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Halo 4, One Year Later: What Happened?
- Thread starter FyreWulff
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This - I'd add the campaign felt stale to me purely in terms of what was in the game - no interest in the books or expanded Universe and you're taking a huge risk if the whole story isn't there in the game itself.
Also the MP simply wasn't Halo for me. It was a SF CoD.
I also think they spent too much time/money on tech to make the game a visual powerhouse to compete with Sony exclusives - coming so late in the gen it seemed a complete waste IMHO. They should have stabilized and expanded Reach engine IMO and focused on the gameplay and content instead.
The opening levels were the best levels -- especially the first one. The multiplayer was fun; the guns were fun to use, but it just didn't have that Halo touch. Nonetheless, I am still excited for Halo 5 - I'm sure they learned a lot from this one.
Dat weapon bloom, dat AA, dat Armor Lock, dat terrible map design, dat movement = Bungie Touch.
The Antitype
Banned
I actually agree with this.
Hindsight 20/20, they would have been better to go without a Halo in 2012 and put an extra year into making an absolutely god-like Halo game to launch with the Xbox One.
New console, new trilogy.
Unfortunately, it still would have probably had the same fucked up weapon balance and EXP/Killstreak systems.... UGH.
I still feel that they should have waited until next gen.
I remember loving it the first weeks, then I started to see some of the flaws and after a few months I quit playing.
The major problem was not only random drops and maps; the fact that they were constantly changing the playlists didn't help at all. I don't know what were they pretending, but it sucked entering the game with a friend thinking "hey, let's play some Team Doubles"...and nope, not this week.
The major problem was not only random drops and maps; the fact that they were constantly changing the playlists didn't help at all. I don't know what were they pretending, but it sucked entering the game with a friend thinking "hey, let's play some Team Doubles"...and nope, not this week.
TheVoidDragon
Member
I can't think of anything at all, other than graphics, that 343 did right with Halo 4. They felt the need to change pretty much everything. The story was poor and difficult to understand unless you had read the novels - No one is surprised they found Master Chief and they all act like he isn't important. The soundtrack was forgettable and they for some reason moved away from the sort of music that fit the series so well.
I think the retcons and stupid aesthetic changes were the worst things:
- Marine designs were completely changed from their iconic design to generic soldiers
- MJOLNIR/Chiefs armour was retconned to always look how it does now (Campaign into video has Spartan 2's wearing the same armour as chief does now)
- Spartan 4 armour that wouldn't look out of place if you said it was Forerunner armour
- Spartan 4s seem pathetic when compared to ODSTs. None of them in the Spartan Ops campaign act like you would expect from the people who are meant to be the best soldiers of the UNSC.
- Charon Class frigates were changed for absolutely no reason. They had a unique shape, now they don't.
- EVERY new UNSC vehicle, ship and weapon does not fit in in ANY way at all with their previous designs. Before they were about hard, angular surfaces with sharp corners - their new stuff is all rounded edges and curves, which was that the Covenant was all about. The colours don't even match.
- Lets give the UNSC a giant mech for no reason at all!
The entire game was terrible.
I think the retcons and stupid aesthetic changes were the worst things:
- Marine designs were completely changed from their iconic design to generic soldiers
- MJOLNIR/Chiefs armour was retconned to always look how it does now (Campaign into video has Spartan 2's wearing the same armour as chief does now)
- Spartan 4 armour that wouldn't look out of place if you said it was Forerunner armour
- Spartan 4s seem pathetic when compared to ODSTs. None of them in the Spartan Ops campaign act like you would expect from the people who are meant to be the best soldiers of the UNSC.
- Charon Class frigates were changed for absolutely no reason. They had a unique shape, now they don't.
- EVERY new UNSC vehicle, ship and weapon does not fit in in ANY way at all with their previous designs. Before they were about hard, angular surfaces with sharp corners - their new stuff is all rounded edges and curves, which was that the Covenant was all about. The colours don't even match.
- Lets give the UNSC a giant mech for no reason at all!
The entire game was terrible.
The Living Tribunal
Member
Reach may be the entry that started the decline of the series, but it was far from terrible.
LilWayneSuckz
Member
The campaign is amazing but the competitive multiplayer is sloppy and unbalanced. I never really cared for Spartan Ops so my main interest in Halo 4's online was team slayer and after playing it for a couple of months I stopped caring. 343i needs to follow the multiplayer design of Halo 3 and Halo Reach as opposed to whatever they were trying with Halo 4.
#Truthfacts
The Antitype
Banned
And yet, far better than Halo 4 multiplayer.
Better maps, better weapon balance (bloom included), and armor lock had nothing on disrupting gameplay like a player's random weapon drop with a goddamn binary rifle.
