Before I start, I wanna say that this is not, in any way, a negative post about Halo, Halo 5, or 343. It’s just how I feel at this point. This is a long post about memories and feelings, and if you care to read it, then thanks for taking out the time. If not, there is a Tl;Dr in the next post
The first time I played Halo, a friend brought Halo 2 with him when he came to hang out at my house back in I believe early 2007. From the very first time I played it, I loved it. It was fun and we all had a blast just slaying away in splitscreen. The first Halo game I ever owned was CE, which I bought later that year. I didn’t always have friends over to play it, but I didn’t mind because I thoroughly enjoyed playing the campaign. I didn’t pay attention to it the first time through, it wasn’t that I cared about the story at the time (I love it now), I just cared that I was playing Halo. Looking back, I wish I would have bought an original Xbox at some point earlier in my life so I could have experienced Halo 2 online when everyone was new to the online Halo scene, but I have no regrets being a PlayStation 2 gamer that whole time. Anyway, I always tried to have friends over whenever they could come so we could play Halo 1 and 2 together. It was never about the win. There were times where literally Halo is what brought some of us together. I remember having this party after 6th grade (what we call it in America, at least where I went to school), and I invited a bunch of friends over, and we played Halo 2 all night. One of he funnest gaming moments I will probably ever have in my life. I was tired as mess the next morning, but it was totally worth it!
Then later that year, Halo 3 came out. I didn’t own Halo 2 at the time as far as I can remember, so when I rented Halo 3 and played the campaign, I had no idea what was going on, but I still didn’t care. It was all about playing Halo. I wouldn’t come to truly love the story until sometime around the last months of waiting for Reach to release, but I’ll get to that. Regardless, by now, Halo had a really special place in my heart. I remember booting up Forge for the first time during the 7 days I had to play the game before I had to return it. I remember going on Last Resort, placing a teleporter to get up onto some power lines to the left of the two-story building where I believe Blue Team spawns (whichever team does not spawn on the wall), and I placed a bunch of power weapons up there. It made no sense looking back, why I’d do that, but it didn’t matter, because it was fun having a friend or my cousin over and playing on the map. We always made a race for the teleporter and tried to beat the other person to the weapons. Times like these are times I don’t think I could ever forget and times I will always hold dear. They’re what made me fall so deeply in love with Halo and dedicate a lot of my teenage life to the multiplayer
On June 20, 2008 (I still remember the date because it was that amazing and important to me and my future), after a couple of years of begging, I was finally allowed to get Xbox Live. By now, I had purchased my own copy of Halo 3, and naturally, it was the first game I wanted to play online. The first time I played Halo online, I had to play from the computer room of my house, on this little screen that was literally like 5 inches across. I remember it was the most amazing thing I had ever played. I always had fun playing with friends on splitscreen, but now I could play with anyone in the world, no matter where they were or who they were, at any time of the day. The first day of playing Halo online was the defining and most important moment for gaming in my whole life. It would change the way I think about games forever. The earliest match I remember playing was Free For All on Construct. Even though everyone else probably sucked at that time too since there were a ton of new people online who never played Halo 2 on the original Xbox, I thought everyone was amazing at the game. I got absolutely wrecked every match. And I didn’t care. Not one bit. It was never about the win. Sure, I enjoyed winning (even though I most likely didn’t play much of a part since I had no idea what I was doing), but it didn’t matter in the end. What mattered was coming online, meeting new friends from around the world, and playing Halo day and night. We played so much custom games. It was amazing and I will never forget it
At the time, I also really loved playing CoD 4 (which I still think is the best one) and World at War, but the one game I thought was the best was Halo 3. I played it religiously until I had enough of my issues with my Xbox and I ended up getting a PS3 and getting rid of my Xbox. I had it for 6 months until someone recommended I watch Arby n’ the Chief (not sure if anyone remembers that or ever even watched it). I thought it was hilarious. Mai roflcoptor g0es soi soi soi soi! Funny! And as I watched it, it reminded me of all those amazing times on Halo 3, and I knew I had to come back. I still never regret getting a PS3, but I made the right choice by returning to Xbox. I bought a 360 just months before Reach was set to release. I was finally playing Halo again after half a year, and it was a blast. I remember literally within the first several days, I got a Perfection on The Pit! I realized I could never truly live without Halo, and I’ve never left it since
After a few months, it was finally the day before Reach would release, September 13, 2010. I remember my cousin and I being beyond hyped for Reach. I spent so much time watching gameplay of the game. If I had done that now, it would have me less excited actually. I kinda killed some excitement for Skyrim by watching too much gameplay before release. but not Reach. My cousin and I went to pick up the game at GameStop at midnight. It was our first midnight launch we had ever been to. I remember it so well. We both got our Legendary Editions and with them in hand, we held them up with happiness and love as we walked out of Gamestop and everyone was cheering for those who got the biggest edition of the game (I still have my statue, too bad Carter’s gun broke…). I remember the first thing I did when I got on the game was go into Forge World, test out all the weapons, and just take in the sights. It was beyond amazing. I played Reach soooo much, maybe not as much as Halo 3, but still a whole lot, thousands of hours without a doubt. Matchmaking was so fun, Forge was awesome and a big step up, and custom games were even funner than before. I won’t ever forget some of the moments I had on that game. Too bad that’s where part of the fun of Halo went away as the people who played custom games declined more and more (literally no one played them on Halo 4)
I’m gonna stop the reminiscing there. So what’s really the point of this post? Yeah yeah, you had fun, good times, we get it, we don’t need a life story. The memories aren’t actually the point. It’s my feelings about playing Halo and how they have changed that is the center of this post. At some point during Reach, something changed in me. I started getting more and more competitive as I got better at the game. This, in turn, made me dislike more and more when I would lose a game, and now I’m to the point where I don’t really enjoy a match if I’m losing. All those moments where I could just play and have fun, I can’t do that anymore. I realize now that I’m honestly not TRULY having fun anymore when I play Halo