The issues with Reach. V.2

Games Other Halo
1

> Pre-Thread Note - I made another thread exactly like this one on Bungie.net. It got a good response from the forum, so I decided to post it here, too. But instead of typing it out, I just linked it. As a result, the thread got locked. So here I am again, but this time I actually typed it out. :slight_smile:

> Note - This thread is about my issues with Reach, and possible fixes for said issues. Much of it is my opinion on the game; please treat it as just that, an opinion.

> Thread Overview

This thread is going to cover 7 different topics in Reach.Here’s how they’ll go:

  • Campaign
  • Multiplayer (Matchmaking - Customs)
  • Firefight
  • Forge
  • Theater
  • Game mechanics
  • What was good

>

Okay, here we go.

>

> Campaign

I had a few issues here.

Canon

First off, the campaign broke canon, which is a kick in the nuts to fans of the novels. I don’t see why they couldn’t just create a campaign that flowed with the novels, or maybe, one that was even about TFoR (that would’ve been tough though, I don’t blame Bungie for not doing that).

Characters

Secondly, the character development for the campaign was less than satisfying. Here’s what I thought of the characters:

Jorge - Awesome.
Kat - Annoying -Yoink-.
Carter - He’s alright.
Emile - -Yoink- who doesn’t know how to watch his motion tracker.
Jun - Didn’t care for him.
Noble Six - Not nearly as badass as the chief.

I didn’t care much for any of them, except Jorge, who also happened to be the first to die (leaving you alone with the rest of noble team and their inherent lack of depth).

Noble team was also quite generic. Here’s how they go.

Jorge - Heavy weapons guy, but get this . . . he has a big heart. :smiley:
Kat - Tech specialist and the chick of the team.
Carter - The great team leader.
Emile - Badass with a skull on his face.
Jun - That sniper guy.
Noble Six - The silent badass.

Fun Factor

Thirdly, where are the hyper memorable, large scale assault missions like The Ark? Tip of the Spear felt like a failed attempt at this (awesome opening cutscene, boring mission). Long Night of Solace was very similar; Sabre combat was suppose to be awesome, but it ended up being to short and boring. In other words . . . there weren’t any truly memorable missions.

Conclusion on campaign.- It broke canon.

  • Generic characters with lack of depth.
  • No memorable missions.

> Multiplayer

Maps

Maps . . . Reach has the worst selection of maps to ever graze Halo. Case in point, Swordbase (AKA, yellow lift map). There are others though, including Pinnacle (they defiled Ascension), Hemmorage (they pinnacled Blood Gulch and Coagulation), Boardwalk, etc. Not to mention the game only shipped with nine true maps (Forge World maps don’t count), which is far too few.

Sidenote - Condemned and Highlands look great.

Gameplay

I personally feel that AA’s ruin gameplay, however this could be partially fixed with the upcoming Classic Playlist. They would however have to eventually include BTB Classic, Objective Classic, and FFA Classic in order to truly come close to pleasing us.

Gameplay in general feels to slow. Factors that contribute to this are:

  • Slow movement speed.
  • Low jump height.
  • Bloom.
  • The terrible AL.
  • Underpowered weapons.
  • AA’s in general.
  • No bleed through melees.

Customs

Customs are a bust.

  • Infection is broken (there is a fix incoming, but I’m still including it).
  • Where’s V.I.P.?
  • Many other gametypes are broken as well or lacking customizability.

While AA’s don’t fit well in competitive gameplay, I think they would work well in social matchmaking (Action Sack) playlists/customs.

Sidenote - I’ve gotta say, Action Sack is sounding pretty kick -Yoink-.

Imbalance

Unbalanced weapon sandbox:

  • AR vs. Plasma Repeater.
  • OP nades.
  • Sniper vs. Focus Rifle.
  • Needle Rifle vs. DMR (in terms of effectiveness against vehicles)
  • Etc.

Ranking System

Reach’s Ranking system . . . 1-50 may not have been perfect, but it was a helluva lot better than the CoD style (not that I have anything against CoD) ranking system we have in place right now. In Halo 3 we could actually tell who was good by looking at their rank, not anymore though.

Bring 1-50 back (at least for certain playlists) . . . that’s all I’m gonna say on that.

Part 2 coming up!

2

Part 2!

> Firefight

Maps (again)

Not much to say here . . . the maps are copy and pasted from the campaign, and are bad as a result (ODST somehow had good maps using this technique . . . odd). Not enough vehicle warfare on these maps either.

