Everything missing - My feedback

Games Halo Infinite
,
#1

As time goes on, I think 343 doesn’t actually understand halo, or at least what makes us like Halo. In recent times 343I wanted to reach out to a broader audience, however, their games fail to do so each time. I believe this comes from their neglect to understand what Halo actually is. On the surface sure it’s the rings and the campaign but it’s more than that. (I’ll briefly mention the bugs/gltiches here, they play a factor but aren’t my main focus right now)

The original Trilogy

While Halo Infinite most certainly plays like Halo, there’s something that really bugs the community to an undying edge, sending even some of the most relaxed players into a restless state. In the Original Trilogy, there was a development pattern I think was the most Crucial about the game Halo. What essentially became Halo Multiplayer and campaign.

In Halo: CE we had our basics, from there Bungie went on to develop Halo 2, in which several conditions from 1 was carried over. This is something I want to point out.

A lot of content 343I has made unique to them they never seem to truly carry over for launch while bungie almost every new feature they made, if it made a positive state of game, would return.

For example, Halo 2 added Playable Elites and since then every Halo up to Halo Reach with the exception of ODST had Playable Elites. Halo 3 introduced the File share system, Forge and Theater which from then on became a standard across all Halos including ODST. Firefight was introduced in ODST which appeared again in Halo Reach. Do you see where I am going with this?

Based on this development pattern Bungie had for Halo, here’s what we all should’ve seen in Halo: Infinite at the very least for Launch.

Rating:

Halo Would be Rated M not Teen. Rated M never stopped Younger Audiences from Playing. At least it didn’t for me.

Main Menu:

Campaign

Arena Multiplayer

Spartan Ops (Maybe)

File Share System

Custom Games/Browser

Forge

Theater

Weapon Drills

Gamemodes:

Juggernaut

Headhunter

CTF

1CTF

Stock Pile

Oddball

Crazy King

King of the Hill

Territories

Slayer

Swat

Slayer Pro

Infection

Assault

Breakout

Keepaway

Dominion

Race

Regicide

Ricochet

Extraction

Flood

Strongholds

Griff Ball

Blarg Ball

VIP

Invasion

Warzone

Warzone Assault

Warzone Firefight

Last Spartan Standing

Land Grab

Fiesta

Total Control

Functional:

Playable Spartans

Playable Elites

Spartan Customization - Base Sets like previous Halo’s then the Seasonal Content

Halo Reach Style Elite Customization - If not Halo’s 3 this would be acceptable or Seasonal Content.

Armor Progression System - unlocked via player choice by a credit system. The more special the armor is the more it costs

Rank Progression System - to show who is a veteran

Armor that can only be unlocked via impressive achievements (Example Achilles or Vid Master or Helioskrill)

Customizable Spartan and Elite Armor Colors using the Halo: MCC method. I believe that most Halo players do not agree with the Armor Core Color Limitation. Sometimes old ways are just better even if they are limited. If it ain’t broke don’t try to fix it.

Male and Female Body Types with additional tags introduced in Halo: Infinite. Let the player be who they want to be. No reason to limit them to an unidentifiable gender. We live in a day and age where self expression is very important.

Maps:

The maps they have now on their own are fine as long as other maps are coming along. If not, they need to have at least a few maps that can fit with each game type. I would advise them to do classic fan favorite maps first.

Emblems:

This one is tough because I do prefer the old system but I also see the potential for the new system.

In short, 343I wants a broader audience but Halo: Infinite only has some of these contents. It’s easy to understand why so many fans seem alienated when you look at it like this. The thing that always confused me about this was that Halo already had a very large and upfront franchise so I don’t see why they needed to reach out to a broader audience when they already had it.

The current Halo isn’t broad at all and actually is very less broad than the prior games as in prior games. Halo Reach alone there was a little bit of everything for everyone. Not an Elite Fan you could turn them off. Elite Fan? You could be one! Want to create modes, you could! Wanted to Race you could! Wanted to be a powerhouse, go play juggernaut.

All these little things 343I doesn’t do is detracting from the game’s popularity and success. If I was in control of the launch state I would have delayed the game until at least these basics are nearly or are fulfilled.

As time proved I don’t think 343I has the mental capability to make this push and push it correctly. Until I am proven wrong. I’ll be disappointed. Without all this stuff I am bored of the game.

And of course, this is just scratching the surface. These are just the basics.

5 Likes
#2

I agree with you, 343 doesn’t understand Halo. Each of their games contradicts the last game they released, both in multiplayer and in campaign story. They claim to have a vision and a plan to “evolve” Halo, but at this rate this is devolution. Halo is going backwards, not forwards. Why change the normal formula that propelled Halo into the top games of it’s time? They literally just had to take what worked in Halo 3 and continue on with the fight but 343 choose to reinvent Halo entirely with each game they released. After letting the crap show continue on after Halo 4, now the story has spun out of control so badly that 343 required a “spiritual” reboot of the game, right at the end of their trilogy.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Master Chief should still be in cryo sleep like at the end of Halo 3. This whole 343 trilogy should just be a really, really bad nightmare John was having or something.

