343 must have really wanted more time...

Games Other Halo
1

Before I start I want you all to know that I enjoy Halo 4. (I start most of my threads like this because if I don’t I get “MOAR COPLAINERZ! DONT PLAY!”) :slight_smile:

Anyway, I’m sure you all know that putting a video game together is much more challenging than what they ever show us. First of all, 343i is made up of about 200 people! To unite everybody as a team is tough because everyone has ideas and their own vision of what the game should be. There are many challenges to take upon when designing a video game.

But the biggest challenge of all is the challenge of time.

Why? Because people want their game, and they want it soon. The great sense of pressure on 343i must have been immense!

And in the end, November 6th was much too soon for Halo 4, and 343i most definitely knows this.

Lets look at why it was too soon.

-The lack of a working file browser
-The lack of custom game options that were in previous games
-The lack of a competitive ranking system on launch
-The high number of game breaking glitches (some are fixed now)
-The lack of classic gametypes (VIP, and Assault were cut)

-And my favorite example, the ending with the Didact. Do you really think that 343i really wanted to end an epic Sci-fi game where you traverse an ancient alien planet in pursuit of an ancient evil and at the same time having an emotional struggle with Cortana while boarding a forerunner ship trying to save humanity from being turned into computer slaves and facing your foe in an a final showdown (inhales deeply) with a quick time event!

While we cannot know for sure, I’d be willing to put down a lot on the answer no. My guess is that they wanted something more engaging. A boss battle maybe? See, but here’s something you didn’t know, great boss battles take months, or longer to put together! MONTHS! Time 343i just didn’t have.

So why put your baby out into to the world when it is not ready?

“You can have it done right now, or you can have it done right.”

Discuss :slight_smile:

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“HURRRRR U DUNT LIEK IT GO PLY HALO 3”

I agree OP, ignore those ignorant fools who do not understand the powers of criticism.

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Some don’t realize that criticism saves games, well, sometimes.

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I remember Frankie eluding to Microsoft giving 343i a hard date for the release. So yeah, I’m sure if 343i had a choice, the release date would have been pushed out to refine the game.

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343i had about 4 years to get Halo 4 done and outsourced a lot of development to other developers and studios. Frankly with this in mind I do find it silly how…lacking and disappointing this game turned out.

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> 343i had about 4 years to get Halo 4 done and outsourced a lot of development to other developers and studios. Frankly with this in mind I do find it silly how…lacking and disappointing this game turned out.

Yes, 4 years is a lot of time, but we can’t possibly know the factors of limitation that went into to how lacking this game was. There had to have been some kind of great limitation that made for the necessity of extra time.

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> > 343i had about 4 years to get Halo 4 done and outsourced a lot of development to other developers and studios. Frankly with this in mind I do find it silly how…lacking and disappointing this game turned out.
>
> Yes, 4 years is a lot of time, but we can’t possibly know the factors of limitation that went into to how lacking this game was. There had to have been some kind of great limitation that made for the necessity of extra time.

4 years and a plethora of other studios there to help them make the maps, armor, CGI cutscenes and so on.

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Hmm… you are right (as is the case with most of your posts).

My mind is baffled. I cannot not even remotely see why so many things have been over looked. 343i can’t have possibly saw the game as a complete product and ready to be shipped.

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If you gave 343 6 more months then Halo 4 would be fantastic. Microsoft pushed them to release Halo 4 before Blops II and look what happened.

Dear Microsoft, Don’t make the same mistake again.

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Im pretty sure 343 has around 300 people btw.

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> > > 343i had about 4 years to get Halo 4 done and outsourced a lot of development to other developers and studios. Frankly with this in mind I do find it silly how…lacking and disappointing this game turned out.
> >
> > Yes, 4 years is a lot of time, but we can’t possibly know the factors of limitation that went into to how lacking this game was. There had to have been some kind of great limitation that made for the necessity of extra time.
>
> 4 years and a plethora of other studios there to help them make the maps, armor, CGI cutscenes and so on.

just because you have time
and tools does not mean you will have structurally building.
remember for a good portion of the ending year they had to split off some people to fix reach. They ended up holding the broken child of reach that they were forced to fix. Such a pebble thrown into the gears could have easily slown them down. then you have the anniversary. This game while just a re texture would have easily made them more sluggish. I think a big trouble for the problems was no beta. they were studying trained gamers who instead of thinking out side the box they thought limited and just did the same old strategies. Because of this early problems would have not even been seen. Its only those who play casually who find the exploits for they don’t care how the game is.

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> just because you have time
> and tools does not mean you will have structurally building.

True.

> remember for a good portion of the ending year they had to split off some people to fix reach. They ended up holding the broken child of reach that they were forced to fix. Such a pebble thrown into the gears could have easily slown them down.

