Seeker of Truth

Wouldn't it be amazing to have a climactic battle against another Spartan? Even a cutscene would be awesome. I strongly suspect that this is ONI's replacement for the Chief. It makes perfect sense. However, I still don't think John will go rogue for any reason other than for the good of humanity. He won't go rogue "just for the hell of it" like some people have been suggesting. SPartan-IIs are selfless by nature, remember.

I strongly disagree. Spartan Ops was what kept me playing Halo 4 for several months. I think the Halo storyline should be expanded as much as possible unless it contradicts previously established lore (which is one of the main reasons I dislike Glasslands). It's not really that similar to Firefight at all apart from the "online cooperative play" element, and while I would like Firefight back in future Halo titles, I can always go and play Halo: Reach. Forge should be expanded, I think, and the ability to create Firefight and/or Spartan Ops-like levels with NPCs and objectives added in. Also, playable Sangheili must return.

Remember that while John and the other Spartan-IIs are 46 years old chronologically, they're biologically younger due to the amount of time that they've spent in slipspace. John collapsing was also more likely due to the power of the Composer than personal weakness. Based on what we know about Halo 5 the ending of Halo 4, and pre-established lore, I'd expect we'll see the opposite situation - John will go through a rough patch mentally, but will be physically fine. Just in case anyone had doubts about the Spartan-IIs' biological age, look at this picture of Osman from the Halo 4 visual guide: http://www.halopedia.org/images/4/45/H4-AdmiralSerinOsman-ScanRender.png I think she is quite clearly younger than 46.

ODST was worse IMO. Halo 4's multiplayer was disappointing, but at least the campaign storyline actually went somewhere and had just enough original gameplay features to keep things interesting. Yes, toss perks, ordnance drops and instant respawns in the trash, but don't scrap everything that Halo 4 added. I actually preferred certain aspects of Halo 4 to Reach - for instance, I found the campaign more enjoyable - although that might just because it had three of my favorite characters in the franchise (Halsey, Jul 'Mdama, and the Ur-Didact) and brought back the BR - and I definitely preferred some of the armor abilities to their Reach counterparts (for example, Hardlight Shield is far superior to the game-breaking Armor Lock).

Umm.... Wrong thread?

I too find it odd, but remember that Spartan-IVs don't have the mental indoctrination that makes them think of their teammates as family and commanding officers as god-like figures. The Flood as a "behind the scenes" threat seems a bit counterintuitive. They are vicious and relentless by nature, which, if I recall, was how they got their name. Still, if true, the Flood would just feel that much more threatening. It could make a very interesting, and sinister, twist. However, there are three questions with answers that Flood presence doesn't seem to cover. 1) Why would an active Spartan be helping the Flood? 2) If the freighter is controlled by the Flood, why does it not show any signs of infection? 3) How did the Flood go completely undetected for the time that it must have spent lurking in the galaxy? Between the UNSC and the former Covenant species, you'd think someone would have detected it, or just stumbled across it. Then again, we live in a very, very big galaxy with hundreds of billions of stars and probably trillions of planets, so maybe they could remain undetected for some time.

I'm sick to DEATH of this idea. If anything happens, say the corruption of ONI gets exposed, then at MINIMUM the Infinity and its crew would be forced out of the UNSC. It would not be John vs every other being in the Halo universe - SPARTAN-IIs are selfless by nature. Okay, I'm sorry for my impatience there, but the idea of a lone, rogue SPARTAN-II is bloody ridiculous.

Well whoever it is has some power in the UNSC, at least enough to command a ship (Issue #4 spoilers) so Halsey's out (as much as I liked the idea). It could very well be someone entirely new. I can't help but be suspicious of the similarity between 'Gajat's consultant and Dr. Phillips, though.

Any other opinions? The summary of Issue #4 is interesting...the attack of an "unexpected enemy" is mentioned. This enemy may be the Brutes, the Prometheans, or even the Flood, but it's clearly not the UNSC traitor himself, as Issue #5 involves the search for the traitor continuing. I believe it's most likely to be a Jiralhanae faction; 343 would probably wait until Halo Xbox One to reintroduce the Prometheans or Flood, or for there to be any saga-altering betrayal.

