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Bungie vs 343 Industries: A difference in Design Philosophy

mortal

Gold Member
Yes I know, another fucking Halo thread? lol.

With all of the recent Halo Infinite news, memes, & discussion, I was reminded of this crowbcat video.



I've never been a hardcore Halo fan myself, although I've always been aware of the sheer popularity of the Halo series and have enjoyed some multiplayer sessions in the past.

Ever since Bungie's departure from Halo, I've noticed much of the criticism and dissatisfaction expressed by Halo fans are often aimed at 343i in particular.
Often coinciding with very high praise for the Halo entires developed by Bungie.

What issues do you have with 343i and their approach to the Halo IP?

For those of you who cautiously optimistic for Halo Infinite, what can they do or improve upon to better capture your ideal Halo experience?

For those of you who've played and enjoyed the 343i Halo entires and are highly anticipating Halo Infinite, what do you like about their approach and contributions to the Halo IP?
 

DerFuggler

Member
Honestly, I've never played Halo 4 or 5.

To me, the pinnacle was Halo 2. I've been replaying Halo 3 on the MCC PC release but nothing matches the set pieces of the H2 campaign. I really wish they'd go back and look at what it so great. It seemed like every level had something new or exciting to offer. The first level of H2 (an orbital space station) featured areas the player could depart the station itself and would immediately notice two things--the vacuum of space muffling all sound and the diminished gravity--higher leaps and quiet explosions. New Mombasa introduced a linear progression of increasingly powerful vehicles leading you to a section driving a Scorpion across a long bridge with plenty of fodder to destroy--or be destroyed by--with a final encounter where the enemy had a vehicle bigger and greater than any in the UNSC. The only way to defeat it was by boarding it and killing the entire crew. It was epic... and it introduced totally new experiences.

Halo 3 focused more on larger battles between the UNSC and Covenant forces but lost the grandeur and notability of H2's battles by focusing on the AI at work between the two. It inserted Master Chief into battles that seemed to diminish his (or your) efforts by showcasing the AI. It was fun but not very memorable. YMMV.

I was never a hardcore Halo MP guy. I think if 343i wants to wow ANYONE, they need to think long and hard. They'll probably have to delay Halo: Infinite. When I first saw the "MINECRAFT" mountains in the new trailer I had an idea... What if these extruded hexagons making up most of vertical landscape... what if they could be affected by Master Chief? What if the player could raise and lower them at will?! Of course, we saw nothing like that in the the XBOX SHOWCASE, but what if that was one of the game mechanics?
 

JonnyMP3

Member
I think they need a proper story writer. Halo 4 and 5 started to suck with it all then being revolved around finding Cortana in some weird cyber romance, her going mental and the whole being worthy of the mantle so genocide... I just wanted a clear storyline against the alien bad guys. What's with all the convolutions? It's like watching OT Star Wars and New Star Wars. One was brilliant and straight forward. The other wasn't.

Not that Bungie are doing better with Destiny's storyline. Which I have totally given up on caring about... Because as mystical and universally bizarre it's supposed to be. It's stupid. That game is great but it's like you have to literally find every single little bit of lore for anything to make sense beyond there are cosmic evils out there... But you have no idea who it is. It may even be you.
 

VertigoOA

Banned
Same difference as Disney Star Wars vs. Lucas Star Wars.

Some things are made with passion and creativity ... and others creatively bankrupt and designed by a board of hacks.

Bungie will continue to kick 343’s ass this fall. Halo Infinite will fall out of the Xbox top ten most played within 3 months while destiny continues to never leave.

I mean... Destiny’s new expansion on gamespass keeps MS covered. They still need an actual Bungie game to launch their next console.
 

JonnyMP3

Member
Same difference as Disney Star Wars vs. Lucas Star Wars.

Some things are made with passion and creativity ... and others creatively bankrupt and designed by a board of hacks.

Bungie will continue to kick 343’s ass this fall. Halo Infinite will fall out of the Xbox top ten most played within 3 months while destiny continues to never leave.

I mean... Destiny’s new expansion on gamespass keeps MS covered. They still need an actual Bungie game to launch their next console.
At least it's not just me that see's the Star Wars similarity.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
I liked Halo 4, but it didn't really add much to the series. I think most were willing to give 343 some rope, as it's not easy to build a new team from scratch to continue the most popular and biggest franchise in videogames. However, their efforts on Xbox One have just been awful. MCC was rushed out and did not work properly for years. Halo 5 had a deceptive ad campaign and a singleplayer mode that was almost universally hated. The MP is good but I don't think many people are playing it these days.

