Do you Trust 343i with HW2 and H6

[ESPADAS03]

So now we are 3 game entries of the Halo universe in wiht 343 at the helm of the franchise, and so far the ratings have been very unpleasant if you are sitting at 343 office HQ. The company has had its fair share of the blunt relentless words of the community, and with good reason as they seem to be taking HAlo not in one direction but in so many different dircetins they ont seem to know what to make of it.

 

Lets start with Halo 4 not the gameplay itself but the story... it gave us back the Master Chief and Cortana and gave us more story to the series, but it ended with the death of an iconic character and leaving our main protagonist in a sort of depressed manner and feeling like he has no true place in the world where all seems to have passed him by.

 

Than  The escalationa nd all that crap continuing the not so well written cliche loaded stereotypical world of Spartan Ops... literally not much else needs to be said about how poorly written and drawn that was...

 

Moving on from that disaster we see this new hope in the form of the MCC or the masterchief collection with all these great options and stuff in one box oh how the fans got excited... than it was as if 343 placed a giant turnd upon your hopes and dreams by releasing what seemed to be the master chief menu screen because everything else about the game seemed well non existant with horrible wait times for a match if you even got one to begin with the lack of much needed content  Halo 4 spartan ops, more on this in a bit, plus the lack of customization of armor... 

 

Jeez was it a disaster and still to this day has so many bugs that they may as well cut the damn thing and say our bad the fact that the lack of features seemed well like they were lazy as all hell... the playlist are ok ish when they work, but halo 4 got zero love in the Spartan ops mode... because lets face it not many loved to play Spartans ops... so what they did surprised me(not)

 

Rather than giving the option to search for players who want to play some Spartan ops mission yu have to go to your friends list and somehow convince them to turn on the MCC and play a round or two of Spartan ops... why not just have the match making option and speed up the process like the scenario I ran it once once with this:

                                  

                                                     I had to go to the forums to enlist the help from other players  to play Spartan op missions, afgter an entire day of no reply I give up the next day I get a reply hey man ill join you, I send a message he says yea nevermind man I'm not home... this cycle of failures repeats...

NO friends wanted to play SP so I'm basically stuck playing solo which = boring...

 

and the rest is history with MCC... so now we are gearing up after the Halo 5 beta ( main reason people stuck it out with MCC) and the hype is building there is a new guy who may be friend or Foe the hunt the truth gets some conspiracy going Chief may have gone off the deep end OMG what is going on than we get previews the frame rate looks great but it cost us split screen and people were pissed and for good reason, but we carried on we figured dudes this is going to be epic right... than the day comes people jump on they go into the campaign and go oh man this is going to have mad replay value right ...Wrong literally no force on earth can get a person to replay the campaign... I mean you could ay well it has a cool story but nope that dofus who wrote escalation and Spartan ops wrote this too yay smart choice right WRONG... they brought back Cortana and turned Halo into some cheap Spanish Telenovela where someone's long lost brother who was presumed dead returns only to find out they have no Memory and they are now some evil doer... also the campaign was no were double any campaign as they said and there is no actually progression point system or daily challenges that made reach and halo 4 replayable for the campaign so really people are left with this empty feel...even the game lacked playlist which the say is Free DLC but honestly saying things like Forge and BTB are extra Free DLC in halo is like saying if I bought a car and they will give me tires and the hood for free ... really isn't that a standard option when you buy a car... Maaybe if they haven't claimed them all as Free DLC rather just much needed held back items for improvements people would not be so hard... but yea also the REQ system is cool but shouldn't be the entire basis of power weapons and vehicles in warzone perhaps have a few power weapons drops and some random vehicle drops... just  a suggestion...

 

Halo 5 seems to focus on one thing and one thing only HCS this is 343 new cream of the crop because its all about winning its no longer about just turning a video game on getting a warm and fuzzy and having fun nope the days of enjoying a game for simple entertainment is gone now you must apply and ensure you can handle the hours of play to be as good as the Pro Teams which they seem to throw in our face every time they can with hey check out the latest HCS this or that and dude there is another HCS and awe are making all our map HCS approved by moving thing and taking things out.

 

NOw with E3 around the corner I'm assuming some Halo Wars 2 footage will be showed but not till the end to ensure the audience stays tuned, also perhaps a halo 6 preview also and boy its going to be hyped like crazy ... oh hey and if you tune in your going to get a legendary Mongoose that can only be called in at REQ level 9 and will have a design that no one really cares about but it will offer faster speed and less protection but it will be a Mythic Mongoose because the Halo community is just dying for a Mythic REQ that does zero for you... or a helmet and armor that's going to be essentially the existing armors but what a different name to it ( deadeye armor = Fotus Armor no one will notice right.... Brand new armors 50 percent are just mix and match or reskinned armors).

