: Just because she served as the introduction doesn't mean she needs to show up
: for the main campaign. I never thought they'd find her. The Chief thinking
: she could fix Cortana was just him grasping at straws, along with the
: unusual amount of optimism he usually has.

Agreed. Opening a brand new game with a brand new direction with Halsey being spoken to about Master Chief only to have that point completely dropped not just for the remainder of the game but also for Spartan Ops means that they've already failed in setting the tone for Halo 4.

: In this respect, I'm pretty sure 343 is writing with the Reclaimer Trilogy in
: mind. Leaving a plot thread like this open is fine with me. Plenty of
: other things (TV shows, movies, other games) have themes/problems pop up
: in one installment that are then expanded on in the next one. Now you
: obviously wanted the Chief and Halsey to meet in Halo 4. But, after
: everything that's happened in the campaign and Spartan Ops, I think their
: next encounter will be far more interesting than whatever would have
: happened in Halo 4.

Disagreed. I think that last Bulletin where they pretty much said that they're winging who knows how much of this, and it takes Frankie coming into the room and talking about flying things into the sun (awesome idea btw, I felt it worked quite well) to save the day. I don't think they really have all that much in mind as they like pretending they do. Granted, I could be completely wrong, but that last Bulletin really was the last bit I needed in my own confidence of how poor their writing abilities are over there.

Also, I absolutely did not want Halsey and Chief to meet in Halo 4, but there's not so much an ounce of hope given to it. I thought maybe Halsey would be somewhere on Infinity. Nope. Maybe a different ship. Maybe at Earth. Something somewhere going off and them being like, Chief, Halsey is there! But Didact! Oh no! Wtf do we do?! For all we know she wasn't even on Earth up to this point (while looking strictly at the game itself). It's clear the writers never intended there to be a payoff for Cortana and Chief. And they tried really, really hard to convince you that Del Rio, Didact, and saving humanity were going to get in the way of saving Cortana, but it's just never really felt. Nothing got in their way because Halsey was never going to be an option or even a real possibility. Just like the rest of the game, no real impact, nothing really at stake.

But I do agree with you about potential next encounters. I hope season two of Spartan Ops doesn't require me to pay for it, and if it does I hope it's reasonable, because I want it. Spartan Ops has many flaws, but I truly did enjoy it and can't wait for me. I can't really say the same about Halo 5. They can do a lot here, and they can ideally learn from all of these mistakes. To be frank, though, I don't have much faith in their ability to get the writing right. I'm not holding my breath one bit. Can't wait to see more Halsey and the Dinos, though!

: Well, she's petty a lot in earlier media.

: And I'm pretty sure she's surmised that it was on ONI's orders. What's the
: difference if a single Spartan or the entirety of Infinity came after her?
: They're trying to kill her, and her only recourse would be the Covenant
: remnant or the Insurrection. What was left of her life was just pulled out
: from under her. If she didn't change from that, it wouldn't be believable.
: And I'm fine with characters changing over time, as long as the change is
: believable. And I believe in Halsey (new political slogan right there).

Yeah, but she's not as lame as the Dino King in H4 who just wants revenge on humanity because he so mad (I know it's much deeper than that, but I'm making a point). A single Spartan named Palmer, who is just about universally hated, and some ONI people, decide it's time to kill Halsey. Halsey be shot. Halsey loses arm. It's time for revenge! Okay, yes, it's believable. The question is, does 343 go the ridiculous route and make her revenge all about humanity? It'd be believable if she wants to screw ONI over, or screw Palmer over (personally I'd like to take the kill shot myself in-game, but why would 343 ever let me do that to their precious terrible character?). Time will tell what they do with her, and hopefully they get it right. Again, that Bulletin kind of makes me wonder, because none of this appears very well thought out in advance at this point.

There's no difference (single Spartan vs all) aside from the fact that it's Palmer, and Palmer has just loved to hate on Halsey all throughout Spartan Ops. For all Halsey knows, it was Palmer's own personal vendetta! Yeah, Halsey's smart, and of course she knows it's ONI, but she was there with the other Spartans trying to save her, and even threw them the little artifact thing. She can't possibly be that ignorant to who wants her dead and who doesn't. My lack of trust isn't in Halsey the character and her intelligence, it's in what I feel is an inability for 343 Industries to write well or keep these characters believable or logical (which they've already done a mostly horrendous job at to this point anyway).

: And to me that just adds to the futility of the Chief's goal, in a good way.

I can't agree on the grounds that there was no futility to the Chief's goal. The goal was impossible, and not impossible from a story standpoint where Cortana and Chief were just really hoping and trying and maybe this would work, but because 343 dropped the ball in its execution of Halsey. They went and teased her out at the start of the game, first thing, and almost set up this expectation that some way, some how she'd appear and maybe they'd just be out of reach. She's then entirely absent until Spartan Ops, and once the story goes full circle and she finds out about Master Chief, we never hear of it again. Poor writing, poor execution. Not futile. Literally impossible because the writers never intended it to be real. Or in my opinion, a waste of time and exposition.