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Halo |OT 23| Thruster is Love, Thruster is Life

-Ryn

Banned
You know come to think of it I don't think I've ever seen slide put to good use. I'd like to see how it can change things in an intense match in the future.
I believe Josh said on the Beyond forums that slide could be chained together with other abilities for some slick moves

343 can cement themselves as greatest Halo dev ever if the sweep AR/Smg starts under the rug. Would pardon them of all previous sins
Bring back the M6D and they won't have to
for H5
 

Impala26

Member
I'll get it day one, a shitty Halo is probably better than most of the shit I play anyways.

It's why I always come back to this series.

A "bad" Halo game is still better than most of the games of its kind out there.

That said, my impressions from the Halo 5 Beta left me feeling that this game is going to be anything BUT bad. And I'm honestly way more hyped for this campaign than I was for Halo 4. We'll see when it drops I suppose.
 
Halo 4 and MCC were enough to lose a lot of good will from me. Let's not forget that 343i didn't implement online File Shares for Halo 4 until 3 months after release making sharing content damn near impossible. When the Crimson Map Pack released, they lied through their teeth with the 14 Day Buy and Play PR bullshit. They didn't have any form of competitive ranking until 5 months after Halo 4 launched. When they deployed Halo 4's TU, they waited months to have an event at their HQ to actually launch features that were part of the TU. They claimed "reset the build" was just an older version of the game, not the actual version. 5 months after launching MCC and we still have AR starts in objective games.

343i needs to prove that their infrastructure and customer interaction for Halo 5 is better than their Halo 4 and MCC days. That's only one reason why I'm not picking it up day one. Go ahead mark my posts.

This is when I wish this site had a like feature. Karl, you get a thousand likes. And kudos for putting the multiple issues with 343 in a succinct manner, better than I ever could, I'm grateful.

Mark away.
 

Fracas

#fuckonami
I liked the H5 beta a lot but Karl's right, 343's sitting on an 0-2 record. I'm not getting burned again. You have to earn my money.
 

Tawpgun

Member
I went into the beta with that skepticism. Was thoroughly pleased enough for a day one purchase. Hoping they don't blow it at the end
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
I liked the H5 beta a lot but Karl's right, 343's sitting on an 0-2 record. I'm not getting burned again. You have to earn my money.


IMO can't really count MCC as a 343 failure. It's a MS failure. They wanted it, wanted it now and it was being made by multiple studios. 343 had to fix the mess. So it's 0-1 in my book.

MCC was a disaster though, but it works well now.
 

Madness

Member
IMO can't really count MCC as a 343 failure. It's a MS failure. They wanted it, wanted it now and it was being made by multiple studios. 343 had to fix the mess. So it's 0-1 in my book.

MCC was a disaster though, but it works well now.

You do know Microsoft is 343 Industries right? How is it more the parent companies fault than the developer who was overseeing the entire project? If your boss gives you a job to do and it doesn't get done, it's not your boss' fault, it's yours, especially if you're project lead.

343 received the shipping date and orders and were responsible. 343 producers hired the devs to work on each part of the game, and then were responsible for making sure it came together. People keep saying MS forced them to do this, or to use this new Xbox Live technology blah blah, but at the end of the day, it's 343's name on the box. And they were in charge of the networking, servers, and making sure the game came together. It's also been 5 months now. It's no one's fault but theirs alone.
 

Tawpgun

Member
I'm talking about story and depth to the universe. Not the launch of the MCC - which, works fine now.
1. I defend MCC because it's matchmaking is mostly functional now. By it's not fine by any means.

2. I got plenty of story critiques for 343 and what they added to the universe. Might go into more detail when I get home
 

willow ve

Member
I'm glad people liked the H5 Beta. I personally couldn't get past all the changes (ADS is my #1 offender) and so I won't be purchasing the game.

