The game could use more explaination, less space magic. Why are the Covenant attacking you? Why are Forerunners now suddenly this alien race when it seemed like they were simply going to be ancient humans in every other Halo game? Why is there suddenly this mystical space diety in the Librarian who's touch can make you immune to being disolved? For that matter, WTF did she do to you? Also, how did the Chief survive a point blank nuclear blast? It sure sounded/seemed like the bomb was set off the moment he pushed the top part down. Personally, I think the game would have felt better to me if there weren't so many unexplained things.

Cutting out the God awful characters for a start... No Palmer. No LoLaskey. No Del Monte.

A tutorial on how to press buttons, I wasn't introduced to the idea of pressing buttons, I was just thrown in, and there were so many buttons, I cried a few times because I didn't know what to do.

I agree, from level design to events and even character development they could have done some really cool stuff. Instead I think they went for the "hey this looks so pretty so don't worry about anything else" strategy. Same goes with matchmaking.

i find that the halo ring was completly forgoten, MC didn't even ask many questions at all, i find that should the composer be in halo and that MC+Infinity races to get it first against the didact would be cool (flood awakens turns almost all of infinity into a zombie fest) that way it would give the feel like the other halo's where overtime you lose more and more of your friends. civil war amougnst the elites put more in motion (arby vs. jul). maybe didact moves the halo array right next to earth. space battle (arby+infinity vs. jul+didact) during which the flood takes over and screws everyone over. crew of infinity scatered across floodafied halo. i'm going with the idea of worse than a halo array going off and huge epic battles. with this firefight could include flood,elites,prometheans. invasion could have stayed but now you could also play as flood. living dead could keep flood skins, spartan ops could be a bit more interesting. this would also add more interesting map idea's now that you have the promethean controlled areas the elite controlled areas, the flood controlled areas and unsc controlled areas. this thinking could also add better forge maps and forge items, maybe even a few extra game types likes Holdout (like firefight where you holdout until a pelican/phantom appears)

[quote]For one, Cortana's rampancy was such a main part of the story, but it barely had any affects on the player besides the occasional flashing HUD. What if at certain points Cortana actually turns against you in some ways?[/quote]Doesn't affect the main story? The end of Shutdown where she lets the Didact escape, beginning of Composer where she crashes the Lich. All throughout Midnight where she can't focus on a single goal. Having her turn on you would be, cliche if you ask me. The smartest, most adavnced AI humanity has ever created, and it goes so deep into rampancy, it will kill a human it loves dearly. That doesn't sound right. In fact, it makes Cortana look like a pushover. O[quote]n the mission Shutdown, there should have been banshees to shoot, and each player in co-op should have been given their own pelican. There should also have been flying Promethean/Forerunner vessels to fight to keep it interesting. And how about boarding the covie cruiser and blowing it up from the inside? [/quote]I agree completely. It was awesome flying a Pelican for the first time, but after that first playthrough, it gets bland. [quote]Next, on to Promethean/Forerunner weapons. They could have been so much more alien and unique, but instead were pretty much just reskinned human weapons. The Forerunners love floating architecture so much...why not a gravity gun? Or something interesting...343i could have been a lot more creative. And the Promethean themselves...there should have been a lot more classes with unique abilities.[/quote]In terms of the alien weapons, 343i was going for an extremely alien look, but User Feedback said they didn't know what the gun would do when they picked it up, so they changed it. Each Knight has its own special ability. Lancer - Phase Run Battlewagon - Jump Stab Commander - Anti Gravity Pulse There could be more definitely, but don't forget there were only 4 types of Covenant in Halo CE. [quote]And the ending could have been so much more, but I can't think how I would have changed it personally. The whole plot of Didact attacking Earth felt forced and unnecessary, especially because we are not given his motivation. 343i missed out on a lot of chances that could have made campaign spectacular.[/quote]Forced? I strongly disagree. By having the Didact go to earth, it shows us that he's not f*cking around. Look at the Covenant, it took them the course of 3 games to have two chances to fire the Halo rings. Both times failed. In the course of practically 2 days, the Didact finds the location of the Composer, and Earth. Immediately heads to earth, and not only blows through SMAC ODP's and Earth's Defense Fleet, but also suceeds in his plan. All in a single game over the course of like 2 days. You don't mess around with the Didact. [quote]I would have preferred that the Composer stayed on Installation 03, and you race the Didact to the ring to stop him. Eventually we learn that the Composer can be synced with the Halo's pulse, and Didact wants to bring it to Earth to preform a localized Halo blast and instantly compose the whole planet. Or something like that....I know, not the most original idea having MC destroy another ring. How would you have made Halo 4's story differently?[/quote]It'd be interesting, but if 343i were to do that, they'd make the Forerunners' plight against the Flood completely pointless. How I'd see Halo 4's story differently? More Jul in the Campaign, or atleast a cameo. Have MC ask why the Covenant are hostile once he's aboard the Infinity. Have everyone completely mind f-ed over a living Forerunner and the return of Master Chief.

