Scipio1770 said:
Alright so my friends and I finished the campaign yesterday and were left a bit confused on a few points:
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?
On point 3, whilst playing through the campaign as soon I encountered the Librarian (which I thought was an excellent part of the story and I loved the inclusion and encounter) and she showed Master Chief the Didact?s plans and what the Composer planned/was trying to do I thought straight away that that process will be used to change Cortana human (which she largely is, despite her actual form)."
Personally I have no problem at all if 343i want to make Master Chief and Cortana's relationship that of a love arc. They have already taken the steps along that path. They did state that they were going to explore the depth and flesh out Master Chief and Cortana's personality?s in the Reclamer trilogy. Whilst many have made the case that Master Chief and Cortana are best friends or something similar, that is clearly not the case. Master Chief disobeys direct orders from a superior for the first time ever in 30+ years of being a Spartan for her, something that Dr. Halsay and the novels touch in by using the word "indoctrination" and they mean it. Doing that is massive for John. The emotion he displays in his in his voice and the expressions you know he is making under his helmet during his 'final moments' with Cortana go well beyond friendship and onto something else completely. it is also clear that she loves him too. I found their 'final moments' together very touching and expertly done, in scripting and execution/acting. Particularly the moments in which she touches his chest, you can see a real longing, desire and despair there all at the same time. Alongside the John: ?I was my job to take care of you", Cortana:"We were supposed to take care of each other" even John's "Cortana, please...." with her touching him one last time. I thought it was done and handled excellently. If it was done in a Mass Effect romance way, it would not fit the characters or themes, but IMO 343 nailed it.
I also can?t see it being the end of Cortana. She is vital to the balance of the story and without her, Master Chief as a character would suffer. I don?t buy what some say about taking Cortana out of the story allows Master Chief character development. I believe the grow and develop together. I would think that the early part of the game will be Chiefs struggle without her the she will be reintroduced. Maybe the Librarian will be involved, She did take Cortatna after all. She won?t be gone for long, it is a trilogy after all. and I really hope to see her back in Halo5. Plus Chief having a personal stake in the story, like Cortana's like made the story feel more real and resonate more with the characters and with me, as a pose to a whole unnamed race needs saving it was Cortana, which I loved and would like to see continued for the most part.
Point 4. As far as seeing part of Master Chiefs face during the Legendary ending, I thought it was great. It followed all the themes of the game and led on nicely form the Man/Machine theme that has/will be so central. We already knew how old he was his race, gender, ethnicity, hair colour etc. 343 handled it very tastefully and did a fantastic job with it.
I must admit though, I was disappointed with the level of inclusion that Lasky and Palmer had among others, but those most. They may feature more in Spartan Ops though. I hope they do at least. they are great characters that I would have liked in the game more, and Majestic squad felt more like marines than Spartans, which I did not like. Though I suppose that?s is what they are, they were marines before Spartans unlike S-II's and S-III's that were trained from the bottom up. Still did not like that they did not feel like Spartans.
I WAS HOPING for something more story based with the Legendary ending, like in pervious Halo games. that is all that kind of confused me with the Halo 4. It felt more like an end that Halo 3, that could have very easily and plausibly be the end of the whole story, where does the trilogy go next? Who will be the next enemy, Will the Covenant Civil war play a role, Will we see the arbiter again, will Dr. Halsey become more involved, What did the Librarian do to Master Chief, will that play a role in his future battles or with Cortana, or is she truly dead? Very excited to see what 343i does next with Halo 5.
Instant Classic though.
