Yeah, they made huge improvements on so many levels in isn't even funny. I actually had fun with the second half of Sp Ops..
That said, it still has issues and did not live up to my expectations.. It doesn't really tough the highs of either SP or FF, and it needs a makeover in some departments. If a season 2 happens, I hope it plays out more like a SP expansion pack rather than the same formula we had in Sp Ops. A lot of the things David said were cut would go a long way to help.
I also want to be part of more than just a blank slate character/team. If a season 2 happens, give us some AI buddies with actual characters, and make them part of the CG.
It seriously feels like a poorly done fan fiction. 343 really, really fucked things up with the story. Dudebro-y Spartans, stereotype scientists, goofy dialogue and voice acting, cheesy, over the top dudebro-y plot. Blah. Lasky and Roland were the only good characters, and even Roland should be dialed back a bit.
The new Spartans suck. They lack the charm of ODSTs or the efficiencies of Spartan 2's.. They feel like some sort of GI Joe cartoon rather than Halo. Blah. I just don't fucking like what 343 did at all. Its really bad. They have talented people there, no doubt, but they went in the wrong fucking direction.
343 really has damaged the Halo story/universe. It really has taken a fucking cheesy, generic nose dive. Its a shame, because their idea if making all the expanded fiction count is great, but their execution.. ugh.
I feel like 343 has tried to replace everything in Halo with thier own version while devaluing and sweeping the old version under the rug. Cool Spartans! Big ships! Bigger guns! Meaner Covenant! Monster-like forerunner tech! And they did this on the gameplay side of things also.
And they fucking devalued the end of Halo 3, because the Covenant as far as I can tell still are at war with us and nothing has changed. Its just... ugh.
Yeah I'm pretty much in agreement....
I was so so SO excited to see where the story would head after Halo 3, to see how humanity was coping after the decimation of its people. Also, to see how the newly vulnerable Prophets, Brutes and Grunts were bartering with the Elites to not get themselves launched into extinction.
It's simply remarkable how they avoided all of the interesting questions raised by the resolution of Halo 3. Instead, 343i seemingly thought 'fuck it' and went on to reverse EVERY SINGLE plot point that had occurred between the end of Halo 1 and the end of Halo 3, they actually made two thirds of the entire trilogy worthless. I actually commend how they pulled that off, IN THE FIRST 20 MINUTES OF THE GAME, I mean, WHAT?
Of course this was just the start however, and they felt the need to single handedly undermine the ODST's and the Spartan 2 programme through the Spartan IV's, Palmer is perhaps symbolically, the worst character in entertainment history. The tone of her character is essentially the antithesis of the Halo trilogy, who on Earth thought 'this character is a good idea'? How does she even get past the alpha stages of development?
They were also incredibly resistant of making this feel like a Halo game in any shape of form. There were two recognisable tracks from the entire series, no expansion on the lore of the Covenant and disastrous execution in the expansion of the Forerunners, killing off their main figurehead in the first game of the 'trilogy'. The fucking FLOOD were not at all mentioned, characters such as Terrence Hood and the Arbiter are presumably dead, oh at least they improved Corta...OH WAIT SHE'S ALSO FUCKING DEAD.
They didn't have enough scope in the campaign to fuck up Halsey, so they did that through Spartan Op's instead. As a result, Fred, Kelly and Chief are the only things left going for this universe, I swear.
WHAT.THE.FUCK.
To go back to what I said earlier, retcon Halo 4 and everything past 'Ghosts of Onyx'. Let's start this shit again.