We Need To Let 343i Know We Want H3A

Games Other Halo
1

Frank O’Connor posted on Neogaf recently stating that 343 is not in the process of making a Halo 3 Anniversary game, but a good bit of us want it. I do understand some of you don’t want a remake, so just don’t buy it. It’s as simple as that. Now that I have that out of the way, lets get to the real point. We deserve a true anniversary remake of Halo 3. Disregarding the multiplayer bomb that MCC was, the H2A treatment was done really well. Though I think the new remake of H2 strayed too far from the original art style, I ended up really liking it.

The Blur cutscenes were fantastic, the instant switch between H2A and H2 classic was amazing throughout the campaign, etc. Now I love Halo 2, but Halo 3 is probably the most “magical” experience I’ve ever had with Halo. At the point of release, everybody I knew had an Xbox 360 and I had an infinite amount of people to play with. The customization was amazing (and even expanded on in Halo Reach), the maps were exceptional, the gun gameplay is still some of the best in any game I’ve ever played, and many others. I could go on and on, but we all probably have some very fond memories of Halo 3.

Now, lets look at MCC. Try going to the Halo 3 playlist, and you’ll definitely find a match. What’s the issue then? You’re probably only going to be playing Team BRs. Good luck getting any objective based games (which is what I played during my 360 days). MCC is not the answer to play Halo 3, unfortunately, so I don’t think adding H3A to it would be a wise decision.

I know releasing a standalone would make many MCC owners furious, but there could be something done to fix it: Give MCC owners a discount? You still have your copy of MCC and you want a discount? Pop your disc in and buy a digital version of H3A for a discounted price. Something as simple as that could fix the issue. They could also just release the Anniversary edition at a cheaper price. Maybe even remaster Halo Reach and give us that full experience as well. Unfortunately, I STILL have massive FPS issues with Halo Reach on Xbox One BC, so I don’t think that’s the answer to keep playing Reach either.

I know some of you still won’t want this, but if you do, be vocal about it. Comment on this thread, create your own, try to communicate with 343i on social media. Let your voices be heard, because I still believe that there is a large group of us that still want old school Halo online. We deserve something much better than MCC, and I am still willing to buy H3A IF AND ONLY IF it is done right. What would you want from H3A?

2

I’m not going lie I would love a remake. I kinda at this point gave up though with 343 and the old halo no matter how much I want it. I just take what’s given to me now as long as its not complete dog ****

3

Im still upset that the original was redone. Though I totlly understand why the team remastered it, and get it from a business perspective why they would put it on the market, I took pride in being from that generation. The only reason I knew about it was because my friends had a older brother who was in college and we would sneak into his frat parties and play his games. Halo happened to be our favorite. Which leads me to a point, remastering a game isnt a small task. It takes time and dedication, which in business is money. Its not the effort of a small team, it requires the entire team as a cohesive unit, which is where the problem stems. Its not the cost of disc, or contract with Microsoft. Its money lost jaunting about making a H3 remaster that wont sell as well as the next installment. You must take into account the cost of production at a certain level to see if production costs are offset or met by demand. But you also musy estimate how much money you may make off of the next installment, compare and contrast that to how much money you will make off of a Halo 3 Remaster, and choose the better of the two options. Im not saying its out totally, Im just saying it may not happen soon. Speaking from a business logic mindset.

4

I believe that making H3A right now will be rushed since they are working oh Halo Wars 2, Halo 6, and many updates for Halo 5. We don’t “need” a halo 3 anniversary, y’all are just want every single game to be re mastered. Think about the future games. What we really need is to forget the past and move on kids.

5

What, you guys didn’t like the MCC? hahahaha!
-Yoink- but you are right! It’d be awesome to have one! Just not sure If I’d take it over Halo 6, you know? Maybe sometime after!

6

Not gonna say we need it, but I definitely wouldn’t complain if it was a thing.
Halo 3 was my favorite Halo, but I can see why people wouldn’t want a remaster, considering today’s gaming scene has already been flooded with remasters and remakes.

But if it were to get a remaster, I’d rather 343 wait a few more years and put it with some kind of Halo bundle with Reach or whatever – NOT another MCC style game though. Separate games.
If there were a bundled release, the only way I can see another MCC kind of thing working is if everything ran on the same engine.
Maybe take some pointers from Halo Online?

