Halo 4 Ending + Saga Discussion [Spoilers]

[Scipio1770]

Alright so my friends and I finished the campaign yesterday and were left a bit confused on a few points:

Spoiler: obvious spoilers

1. What exactly happened to make the Covenant and Humans at war again? 4 years isn't that long, I doubt that the entire prophet and brute races were wiped out that fast. Especially considering the fact that the Arbiter would still be alive at that point and would obviously be against war with the Humans.

2. The nuke thing, was Chief teleported away at the last second? surrounded by some lightbridge shield? digitized and then purged? How exactly did Cortana physically touch him otherwise?

I also wanted to hear what other Halo fans thought about some of the major changes 343 has done with the series

Spoiler: more spoilers

3. Since the composer can switch data between digital and biological, and Cortana dropped the rather obvious hint that her mind was a copy of Dr. Halsey's neural tissues, We can predict that over the course of this new halo saga, cortana will go thorugh rampancy into metastability and then probably be converted into a human. With that said, I really hope they don't turn her relationship with Chief into a love interest. One of the biggest reasons for why the Cortana-Master Chief duo was so succesful in my opinion was because Bungie took great care in avoiding the classic love arc tropes that would have ruined the maturity of the series; so it worries me to see 343 go switch into such a different direction right off the bat.

4. For those of you who didn't finish it on Legendary, you actually see the upper half of Cheif's face in the end of the epilogue cutscene. I think that was a mistake. I realize they're trying to play this new 'Man or Machine' theme for the new saga, but it's still too early into the story for John's face to get kind of effect they're looking for. Unlike samus aran, there really isn't a shock value to seeing John's face: We already know his age, gender, race etc. Sure, you make him seem more human, but you also take away a huge mystery factor from his persona, so I think that move was net negative.

So what do you guys think?

 

[Korten12]

1. What exactly happened to make the Covenant and Humans at war again? 4 years isn't that long, I doubt that the entire prophet and brute races were wiped out that fast. Especially considering the fact that the Arbiter would still be alive at that point and would obviously be against war with the Humans.

-The faction you fight is Storm, they believe the Forerunners are still Gods, and wanted to find the Didact to kill Humanity. They're not on the same side as the Arbiter.

And in galaxy time... A lot can happy in 4 hours. I do think though that they could have done a better job with explaining that outside the one prologue terminal.

2. The nuke thing, was Chief teleported away at the last second? surrounded by some lightbridge shield? digitized and then purged? How exactly did Cortana physically touch him otherwise?

She used the ships Hardlight shields to get him away at the last second, in the ending she used the hardlight to make her a body that could touch.

3. Since the composer can switch data between digital and biological, and Cortana dropped the rather obvious hint that her mind was a copy of Dr. Halsey's neural tissues,

We have known about this since the first book, Halsey cloned her brain using flash clonining and was able to make Cortana.

We can predict that over the course of this new halo saga, cortana will go thorugh rampancy into metastability and then probably be converted into a human. With that said, I really hope they don't turn her relationship with Chief into a love interest. One of the biggest reasons for why the Cortana-Master Chief duo was so succesful in my opinion was because Bungie took great care in avoiding the classic love arc tropes that would have ruined the maturity of the series; so it worries me to see 343 go switch into such a different direction right off the bat.

I don't think they will, even if they bring her back, I think it's more of a bond thing then actually loving each other.

4. For those of you who didn't finish it on Legendary, you actually see the upper half of Cheif's face in the end of the epilogue cutscene. I think that was a mistake. I realize they're trying to play this new 'Man or Machine' theme for the new saga, but it's still too early into the story for John's face to get kind of effect they're looking for. Unlike samus aran, there really isn't a shock value to seeing John's face: We already know his age, gender, race etc. Sure, you make him seem more human, but you also take away a huge mystery factor from his persona, so I think that move was net negative.

We already know what he looks like. Pale skin, brown hair. He was fully described in The Flood what he looks like. Plus you saw what he looked like a bit in the Prologue as him as a child.

OT: I loved what they did, they fully embraced the expanded universe and brought it into Halo 4 for that it's why out of all of the games it's my favorite story thus far. The terminals were really good as well.

Can't wait to read Halo: Silentium and the next Kilo-Five book to see more.

 

[m19]

So anyone thinks Cortana will stay dead?

I like that they are trying to explore MC's character finally and give it some development.