 

OH but firefight is coming out soon OMG the excitement... but its not firefight firefight didn't have a timer it had lives... if you couldn't clear a wave within the certain amount of lives , and if all lives are lost the round is lost at that wave... also the intro for the love of god the intro was probably the laziest thing iv ever seen literally its the same warzone intro but this time 343 expects us to believe that you need 3 pelican drop ships to bring 8 Spartans in... what did one Spartan not play well with others and gets his own pelican ... assuming 4 Spartans to a pelican... what 343 couldn't make an animation where the 8 Spartans drop from the pelican and into battle I mean that would be more Epic... Perhaps it was just for the Beta and they will make a sweet intro specifically for Warzone Firefight but I'm not holding my breath because as 343 has shown time and time again they seem to not have much effort in design once they created a product I.E. the repeat armors with reskins and renamed, and the cheap firefight intro which is just the same warzone intro but with a new speech intro.

 

NOw knowing that this trend seems to be 343 tradition we get back to E3 and how they will hype **** up... do you buy into the hype or do you proceed with caution at this point ...

 

Meaning are you going to wait till halo wars 2 releases watch some videos see if the sotry is good and the gameplay is up to par or will you wait it ouot or avoid it at all cost.. and the same goes with halo 6 and future instalements.

 

Has 343 lost your faith in them at this point?

 

 

 

[Yoshi1176]

I am with 343 for the long haul, things have been rough, but even with that, the games have been great. Halo 4 was a really fun game, MCC brought us back to the things we loved.

 

Halo 5 is amazingly fun regardless of its problems it's hype was a bit much for what came, but what came still did great things.

 

People are afraid of change, people that love firefight and have wanted it are now complaining, how about we embrace the changes, accept the fact that not only did ODST come out years ago, but Halo has evolved over that time, and with it so has the game modes. The way I see it, if you aren't happy with how Halo is evolving, play the old games instead of making the community that does enjoy the progression of Halo toxic. While I do understand why people want to keep Halo how it always has been, if every game was the same Halo would be over. 343 is taking us in the right direction, and I have faith in them.

[Sikslik7]

I am not worried about Halo Wars 2. Honestly, I don't think 343i is really involved with the project that much, other than from a Lore Perspective. The team that Creative Assembly has working on HW2 made Alien Isolation and is experienced working on games entirely by themselves. I expect a product that is finished and will be updated well.

 

As for Halo 6, I don't expect any news or trailers, but would not be surprised by a spinoff similar to ODST. 

 

For Halo 5, 343i needs to push gametypes and increase the gametype settings. We have lost settings in CTF, Assault, and Strongholds when you compare them to past gametypes. We still don't have built-in one sided objective gametypes (they have to be forged into the map, and makes the normal version unplayable). We don't have oddball, a true KotH variant, extraction, Regicide/VIP, Stockpile, or other gamemodes in other Halo games. Half of the reason why stuff like Action Sack and minigames in Halo 5 are slowly coming out is the lack of gametypes. Many minigames need a specific gametype to run properly, otherwise heavy honor rules have to be put into effect. Scripting is great, but we also need the gametypes to accompany them.

[Ardent Prayer]

I am not worried for Halo Wars 2 or Halo 6.

 

I know that Creative Assembly will amazing with HW2, I can't wait for it's gameplay reveal at E3 2016 next week.

 

Even though Halo 5's story had it's huge, disgusting flop compared to what we were teased with before launch, I'm sure 343i heard our pleas about Brian Reed and his writing and how WE as a community decided that we should not have him on lead for Halo 6. Hopefully they get a new writer to fix up the mess. Halo 5's MP may have it's bugs, but 343 gets right on top of most of them, and continue to improve and add things monthly to keep us playing. I'm feel they can build upon this even more with Halo 6.

 

TL;DR I'm not worried at all. Others may be and other may have already given up on the series, but I'm in on what they plan to give us in the future.

[Fishy]

As long as Frank O'Connor or Brian Reed's aren't playing a major role, then we sha'll be safe. 

 

No way anyone can top those two in disappointment.

[RedStarRocket91]

At the moment I trend fairly negative toward 343i as a developer, views which has worsened over time. I know I'm in a minority here, but I love Halo 4, and consider it to be the absolute narrative high point of the franchise: almost all the problems I have with it as a story were introduced retroactively through Halo 5 and other Halo media, which isn't really its fault, and although there were several frustrating elements (Prometheans) for the most part I actually really liked the gameplay as well. Even the multiplayer is something that I really enjoyed, and while I can understand a lot of the frustrations with it, for the most part I think they're overblown and exaggerated, especially when compared to the shambles that was Reach. Everyone forgets this now, but Reach was really unpopular when it came out, with the most common view among the fanbase being that Bungie had killed Halo and that it wasn't a proper Halo game, and yet now people compare it to Halo 4 and say how fantastic it was.

 

As for the MCC... well, what needs to be said? It was an unmitigated disaster which cost me personally, and many other Halo fans, a huge amount of money for almost nothing in return.

 

Halo 5, in contrast to Halo 4, was a huge disappointment to me. Perhaps the multiplayer's good - don't know, don't play it anymore. But a combination of blatantly and deliberately misleading advertising, terrible characters, shockingly poor writing, utterly moronic plot twists, invalidation of Halo 4's story, dull gameplay, lazy and uninspired and repetitive level design and that one boss just completely ruined the campaign for me, to the point where I just don't have any interest in replaying it: the fact that there's no splitscreen or LAN and you can't even use things like the Forge without XBL Gold is just insulting, and of course the REQ system of pay-to-win gameplay using a system of real-money gambling is as unethical and greedy a system as I've ever seen and utterly killed my desire to play it's main new game mode even before I let my Gold expire. For me, Halo 5 isn't just a disaster as a game, but a composite example of anti-consumer behaviour, and frankly I have no interest in supporting a developer who does that.