Halo Infinite's backlash kind of feels like the last straw.
 

J4K

Member
I actually just pulled out my old 360 the other day and popped in Halo Reach. It's got the magnetic quality to it that most very good games have--you start playing for just one level and end up playing for a few hours instead.

I don't think it's nostalgia. There's a rhythm to the combat and the encounters that feels very Bungie.

I actually think Halo 4 did pretty well as first attempt at reverse engineering this formula--the actual combat and control felt excellent. At the very least 343i seemed to understand the visceral feel of Halo exceptionally well. I think it's the rhythm that's not quite right, though, if that makes any sense.

With that said, I haven't played Halo 5, just Halo 4. So maybe they've lost their way a bit since that fairly decent first outing.
 
Bungie had a clear vision for the story in their trilogy and you can see that when you play their games.

343 made Halo 4 with this being the start of a new trilogy then took a 180 when making Halo 5. Halo 5 completely threw away everything Halo 4 set up. At some point they even threw away the idea of this being a new trilogy. Now Halo Infinite is coming out and they and throwing away everything Halo 5 set up. They have no vision for where they are taking the franchise.
 

-Arcadia-

Banned
Bungie was an extraordinarily talented group of gamers chasing their dreams, and the things they wanted to play. That passion, fun, and identity soaked into Halo at its very core.

343 is a bunch of suits trying to artificially reconstruct that appeal for the strongest fiscal quarter numbers possible.

343 is no Disney -- the new Halos were actually allowed to have some of their own identity, and for at least the first game, they were hiring the best and brightest, and trying hard to produce something good, but ultimately, that creative soul isn't there.
 

Sony

Nintendo
This thread is embarrassing. 343i is not Bungie and they shouldn't be. If Bungie were at MS still, they still would have to face choices regarding incorporating game mechanics (sprint, ADS, perks) in a modern Halo game. Oh how quick people are to forget vanilla Halo: Reach.

Halo 4 had a good SP, decent MP
Halo 5 had a good MP, decent SP
Regarding Halo Infinite, the gameplay got generally positive reactions. It's the graphics that broke the internet. If that's the biggest concern, I'd say they're on the right track to make a great Halo game. This bashing of 343 is toxic and enthousiast-forum unworthy in my opinion.
 

Graciaus

Member
Bungie might not have been perfect but Halo 1, 2, 3, Reach, and ODST all had good single and multiplayer.

Everything 343 made has been average at best. The first thing they did was ruin Reach with the TU. Sure it was fun for a few days but once the core mechanic was gone that I had perfected there was no reason to play. Halo 4's campaign is not fun and vanilla MP is awful. However on Pro settings which get rid of many things the game is very fun. But it is an unbalanced mess that can't be played competitively. Halo 5 is a disaster in campaign and multi. H4 actually had a bunch of good maps but H5 didn't have a single one. Missing a bunch of stuff at launch and warzone sucked. They rebalanced the game later to further ruin it. Do we even need to mention MCC? Unplayable mess for years. It's impressive how awful 343 has treated the series.
 

bilderberg

Member
I still remember the backlash when Halo 3 was coming out about how bad the graphics were. From 3 on, Halo games have looked ok, but not ground breaking.
Halo 3 looked really good in motion, other games were more concerned about looking good in screenshots where they can hide low res LOD's, texture pop in, shadow and geometry draw in, poor framerate, etc. II's aged a hell of a lot better too than say Gears of War or Modern Warfare have.
 
D

Deleted member 775630

Unconfirmed Member
I just did, right after playing Reach again. Fuck the Flood are relentless sons of bitches. Shotgun empty? Here's 30 more of us!
Haha, I'm still at Reach. Halo 1 is next up, but will take a while. Reach is pretty difficult at Legendary
 

Vade

Member
Halo ending after 3 would have been perfect.

