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Halo 4, One Year Later: What Happened?

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K

killer rin

Member
The reason Halo 4 fell flat was because It was expanding off of Halo Reach, which before Halo 4 was considered the worst Halo Game by a long shot. If they want Halo to take off again, 343i needs to return back to Halo's roots in 1-3.
 
V

ViewtifulJC

Banned
SenjutsuSage said:
The best singleplayer campaign and story in the franchise happened.
Click to expand...

iJkMzfUAGF42l.gif
 
FUNKNOWN iXi

FUNKNOWN iXi

Member
Halo 4 had the best core gameplay/gunplay since CE. Just thought I should throw that out there.

343 making design decisions to keep the game more like Reach is what killed them, not that 343 is worse than Bungie. As far as I'm concerned, Bungie was never the best fit for the continuation of Halo's multiplayer.

Poker Face said:
ibrOPT0vEsyXiu.gif
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Poker, if you watch the show where that gif is from AND you're in love with Killer Instinct, I think you just became my favorite poster on this forum.
 
H

Hindle

Banned
killer rin said:
The reason Halo 4 fell flat was because It was expanding off of Halo Reach, which before Halo 4 was considered the worst Halo Game by a long shot. 343i Needs to return back to Halo's roots, literally, if they want Halo to take off again.
Click to expand...

I'll be paying very close attention to what the developers say when we next get info for Halo 5. Specifically I'm looking for the words open ended and back to basics. Basically, the first things 343I should say is the levels are the biggest they've ever been and H2 is our influence for the multiplayer.

If I hear the words cinematic then I'm gone.
 
P

Prologue

Member
I really enjoyed the Cortana/Cheif portion of the story. Everything else felt like it came out of left field. Since the portion that I enjoyed was terrific, I just overlooked it.


I enjoyed the mechanics of MP as well. The rifle reminded me of the Halo 2 days. Really disliked the maps besides that shiny blue one. Devs often give dark and gloomy maps.
 
B

BPoole

Member
Halo 4 just wasn't good. Halo as a series has drastically fallen off in popularity since then. Games like Titanfall and Destiny will occupy the void left behind from Halo and CoD this gen
 
B

BBboy20

Member
Hindle said:
Ultimately they are a new studio, mistakes were made, but I'm giving them benefit of the doubt going forward.
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By giving the throne to Call of Duty? Nooooo.

The thing though is that we are going to enter the next generation in a couple of weeks and that this franchise is still utilizing shooting mechanics from 2001. 343 isn't Bungie and that's fine. But Halo's mechanics from 2001-2010 may as we'll be Bungie's (because that is looking that way with Destiny except for the addition of aiming down sights). It appears though 343 is trying to please everyone (just like Splinter Cell: Blacklist and The Bureau) and going by those statistics, won no one. Sure Halo 5 could "go back to the roots" and while it would win that really hardcore base, it may not win over people who may not want to spend 60 dollars on a game where it looks like it was designed from a decade ago. This is really 343's own moment to shine by evolving the combat by turning the series into a Spartan simulator, crafting their own identity without compromising the core of Halo. I'd like to think the quick time events in 4 was a taste of what Halo might be like if it had a total immersing first person control system but how 343 developed 4 in the end, I get the impression all they can do is listen and not envision, following trends and trying to please the fans and not think for themselves what's best for the series that doesn't involve compromise and that might be the case for 5.

We've seen how cool looking Spartans are in other mediums but the last few years have been becoming more apparent that as technology has been improving, the gameplay has not evolved along with it. What I'm purposing is a very risky endeavor because almost no one else is doing it and those who have had bad or very mixed results but if 343 wants to have Halo make that impact in gaming again, having us actually feel and enable to act exactly like a superhuman force to be reckoned with is that direction as far as I can see. Hell, it'll even make military sims jealous of beating them to the punch in pure-immersing yet highly polished combat. They can keep the map controls and cosmetic unlocks and strategic weapon placements that makes Halo's MP Halo's, but how you interact with those designs will probably have to change...even then, I wonder if it is possible to have the option to play it like regular Halo.

