The Graphics

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

so today while gathering reference for the prop M6D I want to build I stopped by MCC for some clips of gun usage in game, and I noticed something funny. This is something I mentioned before on other forums but not here:

-when Halo CEA came out it had better looking graphics, as far as fidelity and colors, than Halo 4.

When Halo 2A came out, it was better looking than Halo 5. This is both the smoothness of the character models in multiplayer and the colors and textures in campaign as well. Both the campaign and the H2A multiplayer look visually superior to H5’s campaign and multiplayer.

Is there a logical explanation for this? I don’t understand why the previous games have a better set of colors, textures and FPS than the standard games.

EDIT: Why cant 343 Hire the team that made H2A campaign and the team that also made the H2A multiplayer to be a permanent addition to make the games look as good if not better? the colors and textures are more vivid and smoother in the outsourced games and is the standard we should aim for when playing any of them.

2

I have said I think the H2A graphics were better than H5 and most here said I am crazy. But I still stand by that opinion. H2A just looked better than H5 in all aspects.

3

Thats interesting. Any side-by-side comparison images we can see?

4

> 2533274807881644;1:
> so today while gathering reference for the prop M6D I want to build I stopped by MCC for some clips of gun usage in game, and I noticed something funny. This is something I mentioned before on other forums but not here:
>
> -when Halo CEA came out it had better looking graphics, as far as fidelity and colors, than Halo 4.
>
> When Halo 2A came out, it was better looking than Halo 5. This is both the smoothness of the character models in multiplayer and the colors and textures in campaign as well. Both the campaign and the H2A multiplayer look visually superior to H5’s campaign and multiplayer.
>
> Is there a logical explanation for this? I don’t understand why the previous games have a better set of colors, textures and FPS than the standard games.

CEA was based more on Reach’s art style than Halo 4’s (notably because… well, Halo 4 wasn’t out yet) but other than some pretty lighting effects, the fidelity isn’t really that good. They blatantly ripped models from past games and threw it into the remake.

Assault Rifle was from H3, Sniper Rifle was the Reach one blow-for-blow except for the green sniper scope. And the Jackal model was blatant enough that the head/neck area was a little… off.

H2A Campaign was basically designed with a hybrid art style taking cues from Halo 4, Halo 2, and Halo Reach, and was more notably original in its construction. (The Elites are generally H4-inspired, but the armor contains Reach stylisms with the minor, others were originally designed, I’m guessing) The Multiplayer probably reflected this in the way that Max Hoberman was trying to recreate H2 in a modern way, but he could have done better. (Like with the Mark VI, and it being basically a modified H4 version with better materials)

In both cases, though, as far as the fidelity goes, they had quite a bit more wiggle room because the systems in H2 and CE’s days were a little more primitive. Enemies had a lower cap in how many could be around, and the game generally had nothing going in during gameplay in the background aside from some explosions above your head, dropships, and a few static models. Whereas Halo 5’s Campaign had a lot of set pieces in the background that could possibly have hampered fidelity for more engagement.

As for where H2A’s Multiplayer stands in comparison to Halo 5’s, It all comes down to the people who lead it. 343 loves Blues and Reds to death, for some reason, while Hoberman (Who worked exclusively on H2A’s Multiplayer, while Saber Interactive did the campaign) was mimicking designs from Halo 2 in a modern fidelity with his own take. and he did well with what he had and in the time he had to do it.

Basically, 343 has a art style with more conventional/generic sci-fi themes, and Hoberman/Saber Interactive went with a clever art style that blended things together in a way that added a certain sense of continuity.

H:CEA was just a hack job smokescreened by pretty textures and lighting effects, They did a passable job on the environments, but the bipeds were just bad.

I’m starting to kind of wish that they’ll back off from futuristic sci-fi at this point and more towards miltary/utilitarian.

5

Halo 5 is only not as pretty because it’s 60 fps locked. Halo 2A is using dynamic resolution but has dips in frame rate. It’s a pretty game, but Halo 5’s Arena is much prettier. Don’t forget the cutscenes in campaign are pre-rendered too. Lastly Halo CE? That’s a ridiculous claim, Halo 4 is one of the best looking games on 360, if not the best, and the MCC version is on par with most next gen games.

