: Agreed on all points. None of these missing links seem as substantial as the
: sudden appearance not just of other Spartan IIs, but Spartan IIs that the
: Chief considers family. Maybe we'll get some kind of exposition that lends
: some weight or significance to their presence, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Isn't that what the Fall of Reach videos are for? Or do they only ship with the Legendary edition of Halo 5?
*Googles*
Ah. Legendary. Bad move, IMO.

Failing that, I wouldn't mind Halo 5 starting out with a long cutscene that shows who these "new" Spartan IIs are, so long as we can still skip them. Or maybe have information terminals early in the first level, like Halo 4 did.

Terminals would be a good way to go too. Text or audio terminals, though, because there's a lot of ground that needs to be covered, and very little of it involves action.

Last resort... how about shipping Halo 5 with a real, dead-tree manual?