Which Art Style do You Prefer?

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Hey all!
So I’ve been eagerly watching the Master Chief Collection footage from IGN (but Falcon, why are you posting in the H5 forum? Hush, wait just a moment!) and of course loving it. But in the Halo 2 footage especially there were some things I didn’t like.

The Anniversary maps looks and sound like Halo 4. The H4 Warthog model is used, the Reach and H4 Mongoose design is used, and the H4 Ghost coloring and sounds are used (these are what stuck out to me, I’m sure there’s more). Why is this?

I don’t understand why a game all about reliving the past has to take the present and throw it in our faces. What makes the new Warthog, a fairly generic green army-gun-jeep looking vehicle, better than the old, iconic, space puma? Does Bungie retain copyrights on the designs of these vehicles?

I ask because I honestly don’t know, but it seems like Halo 4 (and now H2 Anniversary) are knock-off games designed to look like Halo without being Halo. In short, they are designed to get around copyrights. It looks like they wanted a Warthog but weren’t allowed to have it, so they drew something up that looked enough like a Warthog that players would know what to do. The same goes for the Ghost. Who remembers the vibrant, bright purple streak with blue lights gleaming from the sleek dashboard? Now it’s dark, dull blue with lackluster appeal, and it sounds like my old Star Wars toys when they were low on batteries.

That brings me to my next point, the sounds. Why must they all change? It’s not like they were given higher-fidelity and increased resonance or anything, their roots changed. Listen to the new plasma pistol and tell me it sounds anything like the old one. Same goes for the Ghost. If I wasn’t given the visual, I don’t think I’d be able to recognize either of them. Why is this? Why did they take 10 years of iconic, genre-defining Halo sights and sounds, and throw them out the window for more and more generic bangs? I remember how when H4 came out everyone praised the audio, and I sat back thinking “wait a minute, they just made everything louder”. The sounds are worse–find me a gun that sounds like any human weapon in H4 and I will give you a cookie. Here it is, (::), see? I’m not lying. True sound design? Look at Battlefield–listen how the rifle reports echo across the map. Reach nailed it with the Sniper, and then H4 made it sound like someone dropping a toolbox.

Then I watched the H3 video, and I thought “is this not better?” The bright, vibrant colors just feel alien, the glaring and glinting sunlight feels real, and the color palette is believable. I don’t believe any game since–Halo or not–has captured the realism Halo brought to the stars. The sounds of alien weaponry are, well, alien. I love it. My complaints about the new style encompass everything, not just any one aspect. I think the old lighting was better (sunlight felt real, every outdoor area was so bright), the old object design was better (Warthog? Ghost? Even the armor–the old simplistic style is so much more believable than the gaudy Power Ranger outfits of H4), the old enemy design was better (okay, can we at least agree the old Grunts were better? Seriously, what happened? Find me a Pumpkin Spice Latte because I can’t even), and the old environment design was better (even the grass in older games looks better, IMO, in color and tone than in the new ones. Concrete looked more like concrete. Forerunner stuff looked more mysterious, Covie stuff looked more organic, light behaved more realistically).

But these are my thoughts. I have always suspected they are shared by a majority, in which case 343 needs to hear. If I am the minority, I shall rest my case. But it had to be presented. What do you all think?

This could very well be too late to change for H5, but we can’t let that stop us. I’ve always believed that perfection is the goal, no matter how long it takes to get there. If we can fix H6, wonderful. If not, H7. May H8, or 9, or 20. But we can’t change anything unless we act.

[tl/dr]: new visuals and sounds are bad (including H2 Anniversary), I like the Halo aesthetics from CE-3/ODST. Which do you prefer?

2

My apologies all, it’s been a while since I’ve been on the forums and they changed how to add a poll to the OP. If anyone could help out, I’d appreciate it!

3

I’d like to know why they changed the Warthog’s axel design from four independent axels, one for each wheel, to two like how modern cars have. So the UNSC decides to use an inferior design for an all-terrain vehicle? Perhaps it was to make it match the Warthog seen in the Forward Unto Dawn web series, but that could simply be explained as an older model Warthog. I’d really like to know why they made it look modern instead of futuristic.

4

As far as I know 343I owns (almost) all rights to Halo. I doubt copyright is an issue.
Rather they just wanted to take liberties with the art design.

There are things I like about the new style. There’s a lot I liked about the older ones as well. Overall I think I prefer the original.
Not that the new is “bad”, I think it looks quite good. I just prefer the old.