 

[Terminate421]

Master Chief had put quite a large amount of emotions into his lines. It's quite hard for you not to notice that there is emotion going on under that power armor. He knows he's not a machine despite being practically MADE for war, Cortana was the only one who understood him, made for a purpose (Military) and a hybrid between Machine and Man-made. It was not love interest, it was a close friend (there is a difference).

In essence the story was brilliant. Master Chief got enough lines for me to finally put down the argument that he has no personality, the story was relatively easy to grasp even if you are new to the series, and it was definitly fun.

The only issue I have at all with Halo 4 is some of the sounds, the music at times doesn't "Feel" Halo and some of the guns just don't have the same impact. Also the Storm Covenant design isn't in my own taste IMO.

The Multiplayer is highly balanced with a fine sense of still having the fast pased Halo feel. Sprint flows naturally for a Halo game and the whole loadouts system works well towards being more Battlefield than Call of Duty.

All in all, 343 have proven me wrong. I was terrified that Halo 4 would suck and piss on my beloved franchise but I was wrong. 343 are more than welcome to go again for Halo 5.

 

[monkeymo4d]

Overall I was quite impressed with 343 and how they took the cartoony and comedic Halo franchice into a more serious and emotional direction. I will probably keep an eye out for halo 5 . However there were a couple of things which didnt make me happy.

1.Lack of campaign gameplay variety
Simply put Halo 4 campaign felt like it was just multiplayer with a few vehicle sections. How awesome would it have been if armour abilities functioned differently in campaign or better yet if chief had his own set of forruner armour abilities due to cortana's and the Librarian's enhancements. eg. Being able to summon a sentinel or an buffed up crawler or even take control of a Promethean.

2. Lack of ingame story exposition
I will say this now Halo 2 had my favourate ingame story because it didnt cut corners (well except for the ending). Every thing you needed to know was explained in the game and there was nothing confusing, In fact it was this game which first made me buy the halonovels cause it peaked my interest.But however the fact that people still have to ask why the covenant are the on requiem shows a lack of in game explanation (and no the terminal videos are meant for additional information and not information vital to the plot)

 

[skywolfblue]

Spoiler: 1

I agree she's probably not going to stay dead. Either Halsy does some tinkering and mixes some cortana remnants from orbit with a new cortana clone to make a fresh AI with all the old memories, or they straight up find a backup copy somewhere (Requiem, Ring 3, or the remains of diadect's ship).

Spoiler: 2

I felt the Quick Time Events were kinda out of place. They weren't "bad", they made sense, but it didn't feel very "Halo-y". I wonder why they didn't just make it a cinematic instead.

But 'dat trench run Star Wars style, that was awesome!

Spoiler: 3

With that said, I really hope they don't turn her relationship with Chief into a love interest. One of the biggest reasons for why the Cortana-Master Chief duo was so succesful in my opinion was because Bungie took great care in avoiding the classic love arc tropes that would have ruined the maturity of the series; so it worries me to see 343 go switch into such a different direction right off the bat.

I think the already crossed the "love interest" line at the end of Halo 4. That was waaaay too intimate for friends.

Not related to the ending but:

Why doesn't the Infinity have an AI of it's own?

- I thought most UNSC cruisers and above carried their own AIs. Wouldn't a ship as big and important as the Infinity need one all the more? It would have been interesting to see Cortana have a short verbal sparring match or cooperation with another AI, I'm kinda sad they missed that chance.

Also, why doesn't the Infinity have a fleet of smaller ships with it?

- I guess "Plot" but putting all your naval eggs into one basket just begs for it's weaknesses to be exploited.

 

[Erttheking]

Spoiler: 1

I agree she's probably not going to stay dead. Either Halsy does some tinkering and mixes some cortana remnants from orbit with a new cortana clone to make a fresh AI with all the old memories, or they straight up find a backup copy somewhere (Requiem, Ring 3, or the remains of diadect's ship).

Spoiler: 2

I felt the Quick Time Events were kinda out of place. They weren't "bad", they made sense, but it didn't feel very "Halo-y". I wonder why they didn't just make it a cinematic instead.

But 'dat trench run Star Wars style, that was awesome!

Spoiler: 3

With that said, I really hope they don't turn her relationship with Chief into a love interest. One of the biggest reasons for why the Cortana-Master Chief duo was so succesful in my opinion was because Bungie took great care in avoiding the classic love arc tropes that would have ruined the maturity of the series; so it worries me to see 343 go switch into such a different direction right off the bat.

I think the already crossed the "love interest" line at the end of Halo 4. That was waaaay too intimate for friends.

