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Halo |OT12| Last One Out, Get the Lights

YmKXZ.png


Shut yo mouth boi
That's without counting the hundreds of MLG custom games I've played. Would've played it more often but most people I played with didn't like MLG and the only playlists that I frequently played solo in were SWAT and Snipers.

Edit: I also noticed that they changed some of the pictures for playlists on waypoint for whatever reason. Why would you bother when you're just about to release Halo 4?

I thought you liked the trash Elzar played like 2forts- I was always up for MLG but that dictator kept making us play mini games.

I will play halo 3 or even reach MLG with you anytime, just let me know when.

Also why are maps like complex in FFA throwback and Why does FFA throwback have such a low score to win limit. JiP means that I'm usually in a game and the leader is so close to winning I get to play for like 3 minuites before the game ends

I spent an hour trying to play it yesterday and in that hour I think most of my games ended within minuites - it was just really boring getting in halfway through a match which was over before I could do anything

I would love a FFA slayer playlist with like unlimited time and a huge score - just drop in and out as you feel like slaying. The rank up system will never allow anything like that to exist as people will want games to end for the cr. :(

I really think unlimited playlists would be a lot of fun just drop in play a bunch of a game type and leave when you have had your fill.
 

OrangeOak

Member
Maybe there are still things in motion that they want to fix before they say anything? Be a little reasonable and don’t overreact instantly. Heck, I've been in that position before. I could not say anything because of factors that were completely reasonable and understandable but if I said anything about it people would not get the context. Creating a shitstorm for nothing helps nobody and only breeds more confusion.

Im not creating a "shitstorm". I'm just upset that I can't play a game that I bought with my hard earned money for the second day in a row and I don't even know if they are aware of the problem. Simple "we are on it" would be nice.
Being addicted to this awesome game isn't helping either lol.
 

TheOddOne

Member
Im not creating a "shitstorm". I'm just upset that I can't play a game that I bought with my hard earned money for the second day in a row and I don't even know if they are aware of the problem. Simple "we are on it" would be nice.
Being addicted to this awesome game isn't helping either lol.
Something as big as server issues are bound to be stuff that they are working on. Not trying to say that you should cut them some slack, but be a little reasonable. It's shitty, they know it, we know it but I rather they spend time fixing it then have a potential PR disaster where words are taken out of context and misinformation starts being spread around.

I’ve seen this happened before with other games and utterly hate how some users went overboard with it.
 
^Complex is worse IMO
Than The Cage? HaloGAF is constantly showing me that opinions are indeed wrong.


What the hell are you smoking? They would perfectly fit into Halo's sandbox.

A stealth optional mission would force players to try to stealth it beginning to end, but having the alternative route of blasting their way through reinforcements. There would be some re-playability here two, at once per style, stealth and non-stealth.

A chase mission would be interesting. Do you jump in the hog and make a bee line for the character? That way the character knows your coming so he makes a beeline for his target. Makes it a straight up race. Or, how about letting the target get a little ahead of you as you mop up all the hostile forces. The target proceeds at a more leisurely pace instead, giving you a chance to catch him on foot or maybe even nab an enemy vehicle or two and catch him unaware?

The last once, maybe it would play out the same each time, but hell every damm mission in Spops right now has you seeming press buttons for no real reason any. At least being forced to push buttons in a certain order is changing it up a little. ;P
Stealth wouldn't work with the trolls in matchmaking. See the Wapoint post of the asshole who just wants to splatter teammates. I am fully on the side of making things more interesting, because this week's offerings are the exact same shit from last week, but with less fun. I will say, for the sake of adding something positive, that Complex works far better as a Spartan Ops map than it does a multiplayer map. Those are some fun missions to play solo.

Thinking more about Firefight. I honestly think that 3 missions a week would have been the sweet spot, there has been some really standout missions, the one on Complex today was like Firefight extreme and was pretty great - doing Sniper Alley again for what seemed like the 4th time was not so great. I hope they take lessons from this and learn Quality over Quantity. Valhalla with the hogs was really fun as well - so I think they know how to use the sandbox.

I really think a unique focus on each mission would help:
  • A Mantis Mission
  • A Stealth Sniping mission
  • A Tank mission
  • A Banshee mission
  • A Hog Mission similar to the last level of Halo CE.
  • A VR Mission on board the Infinity - maybe a timed obstacle trick jump course
  • A Outer Space Mission.
  • A Firefight mission on some of the multiplayer maps
  • Generator Defence on the other multiplayer maps.
  • Having to capture some objective, i.e. there is a strange ball which we need to extract.
  • Survive a three way fight between Covies, Prometheans and Humans.

