I like most Bungie-era designs. It's the classic Halo, how couldn't I? But I'm not too picky about that stuff. I Grunts looked basically the same to me throughout the series; I don't pick apart the way their faces look in each iteration. I guess I don't sweat the details as much, which does bias me a lot in this conversation, I'll admit.

: I mean really, the new designs look like ass. The Chief's midsection looks
: horrible, it doesn't look protective or cool. The new jackal head design
: looks like a generic monster, like someone said "deep sea fish are
: spooky, let's copy one". The Promethean Knights are completely
: ridiculous monstrous things, it's like they stepped out of a bad heavy
: metal album cover, all top-heavy with little black extra arms and glowing
: skulls behind metal faceplates. The Grunts look like someone did a bad
: face lift on a cave troll with no chin. (Before you say I'm stuck in the
: past or just side with the Bungie designs, I don't care for several older
: designs, including the Halo: Reach Brutes, Halo 3 Brutes without their
: armor, Halo 1 Grunts to an extent, Halo 3 Grunts onward to a larger
: extent, Reach Elites in some ways, and some things about Hunters from Halo
: 3 and/or Reach and later; plus I think the Crawler designs are OK for what
: they're intended to be, the Promethean Soldier designs seem great aside
: from the pointless kneecaps and weird shoulders that I wouldn't have even
: noticed without a huge picture, and the new Covenant ship designs don't
: wow me and they seem kind of off, but they don't seem that bad.)

I love the new Master Chief design; I think it's the best he's ever looked. Can't say why, I think he just looks like a badass now more than ever before. I actually like the new Jackals a bit more. Not that I don't like the old Jackals, but to me, the 343i-era Jackals look more like something that I can imagine actually existing.

With that list you've put your finger on exactly what I have the most problem with: Bungie changed a lot of stuff between every game. 343i is just getting a lot more shit for doing the same thing, and I think it's because people didn't like Halo 4 and aren't willing to be open-minded about anything else 343i does after that. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but it's definitely the vibe I get from some folks.

I don't like everything 343i does. They make things very detailed and intricate, seemingly just for the sake of doing so, and it takes away a lot from what Halo used to be. The designs of everything used to be very clean, and now they're very busy. In some cases it works, and makes things feel more realistic and grounded, in some cases it just looks cluttered and noisy.

In either case, though, I just feel like what's the point of bringing up the Jackals or whatever in every conversation. Yeah, they changed and some folks don't like the new design. At this point, it's not going back, so we're not really moving the conversation forward by just focusing on the way the designs changed and continually using that as a point with which to bash 343i. It can only make you as angry as you let it.

Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with talking about it or even keeping track of all the changes or whatever. But just continually pointing them out and saying 343i ruined Halo because of it is getting a little tiring.

Granted, I've been browsing the Waypoint forums a lot since Halo 5 dropped, and that was a huge mistake, and a large part of what I'm talking about here. It just wears me out.