Twinreaper

Im not sure if I read what you posted right, but your obviously misguided as to why the DLC maps and actual content was "free" this time around. It wasn't due to them being awesome or trying to revolutionize the system. They did it because they screwed up pretty much everything, and the REQ system was just an excuse to recup and milk the franchise. Had the DLC been standard as all Halo's have been, they wouldnt have been able to justify and exploit the microtransaction system.

I completely agree. Anytime an entertainment media releases a product, it should not expect or require you to read books or search additional content outlets in order for a person to understand or expect something. It's similar to movies, especially movies based on novels or comics. I used to get mad when I would watch an X-Men or Batman movie, or any sci fi movie in general, because it wasn't what was already published in the comic or book. But I soon came to realize that without the rewriting or tweaking of the story in which it was being taken from, to the average movie goer the movie would not make sense, and it would give you certain things you needed to know, in order to enjoy it or emmerse yourself in it. The same is relevant for video games. A story in the video game should not be written with novel readers or expanded Universe nuts in mind. It should flow and work with the perspective of a "new" franchise player. Players should be able to pick it up and go. The only time this should not be the case, or cannot be...is when you are first starting out the IP...like CE. I mean seriously.....how many people do you think are going to actually go oit and read the entire Infinity Saga from the 90's? I knew going into Avengers that nothing would be like the comic, and as such, I also saw from the Infinity trailer, that the entire story has been changed. But again, who expects millions of movie watchers to go and read the comics, just so they can produce a true comic based chapter?

343i doesnt profit from Halo or microtransactions, Microsoft does. Regardless of how much money Halo generates for Miccrosoft and it's game division, 343 still operates and produces content/expansions as directed by the studio executives, which are either greenlit or shutdown by their bosses.....the executive board at Microsoft. No one decision is made alone....it's all part of the corporate process. Yes sometimes executives or directors are given the ability to "do as they please", but those moments still require reporting back on the progress and result of those decisions, which in turn dictates future autonomous actions, or scringint lockdown of all dicisions. But yes, microtransactions in Halo and gaming in general are bad. Hell for that matter "required" DLC is just as bad, which is why in Halo you are still able to venture into playlists and enjoy the game without needing to have DLC. Because of the new focus on flair and general stupid additional characteristic upgrades that are flooding the genre.....microtransactions will likely not be going away anytime soon.