Reach is bad, was bad, introduced bad ideas, trash for competitive multiplayer, changed the story we already had with retcons and even dumber ideas. Even Marty's score is the weakest out of all his scored Halos. I would say Halo 4 had a better score than Reach. The reverence for Bungie when their last halo game was actually pretty shit is crazy.
 

mortal

Gold Member
This thread is embarrassing.
Wait how is it embarrassing? lol

I didn't make this thread to bash 343i. I've even stated in the OP that I'm not a huge Halo fan, so I don't have a horse in this race. I was curious about fan opinions of both developer's approach. I also asked people that like the 343i Halo entires.

With respect to Halo Reach, I do recall some backlash from fans with the changes Bungie implemented, like sprint and other gameplay changes that were picked up by 343i in subsequent entires.
Chris Ray Gun goes in depth about those game design changes in one of his recent videos actually. He seemed to be hopeful for Halo Infitie as well. I'm sure many Halo fans share similar sentiments.

 
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dezzy8

Member
I honestly think that Bungie wasn’t doing Halo any justice after 3. I think they realized this themselves and moved on. I think MS should do the same. At least give the series a break.
 

Aion002

Member
I think that is unfair to compare 343 with Bungie.

When Bungie made Halo, they made the game they wanted to make, the way they wanted. 343i has to obey MS vision of games, so they have to make a games as a services thing, they have to make the game run on Xbox One OG, they have all those fans and executives telling them how they should make the game.

I don't know how the Xbox games studios works, but they give the impression to be really restrictive with what each studio has to do and how to make.... See Playground studios, rather than being able to make their own game, they are resurrecting fucking Fable... a cursed franchise.... The same thing with Gears, even Epic had enough with the series and MS went and bought the IP and made an studio to pump sequels...

I think that the problem is MS vision of games.
 
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mortal

Gold Member
Halo 5 was the Super Mario Bros. 2 of Halos. Hopefully Halo Infinite is Super Mario Bros. 3.
Halo 5 is more like The Last Jedi of Halo. Except without ANY fans.
You're not really giving any reasons as to you why you like earlier entires versus the newer entires.

The reason I don't like Halo is Bungie, I never got to the 343i games because the early ones are offensively boring.
So why did you even respond to this thread? lol



343i is retarded just for this scene.
Cheesy writing with bad graphics, stupidly long scene

In your opinion, what's an example of exceptional writing in one of the older games? Just for the sake of comparisons.

I honestly think that Bungie wasn’t doing Halo any justice after 3. I think they realized this themselves and moved on. I think MS should do the same. At least give the series a break.
Hmm I think that's fair to 343i. Maybe Mibcrofst's insistence in making Halo a perpetual flagship for the Xbox brand did just as much damage to the legacy of the games.
 
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Freeman

Banned
So why did you even respond to this thread? lol
Because I'm a free man.

I played some of Bungie's Halos (the original, the anniversary remake and 3) and was subjected to the new Halo trailer. That qualifies me to say I don't like them.
 
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Wimbledon

Member


I thought this video kind of summed of thoughts about Halo infinite.

The visuals could've been better. But the gameplay looks fun, and considering the scope there trying to take this game, were going to see a lot of weapons, equipment, vehicles, and different enemy types. Since it is GAAS model while i didn't want Halo to go that route, they can slowly start to introduce storylines into the game over time. Whomever this harbinger is, the flood, maybe Atriox, Cortana and whomever else they want to build up. I'm also sure we still have yet to see everything this game is introducing.

I'm optimistic for the most part, but i also wouldn't mind them delaying the game. I feel like infinite at launch is going to be similar to MCC.
 
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SpartanN92

Banned
My biggest issue with 343 is their unspoken motto for years was “Change for the sake of change.”

Here we are over a decade after the formation of the studio and their leadership still doesn’t understand it. They think diversity hires=success.
 

carlosrox

Banned
Bungie was always overrated.

I think it's adorable when people try to say Bungie lost their way or something.

No, they were never anything special. Halo 1 was crazy overrated. Just lookit the horribly repetitive level design.
 
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Evangelion Unit-01

Master Chief
I consider myself a huge Halo fan so I apologize in advance for the short essay that is about to follow.

