The Weekly Site Poll 55 - Future Halo Stories

[I_Make_Big_Boom]

Heyy, welcome back to the Weekly Site Poll! 

 

Poll 54 - 'Halo Wars 2 Community Reviews' - is here if you'd like to read the responses, or post a late reply.

 

This week we hypothesize and dream about stories yet to be told...

 

 

 

 

Where do you want to see the Halo story go from here? What would you like to see in a future game, or ancillary material? A return of the Flood? Precursors? Mendicant Bias?

 

 

The next Weekly Site Poll will be posted whenever, maybe. Feel free to suggest the topic for the NEXT Weekly Site Poll in your response!

 

SD, out!   

[Caboose The Ace]

Now I know this isnt ever gonna happen but in an ideal world Halo 5 would be wipped for canon and Halo 5 would actually be a sequel to Halo 4 and pick up where that game left off instead of scrapping it and replacing it with the whole Cortana is evil Spartan Locke storyline nobody cares about. So it would be centred around the Chief as his character is explored due to the fact Cortana isn't in this game. Blue Team can come back but they'll be a much better explanation and not just oh here Blue Team non book readers. The Didact would also be the main antagonist with the Janus key and Halsey and Jul playing key roles.

 

I know this is brief but you get the point I want a sequel to Halo 4 not just 343 running out like a headless chicken with no clear vision reviving characters for no reason and making new ones nobody cares about because there terrible.

[Composite Armour]

Personally I'd hope for a trip back in time for more classic Human vs Covenant stuff.

[Halo6 Follower]

I really want the Arbiter and Chief to join up together for some more jolly cooperation. 

[Drizzy_Dan]

I'd love to see a story following Romeo after New Blood. We know he's a Spartan IV now on top secret missions donning Deadeye Mjolnir so I'd like that explored more.  

[RedStarRocket91]

So I'm just gonna say it, I think the ideas behind Halo 5 aren't inherently bad. Was it executed in the most insipid, moronic, incompetent way possible? Well, yes, obviously. But that's not to say that I don't think they couldn't have worked with a decent writer.

 

That said: I just honestly don't see how the story can go on to improve from here. Halo 5 has dug a hole so damn deep with its characters and plot that anything that comes after is going to suffer simply because it's going to have acknowledge not just what happened, but the way that it happened. We can't just pretend the Chief had a big emotional reaction and had his loyalties and identity tested to the limit, because he didn't. We can't pretend that Blue Team were really there for him to help him work through losing Cortana and he eventually chose them over her, because they didn't, and it's not clear that he actually did. We can't pretend that it's even a case of murky perspective in which the 'truth' of what happened depends on whose side a given character was on, because it was a pathetic 'oh it was just a misunderstanding' chick flick level of cop-out that drove the animosity between the teams rather than any actual difference in perspective.

 

Now, if those thing had been done properly - if Chief's loyalty really had been tested, as he was specifically forced to pick between loyalty to the people who abducted him as a child and now see him as a wholly replaceable, obsolete weapon rather than a human being, and the woman who really was the only one there for him through the worst few months of his life and is offering him a chance at happiness and purpose that he damn well knows he's not going to get from the UNSC, that would have been heart-wrenching and been a wonderful fountain of inspiration for what to do with him in Halo 6. Same thing if he and Locke had genuinely been ideologically opposed - Locke very much the UNSC loyalist who thinks the S-IIs are too dangerous to be kept alive and need to be dealt with, Chief who's just starting to feel old and tired and wanting to actually be treated like something more than a machine - then you'd get the same result. If Chief had gone over to Cortana's side, you'd have a wonderful setup for a mature and adversarial campaign in which both sides could be portrayed in shades of grey, and with great potential for boss fights or character deaths to create drama. If he's made the same decision - you'd have two protagonists who're forced to work together, each knowing full well that the moment their common enemy is defeated they're going to wind up drawing guns on one another, which again could make for some good drama.

 

But they weren't and here we are. I always feel weird about the idea of retcons, but honestly, in this case the whole of Halo 5 was just so poorly executed that I can't see any other alternative if the story is going to be anything other than a joke in the future.

[Fishy]

I want Halo 1-4 to be retcon. And Halo 5 being where the story starts

[Drizzy_Dan]

So I'm just gonna say it, I think the ideas behind Halo 5 aren't inherently bad. Were it executed in the most insipid, moronic, incompetent way possible? Well, yes, obviously. But that's not to say that I don't think they couldn't have worked with a decent writer.

