There is a LT DR at the bottom because I realized this went on for a bit.
Honestly I was one of the people who asked for Blue Team to be added into Halo’s campaign and while i’m 11-ity billion percent sure my vote of voice said about 7 years ago didn’t sway anyone at 343i to add them in Halo 5 was on the side of the people who added them and personally take it as a point of damage that it wasn’t done so well. It could be that 343i didn’t do them justice or that Blue Team doesn’t transfer well from the books to the games as playable characters.
A playable character his massive limited to the games mechanics. So why not have Blue Team and Osiris appear as Thel did in halo 3. if you had a co-op pal they’d always be with you but canonically they’d be off doing their thing during the fight. At times they could be at your side or doing more awesome things like when Thel jacked the Banshee or less awesome things like when Rtas said left you with 4 troops, two of which we’re grunts to assault a gas mine filled with Flood, sentinels and pissed of heretics to get reinforcements who should of arrived in about 2 minutes but didn’t show up until you’d already killed about 50 hordes of enemies of all three types.
I think this will allow them to shine and add a layer of fear to their characters. Since personally while playing Halo 5 I twas pretty clear that no one was in any danger since I know all the characters’ were canonically there. I had to keep forcing myself to believe “Oh maybe someone will die and teams will get swapped up.” but as the story went on and on it was harder to conceive myself of that.
Two games who handled your squad being in danger very well are Borderlands 2 we’re your squad takes sevearl huge hits through your adventures with Roland dying, Lilith being captured, Bloodwing getting her head blown off (really I loved that Bird) and Brick getting blown out of the sky with Morde leaping off a cliff to save him. These characters still fought in the major battles and took heavy hits with Brick losing his arm but they still retained what made them originally badass.
The second game is probably my favorite game of all time which is…STAR WARS REPUBLIC COMMANDO! Not going to lie, what sold me on Halo 5 was hearing that the person behind SW RC’s squad based combat was coming to 343i to ensure Halo 5’s teams felt like true weapons I was stoked but I was swiftly kicked in the balls. the man has lost his edge.
In SW RC you have to find your squad who’ve all been lost from intense fighting which upon discovering them gives you some insight to who they are and how they operate. You find scorch blowing up an enemy bunker screaming out like a madman, you find Fixer gunning down flee enemies, catching one who nearly gets away beating the creatures skull in and your find Sev perched on the ceiling lying in wait to ambush a couple of guards. Later in the game your squad does take some hits and again ou have to help each other survive and the way each of them do also adds another layer on who they are.
Sev is cocking ignoring the obvious danger and get ambushed almost dying. Fixer being the brains, is fully aware of the ambush, kills his would be kidnappers, discovers their play and regroups with you while Scorch, being the more colorful of your team, lets himself get captured knowing you’d find him and to ensure the enemy wouldn’t get his com data…he shoves it up his -Yoink-.Because these characters aren’t playable you get some pretty amazing moments that if you could play as them would limit the experience. Like the ending to SW RC where Sev is captured and thought KIA but the members of your squad refuse such a notion that someone could kill him and call their officer out on saying such a thing. Your commander informs you that one man isn’t worth the failure of an entire invasion and the game ends with the sour notion of yeah you lose your brother, you stopped the invasion but guess what he comes the second wave so get ready.
Since Halo 5 has all the characters together at all times, things like Sev’s capture which happens because you team needs to divide won’t happen if Halo 6 keeps up with the same idea.
Characters get a type of immortality when such mechanics are in place. While I agree that the journey is more important then the destination, the goal has to come at a cost. In BL2 it’s the death of two of your friend with another two in a critical status. In SW RC it’s your own brother and the trust in your command. In Halo 5 it’s nothing. You get to the end and all you lose is what you’ve lost before on multiple occasions. Even Halo CE had Foehammer, Keyes and the entire crew of the Pillar of Autumn, Halo 2 had the Arbiters faith and Cortana being abandoned, Halo 3 had Johnson and Miranda, Reach had all of Noble Team and Halo 4 had Cortana for what should of been for good.
When there isn’t a price to pay on the character then there is no point of even having the story be told. Should probably leave a TL DR.
TL DR: Freeing your characters from gameplay limitations allows for alot better story telling which has been shown in many series including Halo’s of the past. It adds a layer of mortality and frees the character for truly memorable moments besides the forced ones that just makes the player think your writer is a -Yoink!-. The characters can still interact with Protagonist Man when used correctly and still be playable at times if canon isn’t a huge issue in the context of the characters being used. I.E Thel, Uzse and N’tho in Halo 3.
Wow, I never expected this seemingly small request to turn into a lecture but sorry for skipping off like that.