More narrative, please

I’m not exactly plugged into this community typically, but I love Halo, and I thought I’d share this thought.

All the effort 343 has put into supporting Halo 5 is phenomenal. I’m really glad that even this long into its life span they’re are producing more content with the goal of bridging the gap between games. They’ve done a lot of really cool stuff with forge, arena, and custom games. What we’re missing is narrative.

At this point, 343 has created enough assets that narrative based would be a viable option. After Halo 5 campaign, I feel like there’s a lot of stories that aren’t being told that could be. This would serve to keep us invested until the next game come out, while using assets that have already been created. And I’m not talking about a full campaign or anything like that, but perhaps creating a short Spartan Ops-esqe story, or adding another level or two to the campaign.

Don’t get me wrong, multiplayer is awesome and the whole MLG is serving Halo in a different way. But I play Halo to experience the grand military sci-fi space opera, and I think we’re running a little short on that.

That would be super dope.

Adding on to this concept, I think this would be a good way for 343 to make money. I imagine they could sell for $5 a mission and people would go crazy for them. Could also be a fun way to segue into Halo Wars 2.

Good idea, Pen!

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> That would be super dope.
>
> Adding on to this concept, I think this would be a good way for 343 to make money. I imagine they could sell for $5 a mission and people would go crazy for them. Could also be a fun way to segue into Halo Wars 2.
>
> Good idea, Pen!

It would be super dope. I would prefer free DLC, but I would 100% buy reasonably priced expansions to the story.

I’ll admit to having some misgivings about putting story elements behind a pay wall. People already complain that the main line campaigns are too dependent on lore from outside of the earlier campaigns. Imagine the field day they’d have if suddenly they missed some minor plot point of Halo 6 because the key to understanding it was in a Halo 5 paid DLC. I love the idea, but I’m not seeing how to execute without causing a lost of consternation.

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> I’ll admit to having some misgivings about putting story elements behind a pay wall. People already complain that the main line campaigns are too dependent on lore from outside of the earlier campaigns. Imagine the field day they’d have if suddenly they missed some minor plot point of Halo 6 because the key to understanding it was in a Halo 5 paid DLC. I love the idea, but I’m not seeing how to execute without causing a lost of consternation.

This is the tough part of the Halo design. There is a split decision on EVERYTHING now lol. I’m not saying you’re wrong, I certainly respect your opinion and love free stuff. I agree that having paid campaign DLC would be divisive and have mixed responses. But… They’ve already opened that can of worms by announcing paid campaign DLC in HW2.

There’s always other ways to experience the campaign I suppose. If one didn’t want to pay, they could watch a “let’s play” or YouTube the cutscenes?

Absolutely! I would be fenatic about some storey based DLC and would pay many monies for it.

I’ve been hoping that the reason “gaurdians” follows “halo 5” in the title is because there will be a sequel “halo 5 xxx”

Halo 5 forunner…
Halo 5 created…
Halo 5 reclaimer…
Ect…

Pay to play seems the only concept nowadays

Absolutely. I would be willing to pay for it even. There is a lot of potential there and it could help improve the train wreck that was Halo 5’s narrative. It could also help set up Halo 6 (or Halo Wars 2).

Why have us pay for it if the REQ system supposedly brings in so much money?

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> Why have us pay for it if the REQ system supposedly brings in so much money?

Because of the resources required to create it. It would take more than just creating maps. You have to write the story, create cutscenes, have voice-overs for those scenes, design the levels, etc… I think it’s pretty reasonable for the community to have to pay to enjoy the developer’s hard work.

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> > 2533274812652989;9:
> > Why have us pay for it if the REQ system supposedly brings in so much money?
>
> Because of the resources required to create it. It would take more than just creating maps. You have to write the story, create cutscenes, have voice-overs for those scenes, design the levels, etc… I think it’s pretty reasonable for the community to have to pay to enjoy the developer’s hard work.