I don't even know why I typed this since I'm never getting a Xbox One.
 
Everdred

Everdred

Member
I played Halo 4 for 400 hours, which seems like a lot but previous games were 3x+ that. The fall of Halo is the reason I'm going with PS4 over One. They killed my love for the franchise, the main reason I was in love with Xbox, without Halo I can move on.
 
O

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
i've come to terms with halo 4 being the worst in the series by a decent amount, but i still think its a good game mainly because at its core it is still halo.

IMO, the biggest offenses to halo 4's multiplayer are (in no particular order):
- instant respawns
- infinity weapons, lack of map spawned power weapons
- 3x scoped guns
- perks
- poor AAs
- wack melee
- shit vehicles (mostly because everyone has a power weapon or plasma pistol to blow your ass up)


that said, i dont think these changes or others are the reason for the sharp decline. i think the sci-fi shooter was killed by the modern shooter and halo is a casualty of that. its still a big AAA franchise and will see big day one sales based on hype, but it doesnt have the lasting power it once did.

maybe 343i will try the less is more approach and try to really recapture the halo 2/3 awesomeness and maybe that will prove me wrong and bring back the masses.
 
B

blamite

Member
I absolutely cannot stand when people say Halo 4 is bad because Halo Reach was bad. That's a terrible argument that totally removes any responsibility from 343 for the decisions they made. There was no reason for 343 to follow the Reach path other than it was what they wanted to do. They could have done anything they wanted, anything at all. They weren't making Halo Reach 2, they were making Halo 4, the sequel to Halo 3. Nobody would have had any (legitimate) complaints if they had stuck to the traditional Halo design philosophy and improved the graphics, netcode, and community features. The fact that 343 decided to go even further with loadout customization and perks and exp bars is on the and the alone. Bungie did not in any way dictate what direction the series had to go in.
 
FUNKNOWN iXi

FUNKNOWN iXi

Member
One thing looks bright for 343 though: nothing stops that Halo hype. As soon as they start releasing footage and if they market it properly, you'll see the fans come back.

Nothing gets Xbox fans more excited than a brand new shiny Halo, even if you're not a Halo fan. Master Chief is our hero, our savior, our friend.

Poker Face said:
I guess I'm your favorite poster than, lol.
Click to expand...

BIG BROTHER IS SUCH A GOT DAMN GOOD SHOW! I could talk about that shit for weeks lol


EDITS:
Spawnling said:
Why didn't we think of this 10 years ago?
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Because Bungie put it into people's heads that the Pistol was broken because it was a Pistol. All they really had to do was give that sucker a rifle skin and keep the gameplay consistent, but nope.

Don't even get me started on the wonderful CE Plasma Rifle..

Poker Face said:
except this season was awful lol. I hope next year's is better.
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Yeah it was kind of lame how the more interesting people got voted out first. Amanda was a damn fool too and probably could've won if she had a better attitude..

RIP McCrae.
 
N

Ntsouls

Banned
StaticJam said:
It is a bad game nobody wants to play. That is what happened.
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HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAH!!! YOU ARE GENIUS! HAHHAAHAHAHAHA YOU HAVE OPINION!!!

Anyways, It's the lack of something to keep you hooked.
There is no real map editor. Single player and multiplayer map editors.

Also...something new. Like fighting in an airplane while it begins to crash.
 
I

Izayoi

Banned
All I want from 343 before Microsoft guts them for tanking Halo 5 is a Steam release for the original trilogy with MP support for all games.

SenjutsuSage said:
The best singleplayer campaign and story in the franchise happened.
Click to expand...
Winner of the most consistently bad opinion on NeoGAF award, 2013.

Everdred said:
I played Halo 4 for 400 hours, which seems like a lot but previous games were 3x+ that. The fall of Halo is the reason I'm going with PS4 over One. They killed my love for the franchise, the main reason I was in love with Xbox, without Halo I can move on.
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It's almost like 343 was doing you a favor!

I'm going to miss Forza, but with Halo dead and buried I can be free of pretty much the only reason I was in the Xbox ecosystem to begin with. It's a liberating feeling.
 