 

So for Halo Wars 2? No, I don't really trust 343i with it. I can accept the MCC was a disaster as a one-off, but what they did with Halo 5 and the fact that they openly lied about it and put so little effort into it, as well as the incredibly poor quality of the campaign, really hurts my opinion even before we consider how much I disliked the first game. Now, if the reviews come in and they're good, and they suggest that the story isn't completely awful and the gameplay is actually fun, and there's no ethical problems like the ability to buy power or attempts to fleece gamers with real-money gambling, then I might consider it, but the absolute make-or-break for me is going to be whether it supports mouse&keyboard, because RTS games simply don't work on a gamepad. I'm fine if it's a Win10 exclusive, because after it inevitably flops there they'll port is back onto older OSes as they did with Spartan Assault and Spartan Strike, but if there's no support for a proper control interface, I won't play it regardless of how well it's reviewed.

[Guts]

I do trust 343i with what's to come. Although, it's impossible to deny what they've done wrong, they're doing a lot of good.

 

Halo 4 is one of my favourite Halo games. The story was good in the way it brought Chief back into the UNSC. The only thing I didn't like was the QTA with the Didact. It doesn't bother me anymore really since I've done the stupid Prophet and Tartarus fights in Halo 2. The multiplayer I enjoyed. It had moved on from Halo 3 (which it needed to do) towards a faster game style. Say what you want about Ordnance but a free SAW wasn't "terrible". (Although the feature has no place in Halo). Halo 4 did have the COD elements for the second time and it bugged me. With the utter failure of a "send off" from Bungie it didn't help putting it in. Apart from that, I really liked Halo 4.

 

As for Halo 5, it's the first Halo I've been able to get Day One and the one I could get myself. When I finally got to play it, I was so happy. From the beta I knew this was going to be great. The Campaign has a good story but it's executed poorly with Warden and two missions as Chief. Otherwise, it was good. It gives a great launch pad for Halo 6 to be much better. As for multiplayer, it's the best yet. The new movements you're Spartan can do really give the life it needs. The weapons are balanced for once and the maps are good, well most of them. Although we didn't have everything at launch, they're doing a good job of giving us the content. I really enjoy Warzone. It's given Halo a really good boost. It really should return for Halo 6. The REQ system I like. It's finally given equality with everyone and their unlocks. No more stupid Vidmaster or multi player challenges to unlock armour. It's another thing that should return.

 

I don't get the outrage, it's a much easier system to unlock stuff through. Play games, get REQ points, buy packs and unlock stuff compared to get four people, play a certain mission on a certain difficulty, get to a certain point, do whatever you have to, beat the mission and complete one part of a challenge. It's so much easier. As for "false advertising", I've said it too many times already. It's is NOT. Several other games have done the SAME. I don't get why it's a problem now. I guess it moronic people dragging their knuckles around and forgetting they have a brain.

As for Halo Wars 2, I don't care but I do. I want to see if an RTS will be made after the last failure but I don't want to see another one of these games. I'm sure 343 will actually make something that is an RTS but I won't be wasting money on it.

[Drizzy_Dan]

Yes

[Twinreaper]

It's like I crapped out a baby and viola..... RSR!!! I thought I was always going to be alone in my utter disdain for 343 Industries and the complete mishandling of the franchise. I couldn't have worded it any better at all.

 

In regards to Halo Wars, the continued development of that spin-off series most certaintly CANNOT be trusted at all. Halo Wars firstly was a game that Bungie was against, and because of this, all the content had to be hand created from scratch. You read that right, Ensemble had to recreate all Halo assets themselves. Because of the factors that presented the team with such hurdles, it actually gave birth to the type of creative fury and determination that rivaled Bungie.

 

Flash forward to now, and we have a totally overhyped, underpowered, egotistical and overrated band of "Halo Know-it-alls" spearheading the franchise. They refuse to listen, refuse to take criticism and refuse to take blame for issues that arise. How can anyone trust anything associated with M$?

 

And to clarify HALO Reach was superior to Halo 3 and still remains superior to 4 & 5 in every way. I shouted from day one that Reach was a fantastic game. Little does everyone forget, 343 co-developed Reach with Bungie as part of the transition. Bungie left most of the creative direction up to 343, but retained final word in the outcome of the game. So please stop all this "Bungie, did Reach and it sucked" banter. Reach was more 343 and MGS than it actually was Bungie.

 

So by my count, the 343 Halo mishandling comes to...

 

1. Halo Reach

2. Halo MCC

3. Halo 4

4. Halo 5

 

4 titles in and they cant produce the quality or sustainablility that Bungie achieved as novices just a mere 2 titles in. Bungie developed for the fans. They worked had so we could enjoy the franchise we fell in love with with CE. All 343 has done is turned the franchise upside down and attached a huge milking machine to it. They care little about continuity, quality or gaming as a whole.

