: I disagree about the aesthetics. Disregarding my personal issues with the art
: direction, I have a hard time deciphering dimensional depth and shapes in
: a lot of levels, mostly Forerunner interiors, on a fundamental visual
: level:

One of my first criticisms of Halo 4. You are spot on. Complexity for complexity's sake is not how you make beautiful things.

: But I do indeed think graphical tricks like Loftus mentions below are really
: interesting and clever. I just don't enjoy them when they limit and narrow
: the scope of the actual gameplay (or theater experiences), if that's the
: case. I would never trade some graphical 'ahs' for meaningful details,
: wide-open areas, and rewarding inspection.

I think if you are in the theatre mode, then you are already outside the bounds of needing to keep immersion. I am 100% ok with noticing that the massive structure out in the distance is really a miniature while in theatre mode for example, since I'm not really playing the game. In a sense, there's no way to ruin the theatre experience with tricks since there's no 'experience' to speak of in theatre mode.