Everything I Need To Say About Halo

Games Other Halo
1

Halo 4 is a great, class-A title. The gameplay is fun, the art direction is genious, the graphics are pretty, and there are plenty of options for replayability. There’s no denying that 343 really put their heart and soul into this game.

But, our beloved franchise has also undeniably veered from what it originated as. While conforming to the modern FPS and adding new features is necessary to profits and a “fresh experience”, that doesn’t mean the old features should be left out.

Halo CE was great for the campaign, revolutionary at the time, and most everyone loved it. Then came along Halo 2, and nobody can complain about the addition of xbox live and the competitive features it introduced. Halo 3 continued along the same path, but added tons of great innovative things that we all loved and enjoyed. Yes, there were still complainers, there will always be complainers, but know I’m not here to complain, merely suggest and share my opinion.

I loved the first 3 games with all my heart. ODST seemed to be the first bad mark on the franchise though, because it lacked many features Halo 3 had. But hey, it was basically an expansion, the next game, Reach, was surely going to be a blockbuster.

Instead of adding onto what already existed to Halo’s formula, they attempted to rewrite it. I understand why they did this, it was an experiment, they conformed to what the population wanted. Obviously the population did not sustain the healthy population Halo 3 did, this is due to nostalgia, other big titles, etc. Many factors.

The thing they did wrong was removing some previous options and features we had. Competitiveness vanished with gimmicks, but I think we can all still agree that Reach was “competitive”, just not as fair. Halo 4 is also competitive, but also not as fair.

It’s perfectly fine for game developers to advance their series and add onto what people are familiar with, but rewriting the formula and making that THE ONLY OPTION is not the way to go. Halo 3’s formula was near perfection as far as competition goes.

Why try and rewrite the formula for the competitiveness and make that the only option. Sure, you’re trying to “revolutionize” it, but the old saying goes, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

Gimmicks, such as armor abilities and loadouts, are expected in future installments and welcome by me. More options, more fun! But the one thing 343 doesn’t understand, is that an even playing field will always be an even playing field. You must have that for competition. Why remove the levelness that Halo was, and make it the only option for us to participate in a broken competitive system?

Many games rely on chance. They’re for fun, see what happens. But look at football, baseball, volleyball, any damn competitive sport has an even playing field, the only difference are the players.

In order to get back hard wired fans, this is what I suggest, and I know it’s been suggested 1000 times. Why remove the option of fairness. You can have a social playlist full of gimmicks and all that, but leave the competitive playlists alone. You simply cannot have a ranking system based on fallacies.

Also, another big thing is polishing the game. I know everyone at 343 is a true Halo fan, detail oriented, but damn, you turned the blind eye to a lot of little features that made the game feel solid.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say about that.

2

I feel that the arena halo style was played out. Basically, halo won arena shooters, it was the most evolved of its type. They evolved equipment into AAs, which I felt was natural, except for sprint, and the addition of preset loadouts was also a natural step, since the only thing you were choosing in 95% of the playlists was musts your armor ability, all the guns were the same. From that we got customizable, loadouts which I defiantly saw coming just because it was almost obvious. I’ve accepted Halos transition into the class based type, simply because there was nothing left for them to do within that type to keep it fresh, it was at its peak. Some people will say that the should have stuck to the same formula but modify and add to it naturally, but the thing is that’s exactly what the did with reach, and halo 4 as well, save for perks and flinch mechanics.

3

Halo didn’t need change it just needed improvements. Just because the market is flooded with class based and loadout based shooter doesn’t mean halo had to do the same. You can’t beat other games by doing what they do. Halo will just be swept under the rug because other games gave a firm footing in their respective class of shooter. Halo had its footing but jumped off a cliff because 343 wanted to get in on the band wagon. If halo 5 is the same then it’ll probably lose most of its long time fans.

4

> Halo didn’t need change it just needed improvements. Just because the market is flooded with class based and loadout based shooter doesn’t mean halo had to do the same. You can’t beat other games by doing what they do. Halo will just be swept under the rug because other games gave a firm footing in their respective class of shooter. Halo had its footing but jumped off a cliff because 343 wanted to get in on the band wagon. If halo 5 is the same then it’ll probably lose most of its long time fans.

Your reasoning is Anecdotal at best…

This is not change for the sake of change. As someone who has played this series for the last 12 years, it is just evolution. Just because you and a couple of other fans don’t like it, doesn’t mean that the game is horrible.

They added these other features to display what Spartans are actually capable of. The true, or their approximation of true, fans of the series who wanted MP updates and those who didn’t all wanted the game to stick closer to the story. Unfortunately for those like yourself, the cross over of where the game becomes more like the story and where that game fits into current game category/genre lies with Modern FPS and that’s why people make the mistake of believing the game is taking features out of other games.

OP i agree to most of what you say. Well thought out and written by the way :slight_smile:

The sole reason as to why Halo took off in the first place is because it changed how Arena games played. It took those mechanics, those of Doom, Quake and Counter strike, and added MORE, CHANGED MORE and said this is OUR new game.

What 343i have decided to do is exactly that. A changed arena style shooter. But unfortunately for them the gaming climate has changed and WE the gamers all fixate to certain genres. WE are the real reason as to why this game is failing to do well on charts. Because WE the gamer’s want the same -yoink- in all of our games.

While i respect your opinion OP, honestly i do, i feel we don’t need the old Halo 3 style of competitive play back. I believe we need to take Infinity to its next step. Make it competitive. Yes its going to need a TON of work as far as updates and balancing is concerned but it’s Halo logical evolution.