Rounding off, seeing a sparkly, pretty H3A-type game would be really great and all, but I have no issue with there being no H3A or similar release.
I’m with the people that say we need to give 343 some breathing room for whatever mainline game they already have in store. Time and resources should be focused there for now.

7

> 2535433076071510;4:
> I believe that making H3A right now will be rushed since they are working oh Halo Wars 2, Halo 6, and many updates for Halo 5. We don’t “need” a halo 3 anniversary, y’all are just want every single game to be re mastered. Think about the future games. What we really need is to forget the past and move on kids.

This. And why the need to remaster? Compatability as a digital format should be fine for a fanboy… or girl. Scince that exsists now. Anyway, I feel as tho people have gotten spoiled and cant be satisfied with work put in. Whos own greed put fourth demands that cause them to sound like slave drivers when compared to the ammount of workone game is. People forget just how much of a pain in the can gamedesign/creation is, especially on that level.

8

I think some of you are reading this post incorrectly. I never said we NEED this. I said if we really want this, then we NEED to let them know. I never said that I demand they make this, but I am saying that are voices should be heard and put into consideration. I know game design / creation is a pain, but a lot of you sound like 343i are developing these remakes. They remade Halo CE Anniversary, but not H2A. Saber Interactive made the campaign remake, Certain Affinity made the remade H2A MP maps, and Blur Studios created the cutscenes. Yes, there are higher-ups of 343i guiding these companies, but that’s their job. They were able to create a solid experience (outside of the horrendous MP coding) and released H5 just a year later. They did the same with Halo CE while still creating Halo 4. Also, compatibility isn’t where it should be. It would be laughable to say that Halo 3 through Halo MCC is “compatible”. It’s still broken, while Halo 3 on Xbox 360 has a decently large fanbase at the moment with better hit detection. So where is the backwards compatibility for Halo 3? Nonexistent because Microsoft wants you to buy the MCC still. Halo Reach is in a similar boat with its framerate issues on Xbox One. It’s fixed for some, but it still runs around 15-20 FPS for me. It’s unacceptable, in my honest opinion.

9

> 2533274792794780;8:
> [Snip]… I know game design / creation is a pain, but a lot of you sound like 343i are developing these remakes. They remade Halo CE Anniversary, but not H2A. Saber Interactive made the campaign remake, Certain Affinity made the remade H2A MP maps, and Blur Studios created the cutscenes. Yes, there are higher-ups of 343i guiding these companies, but that’s their job. They were able to create a solid experience (outside of the horrendous MP coding) and released H5 just a year later. [Snip]…

Actually, this brings up another point that I almost forgot about.
While all these smaller developers were working on the individual games*,* 343 was doing more behind-the-scenes stuff, like UI management and setting up the network for the games.
Outsourcing a new release probably wouldn’t be as bad of an idea to retry, assuming it was done one at a time. The MCC was probably just too ambitious of a project in its development period, namely because of 343 wanting to get all the games into one.
Looking back, I could’ve seen it work out if 343 had more time for development, or if something was done differently about how the games were launched.

> 2533274792794780;8:
> [Snip]… So where is the backwards compatibility for Halo 3? Nonexistent because Microsoft wants you to buy the MCC still. Halo Reach is in a similar boat with its framerate issues on Xbox One. It’s fixed for some, but it still runs around 15-20 FPS for me. It’s unacceptable, in my honest opinion.

It wouldn’t be such an issue if more time was put into bug fixes for MCC, but it’s starting to look like post-launch support has all but been abandoned.
Nothing is said about the game anymore. It’s all about Halo 5 and Halo Wars 2.
So yeah, Halo 3 should be put back-compat now. We’ve waited more than long enough.
As for Reach, that game definitely needs more support or some kind of port or something. Up until sometime last year, Reach still topped out at around 10-12k players during peak hours. What happened? Well, the servers suddenly went to hell, and people got tired of waiting around for it to be fixed.
Playing campaign or Firefight with friends is a joke. And input lag in matchmaking is still a pretty big issue. Not to mention, any of my friends with internet even the slightest bit slower than mine says that the online has unplayable lag for them.
I don’t even know what the game is like today, but I’m strongly considering booting up the game to check it out. Also, gonna boot up my 360 to check on Halo 3.
I’ll report back in a few hours.