Honestly, in retrospect, the whining over the minor issues with Reach (bloom, armor abilities) seem so laughably petty now. By comparison to the shit-show of changes brought on in Halo 4, those fit relatively smoothly into the Halo gameplay model.
The Living Tribunal
Member
No, it's time to fix it.
I'm more on the community side of things but it sucks to see that 2 bad multiplayer titles have killed a lot of community sites and the competitive community for Halo.
Halo was a titan once, I just don't want it to fall into the realm of Sonic games. 343i can't screw the next one up.
Halo was a titan once, I just don't want it to fall into the realm of Sonic games. 343i can't screw the next one up.
sixteen-bit
Member
I keep hearing it's the worst Halo. Just bought it for a tenner though, hopefully it's worth that.
Salz01
Member
Halo 4 graphics are great. Probably best on the system.
My issues though:
SP:
The levels are boring to plod through. It's very linear. At least with reach I felt it was more open, different ways to tackle what needed to be done.
Just wave after wave of enemies to kill. It gets boring too fast.
MP: none of the alien weapons are fun for me to use. I just stick to the dmr, all the time every game type.
God damn menus. So confusing. It seems forever to unlock something, not sure what I want to unlock. And specializations seem pointless. I don't understand the system. Please note I play casually, so it might be easier for some to understand it. But, I'm like whatever just pick something and go with it.
Most maps I can't stand for whatever reason, only a few I really like.
My issues though:
SP:
The levels are boring to plod through. It's very linear. At least with reach I felt it was more open, different ways to tackle what needed to be done.
Just wave after wave of enemies to kill. It gets boring too fast.
MP: none of the alien weapons are fun for me to use. I just stick to the dmr, all the time every game type.
God damn menus. So confusing. It seems forever to unlock something, not sure what I want to unlock. And specializations seem pointless. I don't understand the system. Please note I play casually, so it might be easier for some to understand it. But, I'm like whatever just pick something and go with it.
Most maps I can't stand for whatever reason, only a few I really like.
People stopped playing which creates a snowball effect of others not to play.
Campaign was OK although overall a disappointment. Whoever added QTEs cannot work at 343 any more.
However, those graphics. I thought the Xbox 360 can not produce visuals any more before I played Halo 4.
Multiplayer's terrible netcode turned me away from it.
Campaign was OK although overall a disappointment. Whoever added QTEs cannot work at 343 any more.
However, those graphics. I thought the Xbox 360 can not produce visuals any more before I played Halo 4.
Multiplayer's terrible netcode turned me away from it.
Terbinator
Member
Do we think given the OP's investigation (and obviously 343i know this) that they'll maybe return to its roots?
Even if you look at CoD: Doges launch there is no excitement, certainly, there wasn't a solitary mention of a 'going to Game for Doges' on my Facebook feed last night - why keep chasing that dragon?
Even if you look at CoD: Doges launch there is no excitement, certainly, there wasn't a solitary mention of a 'going to Game for Doges' on my Facebook feed last night - why keep chasing that dragon?
Disagree on the maps, but yea Reach > Halo 4 multiplayer.
I'm not saying Halo 4 was great or perfect, but people are acting like Bungie was awesome.
Halo Reach Vanilla WAS NOT a great Halo multiplayer game. Better than Halo 4? Sure.
And the last time I played Halo 4 the gameplay was improved, is it not anymore? The "Turbo" patch really made the game fun. It seemed like 343 was listening to the community...
Halo 4 still had plenty of problems though. Split-screen is terrible, and others. Hopefully 343 listens. Either way I'm probably done with the franchise. Good luck to them.
I enjoyed it's multiplayer, but I guess I'm just a Gears of War purist and enjoyed the 1st one more and thought it was better.
I didn't really like the xp/medal/awards all the time on the screen, I thought that it distracted from the game, and didn't really belong in Gears. idk though, maybe it was better and I just didn't have as much time to put into it as I did with the 1st one. It was still good though, still had that Gears feel, which was nice. We need a next gen one, more in line with the main trilogy and less in line with Judgement.
All 3 campaigns were awesome though, and I love Horde mode.
Seconded. I'm hoping that 343 actually listen to their fanbase this time around and Halo 5 ticks all of the boxes.
hooijdonk17
Member
HoD was neither Halo nor CoD.
Poker Face
Member
Nope.
I'm pretty much done with 343 anyways, I hope they can make a good game. But any faith I had in them is pretty much gone.
After initially being introduced to the series with Halo 3 in 2009, I loved Halo: Reach. When armor lock wasn't being a bitch, it was pretty sweet online.
The whole MLG/competitive scene definitely kept Halo 3 afloat for a while though, shunning that area with Reach and 4 was a big mistake.
