Things that should be included/changed (IMO)

Games Other Halo
#1

Here are just a few things that I hope for the future of Halo. Maybe not specifically Halo 4, since some of these are too large scale to change so close to release (unless they’re already included), but some are meant for Halo 4 directly. Lots to read here, for anyone really bored and wanting to indulge in theoretical Halo fun. Here goes:

  1. FORGE

I’d love to see 4 or 5 different, smaller “forge islands” instead of 1 huge world. This will allow for different map styles:

a) Snowy/winter, with forge pieces that have a bit of ice/snow on them.

b) Rainy and/or thunderstorm (darker, thunder in the background, flashing lighting, etc.) with forge pieces that have water puddles and such on surfaces.

c) Desert/sandy with slight “heat wave” type effects in the distance and maybe some light sand blowing around like in the “Hang 'Em High” map remake, with forge pieces that have sand and such on them.

d) A regular, “summer” style like what currently exists.

e) A “wasteland” type; sort of “post-apocalyptic” set with matching forge pieces. Either that, or…

f) A “Covenant” set. I realize they’re no longer the main enemy, but we never really got to create a covenant style map from scratch before.

Each of the different island types should include a natural flat section, a mountain region, and a square-room type like Reach’s Forge had embedded in the mountain. Obviously each island would be smaller than Reach’s Forge world, to accommodate for space and such.

We should also be able to modify overall lighting. Meaning, if we don’t want it to be super bright or dark, we can adjust “main light source” colour, intensity, etc. And having more than 2 light options would also be good; another possibility if each island were smaller and had less items to keep track of (to save for memory).

Lastly, a “snap-to-object” control that automatically snaps a currently held piece to another nearby piece. This would make aligning walls, floors, etc. much easier. That is currently the bane of my map-making existence.

CAMPAIGN:

The thing that made Halo great for me, was the “unknown mystery” of it. It seems Halo 4 is returning to this slightly, but how much is yet to be seen. I loved the idea in Halo: CE that you landed on this unknown object, no clue what it was, who was there, or what you had to do. It unfolded as you went along, and it all seemed fluid. You never knew what was next, and you were creeped the hell out most of the time (playing 343 Guilty Spark & Library at midnight with all the lights off, anyone?). The first time the flood broke into that tiny room and bombarded you, your adrenaline was pumping, and when you made it out, you were like, “WHAT THE $@%$ was that?!?”

Halo needs this again. I haven’t see that since. Of course, partly because Halo: CE was new and every game after that was just expanding on an already-established universe, but they definitely could have done more to keep your on your toes. Halo 2 & 3 just felt like going through the motions, for the most part. Especially Halo 3. I almost never got excited, and almost always knew what was coming. We need to be thrown a few curveballs; kept in the dark. Not constantly told “here’s where we’re going and what is gonna happen on our way there” narratives; that ruins the experience.

Halo: CE had a very “Super Metroid” feel to it. Let’s bring that back, shall we? Thanks.

MULTIPLAYER:

More diverse playlists, please! When I want to play SWAT, that doesn’t mean SWAT Magnums, or SWAT 3 Plots, or SWAT Potato, or whatever the hell. It means SWAT. Period. SWAT should have it’s own playlist with different variants to choose from (I.E. the above). If one or more variants doesn’t get many consistent players, oh well… what does that tell you? It tells you that you shouldn’t mix it in with variants that DO get a lot of attention.

They should definitely create a “Classic” style playlist that adheres to more classic Halo play styles (i.e. no nerfed handgun, no armour abilities, no bloom, etc.). This, combined with bringing back the BR, jump height, player speed, etc. to a more “Halo-like” setting, will please everyone: fans of newer styles can play regular playlists, fans of older Halo play styles can play the “Classic” playlists.

And there should be more than just 1 “Slayer” variant on the “Classic” group: Classic Slayer, Classic Objective, Classic SWAT, etc. Diversity! Variety is the spice of life,. 343.

Also, more “open” maps. One thing I think plagued Reach was the maps were so over-complex. Too many things blocking your view, limiting where you could go and shoot from, always having too run around something that is in your way. Look at Halo: CE thru Halo 3: ever been walking through a map and have something obstructing your view? Hardly ever. The maps weren’t littered with a bunch of crates, decorations, and randomly placed objects for no reason (“Powerhouse” is one of the worse offenders). It felt more open and free; Reach felt very constricting; like they felt the need to include more stuff on the map to make it look better or something. This resulted in the best maps being the most simple ones; ones that harkened back to classic maps.

