Syphon Filter
Member
I hope there is no beta for halo 4.
Halo 4 Announced (MS Conf, 2012, Start Of New Trilogy)
- Thread starter Sanic
- Start date
If you want to go in dark than do so yourself. An actual beta (not demo) test for a game is always a good thing. If it wasnt for the Reach beta we would still have the vehicles made out of paper.
Slightly Live
Dirty tag dodger
FateBreaker
Member
Agreed, but I want a bigger emphasis on narrative, and I want it to actually be good. Not to say Halo games have had bad narrative, but compared to the lore and books, etc., most of the games, seem to just miss the mark in some ways. But that might just be me.
FateBreaker
Member
Me too.
Slightly Live
Dirty tag dodger
Books exist to expand on the lore in the ways the games cannot. That's not to say the games are lacking. Take a peak at the Halo 3 Terminals for instance. Or Sadie's Story from ODST.
Fuck MP. I want a campaign that lives up to the promise of the universe, art and settings, unlike most of the Halo games.
Oh, and terminals/Sadie stuff is terrible storytelling (although I admit the Sadie stuff was pretty decent, just presented in a terrible way). Might as well read a book. Halo games are so far behind in terms of narrative.
Oh, and terminals/Sadie stuff is terrible storytelling (although I admit the Sadie stuff was pretty decent, just presented in a terrible way). Might as well read a book. Halo games are so far behind in terms of narrative.
So far 343i has been focusing HEAVILY on the story aspect of Halo so I wouldn't be too worried. Also it was revealed that Greg Bear was doing something for Halo 4 as well
Slightly Live
Dirty tag dodger
I am sure we are alone
If you've been let down by the campaigns of the Halo games, then yeah, you are alone.
The Librarian
Banned
Dani, what's the ETA on that timeline for the Forerunner saga?
Love the campaigns, but they never live up to what I expect them to be.
So far 343i has been focusing HEAVILY on the story aspect of Halo so I wouldn't be too worried. Also it was revealed that Greg Bear was doing something for Halo 4 as well
Could be promising. Halo is one of the coolest IP's out there, but none of the games reflect that at all. They're just boring in terms of narrative.
Gameplay > Cutscene > Gameplay
They've been following that recipe since the first game. ODST mixed it up, but it was basically the same. I'd like to see them be innovative, try to tell the story while you're playing. Portal 2 did a great job at this, even though you can tell that they really just wanted to show a cutscene at times.
Also, Halo fans are the weirdest people. Everyone was complaining about how H2 didn't take place exclusively on earth. Why would you ever want to go there when you have countless galaxies and strange worlds to explore?
Oblivionmancer
Member
Loved the terminals, but I think it's fair to say that the Halo 3 campaign proper could have been much better in the story department; "To war," arbitrary plot deaths, nothing really happening until the end of the 4th level, turning the Prophet of Truth into a mustache-twirling twit. It, generally speaking, lacked nuance.
Halo CE worked wonders with its simplicity and the emergent narrative of exploration, and Halo 2 was mostly successful in giving an interesting perspective on both sides of the Human-Covenant war. ODST was pretty sweet, but really a very minor side-story (partly because any pay off it would have had would have to have happened in a game that came out 2 years earlier, and they didn't plan that far ahead). Reach had a bit of the plot death problem again, but all in all worked really well as a more grounded war story in the context of the Halo universe. Also it mucked around with established canon for no obvious reason, but whatever.
This is all by way of saying that the story in the games has been kind of hit and miss; the same could be said of the books, though I'd say, in particular in the last couple of years, the books have been more consistently good and interesting from a pure world building/narrative standpoint. I also think that at least some of the time, the game's shortcomings in these respects are instances of 'did not' rather than 'could not.' My hope is that Halo 4 remedies that at least a bit.
Slightly Live
Dirty tag dodger
Next few weeks. We have a few plans for February - a special month. So it might be included in that.
godhandiscen
There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
LOL NO!
Without Beta, can you imagine the horrible game Bungie, who supposedly knew it's fans, would have given us for Reach? We need a Beta. If there are awful balancing issues, they need to be called on asap.
Getting tired of hypothesising and pontificating. Come on Frank, give us some concrete information.
Oh, and if I don't sight a Battle Rifle in the first official content dump I'm going to shit bricks. If I see a Designated Marksmen Rifle I'm going to smash bricks, with my cold, bare hands.
Saying that, if Halo 3 didn't have a beta the Carbine would've been win gun, and if Reach didn't have one that jump on Powerhouse would've caused outrage. Turns out the gameplay did that job for them.
Oh, and if I don't sight a Battle Rifle in the first official content dump I'm going to shit bricks. If I see a Designated Marksmen Rifle I'm going to smash bricks, with my cold, bare hands.
Yet the best multiplayer release of them all, Halo 2, didn't have a Beta.
Saying that, if Halo 3 didn't have a beta the Carbine would've been win gun, and if Reach didn't have one that jump on Powerhouse would've caused outrage. Turns out the gameplay did that job for them.
Well that's the thing, for every Halo game Bungie PR says they're focusing on the story heavily. Obviously with the start of a new trilogy they have some bigger blueprints to lay down but I wouldn't say they're focusing any less than they have for their other games.So far 343i has been focusing HEAVILY on the story aspect of Halo so I wouldn't be too worried. Also it was revealed that Greg Bear was doing something for Halo 4 as well
Look at what that story was coming off of, though - a very vocal rejection of the universe expansion by a portion of their audience that just wanted to be the spaceman who shoots aliens in the face. I loved what they did with the second game, but they were burned by people who didn't give a shit in the first place and played it safe.