Im sure there are other one off specific scenarios that can be thought up - on Waypoint itself they have covered historic Halo moments, so im shocked they didnt dip into those to draw inspiration for one off missions.

Scrap the story, its basically external to what is happening in game anyway. Is it worth wrapping everything in the fiction if that story stifles the gameplay? CoD had it right by just having weird one off missions which where unique and fun.
You could loosely tie any of your examples into a story, and it would be far better gameplay than what we've been offered so far. I really want to like this mode, but 343 seems to be fighting me every step of the way. The netcode is especially infuriating.
 
It's funny, just came across a Rev3 review last night where one of the guys were moaning about the lack of iron sights, that it felt like Halo was stuck in the past because of it.

Made me grimace.

It's annoying, halo has always been about the scope/noscopes, who needs iron sights in a halo game?
 

kylej

Banned
Every other major and minor gameplay decision they made was aped directly from Call of Duty (except Promethean vision), including the terrible selection of maps. (Toggle crouch, standard sprint, press X to instant respawn, sleight of hand, extreme conditioning, overkill, hardline, dead silence, care packages, rerolling care packages, hit markers, riot shield, stopping power, killcams). I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

yeah I don't know what is going on with the maps. they're probably the clearest indicator to me that nobody at 343 has any idea what makes Halo great and never played the previous games. they're a ragtag assembly of broken ideas, empty concepts and poor realization. I swear the 5 maps I came up with in 10 minutes are better than any of these turds. How do you sit there and go "Yep, Complex is as good as it gets, ship it!". Who comes up with that? Who builds it? Who are the people all along the process that think it's great? Is it the SOCOM PSP guy in charge of multiplayer? The Turok remake guy in charge of the game? The maps are a disaster. You've got Microsoft funding the bills - paying for one of the most expensive games ever made - and this is honestly the best they can do? Adrift is the best you can do? Abdandon is the best you can do? Solace? Broken instant respawns? No options in customs? No campaign theater? Destroying one of the best and most iconic UIs in console gaming history? How come there's no Left 4 Dead style Director system in campaign to increase tension and make the encounters more unique every time you play them? The campaign still plays like old Halo in a bad way. Without the ability to follow in the footsteps of Call of Duty for the campaign, it just ends up as this limp swipe at the best moments of past games. It's not revolutionary or evolutionary, it's painfully stagnant. 343, if you need people to watch official videos on your website in order to understand your game's story; your story is a mess.

All this is exacerbated by the fact that there's some iPad Doritos game out for co-marketing purposes, the $400 limited edition Halo 4 console doesn't come with the LE of the game, there's an amateur movie made for direct to Youtube purposes that 8 people watched, and meanwhile the actual game is languishing in mediocrity. I'm not saying one takes away from the other, I'm saying you better be damn confident that your game is outstanding if you're willing to build all this stuff around it, and the game isn't.

I just don't understand how all of this slipped through the cracks. There must've been 15 people here - "Team Downer" - who called out the faults in the maps, faults with mechanics, and faults with the UI just by seeing slivers of the game in 10 second off-screen bursts recorded at trade shows. It's not about being negative and it's not about wanting old Halo and saying fuck everyone else, it's about pointing out the cracks so the experience is better for everyone. If people here saw the issues, why did nobody at 343?

Microsoft needs to go through and gut the entire studio if this was everybody's best effort. Certain Affinity has proven to be the definition of mediocre based on everything they build, don't let them touch Halo again. All the marketing efforts were and continue to be pathetic - you guys know there's a map pack out in two weeks right? It's like my favorite Onion headline "Special Olympics T-Ball Stand Pitches Perfect Game". They got the budget, they got one of the biggest franchises in gaming, they got the time, and they released a jack of all trades and master of none.

I guess that's the biggest frustration with the game. If you're going to take a dump on traditional Halo and build this bastardized COD that nobody wants, at least pull it off better. This game walks further down the path towards COD than Reach ever did, but all that did is leave it further from an audience.
 

TheOddOne

Member
I wish they used Spartan Ops as more of a experiment ground for new ideas. Stuff that would either be too out there for the campaign, but still would be interesting to see in some form. Instead we got a more condensed Firefight mode, without the challenge.

Still feels like a waste compared to Firefight, which had more options, challenges and opportunities. Updating and refining Firefight for Halo 4 on paper sounds more enticing then Spartan Ops, so far. Maybe it will come into its own, but it stand in the shadow of Firefight for now.
 

