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Halo 3 was ahead of its time

Bungie are gawds at making good games (not perfect). To this day 343 can't even come close to the Halo 3 package. Microsoft handed their baby to a very incompetent team.

I do miss Halo 2 the most, though.

But Halo 5 is the best multiplayer shooter I've ever played. So, you're wrong, I guess.
 

legacyzero

Banned
Still the best Halo.

Though, I am wildly loving Halo 5 now too. Game is awesome. (Warzone in particular) Haters need things to hate in order to be haters.
 

Detective

Member
Bungie are gawds at making good games (not perfect). To this day 343 can't even come close to the Halo 3 package. Microsoft handed their baby to a very incompetent team.

I do miss Halo 2 the most, though.

You mean to this day 343 can't make a level in the same quality as 1-3 ODST and Reach, let alone a whole game.
 

E92 M3

Member
It's said to think that this is what Bungie is capable of, and then look at Destiny 2.

My friends and I must have sunk hundreds of hours into 3, co-op and multiplayer. This hasn't happened in a Halo game for me since.

What are we looking at? Destiny 2 looks dope as fuck. We barely know anything.

But Halo 5 is the best multiplayer shooter I've ever played. So, you're wrong, I guess.

3hjJh4Q.png


Do you work for 343? Because Halo 5 is not a very good Halo game between sprint, camber, thrusting, and OP autos that were just taken out. Halo 5 is needlessly complex and requires the player to either use paddles or claw to be competitive.

You mean to this day 343 can't make a level in the same quality as 1-3 ODST and Reach, let alone a whole game.

Damn, Reach campaign was so, so good. I think the original Titanfall had a better campaign than Halo 5 lol.
 

KDC720

Member
The more I think about it, Halo 3 is probably my favorite Halo game of them all.

It just left a lasting impression on me, and as a game it was an astounding package
 
This thread us about the whole package though. Halo 3 was innovative and feature packed. Halo 5 launched with less.

Oh, for sure. There's no arguing that. I'm still salty about the treatment of BTB in H5. H6 will be dope though because of the groundwork they've laid in H5 to this point.
 

arigato

Member
The feature suite is fantastic even to this day. It's just a shame they wrapped it up in some of the worst feeling base gameplay in the series.

I really struggle to enjoy 3 now...
Agreed, in terms of gameplay and multiplayer Halo 2 was the best for me. I can vividly remember my first Halo 3 online match being Team Rockets on The Pit. Good times they were..
 
3hjJh4Q.png


Do you work for 343? Because Halo 5 is not a very good Halo game between sprint, camber, thrusting, and OP autos that were just taken out. Halo 5 is needlessly complex and requires the player to either use paddles or claw to be competitive.

No, I don't. I just hold a different opinion than you. And, since we're presenting opinion as fact apparently, you're objectively wrong, because H5 is my dream FPS, gameplay-wise.
 
Right now Halo 5 has more content than Halo 3.

Yes. And I loved coming back to it month after month for each new update. But let's not pretend that a lot of it should have been there from the start.

Oh, for sure. There's no arguing that. I'm still salty about the treatment of BTB in H5. H6 will be dope though because of the groundwork they've laid in H5 to this point.

I hope so. If they launch with Campaign, Arena (with BTB), Forge, Warzone, and Firefight it would be a monster.
 

Striker

Member
Reach expanded the feature set.

and to top it all of a huge modular armoury for character customization

Plus some a fairly decent amount of new game modes.
It had everything Halo 3 had plus matchmaking for both campaign and Firefight. On top of that, it's armor customization was well done and didn't have a bunch of ugly pieces like you'll find in Halo 3 or Halo 4/5. Stockpile and Headhunter were meh, but VIP was Halo 3's new "please play this!" gametype that was jammed in MM and it was awful.

Forge was alright changing spawns or moving weapons but creating actual structures was frustrating and time consuming. And there was already Far Cry doing it two years prior.
 

