INTRODUCTION
I was 13 when Halo 3 was released and boy was I trash. I started off just jumping into slayer matches getting 10 kills and thinking I was pretty good. I met some guy yelling out call outs to our team and partied up, he invited me to a clan called Kill Ratio. Until this point I had no idea what a KR or assists or anything were, I learned all that stuff and after about 1,500 hours and 4 years I got pretty damn good.
I ate, breathed and slept Halo 3 in high school until I could read the game for what it really was but I couldn’t put it into words for people or my friends. I got last night in the MCC for a few quick games and nostalgia and got sucked in for 4 or 5 hours. I always though Halo Reach was good in it’s own ways but never as good as 3, H4 I completely felt a disconnect with because of pacing, random weapon drops, lower kill times and less health. Halo 5 I have enjoyed, but not fully as a halo game, I play it as a game that is incredibly well made and has a lot of fun pacing and action; but not as a Halo game.
The thing that I think Halo 3 perfected is the chess feeling that you got when playing. When I say chess I mean the ability to see 3 pieces on the board, know what 3 moves those pieces could take and then see the 3 counters to each move. I remember when I was in my prime I wasn’t the best shot or even the best at call outs, but I could read the field. If I saw 3 guys across the map for a split second I could know who is going for what weapon and where they would go after that just from where they were pointed. I could be stuck in a hallway, see my radar (it didn’t say if they were bellow or above me) think about which way the two red dots are moving and know based on the map if they were above, bellow or in front of me. I could have three people in front of me and strafe, lead, crouch and outsmart them. If I counter stepped they could not simply sprint at me, or boost. It was the mobility that really set the pace. In H4 and H5 you see 3 guys and you more than likely are going to die instantly.
I guess what I’m trying to get across is that Halo 3’s pacing, kill times and maps were just a masterful balance of elements. It was the only shooter that even if the other guy was a better shot I could still “out think” him. It felt like in every situation if you knew your -Yoink- you could squeeze out of it somehow with that one crazy solution. Or maybe I’m just not as good at the new games so I don’t have the timing and new chess like skills required any more. All I know is in the old days, and last night every time I died I know exactly my mistake that put me in that situation. Either I missed a shot, shouldn’t have been in that hallway, I very rarely just felt like I was swarmed or did not have enough time for my shields to come back. In the newer halo games I just feel like dying isn’t so much a mistake that you made but more of “Well there were 2 of them and I couldn’t get away and my shields were down from the last guy”. I’m not ragging on the new halos, I just feel like I miss the slower pacing of the old games. It felt like you could actually think about the 3-10 outcomes of the situation, react with the correct one and win. Now it feels like it’s 100% weapons, and who has the fastest trigger finger.
Sorry for the long post xD just felt like others might feel this way too!
Cheers!
> 2533274808599005;1:
> INTRODUCTION
> I was 13 when Halo 3 was released and boy was I trash. I started off just jumping into slayer matches getting 10 kills and thinking I was pretty good. I met some guy yelling out call outs to our team and partied up, he invited me to a clan called Kill Ratio. Until this point I had no idea what a KR or assists or anything were, I learned all that stuff and after about 1,500 hours and 4 years I got pretty damn good.
> _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
> I ate, breathed and slept Halo 3 in high school until I could read the game for what it really was but I couldn’t put it into words for people or my friends. I got last night in the MCC for a few quick games and nostalgia and got sucked in for 4 or 5 hours. I always though Halo Reach was good in it’s own ways but never as good as 3, H4 I completely felt a disconnect with because of pacing, random weapon drops, lower kill times and less health. Halo 5 I have enjoyed, but not fully as a halo game, I play it as a game that is incredibly well made and has a lot of fun pacing and action; but not as a Halo game.
>
> The thing that I think Halo 3 perfected is the chess feeling that you got when playing. When I say chess I mean the ability to see 3 pieces on the board, know what 3 moves those pieces could take and then see the 3 counters to each move. I remember when I was in my prime I wasn’t the best shot or even the best at call outs, but I could read the field. If I saw 3 guys across the map for a split second I could know who is going for what weapon and where they would go after that just from where they were pointed. I could be stuck in a hallway, see my radar (it didn’t say if they were bellow or above me) think about which way the two red dots are moving and know based on the map if they were above, bellow or in front of me. I could have three people in front of me and strafe, lead, crouch and outsmart them. If I counter stepped they could not simply sprint at me, or boost. It was the mobility that really set the pace. In H4 and H5 you see 3 guys and you more than likely are going to die instantly.
>
> I guess what I’m trying to get across is that Halo 3’s pacing, kill times and maps were just a masterful balance of elements. It was the only shooter that even if the other guy was a better shot I could still “out think” him. It felt like in every situation if you knew your -Yoink- you could squeeze out of it somehow with that one crazy solution. Or maybe I’m just not as good at the new games so I don’t have the timing and new chess like skills required any more. All I know is in the old days, and last night every time I died I know exactly my mistake that put me in that situation. Either I missed a shot, shouldn’t have been in that hallway, I very rarely just felt like I was swarmed or did not have enough time for my shields to come back. In the newer halo games I just feel like dying isn’t so much a mistake that you made but more of “Well there were 2 of them and I couldn’t get away and my shields were down from the last guy”. I’m not ragging on the new halos, I just feel like I miss the slower pacing of the old games. It felt like you could actually think about the 3-10 outcomes of the situation, react with the correct one and win. Now it feels like it’s 100% weapons, and who has the fastest trigger finger.
>
> Sorry for the long post xD just felt like others might feel this way too!
> Cheers!
I 100% agree, nice to meet a fellow Brit.
It does seem like the more that 343i implements, such as sprint and thrust and all that, then the less actual skill is required. Sprint especially. Why have situational awareness when you can just sprint out of danger, right? At least they got rid of loadouts, though.
I wouldn’t call that chess considering it doesn’t really have anything to do with chess besides the seeing how to counter a move before hand but that itself isn’t just chess other things do that. I do on the other hand understand what feeling you speak of where I can look at the field and see what’s going to happen before it does purely out of prediction on what the average or skilled player would go for a do in that scenario. It’s become second nature where I do it without realizing like strafing even when I’m playing for s**** and giggles with my friends
What you are feeling is nostalgia. When you feel that for something there is an unquantifiable feeling that this one thing is somehow special or different from others. It artificially puts something on a pedestal that nothing can compare to. I have nostalgia for Halo CE. I feel that it is the best halo and nothing quite feels like it. In reality though they are all halo games. Some have features we like more than others, but that is really subjective. All the halo games are really similar maybe with the exception of halo 4. I get that you have the attachment to halo 3, but try to not let it cloud your reasoning too much. Halo 3 was kind of a disappointment to me when it came out. I liked the new features, but the gameplay just didn’t feel like halo ce. Something was off. It wasn’t the halo game, it was me. All the games have their pros and cons but don’t delude yourself into thinking that halo 3 was more than just a neat fun game that you got good at. It isn’t chess any more than any of the other halo games. There are people in halo 5 that can take on 3 people at once. The special thing about halo 3 is the time you spent with it. The game isn’t some perfect masterpiece that no other game can even sort of feel like. The masterpiece is your memories of that period of time in your life. Nothing can feel like that time again, because you have grown and changed. It isn’t the game, it’s you.