The worst part of the reskinned games, in my opinion, and this was a problem in Halo 4 as well, is the architecture overall. Ever since Halo: Reach, the weapons, vehicles, etc. graphics have all been influenced slightly by Reach, which had primitive versions of the vehicles and weapons of the Master Chief games. Now, the Anniversary games are borrowing graphical elements (and in the CEA’s case, skins entirely) to make it as if these guns, vehicles, and all that always did and always were supposed to look like this. They look worse, more primitive, etc. This seems like it is going to continue with Halo 2 Anniversary from what I’ve seen, and Halo 4 also had these skins, which makes no sense when you consider they went from primitive weapons, to more slick-looking ones, then back to primitive. And now, in this collection, the only game that will have these slick-looking weapons by default is Halo 3. Now I know this is insanely nitpicky and it is about something most would consider trivial, but I really am not a fan of everything getting a Halo Reach look when Halo Reach was meant to be old primitive designs, to counter the slick looking items of Halo 3-era Halo.
Halo Reaches designs/architecture were primitive? I wouldn’t be able to tell, I thought they looked both advanced and awesome.
> This seems like it is going to continue with Halo 2 Anniversary from what I’ve seen, and Halo 4 also had these skins
If your referring to Halo 4 elites in the Anniversary gameplay they’re placeholders, not the final version of the Elites in the game (it’s a work in progress after all).
> which makes no sense when you consider they went from primitive weapons, to more slick-looking ones, then back to primitive.
Makes no sense that they went straight from “primitive” weapons in August (Reach) to more slick-looking ones in September (CE) and/or October (Halo 2).
Yeah, and it’s even more confusing that they always had these, to going to not having them at all in 3, and having them again in 4.
Plus the primitive ones just don’t fit the design of any of the games besides Reach imo
It took me a second to catch on here, I thought you meant graphically speaking (pixels, etc). Then I realized you most likely mean the design in terms of evolution, i.e. the sniper looks like it belongs in an older era, not the current one or the future one.
I guess I never really noticed this in Halo 4, I’ll have to pay closer attention next time I load up the game. In the end, though, as they look pretty, I don’t really mind if they look current era or prior era.
I’m confused. What guns in Halo 4 look like Reach?
From Reach (2552) to Halo 4 (2557/8), that’s a six year period. It’s not that some of the guns are “primitive” (which implies primal or ancient) it’s that, like in real life, there are different makes & models of vehicles and weapons depending on where you are. Misriah Armories is on Mars, and I’m sure certain models of certain guns made their way to different places. It’s obvious that military contractors on Reach went with the DMR while those on Earth chose the Battle Rifle. The Infinity went with newer designs of both.
Forces on Reach also used a different version of the Assault Rifle (MA37) than what was used on Earth (MA5C). The Pillar of Autumn was chalk full of the MA5B Assault Rifles, which were apparently used mostly by the Navy for ship-to-ship combat. They’re not too powerful, but have a larger clip to compensate. But that’s also why you don’t see any DMRs or jetpacks on the Autumn. Long range rifles in narrow corridors aren’t too effective. Also, I assume while the Autumn was docked on Reach, some of her supplies were probably relocated to soldiers on the ground out of desperation as the planet fell. Which is probably why in CE you don’t find any Spartan Lasers or Jetpacks.
It all depends on who in the UNSC is ordering which weapons for which theater of operation. Just like in real life.
Also, the Covenant Remnant is using older models of vehicles and weapons than what we saw the OG Covenant using in Reach through Halo 3. The Beam Rifle in Halo 4 is the Type-27, while in Halo 2 they used the Type-50. Same deal with Phantoms. The Remnant is more like an insurgency using older tech.
That’s the canonical reason.
> From Reach (2552) to Halo 4 (2557/8), that’s a six year period.
Exactly this. I don’t see how a weapon built six years prior to Halo 4 would be considered primitive.
> They look worse, more primitive, etc.
Honestly, I disagree. I think that out of all of the games, Halo 4’s weapons look the sleekest and most sci-fi futuristic.
> That’s the canonical reason.
Canonical explanations are contrived depending on what the developer wanted. If they wanted John to become a unicorn with Cortana as the resurrected fairy sidekick, they could come up with a canonical explanation for that.
Having a canonical explanation does not automatically mean that everything makes believable sense (case-in-point: John’s Halo 4 armor). Almost universally, the only reason for any discrepancies between the games, such as different aesthetics or modified gun traits, is because the designer wanted it that way. No one cares if something that they perceive as bad has a canonical explanation because that thing is still bad. The thing could be fixed and given a different canonical explanation.
> > They look worse, more primitive, etc.
