What Spartan ops could be in Halo 5...

Games Halo 5: Guardians
#1

Spartan Ops has so many possibilities it’s crazy. So much can be done with it. Here’s an idea that I had that I think could work well and would be loved by the community if implemented into Halo 5.

In the first episode of Spartan Ops you play as Crimson just as in Halo 4. But, Episode 2 you play as the Arbiter with your clan of Elites. Taking on Brutes and whatever else 343 can conjure up! It could could be just like Halo 2. The Crimson storyline would eventually meet up with the Arbiter’s. I don’t know what the Arbiter’s story would be but still.

What do you guys think?

#2

Yes but only IF sangheili are not just relegated to Spartan Ops (and not necessarily with that storyline)

#3

Great idea! In addition since spops was meant to teach new folks how to play why not have mission be variations of objective gametypes. It be interesting playing invasion against the computer.

Since the tech for a game to learn how we play and our tactics its possible to have some of the best boss fights ever. (So want a Jul v Arby fight to go down)
So i’m still looking forward to seeing my spartan in campaign.

#4

If there is some sort of second campaign I really don’t want to see it at launch or it being episodic.

I would rather wait a couple of months or so and actually have a legitimate campaign with less repetitive scenery.

#5

I think it would be more interesting to have the Arbiter, an Ascetic, and a Spartan IV tag along as the Chief’s Coop partners (and appearing as recurring single player “AI” characters) in Halo 5.

Meanwhile in Spartan Ops, Covenant Separatists have joined forces with the UNSC Infinity allowing players to play as whichever model they like in Spartan Ops missions.

If they bring back the Ops, I’d like to see it reworked to be full blown missions, instead of just running back and forth on re-hashed maps. Then have the “Cheap Difficulty” completely abolished (Legendary should not be a clusterf–k of nothing Generals with Fuel Rods, for instance), and make a “4 lives” rule. Meaning at the start of the game, the team has 4 total lives. So while a single player, or 2 player Coop run will allow you a few respawns, a 3 player run will only allow the first player killed to respawn once. And in 4 player coop, there is no respawning at all.

#6

I agree with your ideas. But, if we played as anything other than spartans, wouldn’t you think it would be called something else? Unless we had Spartan Ops, Elite Ops, etc… For arbiter’s story of ops? My idea: Arbiter regroups with the UNSC along with some elites and hunters, and discovers another halo ring. Arbiter and his forces go on the ring and trys to deactivate/destroy the installation. But prometheans and brute armies are also on the ring leading to a war. Prometheans release flood to distract and keep the arbiter company. Arbiter is assigned to fight on the ring and complete his tasks with a squad of the best elite forces. After his tasks are done, he and his squad fights armies of brutes in space.

Meanwhile…crimson team goes looking for the second piece of the key continuing off of spartan ops halo 4.

#7

> I think it would be more interesting to have the Arbiter, an Ascetic, and a Spartan IV tag along as the Chief’s Coop partners (and appearing as recurring single player “AI” characters) in Halo 5.
>
> Meanwhile in Spartan Ops, Covenant Separatists have joined forces with the UNSC Infinity allowing players to play as whichever model they like in Spartan Ops missions.
>
> If they bring back the Ops, I’d like to see it reworked to be full blown missions, instead of just running back and forth on re-hashed maps. Then have the “Cheap Difficulty” completely abolished (Legendary should not be a clusterf–k of nothing Generals with Fuel Rods, for instance), and make a “4 lives” rule. Meaning at the start of the game, the team has 4 total lives. So while a single player, or 2 player Coop run will allow you a few respawns, a 3 player run will only allow the first player killed to respawn once. And in 4 player coop, there is no respawning at all.

I agree with a lot of this except for the lives system. If we’re going to have full blown mission (I’m guessing you mean like in the Campaign) why not just use the Campaign’s system?

But seriously custom SIVs and Elites fighting together in a canonical scenario would be one of the greatest things that could happen for me in Halo.

And how about we see our Spartan’s and Elites walk around and do stuff in S ops. Not in the cinematics of course but in the introductions to each mission that are played inside the games engine.

#8

> > -snip-
>
> -double snip-

ALL of this would be cool.

I would love it to be episodic, and Week 1 you play as Crimson, Week 2 you play as an Elite squad (with the Arbiter ((voiced by Keith David!!)) giving you orders, Week 3 you’re back with Crimson, Week 4 you’re back with Elites, etc, etc!

