> Bonnie Ross
> We wanted Halo 5: Guardians to be the game that pays off the epic promise of the Halo universe in scope and scale and drama.
> We want to amaze players with the sheer size of the worlds and battles they’ll experience, even as they question everything they thought they knew about its heroes, marvels, and mysteries.
This is another hint that H5 will offer larger battles on larger maps than ever.
Yes, these are just marketing buzzwords being thrown around but Bonnie Ross isn’t the first to hint at this. I remember Frankie using the same words describing H5 on Neogaf.
And there are other things that would make perfect sense given this scenario:
Xbox One’s hardware power finally enables 343i to think bigger
the many rumors that there will be Spartan teams of four (Chief + Blue Team - Locke + the three spartans in his back in the MCC video sequence)
the focus on advanced mobility options including Sprint
the rumors that there will be a new multiplayer mode with larger battles / player count
Remember my words: We will hear a lot more about that in the coming months!
This is what I wrote as an argument PRO Sprint over a month ago:
BTB, campaign & more
There have been countless hints that H5 might offer bigger MP battles on larger battlefields with more players than ever before. While we obviously don’t have any concrete info yet, we should not forget that ‘Arena’ will be just one part of the whole H5 MP suite.
> Josh Holmes talking about Sprint:
> I think for the beta we really focused on the arena portion of the experience, but as with past Halos, it’s important for us to have a consistency in the gameplay speed between all different modes. […]
> So as you can imagine, we’re building a foundation of gameplay that translates over to the other larger experiences we have planned for multiplayer, that we haven’t revealed yet, as well as our campaign. So we’re trying to find the balance within the mobility that works well for all of these different modes.
Even in the past people who disliked Sprint in competitive 4 vs 4 settings often argued that Sprint felt better in BTB.
Even with vehicles and shortcuts there’s no denying that traversing big maps can sometimes be a tiresome experience.
If 343i wants to create vast landscapes for Campaign too (which is also very likely), having a constant set of mechanics does make sense.
While this whole point is of course weak until we know more, you don’t have to be a genius to anticipate what’s coming.
IMO, sprint isn’t even worth discussing anymore. I don’t think sprint was a necessary addition in the first place but I think it’s gonna be fine in Halo 5.
That said, this also makes me scared that loadouts, ordinance, etc aren’t REALLY gone, and that they are only gonna be “gone” for the “arena” portion of the game. I really hope it’s not the case.
Speaking of the campaign, I think we’re gonna get some kind of open-world campaign where you interact with characters, choose missions from a world-map of sorts, and have more choice with regards to what order you do missions in and how you complete them. Exploration and open maps was one of the things that made the early Halo campaigns great and an area where Halo 4 really suffered…this is a perfect chance to take that aspect of Halo and make it EVEN BETTER than it was in Halo: CE.
> 2533274866682248;3:
> IMO, sprint isn’t even worth discussing anymore. I don’t think it was a necessary in the first place but I think it’s gonna be fine in Halo 5.
>
> That said, this also makes me scared that loadouts, ordinance, etc aren’t REALLY gone, and that they are only gonna be gone for the “arena” portion of the game. I really hope it’s not the case.
The question is… how big will these maps really be?
I’m all for weapons on maps - but if we have 16 vs 16 (or even more) on bigass maps it really doesn’t make any sense to place weapons on the map as those maps would be to big to ever memorize weapon spawns.
> 2533274793332039;5:
> > 2533274866682248;3:
> > IMO, sprint isn’t even worth discussing anymore. I don’t think it was a necessary in the first place but I think it’s gonna be fine in Halo 5.
> >
> > That said, this also makes me scared that loadouts, ordinance, etc aren’t REALLY gone, and that they are only gonna be gone for the “arena” portion of the game. I really hope it’s not the case.
>
>
> The question is… how big will these maps really be?
>
> I’m all for weapons on maps - but if we have 16 vs 16 (or even more) on bigass maps it really doesn’t make any sense to place weapons on the map as those maps would be to big to ever memorize weapon spawns.
> 2533274793332039;5:
> > 2533274866682248;3:
> > IMO, sprint isn’t even worth discussing anymore. I don’t think it was a necessary in the first place but I think it’s gonna be fine in Halo 5.
> >
> > That said, this also makes me scared that loadouts, ordinance, etc aren’t REALLY gone, and that they are only gonna be gone for the “arena” portion of the game. I really hope it’s not the case.
