I was talking to my son today about the excitement building up to H4, and how awesome it was. On a side note, my son just turned 18 and is thinking about getting the reclaimer symbol as a tattoo, which is what got us reminiscing about the past. I remember scouring for clues to help unlock the messages leading up to H4, and seeing a truly devoted community work towards a shared goal. I also remember being able to unlock a sweet helmet during that time. Then I remember watching Fringe on Fox and the didact symbol “took over” the broadcast, and then seeing a green symbol, that gave me goosebumps, because I knew it was all leading up to H4. Which I might add, was in my opinion the best campaign in Halo history. It tied into the Forerunner book series, in such a way that was truly astonishing for me to witness.
So my reminiscing led me to this question, will Halo ever live up to it’s full potential, or will that build up into H4 ever be replicated? Was it a one time event? I can honestly say that I own every Halo novel, and I am a huge fan of the series as a whole, but H5 felt like such a slap in the face, that I almost feel timid to believe that Infinite will get everything back on course. H5 felt like The Last Jedi in the sense that it felt like a big middle finger to a fan like myself, who loved Star Wars.
I haven’t been on here in a long time, because of the bad taste H5 left in my mouth. I am a campaign first, multi-player second type of guy, so I know I’m in the minority. I’m going to keep my fingers crossed, and hope that 343 can pull another rabbit out of their hat.
If you read this, thanks. I just felt like I needed to vent to the community.
Cheers
I don’t know if Halo will ever be as loved as it used to be in general but I have hope Infinite will be better than 5, everything we’ve heard and seen is pointing towards that.
I do recall personally being insanely hyped up for the entire dev cycle of Halo 4. I was following every bit of information as they dripped out and was so excited to get my hands on that game. I was in High School at the time and saved up to buy the LE and the Limited H4 X360 console.
For me, the end result was an absolutely crushing disappointment. I didn’t personally care for Halo 4 for many reasons- I don’t hold it against people who like/love it, but even after all these years the best I can do is tolerate that it exists.
For me, it was a priceless if painful lesson in keeping expectations in check and avoiding getting sucked into hype-vortexes. I credit my disappointment with Halo 4 and with the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movies to be what made me cynical and detached enough to simply roll my eyes at the Star Wars sequel trilogy, instead of getting emotionally invested leading up to them and devastated by their mediocrity. All just my opinions, and as mentioned before, I don’t hold it against you if you disagree.
For me, though, while I can appreciate being nostalgic about excitement for (then) upcoming media, I’ve been much happier and much more capable of evaluating new media in an open and honest way when I don’t let myself get overhyped.
I’ll be that person and say that The Last Jedi and Halo 5 were totally different experiences for me. While I found most of Halo 5 to be meh story-wise, and the media buildup to be deceptive and ultimately disappointing, TLJ I was mostly happy with. But, like I said, a comparison for a different time.
I agree that the Halo 4 hype was awesome, especially since it had been 5 years and 3 games (Wars, ODST, Reach) since we had a Master Chief installment, and those of us that completed the Halo 3 campaign on Legendary (or, at that point, watched a YouTube video) knew that the FUD was still out there. Partnered with Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, it was a very exciting time period for Halo, and the campaign did not disappoint. I remember the campaign leaked early and one of my friends played through it and thought it was very good.
I’m hoping Halo: Infinite matches the hype - it’s funny how again it’ll be five years between Chief installments, this time with only two games in between (yes, I’m counting MCC because you couldn’t really call MCC workable before 2016). I hope it’s an honest and well thought out ad campaign, and it delivers on the campaign experience just as much.
Okay firstly Halo 5’s story was ehh, and I myself am a story guy first, multiplayer second type of person. I just feel that because I entered, and by entered I mean fully entered the Halo universe after Halo 5 launched, and missing on the advertising for the game, it was a pretty good base experience. When I learn of what the advertising led people to believe, then experiencing the previous games, I do understand where the dislike for the game comes from. I do think Halo has the potential to put itself at least in a better spot with Infinite, but idk if it will be able to reach its “Titan” status it earned during the H3 days. One can hope.
I don’t even remember Halo 4 launching lmao.
I remember the hype, I was so excited for it that I bought a Halo 4 wallet that i use to this day
I hardly remember anything at all related to the campaign. I mainly remember all the multiplayer games and people in the competitive community ripping it to shreds and being very disappointed with it.
I was pretty damn excited leading up the release. It hit a fever pitch on release day. I was working at Best Buy at the time I worked the midnight release. Microsoft sent us a ton of freebies for us and for the customers; we got things like inflatable energy swords and spartan helmets, dog tags, tattoos, shirts, and energy sword pens. I still have some of that stuff. It was fun setting up the front of the store and the displays. My roommate worked with me and he was picking up the Halo 4 edition Xbox 360 and I was just getting the limited edition game and guide. We co-oped that campaign on Legendary in one sitting and it was pretty cool.