How to Bring the Heart Back into Halo

[BlasterKeef]

How to Bring the Heart Back into Halo

 

In recent years it seems everything has to be as dark, dismal, depressing and "realistic" as possible. Ever since Nolan's Dark Knight revitalized the Batman franchise in spectacular fashion after the abysmal failure of Joel Schumacher's goofy Batman and Robin flop, it's been an unescapable pattern in nearly all entertainment. After Batman Begins came out in 2005, Halo 2's fantastically optimistic ending lead to Halo 3 (still a fantastic game) ending with the best Halo character aside from Chief in my opinion, Johnson and Miranda Keys dying and MC floating into the void on a broken ship.

 

After losing his last living human friends, in Halo 4, Cortana a ROBOT somehow died due to the lack of an ability to update her software essentially like the craziest Siri ever made and now in Halo 5 we have to hunt him down and kill him. Now, I have high hopes this game doesn't go the darkest route possible and force us to brutally beat one of my favorite heroes of all time since I played Combat Evolve on launch day when I was 6 years old into the dirt, but if they do, I'm honestly considering giving up on games in general.

 

Right now there is a racist daddies boy multi-bankrupted billionaire claiming to be paying for his own campaign while taking twice the donation amounts he paid from corrupt donors like every other politician. The polar ice evaporating into the atmosphere is causing catastrophic weather phenomenon unheard to human civilization since the last ice age which flooded my entire town 3 times in the middle of summer. We're also already considering going back to war with the same people we were fighting for 13 years for zero reason at all. We get it, life sucks, but entertainment is supposed to be an enjoyable escape from that fact, would it hurt to have someone crack a joke or a smile in a GAME once in a while?

 

Aside from that the few gameplay related suggestions I have involving Halo, though I'm unsure if these have been implemented or brought back again regardless are these: Please bring back duel wield, it was one of the best editions to the series, it made useless guns like the plasma pistol useful because you could use it to take down shields and then take down the rest with a reasonably powerful weapon. Please bring back split-screen, online only is taking a toll on the entire gaming industry and it is one of the worst trends in its history. Just one game of online multiplayer uses up to 20% of the total internet data I have for the month where I live and no one I know prefers online to in person couch co-op.

 

I know I'm complaining a lot here, but I really did enjoy Halo 4 more than most as far as I've heard, mainly for the campaign which has always been my favorite part of Halo. The only draw back with that is that if I can't play couch co-op Halo campaign anymore like I have with every single one for a decade and a half the series is practically pointless to me now. Also, bring back the classic score, one of the only complaints my friends and I had with the last Halo campaign, aside from the QTE finale, was that whenever something epic was happening we kept waiting for that amazing score to kick in and when it didn't it was extremely underwhelming and just left everybody saying "that's it?"

 

You've done a lot of good work with the expansion of the lore, the new weapons and enemies types, but please don't start following these mindless modern gaming trends and bring back what made the series great rather than adding what would make it just as generic as everything else. Thanks to any of the 343 crew or anyone else who bothered reading this far and have a good one. It won't take a lot to bring the series back to its former glory, just a bit more old school mechanics, a bit less new school nonsense. Peace.

[Caboose The Ace]

 

How to Bring the Heart Back into Halo

 

In recent years it seems everything has to be as dark, dismal, depressing and "realistic" as possible. Ever since Nolan's Dark Knight revitalized the Batman franchise in spectacular fashion after the abysmal failure of Joel Schumacher's goofy Batman and Robin flop, it's been an unescapable pattern in nearly all entertainment. After Batman Begins came out in 2005, Halo 2's fantastically optimistic ending lead to Halo 3 (still a fantastic game) ending with the best Halo character aside from Chief in my opinion, Johnson and Miranda Keys dying and MC floating into the void on a broken ship.

 

After losing his last living human friends, in Halo 4, Cortana a ROBOT somehow died due to the lack of an ability to update her software essentially like the craziest Siri ever made and now in Halo 5 we have to hunt him down and kill him. Now, I have high hopes this game doesn't go the darkest route possible and force us to brutally beat one of my favorite heroes of all time since I played Combat Evolve on launch day when I was 6 years old into the dirt, but if they do, I'm honestly considering giving up on games in general.

 

Right now there is a racist daddies boy multi-bankrupted billionaire claiming to be paying for his own campaign while taking twice the donation amounts he paid from corrupt donors like every other politician. The polar ice evaporating into the atmosphere is causing catastrophic weather phenomenon unheard to human civilization since the last ice age which flooded my entire town 3 times in the middle of summer. We're also already considering going back to war with the same people we were fighting for 13 years for zero reason at all. We get it, life sucks, but entertainment is supposed to be an enjoyable escape from that fact, would it hurt to have someone crack a joke or a smile in a GAME once in a while?