Maybe I'll pick it up years down the road when it's used / on clearance / or dirt cheap via digital deal - but even then I doubt it. I generally only buy 1 game per year and play it ad naseum. For awhile that was Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo ODST, and even to some extent Halo Reach (although that started the decline for me). Lately all my time has started to drift toward more co-operative games like Borderlands (love both 1 and 2) and now Destiny (titan bubble-bro for life).
 
2. I got plenty of story critiques for 343 and what they added to the universe. Might go into more detail when I get home

I'd be interested to hear your critiques, sir. I've felt that it's only gotten stronger since 343 has taken the reigns. Everything is connected, even unto the most obscure media. It's been a heck of a fun ride the past few years.
 
Dude has Frankie's avatar as his avatar background. He's transcended balls deep.

I just love Halo and have enjoyed where it's been taken so far. The Forerunner novels sealed it for me.

And my avatar was part of a Locke Chop Shop on a different GAF thread haha. There were like 20 different ones made, at least.
 
Yeah MCC matchmaking...

screenshot-originalu6u3j.png



One reason to not play any Halo anymore...
 

Madness

Member
You know you're in deep when you think 343 hasn't screwed up when they themselves admitted they screwed up

I just don't get how people are blaming everyone but 343. Saber did a good job with their 2 campaigns. Ruffian did a pretty poor job with their ports, but it's functional. Certain Affinity did great with H2A they were required to do, Blur did great with the new cinematics. United Front did poor with their UI, clunky and unintuitive but it worked. 343 was responsible for bringing it all together, to make sure online worked, the dedicated servers were good, etc. Their QA and producers should have seen how poorly the game was. We saw various crashes leading up to launch at tournaments, they said the problems during the early review launch was due to low player base and as they were partying in LA for the launch, they said the issues Australia and New Zealand and Europe were having was due to the fact US hadn't launched yet. I don't think they knew just how bad the game was, but the buck stops with 343. This is an 'L' they have to take and move forward with.
 

Tawpgun

Member
I'd be interested to hear your critiques, sir. I've felt that it's only gotten stronger since 343 has taken the reigns. Everything is connected, even unto the most obscure media. It's been a heck of a fun ride the past few years.
Cliff notes:

1. If you didn't read the novels, or found the HIDDEN terminals the story made no sense. Hell it made no sense and I read the forerunner novels. Because by halo 4's release we still had no idea why the didact hated humanity so much. The last or last 2 forerunner books hadnt come out yet.

2. The rogue covenant faction wasn't explained AT all. So many of my friends were confused why we were fighting elites again.

3. Forerunners went from being cool powerful mysterious to having to getting really convoluted.

4. Deus ex librarian space Destiny magic

5. Chief and Cortana and Infinity don't really show the gravity of the situation of running into each other. Like it was almost
COMPLETLEY brushed aside. No one questions this insane coincidence. No one seemingly cares humanities Galaxy Saving presumed dead hero is alive on a weird forerunner world. Just "oh cool help us clear an LZ"

Oh and I was really expecting chief to be alone stranded for a while. Not picking up infinity signals by the second mission.

6. Didact takes the super villain won't kill protagonist trope to an extreme. He toys with chief instead of killing him.

7. Sarah egghead Palmer. Halsey character assassination(in progress... They can still save her...) Spartan IVs acting childish.
 
Cliff notes:

1. If you didn't read the novels, or found the HIDDEN terminals the story made no sense. Hell it made no sense and I read the forerunner novels. Because by halo 4's release we still had no idea why the didact hated humanity so much. The last or last 2 forerunner books hadnt come out yet.

But connecting the dots is way more fun then lazily being given every single plot beat on a silver platter. That's what Call of Duty is for. :)

2. The rogue covenant faction wasn't explained AT all. So many of my friends were confused why we were fighting elites again.

Kilo-Five trilogy sets all of that up in great detail. Basically, ONI was attempting to stage a civil war amongst the elite factions and it backfired.

