Completely agree polarbear, i posted a similar post to my op on facebook and had a few friends ask me if its worth getting, i felt confident telling them that in MY opinion halo4 is the best gameplay feel of any of the titles........
However....
The story, it just infuriated me. And another thing that pissed me off was just HOW LONG you went before huge plot questions were answered, i had to spoil it by googling my questions because after so many missions i figured they just werent going to tell me or i missed reading a book...
And like you said about killing that dynamic, it could NEVER be the same, if there are going to be 2 more titles i hope to GOD you dont play as chief, it will feel VERY hollow and just disappointing.
343 doing what they did completely killed any emotional attachment i had for that john, now what hes a faceless soldier who acts like a robot? Big player connection there