 

Aside from that the few gameplay related suggestions I have involving Halo, though I'm unsure if these have been implemented or brought back again regardless are these: Please bring back duel wield, it was one of the best editions to the series, it made useless guns like the plasma pistol useful because you could use it to take down shields and then take down the rest with a reasonably powerful weapon. Please bring back split-screen, online only is taking a toll on the entire gaming industry and it is one of the worst trends in its history. Just one game of online multiplayer uses up to 20% of the total internet data I have for the month where I live and no one I know prefers online to in person couch co-op.

 

I know I'm complaining a lot here, but I really did enjoy Halo 4 more than most as far as I've heard, mainly for the campaign which has always been my favorite part of Halo. The only draw back with that is that if I can't play couch co-op Halo campaign anymore like I have with every single one for a decade and a half the series is practically pointless to me now. Also, bring back the classic score, one of the only complaints my friends and I had with the last Halo campaign, aside from the QTE finale, was that whenever something epic was happening we kept waiting for that amazing score to kick in and when it didn't it was extremely underwhelming and just left everybody saying "that's it?"

 

You've done a lot of good work with the expansion of the lore, the new weapons and enemies types, but please don't start following these mindless modern gaming trends and bring back what made the series great rather than adding what would make it just as generic as everything else. Thanks to any of the 343 crew or anyone else who bothered reading this far and have a good one. It won't take a lot to bring the series back to its former glory, just a bit more old school mechanics, a bit less new school nonsense. Peace.

 

 

Splitscreen is not going to be in Halo 5 the game has already gone gold, its not happening. The real question is why.

 

Why? Because 343/Ms want Halo 5 to be a 60fps all the time and so adding splitscreen just is not possible because the Xbox one is severely underpowered.

 

So that's why it cannot happen because it would compromise the 60fps and 343/Ms want that 60fps in there. I've done a lot research into this and from what I got out of the majority of Halo players with their consoles connected online play Co-Op though Xbox Live.

 

As for the others who do not have it connected, well I don't know why you would spend 60$ on a game that lasts about 12 hours when you could get much longer ones and wait later until the price drops, but to each his own I guess.

 

Metal Gear Solid 3 despite taking me only 16 hours stands as one of personal best games of all time. Despite only being 16 hours. Skyrim took me a few hundred hours, did I enjoy it? Of course, was it in my top ten list? No.

 

Now I don't know where I was going with bringing Mgs 3 is but it proves that if the game is quality it is worth it. Another example would be Mgs v Ground Zeros, I got 40 hours out of that game.....

 

 

"Right now there is a racist daddies boy multi-bankrupted billionaire claiming to be paying for his own campaign while taking twice the donation amounts he paid from corrupt donors like every other politician. The polar ice evaporating into the atmosphere is causing catastrophic weather phenomenon unheard to human civilization since the last ice age which flooded my entire town 3 times in the middle of summer. We're also already considering going back to war with the same people we were fighting for 13 years for zero reason at all. We get it, life sucks, but entertainment is supposed to be an enjoyable escape from that fact, would it hurt to have someone crack a joke or a smile in a GAME once in a while?"

 

The world really is one screwed up place............

 

Edited October 18, 2015 by Caboose The Ace

[Is not JL]

Cortana isn't a 'robot'. She's fully sentient. Alive. Think about what that means - humanity created a living entity like her; there are ethics, moral issues, with creating something like that. 

 

Also, sorry about this, but 343 has stated time and again that Halo 5 is going to have the darkest Halo story yet. 

 

As for having people 'smile' in a game, you're kind of forgetting that Halo 5 has an entire multiplayer suite designed for people to get rekt over the internet. You're also forgetting that Buck is a major supporting character (Fred is pretty bants as well)

 

But in all honesty, I see nothing wrong with having a dark story. In my eyes, gaming is going through the same hurdles that the filmic medium went through a century ago. Back then, people regarded film as cheap entertainment for people to ignore reality in; now, though, it's quite clear to everyone that film is an art. Directors and cinematographers and editors and writers are all using film as a method to reflect reality - not necessarily as just a mirror of reality too. We've segregated film into different genres, and just as similarly we've separated games into different genres as well. Halo 5 is a science fiction game, and the conventions of science fiction, in novels, films, as well as now games, have always been a fear of the unknowable future. 

