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Halo |OT 25| Did you think me defeated?!"

Fuchsdh

Member
I still want to see a filtered matchmaking system for maps/gametypes. It would be sooo much better than dev managed playlists or just a custom browser mess.

Eh, I'm not sure how tenable that is, but it'd be nice if they had a map veto system like StarCraft II or the like—you get to choose your top two least favorite maps and avoid them like the plague.
 
I still want to see a filtered matchmaking system for maps/gametypes. It would be sooo much better than dev managed playlists or just a custom browser mess.
Ideally we'd have both a Custom Games Browser and filtered playlists/matchmaking toggles. Best of both worlds imo.
 

mo60

Member
hopefully they update halo 5 before it goes on game pass. feel like there needs some tidy to do with servers and other small things we touched on here.

There seriously need to fix the issue where matches sometimes don't load in all current warzone playlists when they next update the game.
 
Today we finished the fight :')

17098102_1225008620888072_4120400231824914136_o.jpg
 

Trup1aya

Member
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/266021437/

So, what does HaloGaf think about this news? Is it time to panic about the quality of Halo 6's writing or should we continue to have faith in the scared rings?

If you haven't already been panicking, you've been doing it wrong.

This makes me (slightly) more confident in H6s writing. Since H5s writing is terrible, and my outlook for Halo's narrative direction has never been lower.

There's no way a new person could be worse (right?). So, why not?
 
If you haven't already been panicking, you've been doing it wrong.

This makes me (slightly) more confident in H6s writing. Since H5s writing is terrible, and my outlook for Halo's narrative direction has never been lower.

There's no way a new person could be worse (right?). So, why not?

They now get to inherit the crap their predecessor left them with.

I don't envy the person who has to right this ship.
 

Cranster

Banned
If you haven't already been panicking, you've been doing it wrong.

This makes me (slightly) more confident in H6s writing. Since H5s writing is terrible, and my outlook for Halo's narrative direction has never been lower.

There's no way a new person could be worse (right?). So, why not?
The fact that this happening at a point when Halo 6 would be in mid-development would be my reason for panicking.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
The fact that this happening at a point when Halo 6 would be in mid-development would be my reason for panicking.

Eh, not really. They're a narrative director, not the actual writers of the game. While video games don't really have as easily defined roles as film so you can say for sure, it's not really any ipso factor indication of anything, whether "turmoil behind the scenes" or kicking Reed out or anything like that.

It's also worth noting that there's no indication Brian Reed has actually stepped down from his role; he may be staying there until they get a successor, which again suggests a pretty orderly transition.
 

Trup1aya

Member
They now get to inherit the crap their predecessor left them with.

I don't envy the person who has to right this ship.

Actually righting the ship in the course of a single games is a Herculean task. Maybe even impossible. But they definately need a new set of eyes to start laying the ground work.

I hope the job pays well

The fact that this happening at a point when Halo 6 would be in mid-development would be my reason for panicking.

I just can't see a reason to panick in response to this news. I panicked about h6 midway through H5, because it was clear that solid direction was missing. To date, the Forerunner saga appears to have a complete and utter lack of narrative direction- Key plotlines and characters are being dropped on a whim. And much of this is happening offscreen so the main audience can't even follow.

At the very worst, with a new director. H6 will continue the trend of Halo being a mindless saga. But I think looking for new talent is the only way to have hope of getting things on a path to salvation.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Man, HWDE Legendary has been beating me. Only got Mission 6 left, but the final scramble for the Rhinos is a pain. Really didn't remember it being this hard.

On the plus side, the skulls seem a lot more advantageous for Legendary in HW2, so that should be an easier slog. Gonna' wait and see if they nerf the campaign leader powers though.
 

Madness

Member
I was really against an H3A release but the more I think about it, I really think it is foolish not to do it. Look at the power of BotW as a launch title for Switch. Now imagine Scorpio launching with H3A.

