I feel like the believability..feasibility..I don't know, the realism? of the events and content of Halo have moved much more towards fantasy sci-fi than when it was first introduced. Like, in Halo 1, it was a gritty human-kind, fighting against a powerful alien foe, and while a classic sci-fi setting, the mystery of Forerunner architecture and looming murmurs of ancient civilizations somehow made it feel more..real life.. or something like that.

With the introduction of the Didact, and more tangible answers to the mysteries of Forerunner existence, it almost feels like we're moving into a complete fantasy realm of wild sci-fi content; over-the-top characters and designs and action... as opposed to a relatively muted, human-centric vision of the future.

There's less, in my opinion, that's separating Halo now from other science fiction stories and universes... it's harder to imagine, say, the characters from I Love Bees (yeah I'm saying it again :) - who were depicted VERY realistically, believably, human, living in the Halo 4 universe.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I dislike where Halo is going - I still love my Haloverse :)... but I think this is one way that Halo has lost (or changed) that 'magic' that was around when it first launched; when we first discovered the Flood, when we first looked out over the landscape that was a Halo ring. Things have just become far too organic, bright, colourful, flashy, compared to those moments.

Maybe it'll never return to that state... *shrug* But I miss it. =/