I agree with what Ryan said in that I don’t want to see it at launch, however. I DO like the episodic thing, though. The way I’d want to see it is that they work primarily on Halo 5 until that is in “gold” status. Then, they start working on SpOps / EOps which won’t be ready until post-launch (a few weeks to a month).

This will give it time to flesh itself out. But, I’m getting way ahead of myself.

Bottomline: Halo 2-esque Spartan Ops with a playable Elite squad with the Arbiter at the helm would be amazing. It would also be a good time to bring back English-speaking Covenant. Mostly because of Keith David as the Arbiter. :stuck_out_tongue:

#9

> I agree with your ideas. But, if we played as anything other than spartans, wouldn’t you think it would be called something else? Unless we had Spartan Ops, Elite Ops, etc… For arbiter’s story of ops? My idea: Arbiter regroups with the UNSC along with some elites and hunters, and discovers another halo ring. Arbiter and his forces go on the ring and trys to deactivate/destroy the installation. But prometheans and brute armies are also on the ring leading to a war. Prometheans release flood to distract and keep the arbiter company. Arbiter is assigned to fight on the ring and complete his tasks with a squad of the best elite forces. After his tasks are done, he and his squad fights armies of brutes in space.
>
> Meanwhile…crimson team goes looking for the second piece of the key continuing off of spartan ops halo 4.

Except the problem is the Arbiter and Brute leadership are already in peace talks with one another in Escalation, so this idea you have is already thrown out the window. Also, i’m not very comfortable with prometheans deliberately releasing the flood. The forerunners are not that stupid. They would be perfectly aware that purposely releasing the flood is not a very smart idea. Now, i agree with the spartans and elites getting a separate campaign. Spartan ops should stay as is, and for the elites, maybe they can call it ‘Sangheili Ops’. I’d be happy with that. The only thing i dislike is always having to purchase the episodes online, and if i am not subscribed, i can’t play them. They should come in the form of a complete campaign on disk, if you ask me.

#10

> > I agree with your ideas. But, if we played as anything other than spartans, wouldn’t you think it would be called something else? Unless we had Spartan Ops, Elite Ops, etc… For arbiter’s story of ops? My idea: Arbiter regroups with the UNSC along with some elites and hunters, and discovers another halo ring. Arbiter and his forces go on the ring and trys to deactivate/destroy the installation. But prometheans and brute armies are also on the ring leading to a war. Prometheans release flood to distract and keep the arbiter company. Arbiter is assigned to fight on the ring and complete his tasks with a squad of the best elite forces. After his tasks are done, he and his squad fights armies of brutes in space.
> >
> > Meanwhile…crimson team goes looking for the second piece of the key continuing off of spartan ops halo 4.
>
> <mark>Except the problem is the Arbiter and Brute leadership are already in peace talks with one another in Escalation, so this idea you have is already thrown out the window.</mark> Also, i’m not very comfortable with prometheans deliberately releasing the flood. The forerunners are not that stupid. They would be perfectly aware that purposely releasing the flood is not a very smart idea. Now, i agree with the spartans and elites getting a separate campaign. Spartan ops should stay as is, and for the elites, maybe they can call it ‘Sangheili Ops’. I’d be happy with that. The only thing i dislike is always having to purchase the episodes online, and if i am not subscribed, i can’t play them. They should come in the form of a complete campaign on disk, if you ask me.

There’s without a doubt gonna be a Jiralhanae rebel faction that opposes Lydus’s point of view.

There always is, every time.

#11

As long as the gameplay is improved and there are cinematics of the players spartans and there is ample replayability to it (along the lines of Firefight) then I’d be fine with it.

Spartan OPs has alot of potential, while Season 1 story wasn’t bad, the gameplay lacked vareity. I know its a FPS but not every mission has to be similar shooting galleries.

*I like the Idea of playing as another faction or race in Spartan OPs - Halo 2 esque. One of the best parts of Halo 2’s narrative was the perspective, seeing two sides of the same story. One side can be Crimson, the other could be a group of Elites from either the Arbiters side of the Storm Faction (the storm faction approach would be interesting as they would start to learn of Jul’s true intention and could very well question their own beliefs).

#12

It had it’s chance.

It was too ambitious and squandered resources. Too much prioritization went into CGI… giving us all the chapters of an episode on a single day made it last for only a day or two in popularity.