 

If you really wanted to escape from reality in Halo, all you have to do is load up a campaign mission on easy or hop into a warzone match and just shoot the ****. But I don't think the 'heart' of Halo comes from being cheap entertainment. I think it comes from having a world to immerse yourself in, and I have no qualms with that world going through troublesome times.

 

Keith David, VA for Thel Vadam, said something that resonates really well with this back during the momocon Halo panel. "It's a metaphor for life." And life?

 

"Life is trial, Riser." - Growth-through-trial-of-change

[Richard John Wilson]

Bringing heart back in to the game.
In my opinion the problem is 343, and as far as I am concerned, best way to bring the life and heart back in to Halo is to sack the whole lot of them, or at least the ones that have no idea what a Halo game is.  Halo 4 had parts of Call of Duty in it, the FMV and the Loadouts, and speaking of loadouts, half of them had no right whatsoever to be in the game, they were a complete waste and an insult to the Master Chief, and even the Spartan IV's.

A Halo game that is Halo is a game so unique, it does not require some idiot to copy CoD to make it better.  In my opinion it made it horrible.
Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3 improved with each release and Halo 4 in some way improved also.  Campaign was great, except it was ruined by cowardly Knights.  Multiplayer was great too, but even that was ruined, by those stupid loadouts.  Wheelman - how does an implant make the vehicle better, made no sense to me, total waste of time.  Stability - It is a super Soldier for crying out loud, yeah, you can see where I am going with this.  And what did they do to the Jetpack, in Halo Reach it was good and useful.  In Halo 4, they halfed its time, making it almost useless.

So I ask, what happened at 343, why did they employ ex CoD developers (because it seems that way), and what is with the FMV opening doors.  343 are the problem here, and I am hoping they have not ruined Halo 5.  Because Halo 5 is make or break for the Halo franchise for me.

[BATMAN]

Just so you know, it's definitely not cool to post dupes of the same thread. I read this one earlier, and I didn't find a need to post on it because I'm just waiting on getting my hands on the product myself to form my own opinion, I can read how other people's opinions are formed, but I already understand that a lot of perspectives don't coalesce.

 

For instance, I thought dual-wielding was basically a gimmick. I didn't care for the campaign, but that's because I see the trend that all AAA games follow: Skimp on story, focus on multi. One that's rather unrelated is everybody's perspective on the BR versus mine.. I hate the darn thing and prefer the carbine. I can already tell most wouldn't agree, considering the amount of people willing to give me a audio-induced migraines (seriously, what happened to the sound of it?), despite my ability to force them to constantly change weaponry just to try and switch the tide.

 

Regardless of opinions, back to the point. Not cool to post dupes, bruv. Hope you enjoy your stay on the site, but just a heads-up.

[Caboose The Ace]

Bringing heart back in to the game.

In my opinion the problem is 343, and as far as I am concerned, best way to bring the life and heart back in to Halo is to sack the whole lot of them, or at least the ones that have no idea what a Halo game is.  Halo 4 had parts of Call of Duty in it, the FMV and the Loadouts, and speaking of loadouts, half of them had no right whatsoever to be in the game, they were a complete waste and an insult to the Master Chief, and even the Spartan IV's.

 

A Halo game that is Halo is a game so unique, it does not require some idiot to copy CoD to make it better.  In my opinion it made it horrible.

Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3 improved with each release and Halo 4 in some way improved also.  Campaign was great, except it was ruined by cowardly Knights.  Multiplayer was great too, but even that was ruined, by those stupid loadouts.  Wheelman - how does an implant make the vehicle better, made no sense to me, total waste of time.  Stability - It is a super Soldier for crying out loud, yeah, you can see where I am going with this.  And what did they do to the Jetpack, in Halo Reach it was good and useful.  In Halo 4, they halfed its time, making it almost useless.

 

So I ask, what happened at 343, why did they employ ex CoD developers (because it seems that way), and what is with the FMV opening doors.  343 are the problem here, and I am hoping they have not ruined Halo 5.  Because Halo 5 is make or break for the Halo franchise for me.

 

Sorry but I really need to do an Aceplam with this.

 

Heh, get it, because my name is Caboose and it has an Ace on the end and its kinda like an thing with the....

Yup, I'll get on with the post now.

 

"Or at least the ones that have no idea what a Halo game is. Halo 4 had parts of Call of Duty in it, the FMV and the Loadouts, and speaking of loadouts, half of them had no right whatsoever to be in the game, they were a complete waste and an insult to the Master Chief, and even the Spartan IV's"

 

Fun fact: Halo 2 was supposed to have loadouts but Bungie could not find time to balance them so they were scrapped.

