Improvements to Spartan Ops.......if it lives

Games Other Halo
1

Please note that this thread is dedicated to making suggestions that may improve Spartan Ops.
If you like spartan Ops the way it is or prefer Firefight then good for you but I would rather you make a constructive comment as to why you think either of these is better than the suggestions.

Its been five weeks now, 5 episodes full of great cg cut scenes, questionable dialogue(egghead…WHO THE F*** says egghead anymore) and Complex. And while I actually enjoyed the first two episodes, I eventually started noticing a couple of problems which may end up turning people off the new mode or which may hinder the story and make things a nightmare for the writers and designers.

Suggestion for improvements
[/li]- Restructure the episodes so that short one minute cut scenes play before each chapter. This will encourage people to actually play the game chapters rather than look up the CGI animation on youtube.

  • Make both the gameplay and the cutscenes more character focused. If there is anything games like Left 4 dead, Far cry 3 and the walking dead have taught us , its that a strong relatable playable character makes a difference.

Using the same voiceless faceless spartan for both multiplayer and SPops might have been a great idea in theory but when implemented it ends up hindering the story because Crimson can never directly interract with the story or the main characters.

Infact 343i’s writers now have this burden of trying to make Crimsons tasks seem very important(which they are dont get me wrong) even though most of the objectives are “Hey crimson, a lot of really important and cool things are happening on the infinity .What you want to be a part of it? -Yoink- please!! You have buttons to press.”

My suggestion for Halo 5 spartan Ops would be to make the integrated Spartan 2 soldiers,(Kelly, Fred, Linda)playable because I would love to hear how they interact with the other spartan 4’s in cutscenes and how they interact with each other in in-game dialogue during missions…Or I may just want Kelly to -Yoink- slap Palmer.I dont know I cant decide.

  • Please make it free to play as long as you bought the season or bought the game. Seriously Far cry 3 lets me play offline in co-op and Firefight never required gold membership, why does spartan ops need a constant connection.

  • Allow players to customize enemy encounters and Spartan Ops maps in custom games. That way the community does all the work and you just add the new game modes in and steal all the glory just like bungie did with infection.[/list]

Anyway thats my list.

2

The best way to improve Spartan Ops is to kill it off as soon as possible and let it die a quick and painless death.

And never mourn its passing.

Then don’t bring firefight back.

Finally, after not having some Campaign 2 Pseudo Mode like Firefight or Spartan Ops…

Campaign, Multiplayer, Theater, and Forge can all be 20% better because the 20% of development resources/time and game engine devoted to Firefight/Spartan Ops/ Whatever can be used on the other 4 modes.

Campaign levels can just be segmented into 4-7 segments instead of 2 or 3, enemy options can be added in so players can choose what enemies they will fight on what campaign level segments, and then players can choose base player traits for their campaign game. And WHABAM, you have the same thing done basically as Spartan Ops or Firefight, PLUS a 20% better Campaign, Multiplayer, Theater, and Forge.

3

> The best way to improve Spartan Ops is to kill it off as soon as possible and let it die a quick and painless death.
>
> And never mourn its passing.
>
>
> Then don’t bring firefight back.
>
> Finally, after not having some Campaign 2 Pseudo Mode like Firefight or Spartan Ops…
>
> Campaign, Multiplayer, Theater, and Forge can all be 20% better because the 20% of development resources/time and game engine devoted to Firefight/Spartan Ops/ Whatever can be used on the other 4 modes.
>
>
> Campaign levels can just be segmented into 4-7 segments instead of 2 or 3, enemy options can be added in so players can choose what enemies they will fight on what campaign level segments, and then players can choose base player traits for their campaign game. And WHABAM, you have the same thing done basically as Spartan Ops or Firefight, PLUS a 20% better Campaign, Multiplayer, Theater, and Forge.

I think I said this before in another thread.Just because something can be theoratically improved by the removal of something else doesnt mean it can nor does it mean the developers will competent enough to see the oppotunity.

At this point Im fairly convinced that 343i would probably just spend the extra resources and time updating the graphics and making the cutscenes longer (You know the really important stuff in games)

4

Forget multiplayer coop, we need online versus, make an online episode where 2 ppl are covenant/flood and the other 2 are UNSC, and you have to kill each other while killing off AI humans/forerunner.

That will have the most re-playability of any of the crappy episodes theyve already released.

5

Why does everyone dislike spartan ops so much? Its my favorite game mode, much less broken than multiplayer. The story can be a little shallow but halo has always been known more for its engaging gameplay rather than story(Not that it doesn’t have a good story)

6

> Forget multiplayer coop, we need online versus, make an online episode where 2 ppl are covenant/flood and the other 2 are UNSC, and you have to kill each other while killing off AI humans/forerunner.
>
>
> That will have the most re-playability of any of the crappy episodes theyve already released.

I must admit that does sound interesting,I would certainly love to see custom games like this, but Im not too sure this would be as popular. After all we saw that concept in RE:Operation Racoon city and that game did…not so great.

