Halo 4 RvB "Story" Problems [Vote!]

Games Other Halo
#1

What most people have said to the story behind reds fighting blues has been “Meh, I don’t care.” However, I have a problem with all of the battles in matchmaking being a training exercise. Would you rather play in a training exercise, or an actual battle?

Not only does the story mean you cannot play as an elite, it makes everything feel even more fake. It’s like playing a game in a game. It’s stupid. Hey look, an awesome asteroid belt with a 1337 gas mining facility!, now wait a second, it’s just a thing in a training program on a dull grey spaceship. Now I know that it is already a game, but having a game in a game makes it just lame. I don’t want MM to play like the whole thing is just a training exercise.

Lastly, with forge, why would the Spartans be “building/forging” stuff in a holographic training environment. And why when you forge stuff would you look like 343 Guilty Spark? Now this part won’t effect gameplay as much, but I just don’t think forge would feel like the “forge” it used to be without the monitors. It would just lose some of its epicness.

Worst of all, the story makes it so that you cannot play as an elite in matchmaking, as it is a Spartan training exercise. This has been confirmed by a Game Informer leak. Look it up. Now most people don’t play as elites, I play as a Spartan about 40% of the time and as an elite 60% of the time on Halo 3, but there are many people who do. Even if you aren’t an elite, don’t you like shooting aliens that go “blargh blargh blargh” when you shoot them in the face? I do.

The size of the elites isn’t what makes them unplayable in matchmaking in this new Halo, it is the unneeded story. The new Spartan IV are supposedly like Master Chief, so supposedly they are about the same size as an elite, so it shouldn’t be too hard to make the elites equal to the Spartans.

So the story makes the game feel too “fake,” and the story also makes it so we cannot play as elites. Plus, it also makes forge unnecessarily different.

In my opinion, the best thing to do would be to ditch the story behind MM. It’s not really that cool, and it causes more problems then it solves.

A new story can be made for Spartan ops quite easily. All this damage is unnecessary.

I would be happier if the reds and blues were fighting over the last doughnut. It’s a stupid story, but at least they are actually fighting, not just “training.” And I think elites like doughnuts too, so they would probably join the war as well.

Everything above is just my opinion. You should decide yourself whether or not you agree with it. Place your opinions in the poll above.

#2

I’m curious as to why everyone votes to keep the story that makes the game more fake and doesn’t allow people to play as elites.

#3

Your argument doesn’t make sense, in any fashion. Because the multiplayer is a training sim, it would be easy enough to generate Elite enemies for the Spartans to fight.

Forge is simply explained as being done in a virtual space, with the AI (or Monitor), being able to take on the form of a Spartan to test various aspects of the map before it’s built on the Infinity’s “holo-deck”.

So, I don’t see the addition of a story as damaging or cheapening the experience, and it certainly doesn’t explain the lack of Elites or other customizable avatar. If Elites truly have been cut from Multiplayer (something I choose to remain skeptical about), it’s most likely due to a design choice by 343i.

#4

I’m pretty sure the canon behind multiplayer has ALWAYS been training matches. I am disappointed that there are no Elites. Civil war it is, then…

#5

There was recently a Game Informer leak which said that elites were not to take place in matchmaking. This is because with the story, it is a bunch of Spartans training on a huge spaceship. And for some reason there are no elites, at least according to the Game Informer leak.

#6

> I’m pretty sure the canon behind multiplayer has ALWAYS been training matches. I am disappointed that there are no Elites. Civil war it is, then…

Actually, prior to Halo Reach’s Invasion, there has never been any sort of story in the multiplayer. Halo 2 was originally going to feature Spartans vs. Elites for most matches, thus making that multiplayer fit into the story, but the idea was scraped for some reason.

#7

> There was recently a Game Informer leak which said that elites were not to take place in matchmaking. This is because with the story, it is a bunch of Spartans training on a huge spaceship. And for some reason there are no elites, at least according to the Game Informer leak.

To start, it wasn’t a leak. A GI subscriber got the issue and shared it online.

I know it says Elites will not be playable in competitive multiplayer, but it just doesn’t feel right to me. I choose to believe this is false, even if it’s not, for the time being.

Now, like I said, the story for multiplayer does not explain for the lack of Elites since the holo-deck could easily generate Elite enemies or allies for the sake of training. Most likely, it’s a design choice by 343.