[Fishy]

It's like I crapped out a baby and viola..... RSR!!! I thought I was always going to be alone in my utter disdain for 343 Industries and the complete mishandling of the franchise. I couldn't have worded it any better at all.

 

In regards to Halo Wars, the continued development of that spin-off series most certaintly CANNOT be trusted at all. Halo Wars firstly was a game that Bungie was against, and because of this, all the content had to be hand created from scratch. You read that right, Ensemble had to recreate all Halo assets themselves. Because of the factors that presented the team with such hurdles, it actually gave birth to the type of creative fury and determination that rivaled Bungie.

 

Flash forward to now, and we have a totally overhyped, underpowered, egotistical and overrated band of "Halo Know-it-alls" spearheading the franchise. They refuse to listen, refuse to take criticism and refuse to take blame for issues that arise. How can anyone trust anything associated with M$?

 

And to clarify HALO Reach was superior to Halo 3 and still remains superior to 4 & 5 in every way. I shouted from day one that Reach was a fantastic game. Little does everyone forget, 343 co-developed Reach with Bungie as part of the transition. Bungie left most of the creative direction up to 343, but retained final word in the outcome of the game. So please stop all this "Bungie, did Reach and it sucked" banter. Reach was more 343 and MGS than it actually was Bungie.

 

So by my count, the 343 Halo mishandling comes to...

 

1. Halo Reach

2. Halo MCC

3. Halo 4

4. Halo 5

 

4 titles in and they cant produce the quality or sustainablility that Bungie achieved as novices just a mere 2 titles in. Bungie developed for the fans. They worked had so we could enjoy the franchise we fell in love with with CE. All 343 has done is turned the franchise upside down and attached a huge milking machine to it. They care little about continuity, quality or gaming as a whole.

It's like Halo: Reach was the climax point of Halo, and is progressively getting worse. Hopefully Halo: Reach 2 comes out after these side-games. So, 343 isn't going to be making a good game until after Halo 6. Since they compared Halo 5 to Halo 2, and that was a flop.

[Twinreaper]

Halo 2 wasn't a flop.  It sustained multiplayer fanbase higher and longer than any of 343's standalone games.  it was also a game that has incredible hard replay value as well as modding support.  It spawned a ton of gametypes that have become standard in current Halo games, such as Zombies for one.

 

You can't quite compare the titles so easily as you would expect.  You can however compare the ingenuity and features they present and look at it's trending multiplayer base.  Halo 2 had tons of competition and still retained the crown of FPS games.  Halo 4 is all but forgotten and plagued with game killing bugs, and Halo 5 made the stakes much worse for the franchise.

 

I mean look, at the same time you also have to compare the story.  Does 343 have a tougher time continuing the story Bungie started?  Oh hell yes.  Bungie had a whole universe to expand on and an enemy base structure that was easily written and expanded upon.  Now that the main driving force and enemy of a 5 title franchise has been all but erased, it is logical to see how painful and hard it is for a new developer to step in and expand the universe further and try to match Bungie's vision and execution.

 

I'm not giving 343 a pass on this, far from it.  As they so love to claim "We are made from ex-Bungie members" and "We love Halo as much as the players", the facts are real and so is the reality.  343 is failing and they can't produce the quality or near quality games they hyped themselves capable of.

[Composite Armour]

I don't trust 343i since Halo 4.

They lost me as a customer with that game. And introducing things like micro-transactions has only lowered my opinion of them.

[The Director]

I find myself agreeing with a lot of the points being made in this thread, but I also know something rather important.

 

 

It doesn't matter if we trust them or not, they will be making H6 and HW2. 

 

Even if we rant and rave, type angry messages until our fingers bleed, throw feces at M$ headquarters, or even beg on our hands and knees M$ won't change this. The reason is that we are the loud minority. The people who are happy with the games rarely come onto forums to say, "Hey, great job." M$ also knows that a lot of the long-time fans didn't like the direction that H5 seemed to be headed, but H5 still grossed $400 million on it's release day. Actually, all of 343i's releases have sold really well. That's what Microsoft cares about, not that within weeks the multiplayer shrinks 10x or that the game is panned by die hard fans.

 

 

[Twinreaper]

I'd like to see the actual Microsoft shipping records to support this "$400 Million at launch day" number.  Average price of H5 is $29.99 at wholesale cost direct from Microsoft to all it's selling outlets worldwide.  If it did indeed gross, which means costs and taxes were not factored in, that means that an average of 6,667,777 units had to be sold to reach a gross of $400 Million.

 

Yes it's not an exact science, but not enough LE or "other" editions of the game would sell in the needed quantities to really give this logical look at the financials any big difference.  I have to recheck my official old sources, but the development/marketing budget was around $250 M.

 

Taking into account the $250 Million, it's broken down as follows...

 

50m - 60m : Development: This covers salaries for the 3+ year development cycle of just that title.

200m - 210m: Marketing: This covers all the 3+ years of marketing for the title and covers production costs of game discs, inserts, promos, etc.