In Halo: Escalation, there are at least two humans who are at least collaborating, if not cooperating, with the Storm Covenant in order to kill Lord Hood, the Arbiter, and Lydus (the leader of the Brutes). The first, of course, is Spartan Scruggs. He killed the rest of his Spartan team then lured the three delegates into a trap. He was killed by Palmer, but not before saying something, that I think is a perfect summary of the Reclaimer Saga: "You think there's just two sides to this world?" The second traitor is unnamed. And it could very well stay that way, at least until Halo Xbox One comes out. But there are a few clues based on Scruggs' behavior and the appearence of the mystery man which has lead me to speculate on one of two possibilities. Scruggs denied being an Insurrectionist, which means he's either insane, or, more likely (and ominously), connected to a very high-ranking official who wants to keep the Elites and Brutes disorganized. Scruggs also killed an awful lot of Storm Covenant, which probably means he's not affiliated with them, either. The Storm Covenant hates humans; I'm sure none of their warriors would be willing to sacrifice themselves to a human. I think most importantly, Scruggs knew about Kilo-Five, the Didact, and the disappearance of the Master Chief, indicating that he was very well-connected, probably to ONI or the UEG. Although Gajat's unnamed ally/consultant is meant to be mysterious, it's three things about him that are the most revealing to me. He is almost certainly not military. He dresses like an affluent civilian. And his physical appearance matches this description almost perfectly: "Phillips was about Mal's age, with reddish brown scrubby hair and a matching beard. He looked a little fitter than the average civvie in a set of unbadged UNSC fatigues". To add to that, Gajat either speaks very fluent English or his consultant speaks the Sangheili language, which is confirmed to be too complex for most humans to manage. So he very possibly could be Phillips. If he is, then that probably means that Kilo-Five is still active. Another possibility, though, is that he is part of the same division that wanted to "replace" the Master Chief, or even Halsey's interrogator. I don't have as much evidence for that, though. So who do you think this leak is?

Well, the UNSC is fighting a multi-front war. If the Arbiter is planning to end the Covenant Civil War for good, then that's a front the UNSC doesn't have to fight on. Considering the touchy nature of the mission itself, the Storm Covenant obviously gaining power, and the fact that Brutes aren't exactly negotiators, it would make sense for the UNSC to accompany the Arbiter in case something goes wrong (which, according to the Escalation teaser, it does). So yes, it makes perfect sense from a practical standpoint, as well as helpful in solidifying the alliance between the UNSC and the Arbiter's faction.

Um, is that sarcasm? I agree that the game could do without ordnance drops, specializations and instant respawns, and waypoints above weapons. Get rid of all of that. However, no campaign at all? A very weighty portion of the community plays Halo only for the campaign, and the vast majority of online players also play campaign. Try moving around in a half-ton suit of power armor and see how smooth your movements are. Unless you're Chuck Norris, you're going to make some noise. I haven't noticed the actual movement to be any more "jittery" than Halo 3. Once again, you want to entirely alienate probably half of the community from the game because you only play multiplayer? That's pretty selfish, isn't it? Armor should be earned, yes, and should be only for aesthetic value. But why do you want Halo to be only for those who are literally obsessed with multiplayer? Do campaign players suddenly not have the right to play? I should also add that Halo's storyline has grown too big, and has made too much of a profit, to just pull the plug on.

1) The pulse grenade didn't even make him bleed; it just stunned/immobilized him. 2) The Didact is immune to the effects of the Composer. 3) He was sent into a slipspace rupture, which would have transported him elsewhere; possibly to Requiem but also, more likely, to another Forerunner installation.

Hey, it's Osman! Ban her, quick! (Joking, but obviously this person needs to learn what the Covenant separatists are.) Were I in charge of the UNSC I'd want to get up to full strength, particularly after the Didact's attack. I would work towards integrating the UNSC's units with the Covenant separatists and train as many Spartan-IVs (the S-IIs and IIIs would remain in their own units for familiarity with their team members) as possible. I would also try to find Halsey return her to UNSC service, capture Jul and execute him (or, better yet, let the Arbiter decide how best to deal with him), and retrieve the other half of the Janus Key, then find the Forerunner artifacts and use them towards the advantage of the human race. Oh, and I'd make sure that we humans earned the Mantle the right way, not by weakening other species.

1) I disagree. Elites are one of the most iconic features of the Halo series. 2) I take that as a joke? Elites are not dinosaurs. They're from a different planet. I've also heard the argument that Elites don't have a practical role in-game brought up. I'm not going to argue with that point itself (despite the fact that I disagree strongly), but bring up these points that I hope people take into consideration: Neither do armor permutations. Yet nobody seems to want the game to only have one type of armor in it like it had in Halo: CE. It's a matter of preference, and a large portion of the community wants to be able to play as Elites. If you don't want anything that isn't practical in-game, then you should equally be arguing against the presence of armor permutations and the presence of customizable weapon skins, as well as the ability to add things like pallets and traffic cones in Forge. Players should have the ability to customize as much as they want within reason. If you want Halo to be purely practical, and not include anything that's just for preference, then why don't we make all of the levels a blank canvas? There is also the issue of the Sangheili subculture of the community, which is fairly large, with thousands of members. They've been let down by Halo 4, and I have to say with the Xbox One being unable to match the success of the PS4, Halo will need to get every sale it can take. Now, everyone here needs to face the facts: the X1 is not going to come even close to the PS4 in terms of success. Microsoft has predicted it to "break even, or even make a profit". Not exactly high expectations, don't you think? I've actually heard many people stating that they will not buy Halo 5 unless there are playable Sangheili in it; and if this subculture leaves the community, then Halo is going to lose a lot of sales. If this loss of sales is extreme enough, it may even put the franchise out of business altogether; though that's unlikely. However, this will mean that Halo 5's sales will be miniscule compared to those of previous Halo games. While you could argue that Sangheili don't have a very practical role from a gaming perspective, it is undeniable that from a marketing perspective, Sangheili have a very practical role.

