So I’ve been thinking, Halo: CE, Halo Reach, ODST, and Halo 4 had some pretty open levels/areas, right? With ODST being the only title with an actual open world. So why not take it a few steps further, and make the campaign completely open?
Here’s my reasoning behind it: Obviously, the Forerunners were spread throughout the entire galaxy, leaving behind countless structures and relics. If there’s a chance that Cortana could be brought back, and Chief needs to find Mendicant Bias to learn how to bring her back, the search for MB should be just that: a search of epic proportions and spectacle, with the Chief exploring planets with notable Forerunner history for clues as to where to find the AI, and the player is in complete control as to where they search and when. Chief, nor any other human, will know where MB is, and if Chief has indeed gone rogue, as that seems to be the most popular rumor as to why he’s on his own in the E3 trailer, then he will not have access to the resources and knowledge that the UNSC and ONI has, and therefore has to look for MB the hard way.
What do you guys think? Any other ways this could work out, or reasons why it might not be the best idea? I’m open to any thoughts.
The main issue that I have with a 100% open-world campaign is that it becomes extremely difficult to tell a consistent story with a definite chronological direction.
> The main issue that I have with a 100% open-world campaign is that it becomes extremely difficult to tell a consistent story with a definite chronological direction.
Perhaps the story could be dynamic, adapting organically as you progress. Ex. you manage to get a piece of technology you need later on but don’t know it yet, but miss another piece that you need, so when you go to perform whatever action to progress, you fail, and it is indicated that you are missing something you need, and the game helps direct you to whatever it is you need. As for the story itself, it wouldn’t progress until the player is ready for it to progress. I guess there’d be a certain amount of linearity, as far as how much you can explore at once goes.
> So I’ve been thinking, <mark>Halo: CE, Halo Reach, ODST, and Halo 4</mark> had some pretty open levels/areas, right?
Umm, Halo 2 and Halo 3 had a few open areas as well. As for a completely open world Campaign, I don’t think so. I like some linearity and direction.
ODST-style open world is always welcome. (In fact I was hoping that was the direction Halo 4’s mission “Requiem” would be taking, allowing us to explore Requiem as he was stranded.)
I’m kind of aching for a slightly bigger environment to explore than Mombasa, but rather than have interchangeable objectives, have set priorities with little side objectives like in New Alexandria. You know, “Search the Covie Camp here for guns”, or etc.
> > So I’ve been thinking, <mark>Halo: CE, Halo Reach, ODST, and Halo 4</mark> had some pretty open levels/areas, right?
>
> Umm, Halo 2 and Halo 3 had a few open areas as well. As for a completely open world Campaign, I don’t think so. I like some linearity and direction.
Sorry, it’s been awhile since I’ve played those, now that you mention, I do recall a few areas like that.
> ODST-style open world is always welcome. (In fact I was hoping that was the direction Halo 4’s mission “Requiem” would be taking, allowing us to explore Requiem as he was stranded.)
>
> I’m kind of aching for a slightly bigger environment to explore than Mombasa, but rather than have interchangeable objectives, have set priorities with little side objectives like in New Alexandria. You know, “Search the Covie Camp here for guns”, or etc.
Yeah, sorta like that. If multiple planets or an open galaxy couldn’t work, then definitely at least one open planet similar to Requiem. Likely the one that Chief is on in the E3 2013 teaser, where you’re open to explore on foot, or use vehicles or some sort of fast travel to get to major locations/landmarks.
An open world, first party FPS sounds like something a console could brag about, but I don’t know if it could work.
I would love for Halo 5 to be able to have that sort of freedom, but at the same time playing that on legendary would not be fun. In fact, ammo would probably be something you never had a lot of.
I feel like it should stay linear because when you give players freedom, people inevitably get pissed because they have to make a specific order canon.
Open world would be fantastic for a spin off, but the main games need to be at least somewhat linear. We’re not writing a story, we’re experiencing one.
