My Problems with Halo 4 as a Long-Time Fan.

Games Other Halo
1

So…I have issues with Halo 4.

Namely, the graphics, the armor, the designs, etc. So a lot…if you think this is a board where your just gonna get some one complaining, don’t worry, I have reasons and they are valid and interesting.

Issue #1: The Canon.

So, remember when 343 showed off Master Chief’s armor? Remember when they showed the new covenant and we were all promised a canonical reason as to those designs?? Boom, in flies Halo 4 with an intro video showing the attack on Earth and sure enough? THEY HAVE ALWAYS WORN THAT APPARENTLY! We just never noticed! /Sarcasm.

The biggest slap to the face on this is the Mk. VI armor in War Games, stating it’s purpose and how it was Gen-I, if that armor is canon in our Spartan IV’s lives then why wasn’t it used in the intro video? Better yet, why the design change in general?? I would have been completely happy with 'Oh they are a broken apart religious empire that had to remake and redesign their armor from what little they had, resulting in a change of design as well as less armor in some parts.

But not, instead we see Elites showing off their spindly little arms in comparison to their boy-band vest like chest plates. What happened to the fully armored monstrosities we saw in Reach and 3? What happened to the armor actually mattering? They wouldn’t be so inefficient of warriors to just rely on Shielding, you do understand that right??

But beyond that…the Marines…

…

Why…Oh, Why…did they de-evolve? I swear I see jumps in space and time with design choices all over the place. First off, Master Chief, His armor wasn’t upgraded by Cortana it was standard issue going off of the canon of 343’s intro vid, the Covenant armor? Canon and apparently has been like that forever. But what bugs me is that the Spartan II’s went from functional, big armored suits to these semi armored, mostly black undersuit versions of their armor, showing no flaw even though they were (supposed to be) wearing the first generation in successful Mjolnir Armor and beyond up until Halo 3.

Hell! the ‘Cortana used the nano-bots in the Cryo-sleep to change it’ than just making it seem like it’s always been there.

But back to my point, the Marines, and the Spartan IV’s for that matter. The Marines are suddenly back to wearing light shoulder armor, a Helmet with gun-range like safety glasses/visor, and a KEVLAR. -Yoinking!-. VEST.

I’m sorry but what happened to this, {url=http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/119/5/a/halo_reach___marine_by_duaine13-d4xy9h7.png]the uniform on Reach?

So let’s see, the Marines in Halo 4 are 4 in a half years to a full five years ahead of the Reach Marines. The Reach Marine’s are wearing full Shoulder Pauldrons, with a Chest plate, and Thigh Guards. The Halo 4 Marines are wearing shoulder fitting plates, and a Helmet, the rest being cloth/kevlar.

I’m sorry but did they suddenly forget what was safer? Or did they have a budget cut somewhere in there? Even BETTER question: Did they forget who killed a large portion of their populace during the Human-Covenant War???

Now then, onto the Spartan IV’s. Now…I can safely say that A LOT…and I mean, a lot…of people had problems with the design choices of the armor, hell, I defended it, and even remembered the canon of the books Glasslands and The Thursday War stating that the armor would be lighter, more effective.

Okay, cool, I liked that idea, and I defended these armor mods such as Recruit, Warrior, and some of the Specializations, making sense of the no visor trick and everything.

Then I see the armor for myself, and I will talk more about it’s crap design in my issue with the graphic and texture designs, but suddenly we go from being fully armor Spartan’s, to semi-armored, semi-caring, psuedo-future super soldiers. I mean, it looks like we jumped from 2552 to 2893 instead of just 4 in a half years, and while, yes, the engineers can certainly help with that, I would at the very LEAST expect more (form-fitting and well crafted) armor.

The armor is either short and petite and unprotective. Or bulky, pointy, and out there. The only Happy Medium being a solitary few, the first coming to mind being Mk. VI, that actually fit your form, cover your body, and protect it ALONG WITH the shielding systems. I take a page from Naval Space Ships and say: ‘Shielding Technology can only do so much.’

Further, a more recent issue;

In Glasslands and The Thursday War we are lead to believe that Halsey in locked down, and in custody within the INFINITY itself. Why the hell is she suddenly being brought aboard Infinity from nowhere?

Issue 2: The Graphics and Textures.

Beautiful, Gorgeous, Fantastic.

All things that come to mind when I see the maps, or see certain little things from far away.

Then I get up close…

I’m sorry but some of the textures are just plain disgusting, some of the polygons are just plain horrid, and whats WORSE, the biggest thing I hate is the armor of the Spartan IV’s!

What happened to Spartan-II’s and III’s which had form-fitting, reasonable, and sensible armor? Why, oh why, all of a sudden…do the shoulders jut out from the shoulders in bulk instead of by way of a connector or something? (example, Scout Shoulder’s on a Female Spartan) Not only is the armor non-sensical and silly, but whats WORSE is that it’s lazy in design! It’s a single shape that they stuck inside the shoulder of the spartan itself with no shape or form around it, relying solely on the textures. which are meh at best, to make up for details in most area’s!

