Color palletes and Character Models

Games Other Halo
1

It was Suggested by another member of the community that I post this here, while I don’t know if it belongs in the Halo 4 Forums. Anyway I copied it here In an attempt to see if anyone else can see where I’m coming from.

So this has been a problem for a while whenever I play Halo with my friends or by myself. I really don’t know where to post this so I’m putting it in General Discussion in the hopes that people will see where I am coming from. I realize the chances of someone from 343I reading this are very slim, but I don’t want it to be said I never tried.

Why do the Elites look terrible? Just because You make a sequel doesn’t mean you have to create new character models if the old ones still work. The Elites Look and feel the best in halo 2. The spikey helmet, Very Reflective organic metal suits and high croma colors are what made them recognizable on screen when playing. Also the fact they had the same suit but in different colors is also what made them easily visible during combat, now I can barely tell the difference because every single elite type has a different suit, which sounds like it would work but doesn’t. And they used to be Slim and tall with Thin armor made from alien materials, the more husky and realistic you make them the less alien they are.

This same rule can be applied to other characters from the universe:

The Jackals look their best in Halo CE with their Big eyes, mohawks, and awesome helmets as well as in Halo 4 with their reptile like body and jaw. In Halo 1 and 2 their shields were actually Bright Colored and looked amazing in combat. They really set themselves apart from other enemies.

The Hunters look their best in Halo 3. They play spectacularly well with their angled polygon shaped plates over smooth curves.

The Flood looked it’s best in Halo CE/halo 2 even though they traded the glowing green patches for flesh colors and veins, they were still terrifying.

The only enemy that doesn’t seem to make a huge change are the grunts.

Even some of the Weapons like the Plasma Sword, Which has the best model shape halo 4 but it looks visually more like an energy weapon in halo 2 in regards to color.

All the Covenant Vehicles in Halo 2 Looked Amazing because it has reflective and vibrant coloring. and the super blue of the energy from them was impressive whenever you hit the boost.

And to be brutally honest the Scarab has not looked Terrifying like it was In Halo 2. I mean it was Hand Basket for sure, But its better than having an opening on every side and no rear to the vehicle, it never dropped enemy Vehicles out of there so it was pointless.

What is up with the Color? Dull colors do not benefit Halo. When I doll up my Spartan in Halo 3, reach, and 4 all I have at my disposal is Flat colors from a pastel palette. Where is The Vibrancy? Where is Cool blue and Lovely Purples that halo is made from? Where is the neon greens and yellows? All the colors of your Visors from halo 4 should be your available palette for your armor realistically.

And it doesn’t stop there because these colors are thrown onto all the objects and characters in halo. The proof is in the pudding when 343I made Halo CEA and noticed the Halo 3/ reach character models Needed to be recolored. Another good example was the re-adjusted Color in ODST, That game has the perfect balance of Darks and straight up color. Visually it makes the Games look Dull, and no amount of navy, maroon, or coral makes as much of an impact as just Blue, Red, and Orange.

I don’t know how to make Video Games, I just play them, But there is Game Theory: If something works, don’t try and fix it. This isn’t My opinion so much as its just bad Game design.

Halo is My favorite Game series. Its built on simple principles that a lot of other games should follow. But some of this has to be scrubbed, snipped, or burned off, and the remaking of character models and breaking of colors needs to be addressed. It is Unnecessary and very Disruptive to its own nature.

I mean I feel Like I’m loosing my mind over some of this

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I can agree on some of this, but some parts I can’t help but feel are wrong.

To start off, the Elites’ basic model stayed the same from Halo 2 to Halo 3, it just became more detailed and their toes, and feet in general, became more pronounced. Halo Reach however changed the model by making the bone between the shin and thigh longer, which in my opinion doesn’t look as good.

The armor has gone through many changes as well. Halo 3 over detailed it and you can clearly see the change from it being smooth and decorative, to bumpy and decorative. You can also notice that after Halo 2 Elite’s lost a nice secondary color trim on their armor, for the Minors/Majors it was black trim, Ultras had a grey trim(Reach Ultras had red trim for design, but it was limited), and Gold Zealots had a bronze trim(Reach Generals had this, but it was patchy and again limited). The trim wasn’t very noticeable, but its removal definitely made the Elites feel like they were one solid color, and maybe that’s why you feel they weren’t as distinguishable. The armor itself, was best in Halo 2 and Reach, where it was smooth and sleek, which hints toward their culture. In Halo 4 they’re so lacking that it feels like 343 wanted to strip all characters of any armor they had for giggles.

Jackals I have to disagree with. They were supposed to be avian, bird-like as a species, that’s why they had feathers and a long beak-like mouth.

Halo 2 Covenant vehicles were okay, the Spectre stood out the most in design. And while you can argue preferences, the Revenant fit much better into the covenant’s vehicle designs. Blue was good though, green lights stood for UNSC/Elite alliance ships as of Halo 3.

The Scarab wasn’t in Halo 4, but the Harvester was and it was by far the least Covenant-looking vehicle ever in a Halo game. There was heated discussion about which faction it belonged to, and then in SpOps they just pretend like it’s normal. Listen 343, it stuck out like a sore thumb, Covenant design is NOT super organic and bumpy. H2 Scarab didn’t really look threatening to me, the H3 Scarab did, but like you said the 6 or so entrances was unnecessary.

As for Spartan/Elite colors for customization, they really have gotten all wacky after H3. Not only do they look bad, undesired, and don’t match in the menu, but they also don’t look the same in the menu as they do in game. The gold on my Spartan hasn’t looked right to me since Halo 3.

Now, I could literally write a novel on the art/design contradictions and problems with Halo 4, so I understand how you feel.

While we’re at it, No More white UNSC structures. 343 seemed to have pulled that out of nowhere and it bothers the living hell out of me.

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well its good to know you agree with some of it, I don’t feel so alone now. still though.

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> well its good to know you agree with some of it, I don’t feel so alone now. still though.

Yeah, it’s weird that most people don’t seem to care about the art aspect of the game, when it literally is what defines the game. You can see a picture and say that it’s Halo, but the gameplay without the art design would leave people wondering if it’s a knockoff of Halo’s gameplay. This is the fundamental building blocks of Halo, the art designs of Halo set the atmosphere, and make the game what it is in many ways. It is just as important to the game as the characters, the story, and the gameplay, yet for some reason it’s the least discussed.

Only when the art design comes into contact with one of these other factors of the game is it really discussed, which is a shame. Master Chief’s armor changed and since that involves a character it gets debated on; but how many posts are there about the white UNSC palette contradicting everything else we’ve ever seen, or that the Halo 4 armors are not only hideous and unrecognizable as for what task they’re supposed to perform, but that they’re also just plain unpractical?

It really annoys me sometimes how nobody brings this issue with Halo 4 up as much as the others, but what can you do?

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well that’s what I’m here to try to do. hopefully turn some heads

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343 is not bungie.
343’s artists are not bungie’s
You cant expect them to stick with someone else’s art style.

“if its not broken don’t fix it”
Words that might’ve saved halo 4. But then again, keeping things the same just because they work could’ve led 343 to playing things TOO safe and not try new things. I personally think its better that they attempt something a little different and fail then simply stick with everything that worked and make things too similar to previous titles.