Why Halo 5 lacks personality despite it's fun

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

I really enjoy the gameplay of Halo 5 but the game feels bland. What do I mean with this, well it feels like the game has no personality.

A lot of classic designs are changed because of smartscope which is not a good thing in my opinion. For example, 343 changed the SMG to something similar to the P90 Sub Machine Gun. I’m not a fan of this because the gun looks too much like a real gun. The classic design had something special, it had a personality that it build over the years and now it’s gone. The gun may look cool but it has no personality in the Halo universe at the moment. Same goes for the Rocket Launcher, they changed it to a green tube, it looks like a normal rocket launcher in real life which again takes away it’s personality. The Rocket Launcher always had a similar design in each game and it’s a disappointing to see they changed it.

The way zooming worked in Halo games was unique and special, not outdated. I feel like 343 added Smartscope in the game to attract a new audience to Halo but in my opinion this is the WRONG audience. I completely understand they want to attract new players to the game but they didn’t need to add a feature in the game which makes Halo 5 less unique and different from other games. Yes I know it works in a completely different way but by making LT the default ADS button makes it already feel like something completely different. I know I can choose a different controller setup but Halo always had zooming with RS and it should have stayed that way. The SMG still looks good and it grows on me but I’m not so sure about the Rocket Launcher or the Hydra. The Hydra looks like a nerf gun to be honest.

The art design in the game also is a lot different from older Halo games. The Halo 4 art was already a big step in a different direction but the art/graphics in Halo 5 make the game look less unique and make it look more like other games. It still looks vastly different from other games on the market but that unique artdesign Halo games had is not present in Halo 5 at the moment. When you look at Halo 3 or Destiny for example (both Bungie games) you can really see that both of these games have their own style, their own personality. The graphics design in Destiny is something unique and looks beautiful even if the actual graphics are less spectacular. Having the right art design can set a very good mood and feeling for a game which I’m currently not feeling or atleast not with Regret and Eden.

343 doesn’t have to change their entire art design at all, the problem is the current graphics design. Everything in Halo 5 is either really dark or really bright. I would like to see this changed to make the art stand more out. Reduce the brightness of bright objects and show some actual texture on them. There is a difference between a good looking game and a beautiful game. A beautiful game is a game were you can see the passion behind the art, you can see the creativity in the textures and colors. In Halo 5 you can’t see this because everything is either really bright or really dark. 343 I have faith in you guys that you can do this. Looking at the Halo:Reach mappack you made really proves you can do it. The maps were beautiful and you could really see the passion and creativity in the art because objects weren’t so bright you couldn’t see the details and textures as much.

Spartans look like plastic, the armor is really too shiny and looks too “clean”. Add some edges to them, make it look more like metal and add the black undersuits back. I think this would make them look much better already.

Short version:
Halo 5 currently lacks personality because of the way graphics are designed and the way some weapons look. It can easily be fixed by reducing the brightness and lightning of objects. Make them less shiny, don’t be scared to show the beautiful details and textures instead of making everything look so shiny,bright or very dark/blue. For weapons I suggest to stick very close to the classic designs if it’s a classic weapon and make new weapons fit in the classic designs. The Rocket Launcher should be grey again with the yellow and black stripes. You can keep the current design but make the colors match the design it had in Halo 4.

Thankyou for your time, let me know if you agree on this. Halo 5 is an awesome game but I wish it felt more unique and I wish I could feel the passion and personality of the game more. I always feel the personality immediately when I start playing older Halo games like Halo:Reach or even Destiny. The way art is combined with graphics can really set a good impressions/mood for the game. Objects or areas are either too bright or too dark and some weapons don’t feel like classic anymore (Rocket Launcher) or don’t feel like they fit Halo (Hydra, looks like a nerf gun).

343 you can do this!

EDIT
The Lightrifle Smartscope is really good looking scope and is a good way of changing things, it still looks very much like the classic zoom it had in Halo 4 and it just looks so good. I hope 343 adds more scopes like this in the full game on other weapons. I understand this isn’t possible on UNSC weapons since they don’t have special scopes, just holo sights like classic games but the Covenant Carbine could have an awesome scope like the Lightrifle as well.

2

What do you guys think?

3

> 2533274854999879;2:
> What do you guys think?

The following statement is the reply you are going to receive from a casual:

“Deal with it. Halo is changing. Go play The Master Chief Collection. You are just stuck in the past.”

Unfortunately, Halo is dying an agonising death. It’s sad to see it like this.

4

I agree. I think a lot of the charm of Halo for me was the bright colors and stylized, well, style. 343 seems to be taking Halo to a more realistic style and it just isn’t the same. I hadn’t really thought about it much but I think that’s part of the reason I didn’t Halo 4’s style. It was all grey blues and grey greens. Everything was muted. 343 shouldn’t be afraid to add more color.