HELL! Look at the Warthog Textures and the Scorpion Textures! They are pixelated horribly and look worse than that of Reach! I KNOW BECAUSE I WENT WITH FRIENDS TO REACH TO SHOW OFF MAPS AND THE TEXTURES WERE SOMEHOW MORE DETAILED UP CLOSE!! Say what you will about the Xbox 360 and it’s dated hardware, but you can obviously tell from how short the campaign was, to how little they checked on the armor designs, that they focused more on Spartan Ops, New Game Modes, and Map Design rather than armor design!

Don’t get me wrong, 343 makes GORGEOUS maps, but that’s just it! Maps! the vehicles and armor and even some of the weapons (still don’t like the new Sniper) look horrid.

Issue 3. Spartan Ops.

So, Spartan Ops isn’t bad, not one bit, in fact they actually gave me something I have wanted for a long time, an ACTUAL fight with a good-sized, over bearing, relentless Covenant army in a large or mid-sized map! But that’s the problem! over using the same maps! For something so hyped and so planned out, and on a planet so damn big, you would expect new maps and new areas for these ops, the exception being Gagarin. A good example of this is Ragnarok in Episode 3!

here I am, landing in Ragnarok, learning a team got downed in a Pelican (cliche, due to the downed Pelican originally in the map anyways but okay, I can live with it). First gripe: What’s Valhalla’s Remake, even stated to have been used for battles, doing on Requiem. And further more what are these horrid extra pieces of polygons I see inserted carelessly into the already designed Forerunner Structures like some Forge map? Are you kidding me? Not only did you not fit it to the design of the spires but you didnt even work on texturing it to fit? Pathetic!

Again, for something planned out for so very long, it seems to fall short of expectations.

CONTINUED

2

Issue 5. The lack of character’s and designs we have come to know and loves.

This is my biggest and final issue, as the title says there is virtually nothing familiar about Halo 4 besides the names attached to the people and things we know, and some designs having been kept that we know.

-Master Chief’s MJOLNIR Armor.(While epic, poorly explained and shown)
-The Covenant(Entire Races) Armor.
-The Change in Armor Designs
-The Change in UNSC and entire Human Military design.
etc., etc.

I could go on and on about the inconsistencies with this last one but I won’t. My biggest grip is simply this.

Yes, 343 Industries, we know your a new company.

Yes, we know you wish to redesign things, and show off your own art style.

Yes, so far, it looks fantastic, even when I followed it all the way from the teaser back at E3 it looked fantastic.

My biggest issue is this…why…oh why…have you LITTERALLY thrown nearly EVERY Bungie design out the window…ESPECIALLY Canon based items and people of importance?? While I understand your new and have your own style you wish to show off for Halo, I will give you Mass Effect 3 as an example and say that…sometimes…its best to adhere to the fanbase.

We, the fanbase, at least most of us, have grown up through 10 long years of Halo designs from Bungie, and have loved every single bit of it. And while you may now hold the reigns of the Halo Franchise, I think you would have benefitted MUCH more from sticking a little (and by a little I meant a lot) closer to some of Bungie’s original designs. Giving us that Halo look we all know and love. Don’t get me wrong you could have still designed our own armor and so on (as long as it wasn’t blocky or point and disgusting like it is now), as well as the maps, the forerunner ruins, etc. But why did you feel it was necessary to mess with a design formula that worked for a solid 10 years!

I love Halo 4 but the more I stare at it and it’s designs, the more I feel divided between playing a Halo game in my heart or playing something else in my mind. The Frigates, the Armor, the Marines, the ODST’s, etc.

ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE, WERE, AND WOULD HAVE BEEN PERFECT THE WAY THEY WERE!

I’m not asking you to not have made the game types and game changing dynamics you made, I just wish you would have stuck closer to home with what we all grew up and gave us a TRUE graphics enhanced version of Halo, like you call this one, and not a complete overhaul of a redesign of EVERYTHING!

=====

Ending Statement:

While I have all these issues, and more, I love Halo 4. I love it’s fantastical Space Drama that only the original Star wars Episodes could have matched. I love it’s dynamic gameplay and mechanics. I love it’s new forge and the possibilties with it(another grip being limited Forge Maps).

In General: I still very much love and am addicted to Halo 4. I just disagree with alot of what you have done here.

As for the Community, what gripes or issues do you guys have with Halo 4 if any?

3

It’s different artists interpretations of the armor. This stuff happens in comic books all the time and directors do it in movies too. It’s a minor thing plus I think for the most part Chief’s Halo 4 armor looks better than his 2/3 look.

Plus, I understand you’re worried about 343 messing up Bungie’s canon. But c’mon, Bungie themselves took massive dumps on their own canon with Reach.

4

> It’s different artists interpretations of the armor. This stuff happens in comic books all the time and directors do it in movies too. It’s a minor thing plus I think for the most part Chief’s Halo 4 armor looks better than his 2/3 look.

You didn’t even read the entire thing.