 

That said: I just honestly don't see how the story can go on to improve from here. Halo 5 has dug a hole so damn deep with its characters and plot that anything that comes after is going to suffer simply because it's going to have acknowledge not just what happened, but the way that it happened. We can't just pretend the Chief had a big emotional reaction and had his loyalties and identity tested to the limit, because he didn't. We can't pretend that Blue Team were really there for him to help him work through losing Cortana and he eventually chose them over her, because they didn't, and it's not clear that he actually did. We can't pretend that it's even a case of murky perspective in which the 'truth' of what happened depends on whose side a given character was on, because it was a pathetic 'oh it was just a misunderstanding' chick flick level of cop-out that drove the animosity between the teams rather than any actual difference in perspective.

 

Now, if those thing had been done properly - if Chief's loyalty really had been tested, as he was specifically forced to pick between loyalty to the people who abducted him as a child and now see him as a wholly replaceable, obsolete weapon rather than a human being, and the woman who really was the only one there for him through the worst few months of his life and is offering him a chance at happiness and purpose that he damn well knows he's not going to get from the UNSC, that would have been heart-wrenching and been a wonderful fountain of inspiration for what to do with him in Halo 6. Same thing if he and Locke had genuinely been ideologically opposed - Locke very much the UNSC loyalist who thinks the S-IIs are too dangerous to be kept alive and need to be dealt with, Chief who's just starting to feel old and tired and wanting to actually be treated like something more than a machine - then you'd get the same result. If Chief had gone over to Cortana's side, you'd have a wonderful setup for a mature and adversarial campaign in which both sides could be portrayed in shades of grey, and with great potential for boss fights or character deaths to create drama. If he's made the same decision - you'd have two protagonists who're forced to work together, each knowing full well that the moment their common enemy is defeated they're going to wind up drawing guns on one another, which again could make for some good drama.

 

But they weren't and here we are. I always feel weird about the idea of retcons, but honestly, in this case the whole of Halo 5 was just so poorly executed that I can't see any other alternative if the story is going to be anything other than a joke in the future.

 

this is some brilliant writing especially because you don't necessarily have to kill off a character and everyone could be happy. You just didn't respond to the poll

 

I want Halo 1-4 to be retcon. And Halo 5 being where the story starts

 

wth Fish lol

[Bornstellarx]

I think what would be awesome is if, that somehow there are Precursors that are still alive. Continuing from Halo 5's story, the Warden and the other Guardians lose faith in Cortana and decide to serve the Precursors instead. The Guardians deem their leaders as more fit to rule. 

 

Different life forms from what we have already seen in Halo are also recruited (We do not yet know why the Precursors are recruiting, just that they are).  

 

While this is going on a new Prophet emerges and attempts to revive the covenant or what is left of it. This Prophet struggles as their is bad blood between the Elites and the Brutes. But somehow differences are settled and he Covenant is back once again. 

The civil war on Sangheilios effectively comes to an end. 

 

The have been few flood contacts in recent time and this has become a bit of a concern to the UNSC. The are also unerring rumours that Didact may still be alive, knowing he fell into some sort of slip space portal, this unsettles some higher ups within the UNSC.     

 

A lot going on I know  

Not sure exactly how exactly all this would be able to put into one game, but it would be damn cool if 343 did somehow. 

 

We find out in the game exactly what is going on with all our new enemies and mysteries.

 

It is then up Master Chief to team up with Cortana, the Arbitar, Blue Team, Fireteam Osiris, and Dr Halsey to combat these threats. Heroes will rise once again. 

 

 

[Buns]

I am forever bummed we got the story we did with Halo 5. I mean it pratically killed my love for the franchise in one play through of the campaign. 

I mean ideally I want the flood to return while we're also battling Evil Mega Cortana(Since this is the story we got now). Maybe Cortana helps the Flood and we get Robo-Flood. Yea I just really want more Flood/Precursor stuff I love me some ancient alien civilization trope in my sci-fi.

[Composite Armour]

I am forever bummed we got the story we did with Halo 5. I mean it pratically killed my love for the franchise in one play through of the campaign. 

I mean ideally I want the flood to return while we're also battling Evil Mega Cortana(Since this is the story we got now). Maybe Cortana helps the Flood and we get Robo-Flood. Yea I just really want more Flood/Precursor stuff I love me some ancient alien civilization trope in my sci-fi.

Isn't robo-flood basically just the Borg?

[Twinreaper]

I completely agree with RSR in the execution of the new story arc, it's planning and tendency to force a dramatic point. However while I am usually content to lay blame soley at 343, we cannot overlook the secondary source of the state of Halo 4 & Halo 5 in regards to story....

 

The expanded novels such as Cryptum and Glasslands.

