Halo What's missing from Halo 4.

[Insane54]

I don't buy that it's a business decision. Talking from a purely programming standpoint, I'd do the same thing (given a tough deadline and a lot of important content to push out)... simplifying options makes the rest of the work much easier, and its easy to say "well, nobody does this, so let's remove it and maybe add it back when we have time". Think about how, by adding One Flag, for example, they'd need to set up and balance One Flag not only itself, but for every map and every map in the future. Seeing as it's 343i's first product, I can understand wanting to focus on more important bits first, which is why I'm hopeful that we'll be given more options now that it's post-release. At this point, fixing custom games probably would just be code copied into H5, so it's both updating H4 and making H5 better. The "it's a business decision" is a possibility, but Microsoft wants Halo to succeed as a franchise, not just as a singular title. I don't think there's any business people who go "lets reduce custom options and then add them when the game is less relevant!" It's obviously a possibility, but I think they stick to things more like release dates than actual features. From my experience, features are left up to the people making the game (as the business people tend to understand they don't get it)

But that's all just my personal thoughts from what I've seen, I have no evidence to support this is what they're actually doing.

 

[GatorLaid]

I feel that if Halo would cut down on all the bells and whistles like 1,000,000 armor choices, custom load-outs and armor abilities and moved to a more simple style of play like in H3 or H2, the game would be much more bearable. You don't need custom load-outs with abilities when you actually put these things on the map.

 

[Insane54]

I feel that if Halo would cut down on all the bells and whistles like 1,000,000 armor choices, custom load-outs and armor abilities and moved to a more simple style of play like in H3 or H2, the game would be much more bearable. You don't need custom load-outs with abilities when you actually put these things on the map.

While that's a relevant thought (and similar to what much of the MLG community currently is dealing with), I think Halo is moving to new areas. Look at other titles which offer tons of options and possibilities, but they keep it balanced with constant tweaks and updates. Obviously its not so simple with Xbox's iron grip on updates, but I'm sure something similar can be worked out. For example, in LoL there are ~110 characters, with 4 abilities and 1 passive ability per a character, and some characters have more abilities. And it is skillful and well balanced. We're moving towards more choices and customization, and I think Halo should be going that direction... balancing is a difficult trick, but it is possible.

The big thing that I'm thinking will be a part of Halo 5, is the OPTION for the game to be simple like H2/H3. I'd love to see the game balanced with tons of options, with the ability to play it the old simple style.

 

[GatorLaid]

For a game like Halo to maintain any kind of weapon balance with that many options they would essentially have to create one gun with different skins. I think its easy to write off Halo's decline from top FPS on XBL as a product there being so many other for options games, but some of that has to do with the fact that Halo has essentially become those other games.

 

[Insane54]

For a game like Halo to maintain any kind of weapon balance with that many options they would essentially have to create one gun with different skins. I think its easy to write off Halo's decline from top FPS on XBL as a product there being so many other for options games, but some of that has to do with the fact that Halo has essentially become those other games.

Hm...what's a game that's somewhat similar to Halo with weapon balance and with lots of loadout guns...

Oh right, Counterstrike. Only one of the greatest games ever made, with supremely good balancing.

Yes, Halo has shields. I know it's not the same game, and I know it's not "just like Halo 2/3", but games evolve. There's a reason we're not sitting around playing Pong with glorified graphics. What I'm saying is that the game is going somewhere with options, because when we buy a game for $60+, we want to have some kind of involvement in that game, and we want a lot of variety. Personally of course I miss the old style, I played like 17,000 games of Halo 3. My involvement with Halo 3 (and subsequently with Forge Hub) became a huge part of my life. But that said, I want to see Halo succeed and evolve. I'm not sure H2/H3 style would sell anymore -- I highly doubt it. At the same time, I want the OPTION to play that old style of gameplay.

The only ways I see Halo evolving properly is a) properly balancing variety, adding more variety, adding custom options; or b) returning to its old style (probably similar to H3 with pickup items), properly balancing, and adding some kind of new innovation. If they had some kind of new innovative gameplay that really stuck out, I think it would enable the game to be played with a similar style to H2/3 and still be popular and relevant. Without any new improvements in the way its played, H2/H3/HR has all essentially been "plodding gameplay with pickups and some array of gimmicks". I *LOVE* the gameplay, but without anything new, we may as well just be playing Halo 2 PC!

 

[Titmar]

nostalgia is dangerous...

ive gone back and forth with how i feel about this sort of thing and ive come to settle on this conclusion:

what i want is customization options out the wazoo.
i dont want them to revert back to the old game. i want them to keep coming to us with new things. despite my occasional frustrations, i love all the new features.
but what i really want is the option to turn something on or off, to be able to tweak it.

halo's custom game community has always been immense, and it would stay immense forever if the customization options went as deep as the core of the earth

 

[Skyward Shoe]

Oh dear. I started trying to design the gametype for a custom Flood map last night. Silly me thinking I'm allowed to change settings on almost anything in Flood. I have to agree with Tit, I like that they are trying lot's of new things and pushing forward, but not giving us the option to change how we play in customs is frustrating. Reach was all about custom game options, so trying to make any complex gametypes in Halo 4 feels like going back into the Dark Ages. Hopefully 343i takes notice of this for future games, as I'm not really expecting it to come in a TU.

