: Story wise, I used to consider myself someone who cared a lot about lore but
: I'm starting to lose interest. I didn't hate what happened in Halo 5 in
: terms of the series' story... I was just disappointed in how long it took
: to tell a very simple story. As has been my complaint in every instalment
: since Reach: it doesn't feel like much happens.

Reach fucked up by leaving its main narrative pivot (the fall of Reach) offscreen.

Halo 5 makes a different mistake: it ends with the beginning! The last level and the closing cutscene are a perfect start to a great Halo 5.

"The Chief's received a signal from Cortana on a world called Genesis. Go find out what's up. Oh, shit!"

Then you have a great reason to care about fighting Prometheans over the course of the game — they could even speak with her voice, which would actualize the narrative conflict in the gameplay in a really tough, emotionally difficult way.