I’m curious, because I grew up on Halo 4 and 5 because my parents never got the older consoles and games. I’ve gotten into the older games through MCC, but I still don’t understand, why is Halo 5 so disliked within the Halo community? I feel like it’s more than just “sprint”.
In my eyes, it’s disliked mostly because the internet told people to hate it.
There are some legitimate complaints tho. Like the campaign is short and the story in it isn’t all that good. Personally, I think it’s fun, even if it comes off as more suitable for multiplayer.
I also grew up on 4 and 5.
Taking out split screen was a big let down and the whole “hunt the truth” was very underwhelming. I’m pretty sure almost every one doesn’t like Fire team Osiris because they come out of no where and you play them for more than half of the campaign. Also the story was terrible. All in all it doesn’t live up to it’s name.
People just prefer the originals. I have a hate and love relationship with the game. The major factor that I see is the poor balancing when it comes to ranked matchmaking (also the fact it took 2+ year to add good social playlists and even then some consider it lack luster) and when the game launched it felt half released, No Forge or BTB. The game itself had a plethora of connectivity issues as well that it rubbed people the wrong way. Overall the game had a bad reception from the start and by the time 343 fixed it most fans already stopped playing.
To be honest, the story is just awful. It’s nonsensical and most of the dialogue is just pointless exposition. I just finished playing through all 5 mainline Halo games (Saved ODST for now) and I had never played the campaign in 5, and now I wish I hadn’t ever. Halo 5 has the worst story ever. And the superficial action scenes are just so corny, they come off as insincere. The Act Man explains it all perfectly on YouTube. Just started watching him after completing all the games, and I gotta say his take on 5 is 100% Truth.
I think it’s because of the story. Many people did not like it. I didn’t like it either.
As one of the “old timers” around here (the only launch I missed was CE) I can 100% tell you it’s nostalgia being reluctant to change. The fan base whined about sprint and other mods in Reach. The fact of the matter is that arena shooters like Halo, Quake, Doom, etc are not what the majority of gamers want (hardcore, casual, or otherwise). The FPS landscape is changing and the people that knock the multiplayer just want Halo to remain in the H:CE-H3 gameplay. The series would be more irrelevant than it is now.
The plot is another story. It was EXTREMELY heavy on exposition and characters that we’ve never seen in games before. The player was almost required to have read books and comics to understand what was really going on. Another error on 343i’s part was that strange and misleading ad campaign. It portrayed this rogue Master Chief that was against the UNSC and an lifeless Spartan Locke hunting him because Chief was a traitor or Locke was just envious. Turned out Chief wasn’t really rogue… he was just going after Cortana… again. Locke was never even against Chief.
Halo 4 set up this really human Chief that players clicked with more than ever and then they sideline him for some new Spartan that you only have ANY knowledge of if you’ve read books, comics, and saw films. It was bizarre and jarring. I think if 343i had not gone with the heavy reliance on other mediums Halo 5 would have been well received and adored by the community.
Personally, I loved it. I’m a lore geek. I’ve read almost every book and things like Vale explaining how she can understand alien languages really floats my boat. But I also 100% think the haters are justified and 343i needs to really make up for what Halo 5 was. People like me are in the minority and they SHOULD NOT be making games for me.
3 things: Nostalgia vs. change, underwhelming plot, and too much use of lore.
Nostalgia vs. Change: the original games are very different from the norm set by CoD. The old games didn’t have sprinting, the controls were wackier, and the feel of the original games was different. H5 is not the same kind of game, and it is not trying to be. Hence the clash of old vs. new, nostalgia vs. change, tried and true vs. evolutionary.
Underwhelming plot: Two words. Exposition Dumping. Have you ever watched a remake of your favorite TV show in movie form, where they butcher so much plot that it loses its quality (There is no movie in Ba Sing Se…)? That is what this is. H5 used a plot based around events that were already in motion, predictable outcomes, and making unequal characters equal to each other. We lost the shimmer of mystery, fear, and a confrontable enemy. We could fight the Flood, Covenant, and Prometheans, but we never really fought the created or the Guardians. It was death by a thousand cuts, but those cuts were caused by only a few types of blades. The same plot problems appear throughout the entire campaign, and it lost the feeling that Halo always had masterminded.