 

Microsoft themselves would need to sell about 8 million copies worldwide to outlets in order to break even.  I can assure you that Halo 5 alone DID NOT see anywhere near a 5 million unit shipping order overall even by today for the game.  Which means that in the end, Halo 5 was overpriced, underdeveloped, and it failed to meet the objective that ANY game being released is tasked with.  It didn't sell well and it didn't keep a steady population.

 

I get what you are saying Director, but  also need I remind you that if NO ONE speaks up and shouts, Microsoft will never hear or learn anything.  I'd rather be the guy at the end of the day, shouting the logic and truth to them, then some whiny intellectually challenged child in the corner doing absolutely nothing about it.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Twinreaper

[Richard John Wilson]

I find it hard to take 343 serious, but I have still been buying the Halo games, for what reason I am completely unsure.  343 have reimagined Halo in to their own image, and I do not like it much at all.
Spartan Ops lost its playability far too easily, not bringing back Firefight was a huge mistake, and the Loadouts on Halo 4 Multiplayer has to be the worst thing I have ever seen on games and gaming, it seemed to me that 343 had no idea what a Spartan was and how they work.  Take for instance Wheelman, I can not for the life of me understand how a Spartan getting in to a Vehicle makes it stronger and better, Wheelman had not right or reason to be in the game.  Stability, you get shot and you are staring at the sky or shooting the birds, again another reason that 343 had no idea what a Spartan is.
Halo 5 brought is back Firefight, only it is not Firefight, again with the reimagining of Halo, 343 are turning in to a right disaster for Halo.  I beg the question, do they have any idea what Halo is.  Not Spartan Ops this time, so they never finished the story from Halo 4.  More disaster.  Yes, I know, SpOps lost its playability far too easily, but they could have finished the story.  And then we come to Halo 5 gameplay as it is, what were they thinking, did they learn nothing from Halo 4, again with the CoD FMV switches are dangerous, activate one and you risk death, if you fail to clear the area, and activate a switch you may be rewarded with death when a cheeky enemy shoots you in the back.  Prometheans are possibly the worst enemy I have come across, they almost equal the Taken in Destiny, both fracking annoying and cowardly.  The closer you get to killing them, the more of a chance they will teleport or run away and charge you, truly disgusting, makes me wish for the Covenant and the Flood, and I hated the Flood.
MCC, whilst I have completed it all, I did not have the patience nor the inclination to do the Achievements, there are far too many of them, and at the end of the day, just not worth the time and effort.  Nice to see ODST, but, I would have preferred 343 to have remastered the whole thing and making Multiplayer Matchmaking.
I have seen and played the Beta for Halo Wars 2, and I am unimpressed, I still play Halo Wars and the only problems I have with Halo Wars are the Base Turrets, they are freaking useless, Leader Powers are unfair Vs Disruption Bomb, so stupid the cool down on that Vs Leader Powers.  Aircraft do not fly over Bases, they have to go round, this is pure stupidity.  And as for Halo Wars 2, yeah totally loving the graphics, how smooth it plays.  But...  I hate the way the base is set out, so much prefer the original idea.  Love the Turrets, seems as though 343 understood the idea of Base Turrets, which seems a shock to me, because I was so sure 343 had no idea what Halo is and what it is, especially Spartans.  I will buy Halo Wars 2, and I will cuss and moan the changes.  But I will play it and do my best to get used to the whole change and mess 343 have made.
In the long run 343 are a disaster regarding Halo, they have reimagined the game in their own image, which in a sense is understandable, but for a True Halo Fan, it is a change too far.  I have little faith in 343, and I doubt I ever will.  Unless they understand what Halo is, they will keep reimaging the game to their needs and wants, and not the fans.
Firefight is not Firefight, but I have to admit, I am enjoying it, apart from the fact it seems far too hard, unfair in some cases.  The Req System seems to not work, for me at least.

[Drizzy_Dan]

 

 

I find it hard to take 343 serious, but I have still been buying the Halo games, for what reason I am completely unsure.  343 have reimagined Halo in to their own image, and I do not like it much at all.

Spartan Ops lost its playability far too easily, not bringing back Firefight was a huge mistake, and the Loadouts on Halo 4 Multiplayer has to be the worst thing I have ever seen on games and gaming, it seemed to me that 343 had no idea what a Spartan was and how they work.  Take for instance Wheelman, I can not for the life of me understand how a Spartan getting in to a Vehicle makes it stronger and better, Wheelman had not right or reason to be in the game.  Stability, you get shot and you are staring at the sky or shooting the birds, again another reason that 343 had no idea what a Spartan is.

Halo 5 brought is back Firefight, only it is not Firefight, again with the reimagining of Halo, 343 are turning in to a right disaster for Halo.  I beg the question, do they have any idea what Halo is.  Not Spartan Ops this time, so they never finished the story from Halo 4.  More disaster.  Yes, I know, SpOps lost its playability far too easily, but they could have finished the story. 

 

343 are not reimagining Halo. They are trying to build on what they were left with. Halo: Reach introduced the loadout and Armor Abilities system and caused a massive schism in the Halo Community between players who favored the original Halo playstyle and those who were either new players or older ones that adapted but both enjoyed the introduction of Armor Abilities and did not see a problem with loadouts. Being the newest Halo game after such a successful previous game also left them with no choice but to accept. 

