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343i Community Manager: The future of MCC is still unknown but the ship hasn't sailed

Fox Mulder

Member
Fuck 343 really.

Hilarious treatment for a collection meant to celebrate fucking Halo. The franchise that launched the Xbox brand.

Just shit out broken to fill a holiday checkbox and stepped over as they moved on to sell Halo 5 to the same audience.

They killed the franchise for me.
 

Charcoal

Member
Why is this a bad thing is the game finally gets fixed?

There are still plenty of people playing the game even its state. Im on a Halo kick and booted up MCC - found slayer and big team matches with no problem but it still has that horrible game finding lobby and it crashed a couple of times. Such a shame. Its nice playing any Halo mission at 60 fps at the touch of a button though. Holding out hope for a mp patch...
Try joining those same modes with two separate live accounts and a guest account or two. Be prepared to wait 15 minutes in between matches for the game to find more players.
 

Fracas

#fuckonami
pls god just let this piece of garbage die already

MCC is the most embarrassing game I think I've ever seen
 

AmyS

Member
I bought an Xbox One S just before the new year, how is MCC for the single player campaigns ?

Edit: I've only played OG Halo and Halo 2 on OG Xbox, never played Halo 3 or 4 on 360.
 

Chris1

Member
I bought an Xbox One S just before the new year, how is MCC for the single player campaigns ?

Edit: I've only played OG Halo and Halo 2 on OG Xbox, never played Halo 3 or 4 on 360.

They're fine. Some bugs but definitely playable.
 

Moa

Member
Game worked fine for me and I loved it. Never really had issues outside of servers at first.

But I don't have any issues getting online now and I made it through all the campaign's without any issues.

The game had plenty of issues for you, you just didn't notice them and it's a shame. It has so many issues going from major to minor and almost every corner of the collection you look at has something wrong.

CE's netcode is just fucked as well as every single issue listed at http://www.halobugs.com which makes the mode borderline unplayable online, especially when you're off-host. The aim assist is also completely non-existent compared to the original making Pistol fights much more difficult that intended.

Halo 2's netcode also has plenty issues but nothing nearly as bad as listed above. The campaign features a nasty desync bug (on all levels, not just Quarantine Zone) which makes getting through the co-op impossible for some players. One of the most minor bugs I know of in Halo 2 on MCC is that none of the enemies will dual wield weapons that they did in the original. I'm not sure if this ended up getting fixed but go and playthrough the Heretic level and watch how the remastered (and original) cutscene will show the Heretic leader dual wielding Plasma Rifles and then when you transition back into gameplay, he will only be holding one.

Halo 3 also has netcode issues (this is really becoming a pattern) but again, nothing as bad as listed above making the game a chore to play off-host.

Halo 4 funnily enough is the most functioning game in the collection but still features plenty of minor issues such as missing UI options in Forge for Trait Zones meaning you can't use the item at all, SR-1 showing on killcams despite the fact there are no SR ranks in Halo: The Master Chief Collection, loadouts randomly resetting, etc.

This also doesn't include the bugs like:

  • the main menu user interface just completely bugging out forcing you to quit the game and in extreme cases restarting your console
  • Matchmaking just not working forcing the player to back out and restart the search
  • Party stability is a hot mess and often forces players to restart their game which causes even more instability for players currently in the lobby
  • Maps failing to load
  • No proper in-game emblem display for Halo 2 and Halo 3 - not allowing players to see who is who in Halo 2's Multiplayer
  • Halo 2 Anniversary's microphone indicators overlapping and just looking god awful in general.
  • Random game crashes
  • The 343 Industries/Microsoft Studios splash screen literally jitters before you even see the main menu, forcing the main menu music to start playing early and overlapping the splash screen audio

I could go on and on but you'll run into these issues just playing casually.

I'm not meaning to go after you in this post but I hate people (in general, not specifically aiming this at you) saying that run into no issues and play this collection without issue when most times they get these issues and just shrug it off, restart the game and try again.
 
My main takeaway is that there are people at 343 that can't beat the game on legendary. Perhaps that's part of the issue. I love Halo 5 but legendary sucks. It shouldn't.
 