C

Chip N Chance

Member
MVP Pioneer said:
"I haven't watched the trailer but I'm going to criticize it anyway"
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Well, yeah. The screenshots i saw all show the similar art style and design. Im talking purely ascetics. Should i watch it and come back? Because that floating giant spider looking thing looks really Halo.
 
mhi

mhi

Member
This is what happens when you design a game around focus groups and surveys and other consumer behavior research bullshit instead of you know, doing your job.
 
R

RdN

Member
YourExWife said:
Except it wasn't a "new engine". Wish people would quit saying that. It's a modified version of the old one, with many concessions made in other areas of performance to up the fidelity of other areas. Audio will drop randomly from certain sources, even in multiplayer, where you need it most. Especially in MP, the frame rate is horrible and rarely touches 30fps. The engine will drop to like 1-3fps in some scenarios in MP because its rendering isn't optimized properly (things happening to one player that no one else can even see are still calculated on their client end anyway, for example).

The campaign is carefully designed so that you don't see the mostly nothingness outside of whatever corridor (indoors and outdoors) that you're supposed to be confined to. Previous games allowed for tons of exploration. The skyboxes, which are often only truly paid attention to in campaign, are not on par with previous titles, again to work towards that "great-looking" game you describe. There are excessive amounts of garbage-collection in the game to push the performance as well, which only leads to annoyance and less consistent experiences (better pick up that gun you dropped within 4 seconds or it's gone forever, and so is the ammo, BUT LOOK AT THESE GRAPHICS, MAN!).

Back on topic, despite all it's issues, I personally enjoy playing the game with a small group of friends, and half the time we're just messing around. Competitively, aside from a couple gametypes, the game is not even close to "Halo" and believe it or not, that's a huge reason why so much of the original population isn't here anymore. Can't blame them for leaving when you have to dig deep to find the fun.
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And lets not forget that, in order to get those "good" graphics(and I'm saying "good"because, while an improvement for the franchise, it's nowhere near the kind of stuff Sony's first party studios have been pumping on the PS3), 343i changed the way Halo played from the big, open, "sandboxy" scenarios to a boring and linear corridor shooter.
 
N

Nervous Sausage

Member
My biggest gripes with the game (besides the CoD style multiplayer) is that the campaign lacked all the personality, humor, talkative marines/enemies and fun of the Bungie games. The promotheans were also a chore to fight and the ammo was too sparse. Every single objective in this campaign felt like you were just an errand boy being ordered to flip and endless supply of switches. The previous Halo games never made you feel so much like you were doing work but Halo 4 somehow managed to suck all the fun out of the Bungie games. I probably spent more time rummaging around for ammo than all the previous Halo campaigns combined. I could almost feel how cold and steril, how soullessly manufactured the game was compared to the fun and adventurous spirit of the Bungie games.

For the record I think Halo: Reach had the most consistent quality levels in the entire series. Halo 1 and 2 were the most epic and impressive at the time and had the most interesting stories and even Halo 3 had some really good moments like taking down the scarabs. Halo 4 on the other hand is the one Halo game that I will NEVER ever want to replay again (besides ODST, I really didn't like that one for some reason).
 
Y

YourExWife

Member
RdN said:
And lets not forget that, in order to get those "good" graphics(and I'm saying "good"because, while an improvement for the franchise, it's nowhere near the kind of stuff Sony's first party studios have been pumping on the PS3), 343i changed the way Halo played from the big, open, "sandboxy" scenarios to a boring and linear corridor shooter.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I touched on that somewhat in the second paragraph but was giving credit to the reader to infer simple shit. Then I looked back at some of the posts in the thread and just smh. The very things that the game gets praise for are the things that fucked it over.
 
T

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
It's sad that Halo is in the weakened state that it is. I believe in the rebound though.
 
