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Halo |OT 20| It really does feel like Halo

Computron

Member
I'm sure they've upgraded a bunch of things*, but the screenshots they did release still had similar bloom effects, light shafts ("god rays"), and haze. The industrial map looks very much rooted in Halo4's visual results IMHO (including shader aliasing on various edges). The Midship would be harder to compare as Halo 4 was predominantly Human and Forerunner + Requiem.

Of course, WIP etc etc., but for the most part, they've stuck with a baked lighting/shadowing approach on the two revealed maps there, so I'm wary of how much can change unless these were done a long long long time ago and they just have to look good enough for public testing. It'll be interesting to see once the Beta arrives. Even the environment shots of the H2A MP maps were slightly misleading compared to the videos in terms of haze/visibility.

* the noise detail on all the surfaces is new...

A couple shots of the industrial map have a dust filter on the camera too (faint rainbow circles).

the noise detail does not look new. Unless your talking about something else, the detail normals have been in since at least Halo 3.
 

Onikaan

Member
ourCUyn.jpg

Yep! haha. It's pretty cool.

Ask her different Halo related things and you'll usually get an answer.
 

AlStrong

Member
the noise detail does not look new. Unless your talking about something else, the detail normals have been in since at least Halo 3.

Detail normal maps were in, but they haven't been used to the degree shown in all the H5 shots (the last thing I think about for Halo 4 are noisy surfaces). There's also some odd noise in some of the shadowed portions.

I'm not sure if it's their AO or shadowing, but the noise is everywhere, even on the gratings, anything that's shiny etc.
http://images.gamersyde.com/image_halo_5_guardians-25900-2744_0015.jpg
http://images.gamersyde.com/image_halo_5_guardians-25900-2744_0012.jpg

heh, just realized that's an assault rifle... http://images.gamersyde.com/image_halo_5_guardians-25900-2744_0016.jpg The smoke in the distance looks lit + shadowed. The structure being lit up the sun on the mid-left is rather ridiculously noisy.
 

klodeckel

Banned
Detail normal maps were in, but they haven't been used to the degree shown in all the H5 shots. There's also some odd noise in some of the shadowed portions.

I'm not sure if it's their AO or shadowing, but the noise is everywhere, even on the gratings, anything that's shiny etc.
http://images.gamersyde.com/image_halo_5_guardians-25900-2744_0015.jpg
http://images.gamersyde.com/image_halo_5_guardians-25900-2744_0012.jpg

heh, just realized that's an assault rifle... http://images.gamersyde.com/image_halo_5_guardians-25900-2744_0016.jpg The smoke in the distance looks lit + shadowed. The structure being lit up the sun on the mid-left is rather ridiculously noisy.

Oh man I can not wait to see how Halo 5 looks in two weeks. I mean ... The game has still one more year dev time, but still ...
 

DJ Gunner

Member
Someone should point Jem to The Henery's post detailing why Halo 4 failed on nearly every level. I remember thinking it was the most comprehensive and spot-on assessment of the game from the eyes of not only a true Halo fan, but a casual Halo fan as well.
 

AlStrong

Member
Oh man I can not wait to see how Halo 5 looks in two weeks. I mean ... The game has still one more year dev time, but still ...

Curiously, there were some interesting higher quality screens (not from Gamersyde) @ "1440p" that showed some saw tooth patterns on edges that might have been indicative of a certain upscaling technique with 2xMSAA.

The edges themselves indicated that those "1440p" shots were downsampled, but it was a weird edge artefact to see anyway.

