Davey Cakes
Member
Never mind the matchmaking and rankings. The one thing I truly loved about Halo was 4-player split-screen local play.
You don't see that much anymore.
You don't see that much anymore.
Bungie's multiplayer systems destroy pretty much every other developer
- Thread starter mcfrank
- Start date
Mr. Enigma
Member
lol I will never forget Halo 2 launch night. Bungie.net's forums were flooding with people who were fucking PISSED about there being no server browser. People wanted Bungie's blood that entire week.
K
kittens
Unconfirmed Member
We're talking 2007 here. Online co-op was not common at the time, at least not on consoles. I don't know jack about PC gaming. People were excited as hell that Halo 3 not only had online co-op, but four player online co-op. Minds were blown when that was announced.
You're right about it running like shit, though.
Please, someone tell me what GOAT stands for...
K
kittens
Unconfirmed Member
Greatest Of All Time
HiredN00bs
Banned
It ran in lockstep. If it had bad input lag or crashed, it was because of those specific hosts/clients. In other words, if it was running like shit, you needed to fix your shit.
But it was a shame they didn't get co-op matchmaking or host migration in until Reach. ODST would have been so much more amazing with those things.
That sounds like it would make for a good read.
HiredN00bs
Banned
Good explanation.
K
kittens
Unconfirmed Member
All I know is that I've had two or three solid online co-op experiences out of probably forty attempts. That's across half a dozen different modems, routers, and internet providers. And it seems like many other people have had similarly poor experiences. Pretty awful track record. I don't know whether or not Bungie could / should have tried some other system, but the one they went with didn't work well.
DaciaJC
Gold Member
From what I'm reading in this thread, it sounds like their matchmaking algorithm placed a higher priority on grouping players of similar skill levels rather than minimizing pings/latencies. That design does indeed sound terrible, especially if it's used in games with smaller populations.
Give me a nice server browser any day.
I feel like I could have played twice the amount of games if the game had the option for a faster mp mode, and that would have mattered more to me. And I think I had a 1,1 win ratio in mw2 and it wasn't exactly all land slide victories and losses. But this doesn't matter, by 2014 we should have the best of both worlds and I hope Bungie can provide it.
DOWN
Banned
I think their games are kind of synonymous with console matchmaking. I have always wondered how much Microsoft's interest in building Xbox Live had to do with Bungie striking huge success in Halo 2's online mode. Halo is definitely a series that many console players have brilliant multiplayer memories in.
Matchmaking sometimes messed up, but it kept the flow going. When you have 6 of your friends online in a group, finding a server via a list is just boring and a waste of time.
HiredN00bs
Banned
Yeah, a lot of people have shitty internet, lol. It played fine for me and my friends a majority of the time.
But that still makes it less than ideal, especially considering they did such an outstanding job at smoothing out the asynchronous multiplayer over all sorts of connections. Calling it broken is incorrect. It is a much more demanding mode, perhaps unreasonably so, but it functions perfectly.
RedAssedApe
Banned
Agree until they hit Reach. That was a step back from halo 3 IMO.
Really? I play with friends all the time and can't think of a single instance of it failing. If they're in the lobby with me, they're in the game with me 100% of the time.
HiredN00bs
Banned
Reach inherited nearly every piece of infrastructure from 3 besides a few gametype options and party theater. Are you just talking about gameplay, because that's not what this thread was about.
This was on 360 around launch and then some weeks or months later. Haven't tried it lately. It would literally never find a match. We had to play against bots if we wanted to play on the same team.
Totally agree. Loved Halo 3's number and military grades
The original Doom had online 4 player co-op. As did Doom 2, and Quake, and there were mods for Half-Life. And Descent. This was in the 90's alone.
I can't speak to the 360 build, though the lack of players probably hurt its prospects compared to PC. There are currently over 100,000 people playing it on PC at this moment.
Source
Also, if the 360 version doesn't use Steam for matchmaking it's not really the same as what I'm talking about anyway. I know with Portal 2 the PS3 and PC builds used Steam and the 360 one had some custom solution, I'm not sure how they did the 360 version of CS:GO though or if Microsoft let them use Steam that time around.
HiredN00bs
Banned
I can state pretty confidently that Destiny will not have Halo 3's ranking system. It's easy to forget how pointless it became.
ElzarTheBam
Member
Bungie's greatest strength is hiding intricacy behind accessiblity.
They are the masters, long may they be copied.
They are the masters, long may they be copied.