Yes, I love his new armor, I do. And again, yes, I know they are a new company. However, not stating a reason as to why his armor changed and making it canon that ALL Spartan II’s had it this way is ridiculous. And even Movies and Comic Books would keep some designs similar.

HELL, even Halo Wars, which was also made by a different company and made a lot of their own vehicles, still stuck to alot of what made Halo, Halo in terms of designs.

5

You need a TL;DR section at the top of your post

6

Wars had different MJOLNIR armor for their Spartans too.

Ghosts didn’t always have the flashy glowing light-trails or pimped out hovering effects below them (those all came in Halo 2) but Bungie basically retconned that.

7

> <mark>Wars had different MJOLNIR armor for their Spartans too</mark>.
>
> Ghosts didn’t always have the flashy glowing light-trails or pimped out hovering effects below them (those all came in Halo 2) but Bungie basically retconned that.

Not exactly, No.

They were wearing exactly what a Spartan Team should have been wearing in that time, Mjolnir Mk. V, if a bit of beefed up version, but still Mk. V.

Further, that’s one of the only inconsistencies, was the Frigate design changed? No. Was the Marine Design changed, No. Was the Warthog, the Mongoose, the Scorpion all changed? no, no, and no ,they all had their basic, tried and true designs.

8

I agree with some but not all of the things you’ve said. I think it’s fair play to 343 if they want you change some of the things (even if it’s for the worst) as they basically own Halo now (kinda) Personally, i haven’t noticed the texture stuff you mentioned but I’ll keep an eye out for it now. I hate the marines look now as well. It’s horrible. You take one look and you think “meat shield” I think 343 were trying to make them look “cool” or something. Meh.

9

Just a question:

When you play, do you sit around and just scope in at warthogs? I mean dear God man give me a break.

10

I happen to agree A LOT with you. All of these changes in Halo 4 have actually started to drive me away from playing it. I understand your frustration.

343, please go back to the simplicity and original beauty of Halo…

11

> > <mark>Wars had different MJOLNIR armor for their Spartans too</mark>.
> >
> > Ghosts didn’t always have the flashy glowing light-trails or pimped out hovering effects below them (those all came in Halo 2) but Bungie basically retconned that.
>
> Not exactly, No.
>
> They were wearing exactly what a Spartan Team should have been wearing in that time, Mjolnir Mk. V, if a bit of beefed up version, but still Mk. V.
>
> Further, that’s one of the only inconsistencies, was the Frigate design changed? No. Was the Marine Design changed, No. Was the Warthog, the Mongoose, the Scorpion all changed? no, no, and no ,they all had their basic, tried and true designs.

It was true Mark V armor only in the helmet, the rest of the armor the Halo Wars Spartans wear resembles Mark IV armor moreso than Mark V.

Regarding all of your other items you listed above. You need to remember that Halo 4 takes place 4 years after the last game. Things update and change (Example: a 2006 model of a car won’t necessarily look the same as a 2010 model of a car) and even so, alot of the updates they made are minor and logically look like minor things that would get tweaked over a few years.

Trying to get a little back to the main topic. The main thing I don’t care for are the styles of all the armor bits in this game. There are far too many designs that abandon the classic “big visor” look of the older games, my only main issue.

12

> Just a question:
>
> When you play, do you sit around and just scope in at warthogs? I mean dear God man give me a break.

No, I play, I forge, I get bored and -Yoink- around with friends and notice some of the small things as that is what will get me a career in what I love most.

Textures, while a small portion of a game, can sometimes make or break it. Storyline can be fantastic, but with the medium of the here and now suddenly becoming more and more grandiose in CGI and Graphics and Textures, if you lax, you may end up hurting your game for not giving a good visual experience. Indie games don’t have to worry about this issue, as well as small companies.

But title games, like Halo, can easily be broken from things like this. Thankfully 343’s god like map design makes up for some of the little inconsistencies but if everything was like the textures on those vehicles, I’m sure you would be complaining as well.

13

> It was true Mark V armor only in the helmet, the rest of the armor the Halo Wars Spartans wear resembles Mark IV armor moreso than Mark V.
>
> Regarding all of your other items you listed above. You need to remember that Halo 4 takes place 4 years after the last game. Things update and change (Example: a 2006 model of a car won’t necessarily look the same as a 2010 model of a car) and even so, alot of the updates they made are minor and logically look like minor things that would get tweaked over a few years.
>
> Trying to get a little back to the main topic. The main thing I don’t care for are the styles of all the armor bits in this game. There are far too many designs that abandon the classic “big visor” look of the older games, my only main issue.

  1. yes, the helmet resembles Mk. V, but the armor resembles closer to Mk. VI than that of IV if you look at it.

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111102050561/halowarscombat/images/9/9b/Masterchief_Spartan_Final.sized.jpg

  1. So what your saying is…that it’s completely logical for the Marine to suddenly go from being as combat ready as this against the Covenant…to this?

I’m sorry but did somewhere along that 4-5 year life span did they forget that the Covenant uses Plasma and that Kevlar doesn’t do anything for you against that?