5

Not to be rude, but this thread does not relate to Halo 5 much. I think this thread better belongs in the MCC forum.

on topic: I think all the updated visuals are preferable to the old graphics. The warthog and ghost are new models that may look similar to Halo 4, but are not the same. Just because the graphic style shares resemble to the latest integration of Halo does not make it a terrible game. I don’t think anyone can really make any impressions of Halo 2 Ann. until we actually get the opportunity to play it.

6

My only problem with H2A’s art style is the Banshee. This is like, the 3rd time 343 has recycled Reach’s model, and to be honest, it’s getting old. Not only that, but it’s canonically inaccurate, since Halo 2’s original Banshee model was completely different. I preferred the more curved and organic look of the older model to the twig-winged, jagged, gritty look of the newer one. I’m so glad Halo 3’s Banshee hasn’t changed, because that is currently the best example of what Halo’s Banshee should look like.

For H5, I don’t care if they change the Banshee back to the way it used to look, or if they make an entirely new design, but they need to ditch the Reach model.

7

I really enojyed Halo 4’s art style. I also enjoyed Reach’s art style. I preferred when the color palettes were a little more toned down and less saturated, but that’s a minor grievance. I for one felt that Halo 3 was way too saturated and cartoony feeling. Spartan and Elites all looked like blocky action figures (to me), and Halo 3’s Flood, while they had a cool transforming animation, were not particularly scary to look at because they looked like zombies made of dirt, not zombies made of decaying flesh.

8

The only problem I have with the newer designs is the Spartans. The Spartans/Elites in Reach & Halo 4 just didn’t look as cool as they did in Halo 3, they were too over designed & something was off with the colors on them. I can sort of see why they did that with the Elites since they were the villains again, but I want to see the good guy Elites (hopefully in Halo 5) look more friendly.

9

I love the current art style. Okay, the remastered Halo 2 Campaign honestly does look a bit off - dunno why but it just doesn’t feel beautiful - but the remastered multiplayer maps, Halo 4 and CE Anniversary look beautiful. I just love how it feels like the visuals highlight the colours and dark lighting. The visuals do look a bit unrealistic but in a good way.

I also like the sound effects as they sound a lot meaner than before. For example, I never really liked the sound of the automatic weapons in Halo 1-Reach but now they sound really cool. The only problem I really have is that the Gravity Hammer sounds awkward.

If there’s anything I think should be improved, it’s the character design. They just don’t look good. I still see nightmares whenever I see the Halo 4 version of the Covenant, especially the mini-godzillas and…“grunts”. And don’t get me started on the plastic Spartans. Halo 2 Anniversary has improved the character design a bit but it’s still far from the cool factor the old Covenant forces and Spartans had.

10

> 2533274883162097;1:
> The Anniversary maps looks and sound like Halo 4. The H4 Warthog model is used, the Reach and H4 Mongoose design is used, and the H4 Ghost coloring and sounds are used (these are what stuck out to me, I’m sure there’s more). Why is this?
>
> They’re not the same models, or vehicle sounds. Frankly, they look and sound quite different to me. The warthog’s roar now has a smooth undertone to it, and I have to say I like it. The Ghost sounds completely different.
>
> I don’t understand why a game all about reliving the past has to take the present and throw it in our faces. What makes the new Warthog, a fairly generic green army-gun-jeep looking vehicle, better than the old, iconic, space puma? Does Bungie retain copyrights on the designs of these vehicles?
>
> I don’t see how you can relate a minute change in colouration on the warthog to a drastic change in design. Have a look at them on Google. There’s practically no difference whatsoever apart from colouring.
>
> That brings me to my next point, the sounds. Why must they all change? It’s not like they were given higher-fidelity and increased resonance or anything, their roots changed. Listen to the new plasma pistol and tell me it sounds anything like the old one. Same goes for the Ghost. If I wasn’t given the visual, I don’t think I’d be able to recognize either of them. Why is this? Why did they take 10 years of iconic, genre-defining Halo sights and sounds, and throw them out the window for more and more generic bangs? I remember how when H4 came out everyone praised the audio, and I sat back thinking “wait a minute, they just made everything louder”. The sounds are worse–find me a gun that sounds like any human weapon in H4 and I will give you a cookie. Here it is, (::), see? I’m not lying. True sound design? Look at Battlefield–listen how the rifle reports echo across the map. Reach nailed it with the Sniper, and then H4 made it sound like someone dropping a toolbox.
>
> The AR, SAW, DMR and RL all sound like real guns to me. And given that 343 used real firearms to record the sounds, I think they are quite real… As for echo, have you heard the H2A sniper? (can I have the cookie now, BTW?)
>
> Then I watched the H3 video, and I thought “is this not better?” The bright, vibrant colors just feel alien, the glaring and glinting sunlight feels real, and the color palette is believable. I don’t believe any game since–Halo or not–has captured the realism Halo brought to the stars. The sounds of alien weaponry are, well, alien. I love it. My complaints about the new style encompass everything, not just any one aspect. I think the old lighting was better (sunlight felt real, every outdoor area was so bright), the old object design was better (Warthog? Ghost? Even the armor–the old simplistic style is so much more believable than the gaudy Power Ranger outfits of H4), the old enemy design was better (okay, can we at least agree the old Grunts were better? Seriously, what happened? Find me a Pumpkin Spice Latte because I can’t even), and the old environment design was better (even the grass in older games looks better, IMO, in color and tone than in the new ones. Concrete looked more like concrete. Forerunner stuff looked more mysterious, Covie stuff looked more organic, light behaved more realistically).
>
> <strong>Halo 3 looked a lot more tacky and saccarine to me than any of the other games. I don’t know how people can complain about Halo 4’s armour looking like plastic after seeing this: http://halo.bungie.net/images/games/Halo3MythicII/H3_Mythic2_Heretic-01.jpg Nostalgia goggles, I guess. Plus, gaudy? Look at Halo 3’s! H4’s is a lot more muted. Halo 4’s lighting is bright and realistic. In fact, a lot of people have complained that it’s too bright. Grass looks the same. (Seriously?) So does concrete. Forerunner stuff no longer looks like concrete with blue paint on it, so I’d call that more mysterious. You want organic-looking Covie stuff? Look at a Harvester, or a Lich. Tell me those don’t look alive.</strong>