Gameplay was abysmal, blatant disregard of scaling, balancing, etc. (Co-op scaling was absent, it’s as if every mission was designed to be run by only 4 players, nothing less)

And I could care less about the fate of Infinity and it’s crew… especially since they never really appear inside a mission.

Just make a second DLC Campaign + ensure features are available this time around.

#13

> It had it’s chance.
>
> It was too ambitious and squandered resources. Too much prioritization went into CGI… giving us all the chapters of an episode on a single day made it last for only a day or two in popularity. Gameplay was abysmal.
>
> And I could care less about the fate of Infinity and it’s crew… especially since they never really appear in a mission.
>
> Just make a second DLC Campaign + ensure features are available this time around.

With the amount if data going into graphics for halo 4 making a large not too linear mission was made difficult, it was already difficult enough.

S-ops kept people coming back week after week and like firefight was a cool thing to do besides campaign and MP. It also gave campaign fans some more attention which they deserve and S-ops opens up new things for infinite productions and other spin off stories and keeps the story going instead of a near halt every 6 months.

So what if you dont care for the fate of infinity etc. many do and S-ops has lots of potential on top of what amazing work it did in halo 4.

#14

> With the amount if data going into graphics for halo 4 making a large not too linear mission was made difficult, it was already difficult enough.
>
> S-ops kept people coming back week after week and like firefight was a cool thing to do besides campaign and MP.
>
> It also gave campaign fans some more attention which they deserve and S-ops opens up new things for infinite productions and other spin off stories and keeps the story going instead of a near halt every 6 months.

I’m not asking for larger missions given the circumstances. I’m asking for a Campaign structured mission, not one resembling Firefight.

And after each Monday, the population declined once more. It could have kept them coming back each day if it had been one level at a time, with mission specific challenges instead of 2 weekly ones.

There are better ways to grab the attention of Campaign fans. Such as having a section of the weekly bulletin dedicated to it, easter egg drops, gameplay highlights, A Different Way to Campaign, LASO guides, etc.

Spartan Ops was just throwing a bone at us to lick. If it had missing features such as Theater, scoring, skulls, it might have turned out slightly better. It doesn’t help that it was online only…

#15

> > With the amount if data going into graphics for halo 4 making a large not too linear mission was made difficult, it was already difficult enough.
> >
> > S-ops kept people coming back week after week and like firefight was a cool thing to do besides campaign and MP.
> >
> > It also gave campaign fans some more attention which they deserve and S-ops opens up new things for infinite productions and other spin off stories and keeps the story going instead of a near halt every 6 months.
>
> I’m not asking for larger missions given the circumstances. I’m asking for a Campaign structured mission, not one resembling Firefight.
>
> And after each Monday, the population declined once more. It could have kept them coming back each day if it had been one level at a time, with mission specific challenges instead of 2 weekly ones.
>
> There are better ways to grab the attention of Campaign fans. Such as having a section of the weekly bulletin dedicated to it, easter egg drops, gameplay highlights, A Different Way to Campaign, LASO guides, etc.
>
> Spartan Ops was just throwing a bone at us to lick. If it had missing features such as Theater, scoring, skulls, it might have turned out slightly better. It doesn’t help that it was online only…

Who’s to say these type of things cant be added with it being highly possible with the XB1. All I meant was that your throwing it away so quickly because it doesnt have these things which people want in spartan ops.

Spartan assault was like a second campaign with its easter eggs and game highlights. All it needs is a few extra things and it would be nearly perfect for campaign fans which already does quite well.

I support a staggered release as you suggested but how was it structured like firefight? Except for the odd survival part which also happens in campaign it felt like a normal shorter campaign mission. It needs a larger map to support this though.

#16

Ehh, no. Playing as allied Elites is boring as -Yoink- imo. Now, if we were playing as Jul’s Elites killing Humans and what-not - then I might like the idea

#17

> Ehh, no. Playing as allied Elites is boring as Yoink! imo. Now, if we were playing as <mark>Jul’s Elites killing Humans</mark> and what-not - then I might like the idea

I don’t see how playing as an allied Sangheili is boring, but just because Jul’s group is against the UNSC and kill Humans suddenly makes them interesting.

Also seeing how 343i made Jul’s group out to be savages that aren’t the brightest light bulbs. I don’t see how they can be interesting, but if 343i hadn’t made them the way they are in Halo 4 and made them out to be a intelligent foe. I would completely agree with you to expand on Jul’s story more, but I would still want Arbiter included in the story.

