Halo 5 Multiplayer Coverage! (no campaign spoilers)
- Thread starter FUNKNOWN iXi
- Start date
I sort of know?
I'm visiting a shoot tomorrow, where we made something cool explode. Then I'm on a panel at Comic Con London, then I am at the London launch event.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that aesthetically all of the arena maps are sterile and boring. They seemed to be designed for only competitive play. Personally, I enjoy playing on maps like Ivory Tower or Lockout. They had a unique design and fun for competition.
WordsintheWater
Member
Because it gets fucking old playing on samey looking maps, I don't understand why they can't look different and play well.
ArchedThunder
Banned
If they smoothed out some of the rough geometry, put in higher res textures and modern lighting and shadowing I don't think anyone would complain.
Monocle
Member
Have I entered Bizarro World?
Goddammit, people. Can't distinguish between clean, elegant geometry and cluttered sci-fi mishmash. No wonder Michael Bay's TF films with their garbage heap character designs are popular.
VincentMatts
Member
Sure they can, this to me looks like a great Halo map. Maybe a little on the Transformers side but i like it:
awesomegamername
Banned
Will we get to see this or was it for something like..a side job.
AllIsOneIsNone
Banned
Haha, sorry, I like it. I'll agree there is some questionable art related stuff going on, but I like pretty much everything promethean/forerunner related.
Twilight Gap
Member
I'm also a fan of the Promethean stuff, especially on Midnight. Fyrewulf mentioned something a while back -
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=101635394&postcount=17917
We can actually Forge close to this kind of geometry now. Well, maybe closer to this kind
I'll be deconstructing various environments from the games and translating them into Forge later this year, including this kind of architecture. Will be sure to post about it.
Munki
Member
The 26th
WordsintheWater
Member
If you're playing it, you know more then most of us. I'm not gonna judge how they play until it comes out, but these maps would definitely benefit from different aesthetics. Keep the same layout, but make each map different. If 343 couldn't distinguish the UNSC maps enough then they shouldn't have added so many of them into a playlist. We have Plaza, The Rig, and Fathom with similar aesthetics.
Twilight Gap
Member
Not just different aesthetics; simpler. More attention paid to areas of interest in the map and less detail in inconsequential places.
That aside, I do hope that we get some solid maps out of the initial patch. Other than the Eden/Empire mix, am hoping that the other ones come into their own with proper settings.
SpongyRug10
Neo Member
Not entirely sure where I said anything about needing an MA to constructively critique art, but carry on. If you post often enough, I bet they'll push back the release date and redo all art assets for the game to fit your demands.
WordsintheWater
Member
I agree on that part as well, the maps look cluttered for no reason.
Fathom ctf is easily the best gametype and map in quite a few halos.
Edit: oh and Eden strongholds
WordsintheWater
Member
Look forward to jumping in on Tuesday, I hope I enjoy it, Halo is one of my favorite franchises.
Monocle
Member
I just wish 343 had made some attempt to relate the design language to Bungie's Forerunner stuff, which was so well developed in the earlier games. I don't buy the argument that "culture evolves" or the living Forerunners and their active constructs "should" look different. That's just a post-hoc justification for 343's art choices. And while it would probably be stifling for their art department to have to match other people's work, that's what you do when you inherit some other group's franchise, assuming you want to respect what made it great in the first place.
Look at what the art people have done for the new Star Wars film. It's the perfect blend of old and new, classic and fresh at the same time. In contrast, you'd literally have no idea 343's Forerunners came from the same series as Bungie's if you compared the two art styles with no other info.
Poodlestrike
Banned
Just watching the streams Strongholds on Eden looks like a blast.
How's Plaza play, btw?
It's probably a manufacturing defect with this newer line of controllers. I hope it's not present on the Elite...
Have not played it yet
ebullientprism
Member
Halo 2 to Halo 3 was a generational leap too. Just as much of a technical jump as Halo 4 to Halo 5. Yet the map design philosophy remained consistent.
And fwiw, this was a problem in Halo 4 too. Not this bad though.
I feel like alot of the art direction discussions are usually framed as halo 1-3 vs halo4-5
I always thought that the big change in art direction happened with Reach and was done by Bungie: 4-5 just followed along.
EDIT: especially the shift to "busy" designs was done with Reach
Plaza looks so interesting and unlike any halo map I can think of. Someone mentioned it looked like a cod map and I don't think I disagree. Time will tell with hands on if its a good playing map, but at the very least, I'm loving how fresh it seems to be and how clamber opens up maps like this.