LAA

Member
Halo 3's feature suite TO THIS DAY doesn't get touched by 9/10 shooters. So much shit to do in that game.

I would say Halo 3 is provided the most fun I've had on an online game to date.
All the forge/custom game types and yeah, fileshares just so you can see peoples pictures or whatever in their fileshares while waiting in the lobby, to share game types and etc.

I think Halo 5 tried to take steps towards it more, but I really hope they push forge and custom games again. Reach improved forge vastly but few criticisms I had with it where...it felt most assets were the same looking so maps felt mostly the same, game types/custom maps had to be remade in reach, which due to changes, didn't fully translate fully over.

But yeah thinking about it, it was ahead of its time in a few regards, to the point where as you say, most shooters don't even implement most of this stuff now, at least not to the same standard.
 

Cranster

Banned
Agreed, in terms of gameplay and multiplayer Halo 2 was the best for me.
Halo 3 did a few things right weapon balance wise over Halo 2 like the Plasma Pistol EMP and bringing back the Assualt Rifle. The lack of hitscan and nerfing grenade/rocket spmash damage though combined with it's netcode has hurt it though.
 

Budi

Member
I really don't think that you can claim many of those features to be "ahead of it's time" just because consoles as a platform were catching up. Games were already doing most of these things. Not to dismiss these features mentioned in the OP, those are indeed all great to have.
 

Andodalf

Banned
I feel like people who say halo 5 launched with little content never played it. The only way you say it had little content is if you never played breakout or warzone. Which I know a lot of people didn't, cus they were new and different. But to say, when I ignore the half of the game that isn't what my nostalgia remembers the game doesn't have much content, you loose a lot of legitimacy. Breakout has sadly died, but warzone is amazing, and is a game type unlike any other I can really think of, and only is in halo 5.


And then the game went and had some of the best post launch support ever.
 

Cranster

Banned
I feel like people who say halo 5 launched with little content never played it. The only way you say it had little content is if you never played breakout or warzone. Which I know a lot of people didn't, cus they were new and different. But to say, when I ignore the half of the game that isn't what my nostalgia remembers the game doesn't have much content, you loose a lot of legitimacy. Breakout has sadly died, but warzone is amazing, and is a game type unlike any other I can really think of, and only is in halo 5.

And then the game went and had some of the best post launch support ever.

As a long time Halo fan, Halo 5 seriusly lacked content at launch.
 

Trup1aya

Member
I feel like people who say halo 5 launched with little content never played it. The only way you say it had little content is if you never played breakout or warzone. Which I know a lot of people didn't, cus they were new and different. But to say, when I ignore the half of the game that isn't what my nostalgia remembers the game doesn't have much content, you loose a lot of legitimacy. Breakout has sadly died, but warzone is amazing, and is a game type unlike any other I can really think of, and only is in halo 5.

And then the game went and had some of the best post launch support ever.

Cmon man...

I've got several days worth of playtime logged in Halo5.

It launched with 3 arena gametypes. Many classics from the original trilogy are still not in. Those that have returned are forge-only. BTB didn't come until a month later, and is also forge-only.

You argue Breakout, but Nobody likes breakout. Warzone IS an addition, but it doesn't excuse the lack of BTB, Forge, Oddball, Juggernaught, Assualt, etc at launch.
 

Anteater

Member
I really enjoyed it, the last boss and level were poop tho :p, hoping they port it to pc i wanna replay it

i told my friend that i'd play it with him if it ever gets ported to pc since we're too cheap to pay for online :lol
 

Andodalf

Banned
Cmon man...


You argue Breakout, but Nobody likes breakout. Warzone IS an addition, but it doesn't excuse the lack of BTB, Forge, Oddball, Juggernaught, Assualt, etc at launch.