3. Forerunners went from being cool powerful mysterious to having to getting really convoluted.

They had to fall from grace, somehow. Such a massive, powerful race of beings just up and vanish- eventually, all mysteries must come to light. It was a cool kind of left turn, as it was widely expected that the Forerunners were benevolent and just. Ended up being something far deeper, loaded with intrigue and galactic struggle.

4. Deus ex librarian space Destiny magic

Hasn't been explained... Yet.

5. Chief and Cortana and Infinity don't really show the gravity of the situation of running into each other. Like it was almost COMPLETLEY brushed aside. No one questions this insane coincidence. No one seemingly cares humanities Galaxy Saving presumed dead hero is alive on a weird forerunner world. Just "oh cool help us clear an LZ"

No one presumed he was dead. He was presumed missing in action.

Oh and I was really expecting chief to be alone stranded for a while. Not picking up infinity signals by the second mission.

The threads for why this is the case have been in place since before Halo 2.
Mendicant Bias has been pulling strings in order to get humanity to the Ark, and it involved both manipulating the Covenant to go to war with humanity, and also in changing the slipspace portal in order to send Master Chief on a Collison course with Requiem. What he did not anticipate, however, was Jul M'dama's faction of Covenant forces finding Requiem as well. MB's plan was to have Master Chief awaken the Ur-Didact, so that he could help propel humanity forward towards obtaining the Mantle, but what Mendicant Bias was not privy to was that the Domain had even severed when the Halos were fired by the IsoDidact, thus leaving the Ur-Didact to stew in utter isolation with his own hate and anger inside the Cryptum that the Librarian had locked him inside, who also was unaware of the Domain's severance until it was too late. It was a last laugh of the current Gravemind in their time.

6. Didact takes the super villain won't kill protagonist trope to an extreme. He toys with chief instead of killing him.

His surprise and astonishment is what stayed his hand. He did not expect to find another highly advanced evolution of humanity waiting for him when he woke from his Cryptum.

7. Sarah egghead Palmer. Halsey character assassination(in progress... They can still save her...) Spartan IVs acting childish.

I still don't see what is wrong with her character, currently. And as we just found out in the latest Hunt the Truth audio file, there may be a lot that we don't know about her, given that her voice actress was brought in to voice another female character that works within ONI.

Halsey isn't being assassinated. That's from ONI's perspective anyway, and hey, Halsey was never a saint. Even from the beginning, she committed a lot of atrocities, in the name of fighting human insurrectionists. It just so happened that the Spartans ended up being pivotal in fighting the Covenant, which was an unexpected first contact and ultimately, war.
 
A certain medium requiring a seperate medium to understand is stupid

I dunno about required to understand. I mean, it's a pretty basic plot; evil dude (as denoted by freaky face and orange-red color scheme) wakes up, threatens universe, is stopped by heroic protagonist.

It's required for it to be any good, which is, indeed, stupid, but I've never gotten the people who didn't understand it.
 
I dunno about required to understand. I mean, it's a pretty basic plot; evil dude (as denoted by freaky face and orange-red color scheme) wakes up, threatens universe, is stopped by heroic protagonist.

It's required for it to be any good, which is, indeed, stupid, but I've never gotten the people who didn't understand it.

Me either.
 
A certain medium requiring a seperate medium to understand is stupid

Expanded universes are the new thing these days. It's what the masses of potential customers want in their entertainment. Look at what Marvel is doing. Fast and Furious. The demand for larger and more connected content is where the trends are.

Some succeed at it. Some fail. I argue that Halo is one of the best is the business as far as how connected things are and the reception of such massive scale and scope across multiple forms of entertainment.

Bungie was ahead of the curve with this sort of world building. Bioware as well to some extent. Star Wars (before Disney retconned the EU).

343 picked up where Bungie left off and took it ten steps father.
 

Buntabox

Member
But connecting the dots is way more fun then lazily being given every single plot beat on a silver platter. That's what Call of Duty is for. :)

Idk, man. It's really not well developed in the game. I am all for having the connections between the games and the books. But it shouldn't hamper a basic understanding of the story.

