I have nothing really to add that hasn’t been said by others already, but I’ll add my voice to the choir of disappointment.
The only innovation in this industry is the methods in which game developers maximize their profits. It’s for this very reason that Halo Infinite will never creatively succeed in the way the Bungie games did, even if a few complaints have been addressed.
Can’t say I’m surprised, but I wish my cynical nature would be proven wrong every once in a while.
So obviously Infinite’s current color coating system is a poor decision. It takes away from “I make my own Spartan”, something 343 has been consistent about giving to the player, to “I am now restricting my Spartan to what’s available”. In certain context, that’s fine, like Halo 3: ODST. In the context of what 343’s ambitions, it defies their goal of making Halo: Infinite a great game. I’ve supported a large majority of their decisions that they’ve made public: their art style, their multiplayer model, even the promotions hearken back to those of Halo 3. It’s almost tradition at this point.
This decision reflects more on their long-term goal for Halo: Infinite than any other thus far; Taking control away from the player. This is a bad decision and a bad goal for development and longevity of Halo.
However, as to be expected, it doesn’t matter what the consumer wants if it’s a successful business model and if it’s good for Halo: Infinite’s development. It’s easy to tell that the coating system is not. Taking that control from the player means that 343 is now required to provide a substitute. Even with the seven-layer shader system that 343 is using in their development, they now have to account for the quantity of color combinations that players will desire, and, if they’re not available, keep a steady feed of content being provided. Meaning attention put to this (through design, creation, and approval) is taken away from other systems.
Keeping the legacy system of two-color combinations means that 343 needs to apply a white texture and an application of color over it. As cool as the seven-layer development is, it’s still more work than the legacy color combinations. With how much controversy Halo: Infinite’s art style has sparked, the art team needs to be available for higher priority tasks, rather than applying colors to suits in different ways.
They need to refrain from replacing the legacy color system. If not for the consumers, then for Halo: Infinite’s development. 343 has the power to create something great. We don’t need a complex game, just a fun one. Halo: CE, 2, and 3 are simple games, but their gameplay has stood the test of time (as seen from Halo MCC). That’s all Halo: Infinite needs. Put development towards that, not coating systems.
Just gonna post what I said on Reddit:
This is exactly what I feared when I read the little watermark at the bottom of the Monarch screenshot. This is NOT what the Halo community wants with its customization. I can’t see this as anything but as a way to get more money out of us now that Infinite MP is free.
I will keep and open mind as I think shaders work pretty alright in Destiny (most of the time), but 343 has now only left us with more questions.
> 2533274818188380;161:
> I have nothing really to add that hasn’t been said by others already, but I’ll add my voice to the choir of disappointment.
>
> The only innovation in this industry is the methods in which game developers maximize their profits. It’s for this very reason that Halo Infinite will never creatively succeed in the way the Bungie games did, even if a few complaints have been addressed.
>
> Can’t say I’m surprised, but I wish my cynical nature would be proven wrong every once in a while.
Just know this, your among friends. We all grew up with this game, so you’re not alone in your opinion.
Hopefully we’ll see some good news come to Halo’s shores soon, even if it comes in the form of a fan game or something.
I am super dissapointed in 343 for these latest news.
Saying that if we like Reach’s armor customization we will love this, but in reality taking away our freedom of choosing colours. Having this game free to play is honestly starting to look like a big problem
> 2533274847563380;159:
> > 2533274837720524;155:
> > I must say I’m glad the game is going to be available on Game Pass. Because I definitely will not be spending my money on this game with everything we have seen since that less than spectacular reveal back in July, that 343 was apparently proud of… It has been disappointment after disappointment since then… I guess the music sounds good, I suppose that’s an up?
>
> I wouldn’t even bother playing it free. Why should we play a game not catering to our desires? Granted we’re not entitled to anything, but that goes both ways.
>
> But you do you, you have every right to try it out. If you want to play the game free please don’t hesitate to post your thoughts when you do.
I’m still very curious where the story will lead. Honestly I haven’t cared for multiplayer in a very long time, but I absolutely love armor customization so this still hits pretty “hard”. I just hope they don’t go overboard with their greed and destroy customization even more than they already have, and they better not be single use, seriously… but I have so little faith in them right now.
On the brightside it can’t be worse than Crackdown 3, that would be hard to be. Let’s hope they aren’t trying to compete with it.
Making the multiplayer F2P was a mistake.
343i and Microsoft have fumbled the ball with this franchise. Halo has failed to innovate for the past 13 or so years. Now we have a haloduty-destinynite-apextitan clone.
My predictions for Infinite:
-Mediocre campaign with the open world aspect proving to be a negative addition.
-Heavily criticized visuals, with very real possibility of it looking worse than halo 5.
