Infinite Might Satisfy Nobody

Community General Discussion
1

I watched Favyn’s most recent video on Halo Infinite’s reveal, and it covered a lot of the problems I personally have with the reveal. Aside from the graphics issues, which are definitely a major problem, he focuses mostly on gameplay mechanics. Most important to me is the compromise between classic and advanced movement. In an attempt to satisfy fans of both types of movement, 343 opted to go with a more restricted version of the Halo 5 mechanics (sprint, slide, clamber). The problem with this is that you run the very real risk of satisfying no one and -Yoink!- off everyone. Classic fans could be unhappy due to the inclusion of these mechanics, and fans of Halo 5 will also be unhappy because half of the movement sandbox was removed. Even the features that stayed seem less useful. Sprint, for instance, looks so slow that some are speculating that it’s just an animation with no actual increase to speed. How is this a good compromise? Like Favyn said, Halo Infinite lost all semblance of uniqueness in its gameplay the second the decision was made to stick with sprint, slide, and clamber. The same three mechanics in nearly every first person shooter these days. And to enforce my point, I prefer the newer movement. Fayvn hates it. And yet neither of us are satisfied. He also brought up other criticisms surrounding the open world and equipment. To summarize, the open world objectives seem very basic and repetitive (go take out this encampment, rinse and repeat), and the equipment directly benefits the player who deploys it. For instance, the bubble shield, regeneration field, and grav lift in Halo 3 affect everybody. The bubble shield stops bullets both ways, the regen field heals everybody, anyone can use the grav lift, etc. Whereas equipment like the drop wall and grapple hook in Infinite provide a large and inherent advantage to the player wielding it.

This reveal was just so disappointing, and as of now, it doesn’t look good if this really is supposed to be the next ten years of Halo. Besides the gameplay issues I discussed, the game is just ugly. The hexagons everywhere are an eye sore and no amount of lighting improvements will make them go away. Textures are flat and muddy. There’s a ton of noticeable pop in and pop out. Shadows seem non existent. Gun models are uninspired and repetitive in their function. Animations seem to be missing on the brutes. Blood doesn’t stay on the environment. There was even a glitch at one point, with the button to use the grapple hook switching from right bumper to left bumper after deploying the drop shield. The story seems to have no connection to the events of Halo 5, as there is no sign of H5’s cast, story elements, or enemy factions. If this demo is so old, why was it used? Does that mean that the current build is so unstable that 343 was unable to record a small 10 minute gameplay demo without it crashing? That’s potentially even more concerning than the subpar graphics. As has been said many times at this point, this demo needed to be great. It needed to wow us. It didn’t. It was barely mediocre. I can’t help but wonder if the employees that left 343, including the lead producer, are any indication of internal turmoil, development issues, or setbacks. I want Infinite to succeed, and I really hope these problems are resolved. But as of right now, it doesn’t look great.

Link to Favyn’s video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr5gqzAAfc4

2

I’m a classic fan and it looks fine to me.

Maybe I don’t really care what it looks like because I’m getting the game for free on gamepass. It’s risk free.

3

I’ve just come from that video to see if anyone has mentioned it. The biggest issue is that everyone has opinions and not all of them can be pleased. I like the look of the grappleshot in the gameplay reveal, but I also agree with Favyn’s argument when gives the comparison of the scarab level from a halo 3 and how it will affect the gameplay. I’m not going to say what should or shouldn’t be in the game, we can only wait until more light gets shed on the subject so we know for sure what Infinite is trying to achieve and how it will aim to do it. I’m staying hopeful until the very end.

4

I’m a fan of Halo 5 – in my opinion it’s the best multiplayer shooter, probably of all time. The only other game that really comes to mind as close IMO is probably Titanfall 2. The only other Halo game that comes close for me is honestly Halo 2 Anniversary.

I say that, to say that I agree with the video, that this middle ground – seemingly half way between Halo 5 and Halo 3 – is probably the worst place that I could have imagined the game occupying. And I very sincerely wish that we were getting Halo 2 Anniversary gameplay again.

The advanced movement that made it into the Infinite demo is honestly pretty close to the worst three choices possible, in my opinion. Replace clamber with shoulder charge, and you’re there. And by not including thrust and stabilize, a lot of the best parts of H5 (chaining together Spartan Abilities) are gone. It also seems like the worst set of abilities in the eyes of the classic fans too – I remember hearing a lot of people talk about how Clamber was unneeded in a game with crouch jumping, and I don’t really care about sprint (beyond it powering slide) anywhere near as much as I care about Thrusters (which, if I recall correctly, were much less contentious with the classic community than sprint anyway).

