I’m curious what aspect of Halo is most important to people, if there is ONE thing Halo Infinite HAS to get right, what would that be?
For me it is the story, Tbh even if the gameplay or art design would end up bad I would still love the game crazy if the story is good.
Looking forward to hearing your opinions!
Story and Music.
And I hope Legendary will be Legendary again. H5’s Legendary felt like Normal.
> 2533274947805189;1:
> I’m curious what aspect of Halo is most important to people, if there is ONE thing Halo Infinite HAS to get right, what would that be?
Tough to choose between different aspects of Halo because they’re all important, but I’m gonna say Forge+customs browser. If done right, especially if they add forgeable AI enemies, this could add near limitless replay value for the game.
> 2533274947805189;1:
> Tbh even if the gameplay or art design would end up bad I would still love the game crazy if the story is good.
Story more important than gameplay? Gotta say, I’m the opposite of this. Most (not all, but most) of the story and lore of Halo strikes me as silly, but I enjoy the games regardless. A good story is just a nice bonus. But that’s just my opinion
For me the game has to be fun. If I’m having fun I can often ignore the odd shortcoming here and there. It’s really not easy to say what one thing Halo must do, or what is the most important thing. Keep me engaged and I’ll play your game, bore me and I won’t.
Personally, Halo need 3 important things
1. An awesome campaign (good artstyle, good mechanics, simple but good story and enjoyable weapons)
2. An awesome soundtrack
**3.**The flood
I used to love the story in Halo games, uncovering a mystery involving ancient beings and technology is cool. Halo 5’s ending put 343i in a corner storywise and they seem to be ignoring that cliffhanger and focusing on the Banished (so far not impressed). So I feel like Infinite won’t have a story on par with 1-4.
The second thing I love in Halo is how diverse the game can be in multiplayer with all the different gametypes and the crazy possibilities with Forge. 4 and 5 both took a very long time to match the content offering of Halo 3 and didn’t even come close to what Reach offered at launch, so I hope Infinite will get that right even if they’re focusing on a new Battle Royal mode and competitive multiplayer.
Run’n’Gun.
As long as you cannot move (at max speed) and shoot at the same time, I don’t consider it a Halo game.
The last three games failed in this regard, each one harder than the one before it.
And unfortunately, Infinite seems to follow suit, unless sprint actually turns out to be cosmetic only, as some people speculate.
> 2533274846978810;6:
> I used to love the story in Halo games, uncovering a mystery involving ancient beings and technology is cool. Halo 5’s ending put 343i in a corner storywise and they seem to be ignoring that cliffhanger and focusing on the Banished (so far not impressed). So I feel like Infinite won’t have a story on par with 1-4.
>
> The second thing I love in Halo is how diverse the game can be in multiplayer with all the different gametypes and the crazy possibilities with Forge. 4 and 5 both took a very long time to match the content offering of Halo 3 and didn’t even come close to what Reach offered at launch, so I hope Infinite will get that right even if they’re focusing on a new Battle Royal mode and competitive multiplayer.
Relatable to me,personally I like what i’ve seen of the story so far. But every time I remember that corner they put them selves in with Cortanas story in H5, most hope dies.
I really just want Cortana back in Chiefs helmet tbh but I can’t think of any logical way of the story ever going back to that
I’m an architect with a graphic design background, so you would think for me it would be art-design or the environment. In fact a huge reason why I loved Mankind Divided and Human Revolution so much was because of the amazing work done with their architectural spaces and urban environments. Cyberpunk seems to do an equally amazing job in this regard! And truth be told, Halo’s nearly brutalist approach of creating the Forerunner world always impressed me and I was so disappointed when 343i changed it with a more generic “floating deconstructivist yet shiny” style - which I too like, it’s an interesting way to create space and Russian have some marvelouse real life examples without the shiny bits to proof it! However, it seems every second space opera goes for that kind of look and I’m a bit sick and tired of it. If I had to choose though, I would say what makes Halo is something entirely different:
Combat loop - one that screams Halo specifically!
Even though that’s kinda cheating frankly, because “good Halo like combat” includes more than one thing. The combat loop to be fun needs good gunplay, interesting and diversified enemy AI trees, clear damage indications (enemies can even be bullet sponges like Hunters and Brutes, but if the armor comes off and they react to the given damage it will never feel like they are imho), amazing sound design to accompany the battle’s warfare, diversified situation by mixing a lot of different ranks, having multiple factions/fauna/environment/gadgets to your disposal to change the “battle-puzzle” based on the situation and your choices, the various arenas need to be fairly open and give you plenty of options both on food and on vehicles… And so on. Basically they need to nail the now so famous 30 seconds of fun.