I massively prefer the new look. As you can see, I’ve disputed your points above. I don’t mean to sound hostile, and I apologise if I come over as such, but some of your stuff just seemed fallacious to me. I love the new designs to bits. Some of them just seem sleeker, or darker. Look at the old Banshee, for instance. Your feet shouldn’t be hanging out of the back.

11

I like halo odsts art style

12

> 2533274883162097;1:
> Hey all!
> So I’ve been eagerly watching the Master Chief Collection footage from IGN (but Falcon, why are you posting in the H5 forum? Hush, wait just a moment!) and of course loving it. But in the Halo 2 footage especially there were some things I didn’t like.
>
> The Anniversary maps looks and sound like Halo 4. The H4 Warthog model is used, the Reach and H4 Mongoose design is used, and the H4 Ghost coloring and sounds are used (these are what stuck out to me, I’m sure there’s more). Why is this?
>
> I don’t understand why a game all about reliving the past has to take the present and throw it in our faces. What makes the new Warthog, a fairly generic green army-gun-jeep looking vehicle, better than the old, iconic, space puma? Does Bungie retain copyrights on the designs of these vehicles?
>
> I ask because I honestly don’t know, but it seems like Halo 4 (and now H2 Anniversary) are knock-off games designed to look like Halo without being Halo. In short, they are designed to get around copyrights. It looks like they wanted a Warthog but weren’t allowed to have it, so they drew something up that looked enough like a Warthog that players would know what to do. The same goes for the Ghost. Who remembers the vibrant, bright purple streak with blue lights gleaming from the sleek dashboard? Now it’s dark, dull blue with lackluster appeal, and it sounds like my old Star Wars toys when they were low on batteries.
>
> That brings me to my next point, the sounds. Why must they all change? It’s not like they were given higher-fidelity and increased resonance or anything, their roots changed. Listen to the new plasma pistol and tell me it sounds anything like the old one. Same goes for the Ghost. If I wasn’t given the visual, I don’t think I’d be able to recognize either of them. Why is this? Why did they take 10 years of iconic, genre-defining Halo sights and sounds, and throw them out the window for more and more generic bangs? I remember how when H4 came out everyone praised the audio, and I sat back thinking “wait a minute, they just made everything louder”. The sounds are worse–find me a gun that sounds like any human weapon in H4 and I will give you a cookie. Here it is, (::), see? I’m not lying. True sound design? Look at Battlefield–listen how the rifle reports echo across the map. Reach nailed it with the Sniper, and then H4 made it sound like someone dropping a toolbox.
>
> Then I watched the H3 video, and I thought “is this not better?” The bright, vibrant colors just feel alien, the glaring and glinting sunlight feels real, and the color palette is believable. I don’t believe any game since–Halo or not–has captured the realism Halo brought to the stars. The sounds of alien weaponry are, well, alien. I love it. My complaints about the new style encompass everything, not just any one aspect. I think the old lighting was better (sunlight felt real, every outdoor area was so bright), the old object design was better (Warthog? Ghost? Even the armor–the old simplistic style is so much more believable than the gaudy Power Ranger outfits of H4), the old enemy design was better (okay, can we at least agree the old Grunts were better? Seriously, what happened? Find me a Pumpkin Spice Latte because I can’t even), and the old environment design was better (even the grass in older games looks better, IMO, in color and tone than in the new ones. Concrete looked more like concrete. Forerunner stuff looked more mysterious, Covie stuff looked more organic, light behaved more realistically).
>
> But these are my thoughts. I have always suspected they are shared by a majority, in which case 343 needs to hear. If I am the minority, I shall rest my case. But it had to be presented. What do you all think?
>
> This could very well be too late to change for H5, but we can’t let that stop us. I’ve always believed that perfection is the goal, no matter how long it takes to get there. If we can fix H6, wonderful. If not, H7. May H8, or 9, or 20. But we can’t change anything unless we act.
>
> [tl/dr]: new visuals and sounds are bad (including H2 Anniversary), I like the Halo aesthetics from CE-3/ODST. Which do you prefer?