Heh, heh... I have to say that's one of the oddest names I've ever heard of. P.S. The parents described it as "A pregnant, expressionistic development that we see as an artistic creation".

Apparently, back in 1991, a Swedish couple decided to protest the naming law in Sweden by not giving their new son a legal name. The government gave them until the boy's fifth birthday to submit a legal name. They didn't, and were fined 5,000 kronor (about 800 dollars). In response to the fine, the parents submitted the name "Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116", pronounced "Albin". The court rejected the name, and in response the parents submitted another name, "A", also pronounced "Albin". This name was also rejected. --- I guess that's a nice name, but you need to wonder what happened to Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11115.

Gameplay-wise; it's likely because 343i were trying to keep the game perfectly balanced, and struggling to do so with playable Sangheili. In-universe, it's likely because the UNSC and the Separatists are fighting the Storm Covenant separately at this point, therefore the Spartan-IVs presumably don't fight alongside Sangheili too often. But I agree that they need to be made playable again. If 343i insists on a canonical MP, then they should at the very least have the Separatists and the UNSC integrate their units and put Elites in the War Games simulator as well.

Sad as Cortana's death is, I don't think that would work. The Composer was great at converting living beings into data/AIs, but not so good at convertifng data back. The only way I can see Cortana returning is through the recovery of her fragments, assuming of course that they weren't destroyed along with the rest of Mantle's Approach, which they probably were. Also, I think having Cortana sacrifice herself was a very good outcome (better than her being "treated" for her rampancy and being left with an emotionless, machine-like state similar to the way she was at the beginning of Halo: CE).

Part 1 is posted and Part 2 will soon follow.