You clearly had no problem with it, but it seems to be that a lot of people did. Folks on this forum complain about it a lot. The information should be there for those not into the book/comic lore. It's not a CoD/dumbing down situation.

Think of it more as Avengers and Agents of Shield. I imagine they have no plans to incorporate ideas/events/knowledge that requires seeing Agents of Shield to understand any future Avengers movie. You may have some further insight into the events from watching Shield, but the basics will be in Avengers. They don't want anyone to come away from the film confused or underwhelmed.
 
Idk, man. It's really not well developed in the game. I am all for having the connections between the games and the books. But it shouldn't hamper a basic understanding of the story.

You clearly had no problem with it, but it seems to be that a lot of people did. Folks on this forum complain about it a lot. The information should be there for those not into the book/comic lore. It's not a CoD/dumbing down situation.

Think of it more as Avengers and Agents of Shield. I imagine they have no plans to incorporate ideas/events/knowledge that requires seeing Agents of Shield to understand any future Avengers movie. You may have some further insight into the events from watching Shield, but the basics will be in Avengers. They don't want anyone to come away from the film confused or underwhelmed.

That's fair. And they have said that in Halo 5 they are aiming to bring more of the extended lore and to keep the game more contained to itself but to also tie in the extended lore beyond just the game, in a way to please both camps of Halo fans. The people who complain tend to be far more vocal than those who have little or no complaints. And some of the complaints are justified, for sure! But I think they are going to address what Halo 4 lacked for those who don't dig any deeper than the games. We'll have to see if they actually follow through with that or not.
 

Karl2177

Member
I dunno about required to understand. I mean, it's a pretty basic plot; evil dude (as denoted by freaky face and orange-red color scheme) wakes up, threatens universe, is stopped by heroic protagonist.

It's required for it to be any good, which is, indeed, stupid, but I've never gotten the people who didn't understand it.

Jesus Christ. You can dumb down any story to it's most basic elements and say "How can you not understand this?" No one is that stupid that they can't "understand" it. I put understand in quotes because it's implied that the story-goer can comprehend the most basic of plots.

Introduce any character. Who is it and why should we care who that is? If your story can't answer that within 10 seconds, then your story isn't understandable.
 

Madness

Member
The story was poor. Anytime you require external sources to know what's going on, re-evaluate the story you're trying to tell then.

Expanded universes are indeed becoming popular because fans are voracious in wanting to know what happens beyond the games and movies, but also because it's an additional revenue stream. I agree it's good that 343 is taking an overseeing role in ALL media for Halo. This way they have full creative control in what's happening, where the story is going, so they can unify what they want.

For Halo 5 though, all I should need to basically understand the story, is that I played Halo CE/2/3/Reach/4, maybe watched Nightfall since it was pushed so hard and part of MCC. Everything should be self contained. If they need to explain something that happened in the escalation novels, or something that is explained elsewhere, it deserves a retelling in game. Please explain to me why in Halo 4 we got some random Halsey in handcuffs cinematic at the start talking about Chief, as opposed to a small vignette explaining what's happened these last 5 years. Hell, even having one of those terminals which show Didact being imprisoned would have been better. Because it would've explained who he was, why he's on Requiem, and why he hates humanity for when we do catch up to him. It's how you tell a story. Think of how the first Game of Thrones book/show started off, so that as you watch and read it's in the back of your mind just what is there.
 

Impala26

Member
The story was poor. Anytime you require external sources to know what's going on, re-evaluate the story you're trying to tell then.

(See Destiny)

Your head lead cinematics director leaving a year before launch likely didn't help matters.

This was certainly my biggest gripe regarding to Halo 4 as well. There's an interesting story to tell contained within the universe, but it's not conveyed properly to the player--especially those not in the know regarding the expanded media.
 

Ominym

Banned
Maybe I'm the only one, but I found pretty much all the story elements (including what I've read from expanded fiction) post Halo: Reach to be hot garbage.

Captain Lasky is cool though, I guess?
 
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