Halo 6 needs a hype story, that's all. The gameplay of Halo 5 is fantastic, there's little to improve on there. Level design is in need of improvement, less samey corridors, more varied locations. I personally hope Halo Infinite is the start of a multi-game epic story, ideally a trilogy. Only problem is that Halo has so few memorable characters that it's hard to make players care for anyone. If I were MS, I'd have Infinite be the start, then create an ambitious Halo-spin off WRPG that plays like Mass Effect and focuses on story, lore and characters. Then follow it up with Halo 7 that concludes the story arc.
I think I mentioned it before, but MS needs more franchises with likeable, memorable characters that aren't dudebros or otherwise killer machines. It's one of Sony's biggest adventage (although they're just better at hiding their killer machines, see Nathan, Ellie and Alloy).
My hopes for MS's nextgen lineup:
- Halo Infinite
- Gears 6 (pls do something new, 5 was really by the numbers, bleh)
- Fable (although I'm not interested if it's full of silly british humor ...)
- Quantum Break-equivalent, but no live-action pls
- True Fantasy Live Online (adjusted to 2020-expectations ofc, have it be the first MMORPG that *truly* captures the feeling of all those mmorpg-anime!)
- Spore Alpha (collab with EA, Will Wright making a new Spore-game based on the first E3-presentation of Spore, now extended to a literal, impressive life simulation that's nothing like the shallow, cartoony shit we got before. It's basically Spore meets Dreams)
- Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball SeX (exclusive version with a budget for true nextgen visuals. Makes you wipe your screen twice a day, minimum)
- the megaton surprise-game: A story-focused RPG set in modern day times that borrows from both W- and JRPGs! You play a 30something worker, some disillusioned, scrawny guy, not some tough guy. But one day he can't do all that meaningless shit anymore and he starts fighting the system. Except it all happens in dramatic jrpg manner, turn-based battles, dialogue options that allow for multiple outcomes of a situation, and you get to persue several main goals, like "finding the meaning of life" or "becoming your boss' boss" and such. The content will sound like the most mundane stuff when you read about it, but it's presented with super dramatic cutscenes, music and voice-acting. "Don't you EVER TOUCH MY YOGHURT AGAIN, FRANK (co-worker)!"
- a WRPG that's not based on combat and numbers, but on writing in the vein of classic Dungeons and Dragons/Dark Eye-novels. No, not writing as in "player must read a lot", but create a world that's incredibly reactive to the player's ideas. You can't just try/evaluate every possible interaction, instead the game will notice what you try to do any instantly react to it. For example you need to enter a wooden door at the bottom of an old stone tower. It's closed with a big, heavy lock. You pull a bit, but it's firm. Now you could look for something to break the lock. The lock would repel your attack and start shouting (yes, you find out it can talk!) at you, "how dare you, boy!" And from there, you're given a hard task, because the lock holds a grudge against you now. Or you could have not done that and sat down next to the door, dialogue options appearing that say "if only someone told me ..." and "this stupid lock ..." and "sigh ...". If you choose option 1, a pretty, mysterious girl comes by. Option 2 will have the lock react. Option 3 causes an old memory to flash before your inner eyes and gives you a hint for something. It's hard to describe that game, but I'd want it to have the atmosphere of a fantasy story like the movie "The Last Unicorn", think of the magician Schmendrick. And now I'll stop, because I'm already being oddly specific about this game hope/idea
MS needs to escape the violent dudebro lineup. More whimsy stuff.
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