SkoomaSuckinSwit
Member
Yup.
I tried 3 times to play the campaign.
I couldn't play more than 2 levels at a time, before I quit from utter disinterest.
It kinda feels like Halo, but the magic just isn't there.
The new enemies aren't fun to fight, the bloom gets on my nerves, and things seemed changed for the sake of changing things.
I think 343 is obviously talented.
What they should do: Create a new sci-fi IP.
Something like Mass Effect, but an FPS.
Forget Halo, it's over. RIP.
Please make Halo2 HD before you nail the Halo coffin shut.
Based of comments from an employee of 343? A return to the series roots looks likely yea.
Man, I'm kind of glad I missed out on the multiplayer. I enjoyed the campaign even if it fell short of Bungie's efforts in some ways but never had the chance to play multi due to discontinuation of Xbox Live on my end. I've previously loved Halo in multiplayer but something about Halo 4 never grabbed me.
Multiplayer issues have been pointed out well enough, but single player was just as troubled.
While the campaign had more polish than Bungie's offerings, it felt more like an interquel than the start of a brand new trilogy. 343 had all the freedom that Halo 3's open ending left to them and decided to reuse too much from the previous games. Focusing too much on Cortana also limited the scope of the story I felt. The final 'boss' battle was also pretty cringeworthy for such a high profile, big budgeted game. I know Bungie never excelled at boss fights, but 343 could have at least tried.
While the campaign had more polish than Bungie's offerings, it felt more like an interquel than the start of a brand new trilogy. 343 had all the freedom that Halo 3's open ending left to them and decided to reuse too much from the previous games. Focusing too much on Cortana also limited the scope of the story I felt. The final 'boss' battle was also pretty cringeworthy for such a high profile, big budgeted game. I know Bungie never excelled at boss fights, but 343 could have at least tried.
Good topic. The lack of action in weapon balancing was a big problem. Back in the halo 2 days i can remember Bungie issuing balancing patches to reduce the effect of certain dual weapon combos (never stopped the noob combo though).
The balance between trying to evolve the multiplayer and breaking what made it great is where 343 struggled the most, the need to try and bring on board COD players had instead taken the game backwards and instead alienated everyone else who loved the franchise.
Halo 3 was the pinnacle, I didn't mind Reach once Bungie removed some of the game breaking armor abilities but Halo 5 needs to go back to the basics that made halo 3 (and 2) great. Reward players that have great skill, break the instant die\respawn mechanic. Give teams the opportunity to shine.
I can remember many a time being holed up in one of the bases in halo 3's snowbound, watching players walk across the ceiling waiting for the coordinated ambush. Man that game was amazing. I didn't feel any of those emotions with halo 4. It wasn't just Snowbound, all the levels were strategically.
The other thing that compeltely broke the dynamic was randomly spawning weapons, an absolutely terrible idea. As soon as you break the need for pinch points on the map which require guarding the emphasis to hold areas disappears and instead players run where they like. The pit was a good example of this. Map design in halo 4 was poor in comparison, they lacked soul. I'd take any random map from halo 2\3 (e.g. acension) and it would be head and shoulders over halo 4.
Too many similar weapons was also a pain, I could never get over the sheer permutations of similar weapons.
Nerfing the sniper was also not a great idea, yes in the right hands the halo 3 sniper could be considered overpowering but team dynamics formed out of that.
As i've said before, i've played 20k games of halo 2/3/reach and 270 odd on halo 4. Halo 5 isn't even on my radar at the moment - i've been stung badly with halo 4 multiplayer.
Halo 4 - you hurt me bad.
The balance between trying to evolve the multiplayer and breaking what made it great is where 343 struggled the most, the need to try and bring on board COD players had instead taken the game backwards and instead alienated everyone else who loved the franchise.
Halo 3 was the pinnacle, I didn't mind Reach once Bungie removed some of the game breaking armor abilities but Halo 5 needs to go back to the basics that made halo 3 (and 2) great. Reward players that have great skill, break the instant die\respawn mechanic. Give teams the opportunity to shine.
I can remember many a time being holed up in one of the bases in halo 3's snowbound, watching players walk across the ceiling waiting for the coordinated ambush. Man that game was amazing. I didn't feel any of those emotions with halo 4. It wasn't just Snowbound, all the levels were strategically.
The other thing that compeltely broke the dynamic was randomly spawning weapons, an absolutely terrible idea. As soon as you break the need for pinch points on the map which require guarding the emphasis to hold areas disappears and instead players run where they like. The pit was a good example of this. Map design in halo 4 was poor in comparison, they lacked soul. I'd take any random map from halo 2\3 (e.g. acension) and it would be head and shoulders over halo 4.
