5 years of Halo 5. Reflect on your time playing.

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Now that we are coming to the conclusion of Halo 5 being the primary Halo game and Halo Infinite being released soon, I thought it would be cool if we started a thread sharing some of our favorite memories of Halo 5 over the last five years.

It is hard to believe that Halo 5 came out in 2015 and it is now 2020. Time does fly for sure.

Halo for me goes back to the original Halo. I started college in the spring semester of 2003 in the dorm rooms of the University of Florida. Every Friday night starting at 6:00 pm was the weekly Halo tournament that took up the entire dorm room floor. There were usually 50-100 people playing 8v8 Halo continuously from 6 pm until usually, 6 am Saturday morning. We had extension cords and LAN switches lining down the hallways to four separate rooms where a TV and an Xbox and four controllers awaited a team. We had eight TV’s, eight Xbox’s on the entire floor, and it was absolutely glorious to see. There were four of us that ran together all the time and dominated the capture the flag games. This lasted the entire two years that I was there until the end of 2004 when Halo 2 came out. Xbox Live killed it and the launch week of Halo 2 was the last time we ever did it…but oh how glorious were those times. To this day still the best gaming memories I have ever had.

Flash forward to 2015 and there were about 10 of us that still played together regularly. We all played Halo 5 every night for easily the first 4-5 months that the game was out and loved every minute of it. Warzone was perfect because all of us could play together and just had the best time. Warzone has probably been my favorite aspect of Halo 5 as well as Husky Raid Capture the Flag. I really hope Husky Raid Capture the Flag comes to Infinite because that chaos is so much fun.

Over the last four years, most of us have older kids now, are heavily involved in our careers, and we just do not have that much time to play video games anymore. We all will play a game of Halo 5 or Halo MCC (which is what we tend to play more of these days) once or twice a month.

With that said we all are ready to go on Halo Infinite. Mid-30s-year-old dads and successful career men playing Halo.

Anyway, I for one believe that Halo 5 is the best version of the multiplayer to date and the campaign gameplay-wise was excellent…story was ok.

2

When Halo 5 first came out, I wrote it off as more of the same stuff from H4 and Reach that I disliked. I played the campaign (which didn’t do the game any favors imo), and proceeded to put the game down for a few months.

Flash forward to March 2016 and I was feeling nostalgic and really wanted to have some Halo in my life again. I decided to try H5 one more time and I fell in love with the gameplay. Everything was so smooth and crispy. Playlists that were missing at launch were starting to be added back. Most importantly, a handful of my close friends who had not played Halo since H3 were active again.

In the following years Halo 5 quickly became my most played Halo multiplayer as I set various goals for myself. I helped my first company get the Achillies armor, then that company died off. I joined The Heretic Uprising and found a community where I felt at home. After months of grinding we finished the Helmet, then I started a sister company and did it all again while I grinded to 152.

During all this I managed to get in the Onyx 1700’s before my “champion” 1500’s was considered higher and overwrote it. I’m proud of both because I usually only play 20 to 30 ranked matches in a season.

Overall I loved Halo 5 and I think the gameplay was a step in the right direction. I eagerly await the memories Infinite will create.

3

Over the years I found myself liking Warzone a lot more. I’ve been playing since launch, and initially, I mainly focused on Arena. But for the past 2 years or so I’ve basically exclusively played Warzone. I know a lot of people don’t like Warzone because they feel it’s “pay to win,” but even without calling in REQs the majority of the time (all I need is my trusty H2 BR), I find that it’s pretty balanced. And if you ever do need to take down an enemy that has a powerful REQ, you can always call in something from a lower REQ level to take care of it (i.e. weapons that destroy vehicles generally cost less than the vehicles themselves).

4

I had ordered the limited edition online, so I had to wait until it arrived. I remember cutting my last college class for the day to get home early to finally play it on a Friday. I was so excited! haha
I’m not sure if I’m too blinded, but I enjoyed the campaign! xD Although, as many, I thought we needed more Master Chief missions :confused:

Afterwards I started getting a bit more competitive on multiplayer and my friends, whom are more casual, slowly stopped playing Arena with me, since we started getting paired with players around my level XD We then played Warzone every now and then.
A year later, since I didn’t have a team, I started playing a lot of Free for All and decided to increase my rank. I was high Platinum, then reach Diamond. A few months later, I reached Onyx. And many months later, I reach Champion! After that, I gladly retired hahaha

Then, I generally played everything, really loving Warzone Assault and Firefight! Now, I’m mostly playing the Featured during the week and Mythic Firefight during the weekends, as I’m on the final grind to SR 152!

5

Grindy. 152 grind, commendation grind, ranked grind. Fun game to play still, i dont agree with the hate it receives.

6

> 2533274793640702;5:
> Grindy. 152 grind, commendation grind, ranked grind. Fun game to play still, i dont agree with the hate it receives.

Do you agree with the criticism?

7

Haven’t touched it for so long. Played maybe an hour in 2020.
Might play the Campaign again before Infinite though.