7

> Why does everyone dislike spartan ops so much? Its my favorite game mode, much less broken than multiplayer. The story can be a little shallow but halo has always been known more for its engaging gameplay rather than story(Not that it doesn’t have a good story)

Yea the story’s good, just not as great as 343i tried to make it out to be. Im actually happy you find the gameplay engaging because I really dont like it but opinions…such as they are.

8

Sigh forget it, just get rid of it. Just make Halo a happy place for Halo 3 Multiplayers because really 343 and Halo in general can’t hold a feather to COD zombies or even Horde mode in Gears. Heck even Transformers FOC has a better mode in Escalation. I don’t really care anymore, I got Skyrim and plethora of other massive Ai game types and far better versions of firefights intermingled in other games, because really Multiplayers from Halo are simply selfish and too immature to understand how to play such games.

9

The only disappointment to me is that I expected different maps for each chapter. Although looking back, that was probably an unrealistic expectation.

That’d be my first recommendation to them: somehow make it more variable without needing to make 5 new levels every week.

And LOL at the “Kill it and Firefight off” people. So narrow-minded, that you’d rather take a great opportunity out than bother to spend a couple seconds actually THINKING and finding ways to improve it.

10

> The only disappointment to me is that I expected different maps for each chapter. Although looking back, that was probably an unrealistic expectation.
>
> That’d be my first recommendation to them: somehow make it more variable without needing to make 5 new levels every week.
>
> And LOL at the “Kill it and Firefight off” people. So narrow-minded, that you’d rather take a great opportunity out than bother to spend a couple seconds actually THINKING and finding ways to improve it.

I think someone a couple of months ago suggested releasing one map per week (Ragnarok sized ) and have multiple obejectives and sections within that map

11

> The only disappointment to me is that I expected different maps for each chapter. Although looking back, that was probably an unrealistic expectation.
>
> That’d be my first recommendation to them: somehow make it more variable without needing to make 5 new levels every week.
>
> And LOL at the “Kill it and Firefight off” people. So narrow-minded, that you’d rather take a great opportunity out than bother to spend a couple seconds actually THINKING and finding ways to improve it.

Everybody has said what they want numerous times on numerous threads. Fixing it/ Fix the lag first, reduce the the players to three or doubles if you can’t fix the netcode. Place in new enemies, weapons, locations, and vehicles. Stop with the insulting dialogue and drop the cartoonish mentality.

Break up you rotation so no map is repeated in the same week and reverse order missions are never on the same map from the prior week. Release the Episode on Monday but the missions need to be released daily and not all at once. Remove friendly fire so players can boot team killers and vehicle destroyers, stop the constant Ai spawning and Power Weapon spamming and actually add purpose to them rather than running shooting monster A I have to kill to get to push button B.

There a quick fix.

12

> > The only disappointment to me is that I expected different maps for each chapter. Although looking back, that was probably an unrealistic expectation.
> >
> > That’d be my first recommendation to them: somehow make it more variable without needing to make 5 new levels every week.
> >
> > And LOL at the “Kill it and Firefight off” people. So narrow-minded, that you’d rather take a great opportunity out than bother to spend a couple seconds actually THINKING and finding ways to improve it.
>
> I think someone a couple of months ago suggested releasing one map per week (Ragnarok sized ) and have multiple obejectives and sections within that map

Maybe something like that, yeah. 1 mission, but it’s on a bigger map. Perhaps with a flow of progression, like in Campaign.

13

> Sigh forget it, just get rid of it. Just make Halo a happy place for Halo 3 Multiplayers because really 343 and Halo in general can’t hold a feather to COD zombies or even Horde mode in Gears. Heck even Transformers FOC has a better mode in Escalation. I don’t really care anymore, I got Skyrim and plethora of other massive Ai game types and far better versions of firefights intermingled in other games, because really Multiplayers from Halo are simply selfish and too immature to understand how to play such games.

DEZARATH mate, I think you’ve been spending too much time on these forums.

This isnt an insult or anything but spending too much time here turns you angry and cynical.Angry cause all you improvement threads are buried under complaint and complaints about complaints threads and cynical cause there is no sign of 343i being on this website and actually making a note of them.(I was in that position a couple of weeks ago)

I highly recomend taking a break from anything Halo related and just playing another game, might I suggest Far cry 3.

14

> > > The only disappointment to me is that I expected different maps for each chapter. Although looking back, that was probably an unrealistic expectation.
> > >
> > > That’d be my first recommendation to them: somehow make it more variable without needing to make 5 new levels every week.
> > >
> > > And LOL at the “Kill it and Firefight off” people. So narrow-minded, that you’d rather take a great opportunity out than bother to spend a couple seconds actually THINKING and finding ways to improve it.
> >
> > I think someone a couple of months ago suggested releasing one map per week (Ragnarok sized ) and have multiple obejectives and sections within that map
>
> Maybe something like that, yeah. 1 mission, but it’s on a bigger map. Perhaps with a flow of progression, like in Campaign.

