Agreed.

: Seriously people, the man did great work.

Disagreed.

: Halo4 is a incredibly beautiful game.

Disagreed, with a referral to an optometrist I know. =P

: But you guys seem to continue to either forget or ignore
: the fact that Bungie Does Not have anything to do with Halo
: anymore.

So? We're talking about Halo, not Bungie. I prefer my Halo to look like Halo. Artistic license for the sake of artistic license doesn't bring anything good to the table, as much as it may sate a graphic designer's ego.

: Changing up the characters as they did greatly brought
: new life into them.

Changing them up could have breathed new life into them, but not the way 343i did it. If anything, the Covenant are the most lifeless they've ever been.

: Nothing about the new Covenant seemed organized. They
: looked like rebels and they were. They looked like they were scavengers
: and they were. They were not meant to look like their counterparts for
: sake of the story.

Oh, hey, what was the first time we ever saw a rogue Covenant faction? Halo 2, was it? And Bungie managed to make them look like rebels and scavengers that rejected the True Covenant, without making the Grunts look like miniature cave trolls.

: As for the Jackels and Grunts' features, where your
: complaints when Bungie changed them?

Oh, Hell, not this.

There's a flaw in human thinking where people will defend a problem or inequity by dismissing it as "Not too bad" or "Nothing to complain about" or "It's necessary" or "Think of the children!"
And then when the problem stagnates and opposition rises, someone always stands on their hind legs and bleats* "Well, nobody ever complained before."

Either they're forgetting doe to confirmation bias, or they genuinely weren't paying attention.

So, yeah, people complained about the change in Elite physiology from Halo 3 to Reach. People complained about the inconsistency of the Brutes across every single game. People complained about the wasp-waisted, red eyed Elites from Halo Wars. People probably complained about the change in Jackals from Halo 1-2-3. I don't know, I wasn't part of the fandom back then. But I'd bet dollars to donuts upon it.

Also, maybe Bungie did use the "distant cousins" excuse. What they didn't do was use it to justify massive phsyiological changes in every single Covenant species at the same time. They didn't use it to justify bland Locust Horde look-alikes. And they didn't use it in a game that blathered on about Hollywood evolution.

*No, no, you're not 'bleating'. I save that sort of talk for the people I have actually taken a disliking to. =)

: When asked, Bungie simply stated that
: they were cousins to the originals and looked different because of where
: they lived and due to inbreeding. And we all accepted they excuses.

You are confusing Bungie with 343i.

: Personally I like the Halo1 Jackels with their large single teeth and the
: Grunts with their simple features. Heck the Engineers were chainged a HUGE
: amount and not one complaint was given even tough most of us knew they
: looked very different before.

Sorry, Spider, but complaining about the Engineers looking different is like complaining that the Shadow in Halo 2 doesn't look like the Shadow concept art from Halo: CE.
Hell, one of the reasons why the Engineer was shelved in the first place was because nobody liked how they looked.

: Mr. Scott may have been the art director but he wasn't the only person to
: design the game.

Sadly true.
Keep in mind, people, that Sparth designed the cover of Silentium and redesigned the Forward Unto Dawn so it wouldn't be a 'collection of boxes.' In his words, "Even if it was different, we wanted it to be identified as the Forward Unto Dawn while still making it a different vessel."

: And if you think his leaving now is
: going to result in a return to the Bungie style, you are greatly mistaken.
: This is 343i's baby now and they are not about to suddenly change how all
: their characters look just because one designer leaves. Besides, they are
: already too far into production to make those changes.

QFT

: I pray Mr. Scott sees success in whatever his next project may be. He has
: done some incredible work so far and has a very bright future. I also wish
: him health, wealth, and happiness.

Again, agreed.