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.