Yes absolutely an open world campaign, with a strong RPG feel to it. I want to be able to walk around Infinity interacting with characters and selecting dialogue bubbles I wish to have my spartan say, activating new missions and completing them for credits that I can spend at the armory on new weapons and armor and all sorts of upgrades and armor mods you name it.
That would make for such a more enjoyable and replayable halo compaign.
The Dynamic Open-World Campaign you speak of should be like Starcraft 2: Wings Of Liberty and Starcraft 2: Heart Of The Swarm respectively. In these campaigns the story has linearity, yet the player can select how the story progresses in minor location and situations. So the Master Chief (Player) will select each location… mission… which upon completion a new, hidden location is unlocked… creating the same linear flow that is required for a concrete story.
For Example
The Master Chief, John-117, is put on a assassination mission, to finally silence a unnamed war criminal and cult leader Jul 'Mdama. 72 Hours after the Second Battle Of Earth and First Campaign of Requiem (Halo 4)… he finds that the apparent criminal is Catherine Halsey, who pleas to John about her innocence. After discovering about what happened to John and Cortana, on Requiem, she thinks there is still hope for Cortana to have survived. If her fragments can be recovered, she can fashion another matrix, and revitalize Cortana. She says to John that the chances of survival are slim, even if they find them in time… to which John, doesn’t care and abandons his mission in hopes for Cortana.
Halsey and John escape both the UNSC and Covenant Remnant capture, to which she discovers a few locations of which might hold some fragments… the debris of Mantles Approach; and the UNSC Infinity… the debris has fallen to Earth surface, while the UNSC Infinity, is in Jiralhanae space… and requires infiltration. After gaining the fragments Halsey still hasn’t quite got enough core matter to reproduce a viable Cortana… to which more fragments must be collected.
John also remembers a few other locations which might have some lone fragments… Installation 04, Installation 05 and Requiem yet those have perished to which John recalls High Charity… which is located on the Lesser Ark… yet Halsey remembers Parangosky telling her the portal at Voi, has closed, for almost 2 years now, and is now under 24 hour quarantine. And so they must find an alternative way there… to which they hijack a ship from Lunar. Upon the Lesser Ark they discover that High Charity is still heavily infected and the husk of the Gravemind can be seen in the background. They discover a fragment which is of Cortana in her adolescence… to which Halsey has enough to attempt Cortana’s revival… however she must return to Earth… for any attempts to be made. So John has to pick between his “adoptive mother” life imprisonment or possible death or Cortana “his close-confidant”… During this time however 05 032 Mendicant Bias, a imprisoned Forerunner-construct, tries to communicate with Halsey through her datapad and tells her that he can revive Johns fallen AI… without any such challenge… and he can teach her to become meta-stable.
Perhaps see an open world for Spartan Ops?
Otherwise I’d like an open world RPG for a spinoff game. Something that parallels the main story but from a different perspective. Something like being put in the shoes of a marine who ranks up and travels the universe on Infinity.
An open-world campaign sounds awesome for Halo, just as long as it’s done right.
Any shooter could benefit in an open-world type setting, it just can’t be something like the Elder Scrolls, RDR, or Fallout, where it’s one giant map for the entire game. Really, what 343i would need to do is keep the leveled campaign, but make each mission open, instead of having something like Halo 3, where you’re forced through a select path. If you have three to four different ways of going about a mission, then the replay value automatically increases because the campaign can be different every time you play it.
I understand that some missions, or even parts of missions, would be forced back to the ‘select path’ but a more open campaign is the way to go.
> The Dynamic Open-World Campaign you speak of should be like Starcraft 2: Wings Of Liberty and Starcraft 2: Heart Of The Swarm respectively. In these campaigns the story has linearity, yet the player can select how the story progresses in minor location and situations. So the Master Chief (Player) will select each location… mission… which upon completion a new, hidden location is unlocked… creating the same linear flow that is required for a concrete story.
