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[Loxley]

They're just taking their time, as they should. Halo 5 was, generally, an improvement on 4, but still nowhere near the heights Bungie reached with the series, especially regarding the single-player design. So fingers crossed the third time is the charm.

Halo 6 has to be 343's last crack at the series, so I think the real question is which studio will MS choose for Halo 7. Imagine what ID Software, 4A or Platinum Games could do with it.

?

343 was literally formed for the sole purpose of making Halo games. Heck they're named after the character 343 Guilty Spark from Bungie's original Halo trilogy. They absolutely will be the ones to make future mainline Halo titles - it's why they exist as a studio.

 

[KageMaru]

After the back to back disappointments of Halo 4, master chief collection and Halo 5, hardly anyone is willing to them a chance anymore. If Halo 6 is another disappointment, which seems very likely based on 343s track record, Halo and 343 are probably done.

It’s a shame since Halo 2 made me buy an Xbox and Halo 3 made me buy and Xbox 360 and both were worth it for those games alone. I’ve gone from one of the biggest Halo fans to someone who couldn’t care less about Halo 6, and won’t pick it up unless there’s positive word of mouth that it’s much better than Halo 5.

To be fair, Halo 5 was much improved over Halo 4. The biggest issue they need to overcome is the story telling IMO.

 

[xviper]

the delay of an announcement of a new Main line Halo game may be due to the profit they got from REQ packs

343I done Halo 5 MP amazingly( except Warzone, fuck that mode and their Packs), they don't need to fuck anything up, just improve on the gameplay mechanic, add new modes and that's it for the MP of Halo 6

they need to work a lot on the campaign, i would be glad if i got Halo 6 with the MP of H5 and the campaign of H4

343I need to make sure to listen to the right feedback so they don't fuck up the MP of Halo 6 like Respawn did with Titanfall 2 MP

 

[SomTervo]

You can bet that 2018 shooters will have a battle royale mode.

Sure hope so.

Now wouldn't that be something... Dropping you on a Halo ring and letting you explore. It'll never happen, but that would be intriguing.

That's exactly it.

Imagine the Silent Cartographer but when you complete the objective it doesn't end. You walk back outside and are given a series of Halo-ey things to do across the whole ring world. Rather than landing on a pretty small 'island' you land on the entire (or most of a) ring world. Would be glorious.

 

[Bits N Pieces]

Making Halo 6, duh - lol.

After finding there feet with Halo 4, 343i then went on to make the most amazing MP experience in Halo 5 so more of that and then a big fucking camapign that Chief would be proud of is all I can ask and hope for.

Im telling you, the next Halo game is going to be a cracker!

 

[greatnorthern]

I'm not very optimistic. I really, really dislike 4 and the insane sponginess of the enemies.

5, while a dramatic improvement in the combat department (new enemies and guns both rebalanced), the 4-player 'fireteam' concept just didn't do it for me; I loved the lone-wolfiness of MC, so having constantly to rez my AI teammates was a total drag.

 

[Kinyou]

plus i imagine MS want to avoid any more situations like crackdown where it was panic announced with a CGi trailer, had no media released and fell off the face of the earth for a year or so, popped up again at another E3 with a crappy trailer and then got delayed.

just leave them to it. i'm sure they're well into development, but they'll likely want to release it within about 6 months of announcing it.

The Halo 5 reveal cg trailer also ended up being drastically different from the final game. I imagine they dont want to repeat that either by revealing it too early

 

[Lothars]

To be fair, Halo 5 was much improved over Halo 4. The biggest issue they need to overcome is the story telling IMO.

Not to me, halo 5 was disappointing. I like halo 4 but don't like halo 5 and I don't have much faith in halo 6 and not sure what they can do to change my mind.

 

[nekkid]

OP, your thread is exactly what they’re tying to achieve.

We’ve been inundated with Halo for a long time now. They want to give us the chance to miss it.

 

[theofficefan99]

Holy crap Halo Battle Royale would be glorious, haha.

