SmartWaffles
Member
Reach is still the unbeatable pinnacle in UI design.
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Halo 5: Guardians |OT5| Is HaloGAF irrelevant now?
- Thread starter sir_dany12
- Start date
ZeezbruhTV
Member
Couldn't disagree more. Especially at launch the UI was pretty terrible.
Blue Ninja
Member
This man speaks the truth.
Really?
I'm ok with the idea of cortana being the antagonist, but I feel like this arc was terribly executed.
1) We never got a clear explanation on how she adopted this mentality. "The Domain" was mentioned as a possible catalyst, but it's unreasonable for the player to know what that is, and even EU fans are in the dark as to how Cortana could access it.
2) it's never explain how Cortana was able to communicate with Chief when he was knocked out by the Hunter. We are supposed to just accept that Cortana is a space magician now? Why not just have her hack UNSC comms?
3) why would Cortana be choking back virtual tears after MC rejected her plan? AI physical appearance and emotional expression is purely for the contextual benefit the humans they communicate with. She wasn't even facing MC when she did this.
The most laughable moment for me was when Osiris was trying to save Blue Team and Cortana jumps on their comms hurling school yard insults about each characters history. It felt like 343 realized the entire game had passed w/o any character development of Osiris, so they used Cortana as a shitty info dump while simultaneously devolving Her character into a stereotypical archetype.
Execution was trash tier.
The Real Napsta
Member
Does anyone know the status of that classic playlist that i heard talk of a few months ago?
The HCE and H2 maps with CE pistol and BR starts?
I'd really like to play that in MM.
The HCE and H2 maps with CE pistol and BR starts?
I'd really like to play that in MM.
David Candland, you the real MVP...
While they've certainly made improvements since launch, the Halo 5 UI and Menus are still a bit clunky with tons of redundancy. The post game carnage screen being added in later reminds me of H4 and no X on death as something that should have always been there since start.
I think it is inevitable people will stop playing Halo 5 in the era of annualized releases and shorter game times or attention spans. These days lots of games go unbeaten in terms of campaigns and people move on. It is why 343 itself will shift their main focus to Halo Wars 2 soon and what comes 'next', if they already haven't done so.
Good points, but I don't think it's that simple these days.
We do have these short attention spans and annually releases that define the console market. But there's also the emergence of the 'games as service' and microtransactions models that incentives continued investment in existing games for longer periods of time.
Purely based on anecdotal evidence, I think H5s model was and continues to be extremely profitable for 343, and I think they have opportunities to continue making money, even as the playerbase naturally declines due to competition from other games.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a large update (custom browser, additional game modes, etc) to coincide with a aggressive promotion (GWG, free weekends etc)
I doubt MS/343 believes that an RTS can offset declining interest in their premier FPS.
Munch Poke
Member
Please don't ever tell my friends that I played Breakout with all night last night this. But I agree.
It was kinda lame that since we are two diamonds and two onyxs we kept playing the same champs team. Although I'm fairly sure it's just low playlist numbers.
gimme
I agree, Reach's interface was beautiful.
User 73706
Banned
The "why was everything on the ground" quip was ultimately because they had the tech to be able to place everything as pseudo-physical objects (as opposed to weapons just doing the classic arena shooter "float and spin around" thing), but in the dev commentary the Cortana megalomaniac plotline wasn't being panned for being a bad idea or being a generalization ("all women are control freaks" etc etc), Joseph Staten was specifically calling out Jason Jones on doing that. Jason Jones also went through a breakup during Halo 2's development and almost kicked off the "Miranda straps a bomb to Chief's back and sends him into the Gravemind pit" as a direct result of that. There's a brief little back-and-forth between Arbiter Analysis and Haruspis that notes that while the writing for Cortana in 5 was admittedly iffy, it still did a great job of, y'know, actually making Cortana feel empowered rather than just going full Kojima with her.
Fata1moose
Banned
Halo 5's UI is fine, then there's the HUD which is my favorite for the series. It'd be cool if we could get different HUDs via REQs in 6. It would be a meaningful way of increasing the REQ pool and they could cut down on the Visor and armor fluff. They need to be more variable in 6.
Poodlestrike
Banned
Tbh, just separating out the armor into pieces again would make a lot more sense.
New cosmetic REQ categories:
-Helmet
-Shoulder
-Arms
-Gauntlets
-Greaves
-Boots
-Torso
-Accessories (a la Reach)
-Patterns (replacing the variants we have now)
-Visors
-HUD
-Weapon skins
Should cover it.
