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Halo |OT14| They call it Halo

Striker

Member
the fuel rod wouldn't be as bad if players were more agile; in fact, many problems wouldn't be as bad if players were more agile
I do agree, but it still has ginormous splash damage. Kick it to the curb and think up a better Forerunner RL - why we need one is beyond me but whatever.
 
Other case of needless redundancy:

-Suppressor and Assault Rifle (and the SAW to a degree, the AR is nearly as powerful with a slightly smaller magazine)
-Scatter Shot, boltshot, and Shotgun
-The laser and rail gun are also similar in that they are a charge to shoot instant kill weapon. I would've gotten rid of one of them if I were 343.
-I'd also like to point out that, Halo 4 has 7 explosive weapons. SEVEN. That is too many.
-Halo 4 also has 6 guns that are a guaranteed one hit kill if the shot lands anywhere on the enemy at any range.
-In addition, 5 more guns are one hit kills at close range.

In short, Halo 4 has too many guns that are way too similar. A lot of the guns are fun to use but they only serve to dilute the sandbox.
 

wwm0nkey

Member
Other case of needless redundancy:

-Suppressor and Assault Rifle (and the SAW to a degree, the AR is nearly as powerful with a slightly smaller magazine)
-Scatter Shot, boltshot, and Shotgun
-The laser and rail gun are also similar in that they are a charge to shoot instant kill weapon. I would've gotten rid of one of them if I were 343.
-I'd also like to point out that, Halo 4 has 7 explosive weapons. SEVEN. That is too many.
-Halo 4 also has 6 guns that are a guaranteed one hit kill if the shot lands anywhere on the enemy at any range.
-In addition, 5 more guns are one hit kills at close range.

In short, Halo 4 has too many guns that are way too similar. A lot of the guns are fun to use but they only serve to dilute the sandbox.

I agree that the Sandbox needs to be streamlined for the next Halo game.
 
Well, part of the reason why there are so many redundancies in Halo 4's sandbox is because 343 wants players to be able to customize their play styles through a variety of weapons. If 343 wants to keep the same level of customization going into Halo 5, I doubt we'll see a downsizing of the sandbox.
 

wwm0nkey

Member
Well, part of the reason why there are so many redundancies in Halo 4's sandbox is because 343 wants players to be able to customize their play styles through a variety of weapons. If 343 wants to keep the same level of customization going into Halo 5, I doubt we'll see a downsizing of the sandbox.

Fuck that, how about just give the guns different skins?
 
Its not that the sandbox needs stream lining/ A big sandbox can add variety to a game and cater to multiple types of players. See call of duty

The issue is overloading power weapons on a map and letting people spawn with ridiculous items like a Boltshot.

Remove the loadout system or talor make it for maps/gametypes like Reach did. Have it so the incendiary canon wont spawn on a human or covie map for instance and like wise you would play a map set on a halo ring with a Splaer spawn.

Shotgun and Scattrershot on the same map? Nope


Secondly the whole waypoint to power weapon idea is fine it allows the less skilled to learn spawn points, However remove random ordnance and tailor make it for each map. (I think forge maps do this)
 
Way too many one hitters I said that shit before the game even came out.

Ridiculous, although I get what they were going for...CoD kill times then Instant Respawn and making shields and smart battling less of a thing.
 

BigShow36

Member
Well, part of the reason why there are so many redundancies in Halo 4's sandbox is because 343 wants players to be able to customize their play styles through a variety of weapons. If 343 wants to keep the same level of customization going into Halo 5, I doubt we'll see a downsizing of the sandbox.

But since the weapons are so redundant, it's stupid, meaningless "customization." It adds nothing to the gameplay and only serves to dilute the weapon balance.

What's wrong with having so many weapons?

Nothing if the developers can manage to create a core set of unique weapons that fill all the roles. However, if weapon quantity is replacing weapon diversity, as appears to be the case in recent Halo games, then they need to cut out the filler and focus on developing a core sandbox. I used a more diverse weapon set in Halo CE than I have in any other Halo game simply because each weapon was useful and unique. There was real diversity in function rather than aesthetics.
 
Even COD suffers from the too many weapons syndrome. In COD many weapons lack a role. People rarely use anything other than SMGs and the occasional sniper. Somehow, COD 4 encourage people to use an assortment of weapons at different times.

