15 years after the legendary CE came out, Halo has changed. But has it changed for the better? No. HOLD UP I’ve only-played-Halo 5-so-im-entitled-to-speak-about-the-franchise-as-a-whole people! Its clear to most people outside of this forum, but of course not to the people in this forum that Halo isn’t what it used to be in terms of gaming relevance and prestige. Remember the Halo:Reach beta? There was a feedback option. I remember the multiplayer was hated by the majority of players. I remember it was only a SMALL amount of people who gave critical feedback during the beta, and the people that gave feedback were the ones who praised the armor abilities. They basically made Halo Reach what it is.
Anyways, back to Halo evolving. Remember the term “Halo Killer?” I’m sorry, the new fans would identify this term as “COD Killer.” Yes, Halo used to be the game everybody beat, but now its just another FPS in the crowd.
In 2010 Bungie came out with Reach. It deviated from the evolution of previous Halo’s with the armor abilities and loadouts, but it kept some good evolutionary traits (forge world, vehicles). The thing is, most people did not like the multiplayer. Like, a lot. I’m not sure where this new wave of Halo Reach is the best came from, but again, its another example of how the people in this forum who support Reach are a minority of Halo players. They don’t represent the majority, which is the problem, since they believe they do.
I’m not saying the minority’s opinions on Halo are wrong, but since they are the outspoken minority, their taste in Halo has driven off many fans as 343 listens to this group of minority players, as the average player does not know about this forum to voice his/her opinion.
Then Halo 4 came along. Its incredibly funny how so many of these 343 and post Reach/3 crowd loved the game at first but all universally dislike it now, while the millions who bought the game then dipped after a few weeks hated it from the start. Outside of these forums, it was clear to most people that Halo 4 was not a good Halo game. I wasn’t on these forums back then, but it wouldn’t be a bad guess if there were people glorifying Halo 4 back in 2012. Its funny how they all switched sides now. It was just another game trying to pass by in the COD era. I mean the point streak?? Really?? Don’t even say that is an “innovation.” The armor customization was dumbed down from Reach, and you know what? Today I heard that Reach had “too much customization.”?? Yes, no one really noticed your medical kit on the thigh, but those accesory customization parts were for you to notice on your spartan. Look what dumbing down armor did to Halo 5.
Then Halo 5. As I’ve said before, Halo 5 is basically 1 step forward, 1 leap back. For every right step of evolution, 1 leap back.
More armor than ever before=less customization
New engine=no splitscreen. (Yes, you minority people on the forum. You don’t understand the majority of people play Halo with splitscreen. The splitscreen players could care less about 60 fps, they do splitscreen for the experience!!)
new camos, vehicle variants etc.=Oh no, not unlockable through achievement, but rather, through REQS!
Blue Team+Arbiter… Who remembers that “Halo 5’s campaign will be double the length of Halo 4” =Awful campaign
“New” DLC (its all launch stuff released later… don’t say 343 was rushed… Halo 2 was rushed too and it still performed well, with way more MP content.)
New emblems=No one wants to see emblems over people’s armor on the UI!
The potential for Halo 5 to be better than 3 was there. 343 however, didn’t really mess up there…
Rather, they listened to the minority players on here who insisted Halo needed to evolve to compete. Halo does need to evolve, as said earlier. However, “evolution” does not mean looking at other games and taking their ideas. Tell me, why should people play Halo 5 with the 6 new abilities (or is it 7) if other games have already had them?
Sprint-Don’t see how that would make people love Halo, other games already use sprint, and without problems like it creates in Halo.
Clamber- Is this an "innovation?"bEvery other generic FPS had clamber. Now that I realize it, clamber… this was touted as a new important feature?? If this is something a developer is proud to show off , then thats just sad.
Ground Pound-Hi Destiny!
slide- Other FPS…
Charge- Might be the only actual innovation.
The point is, Halo 1-3 were popular and retained popularity because they brought their own innovations, not stole them, or brought them in after every other game had them. Halo now clearly gets it from outside sources. Another thing to notice is that each game builds upon each other, until Reach.
Examples
Halo 1: 2 gun loadout… practically used in every shooter. The controller scheme… very sad how Halo 5’s scheme now matches Cod, which used to be based on Halo’s… Theme is about the Chief and his bid to stop the Covenant, the Flood, and Halo. Soundtrack
Halo 2: Online multiplayer on Consoles… yes this game started that. Dual wielding(come back, only the minority doesn’t want it.) Don’t forget hijacking. Fun custom games, lots of options. Revolutionary at the time. Soundtrack gets guitars added Theme is about stopping the Covenant from destroying Earth, the Flood, and well… it digressed, but the Chief parts matched with the trilogy.
Halo 3: LOADS of innovation. Forge to name one. Theater… you know COD copied it. Loads of new custom game options and items. Theme-finish the fight against flood and covenant. The abilities(NO ONE COMPLAINED ABOUT HALO 3’s ABILITIES) Creative vehicle design-The chopper. Soundtrack gets piano (main theme)
Halo Reach: Now we get some copying, but still some innovation. Forge world-innovation, armor customization-innovation Sprint+Classes-Copy… no doubt Armor Abilities-Minority of fans who gave feedback, and perhaps Bungie built upon 3’s abilities in the wrong way (Different soundtrack ) Also, the theme of the game changed from 1-3
Halo 4: The classic innovation is gone. Kill cams-COD, the weapon drops-COD. Sprint-Cod… but instead of building on them (firefight), 343 took their inspiration from elsewhere. ITS CLEAR PEOPLE DON’T LIKE THIS… LOOK AT POPULATION! Theme of franchise changes into the personality of Chief, and what happened to the soundtrack?
