I'll leave this here, since I just finished revisiting the list. Things about Halo 5 I nailed with my story, DEATH-WORTHY SPOILERS AHEAD, SO DON'T READ THIS IF YOU DIDN'T PLAY THE WHOLE GAME YET OR HAVEN'T SEEN THE CUTSCENES! I don't know if I have to be happy about being right or just plainly disappointed with the canonical turn of events... a week after I'm kind of over it, but it still makes me sad and annoyed to think about certain things. Now it's set in stone and we have to suck it up, but I believe the last issue of Escalation will bring us some clarity (at least, that's what I hope for the most).
Anyways, here goes nothing.
The biggest coincidences between HALO 5 and RECOMPOSE so far:
-Cortana survives by getting transferred to a Forerunner installation.
-Cortana comes back as an up-close and personal enemy.
-This "evil Cortana" kills a lot of people and tries to lure John to her, because of reasons.
-John has his mind set in retrieving her or stopping her.
-This antagonistic Cortana calls him "JOHN" all the time (while in my story, the other splinters call him "Chief" and only say his name when it matters).
-We actually see that Chief cares about her enough to go against orders or get distracted from duty.
-There is an entry point to the Domain, hidden within a Forerunner installation.
-Therefore, there is a Forerunner-Precursor installation (Genesis – the Fortress).
-This entry point is accessible through slip-space, which proves my theory that the firing of the Halos CANNOT move through layers of space indiscriminately. If part of the Domain is set in slip-space and the Halos fired in normal space, that portion of the Domain remains unscathed because the energy of the blast moves horizontally and not between layers, unless there's a gateway or portal that can conduct the energy (I have not read the Forerunner saga yet, but I was confirmed that I was kind of right about this).
-This entry point has several "stages" before you can get to the "gateway", transitions from normal space into the Domain itself.
-Cortana commands an army and is in control of an immensely powerful force (also, dangerous).
-Blue Team kind of doubts John's decisions sometimes but they stick with him (Fred at first is reluctant to follow and questions John's orders more than once, and more than once John replies dryly to them).
-Something BAD happens in Sanghelios and the Arbiter has direct participation.
-JOHN SOMETIMES ACTS LIKE A D***. IT'S OUTRAGEOUS.
-The AIs think or project themselves over the possibility of a longer lifespan or true autonomy, especially Roland, who despite all remains loyal to his Captain.
-ONI meddles in everything, as always, and is several steps ahead of everyone, all the time.
-There's probably something more but meh, I think I made my point already.
Differences (aside from the storyline, which is completely different of course):
-I made John go through a year of counseling and got him a K-9 enhanced asset to fight PTSD.
-I set up everything relying on the possible existence of the splinters in which Cortana fragmented herself aboard the Mantle's Approach; twelve splinters survived and became physical, one of them was the accumulation of her rampancy and the others different aspects of Cortana's personality and abilities as an AI. By being separated from one another, none of them is complete so all of them are flawed somehow, but still mostly loyal to John (except for the Rampant one that blames him for her "death" and "suffering").
-I developed a physical relationship between John and one of the splinters, the one he sees closer to the Cortana he knew, which also makes him quite biased to stick with her when it comes to the others. I played with the possibility of a malfunctioning implant triggering a delayed stage of puberty in him, which isn't that crazy if you think about it. Yes, I wanted the Chief to get laid, it was about time and I don't think there's anything wrong about that.
-I actually DEVELOPED a lot of characters in their respective new CONTEXT and introduced a shitload of OCs for supportive roles.
-I introduced a Precursor neural-reactive tech that can be controlled by will and used as armor or body for AIs, something the Forerunners kept hidden with the Fortress itself for a reason along with the entry point to the Domain.
-Osiris exists in this universe but I they DO NOT intervene with the story, neither will in the future.
-I left Jul 'Mdama alive so they can kill him in Halo 5 LOL (that was SO anti-climatic by the way).
Things that we know now that are useful:
-AIs can grow indiscriminately in slip-space but that doesn't mean it cures their rampancy.
-The Composers can't bring people back from the digital realm, but Genesis sort-of-can.
-Exuberant Witness is the shit.
-Osiris is great and I want to hug all of them.
-Sanghelios is awesome.
-The Arbiter rocks.
-Everything is more FUBAR than ever, this is FUBAR even for Halo. Seriously, an AI rebellion is as fucked up as this can get.
SADLY FOR SOME, I won't be posting again until November 22nd as we previously established because, as I stated too, I'm going through a very busy business season and I want to take this "hiatus" time to write up and have some spare chapters, just in case I don't have the time for writing later. I esteem there's at least 6-8 chapters left to the story (it could be 8-10, I can't really tell right now) but knowing the ending of Halo 5 hasn't altered at all my original planned ending for RECOMPOSE. That's another thing I nailed (sort of) way before even having intel or trailers about H5.
I can only tell it will be worth all the efforts. Stick with me, buddies.
Also, I'd like to announce that knowing the ending of Halo 5 just gave me the green-lights for the next project, which I will start posting AROUND MARCH 2016. Just as RECOMPOSE, it will be set between the events of Halo 5 and the possible Halo 6, even though right now it's still very-very early to make any assumptions about what the next game is going to be about (but I certainly expect something FAR RICHER in the development department than what Halo 5 was, or so help me God, I'm leaving the fandom due to official production incompetence). Anyway, those interested, stay sharp. I don't intend to write "the next entry on the franchise" since I believe that Halo should fix their own fuck-ups, I just want to write something that can possibly fit within canon. Dreams are valid, aren't they? :P
How about you, people? How was your experience with Halo 5? Spoiler season is over for me, I promise to answer you as fast as I can -group hug- See you the 22nd!