So has this blown by everyone’s eyes? In February’s Inside Infinite in Tales of the Trenches Joseph Staten states this:
> From a distance, it might appear that we’re building an open world game, but that’s not really the case. We’re making a Halo game; a sandbox shooter where our goal is to make you feel like the most powerful actor in a rich, emergent, sci-fi combat simulation.
That quote says it all. “It might appear we’re making an open world game but that’s not the case”. I feel like this was said to die down the expectations for launch. Am I reading this wrong, or has Halo Infinite been confirmed to not be open world. Let me know what you guys think and how you feel about it not being an open world game. Honestly I’m fine either way but what are your thoughts?
-Update-
I have not watched the recent Ask343 video yet so unless they confirmed Infinite will truly be an open word game, this point sort of still stands.
> 2535471015334583;1:
> So has this blown by everyone’s eyes? In February’s Inside Infinite in Tales of the Trenches Joseph Staten states this:
>
>
> > From a distance, it might appear that we’re building an open world game, but that’s not really the case. We’re making a Halo game; a sandbox shooter where our goal is to make you feel like the most powerful actor in a rich, emergent, sci-fi combat simulation.
>
> That quote says it all. “It might appear we’re making an open world game but that’s not the case”. I feel like this was said to die down the expectations for launch. Am I reading this wrong, or has Halo Infinite been confirmed to not be open world. Let me know what you guys think and how you feel about it not being an open world game. Honestly I’m fine either way but what are your thoughts?
I noticed that too but figured I’d let someone else take the lead on the discussion regarding it. It makes me really tether my expectations regarding the campaign. I was expecting a truly “open world” experience based on the information that has been released and then when I saw that it instantly made me think of how Halo Infinite has been at the forefront for marketing the new Series S/X but truly wasn’t developed as a “next gen” title. Almost felt like a bait and switch to me and that’s kind of how I feel about that little bit of information regarding its “open world” capabilities or lack there of.
Should i follow the sentinels into that cave, go help those marines being held down, continue exploring the golden path etc… really leads people to think its going to be open world.
Hopefully this will be one of the questions that is addressed in the next #Ask343. It’s one that begs clarification because everything said prior to that quote would lead the consumer to believe it was an open world game…
To be honest, I have always thought Halo: Infinite would be the same as the Mombasa Streets level in Halo 3: ODST just on a larger scale. Not open world but plenty of space for random things to happen and multiple approaches in combat.
> 2533274809988140;2:
> > 2535471015334583;1:
> > So has this blown by everyone’s eyes? In February’s Inside Infinite in Tales of the Trenches Joseph Staten states this:
> >
> >
> > > From a distance, it might appear that we’re building an open world game, but that’s not really the case. We’re making a Halo game; a sandbox shooter where our goal is to make you feel like the most powerful actor in a rich, emergent, sci-fi combat simulation.
> >
> > That quote says it all. “It might appear we’re making an open world game but that’s not the case”. I feel like this was said to die down the expectations for launch. Am I reading this wrong, or has Halo Infinite been confirmed to not be open world. Let me know what you guys think and how you feel about it not being an open world game. Honestly I’m fine either way but what are your thoughts?
>
> I noticed that too but figured I’d let someone else take the lead on the discussion regarding it. It makes me really tether my expectations regarding the campaign. I was expecting a truly “open world” experience based on the information that has been released and then when I saw that it instantly made me think of how Halo Infinite has been at the forefront for marketing the new Series S/X but truly wasn’t developed as a “next gen” title. Almost felt like a bait and switch to me and that’s kind of how I feel about that little bit of information regarding its “open world” capabilities or lack there of.
>
> Should i follow the sentinels into that cave, go help those marines being held down, continue exploring the golden path etc… really leads people to think its going to be open world.
>
> Hopefully this will be one of the questions that is addressed in the next #Ask343. It’s one that begs clarification because everything said prior to that quote would lead the consumer to believe it was an open world game…
You said it perfectly. All of the little details and campaign demo we had really led us to believe it was an open world game… guess it’s not
When I read that quote I sort of figured that it will still be based on levels or “missions” but the scope is much wider. Sort of like a slightly more linear version of Mario Odyssey.
I guess it depends on your definition / expectations of ‘open world’.
No game is ever fully open. There are always macro blockers (rivers / cliffs) and micro blockers (drawers that won’t open) that keep you inside a defined space.
Halo is still a sandbox shooter. The campaign will need you to come to point A so that you can open up access to point B.
It will be ‘open’ in that you can now approach point A from pretty much any angle.
And maybe there can be interactions that take place over a larger area. Maybe where you jump in a hog and have to out run some banshees - where there are LOTS of different paths you can take. Or a bit where you take on a Scarab and it’s up to you to choose where to lure it to it’s doom - edge of a cliff for a quick kill… or a swampy area to slow it down and make it easier to board.