Unnecessary amounts of lore: H5 is infamous for using too much lore from other Halo sources that most casual fans don’t understand. The sheen of a new plot was caused by the use of H5 as a continuation or finale to these events. The more researched fans may find the references enjoyable, but its all references, and any plot is overwhelmed by matching these events to the campaign.
People love the multiplayer though. So they got one thing right.
I think there were a lot of things that went into fans hating 5, some of which have already been mentioned. For me, it started when they announced it wouldn’t have split screen co-op. That was a big deal for me because my wife and I are huge Halo fans… we’ve played them all (with the exception of the halo wars series). I view that decision as strictly profit based. Because for my wife and I to play, we would need two xbox ones (not cheap), two copies of the game, and two xbox live accounts… that adds up and it was a big turn off.
Then there was the story for the campaign. With a few notable exceptions, MC (to me anyway) has always been a lone wolf, yes he had Cortana, but he never needed an entire fireteam before. So I thought the idea of pairing him with a fireteam was kind of dumb. The whole theory behind MC was that he could take on entire armies by himself… but not in Halo 5?? Gimmie a break… I didn’t really mind the spartan locke angle, Bungie did a good job with the Arbiter in Halo 2… so that didn’t bother me, but again, I refer you to my comment about the fireteam… dumb idea. And the plot line itself was a little implausible… Cortana going bad?? I think that was just poor writing and plot development. The graphics were great… the locations were cool… but some of those other things were tough to overlook from the perspective of a halo nerd.
Now, as was mentioned before, one of the redeeming qualities of H5 was the MP system. I didn’t have xbox live when H5 came out, so I missed out of the grinding and the initial release of the MP… but I just got back into it about a month ago… and I know I’m late to the party and they’ve gotten a lot of kinks out since it was released, but as someone who is terrible at online match play… I love it… they did a really great job with it.
All in all… I think it was only hated when it was released… I think fans are appreciating it more now that it’s been out for a while and the news of the new xbox and Infinite, I think it’s helping to bring a lot of fans back… but initially, yea, there were some rough times and poor decisions on Microsoft and 343 that angered a lot of fans when it was originally came out…
> 2535447111286941;7:
> As one of the “old timers” around here (the only launch I missed was CE) I can 100% tell you it’s nostalgia being reluctant to change. The fan base whined about sprint and other mods in Reach. The fact of the matter is that arena shooters like Halo, Quake, Doom, etc are not what the majority of gamers want (hardcore, casual, or otherwise). The FPS landscape is changing and the people that knock the multiplayer just want Halo to remain in the H:CE-H3 gameplay. The series would be more irrelevant than it is now.
>
> The plot is another story. It was EXTREMELY heavy on exposition and characters that we’ve never seen in games before. The player was almost required to have read books and comics to understand what was really going on. Another error on 343i’s part was that strange and misleading ad campaign. It portrayed this rogue Master Chief that was against the UNSC and an lifeless Spartan Locke hunting him because Chief was a traitor or Locke was just envious. Turned out Chief wasn’t really rogue… he was just going after Cortana… again. Locke was never even against Chief.
>
> Halo 4 set up this really human Chief that players clicked with more than ever and then they sideline him for some new Spartan that you only have ANY knowledge of if you’ve read books, comics, and saw films. It was bizarre and jarring. I think if 343i had not gone with the heavy reliance on other mediums Halo 5 would have been well received and adored by the community.
>
> Personally, I loved it. I’m a lore geek. I’ve read almost every book and things like Vale explaining how she can understand alien languages really floats my boat. But I also 100% think the haters are justified and 343i needs to really make up for what Halo 5 was. People like me are in the minority and they SHOULD NOT be making games for me.
Why isn’t COD irrelevant?
Halo is known for its story-telling. Halo 5 is way below Halo standards. So Halo 5 is disliked.