I get it and we'll have the usual Halo 3 sucks/best talk, but it was the most popular Halo game by far and the peak of the Halo series. It holds a lot of nostalgia. Whether you liked campaign or MP is irrelevant. But imagine an H3A where you have a remastered campaign, it runs at 4K/30 or 4K/60 depending on how visually demanding. Look how much Blur has improved from Halo 2 Anniversary to Halo Wars 2. Now imagine we get the pivotal Halo 3 scenes with the same.

MP wise, we have MCC amd Halo 3 on X360 works, so maybe rather than have a fractured base playing classic, why not have the full H5 suite but with 10 maps and forge rather than the limited number we had with H2A. That lego blocks Pit remake works well in H5. Maybe they can design some of the best maps built around H5. I would still prefer all maps, but this could save time and money just having one type of MP. Have all the new features be added ie. Customs game browser, forge etc. You could have a killer launch title for Scorpio and yet still keep Halo fresh, celebrate 10 years for H3 before H6 inevitably comes in a year or two. Thoughts?
 

Mistel

Banned
Man, HWDE Legendary has been beating me. Only got Mission 6 left, but the final scramble for the Rhinos is a pain. Really didn't remember it being this hard.

On the plus side, the skulls seem a lot more advantageous for Legendary in HW2, so that should be an easier slog. Gonna' wait and see if they nerf the campaign leader powers though.
How does HW2 compare campaign wise to HW?
 

Fuchsdh

Member
How does HW2 compare campaign wise to HW?

They're hard to compare. To me, the gold standard of RTS campaigns is SCII: Wings of Liberty, to give a frame of reference. The original Halo Wars had a bunch of varied objectives, but for the most part, it boiled down to "build up a death ball and win"; the only time you'd need to change that attitude was on the occasion when you needed par time.

HW2 I think requires you to be a lot more proactive, partially because it adopts multiplayer scenarios into campaign objectives (which is overall fine, although I wish it didn't straight up use the same multiplayer lines) and because it forces you to split up your forces more and juggle different strategies at once. It's got more variety in the mission objectives, although I think it still doesn't manage to have some of the inventiveness and breadth of WoL. I also appreciate that it spends more time telling the story in-game rather than relying on cutscenes, although again it still feels like it could have been pushed further.

So if you're a base economy/macro RTS player, HW2's campaign is probably a step down from HW1, but then again Halo Wars has streamlined the economy aspects significantly by design so the series probably isn't the best fit anyhow.

I definitely think that the difficulty curve is better in HW2 as opposed to having the hardest missions in the game be in the second Act, though it seems like Legendary has way more leader spam than is probably fair.
 
Trying to learn HW2 since I'm shit. Playing an AI match, and it's like 55 minutes in. I'm destroying the final enemy base, and game crashes. 343 does not want me to enjoy this game...
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
3 power weapons onercy was clearly a bad idea since day 0, easy fix yet never fixed...

Are there 3? Someone please tell my matchmaking teammates who ignore everything except the covenant sniper, which they don't know how to use anyways.
 

m23

Member
They're hard to compare. To me, the gold standard of RTS campaigns is SCII: Wings of Liberty, to give a frame of reference. The original Halo Wars had a bunch of varied objectives, but for the most part, it boiled down to "build up a death ball and win"; the only time you'd need to change that attitude was on the occasion when you needed par time.

HW2 I think requires you to be a lot more proactive, partially because it adopts multiplayer scenarios into campaign objectives (which is overall fine, although I wish it didn't straight up use the same multiplayer lines) and because it forces you to split up your forces more and juggle different strategies at once. It's got more variety in the mission objectives, although I think it still doesn't manage to have some of the inventiveness and breadth of WoL. I also appreciate that it spends more time telling the story in-game rather than relying on cutscenes, although again it still feels like it could have been pushed further.

So if you're a base economy/macro RTS player, HW2's campaign is probably a step down from HW1, but then again Halo Wars has streamlined the economy aspects significantly by design so the series probably isn't the best fit anyhow.

I definitely think that the difficulty curve is better in HW2 as opposed to having the hardest missions in the game be in the second Act, though it seems like Legendary has way more leader spam than is probably fair.