Intensity

Firefight in ODST could get extremely intense because there was that feeling that you absolutely had to survive (Vid Master - Endure). In Reach’s case, there’s no intensity whatsoever . . . you have infinite lives! Whats it matter if you die?!

Yes, you can change that in the custom options, but it’d be neat if it were doable in matchmaking.

Sidenote - Unearthed looks sweet!

Customizability

This is were Firefight is great. Lots of customizability. It could use some more options, but it’s pretty good right now.

Sidenote - Where are my Red vs. Blue Firefight voices?!

> Forge

Forge World

The only map you can truly forge on is Forge World. Forge World is okay, but I find it to be very bland.

The Other Maps

Unlike in Halo 3 . . . you can’t truly forge on any of the other maps (except Tempest, which is just Forge World 2.0). In Halo 3 I saw some crazy forge variants on maps such as Last Resort, Avalanche, and Sandtrap. Similar feats aren’t possible on maps such as Powerhouse, Zealot, or Countdown for example.

Forge 2.0

Pretty good, although it’s very glitchy at the moment. Hopefully these glitches get fixed in a TU.

> Theater

Downgraded

I really enjoyed watching films with friends of mine in theater . . . not possible now.

No Upgrades Either

Where is my ability to truly rewind, and why can’t I watch other people from their first person POV?

> Game Mechanics

Armor Lock

This is why AL is the worst game mechanic ever . . . of all time.

You outplay someone and he AL’s on you right before death

A few things can happen here.

A. You kill him right when he comes out of AL.

So . . . all AL did in that situation was slow down gameplay, which makes for boring non Haloesque gameplay.

B. The guys team mate comes around the corner after he should have been dead already and kills you.

So . . . you got cheated out of a kill that you earned, just because the other guy had an invincibility button that takes no skill to use, and you can spawn with at anytime . . . good gameplay right there./Sarcasm? Yes.

C. You run away and lose a kill that should have been yours.

Yeah, AL sucks.

Bloom

I personally think that this game would be a lot better if there were no bloom at all on precision weapons, and that they would instead just slow the rate of fire on those weapons (or preferably just buff the rest of the weapon sandbox in order to balance out the faster firing weapons). However it wouldn’t be such a big deal if bloom were at least implemented correctly. Case in point, DMR bloom.

The DMR is the primary weapon in Reach, and because of how bloom was implemented on it, it’s more effective to spam the trigger. This results in random, derp-worthy gameplay. Don’t you think that the person who paces their shots should win against a spammer every single time? That’s not the case though.

No Bleed Through Melees

This completely destroys the whole point of shooting in close quarters combat. Why shoot when you can run in for the melee? Derp.

Title Update

These are The Big 3 that need to be eradicated in a title update.

One last one though . . . what happened to the vehicle physics?

> What Was Good

Graphics

I’m split on this one. The graphics are pretty damn good, but at the same time, the aesthetics don’t really feel like Halo to me . . . but I don’t know, that’s just my opinion.

> In The End

Reach still has potential, but it needs a TU and a bunch of other changes. The campaign is irreparable though . . . in my opinion.

Feel free to comment on this entire OP, or just certain parts.

Signed,
-The Embodiment of Awesome

3
  1. Campaign

Agree with the majority but I did enjoy the space battle on LNoS. I also have never read a Halo novel, but I know what you mean when things are way out of place in one thing (the game, I guess) than from the original (The book)

  1. MM/Customs

The original map count is a bit low, and I enjoy the majority. I’m fine with the majority of the gameplay, just think that it needs some tweaks. Why some custom game settings were removed is beyond me, maybe they couldn’t get them to work before they had to ship it. For the AR and Plasma Repeater, it actually turns out they kill in equal time, if all bullets hit at least. Agree with the Grenades, Sniper vs Focus Rifle, and DMR vs Needle Rifle against vehicles. And I couldn’t care less about rank. I have NEVER played Halo for it’s ranking system.

  1. Firefight
    Maps were generated first and then put INTO campaign. Try Firefight limited if you want intensity. I as well want Red vs Blue FF Voices

  2. Forge

I agree about maps having a lack of good forge items and that Forge World can be a bit redundant after a while

  1. Theater

Multiple people in theater sucked in Halo 3, so I couldn’t care less about that but I do think it could have been improved more.

  1. Game Mechanics

Armor Lock
This definiteley could have been implemented better, Though all I think it needs is a reduced time (3 seconds max) and no frosting.

Bloom
For the most part it works fine and I think it was a good idea. It was just implemented improperly for precision weapons. I think that a different variation should have been implement for precision weapons or the entire idea scraped. Either one.

