I'm really not bothered by skins, victory poses or any of that. As long as I'm enjoying the way the game plays I can overlook all of that nonsense. My issue with following trends is that if you don't learn the right lessons from the market, you end up with some tacked on BS that allows you to check some boxes, but fails to attract the consumers you were aiming for and pisses people off.
the Req pack system was lucrative for Warzone. But I think putting a bunch of ugly, useless, essentially duplicate cosmetic items into the same RNG pool that fueled my Warzone matches just made the progression system more frustrating than fun.
Yeah Fortnite has a ton of goofy cosmetic shit, and it might be prudent to go that route to keep Halo interesting to younger audiences- but Fornite also has a Battle Pass progression system that wipes the floor with Halo's 5s RNG based method of unlocking things.
I think Parangosky's treatment of Halsey being colored by their history was perfect, because it's her singular flaw. She's gotten to where she is by not being the Bad Guy and spending time gloating before stabbing people in the back and divorcing herself from petty squabbles... but she just can't help herself where Halsey's concerned. It also dovetails into why Osman is so ready to unleash the kill order once Parangosky is gone.
I guess I just don't understand WHY she can't help herself where Halsey is concerned. We can be certain that she's scapegoated people more severely for less. I honestly think it would have been better if Halsey was on her shit list because she was the covienient target.
At first, I didn't like how the Brilliant Osman was so easy for Parangosky to emotionally manipulate. But I thought it ultimately was great for her arc when she discovered the truth about her childhood.
The whole thing about "the greater good" is those sorts of justifications are always easier to do when you're the one in control. ONI probably did more to destabilize things than keep the peace in the postwar period, but since it's all about control it makes sense it colors their worldview. Likewise as Halsey points out Cortana is basically practicing the same principles she once believed in about the ends justifying the means.
No argument from me here. This is actually why I thought bad guy Cortana was a logical step for the franchise. I just hate that it had to come via a nonsensical Forerunner stint. We could have gotten to this same point w/o all the fluff.
I think there have always been a contingent of people who are interested in the military sci-fi aspect first and foremost and thus the fact that the UNSC are a bunch of space fascists is irrelevant versus debating the technical of Archer missiles, etc.
True, but the best sci-fi tends to dig a little deeper that "good team vs bad team" and Halo at its best is no different.