What should have been "Oh wow, the Flood have a higher capacity for motivation and intelligence and it is manifested in a centralized being!" became "lol wtf was that talking plant thing?" to a pretty large percentage of the player base at large. A great window into the other side of the war was derisively named Arbitard. Any sort of nuance that the Halo 2 Truth had, and there was a lot of nuance there, would have required a faith in the general audience that I don't know was there at the time.
I really dislike what they did with the story in the third game, terminals aside, but it's not terribly surprising.
Slightly Live
Dirty tag dodger
The words of Frankie will echo throughout history!343 is not Bungie though
Ok so massive universe expansion = bad. I will keep that in mind.
Also the BR from halo 2 was still the best utility weapon of the series. Halo 3 fucked up with the no hit scan BR.
(not saying the button glitches or ect was great though)
Except I'm less like a badass emoticon cowboy and more like a frothing, crack addict.
Hopefully you dislike Halo 4 then, because my personal Halo thermometer goes in a different direction. Luckily 343 have indicated they understand the average Halo fans dislike with Reach.
i do hope Halo 4 takes some things from Reach though, just not from the gameplay department. Everything else was pretty stellar. I hope they take certain things from ODST too, as in, the hub and spoke model to an extent, even if it is in mission.
godhandiscen
There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
Halo 2 had a closed beta among Microsoft employees, one of the biggest betas for any MP game at the time. Also, Halo 2 could have greatly benefited from a beta. BXR, Sword Jumping, etc. So much that was discovered early once it was released and could not be patched because it was deep in the code.
This. Frankie is such a sadist.
And don't mention ever again that we'll get the first trailer of the game in E3...this is not cool guys.
So what you're saying is you liked a bugged weapon. Something that they never intended to be a part of game. I suppose you also liked people flying across the entire stage with the bizarre sword glitch, too?
Cool.
We'll get the first trailer at E3This. Frankie is such a sadist.
And don't mention ever again that we'll get the first trailer of the game in E3...this is not cool guys.
2013
Besides the BXR (like I said I did not support the button glitches) what was wrong with the BR. I am actually interested to hear what was so bugged about it.
dragonelite
Member
So a closed, internal Beta (like all games have) produced the greatest multiplayer Halo? 343i take note.
If you're referring to BXR, rather than the BR (which it seems like you are), I personally treated it as a way of expanding the gameplay. It wasn't easy to do, and hence the best players were the ones who could pull it off.
Syphon Filter
Member
Ok so they can have a closed beta for halo 4.
godhandiscen
There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
No it was not "like all the games", it was not tested "in house". Apparently the beta was handed to a couple thousand MS employees accross the globe to test things like extreme network conditions and such (I vaguely remember this from an old article on OXM). The problem IMHO is that these employees were not the best players and had no chance to find issues like BXR. It basically was a mass scale beta, it's just that it was exclusive to MS employees.
From Waypoint twitter & Frank we know that they are playing the Halo 4 MP.
The vast majority of multiplayer games are tested like that prior to release. Perhaps not at the time of Halo 2 (because Console multiplayer titles weren't all the rage), but big multiplayer titles now are widely tested within the Publishing house prior to release.
There's a balance to be struck though. With a sample as large as Halo 3 and Reach, it becomes pretty difficult to separate and analyse the feedback. Large, open betas are great for stress testing, but at this point an internal Microsoft studio should have a good handle on what to expect as regards server traffic. If 343i did a better job of hand selecting those they want to test Halo 4, they'd probably have a better handle on what works and what doesn't as far as gameplay and balancing are concerned.
The Librarian
Banned
Would the debut of a pro-pipe alleviate (at least) some of these bad feelings?
Maybe slightly, but it'd probably conjure as many bad memories as it would good.
I'm trying to imagine the Pro Pipe in a world where I'm not constrained by a Spartan 3's limitations.
Imagine boundin', leapin' and pipin'
Man, where is Tom Morello when you need himThey have been playing it everyday in the office since E3
The Librarian
Banned
That's why I'd probably advocate for a return of the Beta-pipe. You know, insta-death from direct impact of a grenade at any range.
Biggest-Geek-Ever
Member
Time to put the "more" back in Tom MorelloMan, where is Tom Morello when you need him
Hypertrooper
Member
We must create a new Tom Morello. No. We have to deeper. dam dam dam.Man, where is Tom Morello when you need him
I can live with the information I get through the bulletins for now. But I am super hyper mega excited when I see my GotY'12(hopefully) the first time.
I agree, but Halo 3 still disappointed me a bit.
ODST was my favorite of the entire series, though I fully understand why that can't, and shouldn't, make Halo 4 after that. Still, some elements of it might be cool. Have a chapter set in an open-worldy like area for instance.
Zeouterlimits
Member
Pretty much, story at least.
Halo 2 may have jilted us, but it spun a far more ambitious and effective narrative.
Halo 3 had a paper thin narrative that damaged interesting plot points.
KidA Seven
Member
Etrian Oddity
Member
As others have said... get that shit outta here. Halo 3 was an absolute abomination, with poor voice cast quality (100% inferior to the ensemble, vast array of VA in Halo 2), story (went from a grand fleshing-out in H2 to pander to casual dude-bros who can't appreciate story), and plot decisions (Truth being killed in a cutscene, 343 being the final boss of the trilogy, etc).
Reach had a ton of potential, but shat itself big time.
I will say that I desperately hope Halo 4 implements the first-person cutscenes that Reach did. Those were absolute money (particularly with the Elites in the first level).
Syphon Filter
Member
lol look at the dogs eyes,it's like he meant to do it.
Jack Scofield
Member
I hate this shit, since Halo has always pandered to "dudebros." For god sakes, the main character is literally a space marine. Stop acting like Halo has some grand, interesting story that can only be appreciated by by the privileged. It's story would still seem lame if it was the SyFy movie of the week.