MISC:

Dude… the pistol sounds like garbage in Halo 4. Change it back to something a bit more badass. By all means, re-do the sound from scratch. Just make it sound like a pistol and not a nerf gun. Pretty please.

Feel free to add to this, or comment on anything I’ve said, good or bad… I don’t care :slight_smile:

#2

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#3

Multiple threads, but not all these things are included in one thread.

And in a forum where there are numerous threads about any variety of topics, all of which have the exact same content, why condemn me for this one?

#4

1.) Completely agree. All your Forge ideas I shared hopes for in Reach. Hopefully they have at least 2 Forge worlds to start and release an new one w/ each new DLC.

2.) I see what you are saying and I kinda hope they go in that direction of showing us the general idea but thrusting us into a completely new and unkown experience w/ enemies that will make us go WTF?

3.) I agree on that too. Have ‘old school’ playlists, reg playlists and the completely new gametype playlists all segregated and organized neatly. I think Halo 3 had GREAT playlist organization.

#5

I have also yet to see (and I looked) for threads regarding the “cluttered map” point, the “more mysterious/eerie campaign” point, or the point of having more dissected playlists (specifically for SWAT). Care to point them out to me? Not being sarcastic: I’d really like to see them to read the view of the other people in contrast to my own.

#6

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#7

> 1.) Completely agree. All your Forge ideas I shared hopes for in Reach. Hopefully they have at least 2 Forge worlds to start and release an new one w/ each new DLC.
>
> 2.) I see what you are saying and I kinda hope they go in that direction of showing us the general idea but thrusting us into a completely new and unkown experience w/ enemies that will make us go WTF?
>
> 3.) I agree on that too. Have ‘old school’ playlists, reg playlists and the completely new gametype playlists all segregated and organized neatly. I think Halo 3 had GREAT playlist organization.

Halo 3’s playlists were different; not sure about “better” but I definitely seemed to have less “ugh, not THIS please” moments.

I also thing the voting system is garbage. What I propose is:

Since they have preferences for skill, chatter, etc., there should also be a “map preference” where you can select a map (or even multiple?) and be matched up with people who also have that map as a preference at that moment in time. And if there aren’t enough people to choose from, then make it a high likelihood that the map appear for voting.

Obviously nothing will let you ALWAYS play on the map(s) you want, unless you just play custom games only with friends, but it would help so that you’re not stuck in situations like in Reach where everyone always votes for “Sword Base” and “Powerhouse” in SWAT, for example. I think that’s why I hate those maps the most, in addition to Powerhouse being a cluttered mess that just doesn’t “flow” well at all.

#8

Check out my “What little things in Halo 4 bug you?” thread, it has all my complaints in like 2 or 3 posts (a lot of complaints). I’ll tell you this one great idea I had though, we should have shields that can be changed in size and shape, just like objective zones in Reach. We should also be able to give them health and recharge times, like make it so that if enough damage is done to shield, it will collapse like a Covenant barrier, and we should be able to control if it can collapse, how much damage it can take, whether or not it recharges, how long it takes to recharge. Also, a control panel or generator would be nice, for example, you must go through a small tunnel to destroy a generator on the other side of a shield blocking your vehicle from the objective, or you must find the control panel to deactivate it, or maybe both, like the control panel is more accessible than the generator but an enemy can reactivate the shields afterwards, destroying the generator is the only way to permanently deactivate the shields. Great idea for an invasion map, unfortunately invasion is still unconfirmed.

#9

> > Multiple threads, but not all these things are included in one thread.
> >
> > And in a forum where there are numerous threads about any variety of topics, all of which have the exact same content, why condemn me for this one?
>
> Don’t flatter yourself. You’re not the only person I’ve “condemned” for making duplicate threads. Use the ‘search’ feature (at the top) to add to existing threads instead of creating new ones.

Why are you so angry that you have to be snide like that? What’s your deal? And why do you care about duplicate threads so much that you have to act that way, and feel the need to “police” people like it’s your job? Do Halo forums mean so much to you that it personally offends you?

I’m a web developer, sir. I know how to use a search function. What YOU don’t realize is that I already DID search, and didn’t find any threads with these specific points. I found a few that mentioned 1 or 2 things somewhat related, but the rest of my points of view were not touched on specifically.