**UPDATE:**Halo 3’s population capped out at around 490 today, but it is a weekday so population could supposedly be slightly lower than the weekend… I played some matches of Social Slayer, as it was the most populated playlist. Unfortunately the majority of other playlists are completely barren of players, except for Lone Wolves and BTB.
It’s not surprising to me that these are all that’s left.
Player count aside, getting into a game wasn’t an issue. Found a full game within 45 seconds. No issue loading into the match. Lag was negligible. Everything went smoothly more or less.
Now Reach however, that was a different story.
Population is obviously higher – saw it cap around 7100 when I was on.
The typical playlists are where they’ve been for a while, relative to the full population at the time at least.
Team Slayer, SWAT, BTB, Living Dead, and Snipers at the top.
Decided I’d hop into some BTB. Match times were about the same as Halo 3. However, upon loading into the game, we were immediately greeted by the scoreboard + blackscreen that happens when there’s an issue with the host’s connection. Took almost a full minute til that passed over.
Finally get to playing the game, and it seems to be going okay. I was noticing the tiniest bit of input lag when trying to get shots on someone with the DMR or sniper, but not much else gameplay-wise.
The only other in-game issue I was having was some strange audio issues – sounds playing a second late or only part of a sound playing. Nothing too major.
I did notice, however, after each match when it just shows the scoreboard on the screen, the loading screen/scoreboard took considerably longer than I remember.
I didn’t really notice any issues with framerate, but little bits of lag – especially lag with button inputs – were kind of a nuisance.
I’m not saying Reach doesn’t have framerate issues, but it’s just strange how it doesn’t affect everyone. Considering the number of people I’ve seen still complaining about framerate issues, I’m pretty sure there’s still something wrong with it.
But my biggest issue has to do with just network stuff.
Here’s to hoping something good happens from all this.

TL;DR, Nerdy technical stuff. Halo 3 should be back-compat. MCC should be fixed. Reach should be fixed. Ports/remasters should be a thing if the games aren’t completely fixed, but I don’t want another disaster like MCC or for a project to take up valuable time from Halo 6 development. Outsourcing could work tho.

10

We need something that will prove to us that 343i CAN ACTUALLY deliver. There has been a lot of debate on this topic and the likelihood is that it isn’t happening but it would bring an awful lot of old fans back if they saw their favourite halo game remade. I’ve seen a lot of people complain that there is nothing that can be updated, but I can think of several off of the top of my head. For example:

  • Add more armours for multiplayer
  • Remake the cutscenes with the blur software
  • Add more detail to the covenant - the graphic quality could do with some drastic renovation and some things need smoothing out
  • Use the H2A Cortana - it would show us where 343 were taking the series (in a good direction, that Cortana was definitely the best one)
  • Put more effort into the in-game graphics - the marines REALLY start to show their age after a while
  • Upgrade Guilty Spark - he is actually MEANT to be spherical, not hexagonal

These are just a few things that would MASSIVELY improve the already amazing game, and even if we need to wait a couple more years, a lot of us want to see it. Reach was a great game too, so perhaps it could be released alongside that in a two-disc bundle, NOT IN ONE GAME, WE DON’T WANT ANOTHER MCC CATASTROPHE. I think that if nothing else came from it, it would increase 343i’s standing with the multitude of fans that disliked or despised MCC and H5, because, let’s be honest, the majority of us would rather play a ten year old game than a bundle from a couple of years ago, or even a game released that’s still updating today. I mean, come on, we need a reason to support 343, not another reason to hate them.

Now that this has been said, I will briefly go over the negatives of H3A, and any possible solutions:

  • It could potentially downgrade titles in the works… delay something then - we don’t actually need a game every year
  • It will likely fall flat like the other two… give 343 a chance now that they know what we want (I actually liked the remasters)

Two. That’s it. That’s all the main reasons to cancel H3A. If you don’t want it, don’t get it. The only other thing I want to say is if they make it a MCC DLC It needs to be free.

11

Halo 3A sadly would make a return on it. Probably would be better than h5 as people would actually want to play it.

12

We should let 343i know we want a proper Halo game unlike Halo 5!

