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Halo |OT 25| Did you think me defeated?!"

link1201

Member
Im ok with new characters, just dont make them my main character in a main halo when i already have one i like.

Spin offs can be a good way to implement new characters and new stories, like halo wars 2.
Yeah, I agree.

I feel the stories would be more cohesive too since they'll be mainly from one perspective. 343 hasn't exactly impressed me with their in game storytelling ability thus far.
 

AlStrong

Member
God help us if they run his character into the ground because fans can't imagine playing as anyone else in the whole damn universe.

I know, right. :/

The mostly-silent protagonist works for everyone - Rookie & Noble 6. The path they're on now is just feeding into the inevitable Space Jesus.
 

belushy

Banned
I like Locke.... hopefully more chief doesn't mean minimal amounts of Locke. I like having multiple protags to play.
 
I found my perfect Gamerpic: :D

18159892_1461317653939548_1326676944_o.png
 
I know, right. :/

The mostly-silent protagonist works for everyone - Rookie & Noble 6. The path they're on now is just feeding into the inevitable Space Jesus.

Again, other characters are fine. Just not when you go in expecting to play as chief. There is such a thing as spinoff games. No one is forbidding 343 to make any of those.

Imagine going into SW ep7 and seeing han solo for 20 minutes in the full movie after the commercials show him that hes back. Wouldnt you have been disappointed? There is such a thing as expectations.

When i go into a "main halo" i expect the see the chief for more than 1/3rd of the game. Anything else, is idiotic.
 

AlStrong

Member
When i go into a "main halo" i expect the see the chief for more than 1/3rd of the game. Anything else, is idiotic.
The problem in the comparison is that the expectation for Halo 5 was set when they brought Chief back in Halo 4 and there was no reason to expect anything other than Chief after that.

Chief was on ice at the end of 3, and it would have been the perfect opportunity to do something different while still moving the story forward. At least when I think of "mainline" it's more about the story than who I play as. Just look at the changes in characters between Star Wars Episodes. There's some continuity per trilogy arc, but it's clear that they can change the main folks.

Imagine going into SW ep7 and seeing han solo for 20 minutes in the full movie after the commercials show him that hes back. Wouldnt you have been disappointed? There is such a thing as expectations.

Imagine Ep7 having Luke Skywalker setup again as the main protagonist as the center of the universe, then Ep8 has him as a cameo.
 
The problem in the comparison is that the expectation for Halo 5 was set when they brought Chief back in Halo 4 and there was no reason to expect anything other than Chief after that.

Chief was on ice at the end of 3, and it would have been the perfect opportunity to do something different while still moving the story forward. At least when I think of "mainline" it's more about the story than who I play as. Just look at the changes in characters between Star Wars Episodes. There's some continuity per trilogy arc, but it's clear that they can change the main folks.

He was iced because MS wouldnt let them kill him. Hes too important to Halo which is why people didnt like playing as Arbiter in 2 and didnt like Locke in 5. See a pattern here?

Other characters are fine in spinoff games. Not main ones. If you change the main character in a main game or movie, you better be damn well sure youre executing that aspect of it flawlessly and no offence, but i dont have complete faith in 343 to do that.
 

AlStrong

Member
Not main ones.
Really? SW Ep 1-3 had Anakin Skywalker. Ep 4-6 had Luke, and presumably Ep 7-9 is Rey & friends. I think you're being narrow here.
If you change the main character in a main game or movie, you better be damn well sure youre executing that aspect of it flawlessly and no offence, but i dont have complete faith in 343 to do that.

Well they can't now because they setup a new arc with Chief as the hero (halo 4), then tried to switch part-way through the sequel. Obviously it doesn't work when you have an existing story arc that already set the expectation.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Really? SW Ep 1-3 had Anakin Skywalker. Ep 4-6 had Luke, Presumably Ep 7-9 is Rey & friends. I think you're being narrow here.

Well they can't now because they setup a new arc with Chief as the hero (halo 4), then tried to switch part-way through the sequel. Obviously it doesn't work when you have an existing story arc that already set the expectation.

Not really. Halo 4 tied up its own loose ends pretty effectively. Halo 5 doesn't follow the exact same path as the previous game in the same way that Halo 1 and Halo 2 aren't a straight line the way 2 and 3 were.
 

AlStrong

Member
Not really. Halo 4 tied up its own loose ends pretty effectively. Halo 5 doesn't follow the exact same path as the previous game in the same way that Halo 1 and Halo 2 aren't a straight line the way 2 and 3 were.

Well, "arc" was a poor choice of word. The point is that Chief is now back with no real reason to simply forego his usage as a player character. It's not like he was discharged and retired. Then 343i goes and shows Chief searching for Cortana in the pre-release H5 material, so there's a connection made anyway.
 
Really? SW Ep 1-3 had Anakin Skywalker. Ep 4-6 had Luke, and presumably Ep 7-9 is Rey & friends. I think you're being narrow here.


Well they can't now because they setup a new arc with Chief as the hero (halo 4), then tried to switch part-way through the sequel. Obviously it doesn't work when you have an existing story arc that already set the expectation.