-Egregious microtransactions, due to it being f2p multiplayer and gamepass.
I believe if even half of the stuff I’ve predicted come true and the game underperforms then we will likely see a upper management change in 343i. As well as a hard reboot of the franchise.
Nothing kills individuality more than being forced to choose between what are essentially templates rather than just letting people design their own color scheme.
I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the decision but it’s important to understand these two things:
-There hasn’t been any information on how expansive the system for customization is.
-It’s possible they could have free coatings that are very similar, or even akin to any previous legacy armor colorization options.
For all we know, they could have a “coating” that displays every combination of colors in the legacy palette. We just don’t know. Besides, does this affect the game in such a major way as people are making it out to be? Absolutely not. We saw roughly 10 minutes of unfinished gameplay. That’s about it for all we’ve seen regarding Halo Infinite. The bottom line is that WE DON’T KNOW enough about Infinite, let alone it’s customization options. How about we wait until we got more information? The change could be good and we just might not know it.
> 2533274807851933;169:
> Nothing kills individuality more than being forced to choose between what are essentially templates rather than just letting people use their own color scheme.
I agree, I know we haven’t technically officially seen how it’s set up (which is part the problem) but surely destiny 2 should be an indicator of how not to do it. They should just give colour choices as per normal, if they want to change it, add to it. Don’t over simplify it. Literally grab reaches system, and add to it more.
> 2533274807851933;169:
> Nothing kills individuality more than being forced to choose between what are essentially templates rather than just letting people design their own color scheme.
Do you suspect that there aren’t gonna be any default coatings?
> 2535422431996970;168:
> 343i and Microsoft have fumbled the ball with this franchise. Halo has failed to innovate for the past 13 or so years. Now we have a haloduty-destinynite-apextitan clone.
>
> My predictions for Infinite:
> -Mediocre campaign with the open world aspect proving to be a negative addition.
> -Heavily criticized visuals, with very real possibility of it looking worse than halo 5.
> -Egregious microtransactions, due to it being f2p multiplayer and gamepass.
> - Gameplay suffering from failing to remove sprint, slide and clamber to make it more like original trilogy. Also suffers from not adding full enhanced mobility like H5. Sort of like a gross watered down H5.
> -A staggering amount of game modes and features left out of the game that previous titles had. Like forge or theatre, armour colours, emblem customization and game modes like infection, oddball, assault, big team battle.
> -The pro scene might do fairly well but won’t be even half as popular as halo 3 and probably not as well received as h5.
> -The population will be the highest it’s been since halo 3, thanks to f2p and gamepass, but will drop off dramatically after people realize there are better shooters to play.
> -The “10 year plan” being abandoned within the first 2 years.
>
> I believe if even half of the stuff I’ve predicted come true and the game underperforms then we will likely see a upper management change in 343i. As well as a hard reboot of the franchise.
I really hope it doesn’t come to that, but I’m genuinely worried that this game will under-perform. Partly due to an outdated and non-consumer friendly MTX system (like Gears 5), but also due to the amount of pressure that’s currently on this game’s shoulders. This is the make or break Halo game. Not just for 343 but also the next generation of Xbox. 343 have already had three chances to get it right with their games. People didn’t like the changes made to the gameplay formula in Reach, so they doubled down on it in 4, the MCC was a broken mess for years after launch and Halo 5 was a half-baked game that cashed in on trends rather than staying true to what Halo used to be. They’ve already had their three strikes.They should’ve striked out by now, so they’re dangling by a thread. If Infinite stuffs up (which is looking like it’s going to) then it looks like I’ll be playing MCC for a while longer.
> 2533274930786981;172:
> > 2533274807851933;169:
> > Nothing kills individuality more than being forced to choose between what are essentially templates rather than just letting people design their own color scheme.
>
> Do you suspect that there aren’t gonna be any default coatings?
If there are, it’ll be a bunch of flat single colors. Not acceptable in the slightest.
> 2533274930786981;170:
> I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the decision but it’s important to understand these two things:
>
> -There hasn’t been any information on how expansive the system for customization is.
> -It’s possible they could have free coatings that are very similar, or even akin to any previous legacy armor colorization options.
>
> For all we know, they could have a “coating” that displays every combination of colors in the legacy palette. We just don’t know. Besides, does this affect the game in such a major way as people are making it out to be? Absolutely not. We saw roughly 10 minutes of unfinished gameplay. That’s about it for all we’ve seen regarding Halo Infinite. The bottom line is that WE DON’T KNOW enough about Infinite, let alone it’s customization options. How about we wait until we got more information? The change could be good and we just might not know it.
