343 STILL doesn't understand good art design

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Im not going to waste my energy pouring my heart out into this forum for some ignorant fanboy to tell me to “Stop complaining” and receive 50 likes from others. Im over that. This is my last big spill.

However i just wanted to quickly say that while i was watching this video, it still blew me away that a game that’s 8 years old, looks better nd more alive than Halo 5.

“They still have time to fix things, just calm down, stop complaining, deal with it” yeah yeah i get you don’t have anything to really backup your statements so you just drill that into everyone’s head.

The video shows just how beautiful, simple, correctly lit, detailed and immersive Halo 3’s art design is. It feels so alive and just feels Halo; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACWyHVlUKTY

It ages extremely well, thanks to it’s great art design.

The only thing halo 5 has superior is facial models which look fantastic (they should, it’s 2015) but everything else is a step back and looking over the e3 footage at the muddy textures, chiefs horrible lighting on his visor at the beginning, purple puffs of smoke is just plain embarrassing.

I know im not the only one on this, i’ve heard this from just about every Halo 5 e3 reaction and all over neogaf with 40 pages of people just talking about the graphics, even big journalist sites so tell me im wrong and to go and buy COD.

Rant over.

EDIT: I have been thinking about this for a loooooooooong time now (literally 3 years) and I think it has something to do with the whole way the game is ‘lit’. Halo 5’s engine is essentially Halo 4 built for xbox one ‘from the ground up’. Halo 4’s engine was the worst thing to grace the halo race, graphically. It introduced a new lighting system that had done nothing but make everything looks plastic, and un-natural. The lighting system is absolutely flawed making everything in the game look bad no matter how good the asset’s look before they go ‘in engine’. This has obviously translated into Halo 5 with the Spartans (don’t even deny it) looking very plasticy (although better than 4) and textures looking like they are not blending into the environment naturally. Sky boxes look like the are 2d drawn paintings with very low mixture of different colors with creative mixing and just simply look un-natural. Halo 3 ODST and reach are now 6 years and 5 years old respectively and both have better sky boxes than Halo 5-fact, not opinion. That’s absolutely embarrassing to say the least.

1920×1080 420 KB

https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=halo+reach+skybox&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=BXuOVavpCITymQXayamIDA&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#imgrc=tvGXodu1il9xuM%3A

http://3ebd2a0c0ea48a333aea-1f531def8e8befb67be56667ce3edd11.r77.cf1.rackcdn.com/d37f6c0c56dc8568b03c8d9e9a3249232a95cd0f.jpg__620x348_q85_crop_upscale.jpg

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yx27jORxGhs/maxresdefault.jpg

http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/cb20150619085206/halopedia/ru/images/thumb/7/74/Halo_5_Guardians-Single_Player_GAMEPLAY_Demo%26_E3_Trailer_1080p_HD_E3_2015/673px-Halo_5_Guardians-Single_Player_GAMEPLAY_Demo%26_E3_Trailer_1080p_HD_E3_2015.jpg

http://3ebd2a0c0ea48a333aea-1f531def8e8befb67be56667ce3edd11.r77.cf1.rackcdn.com/d37f6c0c56dc8568b03c8d9e9a3249232a95cd0f.jpg__620x348_q85_crop_upscale.jpg

2

this

3

Halo 3 indeed does look better with its colors and lighting. But this thread is just awful.

4

I agree that Halo 3 looks better than Halo 5, though likely for different reasons.
From a purely technical standpoint though Halo 5 “looks better” than Halo 3. Worse style, better graphical quality.

> Halo 3 indeed does look better with its colors and lighting. But this thread is just awful.

OP, you should probably elaborate more.

In your entire post only a sentence or two described why you think Halo 5 looks bad.

5

What is wrong with you people ? seriously …

6

> 2533274799911779;5:
> What is wrong with you people ? seriously …

Very constructive post mate. Thanks.

other people have opinions too

7

I definitely do not agree that Halo 5 looks awful. The campaign demo, granted, wasn’t all that flashy, but it still looked pretty good. I believe in that instance it was just the colour palette of that particular mission that was unflattering.

However, if you go and have a look at the multiplayer map Truth from the beta, or Orion, one of the forge maps from the beta and even Regret, you’ll see that Halo 5 certainly has the potential to look amazing. If 343i were to remake Halo 3’s Sierra 117 campaign mission, I’d lay bets that it’d look a hell of a lot better than it did 8 years ago.