>
>
> The question is… how big will these maps really be?
>
> I’m all for weapons on maps - but if we have 16 vs 16 (or even more) on bigass maps it really doesn’t make any sense to place weapons on the map as those maps would be to big to ever memorize weapon spawns.
If we get bigger teams, I hope it’s like 12 vs 12 or something like that and design the maps appropriately. That way, it’s like the BTB experience we know and love, just a little bigger. But I feel like going 16 vs. 16 would just turn BTB into an entirely different experience with a completely different dynamic. I mean who knows, it could be amazing and I’m optimistic about what they are gonna do, that’s just my feeling.
> 2533274801973487;8:
> I would like them to deliver a flawless regular MP first…
> - good maps for 4v4/ 2v2
> - good net-code
> - secure frame rate on any maps (that includes forge and splitscreen, which has been unplayable since Halo 3…)
> - good maps for 8v8
> - enough maps for regular Halo MP (2v2, 4v4, 8v8)
>
> If they manage to get that done, I don’t have a problem with a bigger MP mode…but I have my doubts
If there is indeed a new big team mode I wouldn’t be sure if there will be a 8v8 at all.
I think that there will be a…
2v2 / 4v4 competetive mode
and a big full sandbox ‘fun’ mode
We don’t need to get much larger than 8v8 for Halo. How do we make it bigger? Use AI. Copy/Pasted from my post on another thread…
> You know what I really want?
>
> Firefight + Invasion. Think about it.
>
> Player controlled Spartans and NPC UNSC assets vs Player controlled Elites and NPC Covenant assets. It would kind of merge the concepts of shooting players and shooting grunts, both of which are integral to Halo.
>
> People talk about how concerned they are for BTB in upcoming Halo titles. They say they want huge 32 or 64 player games on Halo Wars inspired maps, but I don’t see that working. What if, instead, we had a simple 4v4 or 6v6 and tons of AI? Obviously, there would need to be some mechanic for tactically directing AI, so you can have a squad of Marines get your back against the two hunters and a player in a tank. (in fact, such a mechanic would have been useful in…like…every Halo campaign ever) The sandbox would also have to be balanced towards Human vs Covenant, but Reach did a pretty good job of that.
>
> Of course, we could have some fun with a gametype that fuses PvP and PvE. Imagine if a third faction of Prometheans, Flood, Brutes, Sentinels, Heretics, Insurrectionists or slightly perturbed Guta’s stormed in? Imagine if, thanks to some weapon or powerup on the map that players are fighting over, these AI would bend themselves to the player’s will? Imagine throwing a battalion of Prometheans against a Scorpion and seeing who comes out on top?
The Xbone is supposed to be more powerful. Let’s see it render THIS.
I really am hoping that rumor is true, about going to different planets and doing side quests. Open world halo sounds awesome. I may be in the minority for this.
> 2535421619942348;11:
> We don’t need to get much larger than 8v8 for Halo. How do we make it bigger? Use AI. Copy/Pasted from my post on another thread…
>
>
> > You know what I really want?
> >
> > Firefight + Invasion. Think about it.
> >
> > Player controlled Spartans and NPC UNSC assets vs Player controlled Elites and NPC Covenant assets. It would kind of merge the concepts of shooting players and shooting grunts, both of which are integral to Halo.
> >
> > People talk about how concerned they are for BTB in upcoming Halo titles. They say they want huge 32 or 64 player games on Halo Wars inspired maps, but I don’t see that working. What if, instead, we had a simple 4v4 or 6v6 and tons of AI? Obviously, there would need to be some mechanic for tactically directing AI, so you can have a squad of Marines get your back against the two hunters and a player in a tank. (in fact, such a mechanic would have been useful in…like…every Halo campaign ever) The sandbox would also have to be balanced towards Human vs Covenant, but Reach did a pretty good job of that.
> >
> > Of course, we could have some fun with a gametype that fuses PvP and PvE. Imagine if a third faction of Prometheans, Flood, Brutes, Sentinels, Heretics, Insurrectionists or slightly perturbed Guta’s stormed in? Imagine if, thanks to some weapon or powerup on the map that players are fighting over, these AI would bend themselves to the player’s will? Imagine throwing a battalion of Prometheans against a Scorpion and seeing who comes out on top?
>
>
> The Xbone is supposed to be more powerful. Let’s see it render THIS.