8

> 2533274818084099;6:
> > 2533274793640702;5:
> > Grindy. 152 grind, commendation grind, ranked grind. Fun game to play still, i dont agree with the hate it receives.
>
> Do you agree with the criticism?

I agree it is quite different gameplay wise from the classic halo titles, but i still think its overall enjoyable.

I can understand why some are put off by it though.

9

I used to have friends when I was younger. Playing halo with them was really fun. Staying up really late…energy drinks and chips…talking smack and letting all the fun times roll onwards…kinda saddens me just talking about it. Halo is a totally unrelatable thing to my peers ANYWHERE I’ve worked. The only dang game anyone talks about are games that play like call of duty…

My best memories were from all the games to be honest. It was 3 of us that played together. 2 friends I thought I’d have in my life forever. Time never changes…people unfortunately do though…

Halo 5 imo has the best gameplay mechanics…so addictive and has a great scope of tips and tricks to learn and master. The best memories I had with this game were with an old spartan company I joined. We had tons of fun grinding the game. Cool people, fun personalities.

People got tired of playing halo and just completely stopped though. The clan dissolved and I ended up playing alone (which ends up being a toss up of fun or a rage fest) and I went through many times away from the game. This game is much better with friends If you have any…

I recently came back to playing and still love the addictive gameplay. Still a toss up most times though. I’ve learned the absolute worst sweatiest playlist in halo 5 is actually quickplay weird enough. Worst new comer playlist I’ve ever seen. I witnessed people hop off halo for good after giving it a try with gamepass playing quickplay.

I’m also in my mid 30s as well. With my hands and fingers in constant pain from all the work I’ve done throughout the years. Still love to play halo though. Maybe some day I’ll actually enter a conversation where people are finally talking about the new halo. That’s the goal. Halo infinite should just come packaged with the new xbox. Idk if that has all been talked about but that would be the best way to get people to try it.

10

short:

biggest problem were still US vs EU players. Mix it up with australian and mexican connections and you got the worst experience ever if you are on the wrong side.

banhamner totally failed its purpose.

Vehicle combat and BTB was sacrificed for faster movement.

Trueskill was kinda good… not always spot on but fine.

For infinite I really hope the let us exclude certain regions. I don’t want to play with anybody outside the EU. If I don’t find a match… fine.
But I know, 343 don’t really care about their customers outside the US.

REQ Pack: most boring reward system ever.

Maps: mostly good… forge maps look just terrible

11

Halo 5 might have not been the best but definitely had the best moments with my friends 2017 playing laughing mocking having fun like if there was no tomorrow I loved those times

12

Halo 5 had a weak launch, but it become one of my favorites with all the updates. It by far has the biggest sandbox of any halo game. Custom game browser, forge, halo 2 weapons, warzone. I have so many good memories of H5 with friends, most of which have been playing halo since CE. I hate how most people who don’t like 5 base it off just sprint or the campaign. It excels at so much and I hope they don’t remove advance mechanics.

13

I made some new friends, some of which I think will be life time friends. I also had alot of fun. I have a few regrets thought, and most of them are completion based. All in all I had a wonderful time.

I wish some of my friends that I played halo 5 btb with didn’t move to PC and exclusively play PC now. :cry:

14

I just loved it when a pair of hunters dropped on top of me in War zone after spawning In myself.

15

Honestly Halo 5 sucks. I’ve been in multiple forums stating this fact and I will not budge on it. When it first released it was a terrible mess of a game. The Story was not what was advertised and I think some of you have become way to forgiving of that fact.

They introduced Osiris and Blue team for the simple fact of pushing a game mechanic. “Play with your friends.”

The delivery of this game was messy -Yoink- in my opinion, and I will not forgive Halo 5 for putting Halo on life support.

Because of this game, the Halo series had to rebound so much, and had to release so many other stories to make this crap show become relevant.

Time, and better stories outside the game has helped Halo 5 age well.

Halo infinite can not make the same mistakes as Halo 5 or Halo will lose its relevance as a franchise from that point. Xbox will have to find a new poster boy should Infinite fail on the good will the MCC has finally delivered on, as well as the good press the series as a whole has been receiving for the last year and a half.

With that said, Now that the game is actually playable, I have had some good experiences with my step son.

I recently took him through the whole series and without me saying anything, he also thinks Halo 5 plays the worst of all the Halo’s.

This game ruins the gun play and I agree with him on that.

We played some arena and kicked some -Yoink-, and we do enjoy fire fight until it gets old after 4 or 5 games.

I’m glad some people have positive experiences with this game but I just couldn’t stick with it after it became apparent what a huge betrayal it was.

When people say things like the weapon tuning has never been better or that Halo 5 has the best multiplayer ever, I can really only laugh at this point.

Especially those of you that have played since Halo 1 originally came out. Like I understand making the best of a bad situation, but defending Halo 5… it’s maddening.

Here’s to hoping That Infinite improves where Halo 5 fails. See everybody online! K bye!