>
> Honestly, I disagree. I think that out of all of the games, Halo 4’s weapons look the sleekest and most sci-fi futuristic.
>
>
>
> > That’s the canonical reason.
>
> Canonical explanations are contrived depending on what the developer wanted. If they wanted John to become a unicorn with Cortana as the resurrected fairy sidekick, they could come up with a canonical explanation for that.
>
> Having a canonical explanation does not automatically mean that everything makes believable sense (case-in-point: John’s Halo 4 armor). Almost universally, the only reason for any discrepancies between the games, such as different aesthetics or modified gun traits, is because the designer wanted it that way. No one cares if something that they perceive as bad has a canonical explanation because that thing is still bad. The thing could be fixed and given a different canonical explanation.
Right, but as far as something as simple as weapon design goes, that’s as cut & dry as you can get. That’s all the explanation it really needs.
I can’t stand that VCR of a box sniper rifle. It looks so awful and the fact Halo 4 had it is really annoying too. Halo 3’s sniper rifle looks much better.
> Right, but as far as something as simple as weapon design goes, that’s as cut & dry as you can get. That’s all the explanation it really needs.
What I’m saying is that no one wants an explanation at all. They want better weapon design.
What are you talking about? The guns in CEA looked exactly like the ones in Halo CE. In fact the Assault Rifle, Magnum and Cortana model looked they came straight from Halo 3.
Uh. OP. Work in progress?
> What are you talking about? The guns in CEA looked exactly like the ones in Halo CE. In fact the Assault Rifle, Magnum and Cortana model looked they came straight from Halo 3.
Lol, so contradictory.
> What are you talking about? <mark>The guns in CEA looked exactly like the ones in Halo CE.</mark> In fact the Assault Rifle, Magnum and Cortana model looked they came straight from Halo 3.
Did you just not play CEA? They directly ripped most of the weapon models from Reach which entirely broke canon for some weapons and, for people like me, ENTIRELY ruins the experience of the remaster. In Combat Evolved, the shotgun used is the M90 model, but for some reason Saber/343 didn’t bother with most models and just straight up imported the M45 model which has absolutely no place in the game at all. As “tacticool” and “edgy” as Reach’s sniper was, it served no place in CE. Stupidly enough, they used the SRS99 AM model instead of the SRS99C-S2 AM model that was issued at the time.
Yes, a lot of you are going to get on your knees and defend the responsible studios with your lives by saying they were short on time, but come on. This remaster was a slap in the face to the original title.
> Did you just not play CEA? They directly ripped most of the weapon models from Reach which entirely broke canon for some weapons and, for people like me, ENTIRELY ruins the experience of the remaster. In Combat Evolved, the shotgun used is the M90 model, but for some reason Saber/343 didn’t bother with most models and just straight up imported the M45 model which has absolutely no place in the game at all. As “tacticool” and “edgy” as Reach’s sniper was, it served no place in CE. Stupidly enough, they used the SRS99 AM model instead of the SRS99C-S2 AM model that was issued at the time.
That’s because Saber Interactive had limited resources.
> > What are you talking about? <mark>The guns in CEA looked exactly like the ones in Halo CE.</mark> In fact the Assault Rifle, Magnum and Cortana model looked they came straight from Halo 3.
>
> Did you just not play CEA? They directly ripped most of the weapon models from Reach which entirely broke canon for some weapons and, for people like me, ENTIRELY ruins the experience of the remaster. In Combat Evolved, the shotgun used is the M90 model, but for some reason Saber/343 didn’t bother with most models and just straight up imported the M45 model which has absolutely no place in the game at all. As “tacticool” and “edgy” as Reach’s sniper was, it served no place in CE. Stupidly enough, they used the SRS99 AM model instead of the SRS99C-S2 AM model that was issued at the time.
>
> Yes, a lot of you are going to get on your knees and defend the responsible studios with your lives by saying they were short on time, but come on. This remaster was a slap in the face to the original title.
While they changed the look of them they didn’t change the way they performed so technically they did not use a different weapon. Maybe they were supposed to look like that from when Bungie designed them but due to hardware limitations back then they had to settle for what we saw in the original CE. Just throwing it out there.
The reason that weapons were reused between Reach and CEA, was because they quite literally took place around the same time. The Battle of Reach ended on August 29th, 2552. The Battle of Installation 04 happened on September 19, 2552. The Pillar of Autumn CAME FROM Reach. Therefore, it makes more sense to reuse assets from Reach in CEA to keep it consistent and more solidly connect the two. Halo 2 has less of an excuse for reused assets, but everything on that one is a work in progress.
As for Reach models in Halo 4, that was due to time constraints most likely so they used the most recent art assets. Although, I hardly noticed many reused ones except for the Banshee, Scorpion, and Mongoose.