Hello all! Today when I was watching more Halo Infinite videos, which I can’t stop watching, I really started thinking about the open world concept that 343i are going for. I personally believe this will be a hit or miss concept for Halo. Open world-like games depend on the variety and the uniqueness of the areas. For Halo Infinite this may be more difficult because of the scenario/reason we may be on the Zeta Halo. Down below I will list my concerns about the concept and the potential it has!
Potential:
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Unique areas that are deep in Ancient Human/Forerunner lore - The ability to have more personal/side missions with Spartans and other allies - Lots of unique collectables that are fun to collect and require creativity to get - Mindless fun with the semi-open world with co-op - Atmospheric environment that makes missions feel more uniqueConcerns:
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343i did not have enough time to add enough content to the semi-open world - 343i’s first time doing this type of game - Areas will feel copy and paste and discovery will feel somewhat useless - The different locations will have somewhat the same environments feeling like you have been in the same place - Network issues when playing online or tethering problems - Enemies will be somewhat the same at every camp These are just a few that come off the top of the dome and I would love to see what you guys think. I personally am very excited however I do have concerns yet I do see a lot of potential. Time will tell!
My issue with an open world-type game is that there needs to be incentive to explore. Yeah, I guess I can cause it all looks so cool, but do I get anything out of it? How do you add incentives to a game like Halo in order to flesh out that open world? Loot? Loot fundamentally goes against the Halo formula and entirely changes how the game operates. Upgrades, which while we saw that tab earlier last year, pretty sure it’s been removed as 343 said they want to avoid RPG mechanics in Halo.
So, what’s the point in exploring? if I can beat the game by B-lining for the end game boss and just kill him, that’s pretty awful. I’m open to the idea of Halo infinite’s campaign, but to be honest, I don’t understand why it had to be an Open World game other than following in the footsteps of Ubisoft. Halo dabbled in open world with ODST, but it was ultimately just a linear story with a hub world in between.
Also, 343 has been heavily backtracking the whole open world thing quite a bit, now it’s an Expansive world, or whatever. Multiplayer is looking solid, not my ideal Halo, but campaign I’m just not so sure about
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> My issue with an open world-type game is that there needs to be incentive to explore. Yeah, I guess I can cause it all looks so cool, but do I get anything out of it? How do you add incentives to a game like Halo in order to flesh out that open world? Loot? Loot fundamentally goes against the Halo formula and entirely changes how the game operates. Upgrades, which while we saw that tab earlier last year, pretty sure it’s been removed as 343 said they want to avoid RPG mechanics in Halo.
>
> So, what’s the point in exploring? if I can beat the game by B-lining for the end game boss and just kill him, that’s pretty awful. I’m open to the idea of Halo infinite’s campaign, but to be honest, I don’t understand why it had to be an Open World game other than following in the footsteps of Ubisoft. Halo dabbled in open world with ODST, but it was ultimately just a linear story with a hub world in between.
>
> Also, 343 has been heavily backtracking the whole open world thing quite a bit, now it’s an Expansive world, or whatever. Multiplayer is looking solid, not my ideal Halo, but campaign I’m just not so sure about
The main thing I get out of your post is essentially what I am worried about too. Halo 5’s story played like it was rebooted multiple times and it ended up being a trainwreck mostly. I am concerned that by 343i removing elements it will ruin the flow of the game and the soft reboot of systems happened too late for enough changes. When I saw the Razorback I saw that as their “inventory” system in the campaign. We need meaning behind these areas that we can explore**.**
My concerns so far.
1: having an open world is fine and having things like puzzles, lore etc dotted about is great but I want variation. Desert, snowy tundra, hell going from one of the trailers showing a sentinel underwater give me some underwater locations. Utilise the grapple hook and give me nooks and crannies to explore with a revelation at the end.
2: fog is great and all but there’s more to dynamic weather such as rain, snow, hell even a sand storm, thunder and lighting. I really hope they can go deep on the weather to add to the worlds feeling of being alive.
3: wildlife, so far we have had space deer, space rhinos and these little marsupial looking things. Given the universe and it’s setting I hope to see some truly Alien wildlife. I know hostile wildlife isn’t a thing (which is shame even if it was only hostile when provoked.) but can we use wildlife as an indicator of the world state. Less wildlife in area’s of banished patrols, wildlife fleeing in the opposite direction could be an indicator of a patrol coming through etc.
if the Flood make a return I’d love to see actual world changes. Clouds of flood spores, flood mounds, roaming infection forms leading to less wildlife. Signs of skirmishes between flood and banished/UNSC forces.