> “In Halo 1, there was maybe 30 seconds of fun that happened over and over and over and over again. And so, if you can get 30 seconds of fun, you can pretty much stretch that out to be an entire game.”
>
> - Jaime Griesemer
So yeah, technically speaking the combat loop is one thing, but it comes with so many different elements you can say it’s basically the entire game. That’s why I have so many issues with sprint even in campaign. Luckily it seems to be quite downplayed, but I fear we’ll get plenty of unresponsive enemies with a lot of physics bending projectiles instead of interesting combat scenarios because of it.
“But it’s open world, we need it”, absolutely untrue. What we need is a higher base movement speed more or less close to the actual running speed and more interesting traversal options. The hook seems quite controversial, but I do believe if implemented correctly it could become an interesting addition to man canons, speed boosts, tp and gravity lifts! The only thing I hate 343i act like it is an equipment when functionally the hook is an Armor Ability. One of two that you can equip it seems. It feels like that’s a bit too much and lowers the choice factor I was talking about earlier. I think it should be one AA (and if equipped you can’t sprint/dash/roll) and one use single use equipment for instance. Another thing that bothered me is that those gadgets are solely helpful for the users, but what made the bubble shield and healing zone so unique was its neutral function - everyone could use it to his advantage! I don’t think it’s a big deal in SP, but I have huge concerns in MP. In both cases though interesting combat loop in Halo has a lot to do with choice. Basically what you get/find in the battle zone and what you choose to take - which is the biggest difference between Halo and other arena shooters to me! If you can take so much with you, it becomes less important. I also fear that it might becomes yet another personalized H4 loadout structure, or maybe some sort of Halo 5’s Spartan Abilities system mixed with a personalized perks. Neither would give you the Halo gameplay loop I’m craving for!
Sorry if it became yet another base movement mechanics discussion (at least partially), but that’s the quintessential of Halo’s gameplay! And this franchise is nothing without its unique combat loop!
> 2533274846978810;6:
> Halo 5’s ending put 343i in a corner storywise and they seem to be ignoring that cliffhanger and focusing on the Banished (so far not impressed).
In my opinion, ignoring that cliffhanger was the right call, actually. They wrote themselves into a corner with a bad storyline, so a “spiritual reboot” in terms of story is exactly what Halo Infinite needs, especially if it allows them to make it more accessible to people who are new to the franchise.
> 2533274947805189;8:
> I really just want Cortana back in Chiefs helmet tbh but I can’t think of any logical way of the story ever going back to that
I’m getting the impression that the pilot character will be taking over Cortana’s usual sidekick role in Halo Infinite
One thing I consider important in Halo are the visuals. I always enjoy the nice scenery abd vibrant environments that Halo has to offer. Halo 5 was a good game but it failed to deliver that because alot of the campaign missions and multiplayer maps gave me a gloomy, dark and somewhat creepy feel to them. Watching the campaign demo, I have hopes as the environment featured definitely looked nice in my opinion.
> 2533274795098161;9:
> I’m an architect with a graphic design background, so you would think for me it would be art-design or the environment. In fact a huge reason why I loved Mankind Divided and Human Revolution so much was because of the amazing work done with their architectural spaces and urban environments. Cyberpunk seems to do an equally amazing job in this regard! And truth be told, Halo’s nearly brutalist approach of creating the Forerunner world always impressed me and I was so disappointed when 343i changed it with a more generic “floating deconstructivist yet shiny” style - which I too like, it’s an interesting way to create space and Russian have some marvelouse real life examples without the shiny bits to proof it! However, it seems every second space opera goes for that kind of look and I’m a bit sick and tired of it. If I had to choose though, I would say what makes Halo though is something entirely different:
>
> Combat loop - one that screams Halo specifically! Even though that’s kinda cheating frankly, because “good Halo like combat” includes more than one thing. The combat loop to be fun needs good gunplay, interesting and diversified enemy AI trees, clear damage indications (enemies can even be bullet sponges like Hunters and Brutes, but if the armor comes off and they react to the given damage it will never feel like they are imho), amazing sound design to accompany the battle’s warfare, diversified situation by mixing a lot of different ranks, having multiple factions/fauna/environment/gadgets to your disposal to change the “battle-puzzle” based on the situation and your choices, the various arenas need to be fairly open and give you plenty of options both on food and on vehicles… And so on. Basically they need to nail the now so famous 30 seconds of fun.
