I was going to make a big drawn out thing but instead I think I will try and keep it straight and to the point…
Campaign: back to a more single Spartan experience. No friendly AI team stuff. It should primarily be about Master Chief bit I definitely don’t object to playing as other Spartans or even Elites, like as the Arbiter in H2.
Multiplayer:. H2A art style and mechanics (while H2A doesn’t have sprint I could careless if it was added or not)… The Reach weapons ( while I was never the biggest fan of reach it’s weapons system was really good. Too bad all the armor loadouts takes away from that a bit IMO. But of course I would have the H3 style vehicles so they aren’t as fragile as the H2A vehicles.
This would be basically the start of my perfect Halo… I may add to this later when I have more time… How about your perfect Halo? What would you do?
You “could” care less? So you do care!
Seriously though, I think Halo is past the idea of a single universe-saving guy. It needs to be a combined effort now in order to achieve any kind of suspension of disbelief. I’m not sure how I’d feel if it was just Chief running around again.
Halo has always had friendly AI.
CE - H3, they were Marines and ODSTs, that die at the drop of a hat, and drive vehicles off of cliffs.
Halo 4, some Spartan 4s are thrown into the mix, which seem to be better drivers, but still die quickly.
ODST has you in a squad with other ODSTs (which are immortal, like how Halo 5’s Spartan allies would be later)
Reach as you in a squad with other Spartan 3s and George. (I have many memories of Kat driving off of cliffs and parking in front of Hunters, as well as Emile trying to use his shotgun at rifle-range… Definitely not what I’d call useful allies)
Halo 5 just gave you the ability to tell your companions where you want them to go, and to focus fire on specific enemies.
I believe most fans want Master Chief to be the clear lead. While Arbiter levels (or possibly levels as a high-ranking Brute in the Banished) would be great, I don’t think Locke should feature prominently as a protagonist. His introduction as a “newer, cooler replacement” for Chief just left a bad taste in people’s mouths.
I very much like Halo 5’s mobility (we finally get to feel like we’re fast enough to occasionally dodge incoming projectiles like Spartans can in the books). I don’t know how I feel about Infinite’s grappling hook … How is that tiny arm-motor hoisting that much Spartan and Mjolnir that far, that fast?
I think Multiplayer would be golden with the removal of the microtransactions and the lootbox approach to unlocking weapons, skins and vehicles.
This seems more like a thread for General discussion than the Story forum.
> 2533274883501878;3:
> Halo has always had friendly AI.
>
> CE - H3, they were Marines and ODSTs, that die at the drop of a hat, and drive vehicles off of cliffs.
>
> Halo 4, some Spartan 4s are thrown into the mix, which seem to be better drivers, but still die quickly.
>
> ODST has you in a squad with other ODSTs (which are immortal, like how Halo 5’s Spartan allies would be later)
>
> Reach as you in a squad with other Spartan 3s and George. (I have many memories of Kat driving off of cliffs and parking in front of Hunters, as well as Emile trying to use his shotgun at rifle-range… Definitely not what I’d call useful allies)
>
> Halo 5 just gave you the ability to tell your companions where you want them to go, and to focus fire on specific enemies.
>
> I believe most fans want Master Chief to be the clear lead. While Arbiter levels (or possibly levels as a high-ranking Brute in the Banished) would be great, I don’t think Locke should feature prominently as a protagonist. His introduction as a “newer, cooler replacement” for Chief just left a bad taste in people’s mouths.
>
> I very much like Halo 5’s mobility (we finally get to feel like we’re fast enough to occasionally dodge incoming projectiles like Spartans can in the books). I don’t know how I feel about Infinite’s grappling hook … How is that tiny arm-motor hoisting that much Spartan and Mjolnir that far, that fast?
>
> I think Multiplayer would be golden with the removal of the microtransactions and the lootbox approach to unlocking weapons, skins and vehicles.
The Marines and ODST or what not are OK. I just don’t want to have to rely on them in any way. For example Kat’s lousy driving in reach where she takes you off cliffs or into wall… Or in H5 when I saw Buck fighting with a plasma pistol and he wasn’t doing well so I told him to pick up the light rifle. Aren’t Spartans supposed to be a super soldier so to speak? They sure don’t seem like it when the computer is controlling them. They mostly get in the way or aren’t to much help at all.
> 2533274816788253;6:
> > 2533274883501878;3:
> > Halo has always had friendly AI.