So... even though a sub-1080p framebuffer is likely (in order to hit 60fps), I'm actually curious if they're also experimenting with MSAA & a variant of Forward+ shading - or maybe it's just something else.

edit:

http://mp1st.com/2014/08/12/halo-5-...t-4v4-arena-gameplay-small-maps/#.VExM8snYv2k higher quality versions
 

Onikaan

Member
I have a question, folks might be able to help. I'll tag it incase anyone has yet to read the Escalation comics.
So at the Pax Panel on August the 30th, a fella asked the Panel if the Master Chief would find out if there are more Spartan II's alive. Frankie answered: "That's a good question because the Chief doesn't know what spartan II's are alive - There will be more to say about that in the future". However, anyone who has read Escaltion knows that John does infact know that there are Spartan II's alive (members of the original Blue team!). This was revealed in the issue "The Next 72 Hours" (#8) which was published on July 23rd, over a month after the question at Pax was asked.
I guess what I'm trying to get at is... does 343i regard Escalation as canon?
 
K

kittens

Unconfirmed Member
The wait is gradually getting harder and harder. Too many sleeps.
 

Karl2177

Member
Sprint topic? Trust me, there have been a ton of posts on it before, but the only ones I have the correct search terms for are from Henery. Post 1 | Post 2

When you're looking at a mechanic or an ability you have to first look at it from the perspective of the player using it and the player that it is being used against. The player using it is generally going to use it for one of three purposes: run to an goal(objective, weapon, position, etc.), close the distance to another player, and widen the distance between another player.

When running to a goal, there isn't much of a downside for the player using it. The question a designer would ask is "Why is the player in a hurry to get to the goal?" Unless it is the start of the game, it is probably because the player died and they are trying to get back to a weapon or at the player that just killed them. Now we have to take a look how the player is punished with death. In older Halo it meant the other team would get a point(if it's Slayer), the loss of a weapon, and the loss of that map's position. With sprint default, there is less to do to earn that position back. This is because the time previously needed to respawn and get to the position allowed the other player to regenerate shields and reload. In Halo 4 some of this is to blame on instant respawn, but it also is to blame on the player being able to move back to the action faster.

Another downside to the player being able to move towards a goal faster is that it puts more of an advantage to defense in Objective games. Defense already has an advantage in one-sided games, and that is geometry. The first line of defense is usually preemptive slaying to prevent the attackers from approaching. The next line is the natural base defense. Now, before any one says, "just don't design maps this way", the design of one-sided maps is to give the defenders a defensible, yet susceptible base. The offense must overcome these things, while they come as a natural advantage to the defenders. The only time of advantage for the offense is when the flag is beyond the natural defense. With sprint, it negates the only advantage that the offense has. Why would anyone want to play offense then? If you want an example of offense not being fun due to the defenders having a large advantage the whole time, see Reach Infection.

When the player is closing the distance on opposing players that are shooting at them, the player is taking damage and cannot shoot back. This is a problem with the player, as they shouldn't be running right at the enemy. In Reach though, due to the shield/health system, it was actually better to sprint an enemy instead of shooting them. Halo 4 added the slowdown when shot while sprinting, which improved over Reach but it was still poorly done. Although the health model didn't give the advantage to the sprinter, it still meant that the sprinter could melee and at least get the shooting player's shields down. Halo 4 also didn't slow players being shot when the sprinter had the Sword. This makes even less sense, as the Sword is an instant kill for the sprinter. Additionally this logic is applied to campaign and Sword Elites won't stagger when shot.

When widening the distance from another player, the perspective should change to the player attacking. The attacker has more than likely outplayed the runner. The runner is given a free out. It isn't based on outmaneuvering the attacker. If the attacker wants to chase the runner, they have to stop outputting damage. Even worse, it means that even though the runner made a poor decision trying to engage, that poor decision is negated instead of being punished. You aren't going to improve if you're always running away.

So trust me, sprint adds a lot more negatives than it does positives.
 
I have a question, folks might be able to help. I'll tag it incase anyone has yet to read the Escalation comics.
So at the Pax Panel on August the 30th, a fella asked the Panel if the Master Chief would find out if there are more Spartan II's alive. Frankie answered: "That's a good question because the Chief doesn't know what spartan II's are alive - There will be more to say about that in the future". However, anyone who has read Escaltion knows that John does infact know that there are Spartan II's alive (members of the original Blue team!). This was revealed in the issue "The Next 72 Hours" (#8) which was published on July 23rd, over a month after the question at Pax was asked.
I guess what I'm trying to get at is... does 343i regard Escalation as canon?