I think the reason they didn't do something like this for 5 is because having to design each piece of armor to fit with every other piece of armor has to be a massive undertaking when the count goes above, like, 20 or so.
You don't need to seperate them into 20 categories and have even more REQ's. They just need to offer the REQ's like they already do and rename "Armor" to "Armor Set". Modders are already being able to customize each part of the armor individually anyways, but 343 didn't want to give us that feature in the full game for whatever reason. Stripping down features since 2012 is their motto after all.
I would be willing to bet that tonnes of combinations clip like crazy and look stupid. If they did make each piece individually changeable theyd have to make sure each new piece didnt clip with any of the others. Obviously thats not impossible but it is potentially very limiting.
Ozzy Onya A2Z
Member
I vaguely recall an EU book from Greg Bear saying the domain basically opens and closes almost like it's living or has a mind of its own and those using it didn't even have an understanding of it etc. For now that's reason enough for me and puts the rampancy issues to rest at the same time. Given she's on a builder world her access to higher tier systems is indirectly implied IMO. Hell this place she has full access and control over is the best of the best of the best, sir
I think it's pretty easily followed by just playing the game that this world is very powerful and mysterious. If you just played Halo 5 Cortana comes off pretty clean IMO, she's drunk with power and is blinded by it, simple.
At that point in the game it's supposed to be mysterious, again I feel it's not space magic but the control she now has over forerunner systems easily implies communications that span enormous distances and technologies. You could say the same as your argument here for her finding The Infinity through random slipspace jumps or when it surfaces towards the end of the game. For me it's clear enough she has some next level tech at her disposal now e.g. Lasky even said the line about running away "for now until we understand how to fight", this shows just how unknown her tech and reach is at this point. I'd even point to Arthur C Clarke writings in Sci-Fi books how he always says Advanced Tech is indistinguishable from magic. Same thing here. Halo fans are always going on about mystery and if we have every technical detail explained to use we lose some of that awe and mystery.
She's not just a straight AI anymore, she has not been a plain smart AI for a looong time, in various games even without the EU. What we can accept emotions from Cortana in Bungie Halo games but not H5? I think it's really nice complex character development and some artistic license to show she is in fact conflicted or remorseful in place of straight AI "I don't care about this puny human, Joe or whatever his lame meatbag name is".
As for Osiris I thought overall the use of dialogue throughout the game and replays of campaign really added a deeper layer. I enjoyed the banter and background info e.g. during those insults there was a little backstory on each character added. What was wrong with that? Sure I could go a CGI scene about each character to bring us up to speed but that would likely confuse the story. Perhaps it was just resourcing and you're right it was shoehorned into dialogue instead.
It's true, nothing can ever be universally liked
I love the GGs, that dialogue alone is worth it.
Poodlestrike
Banned
Part of why going to per-part unlocking appeals to me is that it'd diversify the offerings enough that instituting a per-part purchase cost would make sense. Save towards what you want.
I vaguely recall an EU book from Greg Bear saying the domain basically opens and closes almost like it's living or has a mind of its own and those using it didn't even have an understanding of it etc. For now that's reason enough for me and puts the rampancy issues to rest at the same time. Given she's on a builder world her access to higher tier systems is indirectly implied IMO. Hell this place she has full access and control over is the best of the best of the best, sir
My point is that
1) if you read the EU, you know that the Domain was destroyed long ago. How was it repaired?
2) if you haven't read the EU, the domain is just an empty meaningless word. 343 didn't bother to explain what it is and how it could possibly have repaired Cortana. We are just asked to except that she's randomly back w/o rampancy.
Again, drunk with what power? It's never explained how she got this power that destroyed her moral compass. Yeah, she's drunk with power, but where did she get the drink?
I'm not asking for every technical detail. I'm asking for consistent writing. If Cortana is now capable of telepathy, then that should be her mode of communication. As far as we can tell, she can only do it when her subject is knocked unconscious... I guess? Because that's the only time she did it in the entire game. Any other time she simply hacked comms.
I can easily accept that she has enhanced technical capablilities (despite it never being explained why). But they've done nothing to explain why she'd hack comms most of the time, but would have relied on a chance Hunter attack to knockout Chief so that she can relay a crucial message to him. It makes no sense.
Again, the issue is not that she shows emotion. She always has, and every AI in the series has. The issue is that she was displaying an emotion that no other character could see- which would be a pointless action for an AI- especially one that is SO bound by logic as to have a 10,000 year plan for Universal Peace. I'm fine with them trying to show that she's remorseful. But they should do it in an intellegent way that doesn't contradict the character they are building.
