343 versus Bungie

Games Other Halo
1

EDITED:

I was thinking about the difference between these two companies and I thought I would share my thought process.

I started thinking about why Halo: Reach flopped in terms of competitive play. Sure there were some mechanical errors at the core of the game that were flawed from the start, like the jump height and the movement speed… and the aim magnetism (too much). The main problem in my mind, though, was that they didn’t do hardly enough to change the problems after the game was released.

Bungie was pretty much done with the Halo series when they released Reach. They just wanted to release one final game and be done with it. They didn’t seem to really care about it after people bought the game. It’s true that 343 didn’t make too many changes to it once they took over, but then again they were focusing on creating Halo 4, and they truly seem to care about the project.

It is my belief that Halo 4 will be released with some flaws… however, I think that since it is 343’s first game, and they need to create a reputation for themselves, and since they truly care about making a good Halo game, I think they will fix these flaws after getting community feedback.

EDIT 2: Yeah, I wasn’t referring to Reach flopping in terms of number of games sold, as a matter of fact that figure was higher than any previous Halo. What I meant was for us, for the competitive community, which most of us here associate ourselves with (just given by what I’ve been reading on these forums recently).

I think a lot of you misunderstood the point of my original post. I wasn’t bashing Bungie, I was more trying to explain why I think Halo 4 will be good. I think 343 care a little bit more about having a successful first Halo game then Bungie did about putting out their last Halo game. That’s all I’m sayin’.

The release of Spartan Ops, for example, shows their commitment to Halo 4 as an ongoing work in progress. The fact that they will be releasing new content every week tells me that they won’t just release the game and start working on the next one.

So what are your thoughts, guys? What do you agree and disagree with?

2

Flopped implies it didn’t sell well at all…

3

Halo: Reach was fun, but not THAT fun.

4

In my honest opinion i was happier with the Out-of-Box version of reach. Besides Armor Lock everything was fairly rounded out and balanced, l think Bungie proved this by refusing to update it,

5

I have no more allegiance to bungie than I do 343. But I feel like bungie abandoned the series and the fans when they made ODST then reach instead of continuing the story. They were tired of the phenomenon they had created Nd wanted to go Indy, so in my humble opinion they crank out the last two games of their contract and washed their hands. Just what I think

  • hides in my flamesuit*
6

I only read “I was thinking about these two companies” than I stopped don’t judge 343i Halo CEA doesn’t count don’t judge 343i just yet.

7

> I started thinking about why Halo: Reach flopped.

lol

8

> I started thinking about why Halo: Reach flopped.

lol Reach didn’t flop. A flop means that not only did it not sell well, but that it was unpopular amongst the masses. There have been many different number-crunchers who say the opposite of OP on both points.

9

343i will appeal to the masses. But will they appeal to the competitive community? Only time will tell. I would guess a Loadout free playlist would pop up within the first playlist update if it wouldn’t be available by launch, though.

10

> I was thinking about the difference between these two companies and I thought I would share my thought process.
>
> I started thinking about why Halo: Reach flopped.

That’s when I quit reading the post. Halo Reach is a commercial success, and has a rather large population playing it on a daily basis. Just because many of the forum dwellers may not like it as much as other Halos doesn’t mean it flopped.

11

Bungie made Halo: CE. They tried doing new things in their subsequent games, such as the Matchmaking system, Forge & Theatre Modes, Firefight, Equipment & Armour Abilities, dual-wielding, and ODST as a game. That’s why I get irritated when people bash Bungie because of Reach. They tried doing new things. Did they always get it right? No. But then again, they pulled off a lot of crazy stuff. They created a system for console games to place people together in Multiplayer games that many games utilize to this day. Forge is a hit, spawning a massive community behind it and creating numerous creative gametypes, maps, and art of all things. Theatre mode is great for machinima, reviewing how one plays, capturing humourous moments or great achievements, or setting up a sweet-looking screenshot. ODST, as a game, was short and relatively sparse on content, but it was still a great game with an unique story and a fun gameplay mode, Firefight, attached to it.