> >
> > CE - H3, they were Marines and ODSTs, that die at the drop of a hat, and drive vehicles off of cliffs.
> >
> > Halo 4, some Spartan 4s are thrown into the mix, which seem to be better drivers, but still die quickly.
> >
> > ODST has you in a squad with other ODSTs (which are immortal, like how Halo 5’s Spartan allies would be later)
> >
> > Reach as you in a squad with other Spartan 3s and George. (I have many memories of Kat driving off of cliffs and parking in front of Hunters, as well as Emile trying to use his shotgun at rifle-range… Definitely not what I’d call useful allies)
> >
> > Halo 5 just gave you the ability to tell your companions where you want them to go, and to focus fire on specific enemies.
> >
> > I believe most fans want Master Chief to be the clear lead. While Arbiter levels (or possibly levels as a high-ranking Brute in the Banished) would be great, I don’t think Locke should feature prominently as a protagonist. His introduction as a “newer, cooler replacement” for Chief just left a bad taste in people’s mouths.
> >
> > I very much like Halo 5’s mobility (we finally get to feel like we’re fast enough to occasionally dodge incoming projectiles like Spartans can in the books). I don’t know how I feel about Infinite’s grappling hook … How is that tiny arm-motor hoisting that much Spartan and Mjolnir that far, that fast?
> >
> > I think Multiplayer would be golden with the removal of the microtransactions and the lootbox approach to unlocking weapons, skins and vehicles.
>
> The Marines and ODST or what not are OK. I just don’t want to have to rely on them in any way. For example Kat’s lousy driving in reach where she takes you off cliffs or into wall… Or in H5 when I saw Buck fighting with a plasma pistol and he wasn’t doing well so I told him to pick up the light rifle. Aren’t Spartans supposed to be a super soldier so to speak? They sure don’t seem like it when the computer is controlling them. They mostly get in the way or aren’t to much help at all.
How about instead of having just one location where you choose the difficulty, having two.
For enemies: Easy, Medium, Heroic, Legendary.
For allies: Cannon fodder, Trained, Specialist, Paragon.
One extreme, if you have it on Easy & Cannon Fodder, the NPCs aren’t really killing each-other, the way we see in parts of the games when they’re programmed to be just outside of their effective ranges.
The other extreme, if you have it on Legendary & Paragon, nothing is held back, all forces are hyper-lethal.
I’d say in my mind, the canonical setting would probably be Legendary and Competent. Breaking down the AI this way would allow them to increase the difficulty of legendary, because the players would have the ability to chose how much help they want from friendly NPCs.
> 2533274883501878;7:
> > 2533274816788253;6:
> > > 2533274883501878;3:
> > > Halo has always had friendly AI.
> > >
> > > CE - H3, they were Marines and ODSTs, that die at the drop of a hat, and drive vehicles off of cliffs.
> > >
> > > Halo 4, some Spartan 4s are thrown into the mix, which seem to be better drivers, but still die quickly.
> > >
> > > ODST has you in a squad with other ODSTs (which are immortal, like how Halo 5’s Spartan allies would be later)
> > >
> > > Reach as you in a squad with other Spartan 3s and George. (I have many memories of Kat driving off of cliffs and parking in front of Hunters, as well as Emile trying to use his shotgun at rifle-range… Definitely not what I’d call useful allies)
> > >
> > > Halo 5 just gave you the ability to tell your companions where you want them to go, and to focus fire on specific enemies.
> > >
> > > I believe most fans want Master Chief to be the clear lead. While Arbiter levels (or possibly levels as a high-ranking Brute in the Banished) would be great, I don’t think Locke should feature prominently as a protagonist. His introduction as a “newer, cooler replacement” for Chief just left a bad taste in people’s mouths.
> > >
> > > I very much like Halo 5’s mobility (we finally get to feel like we’re fast enough to occasionally dodge incoming projectiles like Spartans can in the books). I don’t know how I feel about Infinite’s grappling hook … How is that tiny arm-motor hoisting that much Spartan and Mjolnir that far, that fast?
> > >
> > > I think Multiplayer would be golden with the removal of the microtransactions and the lootbox approach to unlocking weapons, skins and vehicles.
> >
> > The Marines and ODST or what not are OK. I just don’t want to have to rely on them in any way. For example Kat’s lousy driving in reach where she takes you off cliffs or into wall… Or in H5 when I saw Buck fighting with a plasma pistol and he wasn’t doing well so I told him to pick up the light rifle. Aren’t Spartans supposed to be a super soldier so to speak? They sure don’t seem like it when the computer is controlling them. They mostly get in the way or aren’t to much help at all.