The designers of Midnight must have really loved Quake. Especially the last room with the jumping pads.
Twilight Gap
Member
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
So apparently Australians will be getting screwed after all.
Poster on Reddit is saying he tried joining a US friends party but the game wouldn't let them start because one person (the Aussie) had high latency connection to the server. Match would only start once he left.
https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/3pvhkg/halo_5_au_high_latency_issues/
Bit silly.
Poster on Reddit is saying he tried joining a US friends party but the game wouldn't let them start because one person (the Aussie) had high latency connection to the server. Match would only start once he left.
https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/3pvhkg/halo_5_au_high_latency_issues/
Bit silly.
To each their own, a map could be the most bland shit in the world and I wouldn't care if it played well. The gameplay is what hooks me, not the art.
I totally get your point, and I'm not complaining about the halo 5 maps (they look nice), but why can't we have both?
BigEvilTurtle
Banned
I think the static images look cluttered but the maps in motion look less so. Viewing the maps in 3D motion makes a big difference. Playing it as well. Just my opinion though.
SpongyRug10
Neo Member
Fair enough. I'm not a regular and/or competent Halo player and cannot comment on the "boring and sterile" maps, but its ridiculous how 343i continuously gets railed on for not being Bungie.
The game should be critiqued of course. But on its own merits and flaws. 343i isn't Bungie, for better or worse. Lots of people have invested sweat and tears into the project & it really doesn't seem constructive [or nice] to then judge their work based on output(s) of a predecessor that they could not have influenced.
I would not like to live behind a towering shadow that people constantly used to bludgeon my accomplishments or amplify my failings, and neither would you.
PetulantChild
Banned
21 maps
5 breakout maps (forged)
2 forge maps (orion and pegasus)
8 non forged arena maps
3 warzone maps
3 clones of the warzone maps shrunken for a different game-mode
That's what happens when you take the responsibility of making games in a franchise with an established universe. The guys at StreumOn shouldn't be allowed to make the Marines in SpaceHulk
eathwing short scrawny weaklings just because they aren't GamesWorkshop, and if they want to do that then they shouldn't be working on a Warhammer game.Twilight Gap
Member
That's a valid point, but most of the comparisons are used for examples to illustrate the point. Where applicable, we could compare Halo 4 to Halo 5 to the same end.
Complex in Halo 4 has a mostly good balance of visual clarity and detail. Almost everywhere there is detail, it is either used for practicality or away from the player's active peripheral vision.
Totally. But I'm one of the few that thinks the maps in H5 look fine. Never going to please everyone, I suppose.
Ok, so the 3 other Warzone maps are clones, didn't know that. Pretty disappointing.
Damn, I hope the DLC maps are all unique then. It'll be sad if they aren't.
Monocle
Member
You do have a point. Even Halo 3 showed signs of design weirdness, especially certain buildings on The Ark. I wonder if staffing changes were the issue. ODST's team had a lot of people who worked on Halo CE, and it felt like classic Halo despite being set in just one Earth city.
Though Reach's stuff was still recognizably Halo, it was less disciplined design-wise. I would still want to point out that if 343 did follow Bungie's lead, they took the wayward art style
to new levels of excess with Halo 4. Some things like the floating columns were neat, and would have worked beautifully if the overall design language had been more restrained. But instead of favoring simple and elegant geometry to evoke a sense of ancient power, they piled heaps of detail onto crazy jagged shapes and ended up falling into the same trap as many other games with futuristic but utterly forgettable designs.
Hopefully this just means that he'll have to play with other players in his region which I think is an overall positive. High ping players detract from the experience for everyone else. If 343 has really put an end to that I will be so impressed.
Jessie.Bristol
Member
... Good? It means the game is prioritizing connection quality. I mean, it does suck if someone is trying to play with friends from different regions but high latency would have provided a very sub-optimal experience for the person from Australia.
Twilight Gap
Member
Yea this was going a bit overboard. It isn't an issue though because the color contrast is done well.
Stinkles, how will we play Halo 5 multiplayer now???
https://twitter.com/thevowel/status/657674375890518016
Joking aside, e leaving sucks. I enjoyed listening to him on Major's podcast.
PetulantChild
Banned
That city maps they showed that was presumably a Warzone map isn't making launch so it's fair to assume the DLC maps will include some unique settings.
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
Effectively region locking multiplayer with parties isn't really a good thing.
I'd argue it's a good thing for ranked playlists. Not social playlists though
Twilight Gap
Member
Does the game have social playlists though?
Aren't they only available on the weekends to begin?