[quote]Brainstorm some creative ideas how it could have been much more and interesting than what we actually got. For one, Cortana's rampancy was such a main part of the story, but it barely had any affects on the player besides the occasional flashing HUD. What if at certain points Cortana actually turns against you in some ways? For example, her manipulating the Forerunner architecture of a building to try and kill you, turning sentinels against you, screwing with your HUD and turning it off, only recharging your shields half way, rearranging the icons, etc... This would have added some variety to the gameplay.[/quote] What?! Cortana's rampancy basically allowed for the Didact to escape Requiem and attack Earth. She almost had the Chief killed in the beginning of Composer, and let's not even forget about Midnight, where she's basically losing it throughout the entire level. What many don't understand is Cortana as a metaphor. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. There is no character in Halo 4 aside from Master Chief. Everybody represents a side of him or exists solely to aid in his evolution as a character. Lasky? His connection to the normal world. Del Rio? His first "impulsive" act in the series. Looking at everything in a Freudian manner, Cortana is his superego- the part of his mind that mediates between his supressed, impulsive, "human" side (id), and his mission focused "machine" side (ego). Having Cortana herself turn on him would be absolutely ridiculous. Cortana's malfunctions and her death are supposed to allow for Chief's character to naturally progress from the mission focused machine to a more human character. Just look at Del Rio's cutscene, where Chief straight up disobeys orders for Cortana. Or, perhaps more importantly, look at the ending, where Chief, for the first time ever, is seen acting based on his personal feelings in the face of logic ("Wait!"). Having Cortana turn on him would have ruined the entire metaphor, in addition to being a [I]massive[/I] cliché. The only way I would have changed Cortana's role is to have the whole "attacking Didact with copies of herself" to not be a deus ex machina. Maybe instead we could have gotten another plot thread throughout the campaign, where Cortana, in her quest for knowledge, tries to manipulate hard light bridges to give herself form, but fails each time (maybe even endangering Chief a few times). That would not only have eliminated the deus ex machina, but been a brilliant plot thread in itself (IMO). [quote] On the mission Shutdown, there should have been banshees to shoot,[/quote] I would have preferred a few Liches or something, but I guess this couldn't hurt. [quote] and each player in co-op should have been given their own pelican.[/quote] Sure, why not? [quote]There should also have been flying Promethean/Forerunner vessels to fight to keep it interesting. And how about boarding the covie cruiser and blowing it up from the inside?[/quote] Again, this couldn't hurt, though I prefer the awesome ending cutscene to Shutdown. [quote]Next, on to Promethean/Forerunner weapons. They could have been so much more alien and unique, but instead were pretty much just reskinned human weapons.[/quote] This is exactly what I've been saying about Covenant weapons since Halo 2. Bungie just seemed to think that "Oh! Well the human weapons fill this niche, let's give the Covies one of those weapons as well!" instead of following the CE pattern where each weapon was [I]unique[/I] and took up their own roles within the sandbox. [quote]The Forerunners love floating architecture so much...why not a gravity gun?[/quote] TORNADO GUN: THE RETURN (lolwaypointforums) [quote]Or something interesting...343i could have been a lot more creative. And the Promethean themselves...there should have been a lot more classes with unique abilities.[/quote] Completely agreed with the second statement. [quote] And the ending could have been so much more,[/quote] Disagreed. The ending was absolutely brilliant (minus the boss fight and Cortana's random deus ex machina). [quote]but I can't think how I would have changed it personally. The whole plot of Didact attacking Earth felt forced and unnecessary,[/quote] [I]What?[/I] [quote]especially because we are not given his motivation.[/quote] You want to know what I [I]honestly[/I] think? I like the campaign a lot more when it relies on the books. I'd much rather have to look at the detailed books to find Didact's motivations rather than have a Halo 3 style simplification. [quote]343i missed out on a lot of chances that could have made campaign spectacular.[/quote] Yes, but doesn't everyone? Look at Bungie with Halo 2. Or 3. Or ODST. Or Reach. [quote]I would have preferred that the Composer stayed on Installation 03, and you race the Didact to the ring to stop him. Eventually we learn that the Composer can be synced with the Halo's pulse, and Didact wants to bring it to Earth to preform a localized Halo blast and instantly compose the whole planet. Or something like that....I know, not the most original idea having MC destroy another ring. [/quote] Eh. I'd say that this isn't that bad, but I don't really care for it too much. I'm fine with the way Installation 03 was portrayed in the game. [quote]How would you have made Halo 4's story differently?[/quote] Have that Cortana manipulating hardlight plot thread, have Chief actually figure out why the Covenant are attacking (seriously, this isn't even exposed to him once throughout the game), make it longer and have more exploration, but above all, try to sync everything together to give off a coherent emotional tone. Taken from one of my other posts: IMO, the main problem of Halo 4 is that it didn't go for an overall emotional tone for the game. I'm not saying the game was devoid of emotion (that's FAR from what I believe, in fact), but when I go to think of the game, I think of many well made moments put together. I can't put my finger on an overall tone for the game. The original Halo trilogy did emotional tone really well- and that's because the choir and art style meshed together so perfectly and created a lasting flow that resonated throughout the game. Mass Effect 1 and 2 did as well- there was a specific... vibe that the game gave off. With Halo 4, though the campaign IMO is very, very good, I just can't put my finger on a tone, or "vibe". I think my ultimate piece of advice for 343 when making Halo 5 and the Reclaimer trilogy as a whole is to not to exclusively focus on setting an emotional tone for each specific moment- but to set an emotional tone for the entire game as well.