>
> How about instead of having just one location where you choose the difficulty, having two.
> For enemies: Easy, Medium, Heroic, Legendary.
> For allies: Cannon fodder, Trained, Specialist, Paragon.
>
> One extreme, if you have it on Easy & Cannon Fodder, the NPCs aren’t really killing each-other, the way we see in parts of the games when they’re programmed to be just outside of their effective ranges.
>
> The other extreme, if you have it on Legendary & Paragon, nothing is held back, all forces are hyper-lethal.
>
> I’d say in my mind, the canonical setting would probably be Legendary and Competent. Breaking down the AI this way would allow them to increase the difficulty of legendary, because the players would have the ability to chose how much help they want from friendly NPCs.
If they could accomplish that it might make it a bit better cause I was going to point out how on legendary friendly AI is even more useless the majority of the time. Halo just seems better when you don’t have to rely on not so good friendly AI.
> 2533274816788253;8:
> > 2533274883501878;7:
> > > 2533274816788253;6:
> > > > 2533274883501878;3:
> > > > Halo has always had friendly AI.
> > > >
> > > > CE - H3, they were Marines and ODSTs, that die at the drop of a hat, and drive vehicles off of cliffs.
> > > >
> > > > Halo 4, some Spartan 4s are thrown into the mix, which seem to be better drivers, but still die quickly.
> > > >
> > > > ODST has you in a squad with other ODSTs (which are immortal, like how Halo 5’s Spartan allies would be later)
> > > >
> > > > Reach as you in a squad with other Spartan 3s and George. (I have many memories of Kat driving off of cliffs and parking in front of Hunters, as well as Emile trying to use his shotgun at rifle-range… Definitely not what I’d call useful allies)
> > > >
> > > > Halo 5 just gave you the ability to tell your companions where you want them to go, and to focus fire on specific enemies.
> > > >
> > > > I believe most fans want Master Chief to be the clear lead. While Arbiter levels (or possibly levels as a high-ranking Brute in the Banished) would be great, I don’t think Locke should feature prominently as a protagonist. His introduction as a “newer, cooler replacement” for Chief just left a bad taste in people’s mouths.
> > > >
> > > > I very much like Halo 5’s mobility (we finally get to feel like we’re fast enough to occasionally dodge incoming projectiles like Spartans can in the books). I don’t know how I feel about Infinite’s grappling hook … How is that tiny arm-motor hoisting that much Spartan and Mjolnir that far, that fast?
> > > >
> > > > I think Multiplayer would be golden with the removal of the microtransactions and the lootbox approach to unlocking weapons, skins and vehicles.
> > >
> > > The Marines and ODST or what not are OK. I just don’t want to have to rely on them in any way. For example Kat’s lousy driving in reach where she takes you off cliffs or into wall… Or in H5 when I saw Buck fighting with a plasma pistol and he wasn’t doing well so I told him to pick up the light rifle. Aren’t Spartans supposed to be a super soldier so to speak? They sure don’t seem like it when the computer is controlling them. They mostly get in the way or aren’t to much help at all.
> >
> > How about instead of having just one location where you choose the difficulty, having two.
> > For enemies: Easy, Medium, Heroic, Legendary.
> > For allies: Cannon fodder, Trained, Specialist, Paragon.
> >
> > One extreme, if you have it on Easy & Cannon Fodder, the NPCs aren’t really killing each-other, the way we see in parts of the games when they’re programmed to be just outside of their effective ranges.
> >
> > The other extreme, if you have it on Legendary & Paragon, nothing is held back, all forces are hyper-lethal.
> >
> > I’d say in my mind, the canonical setting would probably be Legendary and Competent. Breaking down the AI this way would allow them to increase the difficulty of legendary, because the players would have the ability to chose how much help they want from friendly NPCs.
>
> If they could accomplish that it might make it a bit better cause I was going to point out how on legendary friendly AI is even more useless the majority of the time. Halo just seems better when you don’t have to rely on not so good friendly AI.
We are discussing the hypothetical “perfect” Halo game, and I do think that giving the players the power to customize their experience would go a long way towards that end.
You could play with the allies set to cannon fodder and the enemies set to whichever difficulty best suits you, and I could have the allies set to Specialist, so I can actually get in a Warthog Turret and expect them to get me an angle on high priority targets while evading incoming fire to a reasonable extent. And if we’re both playing with the enemies at one-rating higher than our allies, the gameplay for each of us should be comparably challenging.