As for loadouts actually being in the game, well that's open to debate.

 

Personally I prefer fair starts so it is pretty much just about skill and using what equipment you can get your hands on to the fullest advantage. Though I certainly would not mind if they reintroduced loadouts in Halo 6. Not like they are going to but although I prefer fair starts its not a strong preference.

 

I have no idea what FMV means so lets just move on.....

 

"A Halo game that is Halo is a game so unique, it does not require some idiot to copy CoD to make it better"

 

What is a Halo game that is a Halo game? So you think fair starts make a Halo game? Not really. Its more or less the gunplay and the guns themselves that do make up Halo. Or if you want to get meta its the coding of the game that makes up Halo. Its not like fair starts change that much, its not like you can spawn with a sniper or anything.

 

Also just to state this: Loadouts were not even in Cod at first and just because the series now uses them does not make the series a bad series. Its a bad series because of the annual releases.

 

"Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3 improved with each release and Halo 4 in some way improved also" Halo 4 was the best Halo campaign ever. Why?

 

Because there was actually character in that game and had a good story. Plus the writing was pretty good. I never had any emotion when Miranda died in Halo 2. But when Del Rio tried to take Cortana who in this game actually had something to do. (At least 343 tried to make the relationship between Chief and Cortana believable) I felt something. I hated Del Rio's guts for that!

 

When Cortana "died" I admit I was pretty sad too. Not sad because I was attached to her character. But sad for Chief. He was breaking down as much as a guy who never displayed any real emotion for the past twenty or so years can do.

 

So yheah, Halo 4 was great campaign wise.

 

"It is a super Soldier for crying out loud, yeah, you can see where I am going with this. And what did they do to the Jetpack, in Halo Reach it was good and useful. In Halo 4, they halfed its time, making it almost useless."

 

Not everything has to be realistic. After all why can Chief not sprint in any game before Halo 4? Why do the UNSC still use bullets? See, there is plenty of stuff that does not make sense in Halo games and trust me I could go on. But that should be enough to rock the boat per say. Btw the Jet Pack was op in Halo Reach and ruined map control so it was good it was halved.

 

"cowardly Knights"

 

Nice were not that bad, they simply changed up your tactical approach making weapons like the Assault rifle relevant again. Since the go to weapon for any other Halo game was usually the Dmr/Br.

 

And that's a wrap folks.

[zRexx]

I agree in that Halo's overall tone and mood doesn't really match what it used to be, it strays away from its roots too much. Classic Halo had this energetic, upbeat feel to everything despite the nature of war, making you feel like this bold, courageous hero. ODST and Reach were depressing, they were polar opposites. Now, I'll give those titles some leeway because they were technically spin-offs. Halo 4 though? I mean, the art style was there, the lore was there, but the mood was too somber for the most part. There were some major exceptions, I won't lie, like remember the battle aboard Infinity's hull, where you defended it from the combined forces of the Didact and the Covenant? The mood there was spot-on, but everything else, it just misses the mark.

 

However, I'll have to disagree with you on the endings. Combat Evolved didn't end on the most positive note either. If anything, Halo 3's ending was a callback to Halo CE, with how Guilty Spark tried to interfere, how they escaped the ring's destruction via warthog, and how Chief and Cortana were left all alone, floating in the endless void of space while reflecting on about how the battle was finished, yet feeling a little somber at their current predicament.

[zRexx]

 

Sorry but I really need to do an Aceplam with this.

 

Heh, get it, because my name is Caboose and it has an Ace on the end and its kinda like an thing with the....

Yup, I'll get on with the post now.

 

"Or at least the ones that have no idea what a Halo game is. Halo 4 had parts of Call of Duty in it, the FMV and the Loadouts, and speaking of loadouts, half of them had no right whatsoever to be in the game, they were a complete waste and an insult to the Master Chief, and even the Spartan IV's"

 

Fun fact: Halo 2 was supposed to have loadouts but Bungie could not find time to balance them so they were scrapped.

As for loadouts actually being in the game, well that's open to debate.

 

Personally I prefer fair starts so it is pretty much just about skill and using what equipment you can get your hands on to the fullest advantage. Though I certainly would not mind if they reintroduced loadouts in Halo 6. Not like they are going to but although I prefer fair starts its not a strong preference.

 

I have no idea what FMV means so lets just move on.....

 

"A Halo game that is Halo is a game so unique, it does not require some idiot to copy CoD to make it better"

 

What is a Halo game that is a Halo game? So you think fair starts make a Halo game? Not really. Its more or less the gunplay and the guns themselves that do make up Halo. Or if you want to get meta its the coding of the game that makes up Halo. Its not like fair starts change that much, its not like you can spawn with a sniper or anything.