Then they better make it dirt cheap so long as the REQ system is a major moneymaker for them and not half–Yoink- it with campaign “levels” that are just recycled over and over like Spartan Ops was.

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> > 2535417176108194;10:
> > > 2533274812652989;9:
> > > Why have us pay for it if the REQ system supposedly brings in so much money?
> >
> > Because of the resources required to create it. It would take more than just creating maps. You have to write the story, create cutscenes, have voice-overs for those scenes, design the levels, etc… I think it’s pretty reasonable for the community to have to pay to enjoy the developer’s hard work.
>
> Then they better make it dirt cheap so long as the REQ system is a major moneymaker for them and not half–Yoink- it with campaign “levels” that are just recycled over and over like Spartan Ops was.

They should just add the new campaign missions into the REQ pool as mythic variants. Make it a fun gamble to see if you can get them!

I’m being sarcastic and trying to get a rise out of you lol

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> > 2533274812652989;11:
> > > 2535417176108194;10:
> > > > 2533274812652989;9:
> > > > Why have us pay for it if the REQ system supposedly brings in so much money?
> > >
> > > Because of the resources required to create it. It would take more than just creating maps. You have to write the story, create cutscenes, have voice-overs for those scenes, design the levels, etc… I think it’s pretty reasonable for the community to have to pay to enjoy the developer’s hard work.
> >
> > Then they better make it dirt cheap so long as the REQ system is a major moneymaker for them and not half–Yoink- it with campaign “levels” that are just recycled over and over like Spartan Ops was.
>
> They should just add the new campaign missions into the REQ pool as mythic variants. Make it a fun gamble to see if you can get them!
>
>
> I’m being sarcastic and trying to get a rise out of you lol

I know 343 wouldn’t do that, but somewhere within the dark depths of Microsoft’s corporate offices…I wouldn’t put it past them, lol. I may sound bitter, but after buying all of Halo: Escalation and seeing that comic series go down the toilet, I’m weary of 343 and anything episodic in nature. Comics are bad enough at around $3 an issue, I can’t imagine new missions that could be $5 or more.

> 2533274812652989;13:
> > 2533274803493024;12:
> > > 2533274812652989;11:
> > > > 2535417176108194;10:
> > > > > 2533274812652989;9:
> > > > > Why have us pay for it if the REQ system supposedly brings in so much money?
> > > >
> > > > Because of the resources required to create it. It would take more than just creating maps. You have to write the story, create cutscenes, have voice-overs for those scenes, design the levels, etc… I think it’s pretty reasonable for the community to have to pay to enjoy the developer’s hard work.
> > >
> > > Then they better make it dirt cheap so long as the REQ system is a major moneymaker for them and not half–Yoink- it with campaign “levels” that are just recycled over and over like Spartan Ops was.
> >
> > They should just add the new campaign missions into the REQ pool as mythic variants. Make it a fun gamble to see if you can get them!
> >
> >
> > I’m being sarcastic and trying to get a rise out of you lol
>
> I know 343 wouldn’t do that, but somewhere within the dark depths of Microsoft’s corporate offices…I wouldn’t put it past them, lol. I may sound bitter, but after buying all of Halo: Escalation and seeing that comic series go down the toilet, I’m weary of 343 and anything episodic in nature. Comics are bad enough at around $3 an issue, I can’t imagine new missions that could be $5 or more.

Comics aren’t really applicable since it’s a whole different medium, requiring entirely different production and distribution methods.

That being said, if they use assets already created, I can’t imagine that adding additional dialogue, or even cutscenes would break them financially. You’re completely right that hiding story behind a paywall is nonsense, but the Halo universe is quite vast, and they could tell stories within it, adding more depth to the overarching story of Master Chief, without creating stories that don’t make sense without it. For example, the original trilogy made sense without ODST. They could put the player in the boots of a side character (potentially lowering the production cost further by using less prominent voice-actors), and tell a story about what was happening while Chief was doing whatever.