I said so. If you judge Halo 4 by the standards of modern AAA titles, it's a good game.
And, ah, if that was a foundation in my house, I would think about relocating. =D

: It's just that it has to live up to the larger-than-life Halos of the past.

Query what you mean here.
Halo 4 was larger than life... and fell flat on its face.

The Bungie Halos generally were larger than life, and they worked rather well.

: Honestly, it would only take some subtle tweaks in directions (like Cody
: mentioned) to make me enjoy it much more. Some more medium tweaks and it
: could have been on the top shelf like the rest for me.

But are the problems systemic? Is the artistic license and shoddy writing and monotonous gameplay something that 343i can just step away from, or is it the result of mediocre writers being teamed with designers drawn from all corners of the gaming industry?

Either way it goes, the damage has already been done. End of line.

: People can learn from their mistakes y'know - nobody starts out perfect, they
: have to work to get better.

Not everybody has the capacity or the will to learn from their mistakes.
343i has been making the same mistakes for three years, with no sign of changing direction.

: I'm always ready to be pleasantly surprised. :)

I'm like Garrus Vakarian: I always expect the worst. I'm rarely wrong, and when I am, I'm pleasantly surprised. =D