 

Also just to state this: Loadouts were not even in Cod at first and just because the series now uses them does not make the series a bad series. Its a bad series because of the annual releases.

 

"Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3 improved with each release and Halo 4 in some way improved also" Halo 4 was the best Halo campaign ever. Why?

 

Because there was actually character in that game and had a good story. Plus the writing was pretty good. I never had any emotion when Miranda died in Halo 2. But when Del Rio tried to take Cortana who in this game actually had something to do. (At least 343 tried to make the relationship between Chief and Cortana believable) I felt something. I hated Del Rio's guts for that!

 

When Cortana "died" I admit I was pretty sad too. Not sad because I was attached to her character. But sad for Chief. He was breaking down as much as a guy who never displayed any real emotion for the past twenty or so years can do.

 

So yheah, Halo 4 was great campaign wise.

 

"It is a super Soldier for crying out loud, yeah, you can see where I am going with this. And what did they do to the Jetpack, in Halo Reach it was good and useful. In Halo 4, they halfed its time, making it almost useless."

 

Not everything has to be realistic. After all why can Chief not sprint in any game before Halo 4? Why do the UNSC still use bullets? See, there is plenty of stuff that does not make sense in Halo games and trust me I could go on. But that should be enough to rock the boat per say. Btw the Jet Pack was op in Halo Reach and ruined map control so it was good it was halved.

 

"cowardly Knights"

 

Nice were not that bad, they simply changed up your tactical approach making weapons like the Assault rifle relevant again. Since the go to weapon for any other Halo game was usually the Dmr/Br.

 

And that's a wrap folks.

 

If Halo 2 was supposed to have loadouts, how come nothing about the subject appears when I do a Google or YouTube search of "Halo 2 loadouts"?

 

In addition to the evenness, loadouts diminish the skillgap somewhat because that's less weapons you're required to earn on the map, and you simply get your preferred weapons at spawn. Instead of having to use map control, you just get it handed to you at spawn, which obviously makes things easier in that regard. What's harder, earning a weapon or having it given to you? It may not be a major downfall of the skill ceiling, in that it destroys most emphasis on skill in the game, but any amount of lowering the skill gap is considered a flaw in my book.

 

FMV means full motion video. The term pretty much refers to CGI or live-action cutscenes, ones that don't use the in-game graphic engine. Of course, this means the person was wrong about the act of opening doors being in FMV.

 

Here are the five major core aspects the made Halo unique upon the FPS genre and gave the game its identity.

• Gunplay has heavy emphasis on tight precision.
• Slower paced alternative to more traditional arena shooters.
• Regenerating shields emphasize strategic retreats, which requires a dimension of skill all its own
• 2-weapon limit adds an element of strategy in that you have to carefully select your preferred armament
• Arena shooter gameplay

These are essentially the major aspected that differentiated Halo, this was the formula used throughout the entire trilogy. No other arena FPS had featured combination of all these elements working in play. This is what made Halo unique.

 

Cortana, Johnson, the Arbiter, Guilty Spark, the Prophets, the Brutes, and the Gravemind display a lot of character in-game. Chief also had quite some character too, it was just done subtly. Realistically, not everyone has a super-strong personality, there are those that blend in with the crowd. I have friends in real life who are the exact same. Chief's personality that he was the stoic, stone-cold war machine that did as he was told and never displayed any signs of emotional weakness; he also had extreme determination to accomplishing goals, in that the odds would always outnumber him, but he would always press on in the face of imminent danger. Just because he isn't over the top and doesn't fall into a character cliche/trope, that doesn't automatically he lacks personality, it's just done in a fairly subtle manner. I don't know what you're talking about personality, but Lacky's personality was just as subtle (only thing that characterizes him in-game in that he cooperated with the Chief unlike Del Rio), Del Rio was just the stupid d-----bag commander who treats the protagonist like garbage for no reason, and Palmer only displayed personality in Spartan Ops, where she was pretty much the stereotypical tough girl. Not that cliches/tropes are bad, I enjoy them if done well because it either leads to comedic effect, or it just makes the story over the top, but it's not a requirement.

 

I can agree with Miranda though, she had zero personality, it wasn't done subtly, she just had zero. The main reason for this is that her main purpose in the story was scrapped. Originally, she was going to be the traitor character. After he father's death, Miranda would've fully blamed in on the Chief and held him responsible. Then she would go to make a deal with the Prophet of Regret to sabotage Chief's armor with a bomb, akin to making a deal with the devil. She was supposed to be the traitor but they decided to cut it from the story entirely, so she just exists. She exists just to be there and do nothing for the story. That's why you didn't feel bad, because she's an empty shell. (By the way, Miranda died in Halo 3, not in Halo 2).