There's nothing wrong with banter. But you can't replace character development with info dumps and exposition. Showing is exponentially better than telling- especially in a game. There was ZERO character development in this game. It's just: Cortana's bad now, Blue team loves Chief too much to question him, Osiris is a bunch of nobodies we send to get chief- the player is asked to simply except all that and go kill robots.
The insults were, again, out of character- Clearly thrown in as exposition to mask the lack of character development rather than to truly build Cortana or Osiris.
It's true, nothing can ever be universally liked
While the Grunt Goblin's Dialogue is hilarious, it's effect on Warzone is awful. Damaging the first Goblin on Apex and Arc requires a massive amount of resources. Add to this that both Goblins are far away from action and it's easy to see why it's one of the most ignored A.I. enemies.
And that brings me to another point, too many times it makes sense to ignore the A.I. enemies and focus on the other team. Why spend time slowly chipping away at a boss' health when you can kill other players or capture bases?
YourExWife
Member
Grunt Goblins in Monument is probably the dumbest thing for gameplay I've ever witnessed.
EDIT: For you, Jorge
EDIT: For you, Jorge
Unfriendly TimeTraveler
Member
Grunt Goblins in Monument is probably the dumbest thing for gameplay I've ever witnessed.
EDIT: For you, Jorge
I think you made a new friend
YourExWife
Member
Best part was this was after a Mongoose Sumo match. Dude was pissed I got two melee kills :O
EDIT: Another fastball #ForTheCompany (and bonus airborne snapshot), also, matching kill-for-kill with Munoz (nevermind our team's score)
EDIT: Another fastball #ForTheCompany (and bonus airborne snapshot), also, matching kill-for-kill with Munoz (nevermind our team's score)
Samurai G0SU
Member
I bet today's update talks about Halo Wars 2.
Sounds like we'd get more reasonable designs ala Reach. ;P
The Goblin would fare far better with reduced health or armor or something. It takes so many resources to kill that it's just not even worth the effort. I've played whole matches on Apex and ARC where the Grunt is still up at the end of the match, and people are shooting around him to hit the Warden.
Then you realize that depending on the particular Grunt it can take as few as four shots to kill you in the strongest vehicle while using wheelman, and the Grunt effectively locks down that entire chunk of the map on his own.
It's a neat concept, but it's just not fun to fight.
So this is all your fault? Booooo!
RedSparrows
Member
I'm reminded why I don't come in here much: Halo is dead? (!) (sigh) (??) (but I still play )
(sigh) (??) (but I still play )
FUNKNOWN iXi
Member
I blame the stubbornness of not giving us a social 4v4 Team Arena/Slayer playlist, BTB Pistol starts, party matching,
radar in competitive Halo,
Apologies Sanjuro, it's this guy's fault! Boooooo
finally fixed my elite controller with some replacement parts from china. wasnt all that difficult, though aligning the bumpers just so for each to "click" and getting the proper tool to open it up was a bit tricky. excited to return to halo though. lets hope this admittedly cheaper feeling plastic lasts a while.
Whilst everyone's playing Gears I'm going to work my way back into the company
theres empty spots...
i mean, for a cool $20 i can try to pull some strings!
Samurai G0SU
Member
Poodlestrike
Banned
Is that supposed to be Fillion?
Lol.
Lol.
GringoSuave89
Banned
Yeah I heard the TTK is ridiculous.
BizzyBum
Member
That plus a bunch of other stuff.
It just plays super stiff and it's immediately noticeable. You walk as slow as a snail so you have to sprint, crouch slide, or wall run to get anywhere. None of it feels fun to do. It requires you to either claw or own a scuff if you plan to actually try and get good. Maps are boring and small.
I'm not a COD hater, I usually enjoy the campaigns and the MP is always pretty fun but this is straight up bad.
Fata1moose
Banned
CoD has been a cluster fuck of game design since post MW1/BO1. Not that those game were particularly balanced, but they took those games about as far as they could in those iterations.
Halo's biggest competition will still be Overwatch. Battlefield 1 will be successful, but its gunplay is pretty bland, that game is too much like Battlefront for my tastes.
Halo's biggest competition will still be Overwatch. Battlefield 1 will be successful, but its gunplay is pretty bland, that game is too much like Battlefront for my tastes.
ZeezbruhTV
Member
Frankie, can you promote Tom French yet? Also hire game cheat to get bots/AI in forge for 6. Just casually dropping info that will save halo, no biggie.