I have played a lot of Halo 5 and can summary on this (H5 “fans” will tell you that is because of “angry old fans”):
- Bad marketing that told us a fight between MC and Locke
- Awful decision that you need to read/buy a lot of stuff just to understand who is who
- Really bad story
- Terrible decisions like only two part of the armor customizable and pre made emblems (so they can sold them in micro transactions)
- Awful decisions in art style and sound: somehow they miss the memo that fans wanted the old Halo “feel”… and even worse some decision made those armors look the same in a team game.
- Half of the content was missing and they put it many time later like it was an awesome thing to congrats them
And thats it… personally i play a LOT of Halo 5 (SR 82) since it launched. It just didnt feel Halo, it try to modernize itself but only in the direction of Call Of Duty. Campaign is bad, MP is good… but not awesome, Warzone was just an idea to sell us stuff, and it wasnt good. Warzone fire fight was better, but really repetitive in the long run, and enemies being just bullet sponged didnt help. when they fixed MCC i move back and never come back. Now i play on PC and if they release H5 in Pc it would be cool, but if they dont, I dont really care too much to be honest.
It is better than Halo 4, but not that memorable.
> 2535432702017444;1:
> I’m curious, because I grew up on Halo 4 and 5 because my parents never got the older consoles and games. I’ve gotten into the older games through MCC, but I still don’t understand, why is Halo 5 so disliked within the Halo community? I feel like it’s more than just “sprint”.
- This game has the WORST aiming mechanics OFF ALL TIME
- The sensitivity curves are whacky (thank the pro team for this)
- The hit detection is almost non existent
- HEAVY AIM SINCE LAUNCH AND THE DEVS DENIED IT.
- The inability to TURN OFF AIM ACCELERATION
- Kiss any kind of diagnal reticule movement good bye
- Halo has one of the most toxic communities EVER
- Servers have been 3rd world country bad, SINCE LAUNCH
> 2535407109813100;10:
> > 2535447111286941;7:
> > As one of the “old timers” around here (the only launch I missed was CE) I can 100% tell you it’s nostalgia being reluctant to change. The fan base whined about sprint and other mods in Reach. The fact of the matter is that arena shooters like Halo, Quake, Doom, etc are not what the majority of gamers want (hardcore, casual, or otherwise). The FPS landscape is changing and the people that knock the multiplayer just want Halo to remain in the H:CE-H3 gameplay. The series would be more irrelevant than it is now.
> >
> > The plot is another story. It was EXTREMELY heavy on exposition and characters that we’ve never seen in games before. The player was almost required to have read books and comics to understand what was really going on. Another error on 343i’s part was that strange and misleading ad campaign. It portrayed this rogue Master Chief that was against the UNSC and an lifeless Spartan Locke hunting him because Chief was a traitor or Locke was just envious. Turned out Chief wasn’t really rogue… he was just going after Cortana… again. Locke was never even against Chief.
> >
> > Halo 4 set up this really human Chief that players clicked with more than ever and then they sideline him for some new Spartan that you only have ANY knowledge of if you’ve read books, comics, and saw films. It was bizarre and jarring. I think if 343i had not gone with the heavy reliance on other mediums Halo 5 would have been well received and adored by the community.
> >
> > Personally, I loved it. I’m a lore geek. I’ve read almost every book and things like Vale explaining how she can understand alien languages really floats my boat. But I also 100% think the haters are justified and 343i needs to really make up for what Halo 5 was. People like me are in the minority and they SHOULD NOT be making games for me.
>
> Why isn’t COD irrelevant?
COD is the game that made the big innovations in shooters. They’ve gone free to play and hold seasonal events. Halo just started doing that in the past couple years.
For me it was all the hype and the awesome looking beta, and then on release day there is like 4 multiplayer game modes. No infection, no grifball, no big team battle, only one warzone variant with only a few maps. The reqs also confused me for a long time. How was I supposed to know to start with the bronze req? Over all the release was really bad. They did fix the game for a time though, but the damage was already done.