I think (if they're clever) they'll apply the WH40k approach to canon: all material is canon, but not everything that is canon is true. It all exists in-universe, but the accuracy remains up in the air. That said, I think this is just a case of awkward wording.

Chief doesn't know what[/I Spartan IIs are alive, not that there are Spartan IIs alive. So, he knows Blue Team is still up and kicking, but he doesn't have a roster of living IIs or anything.]


Honestly, it's a stranger answer.
 

danwarb

Member
Detail normal maps were in, but they haven't been used to the degree shown in all the H5 shots (the last thing I think about for Halo 4 are noisy surfaces). There's also some odd noise in some of the shadowed portions.

I'm not sure if it's their AO or shadowing, but the noise is everywhere, even on the gratings, anything that's shiny etc.
http://images.gamersyde.com/image_halo_5_guardians-25900-2744_0015.jpg
http://images.gamersyde.com/image_halo_5_guardians-25900-2744_0012.jpg

heh, just realized that's an assault rifle... http://images.gamersyde.com/image_halo_5_guardians-25900-2744_0016.jpg The smoke in the distance looks lit + shadowed. The structure being lit up the sun on the mid-left is rather ridiculously noisy.

Nice. The detail textures were a great thing in Halo CE.
 

Onikaan

Member
Yes. There were more Spartan-II's than Blue and Black Team.

Aye, but the question was pretty specific. As far as I can make Frank out, he was saying that Chief didn't know any of them were alive.

Maybe I'm nitpicky. I notice these things. No big deal I guess.


Chief doesn't know what[/I Spartan IIs are alive, not that there are Spartan IIs alive. So, he knows Blue Team is still up and kicking, but he doesn't have a roster of living IIs or anything.]


I see it now. I'm interpreting it incorrectly. Thanks :>
 

Tawpgun

Member
MCC is probs the only thing that can take me away from destiny. The other thing would be hitting level 30.

Praying for raid chest
 

FatMarshall

Neo Member
When you attempt to cater to all, you end up catering to none.

You cater to one, if your product is good enough, it's pull will be across segments

Did Halo become a huge hit by making you feel special and holding your hand? Did it rise up to 10 million sold an iteration by making the casuals happy? No.

What 343 is trying to do is solve the problem of outlier fans who don't enjoy the experience and attempt to convert them into fans by making a more approachable product.

Am I averse to change? No. But I am averse to destroying every part of a formula which has won over 10 million fans to appease the few that don't like it. When you toss vast levels of depth, complexity and in turn enjoyability to help make such a little audience happy... You risk eroding your hardcore fan base which is really free money.

Halo objective games haven't been anywhere near as good since Halo 2. Still the best implementation of CTF in a game but nope! Let's mutilate it because a grandma who got swept up in the hype didn't understand the concept of contesting!

Oh poor grandma bought halo 3 and didn't know why or where the other team got rockets from! Let's just make it all random!

Aw poor grandma goes -20 every game and has a nasty K:D ratio... Let's remove ranks, hide stats because it makes them feel shitty and add shit tons of medals so you can feel special just for attending!

Halo games should be made for halo fans... It's been 7 years since the last halo game... It would be nice to play another again

Holy shit what a good post.
 
When you attempt to cater to all, you end up catering to none.

You cater to one, if your product is good enough, it's pull will be across segments

Did Halo become a huge hit by making you feel special and holding your hand? Did it rise up to 10 million sold an iteration by making the casuals happy? No.

What 343 is trying to do is solve the problem of outlier fans who don't enjoy the experience and attempt to convert them into fans by making a more approachable product.

Am I averse to change? No. But I am averse to destroying every part of a formula which has won over 10 million fans to appease the few that don't like it. When you toss vast levels of depth, complexity and in turn enjoyability to help make such a little audience happy... You risk eroding your hardcore fan base which is really free money.