 

The original trilogy had a good story as well. Let's go over the list of good plot elements. This will be very long but it'll prove my point tenfold.

• Firstly, the overall message of the Halo games. Teamwork overcomes all odds, even when your enemy has greater technology and they've put you down to the brink of extinction. You can do anything as a team if you put your mind to it. A very great message indeed.
• The unveil of the Flood, essentially the main highlight of the original game, and also an awesome tribute to Aliens. Very creepy and atmospheric (at least at the time).
• 343 Guilty Spark's unexpected betrayal, learning that Halo is a superweapon and wipes the Galaxy clean of sentient life. Back in the day, this was a MAJOR plot twist, no other shooter really did something like this. Most shooters before then were extremely basic and one-note in their stories, aside from maybe Marathon (Bungie's FPS that preceded Halo)
• Fighting against endless odds to save your Captain, however you rush as fast as you can and it's too late, he's been consumed by the Proto-Gravemind, an unfortunate demise. You then continue fighting in the Captain's honor and destroy Halo.
• Throughout Halo 2, seeing the Covenant up close and witness their culture, as well as how they function as a society, it's a pretty fresh take. You actually get to know more about your enemies.
• Thel Vadam being dishonored by his kind and treated like rotten filth is actually pretty dark. Just because he failed his mission he's treated as an outcast, a lesser being than the rest of his people. Then you feel like a bad--- when he becomes the Arbiter.
• Chaos later goes down as the Flood infest High charity.
• Arbiter learns that the Prophets are liars and that the "Heretics" were right all along, a major step in character development.
• Even more chaos ensues during the Great Schism. The Elites rebelling against the Brutes and the rest of the Covenant (well, canonically some Grunts and Hunters are part of the separatists too, they just left them out of the game to avoid confusion between allies and enemies during gameplay). Playing as Chief as a lone wolf during the three factions duking out.
• Having to actually WORK with the Flood. Being told what to do by the Gravemind. You'd never expect that coming.
• Chief having to leave Cortana behind to chase down Truth and save Earth, promising to come back to her. Things seem very grim as it feels like the end of the world, this is it. You're not even sure if you can keep your promise.
• The Elites uniting with the Humans in a shaky alliance, as a last-ditch-effort to defeat the Covenant. Having to put aside your prejudices and past events for the greater good. That's a pretty important message, one could say it's even a good analogy toward racism and how we overcame it.
• The Brutes are also an enemy that make you pumped up. These guys are b---ards, they're aggressive, arrogant, and full of s---, you want to put them back in their place and wipe them out for good. They're the enemy you love to hate. Also a perfect contrast to the Elites.
• The Flood landing on Earth. This perhaps one of the greatest "HOLY SH--" moments of the original trilogy. It's like, now you know you're doomed.
• 343 Guilty Spark overcoming the past and trying to cooperate in your efforts to save the Galaxy. Same kind of thing with the Humans and Elites.
• Johnson being held captive by the Brutes and being relentlessly pummeled, before being used as a tool to activate the Halo array.
• Everything seems over as the Ark is activated. The Prophets seemed to have won. But the Flood come back, surrounding you with tanks. You want to fight them but they offer to help you (The enemy of my enemy is my friend). You storm onward in one last attack, this is the last chance.
• Rescuing Cortana is a very emotional part of the game as well. You enter the Flood Hive itself as a one-man army. You push onward through everything they toss at you and you reunite with your once-lost friend, Now you're ready to kick some a-- and destroy the Flood once and for all.
• Johnson's death. Being burned alive to a rotting crisp. You want to help him but he's not able to make him. A major loss on Chief's part, probably his first ever display of emotion where you can tell he's sad.
• At the end of the game where Lord Hood and the Arbiter makes their final goodbyes, reflecting on the war and knowing that it's all over.
• The epilogue where Chief and Cortana having been separated from the rest and drifting into the empty reaches of space, with the Forward Unto Dawn burned in half due to the portal closing. They've won the battle and discuss how it's all finished, but then they reflect on their current predicament. Chief enters cryo-sleep and the legend ends there. The story closes on a very somber note, open to interpretation (until Halo 4 came out).

I don't know about you, but that all sounds one HELL of a story, that's a sci-fi EPIC right there.

