain an amour change is if the the story reason came first. The nanobots idea came after the design change, as you said, the amour change (and the rest of the artstyle) was an exercise in artistic expression, 343 putting their stamp on the franchise and making their games look and feel different. Chief getting his Mark VI in Halo 2? It’s covered in the opening cutscene, his Mark V was in disrepair from the events of the first game, he’s got a new suit now he’s back with the rest of the UNSC. Thel getting his Arbiter armour a few missions later? Part of his character arc. Hey even Thel getting his Kaidon armour in 5 has a decent story reason. He has a different role now. Also they never explained him getting an armour change in 3 when he was suddenly gold instead of silver. It’s supposed to be the same suit right? If Chief was gonna get an amour change in the new games it should have been midway into 4’s story when he’s on infinity and meets the new spartans. Or just have 5 open with him in new armour now he’s back with the UNSC and doing regular missions with them.
> 2533274819030629;2:
> I think it’s because the majority of the fanbase didn’t like the Halo 4/5 art style and 343i pumped the breaks.
God I hope that’s the case.
> 2718244060817008;13:
> > 2533274819030629;2:
> > I think it’s because the majority of the fanbase didn’t like the Halo 4/5 art style and 343i pumped the breaks.
>
> God I hope that’s the case.
Well, it’s a given that it is. There’s no other reason to go back to the old armor design than people preferring it. However, how far that extends to the rest of the art is still unclear.
> 2533274825830455;14:
> > 2718244060817008;13:
> > > 2533274819030629;2:
> > > I think it’s because the majority of the fanbase didn’t like the Halo 4/5 art style and 343i pumped the breaks.
> >
> > God I hope that’s the case.
>
> Well, it’s a given that it is. There’s no other reason to go back to the old armor design than people preferring it. However, how far that extends to the rest of the art is still unclear.
Yep, I totally agree…for the most part. But, just to play devil’s advocate: the old armor could just be in there simply to get people excited and get people talking. Or could be showing off how even “simple” retro armor looks with the new engine. For all we know, 343 could go off the rails with a leadup to new Halo gameplay that doesn’t match its marketing (a la H5).
Believe me, I truly hope 343 learned their marketing lesson with H5 and want to believe the armor shown in the trailer is return (at least in some small part) to more of the old art style. Fingers crossed
> 2533274902304093;7:
> I hope the only reason is that it’s a retcon. To many people complained that Chief’s armour (and the whole art-style changed) so they’ve gone back. I know they said that his armour changed between 3&4 because of the nanobots but the real reason is because 343 wanted to put their artistic stamp on the franchise and separate their games from Bungie’s. That’s why all the other designs changed. Now they’ve gone back to the old style and I hope that they explain it by saying straight up that it’s a retcon. Chief’s not in his old armour, he’s been in the same armour since Halo 3. You’ve just got to use your imagination when playing 4&5 now.
See, that’s what I wish they went with straight from the beginning and what I personally choose to believe.
> 2718244060817008;15:
> > 2533274825830455;14:
> > > 2718244060817008;13:
> > > > 2533274819030629;2:
> > > > I think it’s because the majority of the fanbase didn’t like the Halo 4/5 art style and 343i pumped the breaks.
> > >
> > > God I hope that’s the case.
> >
> > Well, it’s a given that it is. There’s no other reason to go back to the old armor design than people preferring it. However, how far that extends to the rest of the art is still unclear.
>
> Yep, I totally agree…for the most part. But, just to play devil’s advocate: the old armor could just be in there simply to get people excited and get people talking. Or could be showing off how even “simple” retro armor looks with the new engine. For all we know, 343 could go off the rails with a leadup to new Halo gameplay that doesn’t match its marketing (a la H5).
>
> Believe me, I truly hope 343 learned their marketing lesson with H5 and want to believe the armor shown in the trailer is return (at least in some small part) to more of the old art style. Fingers crossed
Sure, they could just blatantly mislead us, but why? What’s the point? Even if you assumed that they’re just bad people, which they really aren’t, there’s no point in deception when we will know everything we need to know about the game well before it releases. It’s just shooting yourself in the foot.
The only part of Halo 5 that didn’t match its marketing was the story, and it’s pretty clear that that was just a really unfortunate failure on their part, not intentional deception. Aside from that, I can’t really think of anything about the marketing that didn’t match the final product.
