: They wanted the story to be more Chief and Cortana focused, like combat
: evolved (and if you'll recall, a departure from where we last saw them in
: Halo 3, which was apart for 90% of the game). In that regard, I'd say they
: succeeded. Librarian and Didact aside, they did a great job showing Chief
: as more of a person.

: THEN HERE COMES FRIGGIN HALO 5.

: Chief is Chief, and Locke is Arbiter. Heyseewutwedidthere!? We surprised yuo
: guies! Like Halo 2! You thought you'd be playing the Cheif, but no,
: Bamboozled again! Har har har!

This is an interesting point, but even that doesn't quite capture the problem, as I see it. The marketing was all about Chief vs. Locke. "Is the Chief a traitor? Is Locke the hero? What would make the Chief turn against the UNSC? Who will win in the epic fight between the Chief and Locke?"

It is fundamentally different from the Arbiter surprise where he didn't pop up in the marketing at all until a brief clip in one ad well after the game was out. Halo 2 advertisement was all about the Chief at dusk, no Arbiter, and Halo 5 advertisement was all about Locke fighting or even killing the Chief. I think people expected that we would play Locke. They just didn't think it would be about the Chief running after Cortana, fighting Ultron, and Locke running after him with no epic showdown. In that sense, it's not about the Chief, not his story, just Cortana's and that of various other characters met along the way on a space road trip.