>
>
>
>
> > “In Halo 1, there was maybe 30 seconds of fun that happened over and over and over and over again. And so, if you can get 30 seconds of fun, you can pretty much stretch that out to be an entire game.”- Jaime Griesemer
>
> So yeah, technically speaking the combat loop is one thing, but it comes with so many different elements you can say it’s basically the entire game. That’s why I have so many issues with sprint even in campaign. Luckily it seems to be quite downplayed, but I fear we’ll get plenty of unresponsive enemies with a lot of physics bending projectiles instead of interesting combat scenarios because of it.
>
> “But it’s open world, we need it”, absolutely untrue. What we need is a higher base movement speed more or less close to the actual running speed and more interesting traversal options. The hook seems quite controversial, but I do believe if implemented correctly it could become an interesting addition to man canons, speed boosts, tp and gravity lifts! The only thing I hate 343i act like it is an equipment when functionally the hook is an Armor Ability. One of two that you can equip it seems. It feels like that’s a bit too much and lowers the choice factor I was talking about earlier. I think it should be one AA (and if equipped you can’t sprint/dash/roll) and one use single use equipment for instance. Another thing that bothered me is that those gadgets are solely helpful for the users, but what made the bubble shield and healing zone so unique was its neutral function - everyone could use it to his advantage! I don’t think it’s a big deal in SP, but I have huge concerns in MP. In both cases though interesting combat loop in Halo has a lot to do with choice. Basically what you get/find in the battle zone and what you choose to take - which is the biggest difference between Halo and other arena shooters to me! If you can take so much with you, it becomes less important. I also fear that it might becomes yet another personalized H4 loadout structure, or maybe some sort of Halo 5’s Spartan Abilities system mixed with a personalized perks. Neither would give you the Halo gameplay loop I’m craving for!
>
> Sorry if it became yet another base movement mechanics discussion (at least partially), but that’s the quintessential of Halo’s gameplay! And this franchise is nothing without its unique combat loop!
Interesting thoughts, I don’t think it’s cheating, you could say the story is many things too, but when you put those small things together it becomes 1 very awesome thing, so you made your point and it was very enjoyable to read.
Personally I like sprint but I would prefer faster base-movement like in CE or maybe a little faster even instead of making sprint slow and also having slow basemovement, I always felt like that was bad for both sides of the “sprint contraversy”. For myself the stuff like grapplehook and H5-thrusters are a way bigger problem.
1 of 2 armor abilities? Have I missed something? I really hope it won’t be a permanent thing in the campaign.
> 2533274904158628;10:
> > 2533274846978810;6:
> > Halo 5’s ending put 343i in a corner storywise and they seem to be ignoring that cliffhanger and focusing on the Banished (so far not impressed).
>
> In my opinion, ignoring that cliffhanger was the right call, actually. They wrote themselves into a corner with a bad storyline, so a “spiritual reboot” in terms of story is exactly what Halo Infinite needs, especially if it allows them to make it more accessible to people who are new to the franchise.
>
>
> > 2533274947805189;8:
> > I really just want Cortana back in Chiefs helmet tbh but I can’t think of any logical way of the story ever going back to that
>
> I’m getting the impression that the pilot character will be taking over Cortana’s usual sidekick role in Halo Infinite
Yes you might be right. I like that character so far but honestly it wont feel right to me if he replaced Cortana, I already miss her lol… geez I sound like a -Yoink!-
> 2533274904158628;10:
> > 2533274846978810;6:
> > Halo 5’s ending put 343i in a corner storywise and they seem to be ignoring that cliffhanger and focusing on the Banished (so far not impressed).
>
> In my opinion, ignoring that cliffhanger was the right call, actually. They wrote themselves into a corner with a bad storyline, so a “spiritual reboot” in terms of story is exactly what Halo Infinite needs, especially if it allows them to make it more accessible to people who are new to the franchise.
Yeah, I get that. But I don’t think the Banished can match the stakes of the Created. Why should we care about Atriox’s underling on some ring in the middle of an intergalactic invasion of Guardians and AI? I just don’t think nostalgia will cut it, and that’s all they’ve been pushing so far in the marketing besides the Pilot (who I dislike, since he could have been an existing character) and Escharum (which IMO should have been, you know, Atriox).
I can’t imagine what new insight and mystery another trip to a Halo ring will allow, especially when we’re just fighting another version of the Covenant again. The story’s concept seems uninspired to me
> 2533274947805189;12:
> Interesting thoughts, I don’t think it’s cheating, you could say the story is many things too, but when you put those small things together it becomes 1 very awesome thing, so you made your point and it was very enjoyable to read.