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
yeah I don't know what is going on with the maps. they're probably the clearest indicator to me that nobody at 343 has any idea what makes Halo great and never played the previous games. they're a ragtag assembly of broken ideas, empty concepts and poor realization. I swear the 5 maps I came up with in 10 minutes are better than any of these turds. How do you sit there and go "Yep, Complex is as good as it gets, ship it!". Who comes up with that? Who builds it? Who are the people all along the process that think it's great? Is it the SOCOM PSP guy in charge of multiplayer? The Turok remake guy in charge of the game? The maps are a disaster. You've got Microsoft funding the bills - paying for one of the most expensive games ever made - and this is honestly the best they can do? Adrift is the best you can do? Abdandon is the best you can do? Solace? Broken instant respawns? No options in customs? No campaign theater? Destroying one of the best and most iconic UIs in console gaming history? How come there's no Left 4 Dead style Director system in campaign to increase tension and make the encounters more unique every time you play them? The campaign still plays like old Halo in a bad way. Without the ability to follow in the footsteps of Call of Duty for the campaign, it just ends up as this limp swipe at the best moments of past games. It's not revolutionary or evolutionary, it's painfully stagnant. 343, if you need people to watch official videos on your website in order to understand your game's story; your story is a mess.

All this is exacerbated by the fact that there's some iPad Doritos game out for co-marketing purposes, the $400 limited edition Halo 4 console doesn't come with the LE of the game, there's an amateur movie made for direct to Youtube purposes that 8 people watched, and meanwhile the actual game is languishing in mediocrity. I'm not saying one takes away from the other, I'm saying you better be damn confident that your game is outstanding if you're willing to build all this stuff around it, and the game isn't.

I just don't understand how all of this slipped through the cracks. There must've been 15 people here - "Team Downer" - who called out the faults in the maps, faults with mechanics, and faults with the UI just by seeing slivers of the game in 10 second off-screen bursts recorded at trade shows. It's not about being negative and it's not about wanting old Halo and saying fuck everyone else, it's about pointing out the cracks so the experience is better for everyone. If people here saw the issues, why did nobody at 343?

Microsoft needs to go through and gut the entire studio if this was everybody's best effort. Certain Affinity has proven to be the definition of mediocre based on everything they build, don't let them touch Halo again. All the marketing efforts were and continue to be pathetic - you guys know there's a map pack out in two weeks right? It's like my favorite Onion headline "Special Olympics T-Ball Stand Pitches Perfect Game". They got the budget, they got one of the biggest franchises in gaming, they got the time, and they released a jack of all trades and master of none.

I guess that's the biggest frustration with the game. If you're going to take a dump on traditional Halo and build this bastardized COD that nobody wants, at least pull it off better. This game walks further down the path towards COD than Reach ever did, but all that did is leave it further from an audience.

It's really annoying when you hit the nail on the head for the majority of your post.
 

Tawpgun

Member
yeah I don't know what is going on with the maps. they're probably the clearest indicator to me that nobody at 343 has any idea what makes Halo great and never played the previous games. they're a ragtag assembly of broken ideas, empty concepts and poor realization. I swear the 5 maps I came up with in 10 minutes are better than any of these turds. How do you sit there and go "Yep, Complex is as good as it gets, ship it!". Who comes up with that? Who builds it? Who are the people all along the process that think it's great? Is it the SOCOM PSP guy in charge of multiplayer? The Turok remake guy in charge of the game? The maps are a disaster. You've got Microsoft funding the bills - paying for one of the most expensive games ever made - and this is honestly the best they can do? Adrift is the best you can do? Abdandon is the best you can do? Solace? Broken instant respawns? No options in customs? No campaign theater? Destroying one of the best and most iconic UIs in console gaming history? How come there's no Left 4 Dead style Director system in campaign to increase tension and make the encounters more unique every time you play them? The campaign still plays like old Halo in a bad way. Without the ability to follow in the footsteps of Call of Duty for the campaign, it just ends up as this limp swipe at the best moments of past games. It's not revolutionary or evolutionary, it's painfully stagnant. 343, if you need people to watch official videos on your website in order to understand your game's story; your story is a mess.

All this is exacerbated by the fact that there's some iPad Doritos game out for co-marketing purposes, the $400 limited edition Halo 4 console doesn't come with the LE of the game, there's an amateur movie made for direct to Youtube purposes that 8 people watched, and meanwhile the actual game is languishing in mediocrity. I'm not saying one takes away from the other, I'm saying you better be damn confident that your game is outstanding if you're willing to build all this stuff around it, and the game isn't.

I just don't understand how all of this slipped through the cracks. There must've been 15 people here - "Team Downer" - who called out the faults in the maps, faults with mechanics, and faults with the UI just by seeing slivers of the game in 10 second off-screen bursts recorded at trade shows. It's not about being negative and it's not about wanting old Halo and saying fuck everyone else, it's about pointing out the cracks so the experience is better for everyone. If people here saw the issues, why did nobody at 343?