 

When talking about 343 and their knowledge of Spartans, well it turns out 343 knows better than considering they write the franchise. They introduced a new generation of Spartans for continuity purposes and to branch out from previous-trilogy playstyle because of that large fallout in the Halo Community when Reach happened that was further split after Halo 4's release. Wheelman is simply an Armor Mod reintroduced for nostalgia reasons I believe. Warzone is a simulation and Wheelman was introduced just like other older weapons and Armor Mods for the purpose of people to use them for fun. I'm sure there would be a canonical explanation on its existence and function were it presented in the Canon Fodders. Auto-Stabilize is the use of a Spartan's thrusters to steady themselves when aiming mid-air. It's a perfectly canonical feature. If your reticule goes into the sky after being shot out of it then you're looking up too fast. I personally don't play with it on because I feel it leaves you exposed in the air.

 

Spartan Ops: Spartan Ops was a fun idea. It was cool but they did not do it justice with unlimited respawns and recycled objectives. The story and locations were fun but you're absolutely right, it lost replayability quick. As for the story though, it was finished. It wasn't finished in-game however. The story of Spartan Ops was finished through the Escalation comics. 

 

 

 

And then we come to Halo 5 gameplay as it is, what were they thinking, did they learn nothing from Halo 4, again with the CoD FMV switches are dangerous, activate one and you risk death, if you fail to clear the area, and activate a switch you may be rewarded with death when a cheeky enemy shoots you in the back.  Prometheans are possibly the worst enemy I have come across, they almost equal the Taken in Destiny, both fracking annoying and cowardly.  The closer you get to killing them, the more of a chance they will teleport or run away and charge you, truly disgusting, makes me wish for the Covenant and the Flood, and I hated the Flood.

MCC, whilst I have completed it all, I did not have the patience nor the inclination to do the Achievements, there are far too many of them, and at the end of the day, just not worth the time and effort.  Nice to see ODST, but, I would have preferred 343 to have remastered the whole thing and making Multiplayer Matchmaking

 

"And then we come to Halo 5 gameplay as it is," indeed. Halo 5: Guardians has the series' highest number of active players since Halo 3 according to IGN. Prometheans are my least favorite enemy as well. In Halo 4 they were cowards and in Halo 5 they are REALLY strong. Remember, 343 did not give us Firefight. They gave us Warzone Firefight. You can misconstrue this effort to introduce something new as 343 reimagining Firefight how they want it to be but that would not be correct. If you have MCC and don't like Halo 5 why not go back and play the original trilogy?

 

 

 

I have seen and played the Beta for Halo Wars 2, and I am unimpressed, I still play Halo Wars and the only problems I have with Halo Wars are the Base Turrets, they are freaking useless, Leader Powers are unfair Vs Disruption Bomb, so stupid the cool down on that Vs Leader Powers.  Aircraft do not fly over Bases, they have to go round, this is pure stupidity.  And as for Halo Wars 2, yeah totally loving the graphics, how smooth it plays.  But...  I hate the way the base is set out, so much prefer the original idea.  Love the Turrets, seems as though 343 understood the idea of Base Turrets, which seems a shock to me, because I was so sure 343 had no idea what Halo is and what it is, especially Spartans.  I will buy Halo Wars 2, and I will cuss and moan the changes.  But I will play it and do my best to get used to the whole change and mess 343 have made.

In the long run 343 are a disaster regarding Halo, they have reimagined the game in their own image, which in a sense is understandable, but for a True Halo Fan, it is a change too far.  I have little faith in 343, and I doubt I ever will.  Unless they understand what Halo is, they will keep reimaging the game to their needs and wants, and not the fans.

Firefight is not Firefight, but I have to admit, I am enjoying it, apart from the fact it seems far too hard, unfair in some cases.  The Req System seems to not work, for me at least.

 

Halo Wars has its problems but it was made in 2008 and is a great console RTS. Its simple rock-paper-scissor dynamic and controls are what make it stand out. Real RTS players may not agree on Halo Wars being a good RTS game in general but it was very successful on console. 343 is not reimagining but building on the Halo Universe. The only way for it to keep going is to build on what they have and not keep making games about "eh kills aliens and doesn't afraid of anything." You have to understand that fans want a lot of different things especially in the Halo Community and some things just would not work in the game. They can't please everyone.

 

Cautious optimism is my recommendation. 

[Richard John Wilson]