Couldn’t disagree with you more! The anniversary editions and Halo 4 look and feel just like Halo to me. I’ve been a fan since the beginning. I feel that 343i took Halo and actually improved it. I understand that some people don’t like change but change was necessary, Halo needs to change and grow over time, not everybody is going to be happy.

I’m also pretty convinced that some people.are just sore that Bungie isn’t making the game anymore, and it seems like they weren’t going to be happy with anything 343i did. They weren’t going to be happy unless 343i released Halo 3 again with better graphics (slightly better, wouldn’t want to change it too much).

Personally I loved the audio as well, Improved but still feels like Halo to me! I didn’t however like the soundtrack.Sniper rifle in the new games sounds like good old Halo, just a bit more realistic, I love it really.

I think the folk at 343i love and respect Halo, I was totally prepared not to like Halo 4 and ended up loving it, I still play it once or twice a week. I’ll really enjoy playing the old campaigns again and the old multiplayer as well.

Honestly, I don’ think you’re in the majority in this instance.

13

> 2541987111115424;7:
> I really enojyed Halo 4’s art style. I also enjoyed Reach’s art style. I preferred when the color palettes were a little more toned down and less saturated, but that’s a minor grievance. I for one felt that Halo 3 was way too saturated and cartoony feeling. Spartan and Elites all looked like blocky action figures (to me), and Halo 3’s Flood, while they had a cool transforming animation, were not particularly scary to look at because they looked like zombies made of dirt, not zombies made of decaying flesh.

I like the new art style as well. There was never a moment for me where I felt like this wasn’t Halo. In fact I like a lot of things about Halo 4, it really brought me back to the series.

14

> 2533274883162097;1:
> Hey all!
> So I’ve been eagerly watching the Master Chief Collection footage from IGN (but Falcon, why are you posting in the H5 forum? Hush, wait just a moment!) and of course loving it. But in the Halo 2 footage especially there were some things I didn’t like.
>
> The Anniversary maps looks and sound like Halo 4. The H4 Warthog model is used, the Reach and H4 Mongoose design is used, and the H4 Ghost coloring and sounds are used (these are what stuck out to me, I’m sure there’s more). Why is this?
>
> I don’t understand why a game all about reliving the past has to take the present and throw it in our faces. What makes the new Warthog, a fairly generic green army-gun-jeep looking vehicle, better than the old, iconic, space puma? Does Bungie retain copyrights on the designs of these vehicles?
>
> I ask because I honestly don’t know, but it seems like Halo 4 (and now H2 Anniversary) are knock-off games designed to look like Halo without being Halo. In short, they are designed to get around copyrights. It looks like they wanted a Warthog but weren’t allowed to have it, so they drew something up that looked enough like a Warthog that players would know what to do. The same goes for the Ghost. Who remembers the vibrant, bright purple streak with blue lights gleaming from the sleek dashboard? Now it’s dark, dull blue with lackluster appeal, and it sounds like my old Star Wars toys when they were low on batteries.
>
> That brings me to my next point, the sounds. Why must they all change? It’s not like they were given higher-fidelity and increased resonance or anything, their roots changed. Listen to the new plasma pistol and tell me it sounds anything like the old one. Same goes for the Ghost. If I wasn’t given the visual, I don’t think I’d be able to recognize either of them. Why is this? Why did they take 10 years of iconic, genre-defining Halo sights and sounds, and throw them out the window for more and more generic bangs? I remember how when H4 came out everyone praised the audio, and I sat back thinking “wait a minute, they just made everything louder”. The sounds are worse–find me a gun that sounds like any human weapon in H4 and I will give you a cookie. Here it is, (::), see? I’m not lying. True sound design? Look at Battlefield–listen how the rifle reports echo across the map. Reach nailed it with the Sniper, and then H4 made it sound like someone dropping a toolbox.
>
> Then I watched the H3 video, and I thought “is this not better?” The bright, vibrant colors just feel alien, the glaring and glinting sunlight feels real, and the color palette is believable. I don’t believe any game since–Halo or not–has captured the realism Halo brought to the stars. The sounds of alien weaponry are, well, alien. I love it. My complaints about the new style encompass everything, not just any one aspect. I think the old lighting was better (sunlight felt real, every outdoor area was so bright), the old object design was better (Warthog? Ghost? Even the armor–the old simplistic style is so much more believable than the gaudy Power Ranger outfits of H4), the old enemy design was better (okay, can we at least agree the old Grunts were better? Seriously, what happened? Find me a Pumpkin Spice Latte because I can’t even), and the old environment design was better (even the grass in older games looks better, IMO, in color and tone than in the new ones. Concrete looked more like concrete. Forerunner stuff looked more mysterious, Covie stuff looked more organic, light behaved more realistically).
>
> But these are my thoughts. I have always suspected they are shared by a majority, in which case 343 needs to hear. If I am the minority, I shall rest my case. But it had to be presented. What do you all think?
>
> This could very well be too late to change for H5, but we can’t let that stop us. I’ve always believed that perfection is the goal, no matter how long it takes to get there. If we can fix H6, wonderful. If not, H7. May H8, or 9, or 20. But we can’t change anything unless we act.
>
> [tl/dr]: new visuals and sounds are bad (including H2 Anniversary), I like the Halo aesthetics from CE-3/ODST. Which do you prefer?

