As for campaign...

Games Other Halo
1

Don’t include any/as many Soft Kills in areas we “shouldn’t be” as Reach.

One of the things that was great about Halo’s campaigns was the combination of high movement ratios, map exploration, and innovation. It was always a fun time to have a friend over, figuring out new ways of exiting the map and just walking around whilst seeing the occasional easter egg along the way.

Reach eliminated this through a vast amount of Soft Kills and barriers that prevent players from exiting the map.

For multiplayer, this is warranted since you don’t want to give players advantages that aren’t apart of the map’s intentions, but for things like campaign, which obtain replay value from things like outside exploration, easter eggs, and collectibles, it just doesn’t work as well.

2

Ya soft kills were a bit of a let down in campaign :l Obviously better then hard but possibly even more frustrating cause you go somewhere cool for ten seconds ~-~.

Hoping some of the newer trilogy games have the exploring factor that 2 had.

3

I agree. I was never one for doing it but I enjoyed seeing others get to crazy places. I would like that aspect of Halo to return.

4

One of my favorite things about H2 was getting out of Outskirts.

I can’t say it’ll be a big deal though if it’s patched up in H4LO’s Campaign.

5

> I can’t say it’ll be a big deal though if it’s patched up in H4LO’s Campaign.

It’s a bigger deal than most would think.

Load up Reach. Granted it having a terribly done campaign, eventually it just gets boring doing the same thing over and over again. This is amplified by the fact that you can’t go anywhere as a result of barriers and Soft Kills. The only mission where “Map” movement is virtually unrestricted is New Alexandria, and yet there’s nothing to it. You don’t want to get out of the Falcon and look around, because it isn’t interesting enough to accomplish this.

Rewind to Halo 3. Load up to the very first mission. You’re playing the mission like always, but you come across a ledge you can jump to, and also notice there are many adjacent ledges you think you can get to. The inherent curiosity of mankind makes most want to see if they can pull it off, and then feel somewhat happy once they do (that is literally 90% of what I did in 8 years of playing Halo’s campaigns). Soft kills and barriers both physically and mentally add a layer of forced restraint that don’t perpetuate a feeling of wonder and satisfaction that previous Halo’s got right through things like getting outside the map.

6

> > I can’t say it’ll be a big deal though if it’s patched up in H4LO’s Campaign.
>
> It’s a bigger deal than most would think.

This.

> Load up Reach. Granted it having a terribly done campaign, <mark>eventually it just gets boring doing the same thing over and over again</mark>. This is amplified by the fact that you can’t go anywhere as a result of barriers and Soft Kills.

Just look at LNoS’ mission start. There’s no checkpoint after the doors open because you’re not expected to do anything with all the stuff going on outside. In other words, all the Seraphs, infinite dropships, Wraiths, etc., they’re just scenery and gimmicks, not for replayability.

And let’s not forget how Noble Team kill all the enemies off so if you wanted to fight the enemies you skipped all at once, it wouldn’t be possible.

H3 had checkpoint fountains on 2 levels, The Storm and The Covenant. The one on The Covenant allowed me to do all this:

The one on The Storm is really helpful when you’re trying to get all the Brutes out of the factory for one massive battle at the AA gun.

Checkpoint fountains also existed in CE levels Halo, Silent Cartographer, and AotCR. Halo had tower to tower, SC had all sorts of fun (trying to list them all would take up a lot of characters), and AotCR had massive AI and vehicle collection potential.

Nowadays, you get scarce checkpoints unless you stay within the path. Furthermore, checkpoint delays don’t last very long. You have enemies nearby, it’s going to be delayed permanently.

> The only mission where “Map” movement is virtually unrestricted is New Alexandria, and yet there’s nothing to it. You don’t want to get out of the Falcon and look around, because it isn’t interesting enough to accomplish this.

There’s also The Package if you do the 4 Banshees easter egg.

7

I agree, campaign should only be restricted by natural objects. If there is a wall with ledges I can jump up and outside of the level, I should be able to do that. On some levels it may even allow for alternate gameplay such as Outskirts did, on other levels it simply adds to the exploration. Even Halo 3 with all its invisible walls was fun for a long time after campaign completition due to exploration.

Soft kills completely kill the exploration aspect (so do hards) as even if you manage to find a hole on the invisible wall, you either have to be very careful about where you go or you have nowhere to go. Exodus, for example, would be totally awesome without all the soft and hard kills once you manage to get out of the level. But in its current state, it only allows for very minor exploration.

This is certainly an aspect I would like 343i to consider. Restricting players leads nowhere. Invisible walls may be added to the most crucial parts, but if a player manages to get outside of it, they should not be restricted (not only in camapign, I have for long wanted to explore Forge World outside of its boundaries as a player). Halo is all about exploration, that’s something every Halo fan should be able to agree on. So there is really no point in restricting that exploration if it isn’t going to do any harm.

8

Honestly I’m not going to lose sleep if the Campaign boundaries can’t be exploited. As long as it’s a good experience. Again, I would love it if there were new and exciting ways to take, referring back to Outskirts. But I think there are more pressing things to worry about Campaign Wise, like this ‘group’ AI movement system they’re integrating, and whether or not Legendary will actually make the enemies smarter and not just give them insane health, accuracy, and damage

9

> On some levels it may even allow for alternate gameplay such as Outskirts did, on other levels it simply adds to the exploration.

Damn right, freaking damn right. S117 and The Storm let me mess around with future locations. On The Storm, I was able to procure marine allies for a bigger battle at the AA gun while on S117, I was able to do some major cutscene manipulation by moving the hovering Phantom.

Though Nightfall also had this with the Forklift, I haven’t actually seen anyone try to make art out of that exploit.

> Even Halo 3 with all its invisible walls was fun for a long time after campaign completition due to exploration.

The gameplay still tarnished it. Though Floodgate is quite big if you leave it’s boundaries, it’s not that fun since the only enemy is Flood and most of the outside area doesn’t have any detail.

On the other, there’s this, I was able to launch myself while in a Wraith all the way to the top of The Storm. Eventually, I end up dying due to hitting the skybox but if I get out at the right time, I can survive.