I also dislike equipment from Halo 3, and don’t think that its inclusion in Infinite is a good thing, and would have much preferred to see more sandbox interactions between weapons (sword dueling / brute shot jumping for example) than the return of equipment.

I think it’s just a shame that I can be disappointed as a fan of Advanced Mobility, because the second sprint was shown, it was obvious that all of the fans of Classic Mobility were going to be disappointed too. I totally agree that (from what we’ve seen) the game is going to leave a lot of people on both sides of the movement debate incredibly disappointed. I’m hopeful that Forge and the open world will redeem it all somewhat, but I’m kind of doubtful.

5

The movement in 5 was excellent even if it was not classic Halo. What we have now is Halo 4 with a slower sprint and a grapple hook which is a bad sign. The entire problem with Infinite is that it is not a unique vision rather a bunch of stuff from all the games stapled together. You either fully embrace d either side of the mobility debate or make a product no one will like and that is forgettable.

6

using mythic arena as a movemnt basis and putting in equipement would have been the better solution. i still hope the sprint is just cosmetic, that slide is actualy thrust and that clamber has barely any height advantage.

scarabs also need to be non-hookable, otherwise they would be to easy to fight.

7

It will satisfy the teen audience that like playing with toy soldiers…

8

Played Halo since day 1 CE on the Xbox.

The game doesn’t look bad. We haven’t seen enough and 0 multiplayers to write the game off as terrible.

i’m still 10/10 excited.

9

I’m open to the gameplay. Would prefer no sprint. But the subpar graphics/lightinf and those terrible looking hexagons everywhere really were a dark cloud over what was otherwise a return to form on the art style front.

I hear raytracing is coming sometime after launch.

Remember ready when its ready… lol

10

> 2535466533436400;1:
> I watched Favyn’s most recent video on Halo Infinite’s reveal, and it covered a lot of the problems I personally have with the reveal. Aside from the graphics issues, which are definitely a major problem, he focuses mostly on gameplay mechanics. Most important to me is the compromise between classic and advanced movement. In an attempt to satisfy fans of both types of movement, 343 opted to go with a more restricted version of the Halo 5 mechanics (sprint, slide, clamber). The problem with this is that you run the very real risk of satisfying no one and -Yoink!- off everyone. Classic fans could be unhappy due to the inclusion of these mechanics, and fans of Halo 5 will also be unhappy because half of the movement sandbox was removed. Even the features that stayed seem less useful. Sprint, for instance, looks so slow that some are speculating that it’s just an animation with no actual increase to speed. How is this a good compromise? Like Favyn said, Halo Infinite lost all semblance of uniqueness in its gameplay the second the decision was made to stick with sprint, slide, and clamber. The same three mechanics in nearly every first person shooter these days. And to enforce my point, I prefer the newer movement. Fayvn hates it. And yet neither of us are satisfied. He also brought up other criticisms surrounding the open world and equipment. To summarize, the open world objectives seem very basic and repetitive (go take out this encampment, rinse and repeat), and the equipment directly benefits the player who deploys it. For instance, the bubble shield, regeneration field, and grav lift in Halo 3 affect everybody. The bubble shield stops bullets both ways, the regen field heals everybody, anyone can use the grav lift, etc. Whereas equipment like the drop wall and grapple hook in Infinite provide a large and inherent advantage to the player wielding it.
>
> This reveal was just so disappointing, and as of now, it doesn’t look good if this really is supposed to be the next ten years of Halo. Besides the gameplay issues I discussed, the game is just ugly. The hexagons everywhere are an eye sore and no amount of lighting improvements will make them go away. Textures are flat and muddy. There’s a ton of noticeable pop in and pop out. Shadows seem non existent. Gun models are uninspired and repetitive in their function. Animations seem to be missing on the brutes. Blood doesn’t stay on the environment. There was even a glitch at one point, with the button to use the grapple hook switching from right bumper to left bumper after deploying the drop shield. The story seems to have no connection to the events of Halo 5, as there is no sign of H5’s cast, story elements, or enemy factions. If this demo is so old, why was it used? Does that mean that the current build is so unstable that 343 was unable to record a small 10 minute gameplay demo without it crashing? That’s potentially even more concerning than the subpar graphics. As has been said many times at this point, this demo needed to be great. It needed to wow us. It didn’t. It was barely mediocre. I can’t help but wonder if the employees that left 343, including the lead producer, are any indication of internal turmoil, development issues, or setbacks. I want Infinite to succeed, and I really hope these problems are resolved. But as of right now, it doesn’t look great.
>
> Link to Favyn’s video:
> Halo Infinite - Utterly Underwhelming - YouTube

Just to let you know ReviewTechUSA did a video exposing a lot of internal issues within 343i as a company. Thought given what you said you would want to check it out. It was done very recently so just check out his YouTube channel.