13

> 2533274943763472;11:
> Halo 3A sadly would make a return on it. Probably would be better than h5 as people would actually want to play it.

Pretty sure Halo 5 has a decent player base right now.
And I enjoy playing it, despite being someone that prefers the classic gameplay of the original trilogy – H3 being my favorite.

> 2533274834927495;12:
> We should let 343i know we want a proper Halo game unlike Halo 5!

How exactly is Halo 5 not a “proper Halo game?”
I can understand people wanting Halo to return to the series’ roots, but these kind of comments just seem like aimless conjecture.
I’d love to see a return to the classic formula, but at least I can appreciate Halo 5 for what it is. Honestly, I’d like to hear about this “proper Halo game” because I wouldn’t count a remaster of a game to be a proper release – no matter how much I loved Halo 3.

14

> 2533274834927495;12:
> We should let 343i know we want a proper Halo game unlike Halo 5!

There really is no point in criticising the game at this point. Just because we complain doesn’t mean it’ll go away - it will just annoy people who liked it. this session is about H3A and what we want to see from it should it be released. If you don’t like H5, don’t play it!! It won’t benefit anyone to constantly bash it, so just leave it be. 343i are trying to take on a massive series with a huge fanbase (not an easy task), and they don’t know what we want yet. They’ve only picked up on what we’ve told them, like that we want the old art style back - so they’re edging it back in. But just telling them their game sucks won’t let them know why you think this, so there really is no point.

15

> 2533274994916457;9:
> > 2533274792794780;8:
> > [Snip]… I know game design / creation is a pain, but a lot of you sound like 343i are developing these remakes. They remade Halo CE Anniversary, but not H2A. Saber Interactive made the campaign remake, Certain Affinity made the remade H2A MP maps, and Blur Studios created the cutscenes. Yes, there are higher-ups of 343i guiding these companies, but that’s their job. They were able to create a solid experience (outside of the horrendous MP coding) and released H5 just a year later. [Snip]…
>
> Actually, this brings up another point that I almost forgot about.
> While all these smaller developers were working on the individual games*,* 343 was doing more behind-the-scenes stuff, like UI management and setting up the network for the games.
> Outsourcing a new release probably wouldn’t be as bad of an idea to retry, assuming it was done one at a time. The MCC was probably just too ambitious of a project in its development period, namely because of 343 wanting to get all the games into one.
> Looking back, I could’ve seen it work out if 343 had more time for development, or if something was done differently about how the games were launched.
>
>
> > 2533274792794780;8:
> > [Snip]… So where is the backwards compatibility for Halo 3? Nonexistent because Microsoft wants you to buy the MCC still. Halo Reach is in a similar boat with its framerate issues on Xbox One. It’s fixed for some, but it still runs around 15-20 FPS for me. It’s unacceptable, in my honest opinion.
>
> It wouldn’t be such an issue if more time was put into bug fixes for MCC, but it’s starting to look like post-launch support has all but been abandoned.
> Nothing is said about the game anymore. It’s all about Halo 5 and Halo Wars 2.
> So yeah, Halo 3 should be put back-compat now. We’ve waited more than long enough.
> As for Reach, that game definitely needs more support or some kind of port or something. Up until sometime last year, Reach still topped out at around 10-12k players during peak hours. What happened? Well, the servers suddenly went to hell, and people got tired of waiting around for it to be fixed.
> Playing campaign or Firefight with friends is a joke. And input lag in matchmaking is still a pretty big issue. Not to mention, any of my friends with internet even the slightest bit slower than mine says that the online has unplayable lag for them.
> I don’t even know what the game is like today, but I’m strongly considering booting up the game to check it out. Also, gonna boot up my 360 to check on Halo 3.
> I’ll report back in a few hours.
>
> **UPDATE:**Halo 3’s population capped out at around 490 today, but it is a weekday so population could supposedly be slightly lower than the weekend… I played some matches of Social Slayer, as it was the most populated playlist. Unfortunately the majority of other playlists are completely barren of players, except for Lone Wolves and BTB.
> It’s not surprising to me that these are all that’s left.
> Player count aside, getting into a game wasn’t an issue. Found a full game within 45 seconds. No issue loading into the match. Lag was negligible. Everything went smoothly more or less.
> Now Reach however, that was a different story.
> Population is obviously higher – saw it cap around 7100 when I was on.
> The typical playlists are where they’ve been for a while, relative to the full population at the time at least.
> Team Slayer, SWAT, BTB, Living Dead, and Snipers at the top.
> Decided I’d hop into some BTB. Match times were about the same as Halo 3. However, upon loading into the game, we were immediately greeted by the scoreboard + blackscreen that happens when there’s an issue with the host’s connection. Took almost a full minute til that passed over.
> Finally get to playing the game, and it seems to be going okay. I was noticing the tiniest bit of input lag when trying to get shots on someone with the DMR or sniper, but not much else gameplay-wise.
> The only other in-game issue I was having was some strange audio issues – sounds playing a second late or only part of a sound playing. Nothing too major.
> I did notice, however, after each match when it just shows the scoreboard on the screen, the loading screen/scoreboard took considerably longer than I remember.
> I didn’t really notice any issues with framerate, but little bits of lag – especially lag with button inputs – were kind of a nuisance.
> I’m not saying Reach doesn’t have framerate issues, but it’s just strange how it doesn’t affect everyone. Considering the number of people I’ve seen still complaining about framerate issues, I’m pretty sure there’s still something wrong with it.
> But my biggest issue has to do with just network stuff.
> Here’s to hoping something good happens from all this.
>
> TL;DR, Nerdy technical stuff. Halo 3 should be back-compat. MCC should be fixed. Reach should be fixed. Ports/remasters should be a thing if the games aren’t completely fixed, but I don’t want another disaster like MCC or for a project to take up valuable time from Halo 6 development. Outsourcing could work tho.

