By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.
Posted by: anish panchalin
Not necessarily but I can still use said scenario to argue my case as in both cases they are ODST squads with similiar enough armor, training etc. and seeing as my example scenario happened in-book, it has more canon credibility than what buck's team can survive in-gameplay, which is not as accurate as the books. as you've stated yourself gameplay is not equal to canon.
Made your argument null there. Yes, gameplay =/= canon, therefore it's by no means a stretch to have Buck's squad kill some Zealots.
There is no such thing as "more canonical credibility", something is either canon or it's not.
and sure, the zealots purpose there wasn't to assassinate Noble Team but they still put a pretty good fight (in the cutscene), considering the difficulty any sangheili would have against fighting a MJOLNIR MK 5 equipped spartan.
They didn't put up much of a fight at all. One ran away, the other knocked Six to the ground and was pushed back a bit so he grabbed Sara and ran off.
If these 2 zealots that didn't flee the scene put up the same fight then the elite with the sword would've almost undoubtedly cut Buck's squad into pieces, in terms of halo-book realism.
Again, "Halo book realism" does not apply to the games.
If you're so adamant that Buck's squad wouldn't have survived that assault, then just imagine for yourself that the Zealots were instead Ossoonas and change some of the details. The ultimate point is that Buck and his old squad would have been an infinitely better approach for a human story than the use of Spartans.