: While I agree the threat level that the flood poses to humanity is an order
: of magnitude of greater in comparison to the Didact (and many more
: magnitudes for the other lifeforms out there that the Didact doesn't have
: a vendetta against), let's not forget that the Didact quickly had his
: Composer firing down on Earth and beginning to exterminate the human race.

What makes you think that? By the end of Halo 3 it's estimated that humanity's total population is 300 million. That's not just referring to Earth. The entire way the part with the Composer is presented in game is completely removed from its impact and also its consequence. Where is the Didact firing? Did he choose that place for any particular reason? Did he just decide to blast away at Earth? How populated is New Phoenix? Did he kill twenty people? A thousand? A million? Does the beam spread out the more it hits? Would he need to just swipe the ship around the Earth endlessly to make it kill people? And even then, how many of that approximate 300 million are even on Earth to kill? And how many are even in America, where he's targeting at that particular moment?

He didn't really begin to exterminate anything and the threat was never felt, especially since the Didact himself was such a paper tiger and the Composer literally got nuked. Boy, that was difficult. The entire execution of the so called threat to Earth and humanity in Halo 4 was a joke and was really never felt. Nothing was ever at stake. 343 Industries never had the balls to really do something in that game aside from maybe sort of kill Cortana, give or take space magic and a lot of bullshit.

: Yes, chief saved the day - at least for the time being, but letting out the
: Didact certainly was a bit more than a minor screw up. The flood certainly
: pose a larger threat - but the Didact has already done his share of damage
: to the Ivanoff Station and Earth, and it's yet to be seen if he is really
: dead and what his awakening may have set in motion with other forerunners.

Chief technically died and space magic saved the day, but sure, we'll go with that. But oh no, not the Ivanoff Station! And what? He's done his share of damage to the Earth? What'd he do? Blast a city for a little bit and kill some untold number of people? Again, how many? I'm sure 343 will come out and say that some horrible unimaginable amount were killed at New Phoenix just for impact's sake since the overall impact is still to this very moment completely absent, but for all I know the Didact blasted a few people. I'm pretty sure the Covenant and the Flood have done a far better job of damaging humanity and everything else in the galaxy than the Didact just did.

You are correct about just what his awakening may have set in motion in general, but how is this the Chief's fault? Hypothetically speaking, let's pretend Forward Unto Dawn never wound up at Requiem. Well, apparently Infinity in its cosmically brilliant timing shows up there right as some crazy stuff is about to go down. Hypothetically it shows up there regardless of whether or not Master Chief does. It potentially gets sucked in. Covenant are there. All it takes is them capturing one human and making them hit buttons to open up the Didact.

It's actually pretty damn lucky that Master Chief happened to be there to be the one to "mess up" so that this entire situation could get handled, because lord knows that the Infinity and its crew are all brain dead wastes of space. Del Rio wouldn't deal with the problem there when he had the chance. Infinity likes sticking around throughout Spartan Ops to have endless science time after science team and soldier after soldier killed until finally they get lucky and get out of there. I'd call Master Chief and Cortana's mistake a small little boo boo that they quite clearly fixed, no thanks to anyone else on the Infinity give or take Lasky.

: Also, maybe I should have noted to begin with that I have enjoyed the game
: and storyline, though not my favorite version of the game. This was not me
: trying to bash the plot, it was just something that I felt playing through
: the game again. Is it just me or is it sad that this type of disclaimer
: seems to be needed these days? Hugs anyone?

Nah you're totally good. My tone in this post definitely comes off as pretty hostile, but I just want to assure you that it is in no way, shape, or form supposed to be hostile against you (or anyone else), your opinions, or your enjoyment of the game. It's definitely written with that hostile tone because of what I feel was 343 Industries and its pretty terrible campaign story, characters, plot, and design. I feel like there was never a real threat to anything in the game, and the impact of everything in the game is still really not felt, even with Spartan Ops.