The Strokes
Banned
*Points at Halo 5*
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343i Acknowledges Halo 5 Storytelling Mistake, Will Double Down on Master Chief Focus
- Thread starter Cranster
- Start date
*Points at Halo 5*
NeOak
Member
This
No. Halo 3 was better.
Making a good squad story? See Reach. ODST up to a point too.
ZeezbruhTV
Member
SHOCKING NEWS
The Strokes
Banned
I agree, but he said 343 hasn't made a good Halo game. Also, 4's campaign was good, suck it Bronx-Man.
JK, too sweet me brother
That was the problem with the storytelling. There was no emotional connection or even just something interesting about him. The problem wasn't that the main character for the whole game wasn't master chief. People had an issue with The Arbiter (I liked him and honestly didn't know this was a thing till way later, much like the Raiden situation in MGS2), and he was miles better as a character than Locke was (honestly I didn't even remember his name until I just read it right now).
There was no real story, it felt like barely any progress had been made from the beginning of the game to the end. Just a little misunderstanding that got kind of cleared up. The chase wasn't interesting, the levels weren't interesting.
I felt like they had something there with Halo 4, the main problem (storytelling wise) with that was with them referring to/including stuff in the main campaign that wasn't explained beforehand properly or required external out of the way knowledge. Despite that, it was honestly the strongest story for me in a Halo game (just talking about story here, not the campaign as a whole).
Now campaign wise, Halo 5 honestly was a step down in nearly every way from Halo 4 to me except for gameplay and visuals/art style and the prometheans being less crappy. Repetitive warden fights, no memorable encounters/gameplay segments, and levels being less fun to play despite being more open. I felt no need to go back and play the game again.
NeOak
Member
The whole point is that they haven't. Instead of evolving Bungie's stuff, they went to far on making their own version and it has crashed and burned.
Dear god please no. I consider it a core piece of his character that his physical appearance is not known. Master Chief is the armor. That is what he was trained for, and lives for. I was personally infuriated at the Halo 4 legendary ending when they showed his eyes.
Well and I don't want to disregard the other half of Chief, his voice. Chief is not a man hunk which is admired for his pecs. He is a soldier that knows his mission, not necessarily needing oversight and really shouldn't because it's well established at this point that he is a pure person, and carries it out.
It's his resolve that all the fans of Halo love. And his voice and armor are the embodiments of it. To find a story direction that is actually interesting we need to put him up against wiley, fox-like enemies which are incredibly manipulative of person's who are not as stalwart as Chief. Chief is the one that has humanities back. But heck, this may have been what they attempted in Halo 5, I don't know, I never got an Xbox One.
Hazardous Metal
Member
Everything that was done in Halo 5 story wise cannot be undone, and as such my interest in where the story goes has hit rock bottom. It kills me to say that about the series I literally grew up with and adored, but I don't see how it's possible to write themselves out of the gigantic shitfest they created in Halo 5.
"They loved Blue Team, they liked Osiris, but they wanted Chief. "
Big nope to all of this. Even people who already knew the Blue Team couldn't possibly love their in-game counterparts simply because there's nothing to love there, they barely qualify as characters. Random nameless marines in Old Bungie's games were better characterized than the leads of Halo 5.
IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, CALL FILLION
Big nope to all of this. Even people who already knew the Blue Team couldn't possibly love their in-game counterparts simply because there's nothing to love there, they barely qualify as characters. Random nameless marines in Old Bungie's games were better characterized than the leads of Halo 5.
Yeah, maybe, though how sad would it be if Nathan Fillion's charisma had to single-handedly carry both Halo and Destiny's identities because the companies in charge of those franchises aren't capable of creating interesting stories, nor characters?
IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, CALL FILLION
NeOak
Member
Don't worry, you don't miss anything: they didn't, hence this thread's existence.
VendettaRed07
Member
She's great, but her and chief are better off as simple characters that you go along the ride with and experience a bigger story and adventure. They don't need 50 layers of backstory or depth added just because they haven't developed anyone else.
For me that's sort of what the first game did and it worked so well. In this series I'd like to experience a story WITH Master Chief and Cortana rather than one that's literally about them and everything in the universe revolves around them somehow
tiredheadcrab
Member
Not having enough of MC wasnt the issue. It was just how the story was presented. too rushed. laughable, marketing was way way off and didnt feel as epic as it should.
Green Mamba
Member
343i's stories take themselves way too seriously and are filled to the brim with dull, dull characters.
I can't recall ever having cared less about a lead team of characters than I did for Osiris. Halo 5's campaign was so, so bad. Level design was boring and repetitive, environments were largely dull, basically no worthwhile vehicle segments, enemies weren't terribly fun to fight, and seriously fuck the forced co-op Spartan partners.