>
> For Example
> The Master Chief, John-117, is put on a assassination mission, to finally silence a unnamed war criminal and cult leader Jul 'Mdama. 72 Hours after the Second Battle Of Earth and First Campaign of Requiem (Halo 4)… he finds that the apparent criminal is Catherine Halsey, who pleas to John about her innocence. After discovering about what happened to John and Cortana, on Requiem, she thinks there is still hope for Cortana to have survived. If her fragments can be recovered, she can fashion another matrix, and revitalize Cortana. She says to John that the chances of survival are slim, even if they find them in time… to which John, doesn’t care and abandons his mission in hopes for Cortana.
>
> Halsey and John escape both the UNSC and Covenant Remnant capture, to which she discovers a few locations of which might hold some fragments… the debris of Mantles Approach; and the UNSC Infinity… the debris has fallen to Earth surface, while the UNSC Infinity, is in Jiralhanae space… and requires infiltration. After gaining the fragments Halsey still hasn’t quite got enough core matter to reproduce a viable Cortana… to which more fragments must be collected.
>
> John also remembers a few other locations which might have some lone fragments… Installation 04, Installation 05 and Requiem yet those have perished to which John recalls High Charity… which is located on the Lesser Ark… yet Halsey remembers Parangosky telling her the portal at Voi, has closed, for almost 2 years now, and is now under 24 hour quarantine. And so they must find an alternative way there… to which they hijack a ship from Lunar. Upon the Lesser Ark they discover that High Charity is still heavily infected and the husk of the Gravemind can be seen in the background. They discover a fragment which is of Cortana in her adolescence… to which Halsey has enough to attempt Cortana’s revival… however she must return to Earth… for any attempts to be made. So John has to pick between his “adoptive mother” life imprisonment or possible death or Cortana “his close-confidant”… During this time however 05 032 Mendicant Bias, a imprisoned Forerunner-construct, tries to communicate with Halsey through her datapad and tells her that he can revive Johns fallen AI… without any such challenge… and he can teach her to become meta-stable.
I agree with you there with the classic SC II Campaign selection. The Campaign in all terms was controlled, but at the same time very open.
However ‘side missions’ which you can do outside of the main story or at least only a bit of the main one can be open world.
The more the merrier!
I think this could possibly work in the way that there would basically be outskirts where no real level takes place but you could maybe find upgrades and stuff for MC and possibly really cool looking secret armour for multiplayer. One of the upgrades could possibly be a grappling hook or a map of a certain section of the world, maybe increase your damage resistance a bit or increase damage with certain weapons or increase grenade carrying capacity.
Also there would be mini-boss fights and random packs of enemies not usually found in areas made for levels. The area which you could explore would expand based on how much you’ve progressed through the campaign.
> Yes absolutely an open world campaign, with a strong RPG feel to it. I want to be able to walk around Infinity interacting with characters and selecting dialogue bubbles I wish to have my spartan say, activating new missions and completing them for credits that I can spend at the armory on new weapons and armor and all sorts of upgrades and armor mods you name it.
>
> That would make for such a more enjoyable and replayable halo compaign.
Sammy, do you even actually like Halo? Because EVERY SINGLE idea you have for future Halo games involves completely changing Halo into a totally different type of game.
A completely open world would not work. It just makes the story weaker.
> > Yes absolutely an open world campaign, with a strong RPG feel to it. I want to be able to walk around Infinity interacting with characters and selecting dialogue bubbles I wish to have my spartan say, activating new missions and completing them for credits that I can spend at the armory on new weapons and armor and all sorts of upgrades and armor mods you name it.
> >
> > That would make for such a more enjoyable and replayable halo compaign.
>
> Sammy, do you even actually like Halo? Because EVERY SINGLE idea you have for future Halo games involves completely changing Halo into a totally different type of game.
>
> A completely open world would not work. It just makes the story weaker.
If done properly then an open world environmental might work. It can be sort of like Borderlands but more limited to the main story and not going around talking to people for quest.
Why do I have always go this route when I can go on top of this little mountain an Snipe. Or I can take this little route and flank from the right or left.
Reach was very open as well as CE. They can make it more like that but allot more open.
Halo doesn’t have to be limited to a stagnant campaign of always going one route and one route only doing the same thing in every play though. It can be more wide spread in giving the player a wider slectation in how to approach the objective.