Oh, and just to let you know. MS owns all rights to Halo.

15

In response to a few of what’s been said…

I put the thread in H5 (rather than MCC) because MCC has already been made. H5, maybe even further down the road, is where any changes will be effected.

If this thread is an accurate sampling, I do appear to be in the minority. So be it. Though I still disagree haha. These further comments are directed at Shurifire because you were the most specific.

Ok, so they’re not the same models. Hyperbole exists. The vehicles follow the same style. The environments in H2A are very nice, don’t get me wrong, but I still don’t like the vehicle models–including the colors! The Warthogs are shiny–who’s polishing them in the middle of a war?? Why are the polishing them when glinting sun could give away their position?

Many of the human weapon sounds are fantastic in the newer game, particularly the ones you mentioned (though I think the AR sounds like crap). The BR, while amazing in H2A, sounds awful in H4 and this I know to be agreed upon by the community (or at least it was, I know online populations tend to change over time). I suppose you can have the cookie, here (::), but I’m still not satisfied. The initial bang is disappointing.

I simply disagree with the general aesthetic. I’ve many people say that H3 was too cartoony and I’ve always disagreed, it just looks real to me. I think something about it captured an essence of the real world that is always neglected by nearly every other game, no matter how good the graphics. I’d say Crysis is one of the few that also captured it. And I can’t put my finger on it, but I think lighting and color palette are the biggest parts of it. Now I’m rambling, basically I disagree on a subjective point.

As for the armor, I similarly disagree. Regardless of what H3’s armor appeared in terms of what it was made of, the design made more sense. It looked cool and futuristic without appearing ridiculous, while H4’s are covered in spikes and lacking visors–completely impractical. Maybe newer games got the textures right, but the older had the design right.

I wouldn’t call this a nostalgia issue. This is how Halo was made. It is how Halo looks–you can’t just change that. There is no reason to change that. Like the changes to the Covies: why did they change them?? That’s not nostalgia, it’s just the expectation of consistency.

Forerunner stuff looks like metal. Flat, boring metal that any guy could hammer into shape in his backyard. That’s not what it used to look like.
The Harvester looked plenty organic for me, and I just thought the Lich looked stupid lol. Completely subjective, I won’t argue it, I just think it looked like a flying blob.

I don’t dislike the new Banshee design–it is very sleek–but it is very human. It looks like a plausible fighter jet. It’s not–it’s an alien craft designed with technology we don’t understand. The old was elegant, and I’d argue was the better for it.

And I’ll echo that I don’t mean to sound hostile at all and I hope it doesn’t come across as such.

16

I do think halo 5 will take a lot of art inspirations from 4, but I wouldn’t worry about it until we actually get a glimpse of the halo 5 vehicles and sounds that will most likely be more updated as a main halo game rather than a remake. Same thing happend with halo ce anniversary inspiring new art from reach.