And this is why we get disappointed time and time again when 343 release Halo games. I can understand your opinion and trying to keep an open mind, but this -Yoink- is frankly inexcusable. This has been a feature since DAY 1 of Halo. I shouldn’t have to work to unlock something as simple as a colour and I shouldn’t have to scroll for hours through a list of possible combinations in this game’s armour customisation U.I when I can just choose one colour, and then another. It’s stupid.
As the great Billy Butcher once said “Where’s your yoinking rage?! Your self-respect?!”
Ah yes…the old ‘personalization is important to players so we take away personalization options and give you predetermined crap’ scheme…
Why exactly was this needed 343i? I get that it can make you money. I get that part. But why the hell would it be necessary to scrap such a simple thing as primary and secondary color options? Why not just add predetermined patterns as a third custimization option? Also, I remember something like “Fans of Halo Reach’ customization will love Infinite’s options” (couldn’t find the exact quote). What part of this is like Reach?
And now that I’m on a rare complaint streak anyway: why also have skins on vehicles? I don’t really need Halo to be a more mature version of Fortnite. I don’t really want to see blue Warthogs in multiplayer. Most of the weapon skins shown so far are ugly as well.
Geez guys…This time around there’s even nobody left to defend your decision to do this. I think that says something. Just add another few months of delay and rework this.
> 2674012278771805;176:
> Ah yes…the old ‘personalization is important to players so we take away personalization options and give you predetermined crap’ scheme…
>
> Why exactly was this needed 343i? I get that it can make you money. I get that part. But why the hell would it be necessary to scrap such a simple thing as primary and secondary color options? Why not just add predetermined patterns as a third custimization option? Also, I remember something like “Fans of Halo Reach’ customization will love Infinite’s options” (couldn’t find the exact quote). What part of this is like Reach?
>
> And now that I’m on a rare complaint streak anyway: why also have skins on vehicles? I don’t really need Halo to be a more mature version of Fortnite. I don’t really want to see blue Warthogs in multiplayer. Most of the weapon skins shown so far are ugly as well.
>
> Geez guys…This time around there’s even nobody left to defend your decision to do this. I think that says something. Just add another few months of delay and rework this.
I honestly have no issue with vehicle skins, personally. I just really hate how they’re throwing the phrase “player expression” when describing armor coatings. It’s literally anything but player expression.
> 2533274807851933;174:
> > 2533274930786981;172:
> > > 2533274807851933;169:
> > > Nothing kills individuality more than being forced to choose between what are essentially templates rather than just letting people design their own color scheme.
> >
> > Do you suspect that there aren’t gonna be any default coatings?
>
> If there are, it’ll be a bunch of flat single colors. Not acceptable in the slightest.
Way to stay optimistic I guess…
> 2533274978996934;175:
> > 2533274930786981;170:
> > I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the decision but it’s important to understand these two things:
> >
> > -There hasn’t been any information on how expansive the system for customization is.
> > -It’s possible they could have free coatings that are very similar, or even akin to any previous legacy armor colorization options.
> >
> > For all we know, they could have a “coating” that displays every combination of colors in the legacy palette. We just don’t know. Besides, does this affect the game in such a major way as people are making it out to be? Absolutely not. We saw roughly 10 minutes of unfinished gameplay. That’s about it for all we’ve seen regarding Halo Infinite. The bottom line is that WE DON’T KNOW enough about Infinite, let alone it’s customization options. How about we wait until we got more information? The change could be good and we just might not know it.
>
> And this is why we get disappointed time and time again when 343 release Halo games. I can understand your opinion and trying to keep an open mind, but this -Yoink- is frankly inexcusable. This has been a feature since DAY 1 of Halo. I shouldn’t have to work to unlock something as simple as a colour and I shouldn’t have to scroll for hours through a list of possible combinations in this game’s armour customisation U.I when I can just choose one colour, and then another. It’s stupid.
>
> As the great Billy Butcher once said “Where’s your yoinking rage?! Your self-respect?!”
Again, we simply have absolutely NO CLUE on how the system will work. We don’t know if it’s gonna be a mess to scroll hours to find armors, we don’t know how many coatings will exist, we don’t know if default coating styles will be present. We. Don’t. Know. We don’t even know what the menu looks like. If everything you just said becomes the truth, then yeah we got an issue. We will hopefully know soon with a multiplayer reveal of some sorts.
> 2533274930786981;178:
> > 2533274807851933;174:
> > > 2533274930786981;172:
> > > > 2533274807851933;169:
> > > > Nothing kills individuality more than being forced to choose between what are essentially templates rather than just letting people design their own color scheme.
> > >
> > > Do you suspect that there aren’t gonna be any default coatings?
> >
> > If there are, it’ll be a bunch of flat single colors. Not acceptable in the slightest.
>
> Way to stay optimistic I guess…
I mean, do you think they’d just offer dozens of combinations of different primary/secondary color schemes off rip? If that were the case then why not just have the damn color customization?