 

Part of this "stuck in a hole" is due largely in part to the novels that predated the Halo 4 start. While in most cases an expanded universe or canon is a good thing, this is not the case. Halo 4 started off to pick up where 3 essentially left off but it also had to encompass and account for the events that the fans were inteoduced to in the novels. In my opinion, this was the start of it. Following that in Halo 5, we are forced to look at the secondary sources to piece together what is happening with a large majority of the character pool.

 

As a whole, 343 allowed the novels to dictate and cement a story arc that was doomed to fail game wise before it even started. The real question is whom had the final say in terms of novel content? Did said executive green light multiple novels from authors without grasping of seeing the content in it's finished form? Did this executive or board stop to think about how the content would impair or disbar the already established plans going forward?

 

Which now brings me to the poll. While most newer players may agree with going forward and inteoducing new stories, I disagree and believe that 343 should instead tap the wealth of potential game successors by drawing on the overly rich and detailed novels of pre Reach, and post Halo CE through Halo 3's mid finale.

 

The shear amount of character development and possible campaign ideas are limitless. Which also would serve a good middle ground of introducing the lore to a majority fan base who refuse or are reluctant to read or invest into the lore as a whole.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Twinreaper

[Mr Kittens and Gibberish]

Unfortunately, I don't think there will be any retconing anytime soon for the foreseeable future, so we're utterly stuck in this poorly written story.

 

What I would love to see having given the end to Halo 4, that there are more fragments of Cortana still out there, and un-corrupted. She split herself like we read in the books, copied herself, so that she could hold down the Didact. It could be possible that the Cortana that saved Chief really wasn't the actual Cortana, but a copy that thought she was the real Cortana.

Any who, bottom line is that there are still Cortana copies out there, and Chief somehow figures this out and tries to locate all of the copies that are still active. Meanwhile the evil over lord Cortana copy uncovers what Chief is doing, and becomes jealous, thus sending out troops of Promethean forces to stop the Chief from doing so.

 

After failing miserably to the wrath of hopeful Chief, he collects all of the copied fragments of Cortana and plans to merge them all into one, becoming a more complete version of Cortana then the evil over lord. Then UR-Didact comes into play and takes control over Evil Overlord Cortana, killing her off in the process, being a digital representation of himself (because of that halfassed comic series) he can finally get revenge, and continue his purging of the human race, and claiming the mantle of responsibility for the forerunners once more.

 

Now with the REAL Cortana finally reunited with the Chief and Dr.Halsey, she finds out that Cortana has actually achieved metastability. Now with the gang all together again, they must find a way to defeat UR-Didact before he eradicates the human race for good. Being the clever little evil overlord cortana was, she somehow disabled all the Guardians and sent them to random points in slip-space just before she died. Just imagine how furious the UR-Didact was.

 

And this is where Mendicant Bias comes join the fight for humanity. Boom. Ending to Halo 6.

[RedStarRocket91]

Unfortunately, I don't think there will be any retconing anytime soon for the foreseeable future, so we're utterly stuck in this poorly written story.

 

What I would love to see having given the end to Halo 4, that there are more fragments of Cortana still out there, and un-corrupted. She split herself like we read in the books, copied herself, so that she could hold down the Didact. It could be possible that the Cortana that saved Chief really wasn't the actual Cortana, but a copy that thought she was the real Cortana.

Any who, bottom line is that there are still Cortana copies out there, and Chief somehow figures this out and tries to locate all of the copies that are still active. Meanwhile the evil over lord Cortana copy uncovers what Chief is doing, and becomes jealous, thus sending out troops of Promethean forces to stop the Chief from doing so.

 

After failing miserably to the wrath of hopeful Chief, he collects all of the copied fragments of Cortana and plans to merge them all into one, becoming a more complete version of Cortana then the evil over lord. Then UR-Didact comes into play and takes control over Evil Overlord Cortana, killing her off in the process, being a digital representation of himself (because of that halfassed comic series) he can finally get revenge, and continue his purging of the human race, and claiming the mantle of responsibility for the forerunners once more.

 

Now with the REAL Cortana finally reunited with the Chief and Dr.Halsey, she finds out that Cortana has actually achieved metastability. Now with the gang all together again, they must find a way to defeat UR-Didact before he eradicates the human race for good. Being the clever little evil overlord cortana was, she somehow disabled all the Guardians and sent them to random points in slip-space just before she died. Just imagine how furious the UR-Didact was.

 

And this is where Mendicant Bias comes join the fight for humanity. Boom. Ending to Halo 6.

 

I think we have a winner!