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Do you still consider the Halo Master Chief Collection to be a scam?

That's ridiculous, any responsible studio would not take on a project they couldn't complete. Phil didn't force them to release that crap.

MCC hurt the Halo franchise TREMENDOUSLY. Halo is a joke at this point (remember the balloons at the world championships held in a Jiffy Lube?). I used to buy every game without question, but 343 has taught me those days are gone.

You don't blame Phil Spencer?

343 took on the project, expanded from Halo 2A and couldn't deliver in that time frame but you don't think Bonnie Ross, Phil Spencer spoke during that time, you think it's okay for Phil to throw a game out when it isn't ready, does he care about the quality of games at all, the Halo IP itself because it's clear it hurt the IP immensely. Is he stupid, were his hands tied by Nadella wanting better Xbox One console sales over the holiday? You're suppose to lead, make the big decisions. I applaud 343 for having the amazing idea of doing Halo MCC, they shouldn't get all the blame, it didn't work out, they made bad decisions but the buck stops at Microsoft, the leaders, Phil Spencer, Nadella if they could have changed the course of release to ship a better product.
 
I can't really comment on the online stuff, but I think MCC is an incredible value. I doubt that I'll ever play through the series in its entirety, as the grenade deaths in the first game drove me crazy when I tried to play through it, but the value here is undeniable. The only technical issue that I ever had was likely more so due to the fact that weird issues can pop up in Xbox One games in general if you haven't restarted the console in a long time. For example, some audio won't play in games (like Sunset Overdrive). Once you restart, you're fine. The issue that I had with MCC was that the subtitles wouldn't go away. They'd just keep scrolling up the screen, eventually covering the game play. With a restart, everything was fine.
 
Really? you don't believe that an employed studio couldn't be forced to do so?

Heck even a contracted studio like Platinum takes on projects that they couldn't complete well within the given timeframe. (see TMNT)

Bungie had to put vanilla Destiny out before it was ready because of Activision.

There are multiple instances of this happening.

EDIT: Halo 5 has probably sold close to 5 million if not more at this point, so it's far from a "joke" YOu don't like 343. Ok, we get it.

Bungie messed up Destiny (initially), not Activision. Also, Destiny always worked perfectly and consistently was one of the most polished games out there. Bungie is superior to 343 in every way. 343 is working on a flagship franchise, you think they just take blind orders?

I don't think 343 are picking and choosing the projects they can do

No, but they have serious input on what they work on.

You don't blame Phil Spencer?

343 took on the project, expanded from Halo 2A and couldn't deliver in that time frame but you don't think Bonnie Ross, Phil Spencer spoke during that time, you think it's okay for Phil to throw a game out when it isn't ready, does he care about the quality of games at all, the Halo IP itself because it's clear it hurt the IP immensely. Is he stupid, were his hands tied by Nadella wanting better Xbox One console sales over the holiday? You're suppose to lead, make the big decisions. I applaud 343 for having the amazing idea of doing Halo MCC, they shouldn't get all the blame, it didn't work out, they made bad decisions but the buck stops at Microsoft, the leaders, Phil Spencer, Nadella if they could have changed the course of release to ship a better product.

You're guessing the politics of the situation just as much as I am. All I care about as a consumer is the fact that broken game was released and 343's name was on the box.
 
You're guessing the politics of the situation just as much as I am. All I care about as a consumer is the fact that broken game was released and 343's name was on the box.

I as a customer also know that Microsoft Studios is on the box. Lets not pretend like they are not responsible for this, too.
 
Here is my dream solution for fixing Halo MCC.

Start over from the beginning, one game at a time. Make each game release an event, community evolved, custom games, competitions, prizes, history, stories, get newcomers involved. Release on PC, 4K. Remaster them to perfection and Anniversary treatment that adheres to the original styles.

halo-ce-remake-box-aiyrc7.jpeg


Begin with Halo CE

1. Redo Halo Combat Evolved, dump the Anniversary make over, upgrade it with a consistent art style compared to the original. As some people know Halo CEA is based on the PC version and isn't quite as you remember it on the original Xbox so they need to remaster something that doesn't leave the Xbox version aspects behind but also includes the new PC content such as maps. Then they need to make coop work from the ground up, fix bugs like some things not being proper 60fps and other quirks. Give all the juice to one graphical mode, make the switch a main menu option before starting, not in game like now. Make the game perform like a dream.