5

AA’s and loadouts, gimmicks? What on earth are you talking about? Halo 4 is far more competitive that any other halo. Loadouts add a whole new level of competitiveness. You must strategically and skillfully craft and utilize loadouts according to the map, playlist, and just you as a player. Players can employ a much larger variety of guns and grenades to gain the upper hand. Teams must take advantage of the variety, such as having one man promethian scanning and communicating the information. I utterly fail to see how archaic, one dimensional old halo 3 comes anywhere near competitive vs h4

6

Everything save tactical packages and support upgrades were natural evolutions to halo from previous enhancements in the past games. (IMO i believe the “perks” were something new to try out we will probably see an evolution of them in halo 5) halo 4 didn’t evolve wrong. Its just too different for some people. I personally like the new changes the best part to me is that i still get the halo feel and it still plays like halo to me. We could have stayed with the old ways and it probably would have selled. But i know i and my friends would get bored of it fast. It wouldn’t last. Its the main reason why i can’t simply sit in front of COD day in and out playing for hours on end. Sure its fun to play sometimes but it gets repetitive way too fast.

(part of the reason they shove out new maps every month IMO) Halo managed to last longer with out changing a whole bunch. But if they kept at it eventually it would end up like COD in terms of repetitive.

7

> AA’s and loadouts, gimmicks? What on earth are you talking about? Halo 4 is far more competitive that any other halo. Loadouts add a whole new level of competitiveness. You must strategically and skillfully craft and utilize loadouts according to the map, playlist, and just you as a player. Players can employ a much larger variety of guns and grenades to gain the upper hand. Teams must take advantage of the variety, such as having one man promethian scanning and communicating the information. <mark>I utterly fail to see how archaic, one dimensional old halo 3 comes anywhere near competitive vs h4</mark>

This is a joke, right?

8

Man, we desperately need something new to discuss here…

9

let me ask you this question, to all those who hate 343 for ruining halo 4.

What if bungie made it and had its label on the box? Would you question bungie or are you just annoyed that bunie left this beloved series?

10

Considering most people who don’t like Halo 4, didn’t like Reach either, I doubt it would make a difference who made the game.

I know it may get annoying to you seeing “343 fix this, 343 fix that”, but guess what… 343 DID make this game, and they are the ones people have to go to with complaints.

People aren’t complaining BECAUSE 343 made the game. The forums would be in the same state had Bungie made it.

Honestly, the blind defenders of this game are worse than the people trying to get it fixed. I’d rather read a thought out post of why someone doesn’t like the game then see a post by someone saying “343 I love you, you made the best game ever. It is so fun.”

11

This post has been edited by a moderator. Please refrain from making non-constructive posts.

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

^ OMG you probably sound like a troll who wants halo to fail. The amount of forums i see on bungie.net is laughable. People are like why did you leave, 343 suck, bungie why and i laugh at there futile efforts.

Why shouldnt you defend the game you life, there is no crime. Also why you on forums saying that 343 sucks. You have a life dont you? Do something constructive than other just moaping around saying that halo is ruined

12

> let me ask you this question, to all those who hate 343 for ruining halo 4.
>
> What if bungie made it and had its label on the box? Would you question bungie or are you just annoyed that bunie left this beloved series?

Bungie was ROASTED when it dropped Reach .
Google ’ Why Reach sucked ’ … Look for a Bungie.Net link and read the relentless hate .

You’re taking the nostalgia argument a bit too far me thinks …

13

what is wrong with Armour abilites seriously. It add more variety and actually needs skill to to master them

Not like in halo 3 (dont get me wrong halo 3 online was good )where you were walking around until you found someone, couple of bullets of AR than melee =dead. Anyone can do that, but armour abilities if you ise them correctly you can gain the upper hand

14

This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not post comments that are discriminatory in nature.

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

> what is wrong with Armour abilites seriously. It add more variety and actually needs skill to to master them
>
> Not like in halo 3 (dont get me wrong halo 3 online was good )where you were walking around until you found someone, couple of bullets of AR than melee =dead. Anyone can do that, but armour abilities if you ise them correctly you can gain the upper hand

A lot of people don’t see the armour abilities as the problem , I don’t even feel they are as game changing as in Reach .

Why did the population of Halo 4 drop like a fat -Yoink- from twenty stories ?

Here is why.

Because Reach gave us loadouts, which actually made the game even harder for downies to enjoy. And Reach lost tons of players as a result.

The plan going into H4 was to make the game as noob friendly as possible so these thumbless kids could enjoy themselves.

  • Ranks that, once again, were all about playing time instead of actual skill.

  • Boltshot for those that have no business playing a FPS at all

  • DMR magnetism for those that can’t aim, but want to use a precision weapon and feel ‘pro’

  • Plasma pistols for those who lose sleep at night because they can’t take out a ghost in BTB (lol) and are too stupid to seek cover instead of running out in the open all the time

  • Plasma grenades with absurd magnetism for the panic kids who always press left trigger before right trigger every time they see someone (like 75% of the population)

  • Active Camo so everybody can be the cool sniper character … this is hilaroius. Unless in a vehicle 75% of BTB kids are using AC.

  • Ordinance for the kids that aren’t disciplined enough to learn power spawn times/locations … and even worse you don’t even have to kill someone to get it. Just spam shots into foes and have rockets dropped in your lap… what an amazing concept.

The list goes on and on.