Halo.....What has happened to you?

Games Other Halo
1

I’ve been thinking about this alot lately. I’ve been looking at a lot of the hate lately and some of the community feedback on what we have seen so far, and i can’t help but notice that halo has really taken a turn for the worse.

It’s sad…really it is. This isn’t a hate thread, or a 343 sucks thread. This is simply an observation I have made about the series.

i don’t know…maybe I’m just frustrated. I need to get this off my chest somehow. I’ve been playing Halo now for over a decade. When I was stressed, it was there to calm me down. When I was sad it was there to help me forget. When I was alone it gave me a way to reach out and be with people who shared the same passion that I did.

The Halo trilogy is without a doubt the greatest collection of games I have ever had the pleasure of playing. Coming home after a long day, sitting down and playing a game of Halo multiplayer with all of you guys.

It wasn’t about grinding for credits or being forced to play. I played because I enjoyed the gameplay. I loved the universe. I loved the simplicity and that feeling of getting better and outplaying them. Halo was never about customizing your character or exploiting firefight for credits. It was never about fitting in or trying to keep up with the times. It was a unique game that I happily devoted my free time to. Not because I wanted to level up, but because the game was “fun”.

It saddens me…because I don’t think Halo is about fun anymore. When I look at Halo 4 I see a game “trying” to attract players from different games. I see a game changing just for the sake of changing. I hate it…

I hate the direction halo is taking. I hate the direction Reach took, and from what I’ve heard about Halo 4, it won’t be the same.

Now please ladies and gentlemen don’t take this the wrong way. i am excited for Halo 4. I can’t wait to play it and I think it will be a fantastic game no matter what.

But I just don’t see it capturing the feeling of the trilogy at least as far as multiplayer is concerned.

Yes, every game in the world uses sprint…why does Halo have to? Why does Halo need sprint at all? We all fell in love with it anyway. Halo CE didn’t have sprint, we loved it. halo 2 didn’t have sprint…loved it. halo 3? loved it.

We as a community loved the way the game played. You move, you shoot, you throw grenades, and you punch. In Halo 3 you could pick up equipment which was completely ok, because it was a pick up.

Then Reach came in…and it changed all that we had grown to love.

It made us slower and our jumps were less effective. Why? We loved the arcade arena feeling of the trilogy. Who cares if our jumps weren’t realistic. It was fun, we are 800 pound super soldiers, realism means nothing. Halo is a game, not a simulator.

It added bloom. Why? we didn’t ask for them to change the way we shoot. It was always fine. We liked our shots going where we aimed…why change that?

it added a credit system. Didn’t sound bad, it was just for cosmetic changes right? Wrong…it ruined the spirit of the game. In reach who cares if you win? I don’t, I’m going to get the same amount of credits anyway. And it ruined firefight as well. No one wants to play ODST style firefight because “arcade” firefight gets you more credits.

Why? Why was there every a system implemented that encouraged grinding. Grinding isn’t fun, its tedious and takes away from the experience.

It removed a competitive ranking system. why? Halo is a competitive game. We want our rank to show how good we are, not how long we have been playing.

It introduced uneven spawns…unbelievable. nevermind the facct that armor lock was awful, nevermind that sprint was completely unwanted. Nevermind that Camo was annoying. Nevermind that jetpack spawns broke map design. Nevermind any of that. The fact that you could spawn with it, and give yourself a different loadout than another player is unforgiveable.

this is the moment Halo became something else. Reach wasn’t Halo at all… it was something new entirely.

Now look…i liked Reach. i thought it was a fantastic game, goty even. But it wasn’t Halo guys…it just wasn’t. I enjoyed what it was, but it wasn’t Halo.

If there was ever a Reach 2 i would buy it because I enjoyed the game. But Reach 2 does not have to be Halo 4. As far as I am concerned Reach and Halo are two different series. Both are good, but one is special…Halo is special guys. Halo changed my life. So don’t change Halo.

By all means innovate…by all means add new stuff. But don’t change the things we loved just because it would seem more popular and fit in more with the other shooters.

I don’t know guys I guess I have yammered enough. I am passionate about this game. It’s the game I will tell my children about when i am older. But i don’t want to tell them that my favorite series ever eventually grew stale and caved in to the formula of other “more popular” shooters. I wan’t to tell them that even though every game around them copied one another and sold out to the masses…Halo didn’t. Halo stayed true to its name, and its fans. It said to hell with modern shooters, this is Halo and we are going to do our own thing.