Okay, here is my updated depiction of Halo 5's campaign. I hope it's better than the previous one. Part 0: Prologue A series of flashback images is shown, including the Spartan augmentation procedures and newly created Spartan-IIs, the first encounter with the Covenant, a series of battles, the Fall of Reach, the discovery of Installation 04, the Covenant invasion of Earth, the Battle of Installation 00, the Sangheili-Human Alliance, the rise of the Storm Covenant, the Sangheili Civil War, and the Battle of Requiem, concluding with the Ur-Didact falling into a Slipspace rupture beneath the Composer. He, along with thousands of digitized humans, is transported to a facility on a Forerunner installation, and sets to work using the facility's machinery to produce Promethean Knights, before preparing to activate the more powerful constructs that he knows the facility stores. The scene cuts to Earth, where John-117 is being debriefed on recent events, including the Sangheili civil war and the capture of Halsey by the Storm Covenant. However, after Cortana's death, John is in a depression-like state with a sense of hopelessness and loneliness. He has been assigned to Spartan-IV training, but Fleet Command has become concerned that his depression will impair his performance. The half of the Janus Key acquired during the Second Battle of Requiem is turned over to ONI archaeologists. Abruptly, a distress signal is sent to Earth from the recently recolonized Arcadia, which is under attack by the Covenant remnant. Three cruisers are sent to Arcadia to repel the attack, and John is assigned to go with them. Part 1: Seige The cruisers arrive at Arcadia to find its defenses overwhelmed and Remnant light cruisers bombarding the surface. The UNSC sends John and several ODST squadrons to one of Arcadia's few cities to search for survivors. They hard-drop into the city's lower district, fight their way through Remnant forces, and locate a civilian audio log that suggests that at least some of the city's residents have sheltered in emergency bunkers beneath the city streets. They are directed to one of these bunkers, only to find that the Remnant has barricaded the entrance and fortified it with turrets, apparently preventing the civilians from exiting. After destroying the barricade and turrets, John and the ODSTs enter the bunker and descend down to the shelter chamber, where they find all civilians dead and several Sangheili zealots waiting for them. They eliminate the zealots, return to the surface, and contact the fleet, informing them of their failure. They are directed to another underground bunker, again needing to destroy the Remnant barricade and turrets to enter. As they approach the refuge chamber, they encounter another zealot team moving to kill the trapped civilians, but stop the zealots before they reach the chamber. John is ordered to cover the Pelicans from the rooftops using a missile pod. He destroys many Banshees, but as the third Pelican departs, John has an abrupt flashback of Cortana's death, which in turn causes him to suffer from an anxiety attack. He recovers fairly quickly, but begins to question his own ability to function. Later, more Pelicans arrive and begin deploying Marines to secure the city. John is directed to a Remnant encampment on the city's outskirts. A large squadron of Marines accompanies him. At the Covenant encampment, they encounter and destroy a mega-turret and two smaller artillery guns, before accessing a communications terminal and uploading the transmissions to the fleet. The transmissions reveal Jul 'Mdama's plan: to have a force of his lesser-known associates quietly return to Sanghelios, steal a CSO-class supercarrier from one of the orbital shipyards, and return it to Remnant-held space; it will then be used to devastate the UNSC's fleet and ultimately destroy the human-colonized planets. With this vital data, and with only a few Remnant cruisers remaining, the UNSC fleet returns to Earth. Part 2: Sanghelios The cruisers return to Earth and inform Fleet Command of Jul's plan. Fleet Command sends Infinity to Sanghelios to prevent the supercarrier from being stolen. ONI covertly assigns two prowlers to follow Infinity and weaken the Arbiter's forces, if possible. Unaware of ONI's plan, Infinity departs for Sanghelios. On Infinity, John is reunited with Blue Team, who were also assigned to Spartan-IV training. As Infinity arrives in-system, Lasky informs the Arbiter of Jul's plan. In response, the Arbiter sends a message to the shipyard that the supercarrier is docked at, ordering them to put the entire yard into lockdown in order to prevent access to the ship. However, he recieves no response and sends a CCS-class cruiser to investigate. Lasky asks for permission to send some of Infinity's Spartans to assist, and the Arbiter agrees, under the condition that the collaboration is kept a complete secret. John and Blue Team, as well as Palmer and Fireteam Majestic are deployed to separate areas of the orbital shipyard. Upon arriving, they find the yard overrun with Remnant forces. Fighting alongside the Arbiter's Sangheili and Unggoy, John and Blue Team make their way to one of the lockdown controls and secure the area. The lockdown control, however, turns out to be non-functional. Realizing that there is not enough time for the Arbiter's forces to repair the console, the Spartans board the supercarrier and make their way towards its control room. The Arbiter informs them through the radio that they can delay the ship's launching sequence by destroying one of its power regulators. After fighting their way through the ship's corridors, the Spartans arrive at a regulator, heavily guarded by Remnant swordsmen. One of them manages to severely wound Fred, but the Spartans still clear them out and place charges on the regulator. Unable to get to his feet, Fred manually detonates the charges, destroying the regulator and himself. The remaining Spartans make their way to the control center, but are locked in a small corridor at the last minute. Part 2 still a WIP.

It will be called Halo Xbox One, not Halo 5. And the next game after that will be called Halo Xbox One 2. The main campaign enemies will be an army of Kung Fu-trained frogs and squirrels which are led by Joseph Stalin. Matchmaking will feature deathstreaks> Dead Man's Hand and Final Stand. Also, a single betrayal, either on purpose or by accident, will result in a ban for 200 quadrillion years.

Exactly the point...

We didn't fight any Sangheili in Halo 3, or ODST. They worked perfectly well. I think the Didact's attack on Earth might shock ONI into swallowing their pride, and hopefully get the Sangheili and humans fighting alongside one another again.

I'm quite sure this has been discussed before somewhere, but I'm bringing it to this forum. Sprint and AA's make the game enjoyable for everyone. I have a real-life friend who only started playing Halo in 2009. And to put it bluntly, he was horrible at Halo 3; he gladly admitted it. He was fine at campaign, but just couldn't have a good time on Matchmaking. With Reach and 4's armor abilities, however, he improved very quickly and now regularly plays online and enjoys it. He later said that he thought the problem was that he wasn't used to games without AAs. My question to people who think that AAs should be out of the game is this. Should people like this be denied the opportunity to enjoy themselves? I've been playing Halo online since I was eight years old and I still consider Halo 4 and Reach to be a lot of fun. The fact that the game automatically selects matches at a comparable skill level to you helps as well. Experienced players tend to end up with experienced players; and less-skilled players with less-skilled players. The only features that I think make the game too easy are instant respawn and ordnance drops. Again, should less-skilled players not be allowed to enjoy themselves? If you say yes, then I think that's actually unfair and selfish of you, and I think that you take the game much too seriously.