Halo objective games haven't been anywhere near as good since Halo 2. Still the best implementation of CTF in a game but nope! Let's mutilate it because a grandma who got swept up in the hype didn't understand the concept of contesting!

Oh poor grandma bought halo 3 and didn't know why or where the other team got rockets from! Let's just make it all random!

Aw poor grandma goes -20 every game and has a nasty K:D ratio... Let's remove ranks, hide stats because it makes them feel shitty and add shit tons of medals so you can feel special just for attending!

Halo games should be made for halo fans... It's been 7 years since the last halo game... It would be nice to play another again
inMCgLCOtcdkH.gif

I don't understand why Halo turned to follow the leader game design, it already has a massive fanbase that wants Halo games.
 
K

kittens

Unconfirmed Member
Fantastic posts, Karl and Henery. I would be thrilled if Halo removed sprint for good.
 

-Ryn

Banned
Incoming wall

Split screen is in.
2 player for CE and Halo 2.
4 players can play in Halo 3 and Halo 4 but only 2 people can split screen in them.

I think that's exactly what I meant. Homogenization/trends lead to eerily similar game play and campaign designs. A trend in past shooters is something like world War II setting and weapons. Having the base game play be 99% identical in Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Killzone, Destiny, Battlefield is the homogenization.

Additionally, I'll disagree and say no, you can't have both, just like you couldn't have Infinity and classic slayer. They're so different, one inevitably leads to the decline of the other. So you have to pick and choose. Either you make sprint part of the base game play and design the maps/game play around it, or you remove it and design the game play and maps without sprint factoring into it. Like I said, it's whatever. They should put it all in, maybe we'll get Fyre to do another post, Halo 5 one year later, what happened again?
Halo 4's playlist management was terrible. You shouldn't confuse poor implantation for an idea being bad. You don't need to be all or nothing either and this crap about just throwing everything in is ridiculous. I don't think that's what 343 is trying to do.

When you attempt to cater to all, you end up catering to none.

You cater to one, if your product is good enough, it's pull will be across segments

Did Halo become a huge hit by making you feel special and holding your hand? Did it rise up to 10 million sold an iteration by making the casuals happy? No.

What 343 is trying to do is solve the problem of outlier fans who don't enjoy the experience and attempt to convert them into fans by making a more approachable product.

Am I averse to change? No. But I am averse to destroying every part of a formula which has won over 10 million fans to appease the few that don't like it. When you toss vast levels of depth, complexity and in turn enjoyability to help make such a little audience happy... You risk eroding your hardcore fan base which is really free money.

Halo objective games haven't been anywhere near as good since Halo 2. Still the best implementation of CTF in a game but nope! Let's mutilate it because a grandma who got swept up in the hype didn't understand the concept of contesting!

Oh poor grandma bought halo 3 and didn't know why or where the other team got rockets from! Let's just make it all random!

Aw poor grandma goes -20 every game and has a nasty K:D ratio... Let's remove ranks, hide stats because it makes them feel shitty and add shit tons of medals so you can feel special just for attending!

Halo games should be made for halo fans... It's been 7 years since the last halo game... It would be nice to play another again
That has nothing to do with what I am suggesting.
I think that sprint works in Halo and can add to the experience. I'm not saying "Oh but people need help so they don't feel bad". I've been playing since Halo 3 and I loved playing through CE and 2. However if I wanted to play the same damn game over and over I would go to Call of Duty. Shaking things up a little is not bad and trying to bring more to the game while keeping the core intact is the end goal. Not adding stickers on it.

Sprint is a core mechanic that impacts your ability to move around at the cost of shooting.
Spartan Abilities are going to be an ability that each player has always which make it a core part of the gameplay as opposed to random fluff.

However, what Halo has ALWAYS done well is having variety. This is part of why everyone was so pissed that there were an extreme lack of options in Halo 4. They changed so much but didn't give any way to have a more classic experience. So how is this any different? I want Halo to grow and have new ideas but I also enjoy it's more classic iterations (one of the reasons why regardless of how Halo 5 does I am happy we have the MCC). It doesn't have to be one or the other.