> Personally I like sprint but I would prefer faster base-movement like in CE or maybe a little faster even instead of making sprint slow and also having slow basemovement, I always felt like that was bad for both sides of the “sprint contraversy”. For myself the stuff like grapplehook and H5-thrusters are a way bigger problem.
> 1 of 2 armor abilities? Have I missed something? I really hope it won’t be a permanent thing in the campaign.
Why, thank you! I’m always glad when people enjoy reading my stuff!^^
As for the question, it’s just an assumption based on the reveal. Armor Abilities are attachments with infinite uses and a cooldown, which is exactly how the grappling hook works. That’s not a H3 kind of equipment in my books!
Now… There are two slots for equipment in the HUD and at one point the player even used that drop shield-wall (forgot the official name), but still had the hook. So you can have at least two things with you. That’s confirmed! And If the hook counts as equipment in Hi (infinite uses, though with cooldown), it probably means you can also have two AAs at the same time as well - theoretically speaking. Unless the hook is a standard gadget that can’t be switched out in SP and/or all other equipment are actually single uses? We don’t know! Unless I missed a news or two!^^’
> 2533274795098161;16:
> > 2533274947805189;12:
> > Interesting thoughts, I don’t think it’s cheating, you could say the story is many things too, but when you put those small things together it becomes 1 very awesome thing, so you made your point and it was very enjoyable to read.
> > Personally I like sprint but I would prefer faster base-movement like in CE or maybe a little faster even instead of making sprint slow and also having slow basemovement, I always felt like that was bad for both sides of the “sprint contraversy”. For myself the stuff like grapplehook and H5-thrusters are a way bigger problem.
> > 1 of 2 armor abilities? Have I missed something? I really hope it won’t be a permanent thing in the campaign.
>
> Why, thank you! I always glad when people enjoy reading my stuff!
>
> As for the question, it’s just an assumption based on the reveal. Armor Abilities are attachments with infinite uses and a cooldown, which is exactly how the grappling hook works. That’s not a H3 kind of equipment in my books!
>
> Now… There are two slots for equipment in the HUD and at one point the player even used that drop shield-wall (forgot the official name), but still had the hook. So you can have at least two things with you. That’s confirmed! And If the hook counts as equipment in Hi (infinite uses, though with cooldown), it probably means you can also have two AAs at the same time as well - theoretically speaking. Unless the hook is a standard gadget that can’t be switched out in SP and/or all other equipment are actually single uses? We don’t know! Unless I missed a news or two!^^’
I very much hope you are right about this, I think it looks like you will be able to switch between Grapple(armor abilities) and pickups similarly to how you switch between different grenade types before you throw. I am worried that Grapple will be standard, I would not dislike it as much if it was switchable with like jetpack amongs other things or just an empty slot at some points. But yes all the pickups(Halo 3 similar things) are 1 time use, I am pretty sure.
> 2592250499819446;4:
> For me the game has to be fun. If I’m having fun I can often ignore the odd shortcoming here and there. It’s really not easy to say what one thing Halo must do, or what is the most important thing. Keep me engaged and I’ll play your game, bore me and I won’t.
Oddly enough, this. The little bits make the first overall experience good, but if i’d rather skip half the levels or not replay the game at all, something has gone wrong. May not necessarily always be for the same reason.
Having most of halo now available in MCC on PC after 5+ years away from halo, it’s given me a view of the campaigns that isn’t so blinded by nastalgia. I still genuinly enjoy halo CE"s levels, each and every one of them. Whereas I find halo 2’s a bit wonky, and I was surprised how much I didn’t find halo 3’s campaign fun. The first few levels of Reach also feel particularly slow and aimless, and lack a sort of life and action to them.
Do I like halo 3’s story and music and such? Very much so. But its levels all feel oddly short and missing something. The last level especially so, given its just like 1/5th of assault on the control room, followed by a warthog run.
I’m fine with art and gameplay changing over time. As long as its good and keeps me coming back for more.
> 2533274801176260;7:
> Run’n’Gun.
>
> As long as you cannot move (at max speed) and shoot at the same time, I don’t consider it a Halo game.
> The last three games failed in this regard, each one harder than the one before it.
> And unfortunately, Infinite seems to follow suit, unless sprint actually turns out to be cosmetic only, as some people speculate.
A “cosmetic sprint” sounds pointless. I feel like that’d only make people who do like sprint feel betrayed(lack of a better word) instead of adding anything to the game’s mechanics. Assuming 343 is a fairly competent studio, I don’t think they’d put a sprint animation into the game and have it do absolutely nothing to your actual speed.
For me my favorite aspect is just being fun and not such a grind. MCC is much more fun thanks to challenges and giving more meaning to ranking up.