I haven't played the series for a couple of iterations but honestly I feel like a Halo taking place over several open worlds would be great. Or even one big open world. Like a substantial chunk of an actual Halo ring world, fully realised.

An open world FPS with no RPG elements? No thanks

 

[Deeke[VRZ]]

Certain Affinity is bringing Halo Online to PC and consoles for free w/ microtransactions.

(I jest but CA is working on two new service based games and they have experience with Halo...and that cash could help fund Halo 6 in the interim).

 

[Blueblur1]

The first thing they should do is jettison all of the awful lore they’ve created like the new Spartans [4s, 5s, or whatever fucking number they stopped at]. Followed by ditching all of the awful new designs they made for characters, armor, etc. Followed by hiring a competent writer and campaign lead.

And for multiplayer they should hire decent map designs because Halo 5’s maps are ass. They should also make all of the MP content instead of farming out BTB maps to fans using Forge (dat free labor doe). And finally, they should bring back all of the game types from Halo Reach.

Stop fucking around, 343. Stop releasing Halo games with an incomplete MP suite. Your games are inferior to Bungie’s in every single way. Those games are fucking old already and your own products are extremely inferior. Come the fuck on.

Edit: And stop trying to shove new characters down our throats. They all suck.

 

[Plasma]

I don't mind them waiting to announce it in the same year they're planning to release it. I'm pretty sure that's why we haven't heard anything.

 

[nillapuddin]

Reworking those Warzone bosses into public events takes time, let alone coming up with a skill tree and figuring out what supers are balanced.

 

[Rodeo Clown]

My hope is they're figuring out what the Bungie-era games did right with respect to their campaigns and putting that into action, since I think that is where they're still lacking. The 343i campaigns are problematic in so many ways: the poor basic storytelling and assumption that the player is inhaling all of the out of game fiction, the Prometheans being bullet sponges that aren't fun to fight, and how the vast, open battlefields of a game like Halo 3 just aren't there in the 343 products.

Halo 5 was better than Halo 4 in some of these respects, but still thinks I'm reading all of their novels and watching their TV shows, still hasn't nailed anything like a sweeping level like Tsavo Highway, and still gives me a little too much of the Prometheans (and way, way too many boss fights). I also don't like their characterization of the Master Chief, but then he was mostly absent in 5, which is also kind of an issue given that he's core to the Halo experience.

 

[highrider]

I'm glad they're taking their time with Halo 6. 5 offered up the best core gameplay in the series history, but was dragged down by a weak campaign and a barebones multiplayer suite at launch.

Halo 6 honestly has a lot of potential. If they use 5 as a base to build from, and focus on making a great campaign then it could be something really special. The main issue with the series at the moment in my eyes is that it still doesn't really look or tonally feel like 'Halo'. I'd love to see them revise the art-style to look more like Bungie's titles, and make more 'open' campaign missions like Assault on the Control Room from 1, or The Covenant in 3. The multiplayer is also crying out for some variation in location for it's maps. Give me more exotic, alien locations and less military complexes.

I'm very optimistic for the game. Fingers crossed.

Yes!

Edit: No more power ranger armor, even in multiplayer it’s corny, Spartans should look cool but not overdone.

 

[ChazGW7]

But despite that I am still optimistic. I actually liked the story in H4, it was more personal. It explored new territory with the Chief. I'll never forget the scene of Chief and Lasky on the Infinity looking out over Earth. You see how Chief never got to learn how to be Human, ripped away from his life at such an early age, being a soldier is all he has ever known. It's really powerful stuff.

Halo 4's story gets way, way, WAY too much hate imo. That ending is heart breaking after following Chief through his journey up till that point, it hit hard. Really enjoyed my time with that games single player.

And the core multiplayer in Halo 5 is so good. When playing the older Halos I actually miss all the movement abilities they added in H5. Only bad thing about it was that it was way too competitive focused. I mean, no real BTB maps? Really??