6

> 2533274816788253;2:
> I have said I think the H2A graphics were better than H5 and most here said I am crazy. But I still stand by that opinion. H2A just looked better than H5 in all aspects.

You are not crazy. I thought H2A looks better too. Way better. Especially the campaign -Yoink- all over H5.

It just shows that a more modern graphics Engine is capable of more. And H2As Campaign used two Engines. Which is even more impressive

7

> 2533274874751255;5:
> Halo 5 is only not as pretty because it’s 60 fps locked. Halo 2A is using dynamic resolution but has dips in frame rate. It’s a pretty game, but Halo 5’s Arena is much prettier. Don’t forget the cutscenes in campaign are pre-rendered too. Lastly Halo CE? That’s a ridiculous claim, Halo 4 is one of the best looking games on 360, if not the best, and the MCC version is on par with most next gen games.

H2A doesnt use Dynamic Resolution. That is used by Halo 5. It doesnt really dip in framerate that much.

Halo 5s Arena Prettier? Wat? The maps look ugly, a lot of Aliasing, Glare Effects etc the list goes on.Halo 5 just looks outdated. And 60fps isnt really a excuse of you have games like Battlefront that run at 60fps and have 40 player pvp MP on big maps.

8

> 2535426840377063;7:
> > 2533274874751255;5:
> > Halo 5 is only not as pretty because it’s 60 fps locked. Halo 2A is using dynamic resolution but has dips in frame rate. It’s a pretty game, but Halo 5’s Arena is much prettier. Don’t forget the cutscenes in campaign are pre-rendered too. Lastly Halo CE? That’s a ridiculous claim, Halo 4 is one of the best looking games on 360, if not the best, and the MCC version is on par with most next gen games.
>
>
> H2A doesnt use Dynamic Resolution. That is used by Halo 5. It doesnt really dip in framerate that much.
>
> Halo 5s Arena Prettier? Wat? The maps look ugly, a lot of Aliasing, Glare Effects etc the list goes on.Halo 5 just looks outdated. And 60fps isnt really a excuse of you have games like Battlefront that run at 60fps and have 40 player pvp MP on big maps.

It is an excuse if you take into account that Battlefront runs in 720p in the Xbox One, of course it’ll look prettier, because they don’t have to allocate so much of the Xbox One’s power towards maintaining the framerate and the 1080p resolution. But far off objects are incredibly aliased more so than Halo 5’s.

I just figured I’d point that out. MS has to face constant media pressure that will torch them for not achieving this misguided golden standard of 1080p60fps. The latter is more important than the former, IMO. DICE got a lot of heat for not being able to achieve it on neither console. And I remember a few articles with Halo 5 being used as the justification for it being possible.

What those people never got, though, is that you can’t have that kind of fidelity without sacrifices in this generation. There are no two ways around it for the PS4 (though, less notably) or the Xbox One.

9

I’d pin it on PBR and that obsession with optimizing for 60fps.

Not that I don’t love both but we are on a peasant machine this gen.

Halo 5 optimized for gaming PC’s would melt your mind, most things were made in the high(with sculpting too) to low poly workflow so it could really shine on a good system.

Here’s to hoping that Halo 6 is on PC!

10

I think they’re pretty nice, 60 fps is nice

11

> 2533274810001991;9:
> I’d pin it on PBR and that obsession with optimizing for 60fps.
>
> Not that I don’t love both but we are on a peasant machine this gen.
>
> Halo 5 optimized for gaming PC’s would melt your mind, most things were made in the high(with sculpting too) to low poly workflow so it could really shine on a good system.
>
> Here’s to hoping that Halo 6 is on PC!

Both could probably be easier to handle if Microsoft can manage to squeeze some extra performance out of the console with DirectX 12. (Or Mantle, but both are generally derived from similar concepts), since it reduces how much CPU overhead for draw calls.

If they manage to make it work, it could probably make stuff like splitscreen and the golden duo easier to achieve.

As for the latter part, who knows, you might get your wish. But it’ll be on Windows 10 and not 7 or 8. Here’s also to hoping that mod support can be adapted at the same time, since there’s no excuse as far as it drawing attention away from DLC is concerned. (And since Fallout can do it, why can’t 343?)