Drizzy_Dan, nice reply to my posting.  But I disagree with you on the reimagining on the game, as I honestly believe 343 are reimagining Halo in their own image.  You said yourself, and I quote "They are trying to build on what they were left with", what they were left with is not what 343 made.  Anyone can tell the difference between Halo 3 and Halo 4, or in this case Halo Reach to Halo 4.  Completely different game mechanics, yeah, I know, Halo 4 was a complete frack up, 343 completely over did it with their reimagining.  Another thing about Halo 4 and even in to Halo 5 was the CoD aspect of the switches, I had expected 343 to have removed that part of the game, it is un-needed and completely un-necessary.
Stabilise, I was referring to the loadout for Flinch, I am sure it is called Stabilise.
Firefight Vs Warzone Firefight, yes, I see your point now.  There is a difference between them both.  Warzone Firefight is not a reimagining of Firefight, it is a shortcut to Firefight, like the fans asked for, and instead 343 created Warzone Firefight.  Whilst I would prefer Firefight, I am enjoying Warzone Firefight.
Halo Wars 2, I am thinking that 343 are reimagining  this game, for several reasons, mainly because it now plays like a Command and Conquer game and not Halo Wars, the name maybe there and the troops and the vehicles, but it does not play like Halo Wars.  Like Halo 4 and Halo 5, Halo Wars is just Halo in name.
This will not stop me from playing them though, all this means to me is that the good name of Halo is being disrespected, even if these games are worth playing time and time again (maybe not Halo 4).  If these games had been named some thing else, or had the Halo name added to the titles made by 343, I would not be commenting or complaining.  It is like comparing Destiny to The Taken King, they might be the same game, but they are in fact two different games.  Like comparing Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3 to Halo 4 and Halo 5, the trilogies are worlds apart.

[Drizzy_Dan]

Right, 343 had to make differences between Reach and Halo 4 while maintaining aspects of 3 and Reach in an attempt to make everyone happy which did not work at all. By using similar aspects and changing them, this is what I believe is 343's effort to build on Halo.

 

I apologize but I don't know what you mean by Call of Duty switches but if you mean aspects that appear to be influenced by CoD then I agree. All games get influence from other games though. Some, and I'd say the majority but there are no number stats I can pull, actually don't want the games to go back to being as slow-paced as the original trilogy. Absolutely right about the trilogies being worlds apart, well said. I think that's the point though. 343 isn't trying to go back. They'd lose a lot more than they'd ever gain that way.

 

As for Halo Wars 2 well the teams behind them are 2 different ones. Ensemble Studios made the first Halo Wars and I loved it much more than I liked this beta. I didn't even think the Halo Wars 2 beta was even fun honestly but this next one is by Creative Assembly- the team behind Total War.

[Foxtrot124]

I am very worried about the future of Hale games. Before 343 we had halo games that were different from all shooter games and we would get immersed directly in the story lines wether we were playing alone or with friends. Now 343 is slowly taking away all the thing that made Halo unique from all other games. They're taking Halo away from Halo. The story lines are getting less exciting, the gameplay is loosing it's uniqueness and they took away split screen... Split screen is one of those things that made Halo so special. We could play together with four people on one Xbox, on one TV, in one room. Now nothing... Now if we want to play with a friend he has to be at his place with his xbox.. Where's the fun in that? So yes! I am very worried about the future of halo! Halo 4 was already disappointing, halo 5 shot me down even more. Sadly I expect very little now from my favorite game

[GTjimipage]

I must be in the minority on this thread, because I loved Halo 4. The campaign was a little weak, but the gameplay was kickass. my buddies and I would spend hours on the couch, playing BTB. It seemed like it was really geared for teamwork, with the different abilities each player could choose to have standard. Halo 5 has included/excluded so many elements that i would not have expected, given the direction the first four games were pointing. I feel like Warzone and REQ Packs could definitely see some improvements, but I love that they're including different versions of weapons, especially throwback versions (Halo CE pistol FTW!). The main thing that really made it feel different for me was (and I know I sound like a broken record here) the removal of split-screen. That is how I primarily played: online, with a buddy or two (or three) on the couch next to me. So, this literally changed the way I play the game, more-so than any other changes to the mechanics and whatnot. All-in-all, I feel like Halo 5 is a solid game by itself. It would be my favorite Halo game if they had favored local co-op over 60fps. Halo 6 has the potential to be my new favorite, as long as they figure their sh-- out with split-screen. 

 

The first Halo Wars was fun, but it seemed like a slightly clunkier version of Starcraft, as far as the mechanics go. After trying the HW2 demo, it feels about the same as HW1, but with a couple extra bells and whistles (and some Brutes) thrown-in. I don't have too much experience with console-based RTS games, but this one is pretty fun--even if it's not going to win any GOTY awards.

 