#8

I think the reason was that people were more :slight_smile: if they could choose what species they wanted to play as. Multiplayer stories were bad then, and they are bad now.

The only good example of a multiplayer story is Team Fortress 2 where the story is that two companies are fighting each other and have sent a bunch of people to go kill each other or something like that. Kinda stupid, but it works for a cartoony game.

#9

Perhaps it is a design choice by 343, by why not allow people to play as elites if they are equal to Spartans?

It was a bad design choice in my opinion. What’s to be gained by denying all of the elite fans?

And you haven’t really addressed the issue of how everything is now just a training exercise. I can believe that for a map like the Pit, but it just doesn’t feel right for anything else. I don’t like it when everything feels more fake then it needs to be.

#10

> Perhaps it is a design choice by 343, by why not allow people to play as elites if they are equal to Spartans?
>
> It was a bad design choice in my opinion. What’s to be gained by denying all of the elite fans?
>
> And you haven’t really addressed the issue of how everything is now just a training exercise. I can believe that for a map like the Pit, but it just doesn’t feel right for anything else. I don’t like it when everything feels more fake then it needs to be.

I have addressed it. Everything takes place on a holo-deck, much like seen in Star Trek: TNG. All the environments are virtually generated. Because of this, it would be easy to generate fake Elites for the Spartans to fight or make some Spartans looks like Elites (allowing for full choice in your species like Halo 2 and 3). As a huge fan of TNG’s holo-deck, I love the story idea for multiplayer.

Now, you asked why 343 might decide not to allow people to play as Elites. A simple answer is the time it takes to make that work. Yes, the models obviously exist, but to make them available in multiplayer does take development time, more than people would give it credit. It’s possible 343 wanted to focus on craft their first Halo game more than anything else, and as a consequence, Elites were cut from the muliplayer.

Another possible answer is that, because the Covenant are no longer the central enemy, they have decided to replace Elites in multiplayer with something from the new central enemy force.

#11

I just hate the story because the story sucks.

Matchmaking doesn’t need a story, because it won’t make sense anyway… You can not make sense of Match Making when it’s been around since Halo 2… No, Halo CE if you count the LAN parties.

Story behind the match making shouldn’t be needed, it’s not needed, and honestly… it just shows they actually have BAD WRITERS for even thinking they could make a story for Match Making. It’s not creative, it’s utterly stupid.

All I am seeing in Halo 4 is repeats of other games… from other companies. They might say they are not, but they are.

I know Microsoft will regret buying Halo after the release of Halo 4… it will be just COD in Space from all these armor perks crap, and all that still.

#12

No Elites in Matchmaking
Personally, I could care less about Elites in Matchmaking. In Halo 3, they were only there for aesthetics and didn’t have any advantage over the Spartans. They didn’t have as many armor permutations and their available armor wasn’t that great. In Halo: Reach, they were stronger, faster, had better shields and health regeneration, but they were rarely used outside of Invasion. They only had armor sets, of which a few were just copies but with minor differences.

In Halo 4, not having Elites is good because resources could be spent on the Spartans. More armor pieces, more customization. Plus 343 made it so fighting Elites in MM wouldn’t make sense. Sure, they could throw them in since it’s a holographic training sim, but what’s the point? It would either be a program based off of data collected on the Elites, or a Spartan acting like an Elite. Either way, you wouldn’t really be playing as an Elite.

Plus, given the setting of the Haloverse in Halo 4, why would the crew of the UNSC Infinity be doing training sims against Elites? They already been fighting the Covenant for three decades. Before, Spartan training consisted of live-fire exercises against ODSTs , most of which were killed. Or, it would be Spartans sparring with Spartans. This way, it makes sense.

Also setting the story in a holographic training simulator makes it so 343 can make more radical and differentiating maps.

Seriously, it’s just a game. If you want to not acknowledge that there is an actual story behind Halo 4 MP, that’s up to you.

> I just hate the story because the story sucks.
>
> Matchmaking doesn’t need a story, because it won’t make sense anyway… You can not make sense of Match Making when it’s been around since Halo 2… No, Halo CE if you count the LAN parties.
>
> Story behind the match making shouldn’t be needed, it’s not needed, and honestly… it just shows they actually have BAD WRITERS for even thinking they could make a story for Match Making. It’s not creative, it’s utterly stupid.
>
> All I am seeing in Halo 4 is repeats of other games… from other companies. They might say they are not, but they are.
>
> I know Microsoft will regret buying Halo after the release of Halo 4… it will be just COD in Space from all these armor perks crap, and all that still.