:)

Truth is... the quality of the game is largely going to be centered around its competitive viability. It's an FPS game. It's not competing against Angry Birds or Simpsons: Tapped out. It's competing for the dollars of the hardcore gamer.

Having sprint or Spartan abilities doesn't have to make the game any less competitively viable. A game needs to be first and foremost fun and enjoyable to play. Though that's not to say being competitive and fun need to be separate.

Lets look at sprint. Sprint damages CQC (the absolute most important part of Halo combat), it damages map control (the most important part of an arena FPS) and it damages predictability (the most important part of a quality game).

CQC is not the most important part of Halo combat. While map control is an important part of Halo (which I don't think is even technically an arena shooter in larger modes), sprint doesn't have to damage it. Predictability within your own ability, is the most important part of a game. If I can just predict everything my opponent is going to do that is boring. Where is the fun in playing something predictable? I'm not saying having everything be random is any better though. I am just saying there is a balance that needs to be had.

Add in AA or spartan "abilities" and what happens? You now have a game where you optimally play from range, where your ability to wield a gun up close isn't the major part of the equation and your positioning relative to your opponents is rather meaningless.

The game has guns. You SHOULD be firing from a range. If you get into a firefight within a tight space it should be up to the best player to win. The best player is the one who utilizes everything they have to win. Strafing, jumping, ducking, and weaving are all a part of this but unfortunately aim assist and bullet magnetism get in the way of that. Being able to sprint away doesn't hurt the gunplay either.

What does this effectively do? Kills the competitive viability of the game. If i walk into a room in CS or in Halo 2 with an SMG and see an enemy with his back turned to me, let's just pretend assassinations didn't exist for this example)... i could start opening up on him and KNOW I will win. I know the odds of me surviving and succeeding in that engagement are so high that I can do that. Throw in sprint and an AA, that predictability goes out the window. He could quickly sprint away, drop a bubble shield or whatever or healing thing and he could turn the encounter around from a guaranteed loss to a possible win. What the hell is the fun in that? His spatial awareness in this case should have been his downfall.

If you get the jump on a guy in a room and KNOW you will win, having sprint in the picture doesn't change that. It is a variable you would take into account in that situation. We don't even know how the Spartan Abilities work either so for all you know they might do nothing at all to your odds of success. Even with sprint in Reach and 4, if a guy had sneaked up on me and started shooting, I most likely would die. Even if I started running I was dead.

Now because of that, approaching someone is now risky... he can sprint... i can't chase in a tight map because that opens me up. I dont know if he has powerups. I dont know what perks he has. Even if they bound abilities to pieces of armor to illustrate the dangers, it still has no place in the game.

Risk vs Reward. That makes combat interesting. If there is no risk that takes away thrill and Halo 5 so far is still about even starts since Spartan abilities are something everyone has and sprint (assuming it's in) is would be no different. You shouldn't be able to easily predict your enemies locations. You should be prepared for it and have an idea of where they likely are. You will KNOW what they have at their disposal just like in previous Halo's. They have said nothing to indicate that abilities would be tied to armor or that power ups are even a thing.

The more shit you add the less appealing it is to watch, too. You simply can't properly convey that information effectively to the opponent, let alone an audience

Are you kidding me? If you go too far in either direction it will become boring due to it being too simple or it will be a clusterfuck because there is too much going on. Sprint and 2 or 3 Spartan Abilities are not going to do that. Look at Titanfall. The actual matches are quick, full of movement and abilities, Titans, and quick triggers. It isn't hard to follow though due to how they implement it and tie it together.

What 343 should do is nail the basics and do a total revamp of the AA and weapons sandbox.
So what about AA? What should be done with them? Make them skulls on maps, of course! you pick it up and you get an extraordinary ability with the sacrifice to your ability to fire a weapon... but this way... you defeat a skull carrier and you can then grab it and use the ability as you please. It then rolls over into a power weapon/map control thing but fixes some of the downsides to the old powerups and AA.