Microsoft needs to go through and gut the entire studio if this was everybody's best effort. Certain Affinity has proven to be the definition of mediocre based on everything they build, don't let them touch Halo again. All the marketing efforts were and continue to be pathetic - you guys know there's a map pack out in two weeks right? It's like my favorite Onion headline "Special Olympics T-Ball Stand Pitches Perfect Game". They got the budget, they got one of the biggest franchises in gaming, they got the time, and they released a jack of all trades and master of none.

I guess that's the biggest frustration with the game. If you're going to take a dump on traditional Halo and build this bastardized COD that nobody wants, at least pull it off better. This game walks further down the path towards COD than Reach ever did, but all that did is leave it further from an audience.

I'd hate to say "wait till Halo 5" considering that was my logic with Reach->Halo 4, but Halo 5 will be 343's ultimate test to see if they can make a really polished halo game. They have their studio built, they have experience shipping a full game... If they port half the game to be done to Certain Affinity then whats the point.

If they want my faith in them restored they need to show they can support Halo 4 well.

Also I was amused by the fact that the
Valhalla mancannon now have a canon function..

man canon

Another thing that REALLY bugs me about SpOps is that you go through these environments, clearing out hostiles so Infinity Science can study the area, and not only do these hostiles just set up camp right after, BUT INFINITY SCIENCE MISSES THESE HUGE FUCKING BUTTONS IN THE PLACE THEY'RE STUDYING.
 

Nirvana

Member
I'm overall really happy with Halo 4. I enjoyed Invasion and the odd BTB game on Reach, maybe some Snipers or Doubles, but it never felt competitive in any way. Halo 4, despite what seems to be a more casual focus than ever, for some reason feels competitive again.

I have to say that I was really disappointed with them resusing the same locations again in Spartan Ops this week. The storyline is getting interesting, but I still don't care about any of the characters, merely how it effects the larger universe. I don't get why your Spartan(s) isn't in the cutscenes? They managed to have your Spartan in Reach as Noble 6, why not in these cutscens where you are supposedly playing a major role?

The gameplay is ok, I can't be bothered playing through it on Legendary, since I know that would just be a death fest. I die probably 5 times a mission on Heroic, simply due to the fact that there are hundreds of enemies at once, all with Fuel Rod Canons and you (for some goddamn reason) spawn right in the middle of every battle. That mission this week where they literally threw you into a pit of a hundred enemies essentially encapsulated how I feel on most missions. Admittedly, you are supposed to play with friends, but I can't play campaign with others, I like to tackle situations in my own specific ways and other people tend to want to do things differently. Also, the netcode has been absolutely horrible since Halo 3.

Hopefully we will see some more interesting mission design in future weeks, but at the moment it is fun as a mindless blast fest.
 

TheOddOne

Member
I'd hate to say "wait till Halo 5" considering that was my logic with Reach->Halo 4, but Halo 5 will be 343's ultimate test to see if they can make a really polished halo game. They have their studio built, they have experience shipping a full game... If they port half the game to be done to Certain Affinity then whats the point.

If they want my faith in them restored they need to show they can support Halo 4 well.
I’m not so sure. New console launch means new hurdles have to be overcome, it could either go really good or really bad, I see no in between.
 

MrDaravon

Member
yeah I don't know what is going on with the maps. they're probably the clearest indicator to me that nobody at 343 has any idea what makes Halo great and never played the previous games. they're a ragtag assembly of broken ideas, empty concepts and poor realization. I swear the 5 maps I came up with in 10 minutes are better than any of these turds. How do you sit there and go "Yep, Complex is as good as it gets, ship it!". Who comes up with that? Who builds it? Who are the people all along the process that think it's great? Is it the SOCOM PSP guy in charge of multiplayer? The Turok remake guy in charge of the game? The maps are a disaster. You've got Microsoft funding the bills - paying for one of the most expensive games ever made - and this is honestly the best they can do? Adrift is the best you can do? Abdandon is the best you can do? Solace? Broken instant respawns? No options in customs? No campaign theater? Destroying one of the best and most iconic UIs in console gaming history? How come there's no Left 4 Dead style Director system in campaign to increase tension and make the encounters more unique every time you play them? The campaign still plays like old Halo in a bad way. Without the ability to follow in the footsteps of Call of Duty for the campaign, it just ends up as this limp swipe at the best moments of past games. It's not revolutionary or evolutionary, it's painfully stagnant. 343, if you need people to watch official videos on your website in order to understand your game's story; your story is a mess.