Not related to the ending but:

Why doesn't the Infinity have an AI of it's own?

- I thought most UNSC cruisers and above carried their own AIs. Wouldn't a ship as big and important as the Infinity need one all the more? It would have been interesting to see Cortana have a short verbal sparring match or cooperation with another AI, I'm kinda sad they missed that chance.

Also, why doesn't the Infinity have a fleet of smaller ships with it?

- I guess "Plot" but putting all your naval eggs into one basket just begs for it's weaknesses to be exploited.

Well it went out to rescue a stranded starship, not fight a renegade covenant faction. They probably thought that it had enough firepower to take out a couple of ships if they ran into them (Which it did) but they weren't expecting to find a whole fleet. In Spartan Ops however, they were expecting an enemy fleet, and brought one themselves.
<youtube=fYAvI7cbRDc> check 4:50 onward.

Same thing with the A.I. probably, wasn't properly equipped for something so serious.

On a side note, I like how they don't flat out say that, they only imply and even then only kinda. She mentions earlier that she would never feel the warmth of a sun, and if you wanted to view it in a non-romantic sense, she was finally able to actually feel something solid. And hey, she touched his chest, which had a couple of inches of thick metal on it, it's not like she grabbed his balls. Besides, when you go through as much crap as those two have together, you form a special bond.

 

[mjcabooseblu]

Why doesn't the Infinity have an AI of it's own?

It does. He's introduced in the first few minutes of the Spartan Ops campaign.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Overall I loved it, although I'm still not sure where exactly it sits for me in comparison to other Halo games. Some things it did a lot better than any other Halo has done before, but in other ways I think it fell flat.

The new emphasis on the Chief as his own distinct persona, more like in the books, rather than just a blank slate the player can project onto in previous games, was absolutely the right move. I cannot express how glad I am they did this, and pulled it off.

I'm concerned though that, if they're making 2 more games, that maybe it was a little early to kill Cortana. I guess, seem as the issue of rampancy was first raised in Halo: First Strike (which is a LONG time ago now) they could only put off that plot point for so long. However, the central relationship between John and Cortana was so critical to this game, I really don't know what they're going to do without her. The way they played it in Halo 4, seemed to suggest an almost transcendental connection between the two, and that neither entity can really be whole without the other. With Cortana gone, will John really be able to continue? I suppose, as she was an AI developed from Doctor Halsey, and that Halsey is still alive, there's nothing to stop Cortana from being re-made. However, I wish they don't. Like she said herself, if they just give him another one of her, it wouldn't be the same; and anyway, if they're just going to bring her back again, what purpose did killing her off serve in the first place?

Another option perhaps, would be if Halsey herself takes a much more hands on role in the events of the new trilogy (I was kind of disappointed after seeing her for the first time in Reach that she wasn't in this one outside of the Prologue cutscene), which would in some way go towards filling that void. This I think I would prefer, although it raises its own issues.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Master Chief had put quite a large amount of emotions into his lines. It's quite hard for you not to notice that there is emotion going on under that power armor. He knows he's not a machine despite being practically MADE for war, Cortana was the only one who understood him, made for a purpose (Military) and a hybrid between Machine and Man-made. It was not love interest, it was a close friend (there is a difference).

Well, it was certainly never, and never will be, a love interest in the conventional sense. For one thing, she a computer, which is kind of a barrier. Also, while as you rightly said, the Chief isn't a machine, he knows better than to potentially let personal feelings get in the way of doing his best for humanity at large, so that element of their relationship, while I think always present on some level, was kept very firmly at arms length, as they always need each-other to stay focused on the bigger picture.

That said, that last scene... I'm not sure I'd go as far to say that she's attracted to the Chief physically (I don't even know if Cortana's mind would work like that), but there was definitely something there. She's fascinated by him, in awe of him, to the point where she wishes she could change the very essence of herself just to touch him. That's more than just friends. I wouldn't call it love by any conventional definition (I don't know what I'd call it besides 'complicated'), but it's more than best friends.

 

[Smeggs]

In comparison, the writing was greatly improved, the atmosphere was improved, and the voice acting and characters were improved. I didn't get that some hokey bull like I did every time, say, Johnson came into the game (I did just say that, I didn't care for Johnson, and didn't care when he died). Thankfully, at least at the moment, there are no Flood other than the surprisingly well-done new Infection mode. I like how solid a lot of the guns feel (Every day I'm Storm Riflin'). I actually felt the emotion from Chief-that totally emotionless block of armor-pouring out of his voice actor. Cortana's, too.