They are already revamping both. We have no idea what is going to happen with the SP which are fundamentally different from the AA because they are something everyone has, not some option you pick at the beginning of a match.

Just having the abilities on top of the sandbox screws with balance in the end because they aren't inherently balanced to begin with and there's really no effective way to do it. Just ends up feeling like a bastardized class based shooter in the end.

Having the abilities incorporated into each players arsenal already helps to balance them. How well they actually work is ultimately dependent on the power they bring with them.

And just for the hell of it: Copying things like call of duty makes no sense. Call of duty fans wouldn't want to buy a codified Halo. They already buy COD! If Halo fans wanted call of duty, they would buy that instead.

I agree with you on this. However CoD doesn't own sprint nor does it do anything like Spartan Abilities.
My replies in bold

The jig is up!

Sprint doesn't have to mean sluggish base speed like ADS doesn't have to mean limiting your movement. It might make the most sense to design them that way on paper (with trade-offs, etc.), but when other games like Murder Miners have sprint, wall jumps, Hookshots, dashing, etc., then the notion of "this won't work because it's usually designed this way" becomes less substantial IMO. What people should be saying is that they don't believe 343 has the ability to make it work in Halo other than saying sprint + Halo can never work because as others have pointed out, limiting sprint to BTB as a default ability might work just fine.


Basically this^, but with that being said, I don't think sprint, and especially ADS, belong in Halo. I'll quote myself:

Objective truth. No more arguments, no more salt, only tears of joy.

//==========

Now, what do you guys think of the GROUND POUND? I think that's something that would feel right at home as it probably won't break the maps (Prisoner + Ground Pound = Possible Yes) and might feel like a natural addition to gameplay.
Ground pound is the savior of Halo.

I am in agreement with everything you have said today (though I do think sprint should be in Halo).

--

By the way guys, I got the job at GameStop!
Hurray I'm not unemployed anymore. I've missed this feeling.
 
K

kittens

Unconfirmed Member
I am in agreement with everything you have said today (though I do think sprint should be in Halo).
You want something that you agree is bad to be included in the games.

... I don't get it.
 

FatMarshall

Neo Member
I don't know if this is just me, but did 343 seriously remove the Halo 4 population counter in their latest update? I had it bookmarked, and I just curiously clicked it only to discover that it lead to a 404 page.
 

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
I don't know if this is just me, but did 343 seriously remove the Halo 4 population counter in their latest update? I had it bookmarked, and I just curiously clicked it only to discover that it lead to a 404 page.

what's the point in having one when no one is playing?
 

GrizzNKev

Banned
Holy shit what a good post.

Not at all trying to detract from DopeyFish's posts, because they are great and I agree with them, but we've been saying things like this in here for years.

Some of us might like to think that the MCC's existence is a recognition of our desires for Halo to go back to the style of the older games, but there's nothing stopping Halo 5 from being more like Halo 4 than any of the other games. I view Halo's evolution over time as a line that travels from Halo to an arbitrary point. Since Halo 2, changes in the games have traveled in the positive direction on this line, taking us further away from the properties that defined the original Halo. Each Halo game can only travel a certain maximum distance along the line. From Halo 4, we obviously want 5 to have traveled in the negative direction, toward Reach/3/2/1. I would guess it can only travel one game's length though, so it's more likely that if Halo 5 is more Halo-ey than Halo 4, it'll be more like Reach in terms of proximity to pure Halo than any other game.

Halo: CE -- Halo 2 ------- Halo 3 ---------- Halo Reach ----- Halo 4 -----------
-------------------------------------------------- ( ? ---------------- Halo 5 -------------- ? )
 
Real question is why should Sprint be in Halo?

All I see is "It's fun".
Really?
Can't construct something better than that?

It's fun b'cuz it adds something better than what traditional halo couldn't offer in ___ gametypes/maps. For ex.

Not targeting posts but that kinda bothers me when I see that in regards to the topic.
 