Bill, I agree with just about everything you have stated, except the Reach part. I loved Reach. Fav titles in order are ODST>Reach>Halo 2>Halo 3> Halo CE>Halo 4>Halo 5. Halo 4 and 5 were failures. Story sucked, geometry/rendering/texturing was god awful. Now onto a different point which Kakashi touched on......the "super-fan" "Bungie era" thing. Let's first understand what makes a certain player a fan of either Bungie or 343i. Bungie created Halo. For Bungie, it was easy to set out and carve away an established lore process, character design and a full universe to play in to. Depending on your age at the time of CE's release, and your own definition about what makes a truly great story, you either fell in love with Halo, saw it as a quick fix or hated it. Xbox was not at as advanced graphically as we would like to look back and believe. For us older gamers the PC was already worlds above Xbox, but the PC was ellusive for younger teen/pre-teen gamers because of the costs behind them. 343i attempted to and fairled, to continue what Halo was and what they wanted it to become. here is where we see another gap. Bungie started it, passed it off, and 343i picked it up to continue in their own profound and set group way. It is natural for there to be a divide in the community based on that. However, to say that one will never be satisfied by a Halo title unless Bungie makes it again, is just completely absurd. The difference between the two companies is all about how the story was told. Graphically, the art design has gotten worse yes, but the way the story unfolds and the narative in general from 343i is boring, cliched, and not as creative and expansive as Bungie's was. 343i kinds forced the whole "Forerunner" saga by using the gap left by Halo 3. We literally have no idea where Bungie had intended to take the franchise if they had decided to remain as the developers of Halo. And so when 343i took over, they forced it down our throats. There was no build-up or mystery around what was taking place. They simply woke Chief up, and dropped into this already established war on their end. You could say the same thing about CE, as Chief wa woken up and placed into this epic firefight with an enemy we knew nothing about. But since it was a "new" franchise with nothing beofre it to hinder any type of story telling it worked. The same cannot be said for Halo 4 and 5. To say sonmeone is a fan of Bungie or 343i isn't accurate. No amount of graphics, audio or gameplay can make-up what is "An epic story". Properly, you should say someone is a "Staten" or "Shlerf-Reed" fan. Staten knew how to write stories. He did it for the entire length of the Halo franchise under Bungie. 343i however cannot get one single writer for any length of time to consistently flesh out a good story, one that captivates and truly expands the universe. this is evident as now the the writing has gone from Shlerf in Halo 4 to Reed in halo 5, and now they have a whole new team of "group writers" as I understand it, going into future development. All along 343i has the most abysmal, concveluded, conceited and self absorbed head staff in the industry. We put a "content manager" in charge of Halo's development for 343i?!?! Do you know what a content manager actually is? A person who is n charge of posting and publishing content that is created by the artists, renderers and game developers for use in marketing, publishing and advertising. That's it! He didn't do a damn important thing on any scale in terms of development direction, coding, 3d rendering, audio, etc.... Yet somehow because he worked for Bungie and basically defected......he was given this al mighty and important job? You gotta be kiding me. My daughter at the time who was 10 back when Halo 4 dropped, could have written a better story, and I've created better looking Halo 2 maps on the PC than Halo 4 ever had. My point is, 343i is naturaly and quite logically an inferior development team compared to the talent and balls Bungie had. That doesn't make me a Bungie fan or make me unhappy with anything 343i does. What makes me unhappy is a game that has been developed and released that appears to do nothing but milk the cow. If I wa given a game with a proper art style, good quality graphics and a great story that could captivate me...I would gladly praise 343i for a job well done. But it hasn't happened......yet. Just to add and complete my whole age argument in the previous first part of this post....... Age plays a HUGE factor in Halo. The new "softer" millenial generation is more focused on graphics, how they can get their "e-*****" quicker with fancy achievements, flair, etc....that the story actually takes a back seat to everything. Honestly, new generations of players have no idea how a story should be properly told in a video game, because hey...instant gratification and graphics. They don't know what it was like to play an 8-bit NES or worse, a Colecovision console at the time when it was new....and try to tell an epic story. games back 20+ years ago had to rely on a good solid story to make the game work. It needed a narative to move the game becuase graphics were not there to do it for you. In todays game world stories rely too heavily on flashy graphics and explosions and unrealistic movements to tell the story. Body language and landscaped alone don't do it. This is evident by Halo as it is now. The graphics, sounds, and mechanics actually overshadow the story...and when you take those elements away, you have a flat boring, hole filled pile of crap that makes The Eye of Argon look like a literary masterpiece! <----older folks will understand the reference.

Seeing as how 343i has stated publicaly and often that they do not want to, dont plan to and simply do not care to continue what Bungie created in the past.... I cannot see them doing any future title based on anything they established as lore. If we have learned one thing, its that 343i craps all over established lore and likes to make their own. A pre CE or anything in between the 1-Reach titles seems highly unlikely. The most reasonable spot as stated above, would be a go between Halo 3 and Halo 4. As much as I think that not using the massive amount of stories available before CE and Halo 2 is just plain stupidity, (Harvest, Insugency, Red Team, Black Team, etc) there is a fair amount of lore and or content to draw off of to fill in a lot of the story as to what happened while Chief was floating around lost before the start of Halo 4. All that being said, I would love to see a game, or series of games that revolves around the pre firing of the Halo rings. The war between the Forerunners and the San'Shyuum / Human alliance. There is so much we do not know, and there is almlst no real established lore. It provides the perfect opportunity for someone to tell the story and build a proper understanding to the hatred the Forerunner harvest for humanity. Although as everyone knows, I love me some ODST...so another title involving an ODST narative would make week kneed and goo.....

Sorry to dissapoint..... Boom?

^^^^ All my yesh.

Crunch? lmao Congrats Crutch or whatever your name is.....you must be an ok guy to get that promotion. Ok all jokes aside, it's awesome to see you step into this new role. PLZ DONT BAN ME!

I better see this emote on the Discord...