4: locational changes such as after taking over a Banished base. Does the base stay there but glow a ‘friendly colour?, does the base gain a damaged/destroyed state?. Can I be retaken by Banished forces?.
in so far as the open world aspect goes the game has a lot of potential but given 343’s lack of experience with open world games I would say it’s going to take a year or two for us to see them fully utilising the worlds potential.
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> My concerns so far.
>
> 1: having an open world is fine and having things like puzzles, lore etc dotted about is great but I want variation. Desert, snowy tundra, hell going from one of the trailers showing a sentinel underwater give me some underwater locations. Utilise the grapple hook and give me nooks and crannies to explore with a revelation at the end.
>
> 2: fog is great and all but there’s more to dynamic weather such as rain, snow, hell even a sand storm, thunder and lighting. I really hope they can go deep on the weather to add to the worlds feeling of being alive.
>
> 3: wildlife, so far we have had space deer, space rhinos and these little marsupial looking things. Given the universe and it’s setting I hope to see some truly Alien wildlife. I know hostile wildlife isn’t a thing (which is shame even if it was only hostile when provoked.) but can we use wildlife as an indicator of the world state. Less wildlife in area’s of banished patrols, wildlife fleeing in the opposite direction could be an indicator of a patrol coming through etc.
>
> if the Flood make a return I’d love to see actual world changes. Clouds of flood spores, flood mounds, roaming infection forms leading to less wildlife. Signs of skirmishes between flood and banished/UNSC forces.
>
> 4: locational changes such as after taking over a Banished base. Does the base stay there but glow a ‘friendly colour?, does the base gain a damaged/destroyed state?. Can I be retaken by Banished forces?.
>
> in so far as the open world aspect goes the game has a lot of potential but given 343’s lack of experience with open world games I would say it’s going to take a year or two for us to see them fully utilising the worlds potential.
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Having puzzles, lore, and different environments are really important especially for replaying it. I think underwater would be like some clear walled forerunner structure we would go to and not actually swimming to it.
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I believe they do not have dynamic weather however I think that will change when the Xbox One systems are not longer supported. Their engine I think can support it however that is 3 years away.
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Point of Light explains the wild life pretty well so I agree. The ring changing with the flood would be amazing and I think isn’t outside the realm of possibility.
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It seems like you might take over the base however I am not sure if it is outposts or bigger facilities as well.
I am also worried about the lack of experience and it is unfortunate the engine took so long to make. The ability for a Halo ring to dynamically change weather and for them to incrementally add more areas to complete the ring is my dream Halo game for end content/PVE.
Regarding lack of content.
From what little we’ve seen, I don’t think that will be too much of a problem.
As you may know, last year’s demo briefly showed a bunch of side missions as the map opened. You had to pause it to see them all. There were marine rescues, bases to assault, and high priority Banished targets to go kill.
My concern with these objectives is that they will become too repetitive. Hopefully the marine rescues aren’t all the same. We saw in the latest trailer, some marines “chained” to a device. I’m assuming that is one of the side missions to go rescue them. I hope they’re not all the same and that there will be come Halo CE style marine rescue missions as well, where we have to defend them till Brohammer can pick them up.
Regarding tethering problems.
Coop in Halo has always been my favorite coop of any series ever and I think has had a fair coop spawning system over the years. That said. This is an open world game. I hope the distance that players can be apart from each other is greatly increased.
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> Regarding lack of content.
>
> From what little we’ve seen, I don’t think that will be too much of a problem.
> As you may know, last year’s demo briefly showed a bunch of side missions as the map opened. You had to pause it to see them all. There were marine rescues, bases to assault, and high priority Banished targets to go kill.
> My concern with these objectives is that they will become too repetitive. Hopefully the marine rescues aren’t all the same. We saw in the latest trailer, some marines “chained” to a device. I’m assuming that is one of the side missions to go rescue them. I hope they’re not all the same and that there will be come Halo CE style marine rescue missions as well, where we have to defend them till Brohammer can pick them up.
>
> Regarding tethering problems.
>
> Coop in Halo has always been my favorite coop of any series ever and I think has had a fair coop spawning system over the years. That said. This is an open world game. I hope the distance that players can be apart from each other is greatly increased.