And who liked the prequels? lol
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Well, "arc" was a poor choice of word. The point is that Chief is now back with no real reason to simply forego his usage as a player character. It's not like he was discharged and retired. Then 343i goes and shows Chief searching for Cortana in the pre-release H5 material, so there's a connection made anyway.

But my point is let's say 343 goes all in on Chief in Halo 6, and concludes this current Created arc in something that's rousing and everyone loves, best case scenario. The problem is that people will still want to play as Chief even after his arc is done. It's dumb and short-sighted. You will never be able to replace Chief if no other characters ever get the opportunity.
 
But my point is let's say 343 goes all in on Chief in Halo 6, and concludes this current Created arc in something that's rousing and everyone loves, best case scenario. The problem is that people will still want to play as Chief even after his arc is done. It's dumb and short-sighted. You will never be able to replace Chief if no other characters ever get the opportunity.

Spin Offs.
 

AlStrong

Member
But my point is let's say 343 goes all in on Chief in Halo 6, and concludes this current Created arc in something that's rousing and everyone loves, best case scenario. The problem is that people will still want to play as Chief even after his arc is done. It's dumb and short-sighted. You will never be able to replace Chief if no other characters ever get the opportunity.
Right. I don't disagree about how short-sighted it is.

People are clearly fine with the off-shoot stories, but as far as the main story/timeline goes they introduced Palmer and Locke in rather inauspicious circumstances being overshadowed by Chief's front & center appearance (besides being somewhat unlikeable characters). Folks clearly didn't like Arbiter being introduced partway through when Chief was front and center last time, so it's puzzling to me that 343i thought they could do the same thing unscathed.

What I'm getting at is that we can't tell if people would be ok or not with moving the timeline forward without Chief because 343i has to deal with his status all over again. The opportune time to have at least tried new characters would have been their first game after Bungie left, instead of just fast forwarding and putting him in the spotlight all over again.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Right. I don't disagree about how short-sighted it is.

People are clearly fine with the off-shoot stories, but as far as the main story/timeline goes they introduced Palmer and Locke in rather inauspicious circumstances being overshadowed by Chief's front & center appearance (besides being somewhat unlikeable characters). Folks clearly didn't like Arbiter being introduced partway through when Chief was front and center last time, so it's puzzling to me that 343i thought they could do the same thing unscathed.

What I'm getting at is that we can't tell if people would be ok or not with moving the timeline forward without Chief because 343i has to deal with his status all over again. The opportune time to have at least tried new characters would have been their first game after Bungie left, instead of just fast forwarding and putting him in the spotlight all over again.

I think most of this boils down to the problem that 343 is in service of maintaining an existing brand, and I'd say most of their poor decisions have been their wild course-corrections in response to fan complaints. The best thing for them to do at this point is stick to their guns and make good games and good stories on those terms.
 

Madness

Member
I honestly think that 343 needs shit to hit the fan before they say to themselves we messed up or maybe this isn't great. Sometimes some of the things are so blatantly obvious as any sort of fan of the series etc. Or maybe they can't do anything and secretly know deep down but then need outcry before some suit says change it up etc.
 
But my point is let's say 343 goes all in on Chief in Halo 6, and concludes this current Created arc in something that's rousing and everyone loves, best case scenario. The problem is that people will still want to play as Chief even after his arc is done. It's dumb and short-sighted. You will never be able to replace Chief if no other characters ever get the opportunity.

Given the first few missions and H4 and H5 respectively it's not a horrible long shot Cortana/Created story arc is wrapped up in 3 missions during H6. I like a fast paced story mission by mission, more to learn and discover while playing IMO.

I agree that fans and 343 need to find a balance for Chief vs other characters, it's not all on the studio.

One idea I'd like to see with Chief in H6 is him pushing beyond his limits, it's really where his "luck and skill" virtues shone the brightest with Nylund stories. Basically something like WZ stacking of abilities and creating a burnout of Chief mentally and/or physically and/or publicly. Hunt the Truth and the H5 pre-release marketing touched on Chief being turned on by ONI and public opinion souring too but all the way through H5 Chief is solid as a rock really.

So back to the stacking of abilities, give us cut-scenes directly into gameplay that take a toll on Chief e.g. tech cut-scenes tweaking his armour with danger/AI warnings that's not allowed etc. Fast forward to gameplay and we're stacking OS, speed boost, damage boost and just getting in a shitstorm of grunts/AI etc. Really go that one man army against impossible odds.

Perhaps this leads to a "no armour stealth mission" due to the previous mission ending we had to self destruct our MJOLNIR armour to secure a pathway or destroy a base or due to stacking damage etc. Now we play as solo badass Chief being revealed (almost 100%) and pure talent saving his skin. Take it one step further and show Chief having to trust another when not in his armour to secure his next suit upgrade and get back at it, it's a really nice visual metaphor with no armour and a vulnerable John at the same time.

Hell stack some vehicles with abilities and have them blow up from over limit use. I want to see things go beyond the standard fare and with logical explanation, not just here's a forerunner mod from the librarian with a glowing light that never does anything from that point forward. From WZ REQs I've now always wanted to see those weapons variations in campaign and with purpose, tons of gameplay and cutscene material to draw upon.
 