Even if they had to split off some people to fix Reach, at around 250+ people I doubt it would slow them down as much as you think it would.

> then you have the anniversary. This game while just a re texture would have easily made them more sluggish.

343i had Sabre Interactive do CEA along with Certain Affinity.

> I think a big trouble for the problems was no beta. they were studying trained gamers who instead of thinking out side the box they thought limited and just did the same old strategies. Because of this early problems would have not even been seen. Its only those who play casually who find the exploits for they don’t care how the game is.

So they are still at fault for the issues that plague Halo 4. I don’t doubt that 343i had a schedule to follow, but it was one that afforded them 4 years, millions and dollars and involved outsourcing a lot of work to separate studios.

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[deleted]

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> > 343i had about 4 years to get Halo 4 done and outsourced a lot of development to other developers and studios. Frankly with this in mind I do find it silly how…lacking and disappointing this game turned out.
>
> Yes, 4 years is a lot of time, but we can’t possibly know the factors of limitation that went into to how lacking this game was. There had to have been some kind of great limitation that made for the necessity of extra time.

right the limitation of using the same engine from Reach right? They messed up a lot of things that they should have had to barely touch so frankly I find 4 years a bit sad too unfortunately…

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> So they are still at fault for the issues that plague Halo 4. I don’t doubt that 343i had a schedule to follow, but it was one that afforded them 4 years, millions and dollars and involved outsourcing a lot of work to separate studios.

You keep mentioning outsourcing as an excuse for 343 not using their time wisely.

Do you believe that they just go to a company, like Certain Affinity, and say something like “Oh we want a set of maps to go into our game… GO”? I’m no expert but I’m positive 343 would have to do a shedload of work before outsourcing to another company. It’s the same in other situations where a product is sent to another company because they’re specialised in a certain field and can do a better job testing, adding onto and generally sprucing it up. The product still has to be developed enough by the original company.

I don’t like to be a fanboy for 343, but I don’t think they deserve all of the flak they’re taking. Imagine being given one of the most recognisable, multi-million dollar franchises on a gaming platform and having to carry it on while keeping every part of the community happy? Halo 4 was a cracking step up to the podium, it’s not perfect but what game is? What the OP said was bang on, kudos to you sir.

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> You keep mentioning outsourcing as an excuse for 343 not using their time wisely.

Well with all these outsider sources involved after 4 years of work, what do we have? We have custom options that are extremely limited, poor spaces to Forge with, no real ranking system to speak of, some of the same glitches that plague Reach (vehicles flinging off and crashing into walls) and so on. Those should’ve been pretty hard to mess up and with so much work lifted from 343i themselves, I have to wonder what exactly they were doing.

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The outsourcing of H4 just proves the old sayings “Too many cooks spoil the broth” and “A camel is a horse designed by committee”.

To me it seems clear that H4 was released massively incomplete and unpolished. If 343i had another 6 months of time to work on it, and developed a sense of objectivity to self-analyze, then the game could have been good.

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> The outsourcing of H4 just proves the old sayings “Too many cooks spoil the broth” and “A camel is a horse designed by committee”.
>
> To me it seems clear that H4 was released massively incomplete and unpolished. If 343i had another 6 months of time to work on it, and developed a sense of objectivity to self-analyze, then the game could have been good.

they didnt even need 6 months, they just needed a beta and maybe another month or two so they could actually release a file browser and good custom options as well as a full forge mode. So many of these things are gutted. How? How can you use the same engine and take a step backward in so many areas with a period as large as 4 years?

Also, why is everyone blaming microsoft? People use them as the scapegoat for everything now. Yes they give dates, but 343 definitely had enough time. How can Bethesda have a team of around 40 guys working on skyrim, developing a new engine and have that good in 5 years, and I have not had one single problem with that game? I blame 343 here if anyone…granted it is their FIRST game, but unfortunately the game has a 4 in the title…

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Maybe -Yoink!- was just showing another example of being a Greedy Company and wanting to promote it in the US by releasing it on Election Day.

-Yoink!- should also ADMIT THEIR MISTAKE WITH THE CRIMSON DLC. -_-

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> > 343i had about 4 years to get Halo 4 done and outsourced a lot of development to other developers and studios. Frankly with this in mind I do find it silly how…lacking and disappointing this game turned out.
>
> Yes, 4 years is a lot of time, but we can’t possibly know the factors of limitation that went into to how lacking this game was. There had to have been some kind of great limitation that made for the necessity of extra time.

Oh your talking about the oh so plot developing Forward Unto Dawn series. I personally hope 343 didn’t supervise that. It doesn’t really add much to the plot.