#18

> > I think it would be more interesting to have the Arbiter, an Ascetic, and a Spartan IV tag along as the Chief’s Coop partners (and appearing as recurring single player “AI” characters) in Halo 5.
> >
> > Meanwhile in Spartan Ops, Covenant Separatists have joined forces with the UNSC Infinity allowing players to play as whichever model they like in Spartan Ops missions.
> >
> > If they bring back the Ops, I’d like to see it reworked to be full blown missions, instead of just running back and forth on re-hashed maps. Then have the “Cheap Difficulty” completely abolished (Legendary should not be a clusterf–k of nothing Generals with Fuel Rods, for instance), and make a “4 lives” rule. Meaning at the start of the game, the team has 4 total lives. So while a single player, or 2 player Coop run will allow you a few respawns, a 3 player run will only allow the first player killed to respawn once. And in 4 player coop, there is no respawning at all.
>
> I agree with a lot of this except for the lives system. If we’re going to have full blown mission (I’m guessing you mean like in the Campaign) why not just use the Campaign’s system?
>
> But seriously custom SIVs and Elites fighting together in a canonical scenario would be one of the greatest things that could happen for me in Halo.
>
> And how about we see our Spartan’s and Elites walk around and do stuff in S ops. Not in the cinematics of course but in the introductions to each mission that are played inside the games engine.

When I say missions I don’t exactly mean like the Campaign, it would still work similar to the system Spartan Ops has set up now, one cutscene followed by five short 10-15 minute long missions. The difference I mean when I imply that they are actually missions is that there’s less emphasis on revisiting open sandbox areas, and more emphasis on actually holding a running plot for your own characters, the goals you set out to complete in E1C1 would finally come to an end in E10C5. Vs Season 1, where it seems more like you’re just running around skirmishing for the majority of the game aside from a select few missions that relate to the overall plot.

The lives system is set up to account for the fact that these are short missions, designed to be more difficult for a single player than a 4 player team. This lives system is meant to keep the challenge in the game for players, as Spartan Ops Season 1 had ZERO challenge. But with these short missions, a no-checkpoint system carrying over would be cool, and having limited shared lives for the team keeps the challenge in check, without the need to be frustratingly cheap like Season 1 Episodes 1-5 were.

#19

> Ehh, no. Playing as allied Elites is boring as Yoink! imo. Now, if we were playing as Jul’s Elites killing Humans and what-not - then I might like the idea

I personally thoroughly enjoyed the contrast between the Arbiter and Master Chief in Halo 2. Each time you hopped characters, you were fighting an entirely different enemy, in an entirely different tone of game.

In the opening Master Chief missions, you fought the Covenant alongside your wise-cracking UNSC friends. Despite a lot of serious stuff going down, the game found ways to lighten the mood, and show you the chief’s most badass moments. Your missions generally take place in well lit, beautiful places, like Cairo Station, Space, and Mombassa.

Then in the opening Arbiter missions you fought a combination of Heretics, Sentinels, and Flood, your allies were religious and serious, already setting a darker, more serious tone for the Arbiter’s campaign. On top of that you almost ended his first few missions with a self-sacrifice, showing you just how far the Arbiter would go to succeed for the Covenant.

You jump back to Master Chief in time for more Covie-killing and hilarious quips on gorgeous Delta Halo. You hunt down a Prophet, and take Cortana to “such nice places”. Followed by Master Chief outrunning a GLASSING BEAM I mean that’s just bad -Yoink-.

Then you’re following the Arbiter and witness the aftermath of Regret’s death on the Covenant, with the Elites being stripped of honour for their inability to protect a Prophet, and the Brutes beginning to take a higher standing in the Covenant military. When you reach Delta Halo you find yourself in a dark, bitter cold, heavily damaged location where Sentinels and Flood have been fighting for a very long time. Some Humans have made their way past the Sentinel Wall as well, and you’re forced to fight the possessed dead of both sides while trying to beat the Humans to the Index. After finally completing your mission, the Brutes surround you and send you plummeting to your supposed doom.

Then from here the rest of the game still follows two tones. From Master Chief chasing the Prophet of Truth through High Charity and witnessing the start of the Schism, and the fall of the Covenant Homeworld, to the Arbiter living in the middle of the Schism happening on Delta Halo and working his way to the control room, finally forming the beginnings of his alliance with humanity.

#20

> There’s without a doubt gonna be a Jiralhanae rebel faction that opposes Lydus’s point of view.
>
> There always is, every time.

Great. Just another way to recycle the enemy again, how splendid.