If they have all the game modes we expect from a Halo (and real maps for them) at launch, they can keep core H5 multiplayer in tact, and deliver a campaign thats more like Halo 4 less like Halo 5 I think Halo 6 could be great. I really hate fighting prometheans though. I wish we could just undo them entirely.

343 has been listening the the fans' complains and praises for 8 years now, I'm hopeful they have pretty good idea what we like and don't like now.

Yeah this is basically it. Halo 4 and Halo 5 both bring fantastic stuff to the franchise but have their drawbacks. If Halo 6's story captures that personal spirit of 4's and the multiplayer of 5 (with a bigger map pool and modes: the social platform of MP for Halo is just as important as the competitive side, I hope 343 have realised that.) then Halo 6 will be pointing towards success.

If Halo 6 is another disappointment, which seems very likely based on 343s track record, Halo and 343 are probably done.

Still can't believe people seriously say stuff like this. Halo is a mammoth franchise and will always sell impressive numbers. Especially now they will be bringing it to PC. Halo will never be done and 343 will never be pulled from the IP. It is a studio specifically designed to make Halo games.

 

[Detective]

I need Halo campaign on par with past Halos
Chief as Chief, and not some talkative moron.
Better PVE experience. FF doesn't cut it now.
PVE should be pretty big in Halo 6.

 

[Thunder_God_Bane]

They’re probably wondering how they’re going to get out from under Bungies shadow. Since Destiny is cleaning house.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

Making Halo 6, obviously. These things take time.

 

[horkrux]

I really liked Halo 5, but many people (on gaf?) didn't, so I guess they're fucked either way. Not sure if they'll ever be able to deliver something that will finally please people at this point.

 

[wwm0nkey]

They’re probably wondering how they’re going to get out from under Bungies shadow. Since Destiny is cleaning house.

They are both FPS games, but very different types of FPS games. They don't easy the lunch of each other/too/ much, but they do compete to some degree

 

[jond76]

I wouldn't be surprised to see some kind of Destiny-esque spin on the next Halo. Its got the lore and history. Maybe they are widening its scope.

It would be a bit ironic but not too surprising.

 

[The Real Napsta]

Halo Battle Royale obviously.

That would be a fun mode.

 

[Rodelero]

They are both FPS games, but very different types of FPS games. They don't easy the lunch of each other/too/ much, but they do compete to some degree

Halo doesn't eat anyone's lunch. It's barely on the radar in terms of popular contemporary shooters.

 

[Jumeira]

They’re probably wondering how they’re going to get out from under Bungies shadow. Since Destiny is cleaning house.

Not really, Destiny is nothing like Halo outside the gunplay. The further they are from Destiny the better.

Halo 4 was a turd. Halo 5 seems to have gotten MP right but with yet another disastrous campaign. 343 just don't understand Halo. That was obvious when they ended Halo 4 with a QTE. They need to lose Prometheans altogether. They fucking suck. No one cares about them, no one enjoys fighting them, and Halo 4 & 5 could honestly be completely written off and no one would give a shit, so just make Halo 6 a complete reboot, go back to the covenant, lose Spartan Locke and that that crap that yet again, no one gives a shit about, and just give us a Master Chief focused campaign (or a spin off like we got in Noble team for Reach), and Covenant enemies only.

but this is 343 so we'll probably get a fucking on rails light gun game focused on Spartan Billys epic rivalry with Master Chief cause one time Billy ate MC's sandwich and every enemy in the game is that one guy from Halo 5 you fought like 20 times

Whilst i dont think the games are bad, i do agree with the odd inclusion of Locke and co. That wasn't a good implementation of squad gameplay and it just has no place being in mainline Halo. I have to admit im very nervous about 343i head Bonnie? i think, i dont agree with some of her ideas about Halo. I love Frankie ans i know MS got Halo's lead writer back from Bungie so here's hoping they give him control of story and design ideas, the Clone Trooper inspired mechanics fell flat on its face, we dont want any more of that. Just Chief and alien worlds with Cortana please.

