Halo 5 Story Discussion [SPOILER WARNING]

**silversleek(GEN)** · 10-28-2015, 03:52 PM

Originally Posted by WSxPhoenix

We have to use spoiler tags in topic labeled "Spoiler Warning?"

One of the biggest complaints I heard about the campaign going in was the infrequency of Blue Team missions. Honestly, the way they did the story and missions, it really didn't feel like I was missing out on Blue Team stuff while playing Osiris. I liked the story, and really loved the enemy AI in the game. I enjoyed how they ramped up the enemy units and added mini-boss units. I particularly enjoyed the changes to Prometheans. They were interesting to fight in H4, but were repetitive. They are anything but super repetitive in H5. (Anyone else love the fact that watchers don't just hide behind shit all the time now?)

I went into the game having a general dislike of Osiris (Except for Buck), but I very much enjoyed their story and interaction from Sangheilios onward. I think I preferred them to Blue Team (From a solo standpoint). I think Tanaka is overall the weakest and least developed character in the game.

Notable and favorite characters in the game.

Locke: Was surprised by this, but his behavior towards the chief at the end of the game ("You don't have to do this alone.") very much changed how I felt about him.
Vale: Holy shit she's fucking awesome. Her no-bullshit attitude towards Cortana when Cortana tried to psych her out at the end of the game. I also loved her insight into Elite culture.
031 - Exuberant Witness: Fuck yeah. Easily my favorite character of the series right now. Her in-game dialogue while you fight tons of shit is priceless. I especially enjoyed the commentary from Buck about her.
Buck: I originally thought of Buck's presence in the game as a fan-service deal. Get an old face in the game and people might buy it. But Buck's presence in the game is quite solid. His constant commentary provides a humorous personality to some otherwise dry moments. Also loved Cortana's comment that he's old. I love the fact that Cortana (and the developers) went into the fact that, you know, Buck's seen some serious shit. They mentioned his fight at Reach, his fierce loyalty to his allies (comment on massacred Swords members), his decision not to lead a squad, etc.

Character who absolutely needed more development: The fucking Warden Eternal. Who the fuck is he? Why the fuck does he even listen to Cortana? I think we needed another mission with him not trying to kill Blue Team, explaining some of the background of Genesis and his existence and purpose.

I'll agree with a lot of stuff here, I really liked both the promethean revamp and the mini-boss additions. Though, they were brutal on solo legendary because the friendly AI is really, really bad. (almost like all the AI is turning against you? hrmmm....)

i'd say i'm half and half on osiris. I love buck and vale, but i found locke and tanaka lacking. I do appreciate his character development towards the end, but for most of the game, he was just so dull. 031 was definitely my favourite though. Too bad we didn't see her much. Unlike you though, i really liked the warden eternal. He seems like a very fitting character for the whole "trying to take over the universe" thing. I'm not really 100% on why he saw fit to use cortana as a pawn though, maybe the galaxy's AI would understand one of their own better?

One thing i have to say, I found the campaign really, really bad until around missions nine or so. There just didn't seem to be enough happening. We spent like 4 missions on that first planet, and then four on sanghelios. We know that they aren't averse to longer missions, from mission 10 onwards, and yet we have such short missions to start with? I mean, don't get me wrong, we accomplish a LOT. We kill Jul and rescue halsey mission 1, mission 2 was vital to understanding everything, mission ~8 we save the arbiter... but there's my problem, i can't really think of anything noteworthy between that. It's mostly just intel missions, oh, this is what's happening, oh, this is WHY it's happening, oh, this is our enemy. but it doesn't feel like we're really doing anything while learning all that. we have no real overaching goal, no enemy that needs defeating. (other than "the guardians" which don't even really make an appearance in person until the end of mission 5. and random prometheans whose presence is iffy and unexplained from an in-game point. cortana is known to be alive from mission 1, and is 'dangerous' but we don't know anything on that until mission 6.)

but despite my lack of interest over the first roughly two thirds of the game, the last third was quite enjoyable, and brought back more of the "epic adventure" i've come to expect from halo. I have hopes that they'll keep that level in halo 6.

that said, one third of a campaign does not make a good story, and as such, i'll only really be rating the campaign a 7/10. without that third it would probably drop down to a 5 or even a 4 as being mediocre. I hope halo 6 is better.