 

Not saying that Halo 4 is a bad campaign, I think it's an excellent campaign. But implying that the original trilogy was a bad story and had no character, that doesn't really hold true. If you don't enjoy it, at least have valid reasoning and don't make such empty claims where you provide zero backing.

 

Other than all that, I agree with everything. Cortana and Chief's relationship was handled well, and Cortana's death was very emotional. The Knights, alongside the Crawlers and Watchers, added great variety to the enemy selection. They were only really annoying if you didn't know how to approach them. And also regarding how you pointed out some of the unrealistic things of Halo, I also want to point out that they're still using pump action shotguns in 2552, even though semi-automatic shotguns exist in the modern day and Halo takes place over 5 centuries into the future. But pump action shotguns are satisfying to use so I accept it as an artistic design choice.

 

How to Bring the Heart Back into Halo

 

In recent years it seems everything has to be as dark, dismal, depressing and "realistic" as possible. Ever since Nolan's Dark Knight revitalized the Batman franchise in spectacular fashion after the abysmal failure of Joel Schumacher's goofy Batman and Robin flop, it's been an unescapable pattern in nearly all entertainment. After Batman Begins came out in 2005, Halo 2's fantastically optimistic ending lead to Halo 3 (still a fantastic game) ending with the best Halo character aside from Chief in my opinion, Johnson and Miranda Keys dying and MC floating into the void on a broken ship.

 

After losing his last living human friends, in Halo 4, Cortana a ROBOT somehow died due to the lack of an ability to update her software essentially like the craziest Siri ever made and now in Halo 5 we have to hunt him down and kill him. Now, I have high hopes this game doesn't go the darkest route possible and force us to brutally beat one of my favorite heroes of all time since I played Combat Evolve on launch day when I was 6 years old into the dirt, but if they do, I'm honestly considering giving up on games in general.

 

Right now there is a racist daddies boy multi-bankrupted billionaire claiming to be paying for his own campaign while taking twice the donation amounts he paid from corrupt donors like every other politician. The polar ice evaporating into the atmosphere is causing catastrophic weather phenomenon unheard to human civilization since the last ice age which flooded my entire town 3 times in the middle of summer. We're also already considering going back to war with the same people we were fighting for 13 years for zero reason at all. We get it, life sucks, but entertainment is supposed to be an enjoyable escape from that fact, would it hurt to have someone crack a joke or a smile in a GAME once in a while?

 

Aside from that the few gameplay related suggestions I have involving Halo, though I'm unsure if these have been implemented or brought back again regardless are these: Please bring back duel wield, it was one of the best editions to the series, it made useless guns like the plasma pistol useful because you could use it to take down shields and then take down the rest with a reasonably powerful weapon. Please bring back split-screen, online only is taking a toll on the entire gaming industry and it is one of the worst trends in its history. Just one game of online multiplayer uses up to 20% of the total internet data I have for the month where I live and no one I know prefers online to in person couch co-op.

 

I know I'm complaining a lot here, but I really did enjoy Halo 4 more than most as far as I've heard, mainly for the campaign which has always been my favorite part of Halo. The only draw back with that is that if I can't play couch co-op Halo campaign anymore like I have with every single one for a decade and a half the series is practically pointless to me now. Also, bring back the classic score, one of the only complaints my friends and I had with the last Halo campaign, aside from the QTE finale, was that whenever something epic was happening we kept waiting for that amazing score to kick in and when it didn't it was extremely underwhelming and just left everybody saying "that's it?"

 

You've done a lot of good work with the expansion of the lore, the new weapons and enemies types, but please don't start following these mindless modern gaming trends and bring back what made the series great rather than adding what would make it just as generic as everything else. Thanks to any of the 343 crew or anyone else who bothered reading this far and have a good one. It won't take a lot to bring the series back to its former glory, just a bit more old school mechanics, a bit less new school nonsense. Peace.

 

 

As for dual wield though, it's kind of unbalanced. It's not game-breakingly unbalanced to where it significantly destroys the skill-gap of the game, but still unbalanced nonetheless. Essentially, the only downside to dual wielding are the lack of grenades of melee, but in all honesty, that's not really much of a downside when you have twice the firepower at your disposal. I would've preferred it if single-wielding had more accuracy and range than dual wielding, so it would actually have more of a use. At least this would add an element of strategy to the game. But as it is implemented in Halo 2 and Halo 3, there's really no strategy to it. Why ever use one SMG or one Magnum when you can use two? There's not really much of a thought process. It's the same thing with Rocket Launchers, how there's no strategical thinking involved, it's always go for the Rocket Launcher because Rockets defeat all. It's like having Rock, Paper, Scissors, but making Rock immune to everything and win every single time (by the way, if you want to comment on my criticism of Rocket Launchers, look for my "weapon balance" thread, so we don't derail the topic). It's not AS bad as Rocket Launchers but the same principle applies. One thing is clearly better than the other. There's little reason to ever single wield an SMG, Plasma Rifle, or Spiker versus dual wielding. Where's the strategy in that?