 

[Master Yoshi]

I absolutely loved Halo 5's core gameplay, and I really enjoyed Breakout. Hopefully Halo 5's movement, gunplay and sandbox are improved upon and not revamped again. Clamber was a great addition, stabilization and thrust also great. They really did a fine job giving that super soldier feeling, even if the original trilogy played vastly different. I'm all for constantly evolving the series. If I want Halo 1,2, or 3 gameplay, I should just play those titles instead.

That being said, the story has been severely disappointing. The handling of the Didact, who should have become the Darth Vader of the Halo series, the handling of the highly anticipated blue team, Osiris existing at all... Halo 5's story should have just been a novel. It is the most forgettable in the series, also the most misleading with the pre-release marketing.

I even like the idea of Cortana being the villain, but it has been handled terribly. Halo 4 and 5 are made up of several solid ideas with terrible execution. Here's hoping 6 gives us a gripping story.

Also, fix the fucking art. Halo 2 anniversary = peak Halo visuals. Stunning, iconic.

 

[wwm0nkey]

Halo doesn't eat anyone's lunch. It's barely on the radar in terms of popular contemporary shooters.

Oh I know, I was saying Destiny wasn't the one eating its lunch, all the other competitive shooters out there are though. UT4 could have been a BIG competitor but they just took a majority of the team on Fortnite

 

[nekkid]

Halo 4's story gets way, way, WAY too much hate imo. That ending is heart breaking after following Chief through his journey up till that point, it hit hard. Really enjoyed my time with that games single player.

Yep, Halo 4’s campaign was and is great.

I spent most of my MP time in BTB, and that was really fun also.

 

[Poster#1]

I hope they make it like Destiny. PVE with loot (get better armor, weapons stats etc). It has a lot of potential.

 

[Jumeira]

I hope they make it like Destiny. PVE with loot (get better armor, weapons stats etc). It has a lot of potential.

You have Destiny for that, keep that shit there, no need for that in Halo games.

 

[KageMaru]

Not to me, halo 5 was disappointing. I like halo 4 but don't like halo 5 and I don't have much faith in halo 6 and not sure what they can do to change my mind.

What made you like Halo 4 more? Not saying you're wrong for thinking that way but I'm curious.

IMO Halo 5 had a more coherent story with fewer plot holes. I appreciated the expanded spartan abilities because they were always conveyed as tank ninjas in the books but that never showed in the games. Battles were larger in 5 and the weapons were more diverse in their characteristics. One of the biggest improvements was fixing the sandbox nature of the battles by keeping weapons and items on the field. I know that may sound silly but Halo 4 would irritate me to no end when I would swap out a weapon for a specific purpose just for my previous weapon to disappear. No other halo game would do this and it broke the sandbox element of the battles.

Of course the game wasn't perfect. I wish the campaign mode was 30fps instead of 60fps so the developers could put more resources into the AI, distant animations, and graphical effects. The AI specifically was a bit disappointing as I think it peaked in Halo ODST and hasn't been as good since. Also while told better, I didn't care for some of the story and how it was presented. There was a huge marketing build up about Locke hunting Chief, but all we got was a quick fight in a cut-scene. An awesome blue team versus team Osiris battle would have gone a long way to breaking up the repetitive boss fights with the warden eternal. Another issue with the storytelling was the lack of context or development behind both spartan teams. Unless you were a big Halo fan, you had no idea who the Spartans in either team were. The player was never given a reason why they should care about the characters outside of the "save the universe" cliché.

While still on the lower end of the spectrum of Halo titles, I still consider it an improvement over Halo 4. Hopefully they will really come out on top in 6.

 

[Assanova]

Honestly GAGGING for a new Halo, no other FPS can scratch that itch like Halo for me. Frothing at the mouth now with anticipation for Xbox X version of Halo 6.

As people have mentioned, get the level design right & better more varied enemies as the gunplay is just sublime. Still my favourite MP FPS.

But Destiny???

 

[jem0208]

But Destiny???