I think the constant comparison is really tough. There are plenty of hardcore Halo fans like myself that really did not like some of Bungie’s design decisions; the Halo 3 BR spread, Bloom and Abilities in Reach, ignoring the competitive community, smaller scope of Halo 3’s story after 2, etc. Unfortunately there is such a stark contrast between Bungie’s titles and 343’s that the issues with Bungie’s titles get ignored simply because they are nuances compared to the sweeping changes that 343 made. When Halo 4 came out it was so different even from Reach that we now have a debate over “classic vs modern” Halo as opposed to debate over how to strike the best balance with minor sandbox tweaks. If you visit other games’ subreddits there is usually debate over whether weapon X is too powerful or if Y is a bad map. If you look at Halo’s subreddits or communities online the debate is over whether X title ruined the story or why key gameplay mechanics are even in the game, often comparing 343 and Bungie directly. Personally I believe there are 4 key areas in which 343 and Bungie differ.

Gameplay: When Halo Reach introduced armor abilities including sprint there was an incredible amount of pushback from the fans. At the time the majority of Bungie had moved onto what would become Destiny and a newer team was left to take over Halo. In retrospect Reach actually feels like a testbed for a number of mechanics that would later make their way into Destiny. Halo 4 and 5 both took these mechanics, including sprint, and dialed them up to 11. The movement in both 4 and 5 is incredibly far removed from Bungie’s titles. Unfortunately Halo’s core does not work with these movement changes-the long time to kill, map sizes, weapon balance etc does not work with sprint. There is a reason why games like COD, Battlefield, Siege work with variations of sprint whereas games like CSGO, Overwatch, Valorant do not. This mix of mechanics in Halo doesn’t work 343 needs to either return to the classic formula and innovate through the sandbox or fully change the gameplay to mirror COD. I think most fans would prefer the former. There are many youtube videos cover why ADS, Sprint, Charge, etc don’t work in Halo, the ChrisRayGun one above highlights many of these arguments.

Art: There was a big change with the art in between Reach and 4. 343’s games feature a fundamentally different style. After over a decade of games and other media the shift in art was jarring and made it feel like the games lacked continuity. It simply did not feel like Halo too many fans. 343 has seemingly reversed course with Infinite and while there has been a general return to Bungie’s style a lot of the plastic and blocky appearance of 343’s carried into Halo Infinite. It’s still just not quite there.

Music: It is incredibly hard to fill Marty’s shoes. He is an incredible composer and Halo’s music has always been in a league of it’s own. Halo 4’s soundtrack was decidedly more electronic and far removed from the Bungie’s titles. This furthered the feeling of a lack of continuity between games. Halo 5’s soundtrack moved closer to Bungie’s titles but still lacked the weight and emotional impact of Marty’s music. Halo without Marty’s soundtrack is like watching Star Wars without William’s score. It just doesn’t feel right.

Story: This is the other big one. 343’s games expanded the mythos greatly. Unfortunately I do not feel that it did so in a satisfying way. Bungie had this Human-Forerunner relationship that was shrouded in mystery. It heavily suggested that the forerunners chose humans as their “offspring” or that humans themselves were forerunner. 343 took this idea and spun it on its head with a “plot twist”-the humans and forerunners were actually ancient foes with the forerunners being split over whether they should choose humans to replace them as the galaxy’s caretakers. Some really enjoy this “twist” but I disagree with the direction that they chose. Bungie had been careful with the forerunners and relied heavily on allegory. 343’s lore broke a lot of the foreshadowing that had come before. Moreover much of this lore is required to understand Halo 4 and 5. I was a huge fan of the Halo novels but always appreciated how they expanded on the world in the games. The games were something that my casual friends could jump into and understand the story without any additional lore needed. Finally, 343’s stories have been built around personal conflicts and relationships. This included some odd changes in character between Bungie’s games and 343s, the new romantic Chief-Cortana subplot being the worst of these. Halo 4 is the story of Chief and Cortana’s relationship, the Didact vs. Chief, and Chief vs. UNSC. Halo 5 is the story of Chief vs Locke and Chief vs. Cortana. This contrasts greatly with the focus of Bungie’s Halo games. With Halo 1-3 focusing on humanity’s war with covenant, uncovering the mystery of the forerunner, fighting for survival against the flood, the covenant civil war. In Halo 1-3 Chief, Arbiter, and the main characters are all actors in this larger conflict whereas in Halo 4 and 5 the main characters are the conflict themselves.