It still can guys…I believe Halo can still be that special place we can go and experience. But not if it continues on its current path.

Theres no need to give my opinions on what should change, I’ll leave that for the community.

I’ll end it with this.

343, you have been given the rights to a game we fell in love with 10 years ago. This is your game, and you control it. But on behalf of not only me, but every other concerned fan. Don’t change what we love. Forget Cod, and Battlefield, and Gears of War, and Medal of Honor, and any other shooter game out there. Make us a Halo game…that’s all we want. You need to give us our Halo back, before people forget what Halo even is.

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In other words: make the exact same game, we are too scared of change.

3

> In other words: make the exact same game, we are too scared of change.

No in other words…don’t change what we love…we love it for a reason.

People in this community need to understand that we have nothing against innovation or new content. What we do have a problem with is making Halo something it isn’t.

4

> > In other words: make the exact same game, we are too scared of change.
>
> No in other words…don’t change what we love…we love it for a reason.
>
>
> People in this community need to understand that we have nothing against innovation or new content. What we do have a problem with is making Halo something it isn’t.

What’s all this “we” talk I keep reading?

5

> > > In other words: make the exact same game, we are too scared of change.
> >
> > No in other words…don’t change what we love…we love it for a reason.
> >
> >
> > People in this community need to understand that we have nothing against innovation or new content. What we do have a problem with is making Halo something it isn’t.
>
> What’s all this “we” talk I keep reading?

If you dont want to be part of the “we” talk then dont talk in the “we” talk. I would like to be part of this “we” talk however

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i love you,thats what i always wanted to say but thats too long,try to keep it short <3

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> > > In other words: make the exact same game, we are too scared of change.
> >
> > No in other words…don’t change what we love…we love it for a reason.
> >
> >
> > People in this community need to understand that we have nothing against innovation or new content. What we do have a problem with is making Halo something it isn’t.
>
> What’s all this “we” talk I keep reading?

Listen man I’m not going to argue with you. I have no idea what your history with Halo is or how you feel about it. But this “we” is directed at those of us who consider Halo to be something very special. More than a game.

Did you even read the thread? I doubt it. Because we are not afraid of innovation or additions or new things. We encourage it, we want that. What we don’t want is Halo tto become something it isn’t.

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> > > > In other words: make the exact same game, we are too scared of change.
> > >
> > > No in other words…don’t change what we love…we love it for a reason.
> > >
> > >
> > > People in this community need to understand that we have nothing against innovation or new content. What we do have a problem with is making Halo something it isn’t.
> >
> > What’s all this “we” talk I keep reading?
>
> Listen man I’m not going to argue with you. I have no idea what your history with Halo is or how you feel about it. But this “we” is directed at those of us who consider Halo to be something very special. More than a game.

You just -Yoinked!- up. I have been playing halo since CE, bought every game after that, what “WE” can’t seem to understand, is that halo is not about matchmaking, which is what you are making this thread to be, halo is about its story.

> Did you even read the thread? I doubt it. Because we are not afraid of innovation or additions or new things. We encourage it, we want that. What we don’t want is Halo tto become something it isn’t.

I didn’t have to, I knew what would be in it. and what exact additions make halo, not halo?

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> i love you,thats what i always wanted to say but thats too long,try to keep it short <3

I can’t. I need a novel to describe my feelings I’m just one of those people.

Sure I could have said.

Hey guys I’ve played Halo for 10 years and I don’t like where its headed I think it should stop what its doing and just be Halo. thanks thoughts?

But you can’t really strike an emotional chord when you do that. I wan’t people to feel something, and you can’t usually do that with a few short sentences.

I’m sorry for the length nonetheless. I just kind of got wrapped up in it.

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> > > > > In other words: make the exact same game, we are too scared of change.
> > > >
> > > > No in other words…don’t change what we love…we love it for a reason.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > People in this community need to understand that we have nothing against innovation or new content. What we do have a problem with is making Halo something it isn’t.
> > >
> > > What’s all this “we” talk I keep reading?
> >
> > Listen man I’m not going to argue with you. I have no idea what your history with Halo is or how you feel about it. But this “we” is directed at those of us who consider Halo to be something very special. More than a game.
>
> You just -Yoinked!- up. I have been playing halo since CE, bought every game after that, what “WE” can’t seem to understand, is that halo is not about matchmaking, which is what you are making this thread to be, halo is about its story.
>
>
>
> > Did you even read the thread? I doubt it. Because we are not afraid of innovation or additions or new things. We encourage it, we want that. What we don’t want is Halo tto become something it isn’t.
>
> I didn’t have to, I knew what would be in it. and what exact additions make halo, not halo?