And man was the story awful. By the end of Halo 5 I had no idea what had happened during the game. I followed 4 well enough but Halo 5 just flew right over my head. I don't read the expanded universe stuff, I don't give a crap about Chief's partners. Drop those losers alongside Osiris, put Cortana in Chief's head, and drop him in a ring with his only allies as occasional helper marines prone to dying.
I can't recall ever having cared less about a lead team of characters than I did for Osiris. Halo 5's campaign was so, so bad. Level design was boring and repetitive, environments were largely dull, basically no worthwhile vehicle segments, enemies weren't terribly fun to fight, and seriously fuck the forced co-op Spartan partners.
And man was the story awful. By the end of Halo 5 I had no idea what had happened during the game. I followed 4 well enough but Halo 5 just flew right over my head. I don't read the expanded universe stuff, I don't give a crap about Chief's partners. Drop those losers alongside Osiris, put Cortana in Chief's head, and drop him in a ring with his only allies as occasional helper marines prone to dying.
soundscream
Member
IMO
Halo 1,2,3 = Simple stories with horrible writing
Halo 4,5 = Complicated stories with better writing
Go back to the simple stuff, because going to deep into the lore hasn't been great (save that for the books etc).
Halo 1,2,3 = Simple stories with horrible writing
Halo 4,5 = Complicated stories with better writing
Go back to the simple stuff, because going to deep into the lore hasn't been great (save that for the books etc).
ScientificPizza
Banned
Yeah, that's true. They kind of painted themselves into a corner with creating the rampancy timeline, so without just a contrived "oh we fixed it" hand wavey explanation they kind of had to do something. I fully expect this to end with curing Cortana and her and Chief walking off into the sunset together
until they are dragged back into some galaxy spanning conflict
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
I ask that question about everything Microsoft puts out.
RebornYeti
Member
All I want is to not have to rely on other things such as novels to even understand where some characters come from and why they're important. I think that has been the main fault in Halo 4/5.
LastGamer84
Member
Halo 4 was a decent epilogue to the series. It brought the Chief home, gave Cortana a sendoff, and introduced new characters and situations to potentially build off of.
Halo 5 was a disaster. Shoe-horn in a false dilemma, reset the power structure through fan-fic levels of absurdity, and end on the most absurd cliffhanger. And don't even get me started about the multiplayer. Launching half assed with microtransactions and missing modes? And no 343, I don't buy your excuse that the REQ system didn't cost us features at launch. It did, and you made money off of whales who were stupid enough to spend money on this game's REQ system.
Halo is dead to me, the only way to salvage the train-wreck of a story Halo 5 unleashed would be to pull off Wayne's World levels of retconning.
Halo 5 was a disaster. Shoe-horn in a false dilemma, reset the power structure through fan-fic levels of absurdity, and end on the most absurd cliffhanger. And don't even get me started about the multiplayer. Launching half assed with microtransactions and missing modes? And no 343, I don't buy your excuse that the REQ system didn't cost us features at launch. It did, and you made money off of whales who were stupid enough to spend money on this game's REQ system.
Halo is dead to me, the only way to salvage the train-wreck of a story Halo 5 unleashed would be to pull off Wayne's World levels of retconning.
He single-handedly carried the OG Xbox, helped Microsoft gain a foothold in the console business, set the standard for how console FPS play, and he looks like this
What more do you need to know
Orochinagis
Member
Didnt halo 5 cortana was retconned to be
?
And this scene never happened
not even poncho chief which was even a toy and an avatar.
And the marketing itself was advertised completely different as the game campaign how on earth you can mess up the storyline for your own game like that.
Halo wars 2 at least makes some fun on their own characters and worked perfectly
Not Cortana
And this scene never happened
not even poncho chief which was even a toy and an avatar.
And the marketing itself was advertised completely different as the game campaign how on earth you can mess up the storyline for your own game like that.
Halo wars 2 at least makes some fun on their own characters and worked perfectly
Knuckle Sandwich
Member
Double down on hiring good writers... Locke had potential and It could have all worked but the story was just bad, man. I think all the Halo game stories stink but this time it really stood out because the gameplay was the best in the series imo.
Come on Frank. No way you underestimated what Chief meant. Just like the monks, Marty's themes, the armor, you have to realize this is a mature and established series. You didn't even need to have Chief. But when you promise his saga, saying things like the seeds of our future are sown in his past, promise Blue Team and Chief going rogue and yet we play as Locke and Osiris for the majority, there was going to be backlash. Frank understands the fans more than anyone.
MikeE21286
Member
I feel the studio lacks a solid vision.
They are so malleable to the fans in all their comments, while never delivering completely on what is wanted right out the gate.