Let the Carnage begin.... MWAHAHAHA

The Xbox Anywhere isn't the ability to play an Xbox game as a port on your PC. All it is, is treaming the Xbox to your PC....you still need an Xbox to play the games. That aside, childish immature responses such as "PC Masta Race", only further prove the lack of knowledge and capabilities of hardware solitions. The PC platform will always have an advantage over consoles, it's a fact, deal with it. BUT, Melody is not saying that Xbox, PS4, Switch, etc are any less valuable or don't have their place in modern video game culture. It's become painful to watch how quick people jump all over PC gamers or their views preemptively, just because they see the word "PC" show up in a post. P,ease, leave your misconceptions and inherent lack of understanding at the door. Back to the point.... Mel was simply pointing out that logistically and financially that Halo is no longer the hardware pusher that is used to be. It has become a stale failed franchise due to the inferior development and handling of the franchise which is largely in part due to Ross, Spencer, and The team leads O'Connor and Wolfkill. Shifting the franchise to include a PC compiled version (not port, and honestly port isnt the right term anyway as games are developed on PC platforms and development console hardware) is a smart descision and opens up a broader fanbase that has been shunned and forgotten. The capabilities or expansions that could be added to a PC platform title are nearly endless. As for financials, Microsoft does not make even 1/3 of their quartly/yearly profits from the MGS division. Microsoft still makes more money than anyone with their Windows OS, and Office/Azure Business Solutions. Hardware requirements are not an issue. Even a basic GTX entry GPU at $100 is far more than enough to play Halo 5 Forge PC. So arguments about gaming rigs and the cost is silly and it all depends on how well you know hardware vs price vs capability. I spent less than $300 upgrading my PC to a GTX 1060ti, 32gb of ram and an AMD FX Octo Core.....surfice to say that my $300 upgrade is now surpassing 2 Xbox Cknsole releases and will continue to outperform consoles for the next likely 5 years. Please explain where a $300 upgrade is costing more than buying an Xbox One at $249, and then an additional $400+ for a Scorpio..... Great post Mel, nice to see someone else here lately that isnt blinded by misconception or fear of not being like everyone else with their views!

Why dont you go post on their official forums Waypoint with that username. I'm sure they will take you seriously and look right into it!

They can't even be called Halo games. More like Smash T.V. clones with the Halo name stickered on it. I thought I actually missed something good with the OP's wording. Ugh....

What Halo games game with the bundle? Was this bundle an actual licensed Microsoft product?

That is where we disagree. Reach is my 2nd favorite Halo game (campaign wise). Ranked order best to worst... Campaign: ODST>Reach>CE>H2>H3>H4>H5 Multiplayer: H3/H2>Reach>CE>H4>H5 The amount of sheer disdain I have for 343 and their creative ability goes far beyond anything I have ever had for a franchise developer in the past. However, SD would be correct, the writing team just plain sucks. A spin off would have been in the same pool as H5.

^^ Owning it for even 30 seconds seconds, is 30 seconds too long.

Im assuming that this is your first experience with rank in Halo outside Halo 2 - 3? Ranks dont work based on numbers alone. Similar to Reach, the experience of a player as well as their k/d, accuracy, etc is what the rank system first and foremost takes into consideration. The match against the supposed newbie players is likely a pair of players starting off with new profiles. The only advantage of playing a new profile, is that you can apply years of experience with a game to the new profile and avoid what some think are "unsightly" blemishes on their career history. As with Reach, people did not fully understand the metrics used in pairing and sadly still dont today. Also on a side note, if their is no desireable metric that fills a pool for a menu, game or gametype, you can still be paired with players outside your range of experience. Unless you like waiting in matchmaking for 10 minutes just for one or two people to finally show up?

Close enough...

The mini non functional retro releases are getting old. I get it, it's more geared towards people in my age group/generation to spark some kind of sentimental feeling. Yeah that might work IF we didn't already have emulation for every console from Colecovision to Playstation 3. Maybe if the thing actually played the physical carts it might be a noteworthy afterthought and worth picking up.

So this is what the next game MUST have? How about we STOP with all the uneccessary flair and pointless additional customization options, and focus on getting a game that is actually worthy of the Halo name, and helps facilitate a transition back to stable fun multiplayer/co-op and becomes more than the laughing stock of the FPS genre.

You are not missing anything worthy of mention. As for the issue itself, are you using a Microsoft account that is not the parent to a banned Gamertag?

ODST had the best campaign of the franchise period. I have not played Halo 5, but honestly after watch the myriad of youtube videos on the matter, the campaign looks like a garbled mess of forced story telling, pore character execution and a rehash of every sandbox item in terms of level design.