 

In addition, dual-wielded weapons often suck when single wielded. Dual SMGs are useful, but single SMGs suck.

 

As for split screen, I also agree with you there. There's no reason why they couldn't just cut the framerate in half for people using split screen, so at least they can give players an option. Sure, the game was designed around 60fps and would screw up if it dipped below, but that's not really an excuse, because it's the developers' fault for building the game in such a poor manner. Bad development choices isn't an excuse, it's their fault for doing that in the first place. They simply should've planned for such a scenario where the framerate would go below 60, again, there's no excuse. They're professional AAA game developers so I expect better. Since when is the idea of simple convenience, obsolete? Why does multiplayer HAVE to be online? Why can't I play with my roommate, sibling, or visiting friend in the same room? There's no logical reason for me NOT to be able to. It's called convenience. And not everyone who plays Halo does it online. Maybe it's the majority, but it's not a MASS majority. Everyone I know in real life usually play games offline with their friends at home, because they aren't "gamers", they just casually pick up a game once in a while for entertainment, so they don't want to spend $10 a month just to play multiplayer. They're making it a hassle for these people. This is applies to almost everyone I know in real life, I'm one of the only few dedicated gamers in my social circle. What are you telling me? We have to cast these people out? Making it a hassle for people is a good thing? No, just no excuse.

 

I like the Halo games (well, aside from Reach and 4), but the games were always rip offs. The single player offerings are very miniscule, there just isn't much to the single player portion of the games. Sure, the campaigns are good, but they're only like 6-8 hours long, that really isn't enough to hold a game on its own. And firefight? Well, that's only in Reach and ODST, but even there, yeah, have fun playing firefight all by yourself, it gets boring fast. The whole point of firefight is the cooperative experience. So the offline portion of the game is very lacking, The only way they could enjoy the multiplayer is through split screen, and even then, split screen only supports 4 players. Halo's the kind of game that's better for 8-person parties. But at least then they could use system link, right? You see, it was ALREADY a hassle to enjoy most of the game as it was. Most of the replayability is in the multiplayer. So you already bought the game for 60 dollars, SIXTY DOLLARS, but now you have to pay an additional ten dollars a month just to enjoy the game you already bought? It's like they're pick-pocketing you, they're trying to squeeze as much cash out of you as possible. And the problem? This holds even MORE true in Halo 5! Because now you can't play multiplayer AT ALL. It's a paywall now, there's no way around it. The only way you can enjoy the multiplayer is to throw more cash at them. It was already a hassle, but now it's more than a hassle. You want to enjoy the game you already bought? Well TOO bad, give me more money. That's the dictionary definition of a rip-off right there!

 

And the funny thing is that Halo 5's campaign features a more cooperative-focused narrative, due to how the game is centered around squads. So the time where they need split-screen THE MOST, they decide not give it to you. If you buy a product, you should be allowed to enjoy it. Locking half of the game behind a paywall? That's anti-consumer. You already bought the game so why do you need to pay for it again just to enjoy it? It's like, you buy the disc, now you have to buy the multiplayer too. Just stop, Microsoft. It's a greedy, scumbag business practice that needs to end. It's actually MORE than half the game. Where do people get most their hours? Multiplayer. They'll play through campaign a few times, and go back once in a while for challenges, but the meat and cheese of the game is the multiplayer because it has the most content, you get the most out of it. Let's look at Halo 5's modes from the viewpoint of someone who just bought the game, but doesn't want to throw any more cash at Microsoft. There's Campaign, WarZone, Arena, and Forge. Well, you can't enjoy WarZone because that requires Xbox Live, you can't even play by yourself and stare at the wall. You can't enjoy Arena because you won't have anyone else to play with because of the lack of split-screen and LAN. Forge? Well have fun making a map and having no one to enjoy it with. So...you only get one fourth of the game? THAT'S RIDICULOUS. You BOUGHT the game, so you should be allowed to ENJOY the game. Why do people put up with this crap? NO! This should be something we actively discourage throughout the industry as consumers! Whether or not it affects any of YOU guys, it's still a scummy practice and it isn't right. It's the principle of locking everything behind a paywall.