: The obvious and generic thing is what 343 did. It's a trope. It puts humanity
: up on this ridiculous pedestal. We didn't just happen to become great now
: at this time, conquering the Covenant, taking down the Flood, saving the
: galaxy, etc. We always were great. We were right there on the level of the
: Forerunner, and also probably contained the solution to the Flood and
: Precursors all the way back then! We were THAT AWESOME! But Didact had
: paper tiger plans for us, and we couldn't handle that problem. Oops! But
: it's okay because now we're back, and we're gonna stick it to that Didact
: and anyone else who gets in our way, just like we always used to! Yeah
: baby!

: TL;DR: That thing where you pretend that 343's terrible writing and story
: telling is somehow non-obvious and non-generic.
I thought humans=Forerunner was obvious and generic and would've made the universe feel small. 343i's universe is a slightly more interesting one, but I would've preferred no ancient human race whatsoever.