W

wwm0nkey

Member
mhi said:
This is what happens when you design a game around focus groups and surveys and other consumer behavior research bullshit instead of you know, doing your job.
Click to expand...
Yeah that kind of stuff needs to stay far out of this industry....any industry really too, its an awful system.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
Tashi said:
It's sad that Halo is in the weakened state that it is. I believe in the rebound though.
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Curious, what makes you optimistic? I was looking for some signs that 343 had learned lessons and listened to the community (and population numbers) and then they release the Survivor armor mod. That actually factored a bit into my decision to go with the PS4 and give up on Halo; it was 343 doubling down on that direction.
 
FUNKNOWN iXi

FUNKNOWN iXi

Member
GhaleonEB said:
Curious, what makes you optimistic? I was looking for some signs that 343 had learned lessons and listened to the community (and population numbers) and then they release the Survivor armor mod. That actually factored a bit into my decision to go with the PS4 and give up on Halo; it was 343 doubling down on that direction.
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Ghaleon trust me when I say this, but there is nothing. Hope is just in our blood;
we're Mets fans.

Maybe all Halo fans are too..

v hahah
 
T

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
GhaleonEB said:
Curious, what makes you optimistic? I was looking for some signs that 343 had learned lessons and listened to the community (and population numbers) and then they release the Survivor armor mod. That actually factored a bit into my decision to go with the PS4 and give up on Halo; it was 343 doubling down on that direction.
Click to expand...

Basically the playlist management. While I'll agree there have been a good amount of SMH moments, 343 has been slowly undoing Infinity. The problem is that at this point it seems that the majority of those still playing prefer Infinity settings, sadly. There are way more options for non Infinity fans in MM than there were earlier this year.

And just from chatting and getting to know some 343 people, I know that they're reading a ton of feedback. The message has been made loud and clear by the community. I believe they will act on the feedback. Other tidbits like Halo 4GC, Josh Menke hiring(ranking system specialist), Turbo settings and then various interviews and such.
 
A

aHebrewMenagerie

Member
Tashi said:
Basically the playlist management. While I'll agree there have been a good amount of SMH moments, 343 has been slowly undoing Infinity. The problem is that at this point it seems that the majority of those still playing prefer Infinity settings, sadly. There are way more options for non Infinity fans in MM than there were earlier this year.

And just from chatting and getting to know some 343 people, I know that they're reading a ton of feedback. The message has been made loud and clear by the community. I believe they will act on the feedback. Other tidbits like Halo 4GC, Josh Menke hiring(ranking system specialist), Turbo settings and then various interviews and such.
Click to expand...

I'm with the Toshi on this one. Though they have still been making dumb descisions, they have been slowly weaning people off of Infinity by changing the Infinity Slayer playlist to Team Slayer where 2/3 voting choices have preset load outs.

Also the hires make me extremely hopeful.
 
T

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
Nyoro SF said:
Can you really believe in a rebound when a company actively ignores their fans while trying to placate them with false PR?
Click to expand...

I disagree.

Also, I'm an optimist.

Lastly, in full disclosure, as a Community Cartographer I've had an impact on Halo 4's MM since January. However, I probably shouldn't go into detailing the "impact".
 
O

Ominym

Banned
I eagerly anticipate the day (that I know will never come) where 343i simply admits they fucked up. Seriously, just have a little bit of humility. That would certainly make me care more or at least give me the hope they can figure out what they're doing.

I want to BELI343. But I simply can't anymore. Halo 5 will be the first in the series other than Halo: Combat Evolved that I don't wait outside at midnight for. And that really, really bums me out. It truly is the end of an era.
 
D

Daishogun

Member
I was lucky enough to win a 360 + Reach when it came out, and had owned a PS3 since Christmas 2007. Gotta say, that game blew me away. Not sure what Halo 3/2/CE were like but goddamn, to me, Reach was untouchable. Epic story IMO, graphics seemed mind-blowing (but that might be some rose-tinted glasses), and the online was great, especially coming from PSN. After finishing the SP and a few hours of MP, I was like "insta-GOTY".