12

> 2533274826920712;11:
> > 2533274810001991;9:
> > …
>
>
> Both could probably be easier to handle if Microsoft can manage to squeeze some extra performance out of the console with DirectX 12. (Or Mantle, but both are generally derived from similar concepts), since it reduces how much CPU overhead for draw calls.
>
> If they manage to make it work, it could probably make stuff like splitscreen and the golden duo easier to achieve.
>
> As for the latter part, who knows, you might get your wish. But it’ll be on Windows 10 and not 7 or 8. Here’s also to hoping that mod support can be adapted at the same time, since there’s no excuse as far as it drawing attention away from DLC is concerned. (And since Fallout can do it, why can’t 343?)

Well, it’s certainly looking doable, just look at how far they pushed the Xbox 360. Not to mention with Xbox One becoming a modular system with hardware updates in the future (if the rumors are true).

Modding support would be a cherry on top but with Microsoft, it seems to be forbidden fruit. I am aware of CMT and I must say, the fans do it just as well, if not better.

The only problem I see is that without spending a lot of time and money on making a paired down sdk with all of the licenced tools cut out, it won’t happen and I don’t think they see it as profitable, even though it really could be if it was done right.

13

Am I the only one here who hated h2a? The maps looked ugly, nothing except the Zanzibar remake had any detail and they recycled textures from other games, hell, the shotgun is exactly the halo 3 model and texture, a game from 2007… The campaign was nice but I can’t get behind the multiplayer, sorry

14

IMO Halo 5 not only has some of the worst graphics out of Next gen FPS, but the architectural aesthetics are 100% garbage. The multiplayer levels are bland and monotonous… Every level has the same look, ugly metal platforms and vents and pipes. The previous Halo’s were much better IMO. Don’t get me wrong, Halo 5 is a great shooter but if you want graphics then BO3 is the game you want.

15

The reason Halo 5’s graphics is terrible is because its horrible quality of texture. Everything else is find for me, except for textures.

16

> 2533274807881644;1:
> so today while gathering reference for the prop M6D I want to build I stopped by MCC for some clips of gun usage in game, and I noticed something funny. This is something I mentioned before on other forums but not here:
>
> -when Halo CEA came out it had better looking graphics, as far as fidelity and colors, than Halo 4.
>
> When Halo 2A came out, it was better looking than Halo 5. This is both the smoothness of the character models in multiplayer and the colors and textures in campaign as well. Both the campaign and the H2A multiplayer look visually superior to H5’s campaign and multiplayer.
>
> Is there a logical explanation for this? I don’t understand why the previous games have a better set of colors, textures and FPS than the standard games.

H2A isn’t by 343i, it was out-sourced.

17

> 2533274921373075;16:
> > 2533274807881644;1:
> > so today while gathering reference for the prop M6D I want to build I stopped by MCC for some clips of gun usage in game, and I noticed something funny. This is something I mentioned before on other forums but not here:
> >
> > -when Halo CEA came out it had better looking graphics, as far as fidelity and colors, than Halo 4.
> >
> > When Halo 2A came out, it was better looking than Halo 5. This is both the smoothness of the character models in multiplayer and the colors and textures in campaign as well. Both the campaign and the H2A multiplayer look visually superior to H5’s campaign and multiplayer.
> >
> > Is there a logical explanation for this? I don’t understand why the previous games have a better set of colors, textures and FPS than the standard games.
>
>
> H2A isn’t by 343i, it was out-sourced.

I know, my question is why, on a mechanical level, does it look better? I’m actually adding to the main question now

18

*Edited double post

19

The game plays really smooth, so I can’t complain. It is currently the only game I play so I don’t really have anything to compare it to though. Not sure what game it will be that will get me to shift my focus from Halo…

20

> 2533274810001991;9:
> I’d pin it on PBR and that obsession with optimizing for 60fps.
>
> Not that I don’t love both but we are on a peasant machine this gen.
>
> Halo 5 optimized for gaming PC’s would melt your mind, most things were made in the high(with sculpting too) to low poly workflow so it could really shine on a good system.
>
> Here’s to hoping that Halo 6 is on PC!

No Halo on PC please. Then the population would be further reduced on the Xbox, which would be awful. Please don’t give me this PC master race garbage too. Cross platform play wouldn’t be fair for console owners either