Then, a little while later......the next event begins, Halo 2.

2. Redo Halo 2 Anniversary, remove the graphical in game switch and again, make it a main menu option so the game performs to it's best. Fix bugs, issues, cut scenes, maybe even remaster the in game cut scenes rather than rely on Blur. Release on PC. Make the multiplayer and coop work well.

After that, it's time for Halo 3 Anniversary and ODST Anniversary.

3. PC release, Anniversary upgrade. No in game switch. Bring back Firefight and have online matchmaking. Fix bugs and issues. Update playlists.

Then, onto Halo 4.

4. Not much to say here, fix the bugs, update the playlists. Spit and polish. PC release.

A while later, Halo Reach Anniversary

5. Yes, it does have Master Chief and Cortana! Give it the Anniversary treatment, no in game switch, PC release. Remove the horrible AA solution so we get nice clear visuals, update the playlists.

Are we done, no.

Get the UI right, Reach like! Matchmaking, Custom browser, Events, Community priority.

A big one and not sure about. Can anything be done with Forge so it's similar between games, maybe the use of shared assets, a PC release for community building.

What to call this dream update. The Mark V update. Opt in via Halo MCC and you get the stand alone product that releases with Halo CE Mark V Edition and the new UI. Halo 2 to follow, stay up to date in the news feed with community updates, easter eggs, competitions, Halo history, guides and more.
 
Publishers provide funds and set expectations. I blame the studio for failing to meet those expectations.

I blame 343i and Microsoft Studios (Also Ruffian Games for porting v1 of all games and United Front for a pretty bad UI). It's still pretty clear to me that Microsoft wanted a Holiday Halo title for Q4 to push some Xbox One units. It's their fault for not delaying the game, after they have seen that it obviously wasn't ready.

I mean, Frankie is not even allowed to talk about the issues, because Microsoft Studios told him to shut up about it. It's clear as day to me.
 
I don't think it was a scam but I didn't have the time to play a ton of games when it came out so I was perfectly happy to play a level of the campaigns here and there while they sorted out the MP aspect of the game.
 
On the campaign side of things I had very little issues from the get go. I don't believe I ever lost checkpoints or anything of that ilk. I also never didn't play much co-op though, which seems to be the point of frustration on that side.

I've had the game since day 1 so I most certainly experienced the broken mess that was the multiplayer. The MM was horrendous to begin with. We were playing on P2P connections instead of the promised dedicated servers. Maps would often fail to load (especially H2A) so if you did find a match there was a high possibility you'd just end up in the menus. The matchmaking now is actually fast (in the US region), which is nice, but since the community was killed do to initial problems, some playlists are dead. 343i propigated this issue by reorginizing the playlists so the least popular would be at the bottom, they gave Halo CE the short end of the stick by making it 2v2. I don't like how they upped and abandoned the collection post-Halo 5. The product still doesn't work as intended and its their responsibility to fix it. A Halo 3 Anniversary update would be a good way to rejuvinate the community and fix more technical issues, no doubt messing with the collection further would be a monumental task, but they owe it to their paying customers. They need to fix their product, sadly I don't see that happening. I really don't regret buying the game, as the campaign side of things are nice and I have fun when I do play multiplayer. Do I think it's a scam? No. Do I think it's a insult to paying customers? Yeah, most certainly. Halo 5 has the best multiplayer in the series, the gunplay and gameplay overall are great. No doubt it suffered due to the MCC.
 
In MP or SP?

