The Swarm were a mistake (criticism)

[Gnynt]

i think the writers stuck themselves in a hole after 3 (considering it was supposed to end the series) because the swarm are a vastly inferior and less interesting enemy than the locust. That's saying something because the locusts literally started as generic grey baddies that would charge into your chainsaw with reckless abandon.

The locusts had:

A cool civilization and architechure
Aside from drones, really cool morphology and dimorphism.
Neat weapon designs.
a 10/10 cutie queen who would absolutely step on you

The swarm:

All look the same, with a few metal pieces glued randomly to their heads.
Dumb looking weapons with blunt crystals that jam every thirty seconds.
Hiveminds are dumb and overdone. not interesting.
a 4/10 brain-queen with a half rotted crystal face, probably wouldnt even spit on you

I get that 4 was a mistake and they had to continue on from that, but man its disappointing that instead of fighting some cool Kantus screaming to buff his allies with his cool hat, im just walking up to pale-grunt #6969 and turning him to mulch. Aside from this, the writing is good, but you have carte blanche to create creatures and humanoids that are fun and interesting and its just disappointing that we never get that.

[Token]

i do agree with you all tho gears 5 is a great game i really do miss that they have to downgrade the bad guys in story's once they end the trilogy like star wars man why didn't they bring back the locust instead like maybye not all of died or somthing i have no clue im not a writer overall we got halo coming to pc and if you want to play with me feel free man :3

[Puggly the Grey]

I mostly agree with you, but the locust had even more stuff. In addition to their own nation and architecture, they had an interesting culture, and more than one interesting religion. The only real problem with the Locust was their stupid and logistically impossible backstory.
The worst part is, at one point Microsoft even fixed their dumb origin with a series of graphic novels that ret conned it. They changed the backstory so that instead of being descended from human miners mutated 70 years before the first game, the Locust were descended from ancient humans that got trapped in the hollow hundreds of thousands of years before the first game starts. These cavemen were mutated by low levels of imulsion exposure and turned into the first sires. Over many generations they naturally evolved into the Locust. This retcon was great, in my own opinion, cause it fixed all the logistical problems the Locust had before, without changing their fundamental nature. They were still mutated humans, but now had been given enough time before the lambent pandemic to develop a culture, religious traditions, and build massive underground cities completely out of stone, something that would have realistically taken thousands of years to do even once, let alone dozens of times. Plus, this version of events allowed for the sires at New Hope as well, as they would have been an accidental modern recreation of the Locusts' ancestors.
Then THIS game goes and retcons it all back. Just...just why? MS gave you an out, and you just jumped right back in.

[Gnynt]

Originally posted by Puggly the Grey:

Then THIS game goes and retcons it all back. Just...just why? MS gave you an out, and you just jumped right back in.

Yeah, not a good move. i guess they wanted to make Myrrah more important, her story doesnt really make much sense without being mother of the locusts, but i agree thats a way better origin. i just miss how the old Gears looked. cool garbs with awesome cloth physics, wicked morphology, all thrown away because gears 4 decided instead of "They survived... again... just like jicento... like, its a cave system, you expect there not to be safe hovels?" they went with "Err, dey all crystal now. uhh, no more individuality, no more struggle for survival. they just mindless killers now. can... uhm.. can we glue some scrap metal to them?" its just sad. i really hope the DLC has old Locusts and COG characters because man its just not fun playing the swarm if they all look the same.

Remember how cool it was to play myrrah or scourge? Armoured Kantus' screaming in full plate metal? oh well. at least the game is fun.

[wrwerewrewrw]

THEY ARE NOT INFERIOR YOU FOOL, SWARM IS MORE INTELLIGENT AND DANGEOUS SWARM IS ESSENTIALYL UPGRADED LOCUST, THEY LACK NUMBERS ONLY AS LOCUST DID ,

GEARS 5 IS ALSO THE MOST DIFFICULT BY FAR OF THEM ALL ON INSANE , TRY IT. IT HAS LONGEST CAMPGAIN TOO

THERE IS A POINT IN GAME WHEN OUR CHARACERS STATE THEY ARE SUPERIOR

[Gnynt]

Originally posted by Curufinwe:

THEY ARE NOT INFERIOR YOU FOOL, SWARM IS MORE INTELLIGENT AND DANGEOUS SWARM IS ESSENTIALYL UPGRADED LOCUST, THEY LACK NUMBERS ONLY AS LOCUST DID ,

GEARS 5 IS ALSO THE MOST DIFFICULT BY FAR OF THEM ALL ON INSANE , TRY IT. IT HAS LONGEST CAMPGAIN TOO

THERE IS A POINT IN GAME WHEN OUR CHARACERS STATE THEY ARE SUPERIOR

The all caps is a nice touch.

No, they arnt more intelligent. they're a hive-mind, specifically an autocratic one. Basically, its one person's mind controlling a legion, so the legion is only as intelligent as that one person. They're more dangerous, maybe, because they're all connected, but that isnt what i'm pointing out. they're boring. same-y. uninspired. There is also no suggestion they're ever lacking in numbers, mainly because their favored system of breeding seems to be converting members of the other species.

I never said it wasnt a difficult campaign. You're so mad in your fanboy rage you're arguing against something that was never my point.

Or maybe you just read the title and ignored the actual post. probably likely, seeing as you seem to think im talking about them being inferior as an enemy/challange, rather than inferior in the narrative sense, as was clear in my post.

TLDR (because you seem to need one) if you arnt going to read the post, you shouldnt comment.

[Me]

Originally posted by Curufinwe:

THEY ARE NOT INFERIOR YOU FOOL, SWARM IS MORE INTELLIGENT AND DANGEOUS SWARM IS ESSENTIALYL UPGRADED LOCUST, THEY LACK NUMBERS ONLY AS LOCUST DID ,

GEARS 5 IS ALSO THE MOST DIFFICULT BY FAR OF THEM ALL ON INSANE , TRY IT. IT HAS LONGEST CAMPGAIN TOO

THERE IS A POINT IN GAME WHEN OUR CHARACERS STATE THEY ARE SUPERIOR

It's not a matter of who is the toughest in-game, like in "my monster can beat up your monster". Who cares, devs can make any monster as tough or weak as they want in a game. It's more from a creative and design perspective. They are just less interesting. The swarm is just bland, cliche sci-fi baddies we've seen a thousand times before. Granted so were the Locus, but at least they were less bland and cliche.