Dear 343
As a vet halo player I’ve seen and played every released halo game and I love most of them and I see what they all where trying to do.
This is how I feel about the games within the halo universe!
Halo CE: Was trying to be a big open world shooter that felt new and cool! It had big gun fights for it’s time and was in a nice graphical point as well for it’s time.
Halo 2: It wanted to be a little darker but still have the main character be a tank that with luck could do anything! It really tried to make characters special and deep but most of the time is was silly and slow. This was okay as halo was still just the game that you would play to kick butt and chew space gum.
Halo 3: It got depth and story but still was a shooter and had that set to the top of the shelf. It was a great xbox game in terms of how it looked and brought a feeling of realism. Characters felt more real in how they talked and acted and the look or aesthetic felt like every one was from the future but still had knight looking armor. The world felt big even though it was divided up by save points and areas that once you jumped down you could not go back. Most people didn’t feel like it was divided becasue of the lack of cutscenes and choppy saves.
Halo reach: It had a dark and gritty look but was a hit and miss when it came to feeling. The game was a mix of good and bad character development and a big retcon.
Halo 4: Took story telling and a new engine to the test and in terms of story telling it was a AAA experience but the games bad engine made the game feel sloppy and fake.
Halo 5: The game introduced some new game types that are amazing but need work and the old redone fire fight is better and well made of the online only game style vs the one from reach which is more of a solo split screen adventure.
So what to bring to halo 6 so that it makes at least most of the fans happy and willing to buy the game for $60? Well take notes on what people want but understand the loud ones tend to be the dumb ones to. So 1. take the old looking armor and add it to the base game at launch and put it behind a challenge, mission, and or an in game money system but don’t leave it up to RNG or a pay wall. We don’t want armor or weapons behind rng or any req pay to get lucky system. If you want add a credit system like in reach but also don’t make it so grindy like it was in reach. There is a balancing act that needs to take place for the credit and reward systems. 2. Keep making new armor and keep the new art style I and many others do like it! I love how some don’t have a visor because there using a camera up-link system. 3. Let people customize there spartan more! Let them add and take armor away from different parts of there spartan. So I want to remove my shoulder pads or knee pads I can. Let us paint each armor part and add decals that we get from unlocks. This way we don’t have to unlock 50 of the same armor models which just have a logo on it that makes it different. Let use add effects like electric discharge and flaming skull. Let us add battle damage to the armor or keep it looking new! The battle damage should also be a default option along with the new look as this will make both reach and halo 4-5 fans happy. 4. Show us the people in the lobby as we wait for the game to load. 5. Add a personal map dislike box in the character set up menu. This will allow people to tell the system that they don’t like this map and want to be loaded in to a game but reduce the chances of getting that one map they dislike. This way the game can still choose a map with out voting but it will be paring people that like similer maps based on there liking. Just don’t let people 100% block a map just add a number thing like this > “How much do you like this map? Number it from (1) < least to (10) < most” That way they still would be put on this map at times but not so much they start to hate the game. 6. Don’t be afraid to try something new but make sure it’s added to the game in the right way people are afraid of change “sadly” put new game types in an extras list and if it’s a hit put it into the main playlist. Don’t take it way if it’s just ok keep it in the extras list and if it’s a dead failed game type take it out and explain to the gamers why you took it out and that it was eating up money keeping it in the servers. 7. Keep the story telling good and if I may suggest that you look up Deus EX and it’s story as it’s deep fun and full of cool things all well being realistic and not playing on peoples fears. Halo 4 was great with the story telling but hit and missed with poor and great moments. Halo 5 had some of that but the advertisements made the game feel off and unexpected in the wrong way. Please make sure the ads and trailers add up and make sense.
Now these are just a few of my points and if you want more please don’t hesitate to contact me via this post