Did 343 Really Succeed?

Games Other Halo
1

Hi guys. Look, I’m not trying to troll. I want to find out what is really happening because I really want to understand the heart of the matter. Did 343 truly succeed (and please… no “yes they did succeed because they made their money.” The question is deeper than that Captain Obvious).

Halo 4 broke records w/ the money it made at launch correct? And yet, I’ve heard at the same time that it didn’t sell as much as 3 or even Reach. This scenario can make sense to me considering a couple of factors that I can see coming into play. Regardless… that is not my real concern and the reason why I started this thread.

Here is my experience:

I played 3 for SO long. I played Reach. It took me MONTHS to get sick of it. Halo 4? I got sick of it in a week. I bought the Limited edition. I feel robbed.

Really quick:

OUR OPINIONS/FEELINGS ON THE GAME ARE NOT ON TRIAL HERE. PLEASE DON’T TURN THIS INTO A FLAME-WAR (and yes I suck, my k/d is low, blah, blah, blah. Didn’t keep me from enjoying the other games much longer. Also, I’ve played since CE, just not online until 3. …just fyi).

Sorry I had to use my outside voice.

The reason for this thread is simple:

I bought the limited edition. I don’t play it. I hate the game. To me it’s not Halo.

Is my experience isolated?

From what I’ve found: No.

Where I work once I was finally able to ask a customer if he bought Halo 4 he said yes. When I asked him if he enjoyed it, he simply shook his head in quite a bit of disgust. He said, “It just didn’t feel like Halo.” And he even only plays campaign. Remarkable.

Another customer whom I asked, “Did you get Halo 4? Did you like it?” immediately and EMPHATICALLY expressed, “NO!” He continued to say that, “It sucked,” and that they had moved on to Black Ops II.

Now, before anyone is in with the standard BOII put-down let me just say that with BOII, I’m pretty sure (at least with me it’s the case) we expect dumb fun. I don’t take it seriously because I can’t. I expect that much out of COD. I don’t play it for that. In fact, I NEVER played it over Halo before Halo 4. NEVER. Now I do.

Flame me if you want. I’m just being honest.

So I asked my buddy who plays BOII (half the reason I play it now instead), if he knows anybody who has a valid opinion on Halo 4. He said that where he works, there were three gamers WHO WERE ALL EXCITED FOR HALO 4…

They bought it, now they all hate it and say that Halo 4 SUCKS!!

That is SIX copies sold. …all buyer’s remorse.

…and yet, I’m not even finished.

I really only pay attention to a couple of players on LIVE, but they both said, “It’s alright.” One of them even remarked that she was glad she didn’t trade in her Reach like some other guy we were playing with because she said that she might go back to it.

So the record here would look something like??:

0-6-2 ??

On top of that, I know a couple or a few people that used to play 3/Reach and they all would absolutely HATE the game. Another person has heard about the horrible reception will probably now not buy it (he was there both times customers relayed their disdain for what was done to Halo). Even more sad is that they have never been an online Halo player and were seriously thinking about doing it with 4. Now? Nevermind!

So what gives? EIGHT copies sold and NO WINS?!?

And 2 more previously sold copies unsold?

Games being returned??? (yes, they are being returned)

Can 343’s game really be a success if this is how the game is being received?? Sure they may have sold a bunch of copies but I can’t deny any of this and the population is pretty slim online…

I keep seeing people rabbidly defend this game, and yet… I know all of this to be true.

I’m just trying to reconcile it all with these people hailing it as the best Halo yet and these press-releases regarding its success but I can’t.

What have you seen?

And if anyone is wondering why I am here if I don’t like the game it’s because I like Halo. And I’m discussing Halo 4 because I’m interested in how this latest entry is affecting the franchises reputation. Capice?

(A quick thanks to anyone who is civil and reasonable in the ensuing discussion.) :slight_smile:

PS I’m not convinced this is the best time to post this. But I know I will get a better sampling over time :wink:

2

I have to make one correction, the game did sell more than its predecessors.

HOWEVER, I agree with you that returned games, etc. are filling the stores. Its not even funny how many used copies of Halo 4 I saw at Gamestop the other day. Its reality that, yes, Halo 4 sold alot BUT did it sustain those numbers? By no means.

I personally like Halo 4, and if you choose to play BLOPS2 over it, well more power to you. BLOPS2 is actually one of THE best Cod games since Modern Warfare 1 so enjoy.