All this is exacerbated by the fact that there's some iPad Doritos game out for co-marketing purposes, the $400 limited edition Halo 4 console doesn't come with the LE of the game, there's an amateur movie made for direct to Youtube purposes that 8 people watched, and meanwhile the actual game is languishing in mediocrity. I'm not saying one takes away from the other, I'm saying you better be damn confident that your game is outstanding if you're willing to build all this stuff around it, and the game isn't.

I just don't understand how all of this slipped through the cracks. There must've been 15 people here - "Team Downer" - who called out the faults in the maps, faults with mechanics, and faults with the UI just by seeing slivers of the game in 10 second off-screen bursts recorded at trade shows. It's not about being negative and it's not about wanting old Halo and saying fuck everyone else, it's about pointing out the cracks so the experience is better for everyone. If people here saw the issues, why did nobody at 343?

Microsoft needs to go through and gut the entire studio if this was everybody's best effort. Certain Affinity has proven to be the definition of mediocre based on everything they build, don't let them touch Halo again. All the marketing efforts were and continue to be pathetic - you guys know there's a map pack out in two weeks right? It's like my favorite Onion headline "Special Olympics T-Ball Stand Pitches Perfect Game". They got the budget, they got one of the biggest franchises in gaming, they got the time, and they released a jack of all trades and master of none.

I guess that's the biggest frustration with the game. If you're going to take a dump on traditional Halo and build this bastardized COD that nobody wants, at least pull it off better. This game walks further down the path towards COD than Reach ever did, but all that did is leave it further from an audience.

You are my favorite.
 
I don't know what to say about Halo 4 any more.
I've almost completely stopped playing a mainline Halo game after 3 weeks. That's fucking soul crushing.
Another thing that REALLY bugs me about SpOps is that you go through these environments, clearing out hostiles so Infinity Science can study the area, and not only do these hostiles just set up camp right after, BUT INFINITY SCIENCE MISSES THESE HUGE FUCKING BUTTONS IN THE PLACE THEY'RE STUDYING.
It's struck me as odd every week how little the Infinity itself seems to be doing.
How the hell are the Covies getting around so easily? How come the Infinity hasn't knocked every Storm ship out of the sky the way it blew through them in Glasslands and in the opening cinematic?

I don't have a clear picture of the area around Requiem at all right now.
 

Shadders

Member
I’m not so sure. New console launch means new hurdles have to be overcome, it could either go really good or really bad, I see no in between.

And MS will be cracking the whip for them to get a Halo game out as soon as possible too.

I'm sure Halo 6 will be just great.
 

Gazzawa

Member
I’m not so sure. New console launch means new hurdles have to be overcome, it could either go really good or really bad, I see no in between.

especially when 343 cant "rub one out" on a different IP on a new generation.
Take Rockstar or Bethesda for example. These guys learned a ton about the openworld genre when they made GTA IV and Oblivion for this gen consoles. Those games could have been waaaay better.
Rockstar went on to make Red Dead. Bethesda Fallout 3 and Skyrim.
it can all be sorted with a 3gb patch
every fortnite
 
I don't know what to say about Halo 4 any more.
I've almost completely stopped playing a mainline Halo game after 3 weeks. That's fucking soul crushing.

It's struck me as odd every week how little the Infinity itself seems to be doing.
How the hell are the Covies getting around so easily? How come the Infinity hasn't knocked every Storm ship out of the sky the way it blew through them in Glasslands and in the opening cinematic?

I don't have a clear picture of the area around Requiem at all right now.

That's what I'm asking myself constantly. You could say there aren't any Covenant ships on/in requiem anymore, but then where do these drop pods come from? The only logical conclusion is that there are Covenant ships flying in/around Requiem, but the Infinity isn't doing anything about it. Maybe they're happy with people dying all the time?
 

kylej

Banned
I'd hate to say "wait till Halo 5" considering that was my logic with Reach->Halo 4, but Halo 5 will be 343's ultimate test to see if they can make a really polished halo game. They have their studio built, they have experience shipping a full game... If they port half the game to be done to Certain Affinity then whats the point.

If they want my faith in them restored they need to show they can support Halo 4 well.

My faith in them was destroyed when they removed Squad Slayer for no reason and never re-instated it. Quite honestly the only fun playlist in the entire game, the only reason I got on to play Halo, and the reason we had an awesome group of people to play with every day was removed and we have no idea why. Why the fuck was TU BETA SLAYER allowed to stay but Squad Slayer removed? Why? Why would you remove a playlist that had a good population, provided a unique experience, and that people enjoyed? I genuinely cannot understand it.