Halo 5: No real classic “Halo” innovation that set gaming trends in this one either. REQ? Really? Sounds like FIFA. New abilities? Again, why play Halo with the new abilities when other games had them? Doesn’t make Halo look unique, but rather makes it look average.
TLDR HERE
Basically, the minority of Halo players who control this forum essentially are influencing 343 much more than the average player. The problem is, the minority only reflect the minority. The minority of players, who love the modern style, are pushing away the majority. (Look at Halo 5 on the population chart… I’m sure you’ve heard of the Halo 3 up for 3 years now…Remember Halo 4?) The critics aren’t digging the new style either. When Halo used to build from previous games, each passing iteration got stronger, but Halo now looks at other games and builds on their features. Hopefully, Halo 6 can look at the past, and build on the best bits and pieces of the franchise.
PLEASE READ MY OTHER POST FOR MORE INFO!
Fight me. I have 5 posts every day, you forum-dwellers! (no anger meant)
I really do miss the armor from Reach. Now there’s maybe 4 helmets that I’d actually wear and I can’t stand how little protection the chest pieces offer.
Man, are we back in September 2015?
Compose some thoughts and write up a list of suggestions with some reasoning and it may come across better. Sounds like you have some good points to share. This just comes across as accusatory and childish as is, I’m afraid to say.
I have never fully read such a large forum post but I did for this one so good job!
I agree with you 100%
Halo 4 was a bumpy ride but we forgave 343i because it was their first try at rebooting Halo.
Halo 5 was such a disappointment because it had so much potential but failed horribly at almost everything it promised.
If Halo 6 does as bad as Halo 5 or worse…idk know what will happen to the halo community. Needs to be amazing. No empty promises.
I like Halo 5 but I know all it’s issues. I know the campaign is horrifying. I know the armor unlock system is a money grab. I know the game has little content even with all the updates. I know the game is practically sprinting away from its halo roots. But I still have hope.
> 2533274846483350;4:
> I have never fully read such a large forum post but I did for this one so good job!
>
> I agree with you 100%
>
> Halo 4 was a bumpy ride but we forgave 343i because it was their first try at rebooting Halo.
> Halo 5 was such a disappointment because it had so much potential but failed horribly at almost everything it promised.
> If Halo 6 does as bad as Halo 5 or worse…idk know what will happen to the halo community. Needs to be amazing. No empty promises.
>
> I like Halo 5 but I know all it’s issues. I know the campaign is horrifying. I know the armor unlock system is a money grab. I know the game has little content even with all the updates. I know the game is practically sprinting away from it’s halo roots. But I still have hope.
Same… the thing is, I’m a sucker. Even if Halo 6 fails, I will hope for Halo 7.
> 2533274817976264;1:
> Basically, the minority of Halo players who control this forum essentially are influencing 343 much more than the average player. The problem is, the minority only reflect the minority. The minority of players, who love the modern style, are pushing away the majority.
If this is your main argument, it’s simply false in so many ways. First of all, in case you haven’t noticed, there’s a very active portion of this community who don’t like what 343i is doing, and there has always been such a portion. Not just when Halo 5 came, not just when Halo 4 came, but all the way back to Halo 2. The idea that people on these forums were somehow blissfully unaware that Halo 4 wasn’t universally liked is just silly. So, when it comes to
> I wasn’t on these forums back then, but it wouldn’t be a bad guess if there were people glorifying Halo 4 back in 2012.
Nope, you couldn’t be more wrong.
Now, secondly, you claim that the forum community is influencing the development with their feedback. First you bring up the Reach beta, and claim that most people were praising the armor abilities. Sorry, but that’s not what I remember. I remember many people being critical from the get go and while I can’t say I remember the beta feedback forum well, I’m very skeptical about the statement that “the people that gave feedback were the ones who praised the armor abilities”.
The third problem is that you are vastly overestimating the effect of forum feedback has on game development. For example, the Reach beta feedback forum was largely meant for bug reports, with some tweaking suggestions taken into account. No matter what the backlash, Bungie was too far into it to, say, remove armor abilities. The same continues for years. Again, in case you haven’t noticed, there’s been a major opposition towards sprint on the forums for years. Has the ability still been removed? No, because forum feedback, in the grand scheme, just doesn’t have much of an impact. At the end of the day, the developers are making their own decisions, not someone elses.
Finally, you say that Halo has lost relevance. Yes, and everybody knows that. It’s not news to anyone on these forums, and if you were to make a threading suggesting that Halo is not dying, you would probably get quite a lot of people giving you what they think is evidence to the contrary. You say you weren’t on the forums when Halo 4 came out, and that shows. I don’t know where you’ve gotten the impression that: 1) this community is somehow positive towards everything done to Halo and 2) things said here have significant impact on the development of Halo, but if it makes you feel any better (in regards to the current state of Halo), you couldn’t be more wrong.