Reach has been fixed. Those issues are mostly things that are part of the Xbox 360 “version.”

16

> 2533274994916457;13:
> How exactly is Halo 5 not a “proper Halo game?”
> I can understand people wanting Halo to return to the series’ roots, but these kind of comments just seem like aimless conjecture.
> I’d love to see a return to the classic formula, but at least I can appreciate Halo 5 for what it is. Honestly, I’d like to hear about this “proper Halo game” because I wouldn’t count a remaster of a game to be a proper release – no matter how much I loved Halo 3.

Since you keep bringing up H3, take a look at how that game was designed, and look at how Halo 5 was made. Compare the story, gameplay mechanics, and art design. That is what makes a Halo game. And since you brought “aimless conjecture” when there are LOTS of videos and articles, from fans and storytellers, how Halo 5 failed at being a Halo game and more of an by-the-numbers first person shooter like Call of Duty.

17

> 2535466848885310;14:
> > 2533274834927495;12:
> > We should let 343i know we want a proper Halo game unlike Halo 5!
>
> There really is no point in criticising the game at this point. Just because we complain doesn’t mean it’ll go away - it will just annoy people who liked it. this session is about H3A and what we want to see from it should it be released. If you don’t like H5, don’t play it!! It won’t benefit anyone to constantly bash it, so just leave it be. 343i are trying to take on a massive series with a huge fanbase (not an easy task), and they don’t know what we want yet. They’ve only picked up on what we’ve told them, like that we want the old art style back - so they’re edging it back in. But just telling them their game sucks won’t let them know why you think this, so there really is no point.

Actually, there is. We, as fans, have to let Microsoft and 343i know what is wrong with Halo 5 and there are still issues that they haven’t fixed yet. Bad games get criticized, and continue to as an example of what NOT to do. H3 doesn’t need a remaster cause it still looks and plays good. And as for the “If you don’t like H5, don’t play it” argument, then how am I going to make an objectified opinion on the game. That argument fall flat when you tell me “to just don’t play it when you don’t like it” when you are telling me “just shut up” when I’m not going to.

343i knows how big the fanbase Halo has and rather than try to show them what they can do, they are following the trends of what everyone else is doing and playing “I can do that to” mentality. The only way we can do that is to speak up about it. But they won’t because they think they made a great story about how Cortana is making the galaxy a better place to live, through force, and “fans don’t get it”.

With that kind of logic 343i has, do you really want a Halo 3 anniversary when the screwed up with Halo 2 and MCC! I don’t!