VinFTW

Member
You spammed me and I told you stop, and now you're bringing it up here? Grow up, dude.

lmao dude, I'm just fucking around...

jesus relax :p i thought it was funny you told me to stop, im just super passionate about this stuff, i want them to listen to us :/

I remember when we fought on twitter :3

I think he just misunderstood me lol

No intention of fighting, honestly, I'm clueless on social media. Except FB.
 

CliQ

Member
Real question is why should Sprint be in Halo?

All I see is "It's fun".
Really?
Can't construct something better than that?

It's fun b'cuz it adds something better than what traditional halo couldn't offer in ___ gametypes/maps. For ex.

Not targeting posts but that kinda bothers me when I see that in regards to the topic.

Before I say why I think sprint should be in Halo I want to say that I'm fine with whatever choices 343 makes. Sprint, no sprint, it doesn't really make a difference to me.

Sprint allows players to try and surprise attack people in flanking opportunities. In a game with no radar sprint is a very valuable tool and to a lesser extent sprint makes radar not as strong because the sprinter can rush up on someone possibly before that person has a chance to react to their radar.

Of course there are cons to sprint but I wanted to chime in.
 

-Ryn

Banned
You want something that you agree is bad to be included in the games.

... I don't get it.
He wasn't saying it was bad. He said it could work, gave good examples in which it could benefit gameplay, but also acknowledged some of the flaws. I don't think sprint works in smaller maps for instance but I think it's great for big team. His points on Halo CE were good too. As per the norm.

Real question is why should Sprint be in Halo?

All I see is "It's fun".
Really?
Can't construct something better than that?

It's fun b'cuz it adds something better than what traditional halo couldn't offer in ___ gametypes/maps. For ex.

Not targeting posts but that kinda bothers me when I see that in regards to the topic.
It provides a way to get around large maps instead of a long jog.
Provides more opportunities for trick jumps.
Gives players the another way to take on a fight.
 

FatMarshall

Neo Member
I would guess it can only travel one game's length though, so it's more likely that if Halo 5 is more Halo-ey than Halo 4, it'll be more like Reach in terms of proximity to pure Halo than any other game.

Halo: CE -- Halo 2 ------- Halo 3 ---------- Halo Reach ----- Halo 4 -----------
-------------------------------------------------- ( ? ---------------- Halo 5 -------------- ? )
Very good point, definitely agree. Halo has strayed so far that I'm afraid it'll never return. Reach went backwards in terms of competitiveness, then Halo 4 took us even farther behind. For example, I loathed both the cR and Spartan point ranking systems because they weren't based on commendable in-game feats, but simply "being" in the game itself, along with many random factors that nobody really had a definitive clue how they worked. I just want a good 1-50 ranking system and the simplistic yet effective experience system to return, along with a heavy influence on stats. Both prior MP-focused Halos have lacked a good many of those traits.

In terms of gameplay, it looks to me like 343 is headed in a very good direction, returning to Halo 2/3 core gameplay and mechanics. I'm more worried about the investments (or lack of thereof) in alternate game modes, the ranking system(s), stats, customization, etc. A lot of those things Reach actually gave us that Halo 4 didn't, and I would attribute a lot of it to 343i sub-contracting a lot of the game's development to separate studios.

In conclusion, there's a whole lot of work to be done even if 343i only travels one level. I could somewhat see 343i doing a complete 180 and making Halo great again, but never again will I raise my hopes up. I'm now always suspicious about Halo sequels, and forever will be until my superstitions are proven to be void.
 
So I've gone back to play a little Halo 4, and I saw I don't have the Sight Seeing achievement:
Sight Seeing (20) In Castle DLC matchmaking, complete a match in any mode for each Castle map.

So apparently I only need to play on DayBreak, Outcast, and Perdition once. I have the DLC. Most of the playlists say these maps are theoretically in them, but after 20+ games I've only seen non-DLC maps.

Is there a surefire way to play DLC maps online in matchmaking?
 
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