16

Halo 5 to me was the black sheep that strayed way to far off the path. When Halo 5 first came out, I had huge expectations, Halo 4 had its issues including its Multiplayer feeling I was playing Call of Duty with a Halo MOD, but I still enjoyed its Story, and options it added.

When I first played Halo 5 on release, my expectation was shattered to the point I couldn’t believe I was playing a main Halo series title. I’ve been playing Halo ever since Combat Evolved and I always made it my mission to play the Campaign of every game (and of course play it again on Legendary). The Story failed on so many levels that I got bored of playing the Campaign (a shocking first as a Halo Fan for me) and just watched the Cutscenes to see what happen and was HUGELY disappointed. I felt like Halo 5 didn’t really continue off Halo 4’s story arc, that it started to strayed and went off the path into its own direction hard. They were setting a few things up in Halo 4 that got me interested, but in Halo 5 was either killed quickly in the beginning (Jul 'Mdama’s), a no show (Fireteam Majestic), or continuing to learn more about the Guardians including the Didact.

The Multiplayer…jesus where do I begin. First off I invited my friend over (who is also a huge Halo Fan) to play Halo 5 Multiplayer together like we did in the past to only realize that you cannot splitscreen at all. A Halo staple, a guaranteed gameplay mechanic throughout the years just gone, not there. I know 343 stated they were very wrong in cutting it out and will make sure to have it in Infinite. But it gut punched me and my friend hard. Also the gameplay mechanics, like sprint, the jump packs to do moves, etc felt more like a non-Halo game. The micro-transactions with the REQ packs I hated, I wanted to unlock Spartan Armor like we did back in Halo 3/Reach. By completing in-game missions or unlocking secrets/achievements as a badge of honor. Warzone isn’t bad, I actually played a good bit of it, but overall the Multiplayer didn’t interest me to much to warrant more gameplay. Also the fact they released modes like Forge/etc as post DLC content for its LIVE SERVICE annoyed me greatly. Why not release it at launch to help keep the community going and build it even more with passion and buzz.

Halo 5 didn’t do what it set out to achieve, it failed almost on all fronts. Granted the game received ALOT of updates and content, there are fans out there that enjoy it, and I’m fine with that. But for me being a core fan since the Original Xbox Days, this title pretty much said “hey you! long time fans, we don’t care about you anymore, we want new blood.” I felt like Halo 5 pretty much left us behind to attract a more potential new and younger audience, but does Halo 5 sell Xbox One systems like its previous titles did? Is it one of the most played Multiplayer games on the system like its previous titles did? Does it have one of the biggest eSports scene like its previous titles did?

Halo 5 failed for me personally, I just hope Infinite doesn’t fail me.

17

I personally dropped this game a month or two after it came out. So initially, getting the collectors edition and playing the campaign. As off putting as the story was, it got me interested into the lore and made me want to dive into it in order to better understand the game. Dunno if that is a good thing or a bad thing lol maybe both. After picking it up again years later I have fonder memories of playing with people on mixer (before it got axed) and grinding toward 152. I am still grinding to max rank btw so my fondest memories are still being made with this game. Glad I gave it a second chance whether it deserved it or not.

18

> 2533274823095076;17:
> I personally dropped this game a month or two after it came out. So initially, getting the collectors edition and playing the campaign. As off putting as the story was, it got me interested into the lore and made me want to dive into it in order to better understand the game. Dunno if that is a good thing or a bad thing lol maybe both. After picking it up again years later I have fonder memories of playing with people on mixer (before it got axed) and grinding toward 152. I am still grinding to max rank btw so my fondest memories are still being made with this game. Glad I gave it a second chance whether it deserved it or not.

The exact thing happened to me.

I ain’t like it at first. Got it in 2017, beat the campaign on normal, did a couple arena matches, then set it down. Decided to come back this year, beat the game solo legendary, and been havin a good time with war zone and the arena playlists. I got my complaints but i like the game overall. Even in campaign i liked a few of the missions, legendary made me appreciate it more, and i like seein the Sanghelli home world. My only regret is not sticking with it when i got it, now its impossible for me to hit 152 before Infinite drops.

19

Halo 5 was one of the defining games of my university years. I came into possession of the Spartan Locke-themed Halo 5: Guardians Limited Edition Xbox One console during the beginning months of my first year, and now as my university life comes to an end, we are about to jump into a new Xbox generation and a new Halo game.

The multiplayer and gameplay mechanics in Halo 5 are my favourite in the series. I also love the character and campaign art style.

However, the franchise content drought, friends all moving on to different platforms and games, or moving away from gaming, was disappointing. With Halo Infinite it seems to be different as a lot of them are coming back. There’s a lot of excitement and hype, a lot more of it this time around. I guess due to the long gap between the last previous Halo game, people are really experiencing a craving for Halo.

20

I’m happy I played this game. Even though it was nothing compared to the other Halo’s. The campaign sucked and was all over the place. But in my opinion the multiplayer has been the best we’ve ever seen. Looking back on it I’m happy that I grinded. I started playing in December 2015. I won’t make it to 152 before Halo Infinite sadly.