It does make sense that not a lot of people really are into it, considering there are issues with lag, etc. that will be fixed but why stress about a video game, or entertainment. If they are not receiving the entertainment value they expected, well then they should sell the game and get something they do like.

Forcing yourself to play Halo 4 because it is a Halo game is a farse. If you like the new style of Halo, great I will see you on matchmaking. If not, best of luck to you in your gaming experience elsewhere :slight_smile:

3

I personally enjoy Halo 4. I really enjoy the Dominion mode, but I don’t enjoy Big Team as much due to the fact that it’s almost always “Camp the Vehicle Spawns”.

4

In my book, they succeeded. I like the change.

I don’t really understand all of the people who wanted the game to stay the same. If I wanted to play Halo 3 again, I would just play my Halo 3. If I wanted to play Halo Reach again, I’d put my Reach in.

Halo 4 has its problems, but so does every game when it comes out. As for all of the complaining, it’s been around for every Halo game. Halo 2, Halo 3, ODST, Reach, and now Halo 4.

5

The current multiplayer has some issues. The playlists are meh and I get disconnected a lot. I think they changed the overall style of Halo to make it more main steam.

6

I’m not a fan of the “New Halo”, but I play it because of love for the series. Even if this game doesn’t feel like Halo to me I will still play a match or two a couple nights a week. I think at this point I’m just waiting to see what kind of patches they add in to please some of the minority that was disappointed.

I am currently not playing the game because I’m trying to get over the fact that this may have been the last Halo game I ever buy unless 343 make some huge reverts to previous games. In the meantime, I will be playing BLOPS2, as I also think it the best COD since COD4. Maybe when then map pack comes out I’ll get back on for a month or 2(I’ve only played like 80 games online, where as Halo 3 I probably played 3000 or so.)

7

Thanks everyone for all the civil responses so far.

I know very well that there will always be people who enjoy the game regardless of my, or anyone else’s, opinion. Our enjoyment or non-enjoyment of Halo 4 or BOII is not really the issue (although I do agree with the one poster that BOII
is one of the best COD’s so far).

However, please relay to me your personal experience with copies sold and rate of customer satisfaction. Out of how many copies that you personally know of sold - how many have found happy owners?

The reason I’m asking is because I’m seeing a blowup I have never seen with any other Halo game, so it makes me curious.

Cheers!

8

> Halo 4 has its problems, but so does every game when it comes out. As for all of the complaining, it’s been around for every Halo game. Halo 2, Halo 3, ODST, Reach, and now Halo 4.

Just wanted to point this out that, though I know there was plenty of complaining (especially with Reach), I never heard of so many “Hate it” votes and definite “returning it”.

My personal experience isn’t so much finding these complaining voices to be in the “minority”, hence why I am trying to gather some hard data and less opinions.

Anybody have some?

9

I love the game, and love the changes.

10

Yes they did, campaign is the best since Halo CE, and mp is sooo much better than Reach, and close to being better than H3.

11

They succeeded , best Halo Campaign I played , awesome graphics , awesome audio , great Forge , awesome Multiplayer that is still growing , Spartan Ops is also a nice addition . Despite the little flaws here and thre , Halo 4 is in my Top 3 Halo game of all time as of right now.

1:Halo 3
2:Halo 4
3:Halo 2

12

I think most of the problem stem’s from this being 343’s first game and having various people from different companies (such as the now shut down Pandemic Studios) into something they probably don’t have love for, or lack the experience in what made Halo, well Halo. The other problem I think stem’s from not having an Open Beta like H3 and Reach did. Any issue that might have been in H3’s beta was either resolved or scrapped when the final game was released. Reach is the example of a good Beta gone bad Final game.

Halo 4 should have had an open beta so as not only to test the online capabilities but to fix any issues that seem to be issues now. (See Boltshot, and DMR threads for that).

13

I’m disappointed.

After playing Halo 3 and even Reach through on Legendary the first time I went back and played them a few more times. I haven’t done the same on Halo 4 because the campaign was pretty boring.

I played the hell out of Firefight on ODST and Reach, i’ve played through every Spops mission once on legendary alone and once with my friend on normal. Aside from that I don’t want to play any of the missions again.

I have around 2000 hours of game-play on Halo 3 across it’s game-modes and about 2700 on Reach across it’s game-modes, a higher percentage of that is customs on Reach because Customs were amazing and MM was meh but I never got bored of Halo 3 or Reach. 15 days after buying Halo 4 and i’m already starting to get bored of it.

