Halo 'fans' have become fickle.

Games Other Halo
1

I’ve been reading a lot of the criticism surrounding Halo 4 and I don’t think these people realise what they’re talking about.

Here’s something to slap you in the face with: Halo has NEVER been an original concept in terms of general aesthetics and story. It’s heavily derived from Larry Niven’s Ringworld, which was in-turn based on Freeman’s concept of a Dyson Sphere. The visuals for a lot of things are also pretty much taken straight out of Cameron’s Aliens and even one of the main characters (Johnson) is a copypasta of Apone.

Yet, you’re all forgetting a quote from a very wise man. As Oscar Wilde said: “Talent borrows, genius steals.”

I see no reason why this cannot apply to gameplay in a series, it’s not like 343i are changing the core of Halo’s gameplay - in fact they’ve been going on about this ever since they announced the game last year.

Just look at Spartan Ops. On the surface, it’s a revamped version of Spec-Ops from the Call of Duty series. in reality, it’s a whole new campaign with its own cast, CG cutscenes, updates every week/month - it’s an incredibly ambitious undertaking and no other FPS on the market has that kind of dedicated support to interweave everything into the fiction and keep adding more and more as a cooperative experience.

Essentially, sit down and shut up. Change is what galvanises a series to keep it fresh, you can’t go on the way you are - so overly ensconced in the formula we’ve had the past 10 years that you instantly reject any form of change to it. Frankly, people are just being single-minded and fickle.

A wise man over at Bungie.net said this:

> Can anyone of you remember what the best FPS on a console was BEFORE Halo? That’s right, Goldeneye/Perfect Dark. They were the first ones (as far as I am aware) to incorporate the two control directional function (like a mouse and keyboard), the joy stick and the c-buttons. Xbox and Halo took that concept and adapted it to the two joystick controller and limited players to carrying two weapons, which in turn, forced players to plan out their actions.
>
> So games borrow from the most popular game before them and try and improve upon them. So 343 is doing the same thing as Bunige did before them. In this case the Call of Duty series has been the most popular with gamers the past five years. So 343 is taking ideas from that series and incorporating what they believe will bring players BACK to the Halo series as well as try and improve upon those ideas at the same time.

tl;dr - change happens, deal with it. If it’s good, it’s good; if it sucks then it’s not going to be in Halo 5 and 6.

2

I totally agree with you. People seem to have this idea that Halo isn’t allowed to change at all and has to stick to a very rigid set of specifics based on Halo 1 and 2. A lot of people seem like they don’t want any of the changes to work. Halo isn’t an entity, out on it’s own with nothing near it for millions of light-years. It’s a videogame like every other. Sure, Halo is a god-tier gaming series to me and many others but the fact is, the formula that made the original trilogy so popular is outdated and Halo 4 would absolutely bomb if it was just an updated Halo 2. It has to move forward and of course we’re going to have awkward transitional periods, like Reach. But 343 have a whole new trilogy and they have to set the groundwork for that, and that means making some controversial changes. Just because it’s adapted features from existing games it doesn’t at all mean they’ll function the exact same way, or have the same effect.

3

Halo is just a seamless blend of Tribes and Aliens. But it’s still awesome regardless.

The problem I have though, is that I don’t mind things being EXPANDED, in the Halo universe, or new things being ADDED. I just hate when they outright CHANGE something that should be fictionally set in stone, as it appeared in previous instalments.

The Canon should be able to grow and be added to, but what is already said, is said, it should never change.

4

You my friend, I like a lot.

5

This post has been edited by a moderator. Please refrain from making posts that do not contribute to the topic at hand.

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

> it’s not like 343i are changing the core of Halo’s gameplay

HAAHAHAHA

This place never ceases to amaze me.

6

> Can anyone of you remember what the best FPS on a console was BEFORE Halo? That’s right, Goldeneye/Perfect Dark. They were the first ones (as far as I am aware) to incorporate the two control directional function (like a mouse and keyboard), the joy stick and the c-buttons. Xbox and Halo took that concept and adapted it to the two joystick controller and limited players to carrying two weapons, which in turn, forced players to plan out their actions.
>
> So games borrow from the most popular game before them and try and improve upon them. So 343 is doing the same thing as Bunige did before them. In this case the Call of Duty series has been the most popular with gamers the past five years. So 343 is taking ideas from that series and incorporating what they believe will bring players BACK to the Halo series as well as try and improve upon those ideas at the same time.

