MCC and 343i seem very dedicated to game preservation of the Halo series as shown by the continued updates to the Campaign visuals etc even as recently as this year. My concern is simply ordering and presenting the Halo series in a way that’s in the spirit of this dedication. It’s simply to reorder the Campaigns in the Campaigns menu to release order. Only Halo: Reach is the outlier here.
I disagree with the decision to have the Halo Reach campaign as the first campaign listed - right above the Original game. The issue, I feel, is that it leads to new players into thinking it’s the beginning of the story. It’s a prequel, yes, but Halo’s story begins with Master Chief landing on Halo for the first time. I understand the chronological ordering. But already the Menus follow the correct ordering - consider Halo 3 ODST. It’s properly listed under Halo 3 but, chronologically, it takes place during and after the events of Halo 2. But you would want players to play Halo 3 first, as we did when the games released.
I feel it’s comparable to the Star Wars films Rogue One and A New Hope. I think most would agree it would be better to direct viewers to the original story, first. You wouldn’t get someone to watch Rogue One just to provide story context before watching A New Hope. Part of the core of both A New Hope and Halo CE is how they drop the viewer/player right into the middle of a chase and storyline in media res.
Also a concern may be directing players to Halo Reach as their first entry before CE the technological improvements and changes of Reach may create a jarring continuous gameplay experience. Anyway it’s a relatively minor issue.
I also think it would be great if when a player picks “Quick Start” it would give the option to select between “Classic” and “Remastered” from the outset for similar reasons. I imagine most new players would select this first and it would be a great way to showcase that players have the choice whether to experience the original or Remastered versions of both Halo CE and Halo 2. Perhaps with also some text saying they can switch between the two at the press of a button.
I love the MCC and I genuinely think these minor changes are a better way to present this body of work as the definitive ordering of the story and how we want players to approach it. Considering the MCC is now the definitive way to experience these older titles.
I know there may be some that disagree - or think Halo CE is too outdated - or they like a more chronological ordering. But I do think that in both Microsoft’s spirit for promoting backwards compatibility and access to older titles - and 343’s for bringing the MCC as close to the Classic Xbox experience with each major update -it would be within that spirit to introduce players with the 2001 Original Story rather than the 2010 prequel.
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Agree on the campaign ordering. Major characters and story elements will go completely over your head if you’ve never played the Trilogy before. It really is a prequel that pays homage to the games that came before it. Halo CE should be the first on the list.
As far as preservation goes, I think the MCC team did a great job with options for offline multiplayer (splitscreen, LAN) That said, there’s room for improvement. Some menu elements aren’t designed for offline play, like the infinitely fetching seasonal data. And of course more general polishing where possible.
Edit: I just found out that all the seasonal content is locked when you play offline. That really needs to change.
Speaking of preservation, I would like to see the OG Menus from the games (Main Menu, sub menus) reappear in some form. I don’t want them to replace the MCC Menues, they are like that for a reason: to integrate everything tightly.
But, maybe just a menu in the Extras tab that lets us mess around in a recreation of the OG Menus, even if they are stripped of their functionality. Sort of like a digital memorium to the UI design of old.
I would also like to see the original Bungie Developers be mentioned somewhere, again maybe in the extras menu. 343 might be in charge of the Halo franchise now, but they are not the ones that developed CE, 2, 3, ODST, or Reach. While this fact is obvious now, over time this fact will begin to fade from the minds of gamers, as us old grizzled ancients begin to decrease in number while new fans come in. But, this is just my opinion, and is not neccisarly the “right” or “only” opinion. I don’t like the fact that the original developer’s work goes uncredited, but maybe there is a reason for it that I don’t know about. (Also, maybe it’s already there, and I just haven’t found it yet. Please let me now if that is the case.)
Edit: That last point was not hate against 343. I respect the new team and it’s design desicions, as well as the games that they have created. I just want the OG devs to get their proper share of the credit too.
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hmm you made me think about it and you are right. yet they already have somewhat faild it since they realeased it for the pc community in that order. the smarter move would be maybe add like a text to each game like Halo Reach - realeased 2010 the prequel to the original classic . or somethink of that kind . or when implementing the “start graphics” for ce and 2 the text needs to be something like " Classic Graphics , The settings closest to the original game and its artistic vision. " Most people miss the details that the classic graphics offer. alot artistic message etc is gone . probably most prominent example is halo ce 343 gluty spark where the entire atmosphere is basicly ruined. but that would be like admiting one owns failings. hopefully players can be made aware that remastered is NOT and objective improvment in evry area.