Trouble is without proper ingame dialouge and cutscenes I can see this getting old really fast.

15

LOL, never have truer words been spoken. Though I am getting better, I’ve returned to Skyrim so my time on this board is beginning to dwindle. As soon as I get my hands on some other game I can really enjoy I’ll cut Halo 4 some slack. But as of now 343 has my sixty, I somewhat believe they will fix this game by the end of the next year and the forums are really the only true form of entertainment offered currently by Halo 4 in it’s beta state. But point taken and trust me I’m looking for a new game to soothe the hatred.

16

Do you guys even know why dual wielding was removed in ODST?

It wasn’t for game play reasons. It HAD to be cut out of the engine to make room for Firefight, and also the improved forge in Reach later on.

These pseudo modes like Firefight and Spartan Ops are just a second campaign mode. They are nothing new.

Campaign, Multiplayer, Theater, and Forge all have distinct functions/ purposes in the game, which is why they sit as parts of the main menu.

Firefight and Spartan Ops are campaign mode variations. They are just a second chunk of the engine devoted to a campaign mode set up differently than the actual campaign.

They are pointless and redundant.

Everything Spartan Ops or Firefight does, could be done by simply adding features and options to the actual campaign!

If this junk was eliminated, it frees up 20% of the development time/resources and 20% of the game engine for Campaign, Multiplayer, Theater, and Forge. Why do you guys not see that Firefight/ Spartan Ops/ Whatever is a 2nd campaign pseudo-mode sales gimmick??

And btw, the campaign story in Spartan Ops is a joke. Its horrible. There isn’t even really a story happening. Its just like Halsey acting strange and spartans acting like they’re the **** even though all they’ve done is just spend less than 4 years on a starship.

The missions suck. They’re boring. The campaign levels are more fun. The lag also makes Spartan Ops unplayable online basically. I’ve played it to get my operator specialization, and every single game I played was just “Well, the lags so bad there’s no need to take this seriously, just spam away at the aliens until they die eventually!”

Oh, and also decide I would rather listen to nails scraping a chalkboard than hear Palmer make fun of “eggheads” one single more time. Who writes that ****?!?!

17

> LOL, never have truer words been spoken. Though I am getting better, I’ve returned to Skyrim so my time on this board is beginning to dwindle. As soon as I get my hands on some other game I can really enjoy I’ll cut Halo 4 some slack. But as of now 343 has my sixty, I somewhat believe they will fix this game by the end of the next year and the forums are really the only true form of entertainment offered currently by Halo 4 in it’s beta state. But point taken and trust me I’m looking for a new game to soothe the hatred.

Haha at this rate I doubt 343i could fix half of the problems the game has ,let alone release new content correctly but then again Im a bit too harsh on them too.

Lol there is no way Im going back to playing skyrim. Its not because its a bad game or anything like that, its because skyrim, Dragon Age origins and Mass effect are games which my total play hours can be considered near obsessive. If I start playing any of those games theres no turning back becuase I wont be able to stop.

18

> …

I agree the story is sometimes lacklustre and the dialouge(especially for Palmer…every time she talks I literally bang my head on the table) Feels like something from a bad 1980’s science fiction movie"

If I had known that Spartan ops would turn out this way I would have also recommended 343i to abondon the concept until Halo 5, and focus and the campaign. Building the planet requiem to actually feel like a place that would have been inhabited by a society rather than the result of an 8 year old and a transformers movie night.I would have also told them to flesh out the human side characters like palmer(cringe…ACTUALLY Its better if she kept her mouth closed), Laskey and some other Spartan 4’s.Hell I would have liked it if Jul’mdama and the didact pllayed iportant roles within the campaign rather than just being there for the ske of an enemy.

However this is all in hindsight and unfortunately it looks like were stuck with Spartan Ops for better or for worse.

If 343i however does decide to abondon Spartan Ops then they need to do a better job than what they did for Halo 4’s campaign.

19

> > …
>
> I agree the story is sometimes lacklustre and the dialouge(especially for Palmer…every time she talks I literally bang my head on the table) Feels like something from a bad 1980’s science fiction movie"
>
> If I had known that Spartan ops would turn out this way I would have also recommended 343i to abondon the concept until Halo 5, and focus and the campaign. Building the planet requiem to actually feel like a place that would have been inhabited by a society rather than the result of an 8 year old and a transformers movie night.I would have also told them to flesh out the human side characters like palmer(cringe…ACTUALLY Its better if she kept her mouth closed), Laskey and some other Spartan 4’s.Hell I would have liked it if Jul’mdama and the didact pllayed iportant roles within the campaign rather than just being there for the ske of an enemy.
>
> However this is all in hindsight and unfortunately it looks like were stuck with Spartan Ops for better or for worse.
>
> If 343i however does decide to abondon Spartan Ops then they need to do a better job than what they did for Halo 4’s campaign.

I definitely agree with all of that.