Nobody likeing breakout (some people did), doesn't make it not exist. New games don't need every mode from previous games. Warzone alone probably took more man hours to create than any other mode in Halo's history combined. If 343 had a vision for something new, they shouldn't be punished for what they left behind. They're making new games, not updates to old ones. I loved halo 5, and while reach is my favorite still, halo 5 had plenty of content for me, as I played warzone more than any other mode.
 
Even Reach was in a lot of ways... I feel like even in 2010 very few console games were doing the rotating challenges/playlists as effectively as Reach was.

Don't get me wrong, I love Reach more than H3 on my side but was Reach gave to Halo is a bit difference than MP management even if it was still awesome.

For Reach is more about community content I will say, Forge World and Firefight.

Sadly Halo 4 didn't bring anything particular to the franchise (except good graphics I will say?) H5 can be debated but I don't like the new gameplay of the franchise.

Personally I believe that the futur innovation of Halo is in the modding support (even on consoles) using forge and PC version (similar to Fallout 4 console mods)

Modding Halo on console like Halo CE PC would be just amazing.
 

Akai__

Member
-snip-

Static spread would still limit the BRs effectiveness at range, and simultaneously remove chance from the equation. It would also reward players with amazing skill an opportunity to 4shot at long range. It would be the perfect utility weapon. It's inarguably a more balanced solution than what we got.

On the 2nd paragraph. I have no issues with that at all. I'm not saying that the H3 BR was perfect in any way, just that the whole spread thing was overblown, in my eyes. Really, a consistent projectile based BR with less aim assist and bullet magnetism would do wonders.

In a perfect world 343i would implement both systems and we would get a toggle and options for those. Just like individual weapon damage settings that were added in Halo 4, but never used.

I'll give you an answer to the 1st paragraph Soon™. Not ignoring it, I just want to get everything right and test something.

I really don't think that you can claim many of those features to be "ahead of it's time" just because consoles as a platform were catching up. Games were already doing many of these things.

Can you point us to some 2007 games that had similiar or better features than Halo 3 then?
 

farisr

Member
Still has the best overall look in regards to armor designs and artstyle out of all the Halo games imo. Doing a Red Vs Blue marathon made that really apparent.
 

jg4xchamp

Member
File share n stuff was nice; but a lot of those steps forward are "for a console tps" a good chunk of that stuff was already being done on PC. In the case of esports n forge(ie mode) done way the fuck better.

To me 2s stuff was ahead of its time. The Ui became the template for how XBL would work going forward, matchmaking, in game clan system, n all that jazz. Plus it's unified nature in a game. But yeah at one point Bungie was actually moving things forward be it on a grander scale or consoles specifically; and then they made Destiny(gross), and Halo has been looking at other fps games to be inspired by.
 

Nowise10

Member
One of the disappointments with Halo:Reach was the lack of communication and engagement that Bungie had with Halo 3. When Halo:Reach launched, they wouldn't respond to any of the gameplay criticisms, and didn't update the game a single time. They then transferred the games management to 343 industries and it felt like an extremely janky transition, and was one of the biggest mishaps for Halo:Reach. The rare event of them giving blue flames out for Bungie day was nice, and was the only time things felt similar to Halo 3 in the games life.
 
Still really bummed how Bungie innovated and lead console multiplayer design, then forgot it all for Destiny.

Hoping D2 launches with a more extensive MP suite, but I doubt it. :(

Their community engagement remains good in other ways, though. They constantly feature players in their weekly posts, and focus on lots of community activities and achievements.
Yep real shame

Self directed fun and customization of halo still unmatched on console

Wish destiny would give us local offline MP...
 

Budi

Member
Can you point us to some 2007 games that had similiar or better features than Halo 3 then?

Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games had an integrated scenario/campaign editor in 1996, I'm not claiming it to be the first one though. I don't remember in what version these were added but in Counter-Strike you couldn't only save replays but to spectate too if the server had HLTV on. There was also Clanbase internet portal that covered many different games, it had league rankings for competitive gaming and even additional cups. Official CB games also had to follow it's rules. And for even more serious gaming there was CPL that stands for Cyberathlete Professional League, which was founded 1997. Few examples there. Nip, Ninjas in pyjamas that are active once again were formed in 2000.

