originally posted in:Halo Archive
Why is 343 so bad at making games? How come Halo looks like some generic shitty indy space-war game now? Why does it feel like it was made by Mountain Dew chuggers from GameStop?
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This is a [b]LORE[/b] thread, not a thread where you can post heavily loaded questions that have nothing to do with lore. [spoiler]By the way, you've made yourself look like an absolute dick by throwing these loaded questions at Lord of Admirals, one of the foremost Halo lore experts on these forums. Regardless of how he answers these questions, you would criticize him for his answer. Either he disagrees with you and you pester him for it, or he agrees with you and you ostracize him as a hypocrite.[/spoiler]
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I'm just annoyed that Halo's being ruined by 343.
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How so? Halo 4 had quite possibly the best story of any Halo game, never straying from the lore and keep plot holes to an absolute minimum. Not to mention that there was infinitely more emotion compared to any prior Halo game. Now, if we are talking about multiplayer, then I can understand you. Halo 4 had absolutely horrible multiplayer. There's no excuse that can be made for it. But Halo 5 is moving in the right direction. Having played the beta, I can say with absolute certainty that it feels like the classic Halo experience, just updated for the current generation of gamers. Change is something Halo fans never like at first, but always come to accept and even enjoy after a time. Halo 5 has something for everyone. For the more casual players who want long, memorable multiplayer experiences, there is Warzone, the largest multiplayer mode ever featured in a Halo game. For those who want the highly competitive, team oriented gameplay, there is the Arena multiplayer component. For those that want fast paced, high octane action that is highly competitive, there is Breakout. For the creative amongst us, there is the latest iteration of Forge, Theater, spectating, and more than a handful of highly requested features for machinima makers. And there is still more on top of this. To top it all off, all DLC will be 100% free.
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I'm not saying I won't get H5, but there are just some things about it I can't entirely explain. It doesn't feel like Halo any more. The whole necessity for story in multiplayer I think was one of the dumbest ideas ever. The H5 beta felt oddly like Destiny, which plays like CoD: AW. And the shift in forerunner architecture is something I can't forgive. Like, ever.
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Shift in Forerunner architecture? Story in multiplayer? Boy, what the hell are you going on about?
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The obnoxious floaty-ness that wasn't present before, not to mention how illogical 343's perception of the forerunners is. And the whole, "we have to explain multiplayer to make it more realistic because the more realistics a game has the better it are."
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Are you freaking kidding me? The reason for that is explained/implied in the fiction. The Halo rings have a limited power supply, and floating architecture was unnecessary. Same goes for the Ark. But Requiem is/was a shield installation where Forerunners could live and work inside without fear of the Flood getting in. It also acted as a staging area for rapid attack and threat response. As for the explanation for the multiplayer, it's just a nice added touch. It's a reasonable explanation for why Spartans are fighting each other. Without that context, it just seems like mindless mass murder. Placing it inside the context of a combat simulator helps remedy that. And it's not like this is the first time lore has been implemented into multiplayer. Look at Invasion in Reach.
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But Invasion in Reach was fun. Plus, the fact that they cling to the idea that it's simulated limits multiplayer. Elites would have been cool in Halo 4. Halo isn't realistic. It doesn't play realistically. The necessity for story in [i]everything[/i] gets old and kind of annoying. And the guy who narrates the matches sounds so obnoxious now. He used to sound cool, but now he just sounds weird. And when you get a medal every 2 seconds, it gets really old. "Assassination. Over-shield. Snapshot. Spawn. Died."
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Alright, alright. You kind of have me here. I have quite a soft spot for Invasion. The medal overload is something that's being worked on and toned down in Halo 5. Elites not being in multiplayer isn't because it's a simulator, but rather a development sacrifice made due to time constraints and other issues. 343i wants to make things as close to canonically accurate as possible. With that in mind, rigging an Elite model for multiplayer, adding first person animations, and implementing the correct hit boxes for that model purely for the sake of an added cosmetic option isn't something that should be on the priority list. But if you want them in multiplayer so badly, just wait for Halo Online. [spoiler]As a side note, I'm a huge proponent for the return of Elites to console Halo multiplayer. However, I am fully aware and understanding of the amount of time, effort, and money that would take to do.[/spoiler] As for the announcer, it's pretty much universally agreed upon that he sounds weird now. However, that's a really minor gripe to have with a game. And they've tuned down the synthesizer for Halo 5, so it's a little bit more bearable.
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But even if they did add elites to multiplayer, the Covenant just look so dumb now. They looked cool in every preceding Halo title, but in Halo 4 343 wanted the aliens to be "scarier." I don't know. It just feels less like Halo. It might be because Bungie's ViDoc's were all so cool. But Halo 5 doesn't feel like a Halo game.
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The reasoning for the appearance change is given canonical explanation. The Elites, for example, are from the Hesduros colony world. Having been separated from the main Sangheili population for as long as they have, appearances began to change. If you don't like the appearance of the new enemy models, then tough. Frankly, there's nothing you or I can do about it. Also, yes, I know that the Halo 4 style of Elites are being used for the Arbiter's faction in Halo 5. My best guess on why they did this is to save on resources, because otherwise they would have needed to create completely new models for NPCs that only show up for a portion of the campaign, which is neither quick nor cheap.
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But it's not like 343 doesn't have funding. I imagine Microsoft would like to give them a decent amount, as Halo is really one of the only good exclusive titles on their console. And while it may be canonical, elites look like diseased T-rex's, grunts look like mutated tree stumps and jackals look like -blam!-ed-up raptors. I don't know. It just isn't as compelling any more. Forge should be good though, so long as there are two infection modes (being stuck as a flood was really limiting. Thank goodness for modders).
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See, that's the thing. Everything 343i wants to do has to be pitched to Microsoft in order to get funding. If Microsoft doesn't see something as cost effective or appears too risky economically, they won't approve 343i finding for it. It's the same with almost any publisher-developer relationship you look at.
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So long as elites are [i]supposed[/i] to look cooler, and not like scabby slow monsters, that's fine. I'm really only getting Halo 5 to see what the story is like, and to do shit in Forge, so long as you can place forerunner-style objects again. The UNSC stuff in Halo 4 wasn't that great to work with.
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I agree wholeheartedly. Forge in Halo 4 sucked. The only map I enjoyed making maps on was the space one, and that's because I could make a massive space station.
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It was one of the only maps large enough for Forge.
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It's not. You simply lack proper comprehension.
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I think you don't want to see the truth.
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And what exactly is that truth?
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Those are some mighty loaded questions there.
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In that Halo 3 commercial that they referenced in that HuntTheTruth thing, wasn't that other kid with John some other spartan? Also, what's your opinion on the direction 343's taking the universe. You probably already know mine, but I'm just curious as to what someone who knows more about the lore than I do thinks.
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Chronarch answered the first question quite well, so I'll skip that. I think their direction is overwhelmingly positive. They've undoubtedly stumbled (Halo: Initiation, Kilo-5 Trilogy, arguably others), but the majority of story content produced has either been very high quality or has set up plot points for future stories.
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What was flawed in the Kilo-5 trilogy? I found it quite relevant and deep considering the civil unrest on Sanghelios in the second book.
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Despite being a trilogy that attempts to bring to light morally questionable actions, it portrays most of its characters in a two dimensional way. The Sangheili are portrayed in an awful way that does not line up with the fact they've been a space faring civilization for over 3,000 years now.
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Ok cheers