Sarcasm?

 

[hollomat]

To be fair, Halo 5 was much improved over Halo 4. The biggest issue they need to overcome is the story telling IMO.

For me it was a step down. The loot boxes which had an actual effect on that one big multiplayer mode killed it for me. It became a matter of which team had players willing to use up their rare items rather than which was the better team.

But Destiny???

Destiny is fantastic and an amazing game in its own right, but it doesn’t really scratch the Halo itch. It’s missing the vehicular combat that I used to love in Halo. Big team battle was always my favorite mode in the early halos, but I hated but the big team mode in Halo 5. Rather than being a matter of who go to the tank first, it was who used their tank consumable that they could rebuy with real money.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

Halo 4's story gets way, way, WAY too much hate imo. That ending is heart breaking after following Chief through his journey up till that point, it hit hard. Really enjoyed my time with that games single player.

Yep I actually thought 4's campaign was pretty good. Not a popular opinion but I'd put it just below combat evolved which was my favorite.

I wouldn't be surprised to see some kind of Destiny-esque spin on the next Halo. Its got the lore and history. Maybe they are widening its scope.

It would be a bit ironic but not too surprising.

Eww please no. Not a Destiny fan and i dont want 343 trying to chase another non halo game.

Sarcasm?

I certainly hope so.

 

[Cpt Lmao]

WOW: Open world Halo game with survival elements! The Master Chief and some UNSC forces are marooned on a micro Halo ring, you've gotta bandy about and do some shit.

At first you're stranded alone on the ring, you realise that there are day/night cycles. You find some cool technology that allows you to set up a forerunner structure in any location you like to act as a motherbase. You set a signal flare and nearby pelicans fly in to join you.

Forerunner sentinels come out at night and are super aggressive. The Chief and allies have got to take shelter in motherbase or other smaller forerunner structures when they do. Bases can be upgraded and managed via the assistance of a helpful artificial intelligence. Make sure your base is well-protected or risk losing everything!

Wow!

Go about the Halo ring in your Warthog and rescue stragglers, bring them back to motherbase and then assign squads of marines to missions that they carry out in real time, State of Decay style. Assignments include:

Reconnaissance: Get marines to explore areas of interest so you can decide where you (the Chief) are most needed. Marines can also demolish wreckage.
Resource collection: Use pelicans to pickup supply caches which you can use to upgrade your base. Warthogs also include tow cables, which can be used for marines to rapel down steep inclines and find trickily-placed supplies.
Assault: Assign marines to attack key Covenant strongholds. Covenant act in real-time with XCOM2-style dark events. Send your marines to capture and protect strategic points. Covenant figureheads are out and about the Halo ring in real time, and you can send your forces to capture them.

Wow!

Some stragglers include UNSC engineers and scientists, who can be used for R&D to allow you to better equip your base and personnel.

There's some real shit going down on this Halo ring. You and your forces need to discover the secrets of the micro-ring before the Covenant do. The flood are also out there, lurking. Hidden away.

Reality: They'll go back to the same old tired, boring Campaign + Online + Novelty mode structure, which will fail, and the series will be in some serious shit.

 

[N21]

Halo doesn't eat anyone's lunch. It's barely on the radar in terms of popular contemporary shooters.

I wouldn't call it a colossal beast but H5 can still stand toe to toe with some multi-platforms. It took COD:BO3 in the UK to knock H5 to fifth place.

 

[Outrun]

Making sure they don't screw it up. As I recall there was a lot of backlash with their most recent entry in the series.

Backlash for MCC sure.

Halo 5 campaign was disappointing. But its MP is amazing.

 

[Outrun]

Yep, Halo 4’s campaign was and is great.

I spent most of my MP time in BTB, and that was really fun also.

That is where I sent most of my time in MP. BTB was sorely lacking in H5, but Team Slayer was my bag in that game.

 

[funkystudent]

A lot of pubs want to do the fallout 4 quick reveal to release thing. Not shocked if MS keeps quiet until close to E3. Plus Halo is in a weird spot. They know it. A bit of extra time is needed.