> 2533274859657171;3:
> > 2533274854999879;2:
> > What do you guys think?
>
>
> The following statement is the reply you are going to receive from a casual:
>
> “Deal with it. Halo is changing. Go play The Master Chief Collection. You are just stuck in the past.”
>
> Unfortunately, Halo is dying an agonising death. It’s sad to see it like this.

It’s sad to see but the only way we can even come close to changing the fate it seems to be headed toward is to respectfully explain what we like and what we don’t like. Unfortunately 90% of posts are disrespectful garbage. If I were 343, I wouldn’t pay any attention to them, and it seems obvious to me that they aren’t. We need more posts like Muscled (and mine #humblebrag) and less like yours (not meaning to disrespect you, just using it as an example) that don’t add to the discussion and doesn’t address the issue of the post. We need less people arguing and name calling and more people respecting opinions and having a discussion.

Sorry for the off-topicness, but it’s something that’s been bugging me lately.

5

Yes. The game is very derivative and generic. Jumping from COD AW, to Titanfall, to Destiny, to H5…it all feels generic and similar.

It’s just not a game that is going to have lasting appeal because it’s appeal is so similar to everything else.

Gaming is about to enter a really strange phase. AAA studios are just so robotic and stagnant. If they don’t change they’re going to get swept away by the indie scene and crowd funding.

6

Agree with you completely on the zooming and smart scope thing.

7

> 2533274794312469;4:
> I agree. I think a lot of the charm of Halo for me was the bright colors and stylized, well, style. 343 seems to be taking Halo to a more realistic style and it just isn’t the same. I hadn’t really thought about it much but I think that’s part of the reason I didn’t Halo 4’s style. It was all grey blues and grey greens. Everything was muted. 343 shouldn’t be afraid to add more color.
>
>
>
> > 2533274859657171;3:
> > > 2533274854999879;2:
> > > What do you guys think?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > The following statement is the reply you are going to receive from a casual:
> >
> > “Deal with it. Halo is changing. Go play The Master Chief Collection. You are just stuck in the past.”
> >
> > Unfortunately, Halo is dying an agonising death. It’s sad to see it like this.
>
>
>
> It’s sad to see but the only way we can even come close to changing the fate it seems to be headed toward is to respectfully explain what we like and what we don’t like. Unfortunately 90% of posts are disrespectful garbage. If I were 343, I wouldn’t pay any attention to them, and it seems obvious to me that they aren’t. We need more posts like Muscled (and mine #humblebrag) and less like yours (not meaning to disrespect you, just using it as an example) that don’t add to the discussion and doesn’t address the issue of the post. We need less people arguing and name calling and more people respecting opinions and having a discussion.
>
> Sorry for the off-topicness, but it’s something that’s been bugging me lately.

You are also part of the problem. Immediately you have guessed that I have nothing meaningful to contribute. Well I do. I’m on my phone so I couldn’t link any topics but if you go on my profile I think you’ll find the opposite. With so many people talking nonsense on these forums it wears you down to simple yet to the point posts. Sorry about that.

8

H3 had some really nice graphics, halo reach was a bit too “grey” and Halo 4 was lens flare extravaganza, and everything else looked like cardboard

9

> 2533274794312469;4:
> I agree. I think a lot of the charm of Halo for me was the bright colors and stylized, well, style. 343 seems to be taking Halo to a more realistic style and it just isn’t the same. I hadn’t really thought about it much but I think that’s part of the reason I didn’t Halo 4’s style. It was all grey blues and grey greens. Everything was muted. 343 shouldn’t be afraid to add more color.
>
>
>
> > 2533274859657171;3:
> > > 2533274854999879;2:
> > > What do you guys think?
> >
> >
> >
> > The following statement is the reply you are going to receive from a casual:
> >
> > “Deal with it. Halo is changing. Go play The Master Chief Collection. You are just stuck in the past.”
> >
> > Unfortunately, Halo is dying an agonising death. It’s sad to see it like this.
>
>
> It’s sad to see but the only way we can even come close to changing the fate it seems to be headed toward is to respectfully explain what we like and what we don’t like. Unfortunately 90% of posts are disrespectful garbage. If I were 343, I wouldn’t pay any attention to them, and it seems obvious to me that they aren’t. We need more posts like Muscled (and mine #humblebrag) and less like yours (not meaning to disrespect you, just using it as an example) that don’t add to the discussion and doesn’t address the issue of the post. We need less people arguing and name calling and more people respecting opinions and having a discussion.
>
> Sorry for the off-topicness, but it’s something that’s been bugging me lately.

