For some reason, those games are harder then they need to be. (
Pls note that halo 4 uses the halo reach engine, so thats why i am included reach.)
What do you mean “then they need to be”? I personally don’t think they are that hard. You just might not be used to the smarter ai in these games compared to the original trilogy/ODST perhaps?
Care to be more specific?
In regards to the Campaign/story, I get the Reach campaign being harder
(at higher difficulties & additional skulls) than previous titles, but the Halo 4 campaign? Idk 'bout that one, chief…
Personally, Halo 4 was mostly easier than Reach, 1, 2, ODST, & 3, even on Legendary
(no doubt, there were certain points in the campaign & Spartan Ops that had massive difficulty spikes
{like the Reunited segment in mission 4 - Infinity, the hill defense segment between the Palmer cutscene & Cortana hacking the door open, which was clearly designed/balanced for Co-Op play; and freaking Episode 5 Chapter 1 - Spartan Miller, and Episode 4 Chapter 5 - The Didact’s Gift, in Spartan Ops},
but the campaign over-all is easier than previous titles;
Spartan Ops was significantly more challenging than the Halo 4 campaign and campaigns of previous titles {Easy felt like Normal, Normal felt like Heroic, Heroic felt like Legendary, & Legendary felt almost as punishing as a LASO/Mythic run},
as tailoring the right loadout per chapter was crucial).
Having played through both campaigns on each official difficulty setting (not including LASO/Mythic
{since I’m not a masochist} ), I’ve assessed that the sweet-spot difficulties for both
(in terms of enjoying both the story & gameplay, without shattering immersion) are as follows:
- [Reach] - Normal + Thunderstorm Skull activated (& Mythic, if you have the ammo & time to spare.)
- [Halo 4] - (Campaign) Heroic + Thunderstorm & Mythic Skulls activated (drag extra weapons with you)
(Spartan Ops) Normal (juggle extra weapons forward with you)
[Disclaimer]: This is just the sweet-spot for me/my skill level, though; the sweet-spot difficulty will vary by skill-level.
But the above was based on a balance between being challenging, yet also fewest amount of deaths incurred.
I’ve yet to finish Spartan Ops Episodes 6-10 on Heroic, and Episodes 2-10 on Legendary, but I’ve gathered sufficient data to make my above assessment.
The Prometheans might’ve been more tedious to tackle, requiring highly-specific methods of dispatching them
(with Bandwagons {Scattershot Prometheans} & Crawler Primes {Suppressor Crawlers} being the most annoying, especially when protected by Watchers), but their patterns are simple enough to memorize, if one is observant enough.
Though perhaps you’re referring to Movement?
Reach introduced Evade & Sprint Armor Abilities, while Halo 4 introduced the Thruster Pack AA, which began to make matches more frenetic/faster-paced, and tracking/aiming tougher than in previous titles.
So if you’re used to the slower movement of the older installments, I can see how that would make things more difficult. Though, over time, one acclimates to the quicker pace, mainly through anticipation.