My gripes would have to be that for one thing, what's the point in introducing the Didact and then (assumendly, I'm sure he'll appear later) killing him off in a crappy little cutscene in the same game? What exactly is the threat we are facing now? The Storm were trying to wake up the Didact, so is there more than one of him? Couldn't we get the Elites to just bombard the shit out of the Storm? They couldn't possibly be as well organized without the prophets to guide them, could they? From all of the Covenant activity I saw, they seemed like they were just throwing themselves in front of imminent death every time they appeared.

Secondly, I'm still trying to get used to the new control scheme. Why couldn't they just bring over a Classic Halo control layout? Or just go full COD like they obviously wanted to? Instead I get these awkward mix-matches of control schemes. RB for melee? What purpose does that serve? B button has always been melee in Halo, and now it's used for crouching? Why?

This would have really benefited from the option of being able to set your own layout. I can't tell you how many times during the first few missions of the campaign I ran up to melee an Elite, and ended up staring at his crotch because B is now crouch.

Well, it was certainly never, and never will be, a love interest in the conventional sense. For one thing, she a computer, which is kind of a barrier. Also, while as you rightly said, the Chief isn't a machine, he knows better than to potentially let personal feelings get in the way of doing his best for humanity at large, so that element of their relationship, while I think always present on some level, was kept very firmly at arms length, as they always need each-other to stay focused on the bigger picture.

He refused to hand over Cortana after she repeatedly almost got everyone killed and fried a bunch of machinery in her little tantrum on the command deck of the Infinity. Granted, she is still very useful, but honestly...she even says that there is more than one Cortana AI at one point. Chief's feelings totally play into it.

 

[Korten12]

Secondly, I'm still trying to get used to the new control scheme. Why couldn't they just bring over a Classic Halo control layout? Or just go full COD like they obviously wanted to? Instead I get these awkward mix-matches of control schemes. RB for melee? What purpose does that serve? B button has always been melee in Halo, and now it's used for crouching? Why?

This would have really benefited from the option of being able to set your own layout. I can't tell you how many times during the first few missions of the campaign I ran up to melee an Elite, and ended up staring at his crotch because B is now crouch.

What? It's the same control scheme as Reach and you can change it. There is a lot of control schemes.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

In comparison, the writing was greatly improved, the atmosphere was improved, and the voice acting and characters were improved. I didn't get that some hokey bull like I did every time, say, Johnson came into the game (I did just say that, I didn't care for Johnson, and didn't care when he died). Thankfully, at least at the moment, there are no Flood other than the surprisingly well-done new Infection mode. I like how solid a lot of the guns feel (Every day I'm Storm Riflin'). I actually felt the emotion from Chief-that totally emotionless block of armor-pouring out of his voice actor. Cortana's, too.

My gripes would have to be that for one thing, what's the point in introducing the Didact and then (assumendly, I'm sure he'll appear later) killing him off in a crappy little cutscene in the same game? What exactly is the threat we are facing now? The Storm were trying to wake up the Didact, so is there more than one of him? Couldn't we get the Elites to just bombard the shit out of the Storm? They couldn't possibly be as well organized without the prophets to guide them, could they? From all of the Covenant activity I saw, they seemed like they were just throwing themselves in front of imminent death every time they appeared.

Secondly, I'm still trying to get used to the new control scheme. Why couldn't they just bring over a Classic Halo control layout? Or just go full COD like they obviously wanted to? Instead I get these awkward mix-matches of control schemes. RB for melee? What purpose does that serve? B button has always been melee in Halo, and now it's used for crouching? Why?

This would have really benefited from the option of being able to set your own layout. I can't tell you how many times during the first few missions of the campaign I ran up to melee an Elite, and ended up staring at his crotch because B is now crouch.

Well, it was certainly never, and never will be, a love interest in the conventional sense. For one thing, she a computer, which is kind of a barrier. Also, while as you rightly said, the Chief isn't a machine, he knows better than to potentially let personal feelings get in the way of doing his best for humanity at large, so that element of their relationship, while I think always present on some level, was kept very firmly at arms length, as they always need each-other to stay focused on the bigger picture.

He refused to hand over Cortana after she repeatedly almost got everyone killed and fried a bunch of machinery in her little tantrum on the command deck of the Infinity. Granted, she is still very useful, but honestly...she even says that there is more than one Cortana AI at one point. Chief's feelings totally play into it.