If in MP, I would ask you the same question. If in SP, well I also spend 600 hours of doing every single achievement, but I encountered several issues, especially in co-op. And in no way does that nullify all the issues that the games had and still has anyways.



lmao
SP i don't play arena based MP games tbh. i wasted about 500+ hours on that collection.
so it seems OP smokes crystal meth ? seems legit haha
 
Certain Affinity only made the remastered H2A maps and had literally nothing to do with the faulty networking/UI layer. Those were made externally, but not by CA and regardless it was 100% our responsibility. The issues were caused by a cascading combination of problems including faulty assumptions about code behaviors in retail rather than test environments, bad "ticket" tracking information and a number of other even more baroque issues. And yes I still owe people a technical explanation and I will provide the best one I'm able/permitted to at some point. That point, for a number of reasons beyond my control, is not now.

All will be forgiven with a solid PC port with the issues fixed and with Reach included. Goddamn Reach was good.
 
It contains the best versions of 2 of the top 3 FPS campaigns in history, so by default it's the best piece of software available on Xbox One.

Yeah I understand the online issues upsetting people but it's been a huge value for me. I'm also a late adopter, I very rarely buy games at release so it hasn't been bad for me. These are games I'll revisit for years. Main reason I purchased the Xbox one.
 
Is holding a review event to decieve the press and public into thinking the MP works a scan them? Because that's what happened.
You'd have to prove it was deceit. A lot of big multiplayer games do events for press where it's over LAN. It's entirely possible that 343 had no idea that the issues with MP would be so widespread
 
Personally, it was the biggest waste of $60 on a game ever and 343 completely lied to our faces. It was a piece of broken crap and still is. I am still wondering how half the studio wasn't gutted for completely deceiving the audience into buying that broken game.

I thought it was great. Still probably the best game you can buy on the console.
 
Outside of Desync issues with Halo 2's co-op (Quarantine Zone 99% of the time) and lag issues with Halo 3 I never encountered any issues in the online co-op. I actually found the Halo 1 online co-op to be a huge improvement over the 360 Anniversary Edition.
If you weren't the host you had severe input lag in all the titles. I have no idea if the originals were like that, but it's really jarring in today's age.
 
If you want to talk about a scam, think Destiny.

Just sucks the MM was that broken at launch.

Destiny actually worked and was highly successful. It lacked content, sure, but bungie actually improved that experience. I'm not taking a shit on 343 as they stay on top of halo 5 from what I know, but MCC was a very flawed product that was broken for way too long after launch and soured a lot of people on the actual franchise.
 
Here is my dream solution for fixing Halo MCC.

Start over from the beginning, one game at a time. Make each game release an event, community evolved, custom games, competitions, prizes, history, stories, get newcomers involved. Release on PC, 4K. Remaster them to perfection and Anniversary treatment that adheres to the original styles.

halo-ce-remake-box-aiyrc7.jpeg


Begin with Halo CE

1. Redo Halo Combat Evolved, dump the Anniversary make over, upgrade it with a consistent art style compared to the original. As some people know Halo CEA is based on the PC version and isn't quite as you remember it on the original Xbox so they need to remaster something that doesn't leave the Xbox version aspects behind but also includes the new PC content such as maps. Then they need to make coop work from the ground up, fix bugs like some things not being proper 60fps and other quirks. Give all the juice to one graphical mode, make the switch a main menu option before starting, not in game like now. Make the game perform like a dream.

Then, a little while later......the next event begins, Halo 2.

2. Redo Halo 2 Anniversary, remove the graphical in game switch and again, make it a main menu option so the game performs to it's best. Fix bugs, issues, cut scenes, maybe even remaster the in game cut scenes rather than rely on Blur. Release on PC. Make the multiplayer and coop work well.

After that, it's time for Halo 3 Anniversary and ODST Anniversary.

3. PC release, Anniversary upgrade. No in game switch. Bring back Firefight and have online matchmaking. Fix bugs and issues. Update playlists.

Then, onto Halo 4.

4. Not much to say here, fix the bugs, update the playlists. Spit and polish. PC release.

A while later, Halo Reach Anniversary

5. Yes, it does have Master Chief and Cortana! Give it the Anniversary treatment, no in game switch, PC release. Remove the horrible AA solution so we get nice clear visuals, update the playlists.

Are we done, no.

Get the UI right, Reach like! Matchmaking, Custom browser, Events, Community priority.

A big one and not sure about. Can anything be done with Forge so it's similar between games, maybe the use of shared assets, a PC release for community building.

