This is good news for halo, not so much for xbox. But Thank you for delaying this game. it certainly needs more time. You’ve made a wise decision.
Here are a few things i think we can all agree on that needs to be worked on in a specific order.
The Possible:
-Improved textures; Scratches, dirt, blood, make everything look weathered down. This is the banished we are talking about, they are not clean like the covenant. They are gruff and only care for function, not a pristine look. And it looks like all the materials that are human base that is up for grabs for chief, is all scattered from a crash or something. Make them have some wear and tear in the human equipment and weapons.
-Some degree of ray tracing (lighting) at launch. This game must deliver the full potential of Series X
-Solid 60 FPS. Never mind the resolution. if it can be 1440p, that is perfectly acceptable.
-Escharum. Make him look more intimidating. He is not atriox but that doesn’t mean Escharum can look less than him. Have him wear some skulls around his neck or something. Maybe have a cracked spartan 4 helmet hanging by his waste as a trophy to show his ruthlessness.
-weather. open world games are more alive than ever, so give some life in the environment. we see that today! so how about add some Wind moving trees and the grass. Leaves falling from the trees. You didnt show much but if we can explore other ecosystems, make it alive! add storms, rain, sand storms, blizzards. whatever you can to sell the world on Zeta Halo.
-Explosions. They were underwhelming. let’s see larger fireballs, black smoke fuming from the source, sparks flying, dirt being thrown in the air. Make it huge like it was in Halo CE.
-The banish phantom: I’m not the only one that noticed this but that phantom looks geometrically simple. People were comparing it to a megablocks toy. It’s true. It looks way too simple and childish when I first saw it. Make it look menacing. Have it glow red and shine spot lights down as if it is hunting for the chief. Make it more visually interesting like the phantom was back in halo 5.
The hopeful:
-Improved animation. games have become more sophisticated over the years to bring life into NPC and enemies. If we punch craig in the face, we need to see him in pain. squinting, whatever you can do to make them feel more alive. If i grapple a fusion core into my arms, let’s see it slam into chief’s hands and give it a metal oomph. Make us feel that weight.
- A.I.; want it to be more like halo CE? make the enemies smarter. Have them counter or flank us. Let’s see some coordination. Make these small enemy encounters be special every time and have these small groups of enemy like in the reveal have their own strategies. woah, this one is more aggressive. this other one is more defensive, this one likes to use banshees a lot. let your imagination run wild with ai.
-to feel like we are hunted. This is the banished. They are not afraid of the chief. they only want the glory of killing him or at least fighting. maybe we could Have hunting parties? banshees and phantoms scouting for the chief? if spotted, not only will they attack but call in some ghosts or wraiths or something.
The impossible but i can only dream:
-change the art style. I know people like halo 3 but halo reach’s grittiness was a step in the right direction. The military, grounded look in halo 4 was fantastic and 5 was gorgeous. The added details we saw in 4 and 5 was fantastic. the holographic lights that popped out of covenant weapons was a great touch that made it look distinct and different. when we were aiming down the sights, the hologram that pops up was another nice detail that i haven’t seen in any other fps.
- the edges on the landscape. Those hexagonal columns. i understand the direction you were going for but it is way too simple. maybe we can see the inner workings of the ring itself. show the forerunner tech inside the ring when we near the edge of ring’s large pieces to make it look more like a forerunner structure like you did back in halo 4. the forerunner architecture was magnificent. better than bungie’s design.
that’s all i can think of. this was more spur of the moment post.