> > > Yes absolutely an open world campaign, with a strong RPG feel to it. I want to be able to walk around Infinity interacting with characters and selecting dialogue bubbles I wish to have my spartan say, activating new missions and completing them for credits that I can spend at the armory on new weapons and armor and all sorts of upgrades and armor mods you name it.
> > >
> > > That would make for such a more enjoyable and replayable halo compaign.
> >
> > Sammy, do you even actually like Halo? Because EVERY SINGLE idea you have for future Halo games involves completely changing Halo into a totally different type of game.
> >
> > A completely open world would not work. It just makes the story weaker.
>
> If done properly then an open world environmental might work. It can be sort of like Borderlands but more limited to the main story and not going around talking to people for quest.
>
> Why do I have always go this route when I can go on top of this little mountain an Snipe. Or I can take this little route and flank from the right or left.
>
>
> Reach was very open as well as CE. They can make it more like that but allot more open.
>
> <mark>Halo doesn’t have to be limited to a stagnant campaign of always going one route and one route only doing the same thing in every play though. It can be more wide spread in giving the player a wider slectation in how to approach the objective.</mark>
Well, what you’re asking for has already been done in almost every other Halo game besides Halo 4. Previous Halo games, especially CE, allowed you to take multiple paths to complete the same objectives, or complete some objectives in the order you choose, but the game was still linear because they all eventually lead you to the same place with the same outcome.
I would love to have more freedom in how I complete each mission like in the past, but I don’t think Halo is the type of game that should have an RPG-like “open world” in the sense that players can choose their own paths and missions, come to different endings, etc.
> > > > Yes absolutely an open world campaign, with a strong RPG feel to it. I want to be able to walk around Infinity interacting with characters and selecting dialogue bubbles I wish to have my spartan say, activating new missions and completing them for credits that I can spend at the armory on new weapons and armor and all sorts of upgrades and armor mods you name it.
> > > >
> > > > That would make for such a more enjoyable and replayable halo compaign.
> > >
> > > Sammy, do you even actually like Halo? Because EVERY SINGLE idea you have for future Halo games involves completely changing Halo into a totally different type of game.
> > >
> > > A completely open world would not work. It just makes the story weaker.
> >
> > If done properly then an open world environmental might work. It can be sort of like Borderlands but more limited to the main story and not going around talking to people for quest.
> >
> > Why do I have always go this route when I can go on top of this little mountain an Snipe. Or I can take this little route and flank from the right or left.
> >
> >
> > Reach was very open as well as CE. They can make it more like that but allot more open.
> >
> > <mark>Halo doesn’t have to be limited to a stagnant campaign of always going one route and one route only doing the same thing in every play though. It can be more wide spread in giving the player a wider slectation in how to approach the objective.</mark>
>
> Well, what you’re asking for has already been done in almost every other Halo game besides Halo 4. Previous Halo games, especially CE, allowed you to take multiple paths to complete the same objectives, or complete some objectives in the order you choose, but the game was still linear because they all eventually lead you to the same place with the same outcome.
>
> I would love to have more freedom in how I complete each mission like in the past, but I don’t think Halo is the type of game that should have an RPG-like “open world” in the sense that players can choose their own paths and missions, come to different endings, etc.
Not like mass effect, but more like Borderlands where to progress you have to follow the main story (quest). But without the whole going to people asking for quest part. Well maybe some limited conversations, like that art for halo 5 that 343i showed. The outpost, what if you are able to travel their and trade for better weapons. But its not really part of the story it just a side area that you can go to and trade.
Thursday war showed that Huragok can upgrade Pelicans with slipspace drives, what if the chief got his hands on one. You can travel to multiple areas to explore and kill what ever but you won’t progress the story until you go to where you are intended to go. To unlock new areas to explore you have to progress in the campaign and once that section is over you can return when ever you want as well as to any previous areas.
There are very few FPS open world games that have been successful. I’m sure it could be pulled off, but it has to be done right. I think if they were going to make an open world Halo game, it would have to be outside the main story in the Reclaimer Saga (Halo 4: ODST?).