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Halo: The Master Chief Collection should be recalled

HTupolev

Member
Frankie came here a couple of days after released and promised a full explanation and breakdown of what happened once it was fixed. This is great, and I was looking forward to it. It was time to fix first, explain later.

Well, that's not acceptable anymore, because any reasonable time frame for a fix is gone.
Durandal:
"We've watched while the stars burned out, and creation played in reverse. The universe freezing in half light.
Once I thought to escape. To the end a master, step out of the path of collapse. Escape would make us God.
Yet I cannot help but remember one enigma. A hybrid, elusive destroyer. This is the only mystery I have not solved. The only element unaccounted for.
Even S'bhuth is no more, he saved his entire race, but in the end, frozen by despair, he joined the chaos he sought to evade.
But you were dead a thousand times. Hopeless encounters successfully won. A man long dead, grafted to machines your builders did not understand. You follow the path, fitting into an infinite pattern. Yours to manipulate, to destroy and rebuild.
Now, in the quantum moment before the closure, when all become one. One moment left. One point of space and time. I know who you are. You are Destiny.

...But we still haven't gotten Frankie's account of what happened with the MCC."
 

psychotron

Member
The following is not directly to you specifically, but:

Yet all of you bought it or continue to buy it, smh. A message needs to be sent to anyone who releases a game in this state. This game should have BOMBED but so many people bought it. I don't understand how that happens. I guess the Day 1 guys would have gotten burned, but why on earth would any informed gamer buy this game after reading/hearing all of the problems it has?

In the end, enough people bought this game, and that helps MS/343 be okay with releasing broken garbage to consumers, since they will buy it anyway.

I bought it day 1. It was a first party collection that was marketed to death by MS. How the hell was I to know? I get what you're saying, about people buying after the problems appeared but still.
 
I also think the Microsoft execs/advertising guys are completely out of touch with developers/programmers/artists and gamers on the front line. Look no further than the botched Xbox One reveal.

Also, regarding Halo MCC... when developers said, "Lets create the anniversary edition of Halo 2," The execs came back and said "You'll do one better. Make a package containing all of the Halo games, that will really sell the Xbox One."

Also, they seem to be relying too heavily on focus groups, and big data for their biggest titles. They're entering this period where they're producing some of the blandest homogenized content in hopes of capturing as many demographics as possible. See: Halo 5, I know, I know, nobody has played it yet... but the design decisions have inarguably been crafted by the execs and advertising guys. Halo is losing all of it's character and charm.

This only works if you think one developer worked on MCC. Whereas the reality is that it took five developers to get it to market.
 

Chinbo37

Member
i almost pulled the trigger on a white Xbox one with sunset overdrive and Halo MCC for 400.

I am really glad I didnt...
 
Really? I played 2 levels of Halo CE and the cutscenes were super jittery and the framerate seemed to chug when I was driving the Warthog. Very annoying

Eh, I played through the whole Halo: CE on Legendary and encountered no issues whatsoever (except for the game restarting a level after a patch had been applied, and activating a terminal forced the patch - a really stupid oversight). I also wonder how many people complaining about save bugs just don't know that in Halo games you absolutely have to save and quit between sessions. That's not a bug, it'a (retarded) feature. Likewise for the super slow warthog escape sequence.

Anyway, I'm not for a recall - I certainly wouldn't return it - but refunds should be given to those who want them, with no questions asked. I also hope that MS and 343i have something really good in store as a way of saying "we're sorry" to everyone who's bought the game. Even though I'm having lots of fun with the single player content, this has undoubtedly been a huge disaster.
 

Wereroku

Member
That is a very good point. And as anyone who works with programmers knows, that is a horrible decision on a project management level.

I think the problems came more from the fact that they decided instead of having everything run on it own they would tie everything together under one UI.

Anyway, I'm not for a recall - I certainly wouldn't return it - but refunds should be given to those who want them, with no questions asked. I also hope that MS and 343i have something really good in store as a way of saying "we're sorry" to everyone who's bought the game. Even though I'm having lots of fun with the single player content, this has undoubtedly been a huge disaster.

I just don't have a clue what I would give as compensation. The MCC seemed to be a complete package with only Spartan Ops being post launch support. I mean do they through more money at new maps that might break everything all over again.
 
I bought it day 1. It was a first party collection that was marketed to death by MS. How the hell was I to know? I get what you're saying, about people buying after the problems appeared but still.

I bought it + Xbox One day one too. Yes, it wasn't a very bright decision. But all of the Halo games (outside of Halo 1 anniversary for 360, which I did not play) did not have a history of significant issues at launch. Even Halo 4, which in my opinion was a pretty awful game at least worked as advertised. In hindsight, we all should have recalled the mess that was Halo 1 anniversary for 360.
 
I think this can be fixed by updates, although I would like some apology gifts for them releasing an unjustifiably broken game.
 

psychotron

Member
I bought it + Xbox One day one too. Yes, it wasn't a very bright decision. But all of the Halo games (outside of Halo 1 anniversary for 360, which I did not play) did not have a history of significant issues at launch. Even Halo 4, which in my opinion was a pretty awful game at least worked as advertised. In hindsight, we all should have recalled the mess that was Halo 1 anniversary for 360.

