Because your post there has literally shown how much you've missed the point (and the notion that what you define as a "love story" immediately makes a story "fanfiction" is absurd). John finally became a [i]proper[/i] character, more in-line with how he is characterised by Nylund in the novels rather than the stoic, emotionless and unrelatable brick he was in Halo CE-3. John starts acting more on his emotions rather than his training as the game progresses because of the journey his character is undertaking. This is best exemplified by his interaction with characters like Doctor Tillson where he is apologetic and understanding towards her when it comes to destroying years of her work (which, in previous Halo games, woudn't have even been brought up as a concern). This is because John is having to feel empathy for the first time, I'll get back to this point later because it's important. As for the "love story", I don't think that you have understood a thing about the characters of John and Cortana. First of all, I'll throw it out there that there is absolutely nothing sexual about the 'love' between them, 343 established this as far back as Halo: Evolutions in the poem [i]Connectivity[/i] which was about their relationship (a specific exerpt of which I'll quote for you): [quote]Theirs is a connection, deeper than circuitry Beyond that of man and machine deeper still; the electric flash of synapse It is bound in destiny; fortified in trust deeper than blood, greater than love[/quote] Cortana is an anchor for John's humanity. When her story was being written by 343, Josh Holmes' mother was going through dementia which he said was a driving force for how Cortana was written in the game. The inevitability of Cortana’s death has been a background factor of the story ever since the concept of rampancy was translated over from the Marathon series to Halo, and we've known that Cortana was never going to have a ‘nice’ death as a result. From the beginning it was going to be an excruciatingly painful death that Cortana would have to suffer. The technical explanation of rampancy states that the linkages (which contains everything she knows and all her memories) in her mind would become corrupt and she’d have to create copies only for those to become corrupt faster and she’d lose those too until she forgot everything she’d ever known and her instinct of self-preservation would take over which would lead to her turning against John. It’s like a mixture of dementia and cancer that she was 'born' with which is a really dark thing to tackle and it makes the relationship between her and John all the more meaningful because she [i]doesn't[/i] succumb to the instinct of self-preservation, in the end she willfully sacrifices herself for John. This also lends to the characterisation of John who becomes more understanding and able to relate to other characters, going back to my point about Tillson earlier - this is the first time he's been in a situation where he can't solve an issue with a gun, this is a purely emotional issue which fulfills 343's aim for John's journey - bringing him into situations where he has to take stock of himself and adapt to something he's never faced before. This isn't romantic love, this is the kind of love that forms between people who have a complete understanding of one-another. Cortana 'lives' inside John's head, she knows his every throught and serves as the anchor to his humanity after Halsey believed her a mere "tool" to maintain his efficiency as a killer (as she says in the Prologue). What you are simplifying as a mere "love story" has a tremendous amount of depth which could easily fill in a mini-dissertation, especially when one gets into talking about their characters from a Freudian perspective. When we see John walking down the Infinity’s corridor in the Epilogue, you can really see that each step he takes almost requires a massive effort - his right fist is tightly clenched as if he wants to tear the bulkhead off the wall out of frustration that he has actually failed. He’s failed Cortana for being incapable of saving her, and he’s failed Johnson who told him to never let her go. He walks among the Spartan-IVs and Palmer, almost as an eye sore because he’s so much taller than all of them, he’s a legend to humanity but some legends have no place among those they defend. His armour is gradually removed and his stance echoes that of Christ on the cross, he is being crucified for his failure and he accepts it. There’s also the allusion to Michelangelo’s ‘anatomy of man’ picture with John’s stance at the very end. Notice how he’s standing in front of the GENII armour station with his arms T’d just like the Michelangelo’s picture? Remember how Halsey said Spartans were the next step in humanity’s evolution? Remember how the Librarian boosted John up the evolutionary ladder? The revelation that the Spartan formula is merely an artificial means to do to humans what the Forerunners do naturally was a powerful light switch. He has become almost like a victim and an object to humanity, he's lost the only person who understood him and he's got nowhere to turn to. And when the helmet is finally lifted, we see his eyes - the so-called ‘windows to the soul’, and we see that he is broken. John's character journey through Halo 4 also highlights the metaphorical meaning behind the tagline of Halo 4 - [i]"WAKE UP, JOHN"[/i]. This is a reference not just to his awakening after 5 years, but his awakening as a person. Notice how Cortana’s first line in Halo 4 is [i]"wake up, Chief"[/i] while her last one is [i]"welcome home, John"[/i]. The smallest things imply a great sense of progression and solidifies my point that ultimately the 'love' between John and Cortana has been purposefully crafted to develop John into a fully-formed character. Her sacrifice at the end of the game has brought John to a place he can call 'home', something he's not been able to do since he was 6 years old before being abducted into the Spartan-II Project. Lasky's dialogue is significant here also, as he states that despite the fact he grew up on New Harmony he still thinks of Earth as his 'home', a clear reflection of what they're doing with John's character. To conclude, I'm going to go ahead and outright disagree with your assertion that "the series never needed to go in that direction". Had Halo 4's story gone in any other direction than what it did, I'd have been massively disappointed. 343 have beautifully built on and developed a number of different concepts that have been slowly constructed over the past 5/6 years, and their way of writing these characters was simply inspired - Josh Holmes revealed that at the time Halo 4 was being written, he was heavily influenced by the similarities between rampancy and his mother who was suffering from dementia. This really stands out to me because Christopher Schlerf (one of the writers) said that there were points where they almost scrapped the Cortana story because it was so difficult to do, but it was Holmes' inspiration from his mother's condition which really illustrated the relationship between John and Cortana. Whether you read all of this is down to you, as with many other haters of Halo 4 they either go into complete denial or outright refuse to read - since it's pointless because they've already decided they hate everything about the game and nothing will change their minds. As a side note, your comment on Cortana's breasts is utterly irrelevant. Cortana has been continuously sexualised ever since Halo 2 and her portrayal in Halo 3 can be seen as downright damning of women. With Halo 4, 343 has evidently been mindful about Cortana's sex appeal and has used a two-pronged method of utilising it in the narrative: 1) Remodel her to look more womanly and less like a pinup girl. She’s no less attractive than in her previous incarnations, but she’s not being sexualised. Cortana is made to appear vulnerable. Where Chief is a supersoldier in a suit of armour, replete with guns and shields, Cortana is an AI construct whose avatar is just as bare as she is. Halo 4 uses Cortana’s sexuality to make her vulnerable, to make the player strive to protect her. 2) Careful framing. Watch any of the scenes where Cortana delivers one of her soliloquies or a piece of emotionally-driven dialogue, the focus is [i]always[/i] on her face - the opening of Shutdown is a perfect example of this where she talks about never being able to feel whether Requiem's sun feels real despite knowing over 40,000 reasons why it's not real. Mackenzie Mason did an absolutely fantastic job of capturing the emotional turmoil of the character through the god-tier facial modelling and acting this game had.

I've written about this so much in the past, I'd direct you to [url=http://halo.bungie.org/misc/nine_levels_underground/]this article[/url] for a properly articulated explanation.

Then I can only pity how utterly one-dimensional you are in how you think and your state of denial in the face of facts.

[quote]If 343 changes what they are doing then maybe this won't happen.[/quote] I don't know it. But from what they have did with 4, it seems if they continue this trend then the franchise [i] may[/i] spiral downward.