halo-discussion

[sleek hatch]

The fall from social features need to be studied

[onyx latch]

I have a remarkably low level of patience for that sort of thing, tbh.

[onyx latch]

I mean, it actively has been studied

Hell, gaming studios engaging in a little bit of social sciences is a specific driver in the reduction of social features in games, alongside increasing technical capability and the ruthless crushing drive of capitalism.

And unfortunately, like any other service, discussing the issues with games changing makes you sound like a frothing lunatic about economic systems.

[sleek hatch]

I mean they could do a pre game lobby with no comms or text chat. So you can see all the players.

[onyx latch]

Still costs dev time.

[glacial tartan]

They did have this in MCC but removed it because people would leave if they saw the other team was higher ranked

[sleek hatch]

The brains of people who enjoy 4 the most need to be studied.

[rose gyro]

Must be a marvel huh

[glacial tartan]

However they left it where you can still see who is on the other team through the text chat rendering all of that development effort wasted

[onyx latch]

The brains of people who enjoy Reach the most need to be studied.

[sleek hatch]

I'd be happy af lol.

[sleek hatch]

I noticed that

[onyx latch]

It's a game that can be played at all times with all comers. Easiest thing to do is to maybe stop being weird about it.

[sleek hatch]

I mean everything costs time...

[onyx latch]

No matter what, the arithmetic falls as follows;

What system is worth adding and how much dev time do we need to not only add it, but to add it in right?

And unfortunately, anything beyond the most bare bones expression system for pregame lobbies has a nasty tendency to lose fights like that.

[glacial tartan]

I dont think adding things right has really ever been a concern

Or rather, we never see that concern materialize

[rose gyro]

Really?

[onyx latch]

More than you'd think, less than I'd like.

Wanting to do something right also doesn't mean that the want is a need or even an agreeable state.

[glacial tartan]

Look at MCCs ban system which was way too heavy handed, the XP system that just...stops updating at a certain point. The shoehorning of the weird stance screens when there are other major issues. IDK

Not saying there arent good intentions, but yeah 😄

[onyx latch]

I've long assumed that the stance screen was added for some measure of accolade like how Infinite shows you the winning team on a loss.

It is an enjoyed addition according to the type of person who gives feedback, I assume.

[glacial tartan]

But how on earth was that development cost justified considering all of the other major issues plaguing MCC for many years by that point

[onyx latch]

Feedback's feedback and more was likely planned then shelved.

As it was a back-end Unreal Engine UI thing, it likely was also on the list of more trivial things to add.

[glacial tartan]

Well years of development followed, MCC is 10 years old, and H2 co-op campaign still crashes if one person drives too fast - my point being, yeah its all over the place in terms of decision making / quality.

[onyx latch]

Look, do you want the short answer, or the long answer? Neither is very satisfying or fun.

[vale swallow]

It's hard to make video games nowadays

[onyx latch]

MCC being the beast it is, and understanding the undertaking it poses by being the way it is, goes a long way towards getting why the application of tech onto its systems is best described as helter-skelter and bipolar.

At best every member of MCC's team needed some degree of understanding of at least three major systems spread across at least two engines.

This on top of needing to do digital archeology with systems that may not be in English, let alone intact, considering the pipe dream of adding stuff from a Russian game to Halo MCC.

The fact that the score screen was one of the most notable completely new additions at the time makes a lot of sense considering it was added to the Unreal Engine backend, because as the most easily recruited for engine it's the easiest to get working when it comes to new content.

[sleek hatch]

Since we love bungie games... let's play destiny 2.

[craggy wharf]

I'll pass.

[rose gyro]

Seriously can’t see how anyone can look at Halo 5’s gameplay and not think that’s Halo

[muted beacon]

Don't fall for it

[sleek hatch]

Not worth your time mates

[rose gyro]

All it does is add sprinting, a thruster system, and Req system. The latter two aren’t perfect but it’s still Halo

[sleek hatch]

Don't forget micro-transactions

[rose gyro]

That’s the Req system

[craggy wharf]

Hilarious. Anything else?

