Woorloog, out of curiosity why do you say that Cortana is just a piece of software? Chief being sad I can understand being underwhelmed at given that as a character he still has some work to do but Cortana dying (assuming she is actually dead) is a pivotal moment in the series. She can't just be replaced either. Or did you just mean that as a sort broad statement?
Because that's how i see AIs (they're tools, not beings as far as i'm concerned. Doesn't mean they can't be good characters though, And no, i don't see contradiction here). And because Cortana was fine as a character before Bungie (and 343i) started pushing this romance between her and the Chief.
Am i supposed to care about some in-human cyborg falling in love with an AI, a cyborg with a personality of a brick and an AI with personality that sure doesn't seem to have any romantic aspects (making the whole thing unbelievable in the first place)? And that death... ugh... Should have left out the part where the Cortana says goodbye and leave the Chief hanging and it might have been better.
I happen to like the implication the Spartans are broken, sociopaths, and if the Chief-Cortana relationship is interpreted as some kind of twisted dependence (since Halsey is kind of pseudo-mother for the Spartans, and Cortana resembles Halsey...), Cortana's death works nicely. But that doesn't mean i like either character. Nor do i see Cortana as more than software.
And unfortunately i expect she isn't permanently dead as far the series is concerned.
EDIT yeah, the romance works if you look at it as something dysfunctional. But then it is the romance that's "good", not the characters. IMO.
Now i might be defining Cortana a bit too much based on her relationship with the Chief... but since Halo 3 and 4's plots seem to be running based on it, what else am i supposed to do?