Heracy, I know. By and large, popular opinion - at least on these forums - is that they "ruined" Halo. And I'll be the first to admit that Halo has lost a LOT of Bungie's flair. The muted color palates and reverting to pre-CE "generic bad guy" status of the Covenant after all the story building of Halo 2 and 3 was a huge letdown. The addition of loadouts and ordinance was an obvious attempt to appeal to CoD fans. The narrative went a bit over the top with its attempts to enlarge the scope of an already deep and epic sci-fi universe. 343 did not make an overly amazing game when they created Halo 4. But - and here's the difference - God [i]damn[/i] if they didn't [i]try[/i]. Taking Halo in the direction they did requires guts. It requires vision. The Librarian, the Diadect, the Prometheans, the ending; none of them ~quite~ worked, but at least they stuck with it. They delivered a professional narrative, start to finish. They released a product with a beginning, middle, and an end. They continued to support that narrative with new ongoing episodic story content post-launch - for free! - complete with additional cutscenes and brand new maps. And on top of all that, they had respect for the community. They knew they had very large shoes to fill with Bungie's departure, and they took that very seriously. They put the fans first, and did their damnedest to deliver an experience that would fulfil - if not exceed - their expectations. And for that, they have my gratitude. [spoiler]also it's really nice to have a Halo game where the human faces don't look like month-old jack o lanterns, a problem that Bungie's artists apparently still don't know how to fix... today on "why do all of our protagonists wear helmets"[/spoiler]