There are so many things I have skipped over but this post is already too long. I could fill a book with my thoughts on how drastically different these two versions of Halo are. The crux of all this is that 343’s games have been a stark contrast with Bungie’s games. There is a distinct lack of continuity in nearly every regard-gameplay, art, music, story, etc. The 343 games are not bad they just do not adequately fill the role of a sequel; they feel like a stark divergence from the previous titles. It is kind of like seeing the lineup in your favorite band change after a big argument. Their new album won’t feel like the same band. They may even show up and play the old hits at a concert but it doesn’t feel the same.

Halo fans like myself are often accused of "hating new things". I always take issue with that. More than anything else we just want continuity; we want a sequel. There are plenty of ways to evolve and iterate on Halo without feeling like a different series entirely.
 
It really depends if 343i wants Halo to become the next WoW and plan expansions every 2 years or so, but the graphics has to be 100000% better.
 
Gonna watch that video later, but figure I'll post my thoughts anyway.

I love Halo despite starting late. I didn't play Halo until the 360 actually. I had an OG Xbox but didn't play anything besides Forza, Project Gotham and Ninja Gaiden (I do remember playing Area 51 as well lol) and ended up selling my Xbox because I played my PS2 way more. I remember the hype for Halo 3, but didn't get a 360 until the Slim as we didn't have a lot of money and I got a PS3 instead because of MGS4 (360 was actually my first credit card purchase ever). I went back and played Halo and was amazed despite the gameplay feeling old by then because I wanted to get caught up in order to play Halo Reach. Luckily Halo 3 multiplayer was still popular and played a ton before getting Reach and again playing a shit ton. I loved the universe, and started reading books and everything. Still to this day I read/watch Halo lore, and currently play Halo3/Reach on PC.

Then Halo 4 came out. Even not being an "OG" fan I was disappointed. It seemed different, but I still enjoyed it enough for my money's worth. I was pretty active in the community still though, and it didn't kill my love for the franchise. MCC and Halo 5 though...goddamn like how do you fuck up that badly? MCC as it is currently is great but the launch was so bad. That being said me and my buddy still played through all 4 and later ODST in coop and had tons of fun. Halo 5 ruined everything Halo was to me. Some things I can easily point out, and some things aren't apparent but contribute to everything feeling off.

I don't think 343i know how to make a Halo game. I think they are trying so desperately to follow in the footsteps of Bungie that any chance they have of making their own thing is ruined. Infinite seems to even be going the Destiny route where I'm sure they will just release updates/expansions and keep it going much like Bungie seem to have planned (and currently do) with D2. 343 have failed on so many points: story (I'll admit I didn't hate Halo 4s story or OST for that matter), music, gameplay, feel, almost everything. Hey, at least Cortana was hot though!

Also, say what you will about Destiny but Destiny as a franchise is fun. Was it the successor to Halo a ton of people wanted? No, but it's a great game with a good gameplay loop and continues Bungie's tradition of making console FPS feel great.

Woosah and all that.
1595865019578.gif


I consider myself a huge Halo fan so I apologize in advance for the short essay that is about to follow.

I think the constant comparison is really tough. There are plenty of hardcore Halo fans like myself that really did not like some of Bungie’s design decisions; the Halo 3 BR spread, Bloom and Abilities in Reach, ignoring the competitive community, smaller scope of Halo 3’s story after 2, etc. Unfortunately there is such a stark contrast between Bungie’s titles and 343’s that the issues with Bungie’s titles get ignored simply because they are nuances compared to the sweeping changes that 343 made. When Halo 4 came out it was so different even from Reach that we now have a debate over “classic vs modern” Halo as opposed to debate over how to strike the best balance with minor sandbox tweaks. If you visit other games’ subreddits there is usually debate over whether weapon X is too powerful or if Y is a bad map. If you look at Halo’s subreddits or communities online the debate is over whether X title ruined the story or why key gameplay mechanics are even in the game, often comparing 343 and Bungie directly. Personally I believe there are 4 key areas in which 343 and Bungie differ.

