It’s been 7 years since Halo 3 launched and thus it’s been 7 years since we had a true brand new Halo experience. Many would consider the original to be the best but in my opinion Halo 2 and 3 were the glory years. both Halo 2 and 3 managed to add tons of innovating new features without hurting Halo’s core formula. So why is it that ever since halo 3 ( the peak of the series in popularity) the people in charge have tried to do things to the game that literally no one has wanted. Halo 3 and Cod 4 came out the same year and last I checked Halo 3 had outsold it 11 million to 8 million on xbox 360. So why would you try to copy a game that you outsold? When Halo was actually Halo, people ate it up and threw money at it. It declined in popularity when they added loadouts and armor abilities and formula disrupting mechanics.
If you want Halo to be successful then you need to make sure these things are intact
Fair and Balanced Gameplay
Even Starts
No sprint or loadouts
and A competitive ranking system
Litterally you can do anything you want if you have that.
We loved it when you added Forge and Theater and all those great features. And we love innovations such as new gamemodes and gametypes. And the rumor that Halo’s campaign could be open world could be really cool and a good way to spice it up.
But the last thing any franchise needs to do is change a bunch of mechanics that people loved.
I think the problem being is that the new people to halo are the same people who play COD. So they all scream Halo 4 is the best halo and while they buy it and help the sales (hence Halo 4’s strong performance) they leave it a few months later to play the new COD that year.
We knew going after that demographic was a bad idea. 343i said they knew what they were doing.
The rest of us are left with this gimped version of Halo I’m trying to enjoy, but even a few games in I’m annoyed at both the gameplay and the level of skill of the players I’m with.
I think the rumoured HD re-releases are a test to see how well each of the MPs hold up against each other on a fresh new system so that they can tweak Halo 5 ahead of the beta and then let us have at that to fix it even more.
I’m so tor between the excitement of the re-releases and the disappointment of halo 4
I know I sound bitter, but I predicted Halo 4’s fate over a year before it’s release and yet it still happened. I think I’m just going to get the trilogy and leave 343i with 4 and 5 to rot
There are dozens of things they could add that do not have to take away from the classic values of equality.
I.e. Gravity directional changes, destructible environments, map interactivity, or any new abilities that everybody can do at all times (like sprint, but NOT sprint because it has proven to destroy gameplay). Maybe add the ability to swap weapons with your teammates. Zip-lines. Some crazy design that has never been conceived before. 343 needs to get creative, while also remembering equality. Spectators. 32 player count. The list can go on and on.
I’m with you there. Although sprint could work IF they balanced it. At the end of the day 343i need to understand that armour abilities, sprint, or whatever can not be used for combat play, or has to have a downside or risk involved to using it.
If not you end up with abusing it to hurt the core gameplay.
I would also like to add that Halo 5 should definitely have Social and Ranked playlists split up exactly how they were in Halo 3. That system worked so well.
> I’m with you there. Although sprint could work IF they balanced it. At the end of the day 343i need to understand that armour abilities, sprint, or whatever can not be used for combat play, or has to have a downside or risk involved to using it.
>
> If not you end up with abusing it to hurt the core gameplay.
Sprint issues are not with balance, they’re with poor map design and with the ‘crutch’ nature to assist with bad decisions.
> i think that halo must be:
>
> halo 3 gameplay + forge & theatre
> new maps + old maps (halo 1,2,3)
> 1080p & 60fps
> stop.
That sounds awfully boring, to be honest. I can still play Halo 3.
And I’m not saying to completely change everything each game, either.
Keep the traditional style, add something to keep it innovative/fresh that doesn’t destroy it, but alsp offer new experiences, like an improved version of the Infinity concept attempted in Halo 4. Perhaps apply it to a larger scale multiplayer experience, leaving the traditional settings in the smaller, more “competitive” playlists.
You can’t just please the older fans. You have to push forward and appeal to new fans as well. Doing that takes a different approach now than it did a decade ago.
> > I’m with you there. Although sprint could work IF they balanced it. At the end of the day 343i need to understand that armour abilities, sprint, or whatever can not be used for combat play, or has to have a downside or risk involved to using it.
> >
> > If not you end up with abusing it to hurt the core gameplay.
>
> Sprint issues are not with balance, they’re with poor map design and with the ‘crutch’ nature to assist with bad decisions.
Well I’d be the last person to defend the design of a Halo 4 map. But as far as the crutch nature, that’s kinda what I had in mind when I said balance it. Take away the ability to just sprint off, So uses delays after shooting, being shot and just after. Maybe even have it take a couple steps to warm up. Make sprint what sprint is for.
Sprinting across the larger maps when you aren’t in combat, and useless everywhere else.
Implying Sprint isn’t an overall good addition that just needs some tweaking. Not to mention that many of those options are incredibly vague and thus meaningless. There’s no point asking for “balanced gameplay”, it’s not like anybody is gonna set out to create unbalanced gameplay. Be specific.
I’m sick to death of this argument. I own Halo 3, too. It’s 7 years old, the netcode’s terrible, it’s crawling with all sorts of cheaters, and has absolutely NO dev support.
…BUT I still play it instead of Reach and 4.
If Halo 5 turns out to be nothing more than a re-skinned Halo 3 (which, and I’d like to REALLY stress this, is NOT what people are looking for when they say returning to the core), should I just tell everybody complaining about the lack of innovation to “go play Halo 4”?
Being serious, though, if you want to play a Halo game with loadouts, sprint, flinch, and ordinance, Halo 4 is still completely playable. For those of us who want a more competitive or balanced Halo game without any of that, we need to play a 7 year old game, complete with all the problems I just listed.
Come on, guys. This argument has been busted a million times. There’s no excuse for using it anymore.
> Implying Sprint isn’t an overall good addition that just needs some tweaking.
Stop with the loadouts, sprint, armor abilities. Go back to the balanced, competitive gameplay that made Halo great. Halo 3 even starts. Power weapons and abilities on the map on timers rewarding players who pay attention. Detailed stats available with API support for community sites. Social and Ranked playlists. And most importantly, skill based ranks.
As annoying as derankers and other rank cheaters are, the community that built up around Halo is unmatched. I just shut down after playing some H3 just now. Still more fun than Reach or H4.