But Invasion in Reach was fun. Plus, the fact that they cling to the idea that it's simulated limits multiplayer. Elites would have been cool in Halo 4. Halo isn't realistic. It doesn't play realistically. The necessity for story in [i]everything[/i] gets old and kind of annoying. And the guy who narrates the matches sounds so obnoxious now. He used to sound cool, but now he just sounds weird. And when you get a medal every 2 seconds, it gets really old. "Assassination. Over-shield. Snapshot. Spawn. Died."

Alright, alright. You kind of have me here. I have quite a soft spot for Invasion. The medal overload is something that's being worked on and toned down in Halo 5. Elites not being in multiplayer isn't because it's a simulator, but rather a development sacrifice made due to time constraints and other issues. 343i wants to make things as close to canonically accurate as possible. With that in mind, rigging an Elite model for multiplayer, adding first person animations, and implementing the correct hit boxes for that model purely for the sake of an added cosmetic option isn't something that should be on the priority list. But if you want them in multiplayer so badly, just wait for Halo Online. [spoiler]As a side note, I'm a huge proponent for the return of Elites to console Halo multiplayer. However, I am fully aware and understanding of the amount of time, effort, and money that would take to do.[/spoiler] As for the announcer, it's pretty much universally agreed upon that he sounds weird now. However, that's a really minor gripe to have with a game. And they've tuned down the synthesizer for Halo 5, so it's a little bit more bearable.

But even if they did add elites to multiplayer, the Covenant just look so dumb now. They looked cool in every preceding Halo title, but in Halo 4 343 wanted the aliens to be "scarier." I don't know. It just feels less like Halo. It might be because Bungie's ViDoc's were all so cool. But Halo 5 doesn't feel like a Halo game.

The reasoning for the appearance change is given canonical explanation. The Elites, for example, are from the Hesduros colony world. Having been separated from the main Sangheili population for as long as they have, appearances began to change. If you don't like the appearance of the new enemy models, then tough. Frankly, there's nothing you or I can do about it. Also, yes, I know that the Halo 4 style of Elites are being used for the Arbiter's faction in Halo 5. My best guess on why they did this is to save on resources, because otherwise they would have needed to create completely new models for NPCs that only show up for a portion of the campaign, which is neither quick nor cheap.

But it's not like 343 doesn't have funding. I imagine Microsoft would like to give them a decent amount, as Halo is really one of the only good exclusive titles on their console. And while it may be canonical, elites look like diseased T-rex's, grunts look like mutated tree stumps and jackals look like -blam!-ed-up raptors. I don't know. It just isn't as compelling any more. Forge should be good though, so long as there are two infection modes (being stuck as a flood was really limiting. Thank goodness for modders).

See, that's the thing. Everything 343i wants to do has to be pitched to Microsoft in order to get funding. If Microsoft doesn't see something as cost effective or appears too risky economically, they won't approve 343i finding for it. It's the same with almost any publisher-developer relationship you look at.

So long as elites are [i]supposed[/i] to look cooler, and not like scabby slow monsters, that's fine. I'm really only getting Halo 5 to see what the story is like, and to do shit in Forge, so long as you can place forerunner-style objects again. The UNSC stuff in Halo 4 wasn't that great to work with.

I agree wholeheartedly. Forge in Halo 4 sucked. The only map I enjoyed making maps on was the space one, and that's because I could make a massive space station.