HiredN00bs
Banned
But those are PC/Mac, not console. I've been under the impression we were talking about console games. Bungie had outstanding online play (cooperative and competitive) in the Marathon and Myth series on Mac and PC as well.
T
Transhuman
Unconfirmed Member
Taking off those rose-tinted nostalgia goggles would force people to accept that they wasted a lot of time obsessing over something incredibly pointless. But hey, at least I was a Grade 3 Brigadier!
bigboss370
Member
HiredN00bs
Banned
I was actually talking about all the boosting. Essentially, a constant influx of highly skilled players making new accounts to the detriment of the entire population. The problem was intertwining skill ranking with progression.
In that Matchmaking has pretty much ruined multiplayer in regards to finding servers with good pings for consoles?
In that case, I'll agree whole-heartedly, OP.
That's not to mention lag-switches/host-standby and other issues that future titles gained because everyone went P2P/matchmaking instead of letting people host servers. :|
Do you like, quit your matches within the first 60 seconds of the game? hyperbole much? You're going to be playing for a LONG time once you've found a proper match. And the time within that match is going to be vastly more enjoyable.
This to me is like saying you'd rather just randomly select a movie on Netflix than browse and find one you actually want to watch.
This for me as well. I felt like I never actually made friends on console games because of matchmaking.. its like I never see the same person twice. Yet on PC I jump on a server I like every time I play and meet some of the same people. In the end I enjoy the game more.
Dark_AnNiaLatOr
Member
And the idiots at DICE still haven't implemented a party system in Battlefield. Thank you for reminding me why I should be even more excited for Destiny!
DirtyLarry
Member
Call me old school but I actually think all console games get playing any MP shooters wrong, and that it was figured out on PC's 10 years ago, if not longer.
Just give me the ability to have a proper server browser with the ability to filter by things like game mode, player count, map, gameplay type, and ping, and that is all I ever have or ever really will need (of course there are additional filters, but just listing the major ones).
I know the major difference with consoles, especially initially and last generation, was the fact a lot of games used peer to peer. It does not matter, those matches still could easily be presented in a "server" browser.
The truth is most console games really over complicate the process when all is said and done. Really as I said, a good server/match browser with good filters is really all one needs. Also of course the ability to play with friends easily, but all games should just have a way to join friends in a lobby and/or the ability to easily join a friend if they are already playing.
I honestly believe I could create a pretty damn good system to play a MP game online if any developers out there need an independent consultant to help them with theirs. I will charge a fair price. LOL
Just give me the ability to have a proper server browser with the ability to filter by things like game mode, player count, map, gameplay type, and ping, and that is all I ever have or ever really will need (of course there are additional filters, but just listing the major ones).
I know the major difference with consoles, especially initially and last generation, was the fact a lot of games used peer to peer. It does not matter, those matches still could easily be presented in a "server" browser.
The truth is most console games really over complicate the process when all is said and done. Really as I said, a good server/match browser with good filters is really all one needs. Also of course the ability to play with friends easily, but all games should just have a way to join friends in a lobby and/or the ability to easily join a friend if they are already playing.
I honestly believe I could create a pretty damn good system to play a MP game online if any developers out there need an independent consultant to help them with theirs. I will charge a fair price. LOL
Happy to help. Hopefully we get some good stuff on Monday.
I find the server browser to be much more complicated in finding a game with a style I actually enjoy. To me partying up with my friend and choosing 2v2 and a minute later being in a game against another 2 person team of similar skill is as easy and streamlined as it gets.
Dark_AnNiaLatOr
Member
I really hope they don't make it so that competitive requires players to actually go somewhere on the game map to initiate. In their podcasts and such, they made it sound like they were going for a seamless experience where you stay in character and go to a specific place to initiate competitive. That sounds bad.
Thug Waffle
Member
In my opinion, their innovative touch stagnated after Halo 2 as far as multiplayer systems are concerned. It's a shame they ditched the 'Clan' functionality.
dam this brings back some memories!
jesus this brings back memories
my favorite game of all time, put so many hours into it
The Librarian
Banned
Maybe not iteration, but they did significantly expand the feature set of online console games with Halo 3. Screenshot, video, and gametype sharing, plus custom weekend playlists. Add Forge into that, and that's a pretty huge leap forward no matter what you're trying to judge the game by.
EatinOlives
Member
This + system link + letting multiple players from one console play online.
Extremely disappointing that none of these features became standard. They all should have. One player per console, no local play is dumb shit.