What to call this dream update. The Mark V update. Opt in via Halo MCC and you get the stand alone product that releases with Halo CE Mark V Edition and the new UI. Halo 2 to follow, stay up to date in the news feed with community updates, easter eggs, competitions, Halo history, guides and more.

I think this would be a great approach and goodwill for fans that felt burned by the MCC, Or even a free update to the original game. Would be a great way to sell the scorpio and promote Halo 6 (if it's coming out this year) by maybe releasing an update during the press event at E3 to keep halo mind share going until 6 comes out this fall possibly.
 
longest played game on my xbox one.. what is OP smoking?

The real question is what have you been smoking that made you completely blind to the virtually endless list of issue that affect the game from top to bottom including hundreds in the campaigns?

Hell, at launch some Halo 4 missions could not even launch half the time because the game didn't think they were there.

But do go on with your white knighting and defence forcing, you'll totally get that moderator position at waypoint and be working at 343 by the end of the year...
 
The real question is what have you been smoking that made you completely blind to the virtually endless list of issue that affect the game from top to bottom including hundreds in the campaigns?

Hell, at launch some Halo 4 missions could not even launch half the time because the game didn't think they were there.

Or, and this may be hard for you believe since you seem so set in your narrative, some people didn't experience all the same problems? Or they weren't bad enough to ruin some people's enjoyment?

Same for me. Though I played it a year after release and the only annoying thing I encountered was the playlist progress resets.

But do go on with your white knighting and defence forcing, you'll totally get that moderator position at waypoint and be working at 343 by the end of the year...

Honestly this shit is uncalled for.
 
Disappointing, if only because it reminded me how dated most of the games are. Play Titanfall 1 or 2, then fire up any of those games. It's like Chief is walking underwater. Also the network crap was still crap the last time I played it about a year ago.
 
I don't know if I'd call it a scam but it completely soured me on the Halo franchise. I was a new Xbox One owner, preordered digital, downloaded 100gb (!) of stuff to be able to play it and multiplayer didn't work properly, _for like 6 months_.

I was so stoked to play Halo MP. Didn't work. I bought Halo 5 at a discount and started it, then bailed.

Maybe it's just me but the circumstances really rubbed me the wrong way. Given that Xbox is basically Halo, Gears and Forza these days, and I never really cared for the latter two... I had no qualms about selling my Xbox One. Sunset Overdrive was dope, after that I just didn't really care anymore.

I'm trying to get myself hype for Scorpio, but.... have no idea what games if any will be good on it. Obviously there will be Forza, but unless Crackdown 3 looks amazing I'm out.

But I digress. Point is MCC should have gotten me pumped to play more Halo and buy a bunch of Xbox games. It did the opposite, massively. After being burned like that I haven't really given a s**t about Xbox since. Just my personal experience, but I'd liken it to Nintendo shipping a garbage Zelda or Mario game. It did some serious, serious damage.
 
I do think it robbed me of the potential Resurrection of Halo. If it just fucking worked it would have been huge.
 
266 hours isn't long enough, gotcha.

To act like you've played that dumpster fire for 266 hours and not come across any game breaking issues is complete bullshit.

You are either blind or lying.

I was watching 2 friends stream last night, one got quit banned without quitting a game, both had to restart the game and almost every game had an unplayable connection.

As for campaigns, I gave up after the 3rd time my progress was reset and even today trying to co op will usually end in a connection drop no matter how good your net is.
 
To act like you've played that dumpster fire for 266 hours and not come across any game breaking issues is complete bullshit.

You are either blind or lying.

Playlist progress resets, a few achievements that took forever to unlock, yes, that's the only major problems I had. Mainly played solo campaigns and multi. I played multi with a friend a few weekends ago and only had to deal with long wait for games to start.

I don't care if you believe me or not but you can fuck off if all you're going to do is insult me.
 
Think I paid $10 - the only serious issue I encountered when playing through all of the campaigns was the odd audio mix on Halo 3. But, I'm not invested enough to be bothered by the little things that irk devoted Halo fans. Most certainly not a scam from my perspective.
 
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