H5: End the trend of "Colorful graphics" ?

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

As some of you may know, one of the critiques some gamers have about Halo is that the graphics are too “cartoony/colorful.”

Now the UNSC and Forerunners have their own respected color scheme,that is fairly consistant and simple… But the Covenant on the other hand look like they just got back from a Day-Glow party and their color spectrum ranges entirely across the board. I understand that some members of this forum like Halo’s the colorful presentation, but should 343 invest in toning down bright colors for next Halo title?

My suggestion would be to tone down the colors in a way that would fit the classic Halo theme, but reduce “flamboyancy.” For example:
Minor Elites would have a dark blue as a secondary color, and Black as a primary
Fire team Majestic would be the same.
For MP, Red team would have a “blood red” color, and Blue team would be “Navy Blue”
Covenant Vehicles would have steel as a primary color, and purple as a secondary
Revert back to the Brown/Grey Marine Color scheme in HCE and Reach.
Etc…

We have to remember that the reason why this series has these colorful features is because the original halo had to color-coat enemies, vehicles, and objects in order to easily express rank/classification. With the technology at developers hands now-a-days, this is less needed, and providing gamers with a more realistic color presentation would create more immersion. Not to mention the developers alluded to the next Halo installment as being a “darker” game, and what would complement that theme better than a dark presentation.

I’m interested to know what you guys think about this?

2

No. Halo has always had interesting color pallets and has helped it stand out from the standard shooters on the market. Even Reach was a colorful game compared to the rest of the FPS market.

3

> No. Halo has always had interesting color pallets and has helped it stand out from the standard shooters on the market. Even Reach was a colorful game compared to the rest of the FPS market.

I for one completely agree with the OP, HR/H4 are both WAY too bright and unnatural/cartoonish compared to Halo 3. I still think that H3 had better overall graphics than both of those games, despite better textures and more polygons, because of its colors and lighting. Specifically, in H4 characters are still lit up even while inside caves! The terrain looks great but the character lighting is terrible. And what the hell is up with the Salmon colored Red Team? Tone down the colors like OP said, please. Also somewhat related, please bring back the helmet visor reflections because H4’s are too flat.

Bring back the H3 coloring with improved lighting plus more polygons and it’ll be good.

4

I like color.

5

Just keep in mind, I’m NOT saying remove colors, but instead tone them down to give the game a more realistic feel. One thing I loved about the brute vehicles/weapons in Halo 3 is that they looked far more badass and threatening than say a purple ghost or pink needler…

Yeah the use of more vibrant colors sets Halo apart from other shooters, but it takes away from the immersion/realism of the game as well. Catch 22…

6

> > No. Halo has always had interesting color pallets and has helped it stand out from the standard shooters on the market. Even Reach was a colorful game compared to the rest of the FPS market.
>
> I for one completely agree with the OP, HR/H4 are both WAY too bright and unnatural/cartoonish compared to Halo 3. I still think that H3 had better overall graphics than both of those games, despite better textures and more polygons, because of its colors and lighting. Specifically, in H4 characters are still lit up even while inside caves! The terrain looks great but the character lighting is terrible. And what the hell is up with the Salmon colored Red Team? Tone down the colors like OP said, please. Also somewhat related, please bring back the helmet visor reflections because H4’s are too flat.
>
> Bring back the H3 coloring with improved lighting plus more polygons and it’ll be good.

I agree with toning down the colours, but in terms of looking “too cartoony”, i always thought Halo 3 was the worst of the lot.

7

Halo Reach was my least favorite Halo game, largely because of the unappealing, bland color pallet. Halo 3 was my favorite Halo game, largely because of it’s graphical diversity and beautiful use of colors. Graphics don’t matter that much, but they do to a certain extent. For many reasons, Halo Reach was the black sheep of the Halo series. One of them is the graphics. Halo 3 was a little too colorful and bright- to the point where some found it cartoony- so that’s not a perfect example either.

Halo was always a colorful game- taking us from yellow dunes in the desert to green forests, to white and blue glaciers. It portrayed alien worlds with beauty, rather than gray realism, and that was one of the things that made Halo stand out (even though it was never truly a leader in the graphics department). I think 343i found a sweet spot with Halo 4 (barring the fact that everything was a little too shiny), and I would be very disappointed if they would change over to the boringly bland graphics that most other games stick to these days.

Realism =/= good graphics, and I’d always take a beautiful game over a realistic one.

8

So now you want everything, even the covenant to become the kind of boring, gritty stuff that can be found in almost every shooter nowadays? Covenant stuff has always been my way to get away from all this mainstream black, dull guns. The covenant was the ‘colourful’ side of reach that I enjoyed.

9

I vastly prefer the interesting and complex color palettes.

Halo is a story about mystery, fantasy, wonder, etc. The themes with exploration and all the ancient wonders would logically be displayed in a variety of beautiful colors and styles. Make it stand out, give it that sense of awe.

When you play CE for the firet time, the distinction with the alien style, the Human style, and the Forerunner style is incredible. I feel like CEA captured that even better. The Covenant have always been known for their bright purple colors, and that has really helped reflect that they’re different. The Forerunners’ use of silver/chrome creates a sense of majesty and power, especially with the style.
Halo 4 does this again really well in terms of the Forerunners. I feel like some of the lighting can be toned down, but overall the use of overwhelming lights and towering structures were meant to do exactly that. Create a sense of awe and power.
Halo 4 was meant to be new. Requiem was fresh, the UNSC was back on its feet and expanding in a new direction, this was a new Covenant blending ancestral traditions with the style the Covenant has used for millenia. That’s why it was all so bright.