Gameplay: When Halo Reach introduced armor abilities including sprint there was an incredible amount of pushback from the fans. At the time the majority of Bungie had moved onto what would become Destiny and a newer team was left to take over Halo. In retrospect Reach actually feels like a testbed for a number of mechanics that would later make their way into Destiny. Halo 4 and 5 both took these mechanics, including sprint, and dialed them up to 11. The movement in both 4 and 5 is incredibly far removed from Bungie’s titles. Unfortunately Halo’s core does not work with these movement changes-the long time to kill, map sizes, weapon balance etc does not work with sprint. There is a reason why games like COD, Battlefield, Siege work with variations of sprint whereas games like CSGO, Overwatch, Valorant do not. This mix of mechanics in Halo doesn’t work 343 needs to either return to the classic formula and innovate through the sandbox or fully change the gameplay to mirror COD. I think most fans would prefer the former. There are many youtube videos cover why ADS, Sprint, Charge, etc don’t work in Halo, the ChrisRayGun one above highlights many of these arguments.

Art: There was a big change with the art in between Reach and 4. 343’s games feature a fundamentally different style. After over a decade of games and other media the shift in art was jarring and made it feel like the games lacked continuity. It simply did not feel like Halo too many fans. 343 has seemingly reversed course with Infinite and while there has been a general return to Bungie’s style a lot of the plastic and blocky appearance of 343’s carried into Halo Infinite. It’s still just not quite there.

Music: It is incredibly hard to fill Marty’s shoes. He is an incredible composer and Halo’s music has always been in a league of it’s own. Halo 4’s soundtrack was decidedly more electronic and far removed from the Bungie’s titles. This furthered the feeling of a lack of continuity between games. Halo 5’s soundtrack moved closer to Bungie’s titles but still lacked the weight and emotional impact of Marty’s music. Halo without Marty’s soundtrack is like watching Star Wars without William’s score. It just doesn’t feel right.

Story: This is the other big one. 343’s games expanded the mythos greatly. Unfortunately I do not feel that it did so in a satisfying way. Bungie had this Human-Forerunner relationship that was shrouded in mystery. It heavily suggested that the forerunners chose humans as their “offspring” or that humans themselves were forerunner. 343 took this idea and spun it on its head with a “plot twist”-the humans and forerunners were actually ancient foes with the forerunners being split over whether they should choose humans to replace them as the galaxy’s caretakers. Some really enjoy this “twist” but I disagree with the direction that they chose. Bungie had been careful with the forerunners and relied heavily on allegory. 343’s lore broke a lot of the foreshadowing that had come before. Moreover much of this lore is required to understand Halo 4 and 5. I was a huge fan of the Halo novels but always appreciated how they expanded on the world in the games. The games were something that my casual friends could jump into and understand the story without any additional lore needed. Finally, 343’s stories have been built around personal conflicts and relationships. This included some odd changes in character between Bungie’s games and 343s, the new romantic Chief-Cortana subplot being the worst of these. Halo 4 is the story of Chief and Cortana’s relationship, the Didact vs. Chief, and Chief vs. UNSC. Halo 5 is the story of Chief vs Locke and Chief vs. Cortana. This contrasts greatly with the focus of Bungie’s Halo games. With Halo 1-3 focusing on humanity’s war with covenant, uncovering the mystery of the forerunner, fighting for survival against the flood, the covenant civil war. In Halo 1-3 Chief, Arbiter, and the main characters are all actors in this larger conflict whereas in Halo 4 and 5 the main characters are the conflict themselves.


There are so many things I have skipped over but this post is already too long. I could fill a book with my thoughts on how drastically different these two versions of Halo are. The crux of all this is that 343’s games have been a stark contrast with Bungie’s games. There is a distinct lack of continuity in nearly every regard-gameplay, art, music, story, etc. The 343 games are not bad they just do not adequately fill the role of a sequel; they feel like a stark divergence from the previous titles. It is kind of like seeing the lineup in your favorite band change after a big argument. Their new album won’t feel like the same band. They may even show up and play the old hits at a concert but it doesn’t feel the same.

Halo fans like myself are often accused of "hating new things". I always take issue with that. More than anything else we just want continuity; we want a sequel. There are plenty of ways to evolve and iterate on Halo without feeling like a different series entirely.
This guy says it better then I ever could. That last line especially.
 
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GodofWhimsy

Member
My biggest gripe with the 343 games was the visual design. Visually, those games were cluster fucks. The definition of overdesigned. I couldn't see shit and they lost all of the aesthetic charm of previous Halo titles. They presented themselves as generic, hyper shiny, sci-fi shooters. Didn't look distinctively like Halo at all. They didn't feel distinctively like Halo either, but the visuals are what stood out the most to me apon first playing. The series lost a big part of it's identity after Reach IMO.
 
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