Absolute respect for 343i now.

Games Other Halo
1

Warning: OPINION thread inbound.

I seriously think everyone mad over the latest article about Halo 4 has the wrong picture. Halo 4, in a matter of quality to development-style ratio, is an amazing game. 343 Industries, as it has been revealed, was actually a very artificially and roughly slapped together studio that went from a few people with no building, to very rapidly growing exponentially with no experience of how to build a studio and hundreds of people working together who have never worked together.

It wasn’t like Bungie. 343i didn’t grow over time. They swelled up fast and it just wasn’t a natural process. Tons of talent and ambition came together at such a fast rate, everyone had a hard time knowing what to do.

But that was just half of it. Not only did the studio grow exponentially at such an artificial fashion that no real studio culture was made, 343i also had several projects on their plate while doing this. The construction of Waypoint as a website and Xbox app (the first real app of Xbox also, they kinda pioneered that for Xbox), the transition of game support and servers from Bungie to them, the overseeing of Anniversary, Halo Legends, motion comics, novels, and all the content they put on Waypoint as well. It’s funny, it seems like people either forget or take from granted about all the content on this site that 343i cranked out while dealing with everything else.

They did all that and still made Halo 4 how it is. With all that in mind, this game is honestly just amazing. 343i is such a tireless company dedicated to the Halo cause. And, while they’re still owned by a corporation, they’re as little greedy as possible also. All the content on Waypoint, Spartan Ops and all that…I think another developer would have saw the oppurtunity to add even more depth to their money pile, but not 343i. Heck, is anyone even aware of all the giveaways they do on Twitter?

All these trials and tribulations and Halo 4 turned out to be great. What about Halo 5? Halo 5 will be the greatest Halo yet. Hands down.

The thing I just wish they truly did more was be transparant about their problems before this. I think if they were more open about how frustrating and troubling all of that a good deal of time before this, the vocal community would be a lot more understanding.

It ain’t easy slapping together a studio of hundreds of people and forcing them to get along while building the tech to go with the game while overseeing another game, managing another game, comics, novels, an anime anthology, working with another studio for a transition, building a website that’ll be the home of Halo, the Xbox app counter part, and cranking out content for them. They did all this SIMULTANEOUSLY. They could have even cracked under pressure and took the easy way out and make Halo 4 be like Reach with the minimal amount of changes to call it a new game. But Halo has NEVER done this, Halo has ALWAYS changed drastically iteration to iteration, and like new-Halo or not, 343i preserved Bungie’s tradition of drastic change. They had guts and massive stones.

It’s truly a wonder the whole notion of Halo didn’t implode in on itself under these circumstances.

Don’t get me wrong, community. I’m still beside you in pushing for the improvements we need (weapon balance, better Forge, Customs, etc), but I have a new outlook on Halo and 343i now. A lot of the things wrong with this game isn’t derived from the fact 343i is a bad studio, I think most of it has to do with Microsoft being a bad parent company.

2

This post has been edited by a moderator. Please refrain from making posts that do not contribute to the topic at hand.

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

> All these trials and tribulations and Halo 4 turned out to be great.

And if you DON’T believe that?

3

Even with the many complaints, I have still enjoyed Halo 4. Without 343 Halo would have died out in Reach (not the best ending for the Halo franchise), so I thank them for that and still continuing the Halo legacy. I hope they have learned from their experience in Halo 4 and hope see improvements in future Halo games, and be able to top Halo 4 or previous Halo games.

4

>

Then that’s your opinion. This thread is my opinion. Every thread that talks about what someone feels is an opinion. I kind of think it goes without saying now. But if it makes you feel better I can edit the OP saying it’s my opinion for anyone who will get upset.

5

If that was the case then a little bit of modesty would go a long way. Instead the faces of 343 run around justifying bad decisions with arrogance and excuses.

6

I wish there was a dislike button.

I’m not hating on you or 343i here but… Halo 4 to me is not a success. I could play Halo 3 for hours on end and not want to get off.

I could play Halo Reach hours on end and only want to smash my controller over AL and JP but still love the game and not want to get off most of the time.

Halo 4… I get bored after an hour or two, the game is almost horrendous to play solo in 4v4. And this is more BS in the game than Reach.

I’ve went from a diehard Halo matchmaking player, averaging 10-18 hours a week to about maybe 6 hours a week… I used to get mad if I couldn’t play Halo for a day, now I can go a few days without an urge to play it. :confused:

And most notably it’s not just me. Halo 4 has a worse population level than Halo Reach just prior to Halo 4’s release… I mean, seriously?? How could this be possible. I like Halo 4 more than Reach but I also dislike Halo 4 more than Reach, end result is me simply not playing.

7

This post has been edited by a moderator. Please refrain from making posts that do not contribute to the topic at hand.

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

> > > All these trials and tribulations and Halo 4 turned out to be great.
> >
> > And if you DON’T believe that?
>
> Then that’s your opinion. This thread is my opinion. Every thread that talks about what someone feels is an opinion. I kind of think it goes without saying now. But if it makes you feel better I can edit the OP saying it’s my opinion for anyone who will get upset.

