HALO 1 was the face of Xbox by bringing/expanding gameplay options to the console for the first time (easy networking, coop, etc.). Halo 2 essentially launched Xbox live with features that are still present in 2022. Halo 3 knocked multiplayer out of the park with great maps, customization, re-playability, voting, etc., and then ODST for half price from the get go. Reach just fine-tuned everything from 3 (some might disagree which is fine). Halo 4 had great graphics, excellent maps, expanded on storyline for multiplayer, and balanced gameplay. HALO 5 campaign was interesting but the multiplayer was a disaster that apparently was “fixed” but many fans left the game before it was playable. Outside of the interesting story, Infinite is a continual disaster. The short campaign is understandable, but full price was charged for a 1/3 of the product. The marine and enemy AI is worse than HALO 1 and no word on fixes for this. Inability to restart levels is an issue if you get pushed off the map and do not die before the auto save occurs (this should be rectified in the updates) - this is massively frustrating if you have been playing for 10+ hrs and have restart from the beginning because you are pushed/glitched or accidently wonder off the map with zero options. Multiplayer is an ongoing litany of issues that keep getting worse. Disconnects when the game starts, disconnects from party, party being split into different games, big team only works for parties less than three, forced crossplay, clear hacking, bullets that shoot around corners, AI bots that guarantee a loss as they will die 20-30x in a match going to 50, “animals” that run in place, invisible walls in the sky for banshees/wasps, the brute pistol is now a sniper weapon, the brute hammer registering air as a force to create a shockwave, pistol that shoots faster than the assault rifle while having range of a sniper rifle, and the running through players is always interesting occurrence. Even the stats are not working correctly (zeroes still show in the scoreboard). Previous games had a whole litany of fun/interesting badges after gameplay but now there are just a handful - KDA is a nice feature. Halo 1 (XBconnect) and 2 had serious issues with hacking but nobody was getting +30 kills a game in slayer with just a pistol on rapid-fire. By this time, the budget for HALO must be higher than those games which should be reducing this chaos. If I hadn’t been a part of the beta testing, I’d say there wasn’t much trouble shooting done but even then, the issues in beta were still present at launch. Bungie and early 343 days, there was a ton of communication related to issues/hotfixes along with community involvement. We get a few e-mails here and there with vague information and some update information in the game but that requires running the game just to see if it has been fixed.
Giving the multiplayer away for free has brought in a huge amount of players but a large portion of those players are what make multiplayer a worse experience as they have nothing vested in the game. Customization of spartans has been well addressed as a money grab. The handful of maps is ridiculous as most of us would have been happy to play old maps as covid related workarounds.
The connection statistics features is neat but doesn’t work - ping is always pegged at zero. After 6 months, when will it work? I know my ping is fine but it’s just another “feature” that will be implemented later on.
So all this ranting and frustration leads me to think maybe 343 is going to milk Infinite as long as it can because it’s the last HALO game it makes. Why not milk it dry and piece meal the whole game as the loyal fans will pay whatever as long as they get to continue the storyline, while releasing “new” armor options to entice freeplay crowd to drop ridiculous amounts of cash for shiny things. And as a FU to the console fans, forcing crossplay pushes players to use PCs to be on the same multiplayer level and the only way to beat cheating is to do it. Xbox existed as a cheap way to play PC quality games in a closed environment that kept everyone equal. No PC game is immune to hacking for more than a few months.
I wish they would have just set a price for a working game up front and charged for DLCs accordingly rather than painfully rolling out small updates and charging for everything. If the game costs $100, 200, or $500 so be it, but make it a playable game that has unlocks from playing multiplayer & campaign like the previous titles. Chasing a fickle fan base will be the downfall of HALO.
Holy wall of text but yes.
Halo has been dying and 343’s hiring model and quality assurance team is a joke.
Don’t be silly 343soft isn’t killing Halo. They’re making so much money off of it and there’s no reason for Microsoft to acquire anymore games/studios to continue making successful video games.
Wait what’s that? They bought Activision Blizzard to take over the COD cash crowd and shelve Halo? Preposterous
Yikes learn what a paragraph is
LOL.
The series has been in rapid decline since 343 took over.