Too many similar weapons was also a pain, I could never get over the sheer permutations of similar weapons.
Nerfing the sniper was also not a great idea, yes in the right hands the halo 3 sniper could be considered overpowering but team dynamics formed out of that.
As i've said before, i've played 20k games of halo 2/3/reach and 270 odd on halo 4. Halo 5 isn't even on my radar at the moment - i've been stung badly with halo 4 multiplayer.
Halo 4 - you hurt me bad.
BattleMonkey
Member
Isn't Halo in general on a downward decline. CoD and BF have been dominating online FPS scene.
Halo Reach certainly wasn't responsible for any death. It made some mistakes, but despite the sadfaces some people have about it, it didn't bleed out and leave Halo 4 with an empty pantry to take over:
And even if it did, 343 was under no obligation to continue off Reach.
Alcoholikaust
Member
taking out firefight and making odd enemy design decisions really was off-putting for me
hope they step it up with 5, as it will be the "keep my XB1 or trade it in" game
hope they step it up with 5, as it will be the "keep my XB1 or trade it in" game
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
In a few words? Halo 4 is a very solid, entertaining game. Halo 4 is not a very solid, entertaining Halo game.
I did like pieces of the campaign (mainly the first level or two, when you had that "Halo" feeling again of being alone on a mysterious world) but after that it wasn't great. MP is fun to play, but I haven't felt like going back much. Which is a huge change in my Halo habits.
I did like pieces of the campaign (mainly the first level or two, when you had that "Halo" feeling again of being alone on a mysterious world) but after that it wasn't great. MP is fun to play, but I haven't felt like going back much. Which is a huge change in my Halo habits.
TheUsual
Gold Member
The new enemies are plain boring to me. I could really never take the story too seriously, but this stuff with Cortana is too much for me.
Multiplayer is still fun for me, but I play it now and again. Good to see there's still a nice sized community.
EDIT: Single player had extremely solid gameplay, but yeah, the new enemies.
DonfatherBrooks
Member
Graphics, campaign and spartan ops are great.
Multiplayer needs to be reworked. A lot. More maps, bigger maps, no perks or unlockable weapons or load outs.
Multiplayer needs to be reworked. A lot. More maps, bigger maps, no perks or unlockable weapons or load outs.
Halo 4's campaign was better than any of the other numbered titles, but lacked the sincerity and cohesiveness of Reach's singleplayer. It had some memorable moments, but much of the game seemed like filler. The multiplayer may have been more balanced than Reach's but simply wasn't as fun.
None of the maps were particularly intriguing, the exclusion of Firefight was a shame, and there was an overreliance on Forge World.
Halo might be my favorite game franchise, and I really hope that future titles are better received, but Halo 4 was underwhelming and deservedly less popular than other games.
None of the maps were particularly intriguing, the exclusion of Firefight was a shame, and there was an overreliance on Forge World.
Halo might be my favorite game franchise, and I really hope that future titles are better received, but Halo 4 was underwhelming and deservedly less popular than other games.
This is one of my favorite OPs.
I can't speak to the multiplayer, though: I was never really in to Halo multiplayer, and the most fun I had with 4 was in custom games. For me, it was all about the campaign... which didn't work very well. The level design, as gorgeous as it was, often didn't make for good combat, the health and checkpoint system weren't very nice... it just didn't feel that good to play. Plus, there were some severe story issues I'm pretty sure I could have pointed out early on in the script.
When I'm sitting there, in my house, and a friend or family member goes "hey, want to co-op?" I consider Halo 4, but I always come to the same conclusion: Nah. I don't really want to do this. Sorry. It's not that fun. I'd rather go play Reach, which has some amazing, amazing co-op. Halo 4 looks and sounds nice, but that's all they've got going for it: the level design just isn't that good, and Heroic no longer feels like it was designed for me, as a player, to play. It's become harder, but Normal is still too easy.
I can't speak to the multiplayer, though: I was never really in to Halo multiplayer, and the most fun I had with 4 was in custom games. For me, it was all about the campaign... which didn't work very well. The level design, as gorgeous as it was, often didn't make for good combat, the health and checkpoint system weren't very nice... it just didn't feel that good to play. Plus, there were some severe story issues I'm pretty sure I could have pointed out early on in the script.
When I'm sitting there, in my house, and a friend or family member goes "hey, want to co-op?" I consider Halo 4, but I always come to the same conclusion: Nah. I don't really want to do this. Sorry. It's not that fun. I'd rather go play Reach, which has some amazing, amazing co-op. Halo 4 looks and sounds nice, but that's all they've got going for it: the level design just isn't that good, and Heroic no longer feels like it was designed for me, as a player, to play. It's become harder, but Normal is still too easy.
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