Dropping him, which negates all the work they put into building him up pre- and post-Halo 4? Replacing him with Cortana, which negates all of her characterization in Bungie's Halo,

: I was
: thinking of the King Arthur archetype and how waking the Chief throw that
: away. But it is understandable that they would decide to wake him.

Yeah, I was thinking of that too. But, you know, star power means that you have to keep bringing the same characters back long after they've worn out their welcome. It's why Ahnuld was brought back for three movies after he lost the ability to convincingly play a Terminator.

What's frustrating is that Halo 5 shows that 343i is willing to branch out and let other characters take the lead, which Halo needs, but they aren't willing to advertise the game on that strength. Oh, and they're pissing the potential away on a loaf of white bread like Locke.

: Why not? Isn't that how ME works? The problem is: squad based with revival
: mechanics where the down character grovels about on the floor asking for
: help.

My point was that, in Mass Effect, there is no co-op. If Shepard dies, there's nobody to help her, and nobody to complain if they get set back to the checkpoint.

In Halo 5, the Chief is the face character, but there's up to three other players who will feel cheated if the first one's death is an instant reset. So, the Chief has to be revivable.

Of course, the screams of "Help me! Help me!" are lame, but that's just 343i. If they originally made Halo:CE, 343 Guilty Spark would have been introduced in the second level as "The Guilty Spark Eternal, Keeper of the Sacred Halo and ALL Her Secrets!"

: Destiny has revivals but your character isn't there - there's just the Ghost.
: No character present means no groveling required. And you can self revive
: outside of darkness zones.

: But, anyway, having the Chief helpless undermines the idea that this is the
: CHIEF, the guy who saves the day and generally kicks ass. Adding the
: mechanic that ruins his kickassedness feels like a tone deaf move.

I agree. It ruins the ride.