Screw that noise. It's victim blaming. Do we say brand new car owners have themselves to blame when their car shits the bed? No, it's the manufacturers fault and they need to own up.
 
Very large "used games/NoDRM" twitter movement was targeted at Sony.

Large MCC problems receive less attention because only Xbone users have access to that game, and IMO majority of them don't want to openly bash MS.

Now, why gaming journalist are not making larger fuss with highly visible website articles, that's beyond me. Maybe they also don't want to bash it, even though MS has 100% deserved it. Game is out for a month, and it still has serious issues.

Less than a quarter of the Day 1 Halo fanbase bought this at launch in the US. It's not that Halo fans don't know, most of them don't care. If you read the OT and the Halo 5 threads, many people are pissed off at 343s work. But it is, at the end of the day, a remake, with the limited fanbase that remakes get. I feel sorry for people who bought the system just to play it. Had it been pushed to spring, MS would have had a shaky "list war" this fall, but would have probably sold just as well since it seems like Assassin's Creed (the irony) and Call of Duty are the primary bundled titles. And the MCC would have been given 4-6 months to, you know, work properly.
 

AmuroChan

Member
Large MCC problems receive less attention because only Xbone users have access to that game, and IMO majority of them don't want to openly bash MS.

I think that includes some gaming sites as well. IGN still gave it a 9 and the host of Podcast Unlocked a week or two ago was proclaiming how MS knocked it out of the park with their first party titles this Fall (Forza, MCC, SO). Really?
 

watership

Member
Why recall it now? It was a buggy release, with broken multiplayer, but I was able to play the single player games, and some multiplyer even at launch. After a month it's significantly better. Its slow to BTB match occasionally, but I get into matches every time now. In every other aspect it's working. Don't see the point now.
 

Leyasu

Banned
The p2p fallback is there because they decided that custom games couldn't be on an Azure server due to the cost and planning that would be required to support a server instance for possibly millions of people.

Yet titanfall has custom games on dedicated servers..

They're virtual servers on microsofts multi-billion dollar azure network. I dont buy it! I also think that even co-op will be on dedicated servers on halo 5
 

Wereroku

Member
Yet titanfall has custom games on dedicated servers..

They're virtual servers on microsofts multi-billion dollar azure network. I dont buy it! I also think that even co-op will be on dedicated servers on halo 5

Yeah that could be all bullshit and they saw this trainwreck coming and cut custom and coop from dedi's to try to fix it. Frankie is really the only one who could answer stuff like that but I don't think he will be allowed to make a tell all post about MCC.
 

Fantastical

Death Prophet
Imagine if this was released back in the Xbox/PS2 era when there were no patches. Honestly so surprised that Microsoft's biggest game of the year is also probably the most broken one.

It wouldn't have been released in this state on PS2/Xbox. It really does seem like patches have given an excuse for developers to "ship now, fix later." It's extremely dangerous for this industry and hopefully this year has woken publishers up to what a cluster fuck this has been. I do think that this has somewhat soured the brands of Halo and Assassin's Creed in the minds of a significant amount of consumers. This is especially a disaster for Microsoft. This was their big of the game of the year. I'm sure a year ago they anticipated this getting GoTY nods, best of lists, etc. No way is it doing that now.
 
Yet titanfall has custom games on dedicated servers..

They're virtual servers on microsofts multi-billion dollar azure network. I dont buy it! I also think that even co-op will be on dedicated servers on halo 5

Yeah this is the most unacceptable part of the game to me. MS have been pushing Cloud/Servers as a big part of why to get an Xbox. Every part of this game should be running on servers where you are playing pvp.
 
This thread is just daily life on the HaloGaf and MCC OT.

There are still people defending 343 after this embarrassment of a launch.

I bought a x1 for this game. I feel like a complete fucking idiot. The game is absolute trash no matter how many gaffers say it's fine.


Avoid at all costs folks. Get it next xmas in a sale when it might actually work
 

mnannola

Member
I'm sorry but a massive amount of blame has to be placed on the consumer in this case. Paying $60+ for a game sight unseen is what is causing this to become an epidemic. You better believe if no one preordered this game and they were forced to rely on word of mouth to sell the game, especially an online focused game, this shit would not happen.

Buying a game that has an online component? Wait till the community chimes in after launch to see how it is before you hand over your money. That is it. That is the key. It's not hard.
 

Vildiil

Member
I canceled my Xbox Live Gold subscription I've had since the service basically launched because of this game.
 

hawk2025

Member
Eh, I played through the whole Halo: CE on Legendary and encountered no issues whatsoever (except for the game restarting a level after a patch had been applied, and activating a terminal forced the patch - a really stupid oversight). I also wonder how many people complaining about save bugs just don't know that in Halo games you absolutely have to save and quit between sessions. That's not a bug, it'a (retarded) feature. Likewise for the super slow warthog escape sequence.