The leader powers in campaign are terrible. The only times they make sense are during the boss battles and you're given enough time to react in those. You're guaranteed to lose units whenever the AI feels like using a power and it's really unfair and frustrating. On top of that there is no longer a disruption bomb so you can't do anything but try to outrun the beam which is nearly impossible.
 

Madness

Member
Want to see how Proving Grounds in H5 works with the radar and see if this is something they will inevitably roll with for future games. Halo 6 is probably well into development now.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Want to see how Proving Grounds in H5 works with the radar and see if this is something they will inevitably roll with for future games. Halo 6 is probably well into development now.

I really hope we get regular motion trackers in campaign, although then you run into the issue of campaign sandboxes not lining up with multiplayer, which I hate as well.

So either way, I'll be sad :p
 
I really hope we get regular motion trackers in campaign, although then you run into the issue of campaign sandboxes not lining up with multiplayer, which I hate as well.

So either way, I'll be sad :p
Motion tracker in campaign is unnecessary imo. I've been playing with the Fog skull activated for a long time and never had any issues.
 
Well, that's great for you.
Well, damn. Sassy Fuchs is sexy af. I wasn't dismissing your opinion btw, just trying to pull a thought-out response from you as to why you need it, seeing as how I appreciate your opinions.

Guess I was hoping for too much ;'[
It's not a problem with 343i linear level design at least.
It's not a problem in any Halo game imo lol. It's merely a preference thing, I think, unless you're playing on harder difficulties and could use the red dots to help with evasion. I don't think Halo veterans really have difficulty locating enemies in any Halo game, if that's the case you're pointing to with linear level design.


EDIT:
I really just wanted to throw some shade at 343's level design, let me have this.
lmao, with fans like HaloGAF, who really needs enemies?!
 

Karl2177

Member
Motion tracker in campaign is unnecessary imo. I've been playing with the Fog skull activated for a long time and never had any issues.
Oh yeah?! Well I play with the Blind skull activated and I've never had any issues!

Except in ce anniversary where there was no blind skull. :(

On a side note, I'd like a blind skull that doesn't take away the weapon.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Oh yeah?! Well I play with the Blind skull activated and I've never had any issues!

Except in ce anniversary where there was no blind skull. :(

On a side note, I'd like a blind skull that doesn't take away the weapon.

That's always been my issue with it.

Also I'd just like mainline games to have more random fun skulls instead of getting shunting into the anniversary editions.
 

Madness

Member
That's always been my issue with it.

Also I'd just like mainline games to have more random fun skulls instead of getting shunting into the anniversary editions.

It is crazy how they overlook the fun aspect for replayability. Look how fun Goldeneye was playing with things like golden gun, and DK head mode, etc. Why is it so satisfying putting grunt birthday party on. H2A had some great skulls.

Halo 6 absolutely needs daily/weekly commendations for campaign, fun skulls, modifier skulls, scoring, theater, and matchmaking. Plus, they need checkpoint systems so you can drop in and out of a specific part of the mission that is more fun. So maybe I just want to face 3 Wardens over and over without having to slog through the level etc.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
It is crazy how they overlook the fun aspect for replayability. Look how fun Goldeneye was playing with things like golden gun, and DK head mode, etc. Why is it so satisfying putting grunt birthday party on. H2A had some great skulls.

Halo 6 absolutely needs daily/weekly commendations for campaign, fun skulls, modifier skulls, scoring, theater, and matchmaking. Plus, they need checkpoint systems so you can drop in and out of a specific part of the mission that is more fun. So maybe I just want to face 3 Wardens over and over without having to slog through the level etc.

Huh, didn't realize until now that Halo 5 didn't have the rally point feature from 3 on.
 

TCKaos

Member
Mk. V lights conspiracy grows:

After bringing it up I'm pretty sure we decided that the normal maps were somehow inverted, meaning that the texture for the light only renders when its visibility intersects with the another part of the model. This means you can see it from the side, but not the front.
 
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