The new LASO could be having allies set to Cannon Fodder and the enemies being set to Legendary.
My ideas for the perfect Halo game would be:
- Have Blue Team become the primary main characters, with Red Team being the main characters in a DLC expansion. Fred-104 should lead the charge and be the main star for obvious reasons - Chief shouldn’t even be the main character any longer, as otherwise, the franchise will only continue to get more and more stale.
- The art style should be a new one based on a combo of Reach, 4, and 5 with a lot of elements derived from Serious Sam 3: BFE, Serious Sam 4, and Halo Wars 2 - the armors will be mainly Reach/4/5 style while the weapons will be similar to Reach, HW2, and BFE, including new weapons like the Double Barrel Coach Gun, Auto Shotgun, and
- Gameplay and mechanics should be Reach, 4, 2A MP, and 5 combined, and new game modes included should be:
- Firefight Survival = Survive for as long as you can as the enemies keep getting stronger and more numerous. The waves never end.
- Arcade Attack = Campaign mode except you have lives. Run out of all of them, and it’s game over.
- Have boss fights in the campaign use heavy metal music themes much like how Serious Sam does it - this will make the boss fights more frenetic.
- The sound design really needs an improvement - either go back to the Halo 4 style sound design or switch to a new sound design inspired by Serious Sam 4 and Crysis.
> 2535412187252726;10:
> My ideas for the perfect Halo game would be:
> 1. Have Blue Team become the primary main characters, with Red Team being the main characters in a DLC expansion. Fred-104 should lead the charge and be the main star for obvious reasons - Chief shouldn’t even be the main character any longer, as otherwise, the franchise will only continue to get more and more stale.
> 2. The art style should be a new one based on a combo of Reach, 4, and 5 with a lot of elements derived from Serious Sam 3: BFE, Serious Sam 4, and Halo Wars 2 - the armors will be mainly Reach/4/5 style while the weapons will be similar to Reach, HW2, and BFE, including new weapons like the Double Barrel Coach Gun, Auto Shotgun, and
> 3. Gameplay and mechanics should be Reach, 4, 2A MP, and 5 combined, and new game modes included should be:
> - Firefight Survival = Survive for as long as you can as the enemies keep getting stronger and more numerous. The waves never end.
> - Arcade Attack = Campaign mode except you have lives. Run out of all of them, and it’s game over.
> 4. Have boss fights in the campaign use heavy metal music themes much like how Serious Sam does it - this will make the boss fights more frenetic.
> 5. The sound design really needs an improvement - either go back to the Halo 4 style sound design or switch to a new sound design inspired by Serious Sam 4 and Crysis.
I disagree with the last part of your first point. Good writing is what actually prevents staleness, not swapping out characters. One example of this is a book series called The Sacketts, in which characters are swapped out left and right but I couldn’t give you the name of any of them, because they’re all the same archetype. It doesn’t matter what superficial traits the new knife fighter has if he has the same personality as the last half-dozen knife fighters. Changing the main character will not breathe new life into the franchise. In fact, if it is done poorly, it can actually hurt it. Look at Locke’s introduction. He was supposed to be the newer “cooler” replacement for Chief, and the fans rejected it. One of the biggest complaints about Halo 5 was how much time Locke was given in the game instead of Chief.
Halo 4 showcased great writing for Master Chief, and a continuation of that story arc with Chief discovering his humanity, and measuring that against his duty has a lot of potential.
Most of your other points are wanting Halo to be more like Serious Sam… I don’t want Halo to copy other franchises, I want it to do what it does well.
> 2533274797661806;2:
> You “could” care less? So you do care!
>
> Seriously though, I think Halo is past the idea of a single universe-saving guy. It needs to be a combined effort now in order to achieve any kind of suspension of disbelief. I’m not sure how I’d feel if it was just Chief running around again.
Honestly the stories without Chief are like 16 billion times more interesting because we know Chief wins and will always bounce back because that’s who he is.
a lone ODST squad in a hostile city or a rag tag spartan team during one of humanities worst military defeats of the Human-Covenant War is far more suspenseful than Chief centric stories because Chief always finds a way somehow, and luck is always on his side when he cant.
> 2535465841210047;12:
> > 2533274797661806;2:
> > You “could” care less? So you do care!