That is what I meant in regards of content. Repetitive content is the lack of content existing to not make it not repetitive. I am not sure how they can mix things up to make it feel fresh constantly outside of unique story telling and exploring the ring.
Hopefully this game turns out well. My problem is that on the 2020 gameplay reveal, there was a difficulty icon next to a mission place, I hope there’s a feature that can make all sections the same difficulty so people can do LASO runs etc.
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> Hopefully this game turns out well. My problem is that on the 2020 gameplay reveal, there was a difficulty icon next to a mission place, I hope there’s a feature that can make all sections the same difficulty so people can do LASO runs etc.
I would rather have varied difficulty. It adds to more dynamic play.
I’m really afraid the world will be so expansive that it will feel flat.
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> > Hopefully this game turns out well. My problem is that on the 2020 gameplay reveal, there was a difficulty icon next to a mission place, I hope there’s a feature that can make all sections the same difficulty so people can do LASO runs etc.
>
> I would rather have varied difficulty. It adds to more dynamic play.
Yeah, I’m not complaining from the varied difficulty, I would just like a feature that could make it all legendary.
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> I’m really afraid the world will be so expansive that it will feel flat.
Define flat? Do you mean feel like the same?
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> > I’m really afraid the world will be so expansive that it will feel flat.
>
> Define flat? Do you mean feel like the same?
Yeah exactly like areas feeling copy pasted.
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> > > Hopefully this game turns out well. My problem is that on the 2020 gameplay reveal, there was a difficulty icon next to a mission place, I hope there’s a feature that can make all sections the same difficulty so people can do LASO runs etc.
> >
> > I would rather have varied difficulty. It adds to more dynamic play.
>
> Yeah, I’m not complaining from the varied difficulty, I would just like a feature that could make it all legendary.
Legendary Runs on missions have more difficult enemies throughout the missions though. I think this will be structured the same maybe?
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> > > > Hopefully this game turns out well. My problem is that on the 2020 gameplay reveal, there was a difficulty icon next to a mission place, I hope there’s a feature that can make all sections the same difficulty so people can do LASO runs etc.
> > >
> > > I would rather have varied difficulty. It adds to more dynamic play.
> >
> > Yeah, I’m not complaining from the varied difficulty, I would just like a feature that could make it all legendary.
>
> Legendary Runs on missions have more difficult enemies throughout the missions though. I think this will be structured the same maybe?
Yeah they probably will. Anyway, all I really want is a good Halo game.
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> > > > > Hopefully this game turns out well. My problem is that on the 2020 gameplay reveal, there was a difficulty icon next to a mission place, I hope there’s a feature that can make all sections the same difficulty so people can do LASO runs etc.
> > > >
> > > > I would rather have varied difficulty. It adds to more dynamic play.
> > >
> > > Yeah, I’m not complaining from the varied difficulty, I would just like a feature that could make it all legendary.
> >
> > Legendary Runs on missions have more difficult enemies throughout the missions though. I think this will be structured the same maybe?
>
> Yeah they probably will. Anyway, all I really want is a good Halo game.
I strongly disagree with the “good Halo game”. We have had plenty of good Halo games and it’s time for them to step up to the plate and deliver. Good is a failure for this game in my eyes. They have absurd funding and a ton of talent.
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> > > > > > Hopefully this game turns out well. My problem is that on the 2020 gameplay reveal, there was a difficulty icon next to a mission place, I hope there’s a feature that can make all sections the same difficulty so people can do LASO runs etc.
> > > > >
> > > > > I would rather have varied difficulty. It adds to more dynamic play.
> > > >
> > > > Yeah, I’m not complaining from the varied difficulty, I would just like a feature that could make it all legendary.
> > >
> > > Legendary Runs on missions have more difficult enemies throughout the missions though. I think this will be structured the same maybe?
> >
> > Yeah they probably will. Anyway, all I really want is a good Halo game.
>
> I strongly disagree with the “good Halo game”. We have had plenty of good Halo games and it’s time for them to step up to the plate and deliver. Good is a failure for this game in my eyes. They have absurd funding and a ton of talent.
Yeah true. They have had plenty of time to make this game and it should be polished so it shines. Expect plenty of DLC from this as well!