8

Low Res Textures. Star Wars Battlefront 1/2 have better looking textures than Halo 5.

9

I’m going to be that guy and say that it’s still in development. You also can’t seriously be telling me that this, looks better than this.

10

I’m gonna agree with you on Halo 3 art design… by far the best Halo IMO.

But you have to realize that Halo 5 is a much darker Halo. Chief lost a dear friend, and I believe 343i mentioned that this was going to have a darker tone overall.

11

> 2533274873783305;9:
> I’m going to be that guy and say that it’s still in development. You also can’t seriously be telling me that this, looks better than this.

+1

Lighting does make a difference in some aspects, but seriously…

12

> 2533274936311077;8:
> Low Res Textures. Star Wars Battlefront 1/2 have better looking textures than Halo 5.

Well that’s just the biggest lie I’ve ever heard. Period.

13

I’m not seeing it. All I see is crappy trees, crappy rocks, horrible water, and a plastic rifle shooting brutes in plastic armor.

14

lol H3 did not have beautiful art. <–see what I did there I made a subjective comment, that is all your post is OP, a subjective comment. Thanks for sharing anyways.

15

I certainly do prefer Bungie’s art style over that of 343i. The problems I have with the art direction 343i has chosen to go with range from boring skyboxes to lack of vibrancy, and environments that are either too clinical or a complete mess. There was also a whole bunch of unnecessary changes to character models that I plain hated. Based on what I have seen with Halo 5, it seems to be going with a similar art style with some changes, which means that I still don’t like it for the reasons expressed above.

I don’t really see the problems of anyone who dislikes the art style to be addressed, because it’s unlikely 343i would suddely change their style. We’ll probably just have to cope with bland environments and ugly design.

16

As someone who works not only in art design, but who has also worked on some other stuff, also as an artist (comics, independant movies, etc…), I have to disagree with you, I think the art design of Halo 5 looks awesome, yes Halo 3’s art design is better, but Halo 5 looks beautiful.

The one thing I can tell everyone though, is that, which should be clear anyway, art design is a matter of taste, it isn’t bad just because you don’t like it, it also isn’t good because I like it, it’s just a matter of preference!!!

17

> 2533274873783305;9:
> I’m going to be that guy and say that it’s still in development. You also can’t seriously be telling me that this, looks better than this.

They look pretty equally matched in terms of appeal. I like them both. Halo 5 obviously has the higher quality.

18

> 2533274873783305;9:
> I’m going to be that guy and say that it’s still in development. You also can’t seriously be telling me that this, looks better than this.

Look, vibrant colours and a lovely slightly cartoonish, gamey look vs… a gritty, bland, modern sci-fi shooter! Wow! Art style-wise, I’d say Halo 3 (and maybe the Anniversary games and even possibly Reach) trumps the others (mainly 4 and 5) any day. In terms of graphics, obviously the newer games are going to be superior.

19

Good to see other fans notice the generic art designs and so forth. Halo 4’s designs were horrible, specially the Spartans.

20

… I think Halo 3 in retrospective, especially compared to games on the same console looks about as great as a baboons… well you get the idea.

Look, Seriously.

No. You’re entitled to your opinion. But your opinion as far as I’m concerned is warped.

I admit, the lighting in 3 is a more natural non-alien feel. But that’s kind of the problem.

It’s a non-alien feel.

In Halo 4 and likely in Halo 5. We’re not on earth. It’s not going to look like Earth. The atmosphere will scatter light differently. Light sources arent the same as our sun. It won’t look like Halo 3 which took place largely on EARTH. This is something I respect from 343i as far as art design is concerned. They are applying different mood and lighting to environments to suite the ENVIRONMENT. In Halo 3 everything outside looked like it was lit by the exact same sun the exact same way every time all the time. We’ve come a long way in graphics, and Halo 5 looks wonderful for the sci-fi medium.

Now if you said the animations and the sense of Scale (especially where ships are concerned) aren’t quite up to snuff I would have agreed with you. I think the lack of fading on the ships make them look like toys hung on a low hanging ceiling. 343 needs to get some mist on there backdrops to make things look like they are far away.