> >
> > Seriously though, I think Halo is past the idea of a single universe-saving guy. It needs to be a combined effort now in order to achieve any kind of suspension of disbelief. I’m not sure how I’d feel if it was just Chief running around again.
>
> Honestly the stories without Chief are like 16 billion times more interesting because we know Chief wins and will always bounce back because that’s who he is.
>
> a lone ODST squad in a hostile city or a rag tag spartan team during one of humanities worst military defeats of the Human-Covenant War is far more suspenseful than Chief centric stories because Chief always finds a way somehow, and luck is always on his side when he cant.
Your argument works for novels and movies, but in the games, the character we play as is the avatar of our success, and changing that avatar doesn’t change that. The trick to the story being interesting is knowing where to focus the attention. For example, In Halo 4, Chief is dealing with existential issues he hasn’t had to face before, and it works beautifully.
> 2533274883501878;13:
> > 2535465841210047;12:
> > > 2533274797661806;2:
> > > You “could” care less? So you do care!
> > >
> > > Seriously though, I think Halo is past the idea of a single universe-saving guy. It needs to be a combined effort now in order to achieve any kind of suspension of disbelief. I’m not sure how I’d feel if it was just Chief running around again.
> >
> > Honestly the stories without Chief are like 16 billion times more interesting because we know Chief wins and will always bounce back because that’s who he is.
> >
> > a lone ODST squad in a hostile city or a rag tag spartan team during one of humanities worst military defeats of the Human-Covenant War is far more suspenseful than Chief centric stories because Chief always finds a way somehow, and luck is always on his side when he cant.
>
> Your argument works for novels and movies, but in the games, the character we play as is the avatar of our success, and changing that avatar doesn’t change that. The trick to the story being interesting is knowing where to focus the attention. For example, In Halo 4, Chief is dealing with existential issues he hasn’t had to face before, and it works beautifully.
Ok but the avatar of success isnt very interesting is they have always won. The Chief hasnt ever really lost in the long run. Halo 4 being a major exception but even then he prevented humanity being Composed
> 2535465841210047;14:
> > 2533274883501878;13:
> > > 2535465841210047;12:
> > > > 2533274797661806;2:
> > > > You “could” care less? So you do care!
> > > >
> > > > Seriously though, I think Halo is past the idea of a single universe-saving guy. It needs to be a combined effort now in order to achieve any kind of suspension of disbelief. I’m not sure how I’d feel if it was just Chief running around again.
> > >
> > > Honestly the stories without Chief are like 16 billion times more interesting because we know Chief wins and will always bounce back because that’s who he is.
> > >
> > > a lone ODST squad in a hostile city or a rag tag spartan team during one of humanities worst military defeats of the Human-Covenant War is far more suspenseful than Chief centric stories because Chief always finds a way somehow, and luck is always on his side when he cant.
> >
> > Your argument works for novels and movies, but in the games, the character we play as is the avatar of our success, and changing that avatar doesn’t change that. The trick to the story being interesting is knowing where to focus the attention. For example, In Halo 4, Chief is dealing with existential issues he hasn’t had to face before, and it works beautifully.
>
> Ok but the avatar of success isnt very interesting is they have always won. The Chief hasnt ever really lost in the long run. Halo 4 being a major exception but even then he prevented humanity being Composed
Do you play games that are scripted for you to fail utterly in the middle of a story arc, without resolution? Do you know of any games that do that? I don’t. When you play the hero of a game, The point is to strive and succeed. No one plays for the sake of failing and leaving tasks unfinished. Games aren’t novels, and there’s an expectation in games of the protagonist accomplishing what he or she attempts. And outside of an ensemble cast where others succeed, your almost never see protagonists in books or movies failing utterly.
Like the story of another franchise, One Punch Man, if the focus of the story were the protagonist being invincible, it would be boring as you claim, but in both cases that is not the focus. Halo 4 ends on an extremely sad note, because saving humanity wasn’t the emotional center of the game, it was his bond with Cortana and the climax was in a final act of humanity, Cortana tearing herself apart to save him, and him being unable to save her in return.
One thing I would love to see in the campaign, although probably rather impossible, is a campaign where you play as different Spartan who get different perspectives of a fight. The missions would be linear but what you do as one Spartan can effect what you have to do as another Spartan in another part of the mission. For example if you don’t take out a certain banshee or wraith can effect what you have to do in another part. Something along those lines… It would be very complicated to achieve but would add an interesting aspect to the campaign.
I’d like a graphic style more similar to Halo 2/3.