Also are we sure Halo 6 will still be the end of the current forerunner / evil cortana story arch?

 

[Detective]

They can keep the popular modes in Next Halo, but launching with just that ain't gonna cut it anymore .

New modes and bigger modes have to arrive.

Keep the arena of course.
Strong campaign
BTB
Several PVE modes

 

[Chucker]

Halo Battle Royale obviously.

This makes perfect sense, You could be ODST's dropping in to whatever world, equipment is OSP, 100 in 1 out, call it "Training Skirmish" or some mess.

 

[Blam]

I'm happy they are taking their time.

 

[hollomat]

I wouldn't call it a colossal beast but H5 can still stand toe to toe with some multi-platforms. It took COD:BO3 in the UK to knock H5 to fifth place.

Per Wikipedia, Halo 5 came out on October 27th, 2015 (a Tuesday) and call of duty black ops 3 came out November 6th, 2015 (the following Friday). So it’s not so much it took COD to knock H5 to fifth place as much as in week 2, COD came out and 3 other games also outsold H5.

Edit: Apparently Halo 5 wasn’t 5th in week 2, it was 4th in sales. But one of the games that beat it in sales was MARIO Kart 8, a game released a year and a half earlier.

https://www.vg247.com/2015/11/09/91-of-uk-call-of-duty-black-ops-3-sales-were-on-ps4xbox-one/

 

[ChazGW7]

*terrible idea*

yeah just... no. Halo does not need an open world survival theme. Like how would anyone think thats the right direction for the franchise? Jesus christ.

 

[tiredheadcrab]

Halo 5 was good gameplay wise. All they need to do is make small adjustments here and there. I mean, to me it has the best gameplay of any console FPS. Its solid and balanced.

But my god, the single player campaign was horribly written. The marketing campaign was just trash. Chief vs Locke was stupid and just didnt generate the excitement Halo 2, 3 or 4 had. It felt like this could have been a spinoff or some ios/android game. I will say they could have maybe made it better if they made the game more like Halo 3 ODST. You are Locke, a silent no face hero, on a planet that was just you and the enemy, and basically you go from area to area collecting clues about what happened to MC. You would play as Chief in flashbacks.

It also moved too fast and the plot wanted to move into this direction that didnt make sense for how they setup Halo 4. I do hope they find a way to fix the story and 5 so 6 can be much better. It seems they have acknowledged that. I do worry that 6's story, while has the chance to be better, will still suffer from the story in 5.

Also Squad controls arent really my thing, especially for a Halo game. I understand why they did it. This game started development during the Xbox one's early days so I can see why they added that in there. But I really dont want to take care of other spartans. There has never been good friendly AI, ever. Especially when that AI can get hurt or damaged.

 

[New002]

Can't speak for the campaign but I think Halo 5 MP is fantastic. It's the most fun I've had playing Halo MP since Halo 2 and I'm eagerly awaiting the next Halo.

 

[Okami Haundo]

They had quite a bit of feedback for Halo 5 and it seems they just want to make sure they have the time to address it. I think it was only a few months ago that they had an interview about the story. They said something along the lines of how they didn't realize people would want more Chief, so they had to re-work their plans for the next game.

Halo 5 has my favorite multiplayer in the whole series, so I'm hoping 6 will just add a better story and not fix what isn't broken with multiplayer. I fully expect a reveal at E3 2018 with a Fall release date and a summer beta. That'll help the start of Microsoft's "mainstream" push for the Xbox One X with either a cheaper price or just bundles with the game included.

 

[Cpt Lmao]

yeah just... no. Halo does not need an open world survival theme. Like how would anyone think thats the right direction for the franchise? Jesus christ.

The entire spirit of the first game revolved around being stranded on an alien structure, spiritedly forming an effective guerilla resistance and unlocking the secrets of the Halo ring.

So tell me, exactly what about that would not suit open-world gameplay with survival elements?