Yes, they play into it, but at the same time he wouldn't have defended her without also having a logical reason for doing so. Even breaking down, she's still probably the single most useful asset the UNSC has, possibly even more so than the Chief himself. She was also right. The Captain of the Infinity was trying to leave Requiem at the worst possible time for the worst possible reasons.

As for what threat he'll face now with the Didact gone? Well, the flood are still out there, and with the security of the Halo installations even more precarious than ever before, I wouldn't be surprised if they still had a part to play. Speaking of the Flood, I wouldn't be surprised is the ultimate threat of this trilogy ends up being the Precursors (the forerunner race to the Forerunners themselves. The race that created the Flood), or at least something Precursor related. Of course the Storm isn't done yet, and more Forerunners might return other than Didact, and if so might play parts as both allies and enemies, depending on their agendas.

 

[Korten12]

In comparison, the writing was greatly improved, the atmosphere was improved, and the voice acting and characters were improved. I didn't get that some hokey bull like I did every time, say, Johnson came into the game (I did just say that, I didn't care for Johnson, and didn't care when he died). Thankfully, at least at the moment, there are no Flood other than the surprisingly well-done new Infection mode. I like how solid a lot of the guns feel (Every day I'm Storm Riflin'). I actually felt the emotion from Chief-that totally emotionless block of armor-pouring out of his voice actor. Cortana's, too.

My gripes would have to be that for one thing, what's the point in introducing the Didact and then (assumendly, I'm sure he'll appear later) killing him off in a crappy little cutscene in the same game? What exactly is the threat we are facing now? The Storm were trying to wake up the Didact, so is there more than one of him? Couldn't we get the Elites to just bombard the shit out of the Storm? They couldn't possibly be as well organized without the prophets to guide them, could they? From all of the Covenant activity I saw, they seemed like they were just throwing themselves in front of imminent death every time they appeared.

Secondly, I'm still trying to get used to the new control scheme. Why couldn't they just bring over a Classic Halo control layout? Or just go full COD like they obviously wanted to? Instead I get these awkward mix-matches of control schemes. RB for melee? What purpose does that serve? B button has always been melee in Halo, and now it's used for crouching? Why?

This would have really benefited from the option of being able to set your own layout. I can't tell you how many times during the first few missions of the campaign I ran up to melee an Elite, and ended up staring at his crotch because B is now crouch.

Well, it was certainly never, and never will be, a love interest in the conventional sense. For one thing, she a computer, which is kind of a barrier. Also, while as you rightly said, the Chief isn't a machine, he knows better than to potentially let personal feelings get in the way of doing his best for humanity at large, so that element of their relationship, while I think always present on some level, was kept very firmly at arms length, as they always need each-other to stay focused on the bigger picture.

He refused to hand over Cortana after she repeatedly almost got everyone killed and fried a bunch of machinery in her little tantrum on the command deck of the Infinity. Granted, she is still very useful, but honestly...she even says that there is more than one Cortana AI at one point. Chief's feelings totally play into it.

Yes, they play into it, but at the same time he wouldn't have defended her without also having a logical reason for doing so. Even breaking down, she's still probably the single most useful asset the UNSC has, possibly even more so than the Chief himself. She was also right. The Captain of the Infinity was trying to leave Requiem at the worst possible time for the worst possible reasons.

As for what threat he'll face now with the Didact gone? Well, the flood are still out there, and with the security of the Halo installations even more precarious than ever before, I wouldn't be surprised if they still had a part to play. Speaking of the Flood, I wouldn't be surprised is the ultimate threat of this trilogy ends up being the Precursors (the forerunner race to the Forerunners themselves. The race that created the Flood), or at least something Precursor related. Of course the Storm isn't done yet, and more Forerunners might return other than Didact, and if so might play parts as both allies and enemies, depending on their agendas.

Yeah the ultimate enemy has to be the Precursors, they have been playing them up way too much to just leave it alone.

 

[The Ubermensch]

So anyone thinks Cortana will stay dead?

I like that they are trying to explore MC's character finally and give it some development.

The ending totally reminded me of the ending of Wrath of Kahn aside from Spock tried to rationalise his sacrifice as for the many, we know it was for Kirk, Cortana rationalised it for John 117, which was true, but John 117 lived for humanity, so she sacrificed her self for the many by proxy.