AlStrong

Member
It'd be neat if they could roll weapon variants/customization into SP (also custom armour >_>). Change things up a little.
 

AlStrong

Member
These people still cant handle a sprint and you want more changes lol i wouldnt hold my breath

Well, these are optional, and it'd function ala Warzone variants. My impression was that sprint & ability complaints were more for competitive MP, not SP.

Custom armour (cosmetic) like Reach would be nice, although it could have implications to general design if they had to conform to a certain set of parameters defined by the canon armour during cut-scenes (to avoid clipping and other oddities). With physically based shading/rendering, it'd be neat to see a custom slider for defining the roughness/smoothness of the armour material too for additional customization.

Might as well add a big-head mode too while they're at it (with all the glitches/clipping left in). I think it'd be fun for everyone, including kids.
 
Well, these are optional, and it'd function ala Warzone variants. My impression was that sprint & ability complaints were more for competitive MP, not SP.

Custom armour (cosmetic) like Reach would be nice, although it could have implications to general design if they had to conform to a certain set of parameters defined by the canon armour during cut-scenes (to avoid clipping and other oddities). With physically based shading/rendering, it'd be neat to see a custom slider for defining the roughness/smoothness of the armour material too for additional customization.

Might as well add a big-head mode too while they're at it (with all the glitches/clipping left in). I think it'd be fun for everyone, including kids.

I was playing Reach BC campaign recently and loved the cutscenes having your custom armour/colours. It's a great replay feature.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
the_halo_trilogy___vector_art_by_firedragonmatty-db7qopw.png


I just finished this Vector Art piece for the trilogy.

I uploaded my work in process stages for people too - http://imgur.com/a/066zi
The high res version can be seen/downloaded here: http://firedragonmatty.deviantart.com/art/The-Halo-Trilogy-Vector-Art-678130340

Still kind of keeping my fingers crossed for a Halo 3 Anniversary this year, but I doubt we'll get it.

Only complaint is I can't unsee H3 Chief about to shoot himself with H2 Chief's SMG :) Very cool illustration, man.
 

jem0208

Member
you know what though... they have to move the story along to where there will always be conflict. I would not be surprised that we see even a greater thread come to 'eat all of us'. (crashed pod on Halo 1 that was not identifiable by 343 Guilty Spark)

It could be as ridic as the new threat completely neutralizes the domain so then cortana no longer has control of the guardians and they just go free willy. all hell breaks loose as her mantle was just taken from her. Humanity and the swords then seek an alternative means to save our galaxy - the flood. somehow we see the gravemind give a scary speech about what lays in the darkness. We get super scary, dark, gritty footage of MC lone wolfing a planet to get to gravemind. cut to gameplay and we have to use the Flashlight again! yay

hahaha idk, i just want something out of this world.

Dont hire anyone in this thread Stinkles
 

Fuchsdh

Member
That was really interesting.

I genuinely think H6 could be really good from a story perspective. There's a lot of potential with what they've set up.

There's always potential. I don't see the point complaining about directions the franchise goes, because it's stupid to feel wedded to your own fan vision. Far more effective to voice constructive criticism about how the stories are told, because the devil is always in the implementation. On paper I would have taken the Prequel Trilogy over the story told in Episode 4–6, and we know how that gamble would have turned out :)
 
There's always potential. I don't see the point complaining about directions the franchise goes, because it's stupid to feel wedded to your own fan vision. Far more effective to voice constructive criticism about how the stories are told, because the devil is always in the implementation. On paper I would have taken the Prequel Trilogy over the story told in Episode 4–6, and we know how that gamble would have turned out :)

Maybe, but there are ways to make a story intriguing for most people. Games do it all the time like for example The last of us. I mean, you cant please everyone but i think a proper goal here is better to have most people agree that its at least good, which 343 have not done. I refuse to believe that its this difficult to make "good" story.

For one, maybe it would help to not have 8 characters being focused on for the entire campaign? Blue team and Osiris, plus the Catherine Halsey plus cortana... seems like a lot of people to focus on in a story.
 

wwm0nkey

Member
You know I've been wondering, so Forge in Halo 5 is amazing, no doubt, but what do you guys think they will do to out do it in Halo 6? I am personally praying they do a height map editor for level geometry. Would save resources too I imagine since it would all just be one object instead of like 100's of objects used to create a floor
 
You know I've been wondering, so Forge in Halo 5 is amazing, no doubt, but what do you guys think they will do to out do it in Halo 6? I am personally praying they do a height map editor for level geometry. Would save resources too I imagine since it would all just be one object instead of like 100's of objects used to create a floor

I want them to update textures and whatnot all while being able to import Halo 5 creations.
 
Forgive a lay forge user but here's some potential ideas (guessing they're not in Forge already)...

1. Object editing e.g. vertices.

2. Advanced array tools e.g. fast creation with offset degrees, repeats.

3. AI editing e.g. settings around enemies being placed, weapons, damage etc. Would lead to mini campaigns or coop style maps/games.

4. Path mapping or advanced animation

5. 3D texture painting.

6. VR application. Imagine forging with Hololens...
 
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