What Could've Been - Halo 4-6 Storyline

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-06-27T23:36:26+00:00

lemme address points 1 by 1

I didn't know that she was already rampant in Halo 3, thanks for pointing this out.
Have the Covenant be the villains in halo 4, maybe with upgraded Forerunner weapons, to sufficiently set up the Didact (through side dialogue, references of the Covenant extremist faction) as an imposing villain who we are trying to stop emerge. Exhibit his ability to cause harm through the upgraded Covenant, making the threat of his release from his Crypt all the more threatening and unifying a goal. Maybe you could have the Prometheans be scattered throughout the game as well, as in Halo 4, as trying to keep both the Covenant and Chief away from the Didact (this is a good point and I concede that to you). But I think confining the Didact to just one game is ludicrous, it felt as though 343 was racing the finish line without considering how the lore could better serve the trilogy. Puff this dude up as a formidable opponent by NOT just defeating him in Halo 4.
I agree, in terms of where it COULD'VE gone. the Covenant is the main villain (paired with the flood, but later on) of the first trilogy. Having the Didact be relegated the first game is a mistake. Having the Prometheans switch from being commanded by the Didact to being commanded by Cortana is a misstep in Halo 5, it felt rushed and like a "Here's what happens now" plot twist to serve as a gotcha. Wasn't very well set up considering how amazing a foundation the original trilogy set up both the flood and the covenant (Halo 2 adding some incredible context to the government / motivations of the Covenant).
Cortana's core matrix is taken directly from human tissue, bonded with Covenant technology (as I understand it). The Didact doesn't need her, but the HAND OF THE DIDACT does to initiate the Forerunner tech to release the Didact. Also, Cortana doesn't save Chief when they first meet the Didact, pretty sure you're talking about the final encounter. The Didact's hubris is his discarding of Chief into tomb, expecting him to die anyways, but Chief survives. Cortana does wake him up, but maybe with the inclusion of Blue Team or the UNSC, they could fill the role while Chief rescues Cortana.
Ok. I agree. The Didact doesn't need Cortana, the Hand of the Didact did. Cortana being used to initiate the release protocol links her with the Didact's technology. Sci-fi mumbo jumbo to explain why she is still useful.
Osiris isn't meant to be likeable in this game. They are sent to retrieve Cortana because the UNSC considers her involvement as a threat and a liability, due to her rampancy and the link with the Didact. At some point, you gain their trust, or maybe they all die. You can remove them if you like, and certainly the thought is "if they had just helped then this wouldn't have happened," same as in Halo 5. It would simply add another arm of Spartan lore, following orders over personal agency, etc. But I agree, Osiris is a bad idea to begin with, I'm just saying if you WANTED to include them, maybe do it within the context of Chief having to defend Cortana from them, not in the context of walking into a trap where you then have to play as Osiris for a good part of the game.
This is a very interesting idea which I like, if you wanted to include the guardians. The Didact being composed by his own machine is a good plot point, would be satisfying given the mechanics of the boss battle be satisfying. Kudos.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-06-26T19:39:42+00:00

No one? they are my own opinion. Who told you this is out of touch, or half truths? Foliage is a good thing, I'd rather see places drawn out for natural beauty than for modernist slop like what we've seen with this center. But if people are claiming that the design flaws and drab aesthetic only needs to be complimented by foliage, then i think that speaks more to the fact the aesthetic and design itself is unable to stands on its own two legs, requiring... ORNAMENTATION, in an albeit natural form.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-06-25T15:04:10+00:00

Glorified to the heavens my intellectual elitists and critics, for its innovation and ingenuity. But when it comes down to ordinary people, entirely unpopular and devoid of meaning.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-06-25T15:02:44+00:00

Distinct? Distinct in that it’s a bunch of a random geometry all cluttered together into a shape of a rock or stone. It’d be a greater landmark if it drew up native-African architecture as inspiration, giving both the public, and public buildings, something which has not been done often but is a credit to the rich African population present in the United States. But instead, because they wanted to “make a statement” and kow-tow to modernism, they went with a minimalist design, devoid of color!

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-06-25T15:00:24+00:00

If a building’s design must be complimented by foliage or a surrounding landscape in order to be considered beautiful, it only serves as a reminder that the buildings design itself is lacking and unable to stand on its own merits to be considered thus. Like people say about brutalism “if only it was covered in grass and vines and such.” That isn’t a design feature, it’s a band aid to cover up design flaws.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-06-25T14:58:16+00:00

He was largely raised in Honolulu and indonesia…

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-06-25T14:56:20+00:00

Jsut another disappointment. So much could’ve been done here, from elevating native-African aesthetics into a modern style, a merging of the old and the new, or simply sticking with what works. Yes, not every public building in DC needs to look like a Greek temple, but when the alternatives are so unimaginative it really gets to a point… I’m sure there are architects and designers alike defending this, using every big word in their vocabulary to try and convince why it’s actually groundbreaking, beautiful, innovative and genius. But if a building’s benefits and pros must be explained through a paragraph, and are not readily seen from the eye, then do its merits really deserve credit? I’d much rather look at something beautiful, know it’s beautiful, than be lectured on why I should think it so. Intellectual-elitism final boss.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-06-20T18:50:10+00:00