They are in a tough position that I do not envy right now.
They are so malleable to the fans in all their comments, while never delivering completely on what is wanted right out the gate.
They are in a tough position that I do not envy right now.
Complicated
Banned
I would expect more Chief with where the story is going anyways. I'm excited for everything that 5 set up. It was a decent middle chapter much like Halo 2 was, and the gameplay was the best in the series for both multi and single player. I'm sure it will fit better once Halo 6 is out just as Halo 2 did with 3. I expect a well-rounded powerhouse this time around. They've got all the ingredients they just need to execute on the damn thing.
JigglesBunny
Banned
Saying the lack of Chief was the problem with Halo 5's story is like being disturbed by a spider on your ceiling while you're laying in a bed-bug ridden mattress.
SlickShoesRUCrazy
Member
Issue is the story was the most cliche possible story arc for the trilogy(my simplistic view).
Who wrote the hunt for the truth stuff? I hope they were relied on for writing Halo 6. Hunt for the truth was solid.
Should have done a prequel trilogy with blue team during the insurrectionist war or some shit.
Who wrote the hunt for the truth stuff? I hope they were relied on for writing Halo 6. Hunt for the truth was solid.
Should have done a prequel trilogy with blue team during the insurrectionist war or some shit.
rokkerkory
Member
are we getting halo 3 remastered?
soundscream
Member
Some grade A shit posting here.
What I don't understand is why 343 flip-flops. Halo 4's writers were obsessed with Cortana and Chief. Halo 5's writers wrote an flimsy plot focusing on almost a dozen characters while trying to shoehorn 4 new ones in, and now Frankie's saying they messed up?
And wasn't Bonnie recently quoted saying that story *won't* be a focus moving forward? Meanwhile they continue to push out more expanded universe material than I have sick days at work. What the hell is going on over there????
And wasn't Bonnie recently quoted saying that story *won't* be a focus moving forward? Meanwhile they continue to push out more expanded universe material than I have sick days at work. What the hell is going on over there????
ThatsMytrunks
Member
As long as it takes more than 4 hours and 45 minutes of gameplay to beat Halo 6, it'll be a marked improvement.
Honestly, I think 343i would do much better if they had a chance with their own IP. They wouldn't have to fall back on a beloved franchise and could be as creative with their writing as they want, while also fulfilling the need MS currently has for fresh new IPs. If they wanted to, they could even do something Mass Effect Andromeda style where it takes place in the Halo universe but far away from the main story.
Jangowuzhere
Banned
Halo 5 struck me as a very strange direction to take the series, story wise at least.
Halo 4 was the first I've ever been interested in Chief as an actual character. There was some legit depth given to him in 4's story, something the other games did not have. For them to do a complete 180 and focus on an entirely different character (a boring character nonetheless) struck me as completely baffling.
Halo 4 was the first I've ever been interested in Chief as an actual character. There was some legit depth given to him in 4's story, something the other games did not have. For them to do a complete 180 and focus on an entirely different character (a boring character nonetheless) struck me as completely baffling.
The Jazz Cabbage Master
Member
MP is super good, could use some adjustment but the gameplay for 5 was its strongest point
Atraveller
Banned
This is where MS fucked up real bad. Extra-material gone off the rails. There are literally books worth of gaps between games.
ShironRedshift
Member
Yeah, and it's just like so bizarre that any of them missed that. I think they thought they thought they were pulling a Metal Gear Solid 2 or something with the way the game was being marketed and hyped up, and everything would turn out alright once people played the game. The difference with MGS2 though was that what we got with that ended up being just as good if not better than what people were expecting and Raiden ended up being fantastic. That's why people were willing to accept that (well, most people anyway--even with the MGS2 twist there are still a contingent that didn't like it, which just shows how risky doing stuff like that is). Halo 5 wasn't that though. That's a case of the lie and the marketing being better than the actual product. When you not only lie to people about what will lie in the game but the lie ends up being better than what you actually give them, people will get upset. Don't get how they missed something so basic, but they did.
Exploratory
Banned
I think a lot of people who don't want to get it simply won't get it. For me the Chief is like a mythical figure from the stories of old. He's not just a hero but a soldier. A soldier who's given up so much but still believes in protecting humanity. It helps that he's an absolute bad ass but doesn't flaunt it like most modern day "badasses".
Jangowuzhere
Banned
I am still very sad that the whole "leaked" plan for Halo 5 was a fake. The idea of a Mass Effect style game with you playing as Chief flying to different planets with various RPG elements sounds like a dream come true. Master Chief has gone rouge, it would have been open world, you fight humans as well as aliens, and it was going to be 5x longer than the standard Halo campaign. It sounded awesome.
Instead...we got 4 player co-op.
Lame
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