Reach’s color palette disappointed me. It was bland and gritty. The colors seemed washed out and artificial.
But it worked. Why? Because Reach was telling a story of true war, death, the Fall of Reach, Humanity’s Fortress Among the Stars. That kind of story is where a darkened color palette fits.

Halo 4 and the rest of the Reclaimer Trilogy? It generally doesn’t have that kind of story focus. The colors should still be vibrant and interesting like they’ve always been.
Halo 5 is said to be one of the darkest Halos, story-wise. That doesn’t mean to drain the color from the game, but instead it means that they should further use it and distinguish.

The beginning should start out bright and wonderful. Then let it gradually “decline” as we reach the darker parts of the game. Make it subtly noticeable, have it add to the atmosphere without totally interrupting or changing the theme and story it’s trying to tell. Let the colors correspond with the emotion of the area.

If the scene is supposed to be dark and sad, bright and flashing colors don’t fit well. Likewise, when the scene is supposed to be enthusiastic and interesting, bland and dark colors won’t give that atmosphere correctly.

10

> Yeah the use of more vibrant colors sets Halo apart from other shooters, but it takes away from the immersion/<mark>realism</mark> of the game as well. Catch 22…

Realism! How long has Halo meant to be real?!
that just stood out to me, and I have nothing more to say

11

I disagree.

I like Halo as bright and colorful. Even Reach, while still having a darker tone, still had beautiful colors found in levels like New Alexandria and The Package, to name two.

12

I thought Halo: CE, Halo 2, and Halo 3 all had better artistry regarding colors. Halo: Reach was too gritty and Halo 4 was too fluorescent.

> > Yeah the use of more vibrant colors sets Halo apart from other shooters, but it takes away from the immersion/<mark>realism</mark> of the game as well. Catch 22…
>
> Realism! How long has Halo meant to be real?!

“Believable” would be a better word.

13

Colour is better than toning things down or adding black or brown to things. Titanfall is pretty colourful. So is Bulletstorm, and it looks like sunset overdrive is colourful.

I think Halo should continue its colourful route and make things just as colourful as before. We don’t need to tone things down to add realism because it doesn’t add realism, it just makes it bland.

14

I like the direction Halo Reach and Halo 4 took with the art and color scheme. One reason I don’t play games like CoD is because the color scheme is similar to that of the rubbish I would find in a bin. Browns and greys.

15

As long as it’s not the “next-gen” type saturation we’ve come to expect from shooters. Titanfall, Battlefield, Call of Duty… they all seem unsaturated to the point of looking unrealistic IMO.

When you go into thick, deep jungle, and the Sun is out… The light will shine through the leaves above you and give everything a green-ish tint. When that happens in a lot of current shooters, everything retains its grimy, grey tint.

Keep the Halo art style. Aim for realistic lighting and color without looking to other Halos for guidance.

EDIT: ALSO, as far as Covenant go, how would you be any more immersed if they were less colorful? It’s not like we have any idea how aliens would dress. They might not even see in the same colors as us for all we know

16

Someone’s saying Halo Reach is more bright/colourful than H3?

I didn’t mind Reach’s colour pallet, but I think anything further than that would be too much.

Covenant colour coding is part of cannon, and from a design standpoint lets you easily recognize what you’re fighting. The covenant love of purple is their thing. You immediately recognize it as non-human. Making a ghost primarily grey with purple highlights would make it look like an UNSC knockoff.

Halo’s always meant to have a fantastical, wondrous feel. Gritty worked for reach because it was telling a gritty story. I’d rather halo didn’t force itself to conform to other franchise’s looks.

17

> > No. Halo has always had interesting color pallets and has helped it stand out from the standard shooters on the market. Even Reach was a colorful game compared to the rest of the FPS market.
>
> I for one completely agree with the OP, HR/H4 are both WAY too bright and unnatural/cartoonish compared to Halo 3. I still think that H3 had better overall graphics than both of those games, despite better textures and more polygons, because of its colors and lighting. Specifically, in H4 characters are still lit up even while inside caves! The terrain looks great but the character lighting is terrible. And what the hell is up with the Salmon colored Red Team? Tone down the colors like OP said, please. Also somewhat related, please bring back the helmet visor reflections because H4’s are too flat.
>
> Bring back the H3 colouring with improved lighting plus more polygons and it’ll be good.

What? Halo Reach was not nearly as colourful as its predecessors, It had by far in my opinion the best artistic design of any Halo to date. Halo 3 did things like texturing, colouring and Spartan body posture and effects better, but Reach had superior Skyboxes and artistic design. Though I do think that Halo 4 has the best Starship design of any Halo so far. However, I did not really like the way Forerunner architecture looked in Halo 4, the textures and designed seemed too different.

I accept the way the Storm covenant looked in Halo 4, after learning that they were an entirely different faction of covenant, though it would have been nice to have had them look far more pirate like than they did.

18

I’d prefer they go with or similar to the reach art style but with a bit more color for the forge palette perhaps.

19

When I think of graphic wise campaign cutscene wise Halo 4 had the best but in terms of in game graphics I’d have to say Halo 3 had the most believable ones. The colors weren’t black-washed like reach and weren’t bright and just plain neon like Halo 4. Halo 4 had the best details. Reach had some pretty great mix of both while missing both. Halo 3 had some pretty awesome lighting. As far as my agreement with the OP. I agree with the toning down the neon a bit, because like someone said, the colors are so bright in Halo 4 even in dark maps or in a dark shadow that your spartan will still be seen.

20

Covenant vehicles being primarily steel? Yoink! no! Purple is what the Covenant does!

That, and their neon WoMD are a defining trait. The Covenant just wouldn’t be the same without that. Let the Brutes be the gritty, grungy, “realistic” alien faction. Their union with the Covenant always felt forced to me anyways.