> 2533274793332039;13:
> > 2535421619942348;11:
> > We don’t need to get much larger than 8v8 for Halo. How do we make it bigger? Use AI. Copy/Pasted from my post on another thread…
> >
> >
> > > You know what I really want?
> > >
> > > Firefight + Invasion. Think about it.
> > >
> > > Player controlled Spartans and NPC UNSC assets vs Player controlled Elites and NPC Covenant assets. It would kind of merge the concepts of shooting players and shooting grunts, both of which are integral to Halo.
> > >
> > > People talk about how concerned they are for BTB in upcoming Halo titles. They say they want huge 32 or 64 player games on Halo Wars inspired maps, but I don’t see that working. What if, instead, we had a simple 4v4 or 6v6 and tons of AI? Obviously, there would need to be some mechanic for tactically directing AI, so you can have a squad of Marines get your back against the two hunters and a player in a tank. (in fact, such a mechanic would have been useful in…like…every Halo campaign ever) The sandbox would also have to be balanced towards Human vs Covenant, but Reach did a pretty good job of that.
> > >
> > > Of course, we could have some fun with a gametype that fuses PvP and PvE. Imagine if a third faction of Prometheans, Flood, Brutes, Sentinels, Heretics, Insurrectionists or slightly perturbed Guta’s stormed in? Imagine if, thanks to some weapon or powerup on the map that players are fighting over, these AI would bend themselves to the player’s will? Imagine throwing a battalion of Prometheans against a Scorpion and seeing who comes out on top?
> >
> >
> >
> > The Xbone is supposed to be more powerful. Let’s see it render THIS.
>
>
> Well that sounds like…
>
> Halo and Titanfall having a baby!
Allow me to start daydreaming of a Titan in Mk 6 armor…*ah…*But it’s even more like Titanfall with SAs. The two might wind up being indistinguishable.
However, I think the crowning difference is that Halo’s AI is leaps and bounds smarter than Titanfall’s AI, most of the time. That’s got to count for something.
There was a leak a while back that indicated that the multiplayer was being split into two portions, competitive arena (2 vs 2 - 8 vs 8) and Massive Team Objective (16 vs 16 - 32 vs 32). Of course this is all speculation, and 32 vs 32 would be a bit ridiculous, but who knows. E3 will tell us everything.
> 2535421619942348;11:
> We don’t need to get much larger than 8v8 for Halo. How do we make it bigger? Use AI. Copy/Pasted from my post on another thread…
>
>
> > You know what I really want?
> >
> > Firefight + Invasion. Think about it.
> >
> > Player controlled Spartans and NPC UNSC assets vs Player controlled Elites and NPC Covenant assets. It would kind of merge the concepts of shooting players and shooting grunts, both of which are integral to Halo.
> >
> > People talk about how concerned they are for BTB in upcoming Halo titles. They say they want huge 32 or 64 player games on Halo Wars inspired maps, but I don’t see that working. What if, instead, we had a simple 4v4 or 6v6 and tons of AI? Obviously, there would need to be some mechanic for tactically directing AI, so you can have a squad of Marines get your back against the two hunters and a player in a tank. (in fact, such a mechanic would have been useful in…like…every Halo campaign ever) The sandbox would also have to be balanced towards Human vs Covenant, but Reach did a pretty good job of that.
> >
> > Of course, we could have some fun with a gametype that fuses PvP and PvE. Imagine if a third faction of Prometheans, Flood, Brutes, Sentinels, Heretics, Insurrectionists or slightly perturbed Guta’s stormed in? Imagine if, thanks to some weapon or powerup on the map that players are fighting over, these AI would bend themselves to the player’s will? Imagine throwing a battalion of Prometheans against a Scorpion and seeing who comes out on top?
>
>
> The Xbone is supposed to be more powerful. Let’s see it render THIS.
Yeah, I’m with you. Multiplayer on the scale of 64 players either needs to have AI, or it needs to fundamentally alter the gameplay with objectives and playable characters (maybe not everyone being a spartan, but rather marines?). I just don’t see it working well, but maybe they’ve figured something out.
In regards to Ross’s statement I don’t think she is addressing gameplay with it but the story.
I understood it as giving the story in the video games finally the depth, scope, scale (and hopefully also breath) the Halo universe actually has to offer.
Turning the rather two-dimensional „good chosen one humans vs bad cruel primitive aliens stereotypical Halo Campaign story“ into a more three-dimensional story only the novels have offered so far.