What is said here about Halo turning it into twin-sticks isn’t necessarily right. Perfect Dark was the first. You could plug in two N64 controllers, and use them both as a single player with an alternate control scheme, giving you a left and right stick to play with.

7

i know right they see one thing they don’t like and they moan about it on the forum’s ah like now some guy say’s he’s not going to by the game because of no duel weilding

8

It’s not that Halo is taking ideas from other games, it is that those ideas go directly against the gameplay that has been established over 3 games and 10 years of Halo.

9

Completely true, OP.

Yes, Halo 4 is changing into territory the series has never been in before, but the core gameplay remains mostly intact, and the game still looks like and, according to Killa from MLG, plays like a Halo game as well.

While there are legitimate concerns (such as joining a game in progress to find you’re down 41-15, for example) the whole commotion about “OMGZ HALO IS BEKOMING COD!!!11!1!” is stupid, as every game takes ideas from other games. Look at how COD has taken most of it’s ideas from the original Halo trilogy (including Theater), and how Halo: CE took it’s concepts from the film Aliens, then the series took Firefight from Gears of War. In turn, look at how all FPS now use the Halo formula, and how all open-world games use the formula that GTA used. Does that mean all FPS’ are Halo-clones? No. Does that mean that all open-world games are GTA-clones? No. Games take from other games, and it does payoff in the end.

10

> It’s not that Halo is taking ideas from other games, it is that those ideas go directly against the gameplay that has been established over 3 games and 10 years of Halo.

Halo could be a third-person RPG shooter and it would still be Halo. Gameplay is so minimal when it comes to what makes Halo Halo.

11

> It’s not that Halo is taking ideas from other games, it is that those ideas go directly against the gameplay that has been established over 3 games and 10 years of Halo.

I disagree with you there. I think it’s very much because the ideas are from other games. Most people who disagree with the new features are the people who have a blind hatred for games like CoD. They wont even give the new features a chance because of it.
Load-outs, instant respawn in slayer game types, minor armor enhancements such as extra ammo or faster shield regen. No one even wants to believe that these will somehow work in Halo 4 because they’re features shared by a game that they blatantly dislike.

Not to say that the game play isn’t evolving or changing from what it was, but it’s been established by numerous people that the game still feels like Halo. The rest of us will just have to trust that or keep our objections to ourselves until we see some actual game play footage or play for ourselves.

12

The changes like custom classes don’t mean much, i mean can you tell me the difference between the BR and DMR? the abilities DO make a difference but hopefully they will be in a positive way

13

> > It’s not that Halo is taking ideas from other games, it is that those ideas go directly against the gameplay that has been established over 3 games and 10 years of Halo.
>
> I disagree with you there. I think it’s very much because the ideas are from other games. Most people who disagree with the new features are the people who have a blind hatred for games like CoD. They wont even give the new features a chance because of it.
> Load-outs, instant respawn in slayer game types, minor armor enhancements such as extra ammo or faster shield regen. No one even wants to believe that these will somehow work in Halo 4 because they’re features shared by a game that they blatantly dislike.
>
> Not to say that the game play isn’t evolving or changing from what it was, but it’s been established by numerous people that the game still feels like Halo. The rest of us will just have to trust that or keep our objections to ourselves until we see some actual game play footage or play for ourselves.

You sir i agree with

14

> > It’s not that Halo is taking ideas from other games, it is that those ideas go directly against the gameplay that has been established over 3 games and 10 years of Halo.
>
> Halo could be a third-person RPG shooter and it would still be Halo. Gameplay is so minimal when it comes to what makes Halo Halo.

That is what Halo is to you.

Halo, to me, could ship without a campaign or any story mode. Halo, to me, is 100% about the gameplay.

So who are you to dismiss my Halo?

15

> I’ve been reading a lot of the criticism surrounding Halo 4 and I don’t think these people realise what they’re talking about.

ohhhhh the irony

> tl;dr - change happens, deal with it. If it’s good, it’s good; if it sucks then it’s not going to be in Halo 5 and 6.

O rly? so why are they bringing back hated features from reach like AAs, Bloom, ect…?

16

I disagree, Halo was made by a very creative Indie Developer in Bungie which had previously made unique innovative franchises in Marathon and Myth and Halo was a continuation of that innovation that Bungie had done with their previous franchises.