I dont like halo 5 as much as the originals because it doesn’t feel or play like a halo game. H5 feels like a mix of titanfall and cod to me. H5 can still be fun at times, but if i feel like playing halo I would rather play classic halo. 343 took a lot of ideas from other games and added it to h5.
> 2535447111286941;14:
> > 2535407109813100;10:
> > > 2535447111286941;7:
> > > As one of the “old timers” around here (the only launch I missed was CE) I can 100% tell you it’s nostalgia being reluctant to change. The fan base whined about sprint and other mods in Reach. The fact of the matter is that arena shooters like Halo, Quake, Doom, etc are not what the majority of gamers want (hardcore, casual, or otherwise). The FPS landscape is changing and the people that knock the multiplayer just want Halo to remain in the H:CE-H3 gameplay. The series would be more irrelevant than it is now.
> > >
> > > The plot is another story. It was EXTREMELY heavy on exposition and characters that we’ve never seen in games before. The player was almost required to have read books and comics to understand what was really going on. Another error on 343i’s part was that strange and misleading ad campaign. It portrayed this rogue Master Chief that was against the UNSC and an lifeless Spartan Locke hunting him because Chief was a traitor or Locke was just envious. Turned out Chief wasn’t really rogue… he was just going after Cortana… again. Locke was never even against Chief.
> > >
> > > Halo 4 set up this really human Chief that players clicked with more than ever and then they sideline him for some new Spartan that you only have ANY knowledge of if you’ve read books, comics, and saw films. It was bizarre and jarring. I think if 343i had not gone with the heavy reliance on other mediums Halo 5 would have been well received and adored by the community.
> > >
> > > Personally, I loved it. I’m a lore geek. I’ve read almost every book and things like Vale explaining how she can understand alien languages really floats my boat. But I also 100% think the haters are justified and 343i needs to really make up for what Halo 5 was. People like me are in the minority and they SHOULD NOT be making games for me.
> >
> > Why isn’t COD irrelevant?
>
> COD is the game that made the big innovations in shooters. They’ve gone free to play and hold seasonal events. Halo just started doing that in the past couple years.
Halo was the series that set that standard. Cod is the same every year. When it tried to be different, it failed. Free to play isn’t the reason why cod is successful.
I grew up playing the very first Halo. Back then, it was all about campaigns and playing with your friends passing every mission together. As games started moving towards more multiplayer focus, the story line began to lose its touch. When I first played Halo 5, I loved the multiplayer and gameplay. Just didn’t like the story line and I also didn’t like that we didn’t played as master chief a lot during the story mode. In Halo 2 you get to play as Arbiter, but only for a few campaigns not most of the campaigns. So if anything, if you compare halo 1 and halo 2 story vs halo 5, you will see a huge difference. You will be able to follow along with the story and find it interesting vs Halo 5 being so scattered and hard to follow with what’s happening if you’re new to halo
I don’t like it just because the focus on the spartan locke, i mean there’s only 3 missions with the blue team!!! JUST for that.
Honestly your only seeing a snapshot of the most diehard fans. Diehard fans of anything, whether it’s a movie, book, or video game. Always prefer the originals and the nostalgic value they hold onto. Casual gamers that make up the vast majority of the people playing. Do not care to take the time out of thier day to hop online and cry, or idealize, a game on this website or others. This game if 5 years old and most of the Casuals have moved on to the latest thing. Halo 5 still has a healthy population but small enough that I can recognize quite a few of them. And I’m yet to recognize a player I’ve played on here who’s commenting either way.
That said I’m under the impression that even if 343 is dumb enough to make a retro halo, something the millions of casual gamers I aforementioned will not except. This small crowd of a few thousand tops, who have been very vocal about retro halo, would find a way to hate that game too and bash 343. Simply because on a psychological level a new retro halo wouldnt hold the same nostalgic value as bungie’s halo. And while were on the subject of bungie, what 343 is doing today is a hell of a lot more fun, and way more cheaper, than what bungie has been doing since reach.