EmiPrime

Member
I don't know why 343i keeps getting blamed. If the game wasn't finished Microsoft should have delayed it. It was far too ambitious a project to get done in the time given to them. 5 other external developers also worked on it and it must have been a nightmare trying to collaborate and get it all into one package. I'm sure 343i wanted to fix the game but if Microsoft told them they couldn't and that they wanted them working on Halo 5 and then Halo Wars 2 instead what were 343i supposed to do? Work on it during their lunch breaks or during weekends? That's unreasonable.

This failure is on Microsoft Studios, not 343i.
 

Moa

Member
I bought an Xbox One S just before the new year, how is MCC for the single player campaigns ?

Edit: I've only played OG Halo and Halo 2 on OG Xbox, never played Halo 3 or 4 on 360.

Playable but you'll no doubt run into issues like crashes, freezes, etc.
 

jelly

Member
It's their biggest IP, it should be fixed for fans and newcomers. They should make some more money off PC players too if they go down that route. Multiplayer could live again if they curated it properly, fixed issues and did things better. Promote classic Halo, not hard to have nostalgia events. People play Counter Strike ffs!

As for campaign, it could also be better and added to, remastered further. The UI for the game could be rethought.

There is a lot they could do and people would welcome it. Old games aren't suddenly dead in the water, if you make going back a seamless and fun experience, people will come back and it's perfect for newcomers. They shouldn't let that be the history of their Halo IP.

My wish list

Fix bugs
Performance improvements.
Rethink and improve how the collection functions from UI to networking
Remaster the games further, Halo CEA could do with a better art style and actually replicating what it looked like on the original Xbox plus the classic shouldn't be missing effects.
Boost Halo 2 to 1080p, fix the bugs and issues.
Multiplayer, fix it further, do it better, curate, have classic events, user engagement.
Halo 3 Anniversary and Halo Reach Remaster so it doesn't have that horrible ghosting AA.
Do a PC version if possible.
 

E92 M3

Member
I don't know why 343i keeps getting blamed. If the game wasn't finished Microsoft should have delayed it. It was far too ambitious a project to get done in the time given to them. 5 other external developers also worked on it and it must have been a nightmare trying to collaborate and get it all into one package. I'm sure 343i wanted to fix the game but if Microsoft told them they couldn't and that they wanted them working on Halo 5 and then Halo Wars 2 instead what were 343i supposed to do? Work on it during their lunch breaks or during weekends? That's unreasonable.

This failure is on Microsoft Studios, not 343i.

LOL, blame Microsoft for not wanting to hemorrhage money? 343i is to blame for they were managing and producing the title. MCC was an embarrassment and disgrace to the Halo franchise.
 
This and this.

Also, let me make a bold (pipe dream) prediction.

Halo 3 Anniversary launches with Scorpio for it's 10th anniversary, all done up and sexy. It's then patched into MCC for free or reduced price for existing MCC owners. MS reveals that they've been slowly breaking bugs and the MCC re-launches in properly functioning condition.

Cancer is cured. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony announce that all their next-gen consoles will be combined into one console along with the combined software efforts of their first parties. Half-Life 3 is announced with "Available on Steam TODAY" heading.

You had me until the Half-Life 3 part.
 

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
I am holding hope for performance improvements with Scorpio.

343i PLEASE!
 

jelly

Member
LOL, blame Microsoft for not wanting to hemorrhage money? 343i is to blame for they were managing and producing the title. MCC was an embarrassment and disgrace to the Halo franchise.

343 are to blame for terrible oversight, the buck stops with them not the 5 studios doing most of the work. However, Phil Spencer, Nadella wanted to desperately sell consoles that year so MCC was launching no matter what to help so they take a lot of blame too and shame on them for not going above and beyond to bring the game up to the standards the IP and fans deserve. They could have kept fixing MCC but didn't. Disgraceful, will always be tainted by it and untrustworthy.
 
I still don't know where the issues are coming from myself - I've finished all four campaigns (working on ODST still) and played a ton of multiplayer. Aside from odd matchmaking times with a friend, the only issues I've had are UI hiccups (Halo 4 prompt, unresponsiveness for a couple seconds after exiting the dashboard or quick menu, menu failing to refresh after going idle for too long, slow load times for the newer games) and some failed achievements involving skulls in Halo 3 (which admittedly is probably way more abundant the more you try but I'm not trying to complete this game by any stretch)

My question is, do people seriously have game-breaking issues or is it nitpicking?
 

