Posted by: Sandtrap
Posted by: ROBERTO jh
Posted by: Shadow Artiste
Posted by: MGTrey
Bungie clearly meant for that Master Chief to be a blank slate in the games, and from a design standpoint, I think they pulled it off well. Master Chief is a gaming icon.
By allowing players to insert themselves into the game as the Chief, it took the focus away from the character and placed it on the setting and overall story instead. Halo was a much more colossal game because of that.
However, Bungie no longer runs the show, and I get the feeling that the biggest way for 343i to stand apart from their predecessors would be to try to tell a more personal story for MC. And considering that it seems evident a lot of the Halo backstory will be pushed into the spotlight enjoyed by the games in the franchise, it allows for MC's character to be fleshed out according to the canon already established. I can already imagine the Chief dreaming of his Spartan training as a child being the tutorial for Halo 4, right before he's waken up by Cortana.
A lot of people are always talking about the chief having no personality because 'we' are meant to be the chief. But I don't really buy into that. For a story to be compelling the it needs characters. If the protagonist of the entire series is just 'um ... um ... i are a guy ... who is going to win everything' I begin to disconnect.
I want more personality from the chief, I want more reason and motivation and risk and character. If he's just another 25 words over 5 hours of gameplay Halo will stay where it is.
This, unfortunately the Halo community doesn't like change. :/
But he is not "The Chief" anymore. When Cortana called him John, he became John, a human being with a name and history, not a vessel to carry a story (which I always found to be bull -blam!- anyway). I'd prefer the main character of a story to be likable with real human characteristics. We know he is not "us" plaing as him. We know he is still human. Its not like the silent Rookie where we had nothing to identify with.
And, 343i has said they will be devoloping his character more in this one, which is good. Characters further the plot, especially when, in this case, there's likely only going to be two main ones. Machines don't.
I just hope they don't turn him into a wuss, remember the Other M problem?
Just because he would have emotion doesn't mean he would be a wuss. I could see him talking through gritted teeth, for example. But they really can't do much short of taking his helmet off. The helmet is what truly restricts them from doing anything with him really, but hey, they will probably find a way.