: On a related note, I remember Grim coming on here and talking about how it
: can be difficult to try to maintain a cohesive universe when so many cooks
: are trying to bring their own recipes to the same pot that once had a
: perfect recipe, and it made me realize that there have to be a number of
: folks over at 343i who were fans of Halo, and have had to watch it
: devolve all around them because of higher ups and folks who ruin what were
: once great things about the franchise, whether that's art direction,
: character designs, mechanics, levels, etc., while trying to maintain the
: love that they had intact, even if that means that they have to make some
: dumb decisions and contrived excuses.

: I feel for them, and wonder if one day we can get a Reach-style
: overhaul/reboot that sets as high a standard as that did...

Remember, they're also seeing the visuals, plot points, and gameplay they want come to life. Any collaborative project like a movie or a video game, even if the person in charge wants to be the next George Lucas, involves plenty of give and take and compromise.

On a related note, the politics of one division criticizing the work of another division would be interesting. Could the sandbox editor flag down Frankie in the cafeteria and offer criticism of Halo 5's writing? I doubt anybody outside of the writing and cutscene folks have a good idea of what the story is until the game is ready to ship, but what about afterward? What would happen if someone who isn't on the writing team tells the lead writer "I think you really dropped the ball with this game"? Can a graphical artist tell the sandbox editors "We should go back to the drawing board on the Forerunner weapons, because reskinned Human weapons are boring"?