Now coming to Halo 4, I wasn't really hyped, but I bought it because it was ~$60 at launch (that's pretty cheap in Aus) so I was like what the hell, I loved Reach, so this should be somewhat good even if not by Bungie... Oh boy, was I wrong. This was the first game I played as Masterchief, but I obviously understood his significance, and the fact that he was basically lost at the end of Halo 3. So here I was thinking there was going to be some epic reveals, characters gasping, anime cut to multiple people all bewildered by Goku's MCs return. But no everyone was just like "what up dude." I dunno came across weird. Also, graphically, I thought it was really lackluster. I should preface that by saying between Reach and 4, I built a hefty gaming PC, so maybe that contributed to my reaction, but I definitely felt it looked worse than Reach, at least on first impression.

The SP was nice, but the majority flew over my head, and it was much easier on Legendary than Reach was. I might be shit, but I found Reach absolutely crushing/amazing in that I'd find myself at the end of the game, with like a power sword and half ammo on a rifle, and just trying to find a way to scrap through was intense. That really didn't happen in 4, particularly after I figured out that the Forerunner rifle + DMR meant everything died easier. Didn't really play much MP, found the unlock system and the killstreak-esque weapon drops to be... interesting? The game went from being really well balanced to just "I've played this game all day and night, so obviously that means I should win". BF3 was also a culprit of that with the flying vehicles, but that's another game entirely.

So yeah, Halo 4 was really disappointing. The XBONE isn't currently even on my radar, but for the sake of all these fans and in the scenario I do get around to getting one, I really hope they fix this up with 5.
 
T

Tzeentch

Member
Tashi said:
Lastly, in full disclosure, as a Community Cartographer I've had an impact on Halo 4's MM since January. However, I probably shouldn't go into detailing the "impact".
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-- Looking at the player populations since January I wouldn't exactly be putting that "impact" on your resume.
 
P

ProfessorMoran

Member
RdN said:
And lets not forget that, in order to get those "good" graphics(and I'm saying "good"because, while an improvement for the franchise, it's nowhere near the kind of stuff Sony's first party studios have been pumping on the PS3), 343i changed the way Halo played from the big, open, "sandboxy" scenarios to a boring and linear corridor shooter.
Click to expand...

This. 343i basically was moving away from the sandbox gameplay of past HALOs, they inherited the HALO franchise but they don't understand it, at least gameplay-wise, MS tried to build a team to take over a franchise but they might not have the right people who understand how HALO should play.
 
SicSemperTyrannis

SicSemperTyrannis

Member
Sojgat said:
Does that mean he already finished work on Halo 5 or is somebody else writing that?
Click to expand...

Wasn't it Jason Jones that left Bungie recently? He was the lead writer on Destiny and the original writer for the Halo series. I wondered if he was coming back to his baby...

Money talks ;P

J/k wish I wasn't
 
FUNKNOWN iXi

FUNKNOWN iXi

Member
Tashi said:
I disagree.

Also, I'm an optimist.

Lastly, in full disclosure, as a Community Cartographer I've had an impact on Halo 4's MM since January. However, I probably shouldn't go into detailing the "impact".
Click to expand...

lmfao you are fully gone..

Striker said:
The one that includes sprint, flinch, overpowered melee, and until it was updated to 110%, slow walking speed?
Click to expand...

The hell with all that crap, I'm solely talking about the shootbang and movement of Halo.
  • Halo 2 was slower than 1 and with moon boots. The weapons were pretty much aim in the general area and get a kill. Remember the BR spread before they patched it? Which brings me to..
  • The Halo 3 BR. Deliberately made to be inconsistent again even though their attempt in Halo 2 was a failure.. and hitscan was removed. Gameplay was even slower and pretty inconsistent overall.
  • Now Reach. Do I really even need to say it? Powerhouse pool jump-up, bloom, armor lock, etc.

Halo 4 at least had consistent gunplay. The weapons weren't watered down like in Halo 3 and were better than Reach with zero bloom (<3 Grenade Launcher). It just sucks that things like flinch are holding it back when that's just a damn design decision. Whoever thought having flinch was a good idea needs to have another position.


EDIT:
ABXY said:
Poor hitboxes
Blooming rim
Laggy netcode
Low jump height

And everybody leaves and players give up. It's like Halo 4 in one gif.
Click to expand...

Brilliant.
 
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