Okay, let's get this straight: the relationship between the Chief and Cortana was not a 'cheesy romance'. Anyone that believes so is wrong, flat-out. Their interaction is a great deal more a case of technophilia. They've worked together for YEARS. They've been through thick-and-thin, been lost and abandoned in the deep reaches of space, defeated the greatest terror the galaxy's ever known--TOGETHER. Cortana chose John out of all the other Spartans. They can't even imagine the possibility of one existing without the other. If you worked with someone in that way, for that long, through all the game's events (and more), could you? I mean, come on, she plugs directly into John's nervous system for goodness sake. They are Pretty. Damn. Close.
The entire premise of Cortana's downward spiral wasn't a cheap play for player emotion, it was an inevitable occurrence--AI's shut down after a certain amount of years, and Cortana was past-due. There wasn't anything -anyone- could do about it, and John's always been known to take charge and fix things, but he couldn't. Not in this case.
Is the Songbird another version of Booker? It's obviously very protective of Elizabeth. Wish we could get some more info; hopefully some more interactions/scuffles with Songbird will be released as DLC. The potential felt so squandered. I thought it was going to be plaguing the pair throughout the game, like it'd be drawn to Elizabeth fiddling with the rifts or, hey, even scripted set pieces--not regulated to cutscenes. It's on-screen for, like, three total minutes and yet it's the (rather expensive extra) statue for the collector's edition.
Cortana came off as being more human than the Chief. Ironic, yes, but it makes sense since the main character has been emotionally stifled since childhood. Hands down the best Halo story.
@solidus2_1 @marvelx3 @AverageGameJoe Dude, there was a HUGE backlash against DE:HR's ending when it was released. Some reviewers knocked it down two/three points (to average around 7/10) based on the ending alone.
Mass Effect 3 ripped those endings straight from DE:HR and NONE of the reviewers complained.
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