This whole „huntthetruth“ thing basically shows that. Who is good and who is bad? For what are we fighting for and why? Who is the hero and who the villain? How „noble“ is our specific hero and his story actually? Looking behind the shiny pretty facade and discovering the ugly face in general. Starting to questioning things.
In essence, bringing the deeper, more sophisticated, more mature topics and plots of the Halo universe finally (properly) into the games.
I don’t doubt that they will also plan to offer larger (battle) experiences in Campaign in terms of gameplay, considering cloud computing etc., but the question here is still: in comparison to what?
In regards to Holmes’s statement I don’t doubt that the focus will very likely be on BTB with Halo 5’s MP, paying that part the most attention, but I doubt they will implement Battlefield dimensions in terms of player and map size. Perhaps an slight increase (12 players per team?), if at all.
Eventually though I think „the other larger experiences“ is a rather vague term and could also just address the general repertoire of various game types or just everything that is not „4v4 arena“, so not just specifically BTB is likely addressed here or just everything that is bigger than 4v4 arena/8 players.
In addition though, (sorry can’t resist) the statement „having consistency in the gameplay“ is a simple platitude.
And I still don’t see in which way larger world, level or map sizes justify or demand the implementation of sprint, but rather consider it a hollow argument which lacks any form of context.
I mean you can sprint in Battlefield or Skyrim, yet when you chose to travel their maps/world solely by foot you will move from A to B at „snail pace“.
I won’t argue that there aren’t any flaws in Halo’s past here and there in regards to pace/speed/movement and the perception of it but 343i’s „solutions“ for that, namely sprint here as they try to sell it as one, do not solve anything.
But what am I digging up the dead horse again and start to beat it, right? In that regard H5 is what it is. It is settled and it actually makes no sense to argue about it anymore. So I am quiet now.
> 2533274965837334;17:
> In regards to Ross’s statement I don’t think she is addressing gameplay with it but the story.
> I understood it as giving the story in the video games finally the depth, scope, scale (and hopefully also breath) the Halo universe actually has to offer.
> Turning the rather one-dimensional „good chosen one humans vs bad cruel primitive aliens stereotypical Halo Campaign story“ into a more three-dimensional story only the novels have offered so far.
>
> This whole „huntthetruth“ thing basically shows that. Who is good and who is bad? For what are we fighting for and why? Who is the hero and who the villain? How „noble“ is our specific hero and his story actually? Looking behind the shiny pretty facade and discovering the ugly face in general. Starting to questioning things.
> In essence, bringing the deeper, more sophisticated, more mature topics and plots of the Halo universe finally (properly) into the games.
>
> I don’t doubt that they will also plan to offer larger (battle) experiences in Campaign in terms of gameplay, considering cloud computing etc., but the question here is still: in comparison to what?
>
> In regards to Holmes’s statement I don’t doubt that the focus will very likely be on BTB with Halo 5’s MP, paying that part the most attention, but I doubt they will implement Battlefield dimensions in terms of player and map size. Perhaps an slight increase (12 players per team?), if at all.
> Eventually though I think „the other larger experiences“ is a rather vague term and could also just address the general repertoire of various game types or just everything that is not „4v4 arena“, so not just specifically BTB is likely addressed here or just everything that is bigger than 4v4 arena/8 players.
>
> In addition though, (sorry can’t resist) the statement „having consistency in the gameplay“ is a simple platitude.
> And I still don’t see in which way larger world, level or map sizes justify or demand the implementation of sprint, but rather consider it a hollow argument which lacks any form of context.
> I mean you can sprint in Battlefield or Skyrim, yet when you chose to travel their maps/world solely by foot you will move from A to B at „snail pace“.
> I won’t argue that there aren’t any flaws in Halo’s past here and there in regards to pace/speed/movement and the perception of it but 343i’s „solutions“ for that, namely sprint here as they try to sell it as one, do not solve anything.
> But what am I digging up the dead horse again and start to beat it, right? In that regard H5 is what it is. It is settled and it actually makes no sense to argue about it anymore. So I am quiet now.
If you had read the article, you would see that she is clearly referring to both the story and the size of the game. She said “We want to amaze players with the sheer size of the worlds and battles they’ll experience.” That’s a direct reference to game play.
I was with you until you started talking about sprint again. ugh. I dont literally mean only you, but the Waypoint forums as a whole. shut the -Yoink- up about sprint already!