Thing is, COD, ultimately can get away with having too many redundant guns because there are no weapons on the map. Having a true class system eliminates the problem caused by redundancy. If Halo were a COD style class based title with no on map weapons and quick kill times then a huge redundant sandbox would not be an issue but it is not, Halo is an arena shooter. The problem with Halo 4 is that it tried to be both in order to sell to two different markets but has ultimately satisfied neither market.
 
But since the weapons are so redundant, it's stupid, meaningless "customization." It adds nothing to the gameplay and only serves to dilute the weapon balance.
Um...okay? I wasn't supporting or advocating Halo 4's sandbox in my post, only trying to say why there are so many redundancies in the sandbox, and why I think we won't see too many weapons being removed in Halo 5.
 
I think we'll see quite a bit of weapon removal. I'm sure 343 recognizes they messed up and are going to do a 180 on almost everything they done.
 
Way too many one hitters I said that shit before the game even came out.
Yup yup. One hitters don't make for great battles in multiplayer and they're even more annoying in the hands of enemy AI.

They should reduce the weaponry down to the barest minimum, and consider enemy AI usage with non-UNSC weaponry. Hell, and give us a breed of hunters that don't have a fuel rod cannon for an arm. Bring the splaser back too :)
 
Hey guys, did you hear about Press Paws? Definitely not. Me neither till today. So yeah. I will quote them:
PRESS PAWS is a charity art show taking place on February 9th, 2013 at Gallery Nucleus from 2pm-8pm. Buy awesome art, and your money gets donated to a local animal rescue. WIN WIN. Stay tuned for more details

Mission
Save animals with the power of art and video games!

Description
PRESS PAWS combines our loves for video games, art, and animals into one giant cosmic super-force which cannot be stopped until FUN IS HAD BY ALL. Come join us on February 9th, 2013 at Gallery Nucleus to see some amazing “animals in video games” themed art, make a purchase or two and help an animal in need, and have a good old time in cool company.

PRESS PAWS was founded by Amelia Cantlay and Sakura Minamida in May 2012 and recruited to the team rollerskating buddies Amber Drsata and Laurie Ma shortly thereafter.

We hope to see you there!

General Information
Proceeds raised at the event will go to Whats Up Dog LA.

So why am I posting it here? They commissioned several artists to draw pictures for them. And somehow, and even if some of you hate his new adventure, the Master Chief is still a famous video game character. Did you know Chief has a Shihi Tzu as a house pet? I did not. But somehow Aaron Jasinski knew it. Did 343i tell him that? I have no clue but he drew this:

Hardcore South Park fans may know Jeff Delgado. He was technical director at South Park for Season 7 and he did this incredible collage of several video game characters. You know which character is part of it? The Chief!
 

Arnie

Member
Just dropping in to say what a huge improvement the Community Test playlist is over the vanilla game. Some semblance of balance (semi-organised load outs), weapons spawning on the map itself, like an actual Halo game, and some symmetrical maps with good colour co-ordinated orientation.

Good job to all those involved, now extrapolate the fuck out of it and build that shit into vanilla, grafting in a ranking system and UI overhaul also.
 

wwm0nkey

Member
What I think people need to remember is that 343 is not Bungie, Bungie had a lot of games before hand to learn from, 343 took over Halo: Reach without previous experience but they did an OK job but were too afraid to let the TU changes be global. Then they commissioned Halo: CEA so that wasn't really even then. Halo 4 was their first game and their first effort and while it is no where near perfect it was a hell of a good first attempt and it seems like they are slowly understanding and learning on what they have to do. 343 is not close to being a bad developer, in fact they are a pretty damn great team and they will learn but we have to sit back for now and see how they are taking the feedback and what changes they are willing to make.
 
What I think people need to remember is that 343 is not Bungie, Bungie had a lot of games before hand to learn from, 343 took over Halo: Reach without previous experience but they did an OK job but were too afraid to let the TU changes be global. Then they commissioned Halo: CEA so that wasn't really even then. Halo 4 was their first game and their first effort and while it is no where near perfect it was a hell of a good first attempt and it seems like they are slowly understanding and learning on what they have to do. 343 is not close to being a bad developer, in fact they are a pretty damn great team and they will learn but we have to sit back for now and see how they are taking the feedback and what changes they are willing to make.
If the game wasn't ready to ship, it shouldn't have.

The philisophical changes are huge and hit every component of the game, campaign, multiplayer, audio, visual, features etc.
I'm not convinced the issues I have with the game are because it was their first game.