It’s just a question. Sure people can go around celebrating Halo and saying 343i did a dandy job…where exactly does that place people who don’t believe they did a good job?

8

thanks frankie. utter insanity.

9

This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not post spam.

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

HA HA

Good one OP! I lol’d.

10

> I wish there was a dislike button.
>
> I’m not hating on you or 343i here but… Halo 4 to me is not a success. I could play Halo 3 for hours on end and not want to get off.

dislike button would be nice indeed.

I have no respect for them. They’ve done nothing to earn it but rather make care even LESS about halo than Reach had. Reach already destroyed my loyalty of halo in general and Halo 4 just disengaged me for caring about halo anymore.

I never once hated on halo with CE, 2 or 3. I never once complained or said the previous game was better than the current in the past. I dare anyone to find any posts from bungie.net forums of me saying halo CE, 2, or 3 was bad when those games came out. You won’t find a single thread.

Those are halo games. All 343 has done is make a game that is not Halo.

11

>

They’re placed wherever they’re placed. If they’ll be mad about the game without realizing the story of development behind it, then they’re missing part of the picture.

12

You act like hiring other people to write books and to make dlc, anniversary, waypoint and more takes all 300 343 employees to do, more like 2. Second halo 4 is the exact opposite of a lot of content, theater is striped, custom games is striped, MM is missing quite a few options as well as campaign and forge. And AAA employees and a billion dollar company shouldn’t have a problem making a studio in 3 years before halo 4 was even in development.

13

Respect 343? I don’t know them. Untill such time as they start jumping on these forums and answering questions and addressing issues in the same way Bungie did, they’re not going to earn my respect. Regardless of how difficult their jobs may have been.

The way I see it, they promised me Halo, they took my money, they gave me something else, they assured me they’re listening, then the GDC panel showed they were listening to the wrong people.

Respect? Why?

14

This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not post spam.

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

> …Halo 5 will be the greatest Halo yet. Hands down…

Koo-lade time?

15

I’d say that Halo 4 in itself gave me a little respect for 343 in the first place. Even though I feel it detracts from a lot and isn’t as good as say Halo 3, but 343 took a risk. They knew that what they were doing was risky. They knew it would either lead to the revival of Halo, or possibly the destruction of it. 343 could’ve played it safe and just released H3 again with new maps, campaign and graphics and it would’ve been a huge success. But they took risks. People have to be willing to take risks. Because we didn’t entirely know how something like Halo 4 would go until it came. I’m sure 343 understand that now. So I respect 343 for being willing to take such a huge risk and hope that they’ve learnt from it. That’s all I can really ask for at this point.

16

hmmmmmmmmmmmm an optimist is amoungst us

just tell me what makes you think halo 5 will get any better? when THIS game represents their first effort, and has by in large failed

17

The best I could say for 343i… For the tasks and resources they were given, the put out some pretty good stuff and made an excellent beta game. It was not what I wanted, overpriced and I feel fell short of some claims used to sell it. But it was good, considering how ramshackle they claim to have started out.

Campaign was beautiful, albeit the end felt pretty off and lacking a boss fight. And so much "spring, button, enemy, sprint, enemy, button, sprint… Please have less buttons for h5)

SpOps was good, unless you played solo legendary… Easy, but annoying. Glad the learned more people than they expected play it solo.

MM- stopped playing months ago, still waiting for that “classic halo” they told me was part of the game.

It’s there first game, in that respect… Good job. But yoink that yoinks me off like “flinch” better not be in there next game. There is really no excuse. “De scope was too disorienting” that’s kinda the freaking point. They said I would feel like a super hero… Why does this hero freaking flinch?

18

> Respect 343? I don’t know them. Untill such time as they start jumping on these forums and answering questions and addressing issues in the same way Bungie did, they’re not going to earn my respect. Regardless of how difficult their jobs may have been.
>
> The way I see it, they promised me Halo, they took my money, they gave me something else, they assured me they’re listening, then the GDC panel showed they were listening to the wrong people.
>
> Respect? Why?

Lol, don’t kid yourself.
Bungie’s great and all, but compared to 343, they did nothing post-launch.
343’s done more post-launch development than anything I’ve ever seen.

And with immature children ramblimg all the time, I wouldn’t respond either.

Also, the fact you refuse to practice empathy shows your close-mindedness.
Their jobs were much harder than anything you’ve ever done, so wise up.

This community blows… -_-

19

> hmmmmmmmmmmmm an optimist is amoungst us
>
> just tell me what makes you think halo 5 will get any better? when THIS game represents their first effort, and has by in large failed

Halo 2 was the buggiest mess ever to disgrace the Xbox.
Halo 3 was much better in this sense.
That’s improvement.

Halo 4 is littered with holes and hiccups.
Halo 5 will be much better in this sense.
That’s improvement.

That was easy.

20

> …Halo 5 will be the greatest Halo yet. Hands down…

I agree.
With the brilliance of those at 343 Industries, there’s no doubt it’ll be truly incredible.