It's such a slap in the face of common sense and respect for your audience that I knew at least some parts of Halo 4 would be a joke, I just didn't realize that same playlist ineptitude would permeate across the entire multiplayer experience.
 
Something as big as server issues are bound to be stuff that they are working on. Not trying to say that you should cut them some slack, but be a little reasonable. It's shitty, they know it, we know it but I rather they spend time fixing it then have a potential PR disaster where words are taken out of context and misinformation starts being spread around.

I’ve seen this happened before with other games and utterly hate how some users went overboard with it.

If I was in his place I would be furious - being stuck on backup servers is pretty shitty! I say let him make as much noise as he wants and hope it draws attention - after all if it happened to you what would you do?
 

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
Holy crap, a huge thoughtful post by Kyle that clearly explains the issues he is experiencing? Slowclap.gif.

That aside, I agree with some of what you said Kyle. I don't agree that the game is merely mediocre, nor do I agree to attribute the marketing to the game itself as those aspects really don't affect each other, but I see where you are coming from. I thought the marketing (not the content release schedule) was handled well. The iPad game rubbed me the wrong way a bit, but I loved FUD and enjoy the Game Fuel promotion and the other things they did (commercials, etc.).

I can agree on the maps I think. I do like a lot of the maps (fuck Complex, seriously) but there is something missing from them. I think the gameplay is fine aside from some TU tweaks that can be made, but the map design needs a bit of work. It's really odd, because I have a ton of fun playing the maps, but at the same time I think back to Lockout and Chiron (screw you guys) and I don't get the same feel. I think it is due to the large map size. I love Haven, and that is because it feels the most like a Halo map. BTB is one of my favorite stomping grounds, but we need some more smaller maps. They'll work fine with sprint, just give us more Haven (or a bit smaller) sized maps.

Anyways, I have a ton of fun playing Halo 4 but the formula needs some work. As mentioned before I attribute some of the rust to building a studio from scratch and this being that group's first game together. I fully expect Halo 5 to refine and build on Halo 4's formula, while adding some of what we love back in. The CoD stuff gets blown out of proportion here a lot, and I think the EXP system does add to the game (don't keep weapon unlocks though, just armor and gun skins), but I'd love to see a true 1-50 back as well. I fully understood when Kyle said "I was shaking after a close ranked Halo 3 match" and I'd like that to come back. I think the addition of sprint was 100% the right thing to do though.

I like Halo 4 a lot, it just needs some work.

See, I'm not always 100% pro Halo 4 all the time. :p
 
I want to know who writes the dialog for Palmer, so can slap the shit out of him for creating the worst character lines in the series (my god, it can't be written by a woman, please). Did she just learn the term "egghead" and "hingehead" and wants to bandy them about like a third grader? How 343 can create a compelling story and yet have a main character that I just cringe at every time she speaks is actually kind of amazing. I seriously feel bad for the voice actor that has to utter that meathead garbage and hope she got paid well.

What's really impressive is despite all that, the voice acting itself is on a tier so high above what Reach gave us that I almost want to give 343 a pass. I just can't though; Palmer had a shot at being a really great character, but so far she's just another angry, one-dimensional asshole in the Spartan IV program.
 

TheOddOne

Member
If I was in his place I would be furious - being stuck on backup servers is pretty shitty! I say let him make as much noise as he wants and hope it draws attention - after all if it happened to you what would you do?
I’m never said he shouldn’t, but there fine line between irrational and complaining. I just hate when it goes into the deep, it benefits nobody and just makes things more confusing.
 

Shadders

Member
I want to know who writes the dialog for Palmer, so can slap the shit out of him for creating the worst character lines in the series (my god, it can't be written by a woman, please). Did she just learn the term "egghead" and "hingehead" and wants to bandy them about like a third grader? How 343 can create a compelling story and yet have a main character that I just cringe at every time she speaks is actually kind of amazing. I seriously feel bad for the voice actor that has to utter that meathead garbage and hope she got paid well.

What's really impressive is despite all that, the voice acting itself is on a tier so high above what Reach gave us that I almost want to give 343 a pass. I just can't though; Palmer had a shot at being a really great character, but so far she's just another angry, one-dimensional asshole in the Spartan IV program.

She is the worst character in the series. I genuinely hope she's killed off as I don't think there's a way to make her likeable at this point. I don't think there's a way back from this level of irritation.
 

ElRenoRaven

Member
That's what I'm asking myself constantly. You could say there aren't any Covenant ships on/in requiem anymore, but then where do these drop pods come from? The only logical conclusion is that there are Covenant ships flying in/around Requiem, but the Infinity isn't doing anything about it. Maybe they're happy with people dying all the time?