18

> 2533274834927495;16:
> > 2533274994916457;13:
> > How exactly is Halo 5 not a “proper Halo game?”
> > I can understand people wanting Halo to return to the series’ roots, but these kind of comments just seem like aimless conjecture.
> > I’d love to see a return to the classic formula, but at least I can appreciate Halo 5 for what it is. Honestly, I’d like to hear about this “proper Halo game” because I wouldn’t count a remaster of a game to be a proper release – no matter how much I loved Halo 3.
>
> Since you keep bringing up H3, take a look at how that game was designed, and look at how Halo 5 was made. Compare the story, gameplay mechanics, and art design. That is what makes a Halo game. And since you brought “aimless conjecture” when there are LOTS of videos and articles, from fans and storytellers, how Halo 5 failed at being a Halo game and more of an by-the-numbers first person shooter like Call of Duty.

This a thread about H3A, so of course I’d be “bringing up H3.”
The issue I have is people coming into a post that has nothing to do with Halo 5 and complaining about Halo 5, especially when they have next to nothing constructive that actually contributes to the topic at hand or their own self-made arguments.
I didn’t disagree with you. I merely asked that you explain yourself better, rather than a vague comment and empty criticism.

(Bold text)
Simply redirecting me to the internet for answers to your comment doesn’t really help anything. I’ve heard everything there is to hear about Halo 5.
Even I had an issue with it at a time, when the game was still somewhat unfinished.
But that doesn’t change the fact that this thread has nothing to do with Halo 5, and even then, H3A would not be a “proper Halo game” moving forward.
Halo 5 may not be the best there is, but I, and many others, actually find the game to be an enjoyable experience. I like Halo, old and new.

Now, unless you have something worthwhile for your original comment, this thread should get back on track with H3A discussion. You can always make your own thread if you wanna talk about how much you don’t like Halo 5.

19

> 2533274792794780;1:
> Frank O’Connor posted on Neogaf recently stating that 343 is not in the process of making a Halo 3 Anniversary game, but a good bit of us want it. I do understand some of you don’t want a remake, so just don’t buy it. It’s as simple as that. Now that I have that out of the way, lets get to the real point. We deserve a true anniversary remake of Halo 3. Disregarding the multiplayer bomb that MCC was, the H2A treatment was done really well. Though I think the new remake of H2 strayed too far from the original art style, I ended up really liking it.
>
> The Blur cutscenes were fantastic, the instant switch between H2A and H2 classic was amazing throughout the campaign, etc. Now I love Halo 2, but Halo 3 is probably the most “magical” experience I’ve ever had with Halo. At the point of release, everybody I knew had an Xbox 360 and I had an infinite amount of people to play with. The customization was amazing (and even expanded on in Halo Reach), the maps were exceptional, the gun gameplay is still some of the best in any game I’ve ever played, and many others. I could go on and on, but we all probably have some very fond memories of Halo 3.
>
> Now, lets look at MCC. Try going to the Halo 3 playlist, and you’ll definitely find a match. What’s the issue then? You’re probably only going to be playing Team BRs. Good luck getting any objective based games (which is what I played during my 360 days). MCC is not the answer to play Halo 3, unfortunately, so I don’t think adding H3A to it would be a wise decision.
>
> I know releasing a standalone would make many MCC owners furious, but there could be something done to fix it: Give MCC owners a discount? You still have your copy of MCC and you want a discount? Pop your disc in and buy a digital version of H3A for a discounted price. Something as simple as that could fix the issue. They could also just release the Anniversary edition at a cheaper price. Maybe even remaster Halo Reach and give us that full experience as well. Unfortunately, I STILL have massive FPS issues with Halo Reach on Xbox One BC, so I don’t think that’s the answer to keep playing Reach either.
>
> I know some of you still won’t want this, but if you do, be vocal about it. Comment on this thread, create your own, try to communicate with 343i on social media. Let your voices be heard, because I still believe that there is a large group of us that still want old school Halo online. We deserve something much better than MCC, and I am still willing to buy H3A IF AND ONLY IF it is done right. What would you want from H3A?

Though halo 3 players won’t stop spamming halo 3 on BRB get them out of MCC this WAS THE ANNIVERSARY for Halo 2 not halo 3.

20

No we don’t need another anniversary game we need to move on halo 3 isn’t even that old it looks still good if you have a good TV.
We need to move on to the actual storyline.