Here is my wall of text siting why I believe Spartan Ops is the natural progression of Firefight, and what i think needs to be done to improve it going forward. Please bear with me, I’m just a halo fan like you, and I’m just putting up this post to try and help the community and franchise as a whole adjust slightly.
Firefight had its heyday in Halo 3 ODST, the limited lives and the sense of dread as the enemies consistently raised the bar in difficulty. This all lead to some of the most frantic, desperate firefight experiences i have had with Halo’s horde mode, since it was first introduced. Halo:Reach’s firefight increased the number of maps and custom options were added. However, the early playlists and gametypes there in, were set up more to a casual audience than the hardcore gametypes in ODST. This was also hindered by the differing sandbox, Halo 3 - at the time did not incorporate AA’s etc. When Halo reach introduced these, the over all feel of Halo was changed.
So now here we are 2 years on with Halo 4 and it’s version of Firefight. Now i see this mode is getting mixed feedback, more so on the negative side than the positive side. So i ask myself why is this? whats been done wrong here? The following points tend to come up more than once:
The story sucks, Sarah Palmer is a bad character etc.
-Ok sure, I respect the opinions put forward here. Basically Sarah Palmer is simply a “Female Carter” from Halo Reach. But i think she has to have that cocky sort of sarcastic humor to her. Keep in mind she has to take responsibility for 1000+ Spartan 4’s, and if Majestic is anything to go by, she needs that attitude. As for the story, let it wind up to a close before passing judgement.
The missions are repeating, boring.
-Yes, and i can see why this can be a problem, repetition however was always a part of the firefight experience. Remember there was only ever 6? firefight maps in Reach. These all had the same default spawn locations, enemy drops, vehicle spawns etc. So, keep that in mind over this next section. Sure, the maps we have seen thus far in Spartan Ops are the same “level”, however it’s always a different take on the map, always a different challenge, always a different objective.Remember that aside from generators, we never had much of an objective in Firefight other than survive.
There are other things that pop up, like unlimited lives and not being able to betray team mates etc. While I agree that the unlimited lives section is a problem, and does subtract from that desperation to “stay alive”, without it people committing suicide or giving up lives would be the next area to complain. As for not being able to betray, unfortunately there will always be people that want to ruin the fun for everyone, hopefully every game you play wont have some -Yoink- destroying you’re vehicle.
Anyway, negatives aside. I feel Spartan Ops could hit its mark, so to speak, if it just revised the following if there is going to be a season 2.
CGI Cutscene’s removed and replaced with in engine cutscenes. This way our spartan 4’s can be included as was the case in Reach. This would directly involve us in the story. I think the story this season has been fine so far, but personally i would have liked to have seen my Spartan and my mates Spartans featured, rather than witness Majestic. It was awesome in reach to kit out your Spartan in different armour and then see them in cutscenes, interacting with the rest of the cast. It “involves” the player more in the story.
Include campaign scoring and skulls. This is pretty straight forward. It will increase the replay value of the missions, and add a competitive edge between friends.
Anyway that is my 2 cents on Firefight/Spartan Ops, and why i believe that it is a step forward from Firefight, but needs to improve slightly.
I partially agree with using in-engine cutscenes, as far as allowing our custom-fitted Spartan IVs some screen time. It would be nice to see “us” loading up in a Pelican in the background, even if Majestic and Palmer get the speaking parts. I don’t mind not having a voice, like how we played the Rookie in ODST.
I still think we as players are directly involved in subtle ways, such as Palmer mentioning Crimson’s recovery of the artifact in Ep2. I also believe that when Dr. Halsey quips “Some of you are [real Spartans]” in Ep4, she is referring to Crimson. It’s Crimson, after all, that goes out to do the real work without resorting to wisecracks or silly antics (see “…taught to be silent, then to be Spartans”), while other teams like Majestic are left with babysitting. To me, that seems to be giving credit to our participation and accomplishments.
The caveat of course, is how the story plays out in the next 6 episodes. My opinion could change based on what new content is released.
I would not mind the use of skulls and medal options, but to me it’s more of a nice bonus on top of what Spartan Ops already provides.
I’m yet to play a Spartan Ops mission that I have finished and then wanted to play again. Even with scoring, I can’t see them being that much fun.
You’re right that ODST was the best moment, but Reach Firefight was still really, really fun, even when you weren’t playing on classic mode. It’s one of the few parts of Reach I can actually say I really liked.
> While I agree that the unlimited lives section is a problem, and does subtract from that desperation to “stay alive”, without it people committing suicide or giving up lives would be the next area to complain.
I think an optional in-game timer (like in MP and the The Maw Hog run) would address both of those problems.
Die as much as you want but rushing will not get you a completed mission within 30 minutes. Of course, the timer would differ between Solo and Co-op (unless 343 fix the scaling for Solo).
> Anyway, negatives aside. I feel Spartan Ops could hit its mark, so to speak, if it just revised the following if there is going to be a season 2.
>
> 1. CGI Cutscene’s removed and replaced with in engine cutscenes. This way our spartan 4’s can be included as was the case in Reach. This would directly involve us in the story. I think the story this season has been fine so far, but personally i would have liked to have seen my Spartan and my mates Spartans featured, rather than witness Majestic. It was awesome in reach to kit out your Spartan in different armour and then see them in cutscenes, interacting with the rest of the cast. It “involves” the player more in the story.