The Fact is Halo WAS HUGELY Innovative for the year 2001, and you would have had to be there to fully recognize why. I find that people who say “Halo did nothing special” usually weren’t serious gamers back then.

A ton of Halo’s distinctive features have been copied in games since, most notably:

  1. Limited weapon loadout - you only got two guns at a time, plus grenades; old-school FPS’s always allowed your character to lug around a huge armory of weaponry, so it gave the game a slightly more realistic feel.

  2. Rechargeable health - OK, the game had a hybrid system, and true rechargeable health came with Halo 2. But the whole idea of the shield made for faster-paced gameplay and less, “Oh, I have to look for a health pack” concerns.

  3. Vehicles integrated seamlessly into the main game.

  4. Big, open outdoor spaces - Largely a visual feature, since your objectives and the routes to get there were still fairly linear. But in terms of being awed or impressed by a game, I know a ton of people who were introduced to Halo for the first time and were floored.

  5. Enemy AI- Enemies did not simply come at you in “waves” anymore and practice relentless aggression. Enemies like the Elites were smart and tactical and enemies were organized based on a hierarchy. Halo’s approach was to give the player the power to decide how they want to approach different situations allowing strategy and unique situations to play out. This is the infamous “30 seconds of fun” that Bungie devs have noted as to why Halo is so much fun.

  6. Medium-Paced FPS- Halo is the defining “Medium-paced” FPS in terms of gameplay, before Halo alot of shooters were either REALLY fast thinking Faster= More fun and adrenaline filled gameplay. Or fairly slow tactical shooters like RB6 or CS. Halo was the defining “Medium-paced” FPS that gave the middle ground to gamers for the first time, allowing BOTH play-styles to emerge. Tactical play styles could be employed, as well as faster-paced styles this is one of the keys of Halo gameplay. You are constantly switching these playstyles if you are a good Halo player, the dynamics of the game switch because of this allowing a variety of strategies and gameplay experiences to emerge.

Now, did all of these features debut with Halo? Frankly, I’m uncertain, and other games probably tried them before. But Halo introduced those things to the mainstream, and in the years since they’ve pretty much become the default requirements for a AAA FPS.

I mean I can say what you did OP about ANY game, I can say “WoW was just a Everquest Rip-off” but that would be Ignoring ALL the huge innovations that particular game franchise introduced to the MMO genre. I can say “Unreal Tournament was a Quake rip-off” which would be ignoring the primary and secondary modes of fire that no other FPS has done to perfection and integrated it seamlessly into gameplay since then. You could say “Mass Effect copied Deus Ex” but that would again be ignoring the versatile story-lines, Huge Sci-fi universe exploration, and deep character development unparalleled most any other game. Simply put, you can downgrade and say “A Game copied B game” for ANY videogame, but the fact remains the videogames I mentioned above were all innovative and unique in their own ways.

17

> That is what Halo is to you.
>
> Halo, to me, could ship without a campaign or any story mode. Halo, to me, is 100% about the gameplay.
>
> So who are you to dismiss my Halo?

Say, how do you know what a Plasma Pistol looks like? A DMR? Battle Rifle? How do you tell a Ghost from a Banshee? Or better yet, a Spartan from an ODST, or an ODST from a Marine? Without the canon and aesthetics, it’s just another bland shooter.

18

Best post I’ve seen in a while!

agree with you 100%! That quote was genius!

I’m way to excited for halo 4, and with E3 literally a month away, I CANT WAIT!

19

> > That is what Halo is to you.
> >
> > Halo, to me, could ship without a campaign or any story mode. Halo, to me, is 100% about the gameplay.
> >
> > So who are you to dismiss my Halo?
>
> Say, how do you know what a Plasma Pistol looks like? A DMR? Battle Rifle? How do you tell a Ghost from a Banshee? Or better yet, a Spartan from an ODST, or an ODST from a Marine? Without the canon and aesthetics, it’s just another bland shooter.

Say, what does any of that have to do with the gameplay?

Lol, I love how your counter argument was something that you care about and something that has no affect on what I stated to be the reason I enjoy Halo.

You could swap Halo’s textures and aesthetics for CoD’s and I wouldn’t care, because none of that affects how the game PLAYS.

20

Aliens and Predators have always kept me interested. There’s a reason why I love Councilors and sword Elites so much.