Oh shut up. Yeah, it doesn’t NEED a story, but neither does Halo NEED to exist. And it makes perfect sense. Is it original? Not really. But to my knowledge, the only other game that has a MP with a story that involves training simulations is Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood/ Revelations.

And who cares how long the MP has been around? Back then, no one even bothered to think of a story for MP, they just threw it in.

And MP having a story isn’t taking from other games, it’s just something extra. And need I remind you that A LOT of Halo was taken from other fiction, from other creative minds. It isn’t the unique snowflake you want it to be.

#13

If you wanted to make it a real battle, then all matches would be one life spawns.

#14

> wall

Well, if a simulated battlefield could represent anything… why wouldn’t Forge work? Spark could simply be replaced with a human AI bot or something.

#15

This really isn’t a big deal that’s not going to affect the game in any significant way at all. It’s just a little something extra that’s there. Though I would prefer the story had been something a little more…original.

#16

> Your argument doesn’t make sense, in any fashion. Because the multiplayer is a training sim, it would be easy enough to generate Elite enemies for the Spartans to fight.
>
> Forge is simply explained as being done in a virtual space, with the AI (or Monitor), being able to take on the form of a Spartan to test various aspects of the map before it’s built on the Infinity’s “holo-deck”.
>
> So, I don’t see the addition of a story as damaging or cheapening the experience, and it certainly doesn’t explain the lack of Elites or other customizable avatar. If Elites truly have been cut from Multiplayer (something I choose to remain skeptical about), it’s most likely due to a design choice by 343i.

The training simulation online applies to locations, not enemies.

#17

I don’t see how playing as an elite matters… You don’t play as elites in Reach, and they had buggy issues in halo 3. If they do not affect the gameplay, then why do you want to play as one? It is exactly the same. Also, BR + Elites = nonsense.

#18

It’s not that serious. Just ignore the story and play the multiplayer like you would without it. It effects on the mm. It will not degrade the campaign. It’s like those people that ask for assassinations to be completely moved, when you can not press the button and stick to beat downs. It’s like assassinations aren’t even there. The story is fine

#19

> > Your argument doesn’t make sense, in any fashion. Because the multiplayer is a training sim, it would be easy enough to generate Elite enemies for the Spartans to fight.
> >
> > Forge is simply explained as being done in a virtual space, with the AI (or Monitor), being able to take on the form of a Spartan to test various aspects of the map before it’s built on the Infinity’s “holo-deck”.
> >
> > So, I don’t see the addition of a story as damaging or cheapening the experience, and it certainly doesn’t explain the lack of Elites or other customizable avatar. If Elites truly have been cut from Multiplayer (something I choose to remain skeptical about), it’s most likely due to a design choice by 343i.
>
> The training simulation online applies to locations, not enemies.

The training simulation takes place in a holo-deck of sorts, much like Star Trek. Given the nature of such a room, it would be easy to generate enemy or ally Elites, as I stated above.

#20

Pre-Halo 4 we have:

Some really cool locations. The descriptions and settings can put you in the atmosphere. Let’s look at the Defiant Map Pack for example. Condemned; you’re in this gone to hell space station. Highlands; you’re in the middle of the Covenant invasion. Unearthed; an awesome mining site that needs defending. The connections to fiction were loose enough so that you could feel the in-universe battle if you wanted to, or completely ignore it. Sometimes it was a training locale… Tombstone… The Pit… but not everytime.

Halo 4 we have:

Spartans training. I kind of expected better. xD

I mean… when I thought about it myself to try to place the multiplayer in fiction… that’s the simplistic conclusion I ended up with for most of the time. So… I have to admit disappointment that 343i couldn’t come up with something better. I mean with a concept so simple, they might as well have not tried to place the multiplayer in fiction haha.

Where before you could use your imagination for the reasons why you’re in combat, now you are told it is this thing and this thing only. And now that I have been forced to take the concept of Spartans training seriously, how does it even make sense? YOU KILL EACH OTHER… Spartans are not desposable… at least not in their own training sessions.

I also agree with the OP that the maps are at risk of losing their depth now. Because they don’t exist… they’re not even real in the fiction anymore lol.

I’m just a little dubious about this that’s all. But a lot of air will probably be cleared when some real sources arrive. Like obtaining the GI magazine myself, and not reading hearsay from forums or IGNorant.