4 Likes
#3

I’d settle for John being dead if it would wake me up from this recurring nightmare!

1 Like
#4

that would be kind of funny and infuriating if this was all a dream he was having, and he never left cryo sleep.

1 Like
#5

I agree 100% Bud! Does 343I have “ANYBODY” that really likes the Game Halo or they just in it for the money. I understand that a business need to make money but in order to make a profit you gotta have a product that people can stand behind and purchase. So far I really don’t see it at the time of this post.

I want to buy some new skins and stuff but until 343i fixes the Custom Game Area I ain’t gonna buy squat!! :rofl:

Peace! :fist_right: :fist_left:

#6

They Prob do have some that actually likes halo like we do, but my guess is their voices are drowned out by the higher ups because it doesn’t line with their plans. Which honestly, I’m not sure they even have a plan. Seems like they are winging it now.

#7

:rofl: I agree bud!

But to me Honest I just want that old Halo Feelin Back. That’s all I want. Why can’t we have it? :worried:

Peace! :fist_right: :fist_left:

1 Like
#8

The unfortunate part is that there are enough people playing this game that go to great lengths to defend 343’s behavior. 343 has been heading down this road for some time and has now fully embraced the worst, most anti-consumer version of a microtransaction system.

Halo 4 was a profitable game, from what I’ve read it costs about $40 million to produce, and in the first week, they made close to half a billion from sales. Halo Infinite could’ve kept a very similar progression system and created a microtransactions store to sell all the little extras all the extra little goodies that people will always spend their money on, and they would’ve still made a killing and then some. People playing Halo Infinite, would’ve been happy, but no, they see money, money, money, they have got to pick your pocket constantly, the entire system is designed to pick your pocket.

Halo Infinite has made a ton of money, but they can’t be satisfied with a ton of money, they want more., it’s a big fat machine that needs to be fed. They did the same thing with the TV series, they want more viewers, they need to broaden their audience, not to introduce people to the Halo universe, but for the sole purpose to get more people to buy stuff. The thing is, 343’s behavior has partially backfired on them,

It’s maddening how much money they have made from this game, and only because they bald-faced lied, a lie this size should be criminal. But some will say, hey, it’s just a game … yeah, just a game that has made hundreds of millions of dollars off of hardworking people, by lying to them. Stop buying the Battle pass, stop buying the shiny things in the store, and force Microsoft to make things right.

It’s like if renovating my house I decide I’m going to get rid of the roof, the walls, everything, except I’m going to keep the original foundation, and then I decide, I’m going to add another foundation on top of the original one.

So I build a new foundation, and then I put up the walls and I put on a new roof, and then I think to myself you know what, I don’t need the original foundation anymore, and so I remove it, not realizing it’s the original foundation that supports everything else.

343 doesn’t get it, , they inherited a massive Halo fan base, a foundation to which they have been continually eroding away, they just don’t get it.

1 Like
#9

See I’m divided on that, because I do know there are very good people in 343I including some that are popular known YouTubers. If I am correct GameCheat 13, the creators of Installation 01, and a few others we’re hired by 343I. So I know there are people pushing for what we want in there, which is prob why Halo even looks like Halo right now. However, I feel like their problem is the disconnect from those people making the game and the leadership making choices. My guess is that Halo is in Development hell because 343I is internally having a war with themselves. → The job reviews on Glassdoor kinda support this theory. Not to mention people and figures that have been quitting are the ones that made the pushes that we wanted so far. So somewhere up in 343I there is some major Push Back. Which is a problem in itself. I heard they we’re out right ignoring and not hiring original bungie devs that wanted to join them. I feel like the only reason they got Joseph Staten was because he was just a huge Halo figure 343I wanted to think that they we’re making changes under the hood. Sadly he came in way to late and I am not sure what they’re planning to do with him right now. If Joseph ends up quitting too I’ll lose any tiny bit of hope I had for the future of this game. At this point I think if they are at all taking our situation seriously they’ll consider doing a re-launch. But even then it’s too late to bring back the true clout they had before.

All in All I think the main problems is 343 fighting itself, not hiring on contracts for long term, and deciding to launch the game in an unfinished state. I would’ve waited for a long time if it meant Halo was content complete. All of these stimulate from decisions from Leadership roles and is also prob why Bonnie Ross is so quiet until she literally forced to speak. It’s pretty much the same with Frank O’ Conor.

However, on the other half

If they actually get the live service part of the game going, then all this shouldn’t be an issue no matter what. I do believe forge is going to be great, but it may not be the thing to save Halo. Especially if we have to wait an entire year. Forge alone isn’t enough to support Halo when Halo is missing so many of its major pillars.