 

[Titmar]

Oh dear. I started trying to design the gametype for a custom Flood map last night. Silly me thinking I'm allowed to change settings on almost anything in Flood. I have to agree with Tit, I like that they are trying lot's of new things and pushing forward, but not giving us the option to change how we play in customs is frustrating. Reach was all about custom game options, so trying to make any complex gametypes in Halo 4 feels like going back into the Dark Ages. Hopefully 343i takes notice of this for future games, as I'm not really expecting it to come in a TU.

what are you trying to do?
i have that Flood Weapon Editor program and might be able to help, or you can also download it yourself.

 

[Tedium]

Just out of curiosity, how do you use third party software on an Xbox?

 

[Titmar]

its not on the xbox silly, you just transfer the gametypes to your profile thru usb

 

[Tedium]

Oh, didn't know you could!

 

[BigStack]

Hopefully the Halo 2 remake is a REAL remake and not a map pack for halo 4 like they did for the Halo 1 Anniversary. That was a insult to Halo 1. All they have to do is just redo the net code fix a few weapon glitches and Halo 2 remake will be forever the most play XBL game. I dont need Forge / Or any bells or customizations. Stick me in a game as a character and let me destroy. Halo 2 was a HARD game to play and I loved that. Time was spent playing the game and not attaching armor to your character. If 343i asks my opinion it would be to touch NOTHING add NOTHING and simply fix the weapon / networking / (other issues) and pump out the game. Id pay over 100 bucks for a TRUE Halo2 remake (And I know millions of the Halo 2 time span of players would) or I should say Re-Burn for New Xbox as I want no physical changes or additions to the game just patch up what we know was broken. (Net-code / bullet recognition / *you can fix the mod / standby like they have now) I know people I played with in Halo 2 / Halo 3 that no longer play halo due to how bad it has become but they would be back in a second if H2 was re-activated.

From:
A Competitive / ex MLG player

 

[Titmar]

Hopefully the Halo 2 remake is a REAL remake and not a map pack for halo 4 like they did for the Halo 1 Anniversary. That was a insult to Halo 1. All they have to do is just redo the net code fix a few weapon glitches and Halo 2 remake will be forever the most play XBL game. I dont need Forge / Or any bells or customizations. Stick me in a game as a character and let me destroy. Halo 2 was a HARD game to play and I loved that. Time was spent playing the game and not attaching armor to your character. If 343i asks my opinion it would be to touch NOTHING add NOTHING and simply fix the weapon / networking / (other issues) and pump out the game. Id pay over 100 bucks for a TRUE Halo2 remake (And I know millions of the Halo 2 time span of players would) or I should say Re-Burn for New Xbox as I want no physical changes or additions to the game just patch up what we know was broken. (Net-code / bullet recognition / *you can fix the mod / standby like they have now) I know people I played with in Halo 2 / Halo 3 that no longer play halo due to how bad it has become but they would be back in a second if H2 was re-activated.

From:
A Competitive / ex MLG player

and KEEP sword-cancelling!!! hreheheh

 

[BigStack]

and KEEP sword-cancelling!!! hreheheh

Ha id be ok with that it didn't effect any competitive aspect and was just neat.

 

[A Blue Icee]

Something I really wish would come back to Halo is an in-game clan feature, like in Halo 2. It always brought the opportunities for custom games, meeting new friends, full lobby match making, etc. Other than that I think most of the things that 343i did with H4 were steps in the right direction. I'm just wondering what they will implement to keep the series alive while pleasing hardcore Halo lovers. I truly believe they will learn from their mistakes and try to do everything in their power to make a good game. Also, I feel like most of the maps are too scattered, big, and one sided. Every time I'm on the red team on Exile, I know blue team has a better chance at winning with the OP Gaus Warthog. Oh.. and I can't forget better DLC. The first map pack was a major disappointment. SMALLER 2 SIDED MAPS PL0X.

 

[Titmar]

even though i didnt use the Clanmatch features very often, I thought it was awesome.
it would be excellent if that came back. I really don't see why it hasn't.

 

[captfrozen]

They made it so you cannot change the flood's weapons in game options. Before Halo 4 came out, I was really looking forward to giving the flood crazy weapons like incineration cannons. Just a little something that, if it was added, could have made the game just a tiny bit better

 

[TrickierHades]

Honestly, although I agree with many of your guys posts, I think the thing that made halo 4 and reach feel... different, is the character. Things like character speed, jump heights, etc... they always seemed the same in CE, 2 and 3. But different in these latest two. also I think this puts me at 117 posts.

 

[Vylex]

hopefully just hopefully there is a halo 2 remake like the halo CE remake with the exact same feel just updated graphics

 

[GatorLaid]

The newer Halo games have felt "clunkier" than the early games. You move slower, don't jump as high/far, and the second you get hit by a bullet you get stopped in your tracks. Maybe it's just Master Chief getting old.