You could spend a lot of time, if you that is your want, taking the long scenic route between points. But given that it is not a game of collecting and grinding I’m not sure there is going to be a lot of point. Maybe the odd enemy patrol with extra ammo / power weapon. Rare equipment. Skulls etc.
I believe Joe Staten said it’s not an open world game simply to set the correct expectations of what the game will actually play like. Personally when I hear open world game I think of lots of side quests, experience bars and experience gaining, usually a crafting system, lots of NPCs to talk to, and towns or cities to get quests in. I’m sure that Halo Infinite will have very few, if any, of those things so that’s probably why Staten said Infinite is not an open world game. I guess a more accurate description of Infinite would be a Sandbox style game where you have larger open battle spaces and then you are giving different tools to choose how you wish to combat each battle area. Basically what Halo has always been, just on a bigger scale than ever before!
what they probably mean is that while the game takes place in an open-world play-space, the game plays like a halo game instead of a traditional open-world game. Normally, open world games feature some sort of crafting system, randomized loot, survival system, and often a non-linear story. 343 has already stated that these features are not going to be in infinite.
My whole thing is don’t leave the consumer to “interpret” what you’re selling. Just come out and say it (which is why I think it was outright stated in February). I don’t know of any other product where you have to interpret what you’re buying…I believe it’s called Misleading the consumer and is illegal. Glad Joe said something outright. My interpretation is now an ODST styled game just larger and with S117. Not saying that’s a bad thing either…
> 2533274866022405;7:
> I believe Joe Staten said it’s not an open world game simply to set the correct expectations of what the game will actually play like. Personally when I hear open world game I think of lots of side quests, experience bars and experience gaining, usually a crafting system, lots of NPCs to talk to, and towns or cities to get quests in. I’m sure that Halo Infinite will have very few, if any, of those things so that’s probably why Staten said Infinite is not an open world game. I guess a more accurate description of Infinite would be a Sandbox style game where you have larger open battle spaces and then you are giving different tools to choose how you wish to combat each battle area. Basically what Halo has always been, just on a bigger scale than ever before!
This is my thoughts as well. If you follow this link and hit pause on the video, you will see that the chief and pilot are stuck on a little section (or “island”) of the broken ring. The text when hovering over one of the gun batteries says “We’re not leaving this island until we take out the Banished AA cannons.” This isn’t exactly an “open world” kind of mission. You appear to be free to approach each cannon in whichever order you like, akin to rescuing the marines in Halo CE’s “Halo” mission; however you are not going to say, “nope, I don’t want to do this mission right now, I need to gather more forerunner tech scraps to upgrade my shields first. Or would I rather do that side mission for Commander Can’t-Do-Anything-Himself so he will increase the damage of my assault rifle?”
It may be open world in that multiple missions are located in one very large area of play before you move on to another area, maybe you have some say in the order of some missions. Perhaps this mission in the gameplay demo was triggered by the player choosing to go do something and hopping into the pelican with the pilot (I doubt that mission choice was “Go get shot down by AA cannon” though).
Obviously we don’t know enough, but we will. 343 isn’t going to just say next fall “OK, the game is ready. Go get it!”
They are still not giving us a straight answer. My gut feeling is that the reason they are not committing calling Infinite “open world” is that it would invite unfavorable comparisons to other “open world” games when it comes to how much there actually is to do within Infinite’s environments.
Now reading it more charitably it could just as easily point to something more akin to Crysis where levels are fairly large and expansive compared to your average linear shooter with multiple ways to approach objectives and perhaps Infinite’s levels are even larger. That being said if that were the case why are they being so coy about it? If its not an “open world” game the way they talk about the game doesn’t really give that impression as evidenced by the fact they felt the need to clarify at all.
Being vague at this point is only going to lead to disappointment for certain folks. Properly confirming the game isn’t “open world” would actually help to assuage some of my worries given “open world” for much the game industry means “full of shallow padding to encourage players to buy MTXs”
> 2533274809988140;9:
> My whole thing is don’t leave the consumer to “interpret” what you’re selling. Just come out and say it (which is why I think it was outright stated in February). I don’t know of any other product where you have to interpret what you’re buying…I believe it’s called Misleading the consumer and is illegal. Glad Joe said something outright. My interpretation is now an ODST styled game just larger and with S117. Not saying that’s a bad thing either…
I think everyone saw the Tac Map in the July Demo, and just assumed that the game would be open world.
I don’t think anyone from 343 or Microsoft actually said anything to that effect, just hype and assumptions from the media and fanbase.
I agree though, its nice for them to officially announce it either way.
I think I’ve used this comparison before, but the way I’m currently seeing the game is; imagine if Halo 3’s Crow’s Nest, Tsavo Highway, and The Storm were all part of one large map, meaning that if you were at the AA gun, you could theoretically walk all the way back to Crow’s Nest if you wanted. But along the way, ther would be separate highways you could travel down to find side objectives, such as stranded marines, secret Forerunner facilities, enemy encampments, etc.
I’m expecting the game to sort of take a Gears of War approach to the story, and have it split up into several distinct Acts that all take place in separate locations.
