Halo 4 was a very good game, in my opinion. It did a lot of things very well considering a brand new studio developed it. There are some improvements that I believe could be made that would increase the player count and make fans much happier with the final product. I am literally the only person I know that still plays Halo and it really bothers me.
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The story of Halo 4 almost felt like it was forced into one cutscene with The Librarian. That is an exaggeration but still. The plot should have been slowly revealed rather than completely done so in five minutes.
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The progression system was very nice but I felt like I unlocked everything much too quickly. The weapons were balanced enough (post-patches) for them to be sprawled out over way more levels so I truly could have felt like I was progressing. More content could have also been unlockable. Just shove crap down my throat for each level and I’ll be happy.
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More maps need to be included at launch. I felt like I bought an unfinished game in that regard. The maps that were included were excellent. I am very pleased that your studio could replicate the feel of a Bungie map. It was almost weird how well. I felt as though Valhalla was ruined in a way. It just didn’t feel right. There were just too many vehicles on it. If you wanted to implement the Mantis you should have brought back Avalanche (Sidewinder).
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The map descriptions could be more like Halo 3. They weren’t very abstract. I felt like I could have written them. I know that’s a very small gripe but it did detract from the experience for me.
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I found that most players didn’t really take advantage of all of the armor abilities. I don’t know how you could really fix that or I would likely have a job at your studio.
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If the Flood are included a Gravemind MUST be very articulate and abstract in speech. I couldn’t bear the thought of playing the game and feeling like the writing fell short of how legendary Halo 2 and 3’s was.
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Beta. Really you absolutely need one this time. You thought you didn’t when Halo 4 was released but it absolutely was not okay when it came out. I kept trying to explain to everybody that you fixed the game and that the DMR wasn’t OP as balls anymore but it didn’t help and you lost so many fans because of it.
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More variety needs to be a focus. Halo 4 felt kinda stale towards the end. Halo 3 took place across many vastly different and interesting worlds that revealed new threats and mysteries while Halo 4 was pretty much constant throughout. The terrain was nearly the same through the whole thing and the colors were too much alike.
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The AI was much too easy and dumb in some spots. I killed an Elite in the distance that literally stood still within the first few hours and it really disappointed me. I beat it on Legendary in one sitting the night that I got it. Halo 1 (not 2 since Bungie didn’t finish it, lol) and Halo 3 took me much longer and the AI was much better. I don’t know if that was an issue because of how much RAM was dedicated to graphics or what but it needs to be addressed.
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The leveling system needs to be reworked. It was too much like Call of Duty. I don’t mind copying COD when it makes sense but Halo 3’s ranking system needs to be underneath everything. I don’t care if you’re worried about people exploiting it. It just is what made Halo 3 and 2 so much fun.
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The music was good but it wasn’t Halo. I know you wanted to do something different but you can’t just have 4 games with chants and epic music and then switch to Dubstep out of nowhere. My friend and I were discussing this and he said that he played Halo 3’s soundtrack on top of the Halo 4 campaign and it just felt right. Fans need to be heard over what you personally think is best for the franchise. Make the game that you want to make but take care to appease the fans at every step of the way. I like Dubstep but I don’t like Dubstep when it means that the entire soundtrack and artistic vision of the Halo campaign has to change. Please just consider what I’m saying. I’m begging you. I need my 4 chorded epic anthems alongside new music. Why can’t you just do a new take on Marty’s music and make that Dubstep for the menu or something of the sort? Again, I respect the new music but I need to hear the old stuff too.
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I’m all for Master Chief talking more if he has something important (really only when he needs to talk) but you cannot make him talk while you’re controlling him. I’ve been playing Halo since I was 6 (I’m 19) and I feel like that blasted me out of the experience. It was so alien and foreign to me that I stepped back and asked myself what just happened. I got used to it but very reluctantly. When Master Chief talks in the previous games it’s so epic and meaningful. He only talks when he has the perfect thing to say. You don’t need to write him lines like, “Okay, I’ll get on that.” That’s another exaggeration but you get my point. He only talks when he absolutely needs to. What he says in Halo 4 can be really earth shattering and epic but the surrounding pointless dialogue detracts from the feeling of awe that Master Chief used to instill in me.
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Scarabs or another epic enemy absolutely need to be in the next installment. The “boss battle” at the end of 4 was pathetic. I hate quicktime events and they need to get out of Halo. It detracts from the story, the mood, the gameplay, the suspension of disbelief, and it angered so many of my fellow Halo players.
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The pulse grenade just felt like it wasn’t good enough or not unique enough. I feel like the cryo grenade that I saw in Spartan Assault of even the firebomb grenade from 3 should return. You could design a new one that’s unique. What about a grenade that tethers a Spartan to a wall until they shoot off whatever it is that does so? Something less obvious than a simple area of denial should be used there. It looks cool and sounds cool but it doesn’t seem to be used that often.
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Keep going with the new weapons but either nerf the Boltshot or get rid of it. It’s not Halo. It kills in one hit and it’s in your starting loadout. The way you offset how great it is by making the timing somewhat weird isn’t hard to figure out. I frequently get killed by players that I know could never hope to out BR me by a weapon that I find to take less skill than anything besides the Needler (it’s warranted because it’s a power weapon).
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Difficult achievements are fun but I absolutely hated how frustrating it is to get the exact map I need for a certain achievement. I gave up because it’s not a matter of skill like the Vidmasters. Look at those achievements and straight rip them off if you have to. That’s how you make a challenge. Don’t just make it stuff that I could never hope to have the opportunity to do. They weren’t really skill based in a lot of cases. Half of the achievements were glitched and either unlocked for no reason or didn’t unlock when I clearly met the condition required. I want epic co-op achievements like Endure. That was actually fun and meaningful. You can have stuff like a double kill with a Spartan Laser but use those sparingly, especially when it involves a specific DLC that never comes up.