You make so many sweeping statements, generalisations and assumptions it just isn't even funny... [quote]"They don't understand why we really like the Chief. I don't give a -blam!- about his humanity."[/quote] You can go ahead and say why [i]you[/i] like the Chief, but don't you dare start trying to speak for others like myself who have always seen him as a sterile brick in the past because of his complete lack of characterisation. The development he underwent in Halo 4 was nothing short of poetic, it was beautifully handled by the writing team and brought out by far the most emotion in a Halo game. The Prologue starts us off with the questioning of whether John was successful because he was, at his core, broken. It's continued throughout the game, Cortana asking John to find out which one of them is really the machine, and culminates in Lasky's dialogue at the end where he states that soldiers and humanity (machine and man) are no different. John removing his armour in the Epilogue symbolises the exposure of his humanity for what's really the first time in the series - and it took a machine who really was more human than him to make him realise who he is. The conclusion has finally been drawn that he wasn't successful because he was broken at his core, but the "tools" which Halsey supplied (calling Cortana a tool itself being ironic) helped bring out the humanity in John and turned it into his greatest strength. [quote]"It's the same -blam!- 3 enemies over and over..."[/quote] Flood in Halo CE and Halo 2 were only 3 variants - Combat Forms, Carrier Forms and Infection Forms. Then they introduced 3 new ones in Halo 3 and they were [i]awful[/i]. We fought the same Covenant enemies with the same AI for a decade, but you don't seem to complain about that either. Quantity is not the issue. While the Prometheans are particularly annoying on Legendary, their AI being extremely cowardly, their shields eating up bullets and quickly recharge, and their weapons being overpowered, on any other difficulty they are quite engaging to fight [i]in my opinion[/i]. [quote]"We got handed a bunch of information that doesn't make any sense."[/quote] Er... like what? [quote]"And we're forced to sit through crap that also makes no sense."[/quote] See above. How can you express any confusion over the quote about Prometheans not being robots when it's [i]directly explained in the game what they are[/i]? During John's conversation with the Librarian, he realises that the Prometheans are ancient humans. [quote]"Even the people making this game didn't know what was going on."[/quote] +1 bullshyte points. [quote]"The story tries to undo and backtrack on the story of Chief and Cortana."[/quote] Er... it really doesn't. Their portrayal, back-and-forth banter, and relationship with one another as characters is extremely faithful to how it has been in the past. The only difference is that their development is a focal point in the game now rather than just being second-fiddle to the plot, it progresses alongside it. [quote]"Chief is not a badass because of his 'humanity'."[/quote] There we go then, you've just gone ahead and proven that you don't understand what the point of his development was. -_- [quote]"It probably isn't a good idea to have his creator describe him as completely inhuman."[/quote] 1) Halsey does no such thing, as a matter of fact she states that her Spartans are humanity's "next step, our destiny as a species". 2) Why? John actually showing his humanity in the face of his creator saying that he's 'inhuman' could only lend further weight and credence to that development. John would have transcended the understanding of even his creator. Will Smith in 'iRobot' makes numerous claims that Sonny is just an ordinary robot, Peter Weyland in Prometheus states that David can never be human - yet both these characters transcend the condemnation of their creators/oppressors and prove them wrong. Sonny becomes the hero in the end displaying human emotions and traits like dreaming, fear and committment while David indulges himself in curiosity by looking at Shaw's dreams. You have brought up a complete non-issue... Again. [quote]*Chief being the player*[/quote] [i]Sigh...[/i] It's this exact kind of backwards mentality which endorses poor writing. Yes, John may well have been initially intended to be a placeholder for the player to project themselves onto, but as Halo developed from a single contained story into an entire universe with John at the centre of these significant events he has a direct effect on he [i]has[/i] to develop and react. [quote]*Steve Downes segment*[/quote] Then it's pretty clear you ignored Halo 3 because from the start of the game there was, as Downes put it, "this progression in terms of his emotional side". Nope, you use this as another opportunity to pull another non-sensical jab at 343i rather than even attempt to make a valid point (something you have failed to do for, at this point, 3 minutes and 28 seconds and follow on to do for the next 30 seconds with the whole "human" thing). [quote]"You can't take a character with no personality and force one on him, especially when that's not why people like him to begin with."[/quote] I have a feeling that some section of your brain has recently caved in... Another generalising assumption made about the entire Halo community's opinion, and another false point made about the Chief's character. You know, I'm starting to think that this is less of a "review" and more of a Travissian, one-sided, melodramatic, hate-fest. [quote]"Storytelling is storytelling. It doesn't matter if it's a movie, a book, a tv show or a video game."[/quote] What is this point even meant to mean? Storytelling is not just something you stick onto a product, there are [i]numerous[/i] methods and ways to tell a story. Please tell me how book storytelling is even remotely similar to storytelling in a movie, because according to your logic of "storytelling is storytelling", they're one and the same. [quote]"This is Halo, Halo has always been linear."[/quote] Again... [i]what?[/i] not only are you contradicting yourself here (displaying that there are a multitude of ways to tell a story by recognising that "I can understand it if it's in an RPG"), but how has Halo being linear ever affected the storytelling? let's go back to what the 343i writer said: "I'm going to give you all the toold, I'm going to give you all the possibilities - and it's up to you to discover it." The storytelling in Halo is not limited to the linear progression of a mission. There are tons of interactive objects in the Halo games, especially in Halo 4 with the Terminals, audio logs from Halsey and the Covenant, the Forerunner glyphs, Ivanoff Station's logs... all of these provide exposition or grant more substance to a particular aspect of the story. They are told in different ways, visual and audio, gameplay and cutscene, etc. [quote]"It seems that these people don't know how to tell a story or what makes Halo fun."[/quote] Piss Christ, you really don't stop with these sweeping statements and generalisations, do you? I can't bring myself to watch Episode 2, there wasn't a single thing you said in your first video that could even be considered a cohesive thought. You have not made a review with any kind of evaluation or balanced perspective, it's mindless hate and constant jibes mixed with stating your opinions as fact and saying what the Halo fanbase as a whole enjoys because [i]you[/i] enjoy it and the developers disagree with you. Just stop. Please.