 

~~~~

Help bring split-screen back for Halo 6! Please sign and share this petition!

https://www.change.org/p/343-industries-bring-split-screen-multiplayer-back-for-halo-6?recruiter=1146767&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink

[EdwardBuckODST]

So now we are 3 game entries of the Halo universe in wiht 343 at the helm of the franchise, and so far the ratings have been very unpleasant if you are sitting at 343 office HQ. The company has had its fair share of the blunt relentless words of the community, and with good reason as they seem to be taking HAlo not in one direction but in so many different dircetins they ont seem to know what to make of it.

 

Lets start with Halo 4 not the gameplay itself but the story... it gave us back the Master Chief and Cortana and gave us more story to the series, but it ended with the death of an iconic character and leaving our main protagonist in a sort of depressed manner and feeling like he has no true place in the world where all seems to have passed him by.

 

Than  The escalationa nd all that crap continuing the not so well written cliche loaded stereotypical world of Spartan Ops... literally not much else needs to be said about how poorly written and drawn that was...

 

Moving on from that disaster we see this new hope in the form of the MCC or the masterchief collection with all these great options and stuff in one box oh how the fans got excited... than it was as if 343 placed a giant turnd upon your hopes and dreams by releasing what seemed to be the master chief menu screen because everything else about the game seemed well non existant with horrible wait times for a match if you even got one to begin with the lack of much needed content  Halo 4 spartan ops, more on this in a bit, plus the lack of customization of armor... 

 

Jeez was it a disaster and still to this day has so many bugs that they may as well cut the damn thing and say our bad the fact that the lack of features seemed well like they were lazy as all hell... the playlist are ok ish when they work, but halo 4 got zero love in the Spartan ops mode... because lets face it not many loved to play Spartans ops... so what they did surprised me(not)

 

Rather than giving the option to search for players who want to play some Spartan ops mission yu have to go to your friends list and somehow convince them to turn on the MCC and play a round or two of Spartan ops... why not just have the match making option and speed up the process like the scenario I ran it once once with this:

                                  

                                                     I had to go to the forums to enlist the help from other players  to play Spartan op missions, afgter an entire day of no reply I give up the next day I get a reply hey man ill join you, I send a message he says yea nevermind man I'm not home... this cycle of failures repeats...

NO friends wanted to play SP so I'm basically stuck playing solo which = boring...

 

and the rest is history with MCC... so now we are gearing up after the Halo 5 beta ( main reason people stuck it out with MCC) and the hype is building there is a new guy who may be friend or Foe the hunt the truth gets some conspiracy going Chief may have gone off the deep end OMG what is going on than we get previews the frame rate looks great but it cost us split screen and people were ****** and for good reason, but we carried on we figured dudes this is going to be epic right... than the day comes people jump on they go into the campaign and go oh man this is going to have mad replay value right ...Wrong literally no force on earth can get a person to replay the campaign... I mean you could ay well it has a cool story but nope that dofus who wrote escalation and Spartan ops wrote this too yay smart choice right WRONG... they brought back Cortana and turned Halo into some cheap Spanish Telenovela where someone's long lost brother who was presumed dead returns only to find out they have no Memory and they are now some evil doer... also the campaign was no were double any campaign as they said and there is no actually progression point system or daily challenges that made reach and halo 4 replayable for the campaign so really people are left with this empty feel...even the game lacked playlist which the say is Free DLC but honestly saying things like Forge and BTB are extra Free DLC in halo is like saying if I bought a car and they will give me tires and the hood for free ... really isn't that a standard option when you buy a car... Maaybe if they haven't claimed them all as Free DLC rather just much needed held back items for improvements people would not be so hard... but yea also the REQ system is cool but shouldn't be the entire basis of power weapons and vehicles in warzone perhaps have a few power weapons drops and some random vehicle drops... just  a suggestion...

 

Halo 5 seems to focus on one thing and one thing only HCS this is 343 new cream of the crop because its all about winning its no longer about just turning a video game on getting a warm and fuzzy and having fun nope the days of enjoying a game for simple entertainment is gone now you must apply and ensure you can handle the hours of play to be as good as the Pro Teams which they seem to throw in our face every time they can with hey check out the latest HCS this or that and dude there is another HCS and awe are making all our map HCS approved by moving thing and taking things out.

 

NOw with E3 around the corner I'm assuming some Halo Wars 2 footage will be showed but not till the end to ensure the audience stays tuned, also perhaps a halo 6 preview also and boy its going to be hyped like crazy ... oh hey and if you tune in your going to get a legendary Mongoose that can only be called in at REQ level 9 and will have a design that no one really cares about but it will offer faster speed and less protection but it will be a Mythic Mongoose because the Halo community is just dying for a Mythic REQ that does zero for you... or a helmet and armor that's going to be essentially the existing armors but what a different name to it ( deadeye armor = Fotus Armor no one will notice right.... Brand new armors 50 percent are just mix and match or reskinned armors).

 

OH but firefight is coming out soon OMG the excitement... but its not firefight firefight didn't have a timer it had lives... if you couldn't clear a wave within the certain amount of lives , and if all lives are lost the round is lost at that wave... also the intro for the love of god the intro was probably the laziest thing iv ever seen literally its the same warzone intro but this time 343 expects us to believe that you need 3 pelican drop ships to bring 8 Spartans in... what did one Spartan not play well with others and gets his own pelican ... assuming 4 Spartans to a pelican... what 343 couldn't make an animation where the 8 Spartans drop from the pelican and into battle I mean that would be more Epic... Perhaps it was just for the Beta and they will make a sweet intro specifically for Warzone Firefight but I'm not holding my breath because as 343 has shown time and time again they seem to not have much effort in design once they created a product I.E. the repeat armors with reskins and renamed, and the cheap firefight intro which is just the same warzone intro but with a new speech intro.

 

NOw knowing that this trend seems to be 343 tradition we get back to E3 and how they will hype **** up... do you buy into the hype or do you proceed with caution at this point ...

 

Meaning are you going to wait till halo wars 2 releases watch some videos see if the sotry is good and the gameplay is up to par or will you wait it ouot or avoid it at all cost.. and the same goes with halo 6 and future instalements.

 

Has 343 lost your faith in them at this point?

After being called entitled, nope. I wont bother with a dev that simply doesnt care about quality oftheir game or the community that follows them.