Hugstable

Banned
I wasn't around in the beginning and hardly play MP so my only experiences have been with the single player. The single player was fine for the most part recently, though achievements are incredibly bugged and some take awhile after even playing to unlock, and some don't even unlock at all. Really is not worth playing this game for any achievements because of it.

Funniest thing about it is that 343 set up a thread on their website for reporting of achievements that people have trouble with, with many thinking that 343 would use that info to find out what's going wrong and help them. After I got my achievement bugged I went in there to post my issue, and not a few posts after mine, the very first person (KittenPuncher) to post in the topic posts that they never even got help with the problem. Why even set up the thread then?!?! >_>

https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/...929-3917-4224-b723-be59860816e8/posts?page=14
 

jelly

Member
Oh what's that absolute gem in Halo 4.

The ending QTE in Halo 4 is the wrong prompt in MCC so you fail every time unless you ignore it and try another button.

Complete and utter shambles that isn't fixed to this day.
 
Oh what's that absolute gem in Halo 4.

The ending QTE in Halo 4 is the wrong prompt in MCC so you fail every time unless you ignore it and try another button.

Complete and utter shambles that isn't fixed to this day.

maybe it was trying to save you from completing a shitty qte boss fight and then getting a melodramatic cutscene that chief isn't able to fuck his holographic waifu anymore
 

EmiPrime

Member
LOL, blame Microsoft for not wanting to hemorrhage money? 343i is to blame for they were managing and producing the title. MCC was an embarrassment and disgrace to the Halo franchise.

It was released 6 months after its reveal and required 5 other external developers to work on it, the game development equivalent of herding cats. It was obviously rushed to meet a date set by Microsoft, that's not something 343i have the power to decide. The producers at Microsoft should have made the call to give it more time instead of pushing it out unfinished just to have a Halo game during the 2014 silly season.
 

MrDaravon

Member
Man, I was THIS close to getting an Xbox One instead of a PS4 right when this came out, and it was such a train wreck I got a PS4 instead and haven't looked back. Still bums me out though, I love the original Halo games :(
 

E92 M3

Member
343 are to blame for terrible oversight, the buck stops with them not the 5 studios doing most of the work. However, Phil Spencer, Nadella wanted to desperately sell consoles that year so MCC was launching no matter what to help so they take a lot of blame too and shame on them for not going above and beyond to bring the game up to the standards the IP and fans deserve. They could have kept fixing MCC but didn't. Disgraceful, will always be tainted by it and untrustworthy.

It was released 6 months after its reveal and required 5 other external developers to work on it, the game development equivalent of herding cats. It was obviously rushed to meet a date set by Microsoft, that's not something 343i have the power to decide. The producers at Microsoft should have made the call to give it more time instead of pushing it out unfinished just to have a Halo game during the 2014 silly season.

Personally, I believe more responsibility falls on 343 for accepting the project and promising to have it completed. What sucks is that Microsoft obviously wanted it out by the holidays.

We'll never know the Truth of what happened - and Frankie did promise to give that to us.
 

Vinc

Member
It's such a shame how it turned out. MCC was supposed to make me fall in love with the franchise all over again, and it still did help get me excited about the franchise again, but not at all as much as I thought it would. I think at this point, the only way to bring me back is to soft reboot the franchise ala Force Awakens.
 
Huge missed opportunity.

Even if they fix it, the ship has sailed. People won't go back to play this game. I will, but the majority won't.

Biggest gaming disappointment ever for me. I bought an Xbox One for this game and felt robbed of the first night matchmaking hype with the rest of the world.

A damn fucking shame.
 

Fracas

#fuckonami
Whatever, any chance of the game had of a thriving community is long gone.

I will never forgive 343 for what they did to Halo 2. So many lies and broken promises. I've said since the beginning that it's a mystery how there wasn't a class action lawsuit against 343 or Microsoft. I mean the game flat out didn't work for months. $60 I paid for this game. And not just "didn't work as advertised", I mean literally fucking didn't work. What other type of product gets away with that? It's the closest I've been to getting robbed in my life. Goddamn I work myself up just thinking about this game.

KDztdLL.png
 
Personally, I believe more responsibility falls on 343 for accepting the project and promising to have it completed. What sucks is that Microsoft obviously wanted it out by the holidays.