Customs & Forge have taken a heavy hit because of the crappy forge maps and the lack of precision forging. Along with the removal of 4 of Halo’s oldest and most loved game-modes (Juggernaut, Territories, Race, Assault) and the ruination of another of them (Infection). Not only that but custom game options as a whole have been ruined.

I thought that in Halo 4 we would be able to modify individual weapons stats and maybe even individual vehicles stats. But the custom game options have been stripped down even more.

The MM doesn’t feel like Halo at all. Even SWAT is bad, the DMR turns it into Team Snipers and the Magnum, due to it’s accuracy, ROF & Reload time prevails in 90% of mid-close range battles.

14

> Yes they did, campaign is the best since Halo CE, and mp is sooo much better than Reach, and close to being better than H3.

campaign is by far the worse campaign. campaign is just copied levels from other halos. its basically a greatest hit of the halo series.

i think the online population tells all about this game. it sold 3.8 million copies in week 1. 2.4 million in the U.S. alone. The fact that less then 300,000 people are online playing wargames says that many people aren’t playing it and it isn’t as popular as past halo games.

15

I am personally a fan of the Halo series as Halo: CE for the Original Xbox was my first xbox game and it was the game that made me want to get an xbox. since then i have played every single Halo game, right up to Halo 4. Halo: Reach mixed it up with the pre-set load outs. Halo 4 took it one step further and gave us the option to customize our own personal load outs. however, its not this that i personally disagree with. Ordinance is really iffy IMO, as its just too easy to get power weapons such as Rocket Launchers, Binary Rifle, Fuel Rod, Saw (camp in a small room), etc etc. the idea of ordinance is nice, but putting power weapons in it just makes some games very 1 sided. let me also say that i played CoD4 and up to Black Ops (haven’t played MW3 or Black Ops 2) and CoD4 was (from the ones i’ve played) my favorite one. Halo and Call of Duty are supposed to be two completely different play styles. Halo should be run around (sometimes like an idiot lol) and shoot at anything that moves. Call of Duty on the other hand, should be watch your corners, dont stand out in the open for too long or risk getting shot and killed. i just feel that 343i tried too hard to take other play styles and implement it into Halo 4

16

I love Halo 4, it’s truly great. Enough of this Halo CE, Halo 2, halo 3 being superior BS, that time is done, games evolve as that is really the only way to get sales when it’s a big title, they need to improve and add to.

17

Bungies magic is clearly missing but 343 has done a great job. I’ll give them B+.

But I truly hope that 343 cares and admits that there are some big flaws in 4 ATM that need fixing ASAP (like Flood thruster, Complex wall glitch, DMRs fast kill time or lack of traditional game types like Juggernaut or Race). Fixing those would make so many people happy (I think).

18

Either you love it or you hate it. Personaly this is the best overall halo game made, easily the best multiplayer in a halo game, and campaign wise only being beaten by halo 3. Barely.

People keep comparing it to cod. Except it has vehicles. And takes more than one shot to kill. And is precision orientated. Not hold your breath and shoot someone in the arm for an instant kill precision, aim for the head precision.

Not a tom clancy novel, its a tolkien novel.
Thats the diffrence.

All of the new additions are welcome changes to liven up the arena shooter gameplay halo has perfected. It hasent been removed, its still there, just fresh. An inevitable evolution.

Alot of us grew up with halo. Im an adult now. Playing halo when i was younger was an amazing, fresh experience, i continued to play them as they came out, and i grew older with them. Some of my tastes have changed, but halo remained. You have fond memories of the first games because it was a diffrent time for you in life, now that your older you have gone through some things and maybe life isnt as great as it was when you were younger, so you perceve things diffrently now.

I have played every single game, every version of every game(including halo ce pc, excluding halo 2 pc), and read every novel and grapic novel. After all that, i can whole heartedly say, halo 4 is the best halo made.

19

Halo 4 feels way to much like CoD to me.

20

From a business point of view Halo 4 has succeeded and done very well.

From a creative point of view… I don’t think so. The graphics are very nice but the art is hit-and-miss. Campaign is interesting and spectacular but restricted and bland under scrutiny. The core multiplayer gameplay is there but its muddied by weird game rules and a lack of options.

I’ve got really mixed feelings about Halo 4… and that alone says a lot. I’ve never ever had mixed feelings over a Halo game before.

Ever hear of the saying “A camel is a horse designed by committee”? I think that applies to Halo 4.