I do find the fact that most of the game seems like it was done in 16-18 months unfortunate. The ramp up seems steep with time pressure impacting quality.
 
What I think people need to remember is that 343 is not Bungie, Bungie had a lot of games before hand to learn from, 343 took over Halo: Reach without previous experience but they did an OK job but were too afraid to let the TU changes be global. Then they commissioned Halo: CEA so that wasn't really even then. Halo 4 was their first game and their first effort and while it is no where near perfect it was a hell of a good first attempt and it seems like they are slowly understanding and learning on what they have to do. 343 is not close to being a bad developer, in fact they are a pretty damn great team and they will learn but we have to sit back for now and see how they are taking the feedback and what changes they are willing to make.

People from 343 had no prior games eperience?
 

wwm0nkey

Member
People from 343 had no prior games eperience?

On Halo? Yeah.

You are taking MANY people from MANY very different games who all have different philosophies on game design and telling them to work on a game most have only played but not worked on. If you took the Counter Strike team and told them to make Halo you would probably end up with a game that might look and sometimes feel like Halo but is not fully Halo.
 
On Halo? Yeah.

You are taking MANY people from MANY very different games who all have different philosophies on game design and telling them to work on a game most have only played but not worked on. If you took the Counter Strike team and told them to make Halo you would probably end up with a game that might look and sometimes feel like Halo but is not fully Halo.

Not everyone is working on Game Design. The graphics team did an amazing job so why should they be swept under the "this was only their first Halo game though" brush? UI designers never worked on a Halo UI suuure but does that really change anything? Network devs? Narrative Teams? Playtesters?
 
Personal Ordnance is tricky. Sorry that it's so shitty in the Forge Test Playlist. We're working on it.

Trust us™
Soon™
Believe™

Might be over the line, but how much "leeway" do you CCs get with respect to the gametypes? I thought it was all mostly a map sort of thing.

What I think people need to remember is that 343 is not Bungie, Bungie had a lot of games before hand to learn from, 343 took over Halo: Reach without previous experience but they did an OK job but were too afraid to let the TU changes be global. Then they commissioned Halo: CEA so that wasn't really even then. Halo 4 was their first game and their first effort and while it is no where near perfect it was a hell of a good first attempt and it seems like they are slowly understanding and learning on what they have to do. 343 is not close to being a bad developer, in fact they are a pretty damn great team and they will learn but we have to sit back for now and see how they are taking the feedback and what changes they are willing to make.

Frankie definitely wanted to drive that point home in that letter he wrote - how Halo 4 is 343's first game, look how good it is. The cool part is that, collectively, they're probably one of the most talented teams in the industry. I think given time to understand their own culture and dynamics we'll see great things in their future. They really are an All-Star team - one of a couple others that Microsoft seems to be building. Next gen gon be cray.
 

wwm0nkey

Member
Not everyone is working on Game Design. The graphics team did an amazing job so why should they be swept under the "this was only their first Halo game though" brush? UI designers never worked on a Halo UI suuure but does that really change anything? Network devs? Narrative Teams? Playtesters?

Im talking about gameplay and design but I guess the way I worded it, it probably did seem like I was talking about all of 343.
 

CyReN

Member
I think the TU and rank system will make and break a lot of the Halo fans that still stuck around. 343 has a shot for those fans, I lost faith when they called a Warthog map small personally, Forge playlist is a step in the right direction too.

(this falls under them making the game, they are a incredibly nice group of people)
 
Might be over the line, but how much "leeway" do you CCs get with respect to the gametypes? I thought it was all mostly a map sort of thing.

During the CC ceremonial induction all CC's are given the keys to the mainframe and given control of playlist updating.

When they ask "how does this work?" 343 responded "We're not sure yet. We'll let you know Soon™"
 
I agree completely.

I want to think this way but the only "lessons" they learned from Reach were no AL and no bloom. I don't have much faith in Halo 5 right now...I don't hate 343 I'm just disappointed in them and I don't have much hope for their work in the future. I hope they prove me wrong.
 
During the CC ceremonial induction all CC's are given the keys to the mainframe and given control of playlist updating.

When they ask "how does this work?" 343 responded "We're not sure yet. We'll let you know Soon™"

Speaking of Soon™... That Bulletin is incoming. BINGO TIME!

What should be on there? Any ideas?
 
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