Maybe people weren’t pleased with the things they tried in Reach, but they at least had the balls to TRY and improve on their games. The community wasn’t totally happy in some cases so now they have a better idea of what to do on future projects.

343i, I find, is also trying to be creative. Spartan Ops is the best example. Free, episodic cut-scenes and missions released to the community on a weekly basis detailing a unique story? <sarcasm> Ugh, what monsters they are. </sarcasm> With everything they’ve talked about they have been able to rationalize and justify their decisions. Forerunner Vision actually sounds reasonable! (why didn’t they just call it Sonar Vision? That’d save a lot of time) Instant respawns and weapon drops are a customizable feature in Custom Games and don’t affect all matches. I’m willing to give them the benefit of a doubt. I’m excited for Halo 4 just to see what they do with the Halo franchise.

12

> I was thinking about the difference between these two companies and I thought I would share my thought process.
>
> I started thinking about why Halo: Reach flopped. Sure there were some mechanical errors at the core of the game that were flawed from the start, like the <mark>jump height and the movement speed…</mark> and the aim magnetism (too much). The main problem in my mind, though, was that they didn’t do hardly enough to change the problems after the game was released.

Dude. Your character was a SPARTAN III on REACH (BIG planet. MORE gravity). The only mistake Bungie made with Reach was not putting the words, “THIS IS NOT HALO 4. THIS GAME IS A PREQUEL TO HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED. YOU WILL NOT BE MASTER CHIEF” in large red letters on the front and back covers of the disk case.

13

Oh look another naive “Reach flopped” statement. I can guarantee many other companies wish their games would “flop” like Reach did.

It’s only sold 9 million copies to date and continues to be the most played MP game on Live behind COD over 18 months after release.

14

I agree with you about the whole, “Bungie just putting out one more game” thing.

I think that 343 will do a good job with Halo 4, with flaws obviously though.
But we learn from our mistakes, Halo 5 will be even better.

Ive seen what Bungie can do, they’re great. But lost enthusiasm after ODST.

I have nothing to support thus statement, but…

I think 343 will do Halo better than Bungie did.
Puts Flame Suit 0n

15

You must have not read what was at the end of Halo Reach explaining that they did Halo Reach out of love so how can you even say that they didnt even care…dang stop being so naive.

16

Reach didn’t flop, it is an amazing game.

17

> You must have not read what was at the end of Halo Reach explaining that they did Halo Reach out of love so how can you even say that they didnt even care…dang stop being so naive.

Oh, so now, just because somebody says something, it’s automatically true.

18

> Reach didn’t flop, it is an amazing game.

Agree…

19

> Reach didn’t flop, it is an amazing game.

for you thats just a personall preference. but overall while the majority enjoyed, it the fact that their was a sizeable part of the community that complained and is still complaining dosent show very well for the game.

and not just multiplayer looking at the campaign it didnt do a very good job, while you liked some characters like jorge overall their wasnt a high level of connection to noble team and the dumb AI didnt help. the encounters also were not too big or enjoyable and potential was wasted. and what didnt help at all is you feel like its the same boreing place again because bungie based campaign around multiplayer maps which in general was a stupif idea.

and from what i see with reviews the reason it did well was because reviewers make them during the playthrough or once they finish and are still caught up in the awe of graphics and newness to give a fair opinion that isnt unintentionally biased. i know personally at first i liked the game than realised it was bad just from my own noob bevavior of spamming armor lock whenever i was close to being killed.

sales dont determine if a game is a flop or not, duke nukem forever sold well however it was a flop because it was a bad game and in the end recieved badly by a large part of the community.

as for halo 4 and 343 i dont know if they are better than bungie at making a game BUT i do know that 343 is better at connecting the fiction and games to make a bigger universe and actively interacting with the community through the forums and people like BS angel.

20

Interested to see if my edits make a difference in this discussion.