Overall if they we’re going to launch the game in this state, they should’ve done some sort of pre-planning. and adapted Halo: Infinite to at least be ready to minor changes on the time or literally launched the game as a “Game Preview” not an official Launch. Still, for those who say it should’ve launched when it did it only means they now have to rush the products, or the game will die.

I’m fearful for the fate of Halo.

#10

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

1 Like
#11

Blockquote let’s just support MCC for as long as we can… at least there players are getting their money’s worth.

To be fairly honest, I’ll prob be moving towards COD: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) I’ve been taking a huge break for Halo watching it from the sidelines like through these posts. I try not to let it get to me.

I understand your frustration though. Halo is more than just a game to many of us. Halo to me is a social game where I Met my Best friends, found my Girlfriend, found my real family, and those same people through halo supported me during one of the roughest times in my entire life. Like when I was bullied in School, or my Uncle Committed Suicide.

If Halo wasn’t what it was, I wouldn’t be alive today. I would’ve never had the will to join the US Army like I did. That’s how much Halo impacted me. Many other Halo Fans have many things like this.

So, I understand when you say you don’t want it to die. It would be called nothing sort of Passion. We all have the Passion. Halo is a part of our lives and if feels like we’re losing a friend to the times of wind.

It’s enough to get me Emotional.

#12

Well, if I’m correct and from what has been said when the original Bungie started producing Destiny 1 the company split, some moved on and went their own way, some stayed and worked on the project, and some joined 343 to work on Halo. That last part is important because they had or have employees that worked on the Trilogy, etc.

This means they had people that had experience with the game and plenty of it after working on 5 titles, etc… Yet, so far since the production of Halo 4 343 has molded every tile into what they wanted and every title has been different. (Absolutely no consistency at all.) The single biggest “mistake” any gaming company can ever make and in the process each Title has gotten worse. To sum it up.

Halo 4 was consider a complete game.
Halo 5 was drip fed content
Halo 6 is literally a barebone game, actually, it’s still in beta mode.

It’s not that 343 doesn’t know
It’s not that they don’t have employees that know
And it’s not like they don’t have Staten.

343 literally has everything they need to learn and understand what a Halo game is from years off feedback, the original titles, original employees, etc… The problem is, they don’t care and have been molding Halo into something it’s not, and that is why Infinite is a huge mess, and I mean (a huge mess.)

#13

This is all facts. You’re 100% correct on 343 not knowing what Halo is. They don’t know what the word/franchise Halo means. They turned it into a trend follower, not a trend setter.

1 Like
#14

Definitely not a baseless take. They’ve made a lot of decisions that I would quantify as “out of touch” seemingly intended to “experiment” with their options, but at the end of the day, I completely agree that they’re not really sure what makes these games tick-- at least not beyond a superficial level.

I shouldn’t make that claim against all members of 343i though. Certain standouts do exist, such as Joe Staten, who do have the franchise’s best interest in mind. But there really does seem to be a haughty disconnect between upper management, the product and their audience.

Take, for example, the very basis of Halo Infinite. An un-called-for Free To Play Arena Shooter that makes it’s money off of DLC and microtransactions. While those two things aren’t unusual to the gaming space, the way Halo Infinite handles those microtransactions reflects a conflict of interest.

They seem to believe that items should have different “rarities” that contribute to their storefront value; an ideology seemingly carried on from Halo 5: Guardians, or at least a holdover that made the cut. They insist that items be sold at prices that often fail to meet player expectations, making obvious their preference for “testing the waters” instead of being direct and gathering player feedback.

And worst of all? This system stands in direct contrast to promises made before the game’s release-- millions of customization options on Day One, earnable just by playing. They not only went as far as to gracelessly betray their own words, but to do so in a manner that infuriates more people than it satisfies.

But it isn’t just about the microtransactions, as egregious as they are. The game’s networking and netcode is a landfill inferno, even so long after launch. There’s also the glaring lack of functionality for custom games, lacking an iteration (or even so much as an answer) to the groundbreaking Custom Games Browser offered by it’s predecessor.

And I wouldn’t dare to forget to mention Forge, one of Halo Infinite’s last potential bastions of player interest. Some, including myself, believe it to be capable of ‘saving the game’ at the very least from a publicity standpoint.

You’re right, OP. You said it right in the title: Everything is missing. The love, the replayability, all gone.

1 Like
#15

I have no doubt in my mind these things will improve with time if they keep at it, but at the rate they are going, it will be far too late. The changes necessary should’ve been done very quickly. Especially on the technical level.

I do still find myself playing Infinite, but only when I feel like playing the modes Unique to Infinite like Attrition and Last Spartan Standing, but because Halo MCC and title before it has all other modes and tics that I love I Find myself on MCC more.

And yes, we can’t forget the promises. Yes, things change, but when it comes to a product you need to be transparent about those things. I think what happened yet again was Management decided let’s release. They we’re supposed to do entire flighting for like an entire year before the game even launched. I remember that statement they made.

In other words, I feel like, somehow, they lost all common sense or common direction.

1 Like