Even if they were: how is reviving half a dozen threads better than making one all-inclusive one? That would clutter up the forum page even more, cause more time for me to go through each, reply to each, and watch each, and would cause more work and time for anyone else wishing to weigh in on all these points as well (which would cause a lot of folk to not even bother, resulting in stagnant conversation where it might have otherwise bore fruit).

I think you should worry less about what I’m posting or trying to “condemn” several otheres (from the sounds of it) about doing the same, and worry more about actual discussion for topics you feel interested in. As it stands, your comment is neither helpful, wanted, or constructive. If that’s the kind of person you’d like to be, by all means. Just know that that’s how you’re appearing to everyone else. And as you’ve already expressed: you do indeed care. A lot.

#10

> Check out my “What little things in Halo 4 bug you?” thread, it has all my complaints in like 2 or 3 posts (a lot of complaints). I’ll tell you this one great idea I had though, we should have shields that can be changed in size and shape, just like objective zones in Reach. We should also be able to give them health and recharge times, like make it so that if enough damage is done to shield, it will collapse like a Covenant barrier, and we should be able to control if it can collapse, how much damage it can take, whether or not it recharges, how long it takes to recharge. Also, a control panel or generator would be nice, for example, you must go through a small tunnel to destroy a generator on the other side of a shield blocking your vehicle from the objective, or you must find the control panel to deactivate it, or maybe both, like the control panel is more accessible than the generator but an enemy can reactivate the shields afterwards, destroying the generator is the only way to permanently deactivate the shields. Great idea for an invasion map, unfortunately invasion is still unconfirmed.

Link?

The “search” function that other guy has a -Yoink!- for isn’t the best. I tried a search and didn’t find it. Found numerous “bugs” threads but not anything like what you’re talking about.

I like the invasion idea. However, I doubt invasion will be back. It looks to me like SpartanOps is a mix of Invasion and FireFight. Or, in other words, objective-based FireFight rather than just “kill as much as possible within the time limit” FireFight.

It looks fun, and it’ll add to the overall campaign story (or extend it, rather), but as a replacement for invasion? Apples and oranges. If I had to pick, though, I’d pick Spartan Ops; it sounds more appealing to me, as I enjoy the story of the Halo games just as much or more so than the online multiplayer aspect.

#11

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#12

> > Check out my “What little things in Halo 4 bug you?” thread, it has all my complaints in like 2 or 3 posts (a lot of complaints). I’ll tell you this one great idea I had though, we should have shields that can be changed in size and shape, just like objective zones in Reach. We should also be able to give them health and recharge times, like make it so that if enough damage is done to shield, it will collapse like a Covenant barrier, and we should be able to control if it can collapse, how much damage it can take, whether or not it recharges, how long it takes to recharge. Also, a control panel or generator would be nice, for example, you must go through a small tunnel to destroy a generator on the other side of a shield blocking your vehicle from the objective, or you must find the control panel to deactivate it, or maybe both, like the control panel is more accessible than the generator but an enemy can reactivate the shields afterwards, destroying the generator is the only way to permanently deactivate the shields. Great idea for an invasion map, unfortunately invasion is still unconfirmed.
>
> Link?
>
> The “search” function that other guy has a -Yoink!- for isn’t the best. I tried a search and didn’t find it. Found numerous “bugs” threads but not anything like what you’re talking about.
>
> I like the invasion idea. However, I doubt invasion will be back. It looks to me like SpartanOps is a mix of Invasion and FireFight. Or, in other words, objective-based FireFight rather than just “kill as much as possible within the time limit” FireFight.
>
> It looks fun, and it’ll add to the overall campaign story (or extend it, rather), but as a replacement for invasion? Apples and oranges. If I had to pick, though, I’d pick Spartan Ops; it sounds more appealing to me, as I enjoy the story of the Halo games just as much or more so than the online multiplayer aspect.

Here you go.

Be warned though, I complain about ALOT of stuff, some of which you may or may not agree with, but I’m sure you’ll agree with most of it.

#13

I agree with the mysterious campaign you brought up, some games like ODST and Reach felt way too domestic for me, I like exploring alien or abandoned ships/areas, I just like the “silent, too silent” atmosphere, kind of like Dead Space.

#14

Health.