No…I really didn’t. I stated in my exact post that I had no way of knowing how long you have been playing therefore I could not use it as a counter argument, which I didn’t…even though you think I did.

I love the Halo story, just as passionate about the story as I am the multiplayer.

But this thread is more so about the gameplay and the feel of Halo than its fiction. It’s fiction will always be there.

EDIT: Also I suggest you read the thread. You said yourself you didn’t which is frustrating because you just assume you know what I’m trying to say. Your wrong, and I think if you read it you would feel differently.

11

That is exactly how I feel. Good post, OP. <3

12

Nope, just read it, and is exactly what I thought it would be.

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I like this OP, he sounds nice and respectful. It does seem, however, that he doesn’t want things to change. Innovation means sacrifice, but occasionally the sacrifice is worth it. I think it is important to remember that many of the things that we consider extremely important to the titles identity were once radical changes in gameplay. The things that were liked were kept, and the things that weren’t liked were kicked. Reach was basically a giant testing ground of all the radical ideas that Bungie ever had the inkling of putting into a Halo game, which gives 343i a great perspective on the definition of classic Halo gameplay.

14

Halo 4 is going to be great. Can’t wait to play a new game.

15

Alright then I’m taking the chance for the Halo to change. Don’t get me wrong, I loved every halo game there is, but it’s okay if you can play Halo 2-3 or even Halo:CE.

I’m pretty sure that Halo 4 will do well, otherwise, they’ll be throwing their money away.

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> Nope, just read it, and is exactly what I thought it would be.

Well them I’m sorry we disagree.

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> Yes, every game in the world uses sprint…why does Halo have to? Why does Halo need sprint at all? We all fell in love with it anyway. Halo CE didn’t have sprint, we loved it. halo 2 didn’t have sprint…loved it. halo 3? loved it.

Indeed, that is one of the core problems I have with the current direction of Halo. It tries so much to be like every other generic class based realistic military FPS out there. All that just for the sake of more popularity. There is indeed nothing wrong with innovation, but when gameplay mechanics are added simply for the sake of popularity of those mechanics, there is no point to that. Innovation is only good as long as it actually helps the game at achieving what it should be.

Bloom, sprint, perks, loadouts, progression systems and all that stuff isn’t good for Halo, they don’t help the game becoming better at what it is meant to be. They don’t help making the multiplayer experience of Halo deeper and balanced. They only help Halo to mimic all the other popular FPS games you have out there.

It’s the uniquity and skill gap of Halo I love, and the developers seem to be working hard to make both aspects disappear. Or that is at least what it seems like. But anyway, well written. If this thread gets over hundred thanks, you’re the official thank magnet of these forums.

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I couldnt of said it better myself. Halo needs to go back to the glory days.

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> > Yes, every game in the world uses sprint…why does Halo have to? Why does Halo need sprint at all? We all fell in love with it anyway. Halo CE didn’t have sprint, we loved it. halo 2 didn’t have sprint…loved it. halo 3? loved it.
>
> Indeed, that is one of the core problems I have with the current direction of Halo. It tries so much to be like every other generic class based realistic military FPS out there. All that just for the sake of more popularity. There is indeed nothing wrong with innovation, but when gameplay mechanics are added simply for the sake of popularity of those mechanics, there is no point to that. Innovation is only good as long as it actually helps the game at achieving what it should be.
>
> Bloom, sprint, perks, loadouts, progression systems and all that stuff isn’t good for Halo, they don’t help the game becoming better at what it is meant to be. They don’t help making the multiplayer experience of Halo deeper and balanced. They only help Halo to mimic all the other popular FPS games you have out there.
>
> It’s the uniquity and skill gap of Halo I love, and the developers seem to be working hard to make both aspects disappear. Or that is at least what it seems like. But anyway, well written. If this thread gets over hundred thanks, you’re the official thank magnet of these forums.

Thanks and nice to see you again.

Unfortunately people like spidey don’t understand what we are trying to do. It’s not about stopping innovation or keeping it the same thing over and over again. It’s about adding innovations and new things that further differentiates itself from other games and propels it forward as a Halo game. Don’t innovate and change things in a way that makes it something it isn’t.

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That reminds me, you haven’t told me what EXACTLY in halo 4 will change it.