Anyway, I'm not for a recall - I certainly wouldn't return it - but refunds should be given to those who want them, with no questions asked. I also hope that MS and 343i have something really good in store as a way of saying "we're sorry" to everyone who's bought the game. Even though I'm having lots of fun with the single player content, this has undoubtedly been a huge disaster.



Really, no issues whatsoever?

Those cutscenes are completely acceptable to you?

I'm not doubting they are, I'm just surprised.


I'm sorry but a massive amount of blame has to be placed on the consumer in this case. Paying $60+ for a game sight unseen is what is causing this to become an epidemic. You better believe if no one preordered this game and they were forced to rely on word of mouth to sell the game, especially an online focused game, this shit would not happen.

Buying a game that has an online component? Wait till the community chimes in after launch to see how it is before you hand over your money. That is it. That is the key. It's not hard.


It wasn't sight unseen.

The game was reviewed before it was out. Reviews completely failed us. I assume by community you mean reviewers, because if the actual community followed your advice, we would never actually hear anyone chime in, no?
There's an implicit understanding between content developers, content reviewers, and final consumers. You tell us what we are getting, they tell us if their claims are true, we decide to buy or not.

The whole chain here was broken.
 

FX-GMC

Member
Why recall it now? It was a buggy release, with broken multiplayer, but I was able to play the single player games, and some multiplyer even at launch. After a month it's significantly better. Its slow to BTB match occasionally, but I get into matches every time now. In every other aspect it's working. Don't see the point now.

This.

Why recall after things are working?
 
I'm sorry but a massive amount of blame has to be placed on the consumer in this case. Paying $60+ for a game sight unseen is what is causing this to become an epidemic. You better believe if no one preordered this game and they were forced to rely on word of mouth to sell the game, especially an online focused game, this shit would not happen.

Buying a game that has an online component? Wait till the community chimes in after launch to see how it is before you hand over your money. That is it. That is the key. It's not hard.

I don't really like this argument. The expectation when you purchase a product, any product, is that it "works" as advertised. Whether or not the content is *good* (ie. story, gameplay etc) is subjective and that is the consumer's responsibility.
 

Leyasu

Banned
Yeah that could be all bullshit and they saw this trainwreck coming and cut custom and coop from dedi's to try to fix it. Frankie is really the only one who could answer stuff like that but I don't think he will be allowed to make a tell all post about MCC.

I asked Frankie the same questions for months before launch "can we choose the datacrenter where we play"? or "how was the matchmaking going to work on the dedicated servers" He either ignored it, or said that he didn't know. You know, the franchise director didn't know what on-line solution they was using? After touting dedicated servers since it was announced.

i think that you hit the nail on the head. They saw this trainwreck, and tried to atleast uphold a part of the dedicated server promise.
 
im happy with my purchase so far. i can get into team slayer games very quickly, though the team balances still suck. single player has worked fine for me as well

i haven't owned it from launch, so maybe i got lucky and missed the worst stretches

if they were offering a refund i woudn't take it, id prefer to keep the game
 

HTupolev

Member
Eh, I played through the whole Halo: CE on Legendary and encountered no issues whatsoever (except for the game restarting a level after a patch had been applied, and activating a terminal forced the patch - a really stupid oversight). I also wonder how many people complaining about save bugs just don't know that in Halo games you absolutely have to save and quit between sessions.
It's entirely possible that some players are screwing up, but by and large the save issue is with the game. The save issue has been noted even within dedicated fan communities, and I've seen it happen numerous times myself.
 
I'm surprised how much little buzz this gets in the gaming journalist world compared to Assassin's Creed which got absolutely slammed. This game is a bigger blunder than both Unity and BF4, and that's saying a lot. I still can't properly play online one month after launch.

You can add DriveClub to this list, which also got raked over the coals by just about everyone for it's server issues.

Halo and Xbox Live get a free pass for some reason.
 
I'm sorry but a massive amount of blame has to be placed on the consumer in this case. Paying $60+ for a game sight unseen is what is causing this to become an epidemic. You better believe if no one preordered this game and they were forced to rely on word of mouth to sell the game, especially an online focused game, this shit would not happen.

Buying a game that has an online component? Wait till the community chimes in after launch to see how it is before you hand over your money. That is it. That is the key. It's not hard.
Yeah it's our fault they pushed out a broken game
 

Feindflug

Member
Sounds like they bit off way more than they could chew. They are almost fortunate the player base is so meager compared to the mainline Halo titles at this point. It would have been much more realistic, it seems, for them to have released just the Halo 2 remake and tried their damndest to make it the best package it could be. Testing 100 maps and different player configurations with different graphical settings must be a goddamn nightmare.

I think that it's pretty clear that the game was most likely rushed for launch, I guess MS wanted one more big title for their fall line-up...from what I read here the game could use maybe 6 months more if after all these patches the game isn't working properly.

MS and Spencer should feel ashamed for treating their flagship IP like this, to be honest I don't know if 343i should take the blame for this if this mess has being forced to launch earlier than it should...I doubt that they could do much.

Where is CBOAT when you need him/her?
 
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