Yup. I'm loving Spartan Ops but that is the one WTF thing about it. Like you said we're seeing drop pods, tons of phantoms, etc so that has to mean there are ships out there. Also as mentioned you see the Infinity just demolish them easily. So why the hell would you let them all remain active when you could take every single ship out and bam the odds quickly turn to your favor. I could understand if you had peace with them but you don't with this faction.

She is the worst character in the series. I genuinely hope she's killed off as I don't think there's a way to make her likeable at this point. I don't think there's a way back from this level of irritation.

Yup. I agree. I actually liked the fellow that was guarding Halsey. I want to know more about him. That's sad too when a pretty much unknown Spartan 4 is more interesting then her.
 
I’m never said he shouldn’t, but there fine line between irrational and complaining. I just hate when it goes into the deep, it benefits nobody and just makes things more confusing.

He is getting a sub par multiplayer experience this close to launch and missing out on a whole bunch of features of the game. He can't rank up - use load outs, play with friends, play spartan ops and I assume try out the weekly playlists.

I would say that this is a disgrace and I would be so pissed if it happened to me - how can you possibly call it irrational to complain about that?
 

TheOddOne

Member
He is getting a sub par multiplayer experience this close to launch and missing out on a whole bunch of features of the game. He can't rank up - use load outs, play with friends and I assume try out the weekly playlists.

I would say that this is a disgrace and I would be so pissed if it happened to me - how can you possibly call it irrational to complain about that?
Apparently I’m not being clear enough and making me out like I’m saying he should not complaint at all. Is it really that hard to see my point of view? I also think it’s a disgrace, but I can also see where 343 is coming from. It helps nobody by going berserk, discussion on the other hand helps way more.

Whetever, I'm done for today on here.
 

IHaveIce

Banned
Great posts Kyle.
I really would love to see some reactions of developers who are confronted with these concerns.
Till now everything is quiet, nobody does say anything.

I tweeted Over's giant posts to every 343 member I have on twitter (I think) in the hope somebody would read it and at least understand what this game does to fans who like the franchise for a very long time.

But by seeing the changes that are being made you could say these fans are not the main audience for Halo anymore or the audience 343 wants to please.


Other thing about the Servers and the dropout servers
I had this problem for several days, nobody could help me, neither here or someone from 343, hundreds of people had this problem and it wasn't due to connection issues.
Finally I had to delete my gamertag from my xbox and redownload it, after that I was able to play again .. so I ask you what system is being used by 343 there?

Spartan Ops
While I like the extra missions, they are repetive and sometimes really a pain to play. These missions aren't scaled for CoOp, and playing solo a mission on Legendary with 10 Promethean Knights who are equipped with binary rifles and incernator cannons is just dumb.

Like people said, some objective missions or with a real subject would be great. The characters are all idiotic. Palmer is probably the dumbest Spartan in service and she doesn't even do anything.

Roland the new KI??(I think he is right?) is also strange, he acts too edgy " oh everything is so boring, yeah let me do that and that".
Halsey is the best character in there, but is only used in video scenes, that I can't stream properly on my Xbox.

edit: oh fuck me, bottom of the page.
 
Yup. I agree. I actually liked the fellow that was guarding Halsey. I want to know more about him. That's sad too when a pretty much unknown Spartan 4 is more interesting then her.
I was literally talking at my TV last night, saying, "why can't you make Palmer interesting like this guy?!"

Nope. "herpderp egghead, herpderp above ur paygrade"
 
She is the worst character in the series. I genuinely hope she's killed off as I don't think there's a way to make her likeable at this point. I don't think there's a way back from this level of irritation.

I'm kind of disappointed with what they're doing with the Spartan IVs. The SII's are basically mythical soldiers and the SIII's became an extension of ODSTs (basically suicide missions) in addition to the savage aspects added in the later batches.

The SIVs we've seen so far are basically generic space marines.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I'm kind of disappointed with what they're doing with the Spartan IVs. The SII's are basically mythical soldiers and the SIII's became an extension of ODSTs (basically suicide missions) in addition to the savage aspects added in the later batches.

The SIVs we've seen so far are basically generic space marines.
I was surprised to learn Thorne was only in te service for a year before joining the Spartans. Would have thought you'd want more veteran ODSTs are something. (on the other hand Thorne is the most likeable S-IV we've seen.)
 

rakka

Member
i know its not peak hour or anything but the matchmaking numbers seem pitiful especially for less than a month after launch. I swear I find games quicker on reach :-/
 

Tawpgun

Member
Because of the quality I hold Bungie to, I thought the decisions made in Reach were baffling. Armor Lock? Camo AA? No OS pick up? Bloom? I mean, I thought something like Armor Lock was inexcusably bad.