I kinda wish that Microsoft would’ve taken a page out of EA Games’ handbook just this once and once they saw what Halo 4 was at launch and what it failed; they would’ve liquidated 343 Industires and looked at everything they did; written it in Red, handed he rights to another new studio they made and screamed “DON’T YOINKADOINKING DO THIS” at the new devs.
Hold on what are you saying? Micro $oft isn’t killing Halo!! They’d have no other reason to continue neglecting it and replacing it with COD!!
As much as i love halo as the days go by im hating infinite more, they gameplay is solid but how can a game launch in such a dry state and the lack of updates and communication is ridiculous.
How hard is it to get someone to walk around with a pen and paper to each department to check progress then write up that in a short blog or tweet.
It just feels like no one at 343i is even a fan of bungies halo’s or even a fan of halo for that matter
Let me put in another analogy, since this flag happened while I was asleep and I cannot fix it now since it is outside the fixing window.
343 Industries is making many changes that angers the fanbase and hurts sales, and yet Microsoft doesn’t seem to care about the franchise that helped them get the Xbox on the market.
It would honestly be as if Nintendo allowed another studio to develop a Mario title, the game ended up with hyper-realistic graphics and involved the mafia and GTA levels of violence; and Nintendo wouldn’t bat an eye for some reason.
What you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this forum is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
Going off your title and what I did read.
The original Bungie, actual gamers that played their own game is why Halo was successful. Today’s Halo is handled as a business, and that alone is the problem with this game, that’s even if you can call this huge mess that.
Microsoft is the main problem, but when it comes to creating quality content and how poorly infinite is designed? That is 100% on 343.
Agree with most things but don’t act like there aren’t numerous PC games that don’t have cheaters AT ALL. The anti-cheat is an important feature that is an achievable thing by dedicated developers. I’ve played League of Legends for 7 years now and have played ONE cheater in seven years. Same for Valorant, never once played a cheater in my 2 years of playing. It’s an achievable thing, 343 just has no clue in hell how to achieve it. Hell, they probably didn’t even try. Cheaters might buy a team skin in the store so they wouldn’t want to push them away before being able to do so.
Completely unrelated to the point your trying to make but i got some major flash backs when you name dropped XBCONNECT.
I started playing Halo when i was 7. My tag was halo_owner 
It took me a long time to switch over to XBOX LIVE.
Halo Infinite has pretty much killed the franchise for me and who knows, maybe that’s a good thing. I’m a campaign player first and I really enjoy multiplayer. But 343 decided this time in their absolute wisdom to incorporate DRM into the campaign and make it so I can’t play the digital game offline like I can all the others. Whatever the reason I don’t care because it now means I don’t know if I’m going to be able to play it down the line
These days I only say the worst of the game to anyone that asks me and I feel justified in doing that. Truthfully even without the no offline issue, the game undoubtedly is bare bones in most ways and not reflective of fan’s expectations or indeed the time they had on it. A shame as the core gameplay is fun but I simply wont bother with a single player game that doesn’t allow me to play offline. Remember it’s not the issue of having internet but that when the servers don’t exist some 10 or so years time, well we simply don’t know if we’ll be able to access the game. It’s for that reason I uninstalled a couple months back
You have to definitely wonder if they’re trying to kill the franchise
I feel that maybe Microsoft is going to restructure 343. Maybe that’s why news is so bare and scarce. Maybe they should hire on some infinity ward guys to whip halo into shape and get content pumped out.
Dude, that’s every game now. If the discs don’t at least have the campaign then we’re all just renting games. It’s complete bs to try and push digital.
Nah, MCC is practically a perfect Halo game…the game every one should be playing being it has all the features players want. Infinite may not be a great game right now but I think 343 can get it to a good if not great game given enough time. Halo will probably never be a top game again due to it’s difficulty. Majority of players today want to be good at a game right away and Halo isn’t one of those games.
The only thing 343 does right is advertising and building up hype.
And Microsoft isn’t that bright either, they hired the same writer who botched Destiny 1 during the delay. So no wonder Infinite’s story was so jacked up.
You’d think for companies who “love and cherish” Halo “so dearly” they would have at least treated the franchise with a little more respect. Instead they lost all dignity and turned it into a McDonalds gift shop.
Whenever someone mentions 343’s QA team I can only remember that ridiculous video of them showing off the Req pack UI and the guy going, "boosh! boosh! Mongoose Needler Ghost"
and the other guy going, "Yes! I love it"