So they could do a "Search for Cortana" plot, I could see it working in ways that make more sense than what happened to Spock with the genesis device - Rampant Fracturing, all I'm saying

With that said, I really hope they don't turn her relationship with Chief into a love interest. One of the biggest reasons for why the Cortana-Master Chief duo was so succesful in my opinion was because Bungie took great care in avoiding the classic love arc tropes that would have ruined the maturity of the series; so it worries me to see 343 go switch into such a different direction right off the bat.

I think the already crossed the "love interest" line at the end of Halo 4. That was waaaay too intimate for friends.

Yeah... I got that. But was I projecting? I mean I played Halo CE when I was 13... So I'm not trusting my my emotions on that one

But that leads into my other point. MC was the quintessential tabular rasa, even if you were aware of his back story the player could project their own motivations onto the MC. While most of you will not agree with me, that was one of the big things for me with the original Halo. Whilst narratively I'll concur it is stronger, I think the series has lost something by taking the MC in this direction. But yeah, what it stands to gain seems more than what its lost... HOWEVER what it stands to gain can be found in a good movie/book, what it has lost is exclusive to interactive media, so just think on that

Technically, the shield world vistas were AMAZING, so props to the art department. I take issue with the Foley artists though... The warthog now sounds like shit, and some of the weapons sound off. The only new sound set-up I liked was for the plasma pistol, and the music... And I saw the escapist review after I played... Was more complementary than "halo"; and while this work well with the kind of narrative they wanted to tell, it wasn't Halo.

If I'm thinking of these things while I'm playing the game then that particular department has failed in their job.

And I'll agree... the antagonists were a bit crap (Didanct and Captain guy)...

However... the AI, god it was fun to play. The Prometheans use hacks tho :/

Also, Spoiler tags in a Spoiler disscussion... Redundancy?

 

[The Ubermensch]

Oh yeah... And doesn't the Composer basically do what the Prophets thought the Halo rings did?

Doesn't that mean that the Prophets were right (kinda), you know, aside from the whole "murder humaity" thing?

 

[Erttheking]

Oh yeah... And doesn't the Composer basically do what the Prophets thought the Halo rings did?

Doesn't that mean that the Prophets were right (kinda), you know, aside from the whole "murder humaity" thing?

Eh...sorta. They thought the Halos made them into gods. The Composer turns people into...basically the Husks from Mass Effect.

 

[The Ubermensch]

Oh yeah... And doesn't the Composer basically do what the Prophets thought the Halo rings did?

Doesn't that mean that the Prophets were right (kinda), you know, aside from the whole "murder humaity" thing?

Eh...sorta. They thought the Halos made them into gods. The Composer turns people into...basically the Husks from Mass Effect.

Yes, but its intention was to preserve their personalities as data, intact and with presumibly unlimited access to their info nets (IDK what you'd call it really, like the internet but at a T3/T4 level rather than at T1 [Kardashev Scale]) And that could arguably be God like "power"; instant access to and comprehention of the sum of all collected knowledge. It was only when the data started to decompile that they tried to reform them that it cause the Prometheans

Its intention was similar to the prophecy, though the composer was clearly in it's beta test cycle

 

[Shocksplicer]

I was pleasantly surprised by how well the story was handled. It seems to make sense compared to what we already know, gives us answers and new questions. The emotional story was also surprisingly good.

Also, there is a journal of Dr. Halsey's you can find at the very beginning of level 2 which seems to hint that Cortana may be different from other AIs in ways Halsey doesn't understand.
Chekhov's Gun anyone?

I only really have one gripe, and it's a seriously minor one: Near the start of the game Cortana and Chief start referring to the mysterious signal as the Infinity, long before they have any possible reason to think it's the Infinity. They just hear some static a couple of times, then start talking about the Infinity casually.

 

[Erttheking]

Oh yeah... And doesn't the Composer basically do what the Prophets thought the Halo rings did?

Doesn't that mean that the Prophets were right (kinda), you know, aside from the whole "murder humaity" thing?

Eh...sorta. They thought the Halos made them into gods. The Composer turns people into...basically the Husks from Mass Effect.

Yes, but its intention was to preserve their personalities as data, intact and with presumibly unlimited access to their info nets (IDK what you'd call it really, like the internet but at a T3/T4 level rather than at T1 [Kardashev Scale]) And that could arguably be God like "power"; instant access to and comprehention of the sum of all collected knowledge. It was only when the data started to decompile that they tried to reform them that it cause the Prometheans

Its intention was similar to the prophecy, though the composer was clearly in it's beta test cycle

Yes, but it didn't work. They were tying to reach godhood, but only sowed destruction in the process...in that way they're a lot like the Prophets.