One of the most common complaints about halo 4’s art style was that there was too much color. People were saying that Halo four was too bright and too cartoony looking, so to be honest I’m not entirely sure how you’re even coming to the conclusion that 343 is going for realistic when it’s practically the opposite. Everything in their games looks much more sci-fi, whereas in Halo reach everything looked gritty and realistic.

10

the game has plenty of personality.
But I do think that they need to tweak the br scope a bit. perhaps some sort of blue tint?
the Spartan armors need to be heavily upgraded.

11

I disagree, smg looks the same to me and other changes have been small, you just have a hard time accepting change. It’ll grow on you and you’ll probably end up liking the changes.

12

I think a huge part of this beta is the attempt at directing the style of Halo in a way that is going to be great for all audiences. I think gameplay-wise they are on-point but with a few tweaks, this game could be perfect. The battle rifle scope makes no sense to me. I am really digging the art direction so far though. It took me a minute to “get” what they are going for, but I get it now. And I like it. I think many people will love some of the changes once they spend a lot of time with it. Honestly I’m just glad it feels like im playing Halo again. Halo 4 took that feeling away, but Halo 5 is bringing it back with a vengeance.

13

This is what scares me about Halo 5. Its the homogenization factor. There are ways to introduce new quirks to gameplay without simply imitating what other shooters are doing. There are ways to alter player character movement (sprint or not) without forcing guns-down sprinting.

A game like Counter-Strike has had such a mature eSports scene and community in general because it provides a unique experience. It has its niche. Halo’s core gameplay has always provided that. But guns-down sprinting and zoom that looks like ADS (even if it doesn’t play like) is clearly imitation instead of innovation. Small things like the click to zoom in the prior Halos were things that kept it unique.

If a game simply chooses homogenization then what happens is the community drops off. Casuals move on because they can get a similar experience with the next mega-hyped release by a developer.

14

> 2533274859657171;7:
> You are also part of the problem. Immediately you have guessed that I have nothing meaningful to contribute. Well I do. I’m on my phone so I couldn’t link any topics but if you go on my profile I think you’ll find the opposite. With so many people talking nonsense on these forums it wears you down to simple yet to the point posts. Sorry about that.

I wasn’t implying you had nothing to add or contribute, just that that particular type of post is far too abundant. I was taking the post at face value. I wasn’t making any assumptions about you in particular. It wasn’t my intent to insinuate you didn’t have anything to say and I’m sorry you took it that way.

> 2533274798011936;9:
> One of the most common complaints about halo 4’s art style was that there was too much color. People were saying that Halo four was too bright and too cartoony looking, so to be honest I’m not entirely sure how you’re even coming to the conclusion that 343 is going for realistic when it’s practically the opposite. Everything in their games looks much more sci-fi, whereas in Halo reach everything looked gritty and realistic.

I’ve only ever heard that complain once before and I completely disagree with it. I think H4 is more muted and monotone than any of Bungie’s games.

15

> 2535441634768829;5:
> Yes. The game is very derivative and generic. Jumping from COD AW, to Titanfall, to Destiny, to H5…it all feels generic and similar.
>
> It’s just not a game that is going to have lasting appeal because it’s appeal is so similar to everything else.
>
> Gaming is about to enter a really strange phase. AAA studios are just so robotic and stagnant. If they don’t change they’re going to get swept away by the indie scene and crowd funding.

I totally agree. Sadly Halo 5 seems like just another generic shooter…at least based off of what they’ve shown so far.

16

> 2533274859657171;3:
> > 2533274854999879;2:
> > What do you guys think?
>
>
>
>
> The following statement is the reply you are going to receive from a casual:
>
> “Deal with it. Halo is changing. Go play The Master Chief Collection. You are just stuck in the past.”
>
> Unfortunately, Halo is dying an agonising death. It’s sad to see it like this.

I resent that, sir. I’m a casual gamer, by definition. Just because of this does not mean I’m a nimrod or a jackarse.

Halo is changing, and some amount of ‘just accept it’ is warranted… in some cases. I agree with the OP on this matter, though. Things are looking… a bit generic. The SmartScope thing, while kinda fun, rubs me wrong. The SMG feels like it’s entirely unrelated to the old SMG. The Hydra needs a bit of flair to it as it’s lacking in unique features visually.

And the rockets. Oh, sweet christmas what the hell have you done? I can live with the SMG and Hydra as they are. I’d get used to SmartScope (have my fingers crossed it’s not on automatics in release, though), but I cannot and will not turn away from the potato gun rocket launcher.

-Edited for: spelling and formatting

17

> 2533274854999879;2:
> What do you guys think?