For instance, the first and second Acts could end with Chief having to travel to a separate area of the ring which has a different climate and terrain, such as desert or arctic.
I think the game will likely have 3 (maybe 4) maps.
> 2535471015334583;1:
> So has this blown by everyone’s eyes? In February’s Inside Infinite in Tales of the Trenches Joseph Staten states this:
>
>
> > From a distance, it might appear that we’re building an open world game, but that’s not really the case. We’re making a Halo game; a sandbox shooter where our goal is to make you feel like the most powerful actor in a rich, emergent, sci-fi combat simulation.
>
> That quote says it all. “It might appear we’re making an open world game but that’s not the case”. I feel like this was said to die down the expectations for launch. Am I reading this wrong, or has Halo Infinite been confirmed to not be open world. Let me know what you guys think and how you feel about it not being an open world game. Honestly I’m fine either way but what are your thoughts?
I agree with you, for run it to Xbox One and have MP free for all, all pc with 1060 can run it
> 2533274866989456;10:
> > 2533274866022405;7:
> > I believe Joe Staten said it’s not an open world game simply to set the correct expectations of what the game will actually play like. Personally when I hear open world game I think of lots of side quests, experience bars and experience gaining, usually a crafting system, lots of NPCs to talk to, and towns or cities to get quests in. I’m sure that Halo Infinite will have very few, if any, of those things so that’s probably why Staten said Infinite is not an open world game. I guess a more accurate description of Infinite would be a Sandbox style game where you have larger open battle spaces and then you are giving different tools to choose how you wish to combat each battle area. Basically what Halo has always been, just on a bigger scale than ever before!
>
> This is my thoughts as well. If you follow this link and hit pause on the video, you will see that the chief and pilot are stuck on a little section (or “island”) of the broken ring. The text when hovering over one of the gun batteries says “We’re not leaving this island until we take out the Banished AA cannons.” This isn’t exactly an “open world” kind of mission. You appear to be free to approach each cannon in whichever order you like, akin to rescuing the marines in Halo CE’s “Halo” mission; however you are not going to say, “nope, I don’t want to do this mission right now, I need to gather more forerunner tech scraps to upgrade my shields first. Or would I rather do that side mission for Commander Can’t-Do-Anything-Himself so he will increase the damage of my assault rifle?”
>
> It may be open world in that multiple missions are located in one very large area of play before you move on to another area, maybe you have some say in the order of some missions. Perhaps this mission in the gameplay demo was triggered by the player choosing to go do something and hopping into the pelican with the pilot (I doubt that mission choice was “Go get shot down by AA cannon” though).
>
> Obviously we don’t know enough, but we will. 343 isn’t going to just say next fall “OK, the game is ready. Go get it!”
Wow I didn’t even notice half the things you pointed out here. I feel like everyone (including me) saw the tac map, saw how huge it was (and it wasn’t even the entire map) and assumed “open world”. I can’t blame them because Chris Lee used to hype us up saying the world was “several times larger then our last two halo games combined” so all of us assumed it was a huge open world. We can’t say much because we don’t have enough proof to back it up but from what it’s sounding like, it’s not truly open world.
> 2535471015334583;1:
> So has this blown by everyone’s eyes? In February’s Inside Infinite in Tales of the Trenches Joseph Staten states this:
>
>
> > From a distance, it might appear that we’re building an open world game, but that’s not really the case. We’re making a Halo game; a sandbox shooter where our goal is to make you feel like the most powerful actor in a rich, emergent, sci-fi combat simulation.
>
> That quote says it all. “It might appear we’re making an open world game but that’s not the case”. I feel like this was said to die down the expectations for launch. Am I reading this wrong, or has Halo Infinite been confirmed to not be open world. Let me know what you guys think and how you feel about it not being an open world game. Honestly I’m fine either way but what are your thoughts?
What I think they are doing is building an open world style map with a halo game on it and missions will force you to stay in an area until you complete your objective. Once you trigger an event/mission you have to complete it. It wont be like the previous games where there are set checkpoints like going through a door that restricted your path to your objective to a single way of progression. I also think it will not be a free roam open world like skyrim where you start a quest and can just walk away from it and do whatever you want to, but there will be freedom to explore the ring between missions.
I never understood why people thought it was open world, from the very beginning it just seemed like they were taking ideas from the second mission of Halo CE. In that mission you could choose the order you wanted to save the marines the same way you’ll be able to in the mission they showcased in the Halo Infinite gameplay demo. I think it’s still a linear Halo game with missions but it will be a lot more open and will allow you to do objectives in any order and allow a variety of options to do sais objectives. Plus I’m sure there will be stuff on the side to do like saving a group of marines or taking out a Banished outpost.
Honestly this is the way I’d prefer, I want everyone to have the same story but have different ways you could do each mission
Its like saying halo 1 and 2 where open world… No they are simply open to explore but you can’t go everywhere and found content. and i am happy they went the middle route. Testing the water and what not.