We'll never know the Truth of what happened - and Frankie did promise to give that to us.
"Accepting the project"

Microsoft owns 343, lol. They couldn't exactly say no.
 

EmiPrime

Member
Personally, I believe more responsibility falls on 343 for accepting the project and promising to have it completed. What sucks is that Microsoft obviously wanted it out by the holidays.

We'll never know the Truth of what happened - and Frankie did promise to give that to us.

We do know however that the project was initially just Halo 2 Anniversary. The Xbox One was however getting its arse handed to it by the PS4 and Microsoft needed something bigger than a remake of a 10 year old game. So then what started out as H2A became MCC but they still wanted it out in time for Christmas 2014. Cue panic and mad scramble to hire any studios that were available to get the job done. At first they felt vindicated because the buzz MCC created was pretty massive but it should have been delayed when it became obvious the game was a mess.

My speculation.

"Accepting the project"

Microsoft owns 343, lol. They couldn't exactly say no.

Indeed.
 
Woah, Ske7tch got hired on at 343? I think he and Shishka were my favorite mods over at the Bungie forums back when I used to spend all day over there instead of GAF.
 

E92 M3

Member
"Accepting the project"

Microsoft owns 343, lol. They couldn't exactly say no.

I'd like to believe they have more autonomy than that. I am sure Microsoft consulted with 343.

We do know however that the project was initially just Halo 2 Anniversary. The Xbox One was however getting its arse handed to it by the PS4 and Microsoft needed something bigger than a remake of a 10 year old game. So then what started out as H2A became MCC but they still wanted it out in time for Christmas 2014. Cue panic and mad scramble to hire any studios that were available to get the job done. At first they felt vindicated because the buzz MCC created was pretty massive but it should have been delayed when it became obvious the game was a mess.

My speculation.



Indeed.

I'd love to know the actual truth one of these days.

Woah, Ske7tch got hired on at 343? I think he and Shishka were my favorite mods over at the Bungie forums back when I used to spend all day over there instead of GAF.

Shishka just banned everyone.
 

Calibos

Member
It was an extremely ambitious project to bring it all together in one working compilation with one menu system...but I can't deny that it was busted up and broken in many ways which falls squarely on 343 and the MS team pushing it's release.

I was still able to get a good 60 hours of enjoyable frustration out of it though so I guess all is not lost. It's just extremely disappointing...


In hindsight, maybe they would have been better off letting all of these titles be flagships for their Backward Compatibility program? In it's current state it seems like most games are running pretty great and Reach has seen improvements...the only other thing you sacrifice is the 60fps game play of MCC which I guess would be a bummer now that we have tasted that goodness.

I don't know...it would be nice if they could rope the studios back in to help fix MCC, but I would rather they just focus all of their attention on making Halo 6 a complete and amazing experience.
 

EmiPrime

Member
I'd like to believe they have more autonomy than that. I am sure Microsoft consulted with 343.

Ultimately Microsoft (Phil Spencer et al) have the final say for something as big as a Halo release date as such the buck stops with them. They hanged 343i out to dry and to take the anger and abuse from disappointed fans rather than delay the game to give it the time it needed. IMO it's a disgrace and 343i deserved better. At the very least they should have been allowed to fix the game to salvage their reputation but they weren't even afforded that.
 

E92 M3

Member
Ultimately Microsoft (Phil Spencer et al) have the final say for something as big as a Halo release date as such the buck stops with them. They hanged 343i out to dry and to take the anger and abuse from disappointed fans rather than delay the game to give it the time it needed. IMO it's a disgrace and 343i deserved better. At the very least they should have been allowed to fix the game to salvage their reputation but they weren't even afforded that.

How do you know this? Inside source? As far as I'm concerned, everyone is responsible.
 

meanspartan

Member
Ever since I read a Bethesda post years ago that they had "no plans" to fix a bug that wouldn't let me cure vampirism in ES Oblivion present on the Ps3 GOTY Edition, I have had a burning hatred for shit like this.

Unless your studio literally went under, not fixing major issues is not fucking acceptable and you don't get any points for acting like you are finally being honest or something. FIX YOUR GAME.
 

Blueblur1

Member
What a shitty way to treat the legacy of Halo and its fan base. Its shit like MCC that is the reason why I haven't and won't ever let 343 off the hook for their shitty decisions.
 
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