We need a reason for him changing armor in game. The whole nanobot explanation was weak because it was never adequately addressed in Halo4. I think Cortana mentioned some upgrades (firmware or other), but this was simply not enough for the more engaged fanbase. The in-game acknowledgment could be as simple as 2 lines of dialogue where Chief acknowledges that he has received an upgraded Gen2 Mark VI suit.
Recent Canon fodder posts confirm that spartan armor has always been situational and could vary from mission to mission. Real soldiers change equipment to fit the mission, let’s see Master Chief do the same. They shouldn’t completely walk away from the H4/5 armor, they should embrace all the armor from all the games. H5 multiplayer has already done this pretty well, this should also be done in campaign. Give us faithful recreations of the classic armor that we saw in multiplayer. Up-rez the old models and make them work with your new engine. In Halo5, the Mark V Delta and Reach helmets along with the Mark IV Gen2 armor are perfect examples of this (Mark V Alpha is a perfect example of what not to do).
Finally, regardless of what the reason for changing armor may be, please 343 show the spartans in the appropriate armor based on the time period. If there are any flashback scenes/terminals, show the Master chief in the correct armor based on established canon, whether it be Mark IV, VI, VII, whatever. Have Grim do the quality check. The casual fanbase can handle if the picture of the chief they are seeing doesn’t match the one on the boxart.
> 2533274825830455;17:
> > 2718244060817008;15:
> > > 2533274825830455;14:
> > > > 2718244060817008;13:
> > > > > 2533274819030629;2:
> > > > > I think it’s because the majority of the fanbase didn’t like the Halo 4/5 art style and 343i pumped the breaks.
> > > >
> > > > God I hope that’s the case.
> > >
> > > Well, it’s a given that it is. There’s no other reason to go back to the old armor design than people preferring it. However, how far that extends to the rest of the art is still unclear.
> >
> > Yep, I totally agree…for the most part. But, just to play devil’s advocate: the old armor could just be in there simply to get people excited and get people talking. Or could be showing off how even “simple” retro armor looks with the new engine. For all we know, 343 could go off the rails with a leadup to new Halo gameplay that doesn’t match its marketing (a la H5).
> >
> > Believe me, I truly hope 343 learned their marketing lesson with H5 and want to believe the armor shown in the trailer is return (at least in some small part) to more of the old art style. Fingers crossed
>
> Sure, they could just blatantly mislead us, but why? What’s the point? Even if you assumed that they’re just bad people, which they really aren’t, there’s no point in deception when we will know everything we need to know about the game well before it releases. It’s just shooting yourself in the foot.
>
> The only part of Halo 5 that didn’t match its marketing was the story, and it’s pretty clear that that was just a really unfortunate failure on their part, not intentional deception. Aside from that, I can’t really think of anything about the marketing that didn’t match the final product.
I’m absolutely on your wavelength…I don’t think 343 is misleading us or is intentionally being deceptive. But yeah, the H5 marketing lead-up and continuity disconnect with H5’s story was exactly the example I was referencing.
And I also don’t believe anyone in 343 are bad people. Quite the contrary actually, I think they’re all focused and dedicated to delivering the public a good Halo game. 343 has shown this time and time again by providing continual tweaks to the game, creating a new support team for MCC, etc. I mean Frankie has been part of Halo since H2. I’m just a player, and have been since CE, and I’m enormously invested in Halo’s success. I can only imagine what it’d be like to have the pressure of its success and future.
That said however, they are human (as far as I know ;-P) and make mistakes…or create mistakes based on faulty assumptions.
We probably have close to a year and a half before the game gets released (only a guess since a lot of work appears to have been developing this new engine, and with Beta testing and additional game tweaks still to come) and a lot could change from now until then. In addition, I’m always a bit wary when only pieces of information are shown. Like, why only MC’s leg and helmet? Why not all of him? That fraction of a reveal was intentional. It was plausibly just a teaser to get people hyped and talking. But I like to ask the flipside when things aren’t just handed out or could potentially not be what they seem to be.
Shoot, let’s go crazy. Maybe it means that the events of H4 and H5 never really took place…and were only (gasp) and interactive dream that Cortana was having with MC while he is in cryosleep aboard the back half of the Forward Unto Dawn after H3. And maybe that’s why he’s inputting (supposed) Cortana back into his helmet and why the armor is similar to H3. Just using this as a wild (unrealistic) example, but I think that (hopefully) illustrates my thought process and how I like to question what isn’t cut and dry.
Master Chief just customized his spartan back to the roots. He just unlocked some special weird armor for the Halo 4 and 5.
Now he wanted to change back. End of story.