Edit: And I'm not really here to argue that these wouldn't be cool features that Halo had, since they are. My peeve was only with calling them ahead of it's time, dismissing a huge part of gaming history.
 

Striker

Member
Halo 3 did a few things right weapon balance wise over Halo 2 like the Plasma Pistol EMP and bringing back the Assualt Rifle. The lack of hitscan and nerfing grenade/rocket spmash damage though combined with it's netcode has hurt it though.
Plasma Pistol EMP just halted gameplay to a crawl (like equipment did). They added the Spartan Laser, missile pod, and a few pieces of equipment to 'balance' out the overpowering vehicles.

I actually think the rocket splash was higher in Halo 3, but it traveled much slower. In Halo 2 it traveled fast due to the lock-on and larger maps.

One of the disappointments with Halo:Reach was the lack of communication and engagement that Bungie had with Halo 3. When Halo:Reach launched, they wouldn't respond to any of the gameplay criticisms, and didn't update the game a single time. They then transferred the games management to 343 industries and it felt like an extremely janky transition, and was one of the biggest mishaps for Halo:Reach. The rare event of them giving blue flames out for Bungie day was nice, and was the only time things felt similar to Halo 3 in the games life.
They were updating the playlists and managing armor abilities better for specified modes, so a few playlists like Arena just used Sprint or Camo as your abilities with a DMR. They were using more gametype and map combos for Team Objective and for BTB they were using more objective modes like Assault and 2-flag for higher weighting. When 343 took over, BTB became heavies and slayer, Team Objective had flag slayer added, 3 flag, and even made it 5v5 which became worse because it was on maps built for 8 people.
 

spootime

Member
Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games had an integrated scenario/campaign editor in 1996, I'm not claiming it to be the first one though. I don't remember in what version these were added but in Counter-Strike you couldn't only save replays but to spectate too if the server had HLTV on. There was also Clanbase internet portal that covered many different games, it had league rankings for competitive gaming and even additional cups. Official CB games also had to follow it's rules. And for even more serious gaming there was CPL that stands for Cyberathlete Professional League, which was founded 1997. Few examples there. Nip, Ninjas in pyjamas that are active once again were formed in 2000.

OP was talking about how Bungie integrated MLG playlists into halo 3. Which is not something people were doing around that time. I seriously doubt that Valve knew CPL or a CS professional scene even existed in 2007.
 
Forever my favorite Halo. So much fun playing with friends in various custom games and messing around making our own maps in forge.

On top of that all of the content this game had in terms of multiplayer was insane. I was hooked.
 

CrayToes

Member
Makes me sad to see what's become of Halo & Bungie for that matter. Destiny & Halo 5 are both alright but neither comes close to the bar set by Halo 3.
 

Seventy70

Member
Personally, when it comes to Destiny, the same magic isn't there. It feels like a shell of the heart and soul that went into Halo. That's probably just due to my perception though.
One of the disappointments with Halo:Reach was the lack of communication and engagement that Bungie had with Halo 3. When Halo:Reach launched, they wouldn't respond to any of the gameplay criticisms, and didn't update the game a single time. They then transferred the games management to 343 industries and it felt like an extremely janky transition, and was one of the biggest mishaps for Halo:Reach. The rare event of them giving blue flames out for Bungie day was nice, and was the only time things felt similar to Halo 3 in the games life.

Yeah, Reach is where I think Bungie started being more isolated from the player base. I wonder what changed.
 

ZZMitch

Member
Probably played Halo 2 more overall, but Halo 3 was an amazing experience. Those two games were pretty much the only thing I played in middle and high school
 

Herodotus

Member
Halo 3 is probably one of my favorite games of all time, i loved everything about it, it had so much content at launch.

I would kill for an anniversary release on PC.
 
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