Personally, I’m loving the new designs and art directions (so far). I somewhat agree about the lighting. I think it could be better overall, but we still have a year of polish to go. To me, this game has a ton of style and takes risks, risks that make sense, not just adding -Yoink- for the hell of it, which Reach did and then H4 followed.

I want MORE bro animations at the end, different variations!
I’m actually a huge fan of the default control set up, although I did initially use the Halo 4 scheme at first. Maybe you’d be happy if they called the Halo 4 set up “Default Classic”?

I’ve been playing Halo since CE and this is the most fun I’ve had playing Halo since H2.

I think the lighting and art will improve over the next year and hope that the gameplay stays relatively the same.

18

> 2533274798011936;9:
> > 2533274794312469;4:
> > I agree. I think a lot of the charm of Halo for me was the bright colors and stylized, well, style. 343 seems to be taking Halo to a more realistic style and it just isn’t the same. I hadn’t really thought about it much but I think that’s part of the reason I didn’t Halo 4’s style. It was all grey blues and grey greens. Everything was muted. 343 shouldn’t be afraid to add more color.
> >
> >
> >
> > > 2533274859657171;3:
> > > > 2533274854999879;2:
> > > > What do you guys think?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > The following statement is the reply you are going to receive from a casual:
> > >
> > > “Deal with it. Halo is changing. Go play The Master Chief Collection. You are just stuck in the past.”
> > >
> > > Unfortunately, Halo is dying an agonising death. It’s sad to see it like this.
> >
> >
> >
> > It’s sad to see but the only way we can even come close to changing the fate it seems to be headed toward is to respectfully explain what we like and what we don’t like. Unfortunately 90% of posts are disrespectful garbage. If I were 343, I wouldn’t pay any attention to them, and it seems obvious to me that they aren’t. We need more posts like Muscled (and mine #humblebrag) and less like yours (not meaning to disrespect you, just using it as an example) that don’t add to the discussion and doesn’t address the issue of the post. We need less people arguing and name calling and more people respecting opinions and having a discussion.
> >
> > Sorry for the off-topicness, but it’s something that’s been bugging me lately.
>
>
> One of the most common complaints about halo 4’s art style was that there was too much color. People were saying that Halo four was too bright and too cartoony looking, so to be honest I’m not entirely sure how you’re even coming to the conclusion that 343 is going for realistic when it’s practically the opposite. Everything in their games looks much more sci-fi, whereas in Halo reach everything looked gritty and realistic.

my complaint with halo 4 and what seems to be halo 5 is it’s either too bright (glare) or too dark (too much shadow) in both games the colours seem to be desaturated and all have a similar aesthetic so that the maps don’t look distinct enough from each other, that and all textures look very plastic and unlike the texture they’re trying to emulate.

imo halo CE had some interesting geometry and lighting volumes, halo 2 had this awesome griminess to it and had some awesome lighting, geometry and textures. halo 3 had really cool textures, some interesting geometry, extra detail on animation and flora and the best use of colour. ODST had this awesome dark landscape drenched in awesome lighting and really vivid colour and contrast, reach had some awesome detailed effects like sparks and smoke etc, and also had some vivid use of colour and lighting and had a lot of grittiness in its textures.

for its time halo 4 and 5 try to take a more realistic and clean approach, but because of what it is it neither pulls that off or the awesome science fantasy aesthetics of prior games, instead it just looks dull and unpolished.

19

how about the visor colors effect the smart scope tint so it becomes a function instead of a dress-up. The visor thing would actually make sense.

20

> 2533274794312469;14:
> > 2533274859657171;7:
> > You are also part of the problem. Immediately you have guessed that I have nothing meaningful to contribute. Well I do. I’m on my phone so I couldn’t link any topics but if you go on my profile I think you’ll find the opposite. With so many people talking nonsense on these forums it wears you down to simple yet to the point posts. Sorry about that.
>
>
>
>
> I wasn’t implying you had nothing to add or contribute, just that that particular type of post is far too abundant. I was taking the post at face value. I wasn’t making any assumptions about you in particular. It wasn’t my intent to insinuate you didn’t have anything to say and I’m sorry you took it that way.
>
>
>
> > 2533274798011936;9:
> > One of the most common complaints about halo 4’s art style was that there was too much color. People were saying that Halo four was too bright and too cartoony looking, so to be honest I’m not entirely sure how you’re even coming to the conclusion that 343 is going for realistic when it’s practically the opposite. Everything in their games looks much more sci-fi, whereas in Halo reach everything looked gritty and realistic.
>
>
> I’ve only ever heard that complain once before and I completely disagree with it. I think H4 is more muted and monotone than any of Bungie’s games.

… Really?