>
> 2. Include campaign scoring and skulls. This is pretty straight forward. It will increase the replay value of the missions, and add a competitive edge between friends.
>
> Anyway that is my 2 cents on Firefight/Spartan Ops, and why i believe that it is a step forward from Firefight, but needs to improve slightly.
>
> Thoughts?
Agreed. And I hope cutscene glitching becomes possible. I did this back in Halo 3 and I did this in Halo 4. How funny it’d be to see a bunch of non-scripted Elites running after your Spartan on his way to the Pelican.
No doubt about it.
I’d also like to see Theater because I’ve had more wtf moments (like this) happen in Spartan Ops than campaign. Such moments define Halo for me. Spartan Ops is Halo but there’s a lot of things to work out.
I forgot to mention another “idea” I had, that could improve the lasting appeal of the mode.
Custom game options. Probably not to the degree that Reach had. However, things like player traits, ammo supply, number of lives etc. This would add a challenge to it, and speaking of challenges. Weekly challenges would benefit from this.
Legendary is brutal, there are sections in most missions that position you so that, if you die, you will continue to die in the same spot. Try doing missions without dying.
Another thing I’ve noticed. The whole “last stand” feeling of firefight can be simulated in spartan ops. As there is no time limit, you can hold off activating an objective for a long time and just take on almost endless waves of enemies until you progress the mission.
> I forgot to mention another “idea” I had, that could improve the lasting appeal of the mode.
>
> Custom game options. Probably not to the degree that Reach had. However, things like player traits, ammo supply, number of lives etc. This would add a challenge to it, and speaking of challenges. Weekly challenges would benefit from this.
>
> Another thing I’ve noticed. The whole “last stand” feeling of firefight can be simulated in spartan ops. As there is no time limit, you can hold off activating an objective for a long time and just take on almost endless waves of enemies until you progress the mission.
Agreed. I’d just love to adjust my shield recharge wait time to 5 seconds because it’s takes forever right now.
I think it was kinda ridiculous that we could save the Generals (Jul’s associates) for last. Then again, there’s Halo for you, freedom in whatever you do.
does anyone else say YOINK the same way the announcer does in game when you read peoples comments? but seriously, I think SPOPS is the -Yoink- there are 50 eps, you get to use your spartan and you get xp for it, I admit week 1 and 2 were pretty sub-par but weeks 3 and 4 were amazing, i don’t understand how people complain about recycled maps and in game engine graphics, the fact that 343i did this is enough for me to appreciate it, but that’s just me i suppose
That’s exactly right. In the end we will have 50 spartan ops missions, with differing difficulty options to tackle at our own pleasure. We never had this much content in firefight before.
Spartan Ops is my favorite aspect of this game. I just wish we could watch games or save films of Spartan Ops missions in Theater. Not including that option was a big mistake, in my opinion.
I think Spartan Ops is fun, but yeah I agree mostly with OP also I wish The Covenant didn’t have ALL THE TIME FUEL ROD CANONS. I am starting to think that even Jackals are gonna have Fuel Rods.
Exactly the potential is why i want to push the continuation of Spartan Ops.
There is no one else making halo only 343i. They took what firefight was and put their own spin on it, which i think is a positive thing. I think its safe to bet more people are checking out and playing spartan ops today than they were in Halo 3 ODST or Reach.
Bungie always experimented and tried new things with each halo game and 343i are doing this in a big way with Spartan Ops. Not only is it a massive chunk of halo lore, story and gameplay. But it’s also filling the gap between halo games. Something the original halo trilogy never did outside of the books.
I think with the addition of scoring and including the players Spartan 4 in the cutscenes Spartan Ops would gain strength. I hope this first season play heavily on the Spartan 4’s. They have already introduced Halsey, and the general theme there is that there is a massive difference in the Spartan 4’s and the original 2’s and I hope by the end of this season, the majority of majestic are dead. We have already got confirmation that other spartan 4 fireteams have been killed on this return to requiem (cant remember the name of the team, may have been castle, it was in this weeks ep). I think the way the season started (infinity bull rushing a covie ship) will be a stark contrast to how the season will end. Hopefully Sarah Palmer will acknowledge that Halsey did know what she was doing and that she does feel the guilt of her actions, but they did lead to saving Humanity from extinction. Look lets face it, Sarah is going to be around for a while, along with Lasky. These characters will grow and develop over time. And i think this season of Spartan Ops may see Sarah change her attitude, and see that being a spartan is more than just being a an enhanced solider, it takes sacrifice and a level of discipline we have not yet seen from these spartan 4’s. I mean even Throne’s questioning is un-spartan like. If a model 2 had to guard Halsey, as much as they would hate it, they would stand there quietly and guard. No chit chat, no bs. Just follow orders.
Not to spoil anything, but the overall theme in the kilo five trilogy has been in regards to the over dependance on AI technology. This is seen in Spartan Ops, infact the Infinity itself has engines that are not man made. They were forerunner tech installed by engineers (ex covie engineers) overseen by the only person thus far to have a handle on the forerunner tech, Halsey.
I dunno, i see a lot of negativity in the forums in regards to Spartan Ops, I created this post to show that not everyone is unhappy with it. I hope this thread maintains a good place in the forums for a while, so everyone that does enjoy spartan ops can have their say and let 343i know we appreciate the good work here.