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> > > > > > > Hopefully this game turns out well. My problem is that on the 2020 gameplay reveal, there was a difficulty icon next to a mission place, I hope there’s a feature that can make all sections the same difficulty so people can do LASO runs etc.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I would rather have varied difficulty. It adds to more dynamic play.
> > > > >
> > > > > Yeah, I’m not complaining from the varied difficulty, I would just like a feature that could make it all legendary.
> > > >
> > > > Legendary Runs on missions have more difficult enemies throughout the missions though. I think this will be structured the same maybe?
> > >
> > > Yeah they probably will. Anyway, all I really want is a good Halo game.
> >
> > I strongly disagree with the “good Halo game”. We have had plenty of good Halo games and it’s time for them to step up to the plate and deliver. Good is a failure for this game in my eyes. They have absurd funding and a ton of talent.
>
> Yeah true. They have had plenty of time to make this game and it should be polished so it shines. Expect plenty of DLC from this as well!
I mean they didn’t have as much time as people think. They were developing the engine until 2017/2018 I believe. I imagine a ton of pre-production could of been done with the game, but I am unsure how much that contributes to the entire game when the engine is available. I honestly love their 10 year plan. More frequent content and hoping we can get an entire Halo ring that is playable with them adding onto it!
We can only hope.
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> > > > > > > > Hopefully this game turns out well. My problem is that on the 2020 gameplay reveal, there was a difficulty icon next to a mission place, I hope there’s a feature that can make all sections the same difficulty so people can do LASO runs etc.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > I would rather have varied difficulty. It adds to more dynamic play.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Yeah, I’m not complaining from the varied difficulty, I would just like a feature that could make it all legendary.
> > > > >
> > > > > Legendary Runs on missions have more difficult enemies throughout the missions though. I think this will be structured the same maybe?
> > > >
> > > > Yeah they probably will. Anyway, all I really want is a good Halo game.
> > >
> > > I strongly disagree with the “good Halo game”. We have had plenty of good Halo games and it’s time for them to step up to the plate and deliver. Good is a failure for this game in my eyes. They have absurd funding and a ton of talent.
> >
> > Yeah true. They have had plenty of time to make this game and it should be polished so it shines. Expect plenty of DLC from this as well!
>
> I mean they didn’t have as much time as people think. They were developing the engine until 2017/2018 I believe. I imagine a ton of pre-production could of been done with the game, but I am unsure how much that contributes to the entire game when the engine is available. I honestly love their 10 year plan. More frequent content and hoping we can get an entire Halo ring that is playable with them adding onto it!
>
> We can only hope.
Woah, I had no idea the engine was only created till quite recently! The 10 year plan, I agree is a nice thing to have. They’ll keep on working on this great game for many years to come!
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> > > > > > > > > Hopefully this game turns out well. My problem is that on the 2020 gameplay reveal, there was a difficulty icon next to a mission place, I hope there’s a feature that can make all sections the same difficulty so people can do LASO runs etc.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > I would rather have varied difficulty. It adds to more dynamic play.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Yeah, I’m not complaining from the varied difficulty, I would just like a feature that could make it all legendary.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Legendary Runs on missions have more difficult enemies throughout the missions though. I think this will be structured the same maybe?
> > > > >
> > > > > Yeah they probably will. Anyway, all I really want is a good Halo game.
> > > >
> > > > I strongly disagree with the “good Halo game”. We have had plenty of good Halo games and it’s time for them to step up to the plate and deliver. Good is a failure for this game in my eyes. They have absurd funding and a ton of talent.
> > >
> > > Yeah true. They have had plenty of time to make this game and it should be polished so it shines. Expect plenty of DLC from this as well!
> >
> > I mean they didn’t have as much time as people think. They were developing the engine until 2017/2018 I believe. I imagine a ton of pre-production could of been done with the game, but I am unsure how much that contributes to the entire game when the engine is available. I honestly love their 10 year plan. More frequent content and hoping we can get an entire Halo ring that is playable with them adding onto it!
> >
> > We can only hope.
>
> Woah, I had no idea the engine was only created till quite recently! The 10 year plan, I agree is a nice thing to have. They’ll keep on working on this great game for many years to come!
The systems were still being worked on during the reveal last year. The Slipspace engine apparently is one of the best engines in the industry. Leaving the Xbox One generation behind will be an significant improvement for the game probably. The engine can make very precise quick changes and is insane when coming to physics. I really hope they add weathering to the campaign because that has so much potential if they do it right.