11

> 2535459240369445;10:
> > 2535466533436400;1:
> > I watched Favyn’s most recent video on Halo Infinite’s reveal, and it covered a lot of the problems I personally have with the reveal. Aside from the graphics issues, which are definitely a major problem, he focuses mostly on gameplay mechanics. Most important to me is the compromise between classic and advanced movement. In an attempt to satisfy fans of both types of movement, 343 opted to go with a more restricted version of the Halo 5 mechanics (sprint, slide, clamber). The problem with this is that you run the very real risk of satisfying no one and -Yoink!- off everyone. Classic fans could be unhappy due to the inclusion of these mechanics, and fans of Halo 5 will also be unhappy because half of the movement sandbox was removed. Even the features that stayed seem less useful. Sprint, for instance, looks so slow that some are speculating that it’s just an animation with no actual increase to speed. How is this a good compromise? Like Favyn said, Halo Infinite lost all semblance of uniqueness in its gameplay the second the decision was made to stick with sprint, slide, and clamber. The same three mechanics in nearly every first person shooter these days. And to enforce my point, I prefer the newer movement. Fayvn hates it. And yet neither of us are satisfied. He also brought up other criticisms surrounding the open world and equipment. To summarize, the open world objectives seem very basic and repetitive (go take out this encampment, rinse and repeat), and the equipment directly benefits the player who deploys it. For instance, the bubble shield, regeneration field, and grav lift in Halo 3 affect everybody. The bubble shield stops bullets both ways, the regen field heals everybody, anyone can use the grav lift, etc. Whereas equipment like the drop wall and grapple hook in Infinite provide a large and inherent advantage to the player wielding it.
> >
> > This reveal was just so disappointing, and as of now, it doesn’t look good if this really is supposed to be the next ten years of Halo. Besides the gameplay issues I discussed, the game is just ugly. The hexagons everywhere are an eye sore and no amount of lighting improvements will make them go away. Textures are flat and muddy. There’s a ton of noticeable pop in and pop out. Shadows seem non existent. Gun models are uninspired and repetitive in their function. Animations seem to be missing on the brutes. Blood doesn’t stay on the environment. There was even a glitch at one point, with the button to use the grapple hook switching from right bumper to left bumper after deploying the drop shield. The story seems to have no connection to the events of Halo 5, as there is no sign of H5’s cast, story elements, or enemy factions. If this demo is so old, why was it used? Does that mean that the current build is so unstable that 343 was unable to record a small 10 minute gameplay demo without it crashing? That’s potentially even more concerning than the subpar graphics. As has been said many times at this point, this demo needed to be great. It needed to wow us. It didn’t. It was barely mediocre. I can’t help but wonder if the employees that left 343, including the lead producer, are any indication of internal turmoil, development issues, or setbacks. I want Infinite to succeed, and I really hope these problems are resolved. But as of right now, it doesn’t look great.
> >
> > Link to Favyn’s video:
> > Halo Infinite - Utterly Underwhelming - YouTube
>
> Just to let you know ReviewTechUSA did a video exposing a lot of internal issues within 343i as a company. Thought given what you said you would want to check it out. It was done very recently so just check out his YouTube channel.

Thanks, I gave it a watch. I’m not going to put too much faith in this video because ReviewTech has had insiders before that have been very wrong. There are also plenty of positive reviews, and the negative ones could always be disgruntled employees. Apparently hiring contractors is pretty common too, so I’d say that is somewhat of a moot point. I’ll make final judgements once the game releases

12

Yes. The hexagons were a huge eye sore. I’m not going to like it if the ring is going to be broken up in sections and you have to go from area to area with a flying pelican loading screen only after you’ve completed objectives. I want a true open world feel. The gameplay looked nothing like the teaser. They said that was later in the game so maybe that’s just a particular section towards the end.