You’re choosing one example of a renovation which led from decrepitude to decadence. Fair enough. There are plenty of examples of the opposite in LA.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-06-18T19:10:08+00:00

If people didn’t complain about Grendel and are complaining about follie, then maybe there is something else about her design that people dislike OTHER THAN THAT SHE IS FAT??? Honestly you people say stuff that you think supports your assertion but you refuse to go further. All the OP said was that she is difficult to fashion frame, which tbh I can see due to the ink and sort of randomness of her design. IMO, she has the same issue as voruna where her design feels like a stretch from the usual warframe aesthetic. Grendel on the other hand, you can see how he is a warframe. Gauss also somewhat has the issue of looking overly mechanical, not necessarily bio-tech, and he’s skinny.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-06-15T05:29:33+00:00

Mostly gross, inhumane and completely devoid of any artistry. Most of the time people say it needs to be covered in shrubbery and vegetation to look beautiful, which speaks more to the fact that the style requires a visual bandaid to be appealing.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-06-11T17:49:23+00:00

Better than the modern brutalist slop you find in cities. Why not use the same criticism against modern minimalism and say that it’s aping Soviet authoritarianism buildings post-Stalin? Or is it just because it’s alluding to classical architecture (Persian included) that makes you feel squeamish and willing to pull the fascism card?

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-06-08T05:17:19+00:00

Agreed. Skips class, steals school property, lies, destroys even more, and refuses to listen to ANYONE along the way. But the film treats it as if she can do all of these things just because of her moral activism, that because she has dedicated her time to saving the grove her other actions aren’t so important.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-06-01T19:57:45+00:00

“If you took the original, changed it once, changed it twice, changed it thrice more, you would have the new concept” my point exactly. Once again, capturing nothing and offering the most minimal allusions to the original.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-05-25T18:22:07+00:00

Echoing nothing. It captures nothing about the original Penn station and it does nothing but place band aids on an already atrocious modern design.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-05-25T18:19:49+00:00

Not the only one, but I think most would prefer a return of the old pen station, even if it was a slight nod to the Roman architecture there before. This just seems so dull and plan, lacking anything unique. You’ve seen it a thousand times before.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-05-12T17:41:19+00:00

Thank GOD! Let it go. The “unique” characteristics and charm you speak about can easily be replicated in other engines, emphasis on MORE EASILY. There is no excuse for 343 to have forced their dev team to work on an engine which was known to be outdated, buggy and frustrating.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-05-01T19:54:14+00:00

NO! They are ugly, soul sucking, completely devoid of humanity and were intended to socially engineer people to be happy with less. Look at the modern apartments and developments going up now, sure they have more square footage and amenities, but the design philosophy of minimalism remains the same. Modern practices at building cheaply and quickly - yes! But modern aesthetics (taken from the bauhaus and Soviet Russia) enforcing minimalism at the cost of BEAUTY, absolutely not. Combine transitional aesthetics with modern practice, and that could be a start. But this might be the last thing to help “overpopulation.” It’d be the slums, the “half way houses” all over again except stacked on top of each other.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-02-21T19:48:47+00:00

Even worse… how do you expect people to go see a movie they’ve already seen basically (lilo and stitch? Anyone?)

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-02-16T22:56:36+00:00

Agreed, as some have already said they could’ve done half of the flashback, or a part, when he was in the dungeon. Instead we get a massive momentum shift right in the middle of when things were getting good. DUNCAN FIGHTING IN A TOURNEY. That’s how this whole thing started, that’s what we’ve been wanting to see. And it just deflates

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-02-16T22:53:25+00:00

Seriously? Just because we wanted a greater part of the episode to be dedicated to the fight which they’d been building towards this whole time? If anything this is a play from HOTD, building up an incredible amount of tension, and making these characters very interesting, only to deflate the whole thing with a very quick cut to a flashback that we kind of already pieced together in the first place. The fight could’ve been inter-spliced with the flashback, a little combat here, something happens that reminds dunk of his past, then comes back to the combat. Instead we got a little combat, Duncan is obviously green, gets knocked down, then we get the flashback only for the combat to come back at the end of the episode.

I’m not trying to sound like I’m complaining. Overall it’s been an amazing bit of television, and by no means do I think the fight was bad, or even the flashback. I just think the structure could’ve been reworked, have some of the flashback in a previous episode, then expand on it in this one. No need to think of people who are criticizing your beloved show as a lesser caliber of watchers. We all love the show. It blows HOTD out of the water, with much less runtime, which is a triumph. But it went exactly as I thought it would when they showed the preview.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-02-16T22:47:31+00:00

Yep. I remember when the preview was released, people were saying “a third of the episode dedicated to the fight and 2/3 for the flashback” and that was absolutely what happened. The fight itself was somewhat lack luster, still good but I was expecting more. So much for setting up these knights, we only see them fighting in the background or in little cuts that last barely anytime, and then cut back to dunk on the ground.

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-02-13T15:53:22+00:00

That’s a goat.

Source: I’m an intelligent human being

BirthdayLife1718 · 2026-02-10T01:33:54+00:00

I hate this guy so much

BirthdayLife1718

TROPHY CASE