No Bleed Through
This came around because of the AR rushes and people complaining about them (I think at least). Though a possible solution, I wish they had tried something else

  1. What was good

All that you though was good were the graphics? Well, that’s your opinion. Overall I think this game is fantastic but definitely need a few tweaks here and there

4

Nice OP I agree with almost everything in that post if not all :smiley:

5

> 1) Campaign
>
> Agree with the majority but I did enjoy the space battle on LNoS. I also have never read a Halo novel, but I know what you mean when things are way out of place in one thing (the game, I guess) than from the original (The book)
>
> 2) MM/Customs
>
> The original map count is a bit low, and I enjoy the majority. I’m fine with the majority of the gameplay, just think that it needs some tweaks. Why some custom game settings were removed is beyond me, maybe they couldn’t get them to work before they had to ship it. For the AR and Plasma Repeater, it actually turns out they kill in equal time, if all bullets hit at least. Agree with the Grenades, Sniper vs Focus Rifle, and DMR vs Needle Rifle against vehicles. And I couldn’t care less about rank. I have NEVER played Halo for it’s ranking system.
>
> 3) Firefight
> Maps were generated first and then put INTO campaign. Try Firefight limited if you want intensity. I as well want Red vs Blue FF Voices
>
> 4) Forge
>
> I agree about maps having a lack of good forge items and that Forge World can be a bit redundant after a while
>
> 5) Theater
>
> Multiple people in theater sucked in Halo 3, so I couldn’t care less about that but I do think it could have been improved more.
>
> 6) Game Mechanics
>
> Armor Lock
> This definiteley could have been implemented better, Though all I think it needs is a reduced time (3 seconds max) and no frosting.
>
> Bloom
> For the most part it works fine and I think it was a good idea. It was just implemented improperly for precision weapons. I think that a different variation should have been implement for precision weapons or the entire idea scraped. Either one.
>
> No Bleed Through
> This came around because of the AR rushes and people complaining about them (I think at least). Though a possible solution, I wish they had tried something else
>
> 7) What was good
>
> All that you though was good were the graphics? Well, that’s your opinion. Overall I think this game is fantastic but definitely need a few tweaks here and there

1.) Meh, LNoS was kind of boring for me.

2.) The problem with AR vs. Plasma Repeater is that the AR is hitscan (bullets hit instantly), while you really have to lead your shots at anything past close range with the Plasma Repeater . . . which can be tough if your opponent is strafing.

3.) I still sort of feel that this somehow contributed to the maps not being very good .

4.) Yeah.

5.) It may have been a bit laggy at times, but I still used it and enjoyed using it quite a bit.

6.) AL - What you said would make it less annoying, but I still don’t like the idea of rechargeable invincibility that you can spawn with.

Bloom - Yeah, if they implemented it better, then it wouldn’t be so bad.

No Bleed Through - True, but now the new AR rushing is to just sprint at a guy and press RB twice. Odds are he won’t be able to deplete all your shields by the time that you reach him, leading to a double beatdown.

7.) The wealth of Firefight options is good too, I suppose.

6

> Nice OP I agree with almost everything in that post if not all :smiley:

Thanks, man!

:slight_smile:

7

"I personally feel that AA’s ruin gameplay, however this could be partially fixed with the upcoming Classic Playlist. They would however have to eventually include BTB Classic, Objective Classic, and FFA Classic in order to truly come close to pleasing us. "

I got so mad when I read this. This is the most stupid opinion I have seen on this site. If you were smart then you would know that there is only 1 playlist and that is one playlist and that is slayer. Nothing else. There is no partial fix or anything

8

> "I personally feel that AA’s ruin gameplay, however this could be partially fixed with the upcoming Classic Playlist. They would however have to eventually include BTB Classic, Objective Classic, and FFA Classic in order to truly come close to pleasing us. "
>
> I got so mad when I read this. This is the most stupid opinion I have seen on this site. If you were smart then you would know that there is only 1 playlist and that is one playlist and that is slayer. Nothing else. There is no partial fix or anything

Uhm, that’s why I said that they would have to include BTB, Objective, and FFA Classic (maybe some others as well). It wouldn’t fully please us though, because there would still be problems like random bloom, and no bleed through. If those things were fixed, then it would be great (the classic playlist).

Also, may I suggest anger management?

9

Banshee evade spam is probably my biggest problem with the game.

10

> Banshee evade spam is probably my biggest problem with the game.

That too.