But even with all this, I could see some logic behind all these decisions. A defensive AA, camo naturally becoming an AA for stealth players, OS removed to simplify the battlefield amidst all the AA's, Bloom to allow the user to choose accuracy over ROF.

But Halo 4 has just has some really WAT decisions.

Like, I thought the initial spawns on Guardian were bad considering whoever spawns elbow is guaranteed sniper, OS, and has an even shot at camo and hammer. But it's an Asymmetrical map. Haven is symmetrical but they chose to have you spawn at the asymmetrical ends? Why? Should have had initial ordnance spawn at those ends. To rag on Haven some more, why doesn't it have basic map orientation cues? A red/blue side? Perhaps light/dark?

Then there's shit like the boltshot. I think it was ellis that said to 343, a power weapon is anything that can kill in one shot. Umm....

The thing consistently beats the scattershot no problem and in a one on one situation its on par with the shotgun. The only thing the shotgun/scattershot gives you is leniency if you miss. But the boltshot is laughably easy to use.

Then we have the camo AA... and we see its been BUFFED. When you crouch theres no motion sensor jamming. And, at least to me, the camo effect is stronger.

Then we have GLOBAL ORDNANCE. One of Halo 4's biggest offenders imo. They weren't content to have just one mode that was a random clusterfuckfest. And to be fair, I love infinity slayer. Its a fun casual mode to play. What I don't understand is WHY WHY WHY they had to fuck with regular drops. They had a few solutions.

1. 343 not a fan of players who put in the effort to learn weapon spawns? It's an unfair advantage. Fine, whatever, be that way. You could have just put in HUD indicators. Have some in-game cue for when a drop is coming. I guess that makes too much sense though. Hell, you could have just gone with the current 2 minute system. New ordnance drop every 2 minutes, regardless of weapon pickup. AS LONG AS ITS PREDICTABLE. Why would they remove the ability to predict where a weapon will drop. I swear to fucking god if it was for that shitty perk... Like, I would have been salty if the weapon drop locations were static and the weapon itself was random. BUT ITS RANDOM LOCATION, RANDOM WEAPON. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

2. Promote dynamic gameplay so no match plays the same. This seems like a solution looking for a problem. In all my time with Halo not ONCE have I ever heard the complaint "The games are too repetitive, everyone just goes for power weapons" NEVER. EVVVERRRRR. But shit, if you want the games to play out a little differently, you could have had weapons spawn in at different locations. The only difference is it should be PREDICTABLE. Like, if there was initial ordnance at the start of the map. Then at 2 minutes in, snipers spawn at each base. At 2 minutes in a rocket spawns in the middle of the map. 2 minutes in, a binary rifle spawns in some middle chokepoint. It would shift the combat to different areas of the map.

The game is clearly moving away from starting on equal ground, so I'm going to save my tears there.

The UI going backwards. Like WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY backwards.

Spartan Ops Logic: Oh you cleared this area of covenant forces? We'll send Infinity Science down to investigate. Next Week: Hey so, turns out Infinity Science is worthless and we missed a huge fucking button in the base we were studying, so we need you to go back down there. Oh, and the covenant has moved back in, oh and Infinity isn't going to do anything about Covenant ships in requiem.

Cutting basic features as well as a shit ton of customization options and gametypes.



Was this 343's Halo 2? Was it really development hell to get this game done? Why does this game feel like an incomplete package? I mean shit, file sharing doesn't even work!

SAAAAAAAALLLTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
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All that being said... unlike some people here I still have a lot of fun with this game. Me and 2 friends played for like 5 hours straight yesterday. We only wanted to play a few games but it was too fun. And that was with me playing splitscreen on a shitty TV.

That one Halo council video put it best.

Reach: Trying to polish a turd.
Halo 4: Trying to get the shit off a diamond.

Regain my trust, 343.

Bored at work, long post, happens.
 
Game Fuel promotion
The way they handled this bullshit pisses me off just as much as shit in the game! Every other gamefuel promotion has been widely circulated and well done. Now, I have to go to A DIFFERENT STATE if I want some.

I haven't seen Halo-branded Game Fuel in a full five years. What a fucking joke! Give me my sugary-caffeine nectar, damnit!
 

Defect

Member
I think I just threw up in my mouth. If you honestly enjoy spartan ops your either mentally retarded or in denial.

Glad to see kylej showcasing how I and many people feel about Halo 4.

Game is disgusting. 343i should be ashamed.

No need to call anyone "mentally retarded".
 
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