[rose gyro]

Literally just Halo with enhanced gameplay and a faulty Req system

Nope that’s it. Just a certified Halo game not accepted by its fanbase for some inane reason.

[sleek hatch]

Why do you think the fan base doesn't accept it?

[rose gyro]

Because they can’t let go of the past and don’t like anything that’s deviates from the classic design

They didn’t like Reach when it came out because it was different, didn’t like 4 and 5 because they were different, and they still didn’t like Infinite because it was different. Low and behold the remake gets hated for the smallest of differences

[craggy wharf]

Their loss. Least some moved on.

[rose gyro]

Hard to imagine the fanbase moving on when they’ll only accept something that just throws out everything 4 and 5 introduced to try and be as nostalgic as possible

[craggy wharf]

I could discuss that further but I'd rather not. That kind of debate would last hours since it goes to nostalgia itself.

I'm just happy we can relive Halo on MCC on PC through Steam. I know for Steam all that's left is Wars 2 and 5 but maybe one day. And if CE (2026) pulls it off, Halo can expand further beyond.

[olive rover]

I'm just hoping the next mainline entry to the series is good

I would happy if the CE remake turned out well but I'm more concerned about whether or not the next regular Halo game is good

Halo 5 was probably the low point of the series so I'm hoping we can stray far away from that level and hopfully have a Halo game that's worth at least a 7/10 for me

[onyx latch]

🙄

Begging people to say something rooted in reality at least once.

[onyx latch]

Crazy that, apparently bringing back competitive relevance, giving a studio reason to focus on digital preservation to a start through MCC, and still managing to be a critically high-rated and financially well-selling game wasn't good enough for some people, which is patently ridiculous.

[short flower]

Either remove catch from firefight or tone it down. Sick of the Dynamo spam from skimmers.

Perfection revoked because of them.

[onyx latch]

:>

[rose gyro]

Halo 5 was not bad. The campaign and microtransactions were bad but the other stuff 5 offered was good

[onyx latch]

Like, 5 getting the 'low point' treatment is straight up divorced from reality.

[olive rover]

Ahhh I guess I’m just looking at it from a campaign perspective since that’s what I care about the most

[onyx latch]

If we're going off what it actually managed to do, Reach is the low point of the franchise.

[onyx latch]

I mean, I got fighting words for that one too lmao

[rose gyro]

The classic trilogy campaigns are overrated. 5’s campaign is the bleeding weak point of the game it is. And Reach actually lives up to its hype

[onyx latch]

From a realistic perspective it's like a damn shaving cut.

[short flower]

I’m on normal btw, and the damage those dynamo grenades can do is so extreme.

[rose gyro]

Ok what?

[onyx latch]

Which is a big deal if you're hemophobic.

[rose gyro]

Infinite?

[onyx latch]

I mean I don't necessarily agree that the dynamo is that beefy but

It is still very annoying tbf

[sleek hatch]

How were 4 and 5 nostalgic?

[short flower]

Infinite firefight.

[rose gyro]

They weren’t. Basically everything from 4 and 5 was thrown out for the sake of being nostalgic to the classics

[rose gyro]

That stuff was so boring when I played it. Like Warzone but smaller and less chaotic

It was just easy too

[sleek hatch]

Warzone was so cool.

One of the best ideas in Halo ever.

[rose gyro]

Recording whether you took down a boss or not though was broken at times

I’d deal a lot of damage to the boss, die, and then seconds after my death the boss dies and it doesn’t count to my score

[celest heron]

woof. This is such a tired shallow criticism. Most people can be open to new things as long as they compliment the gameplay. If you actually look into the reasons why people dislike stuff, it's not just because 'it's different' (which comes off as dismissive), but most of the stuff I've seen is due to how some things affect gameplay and map design, map/weapon balance, how the maps play, the amount of gametypes and then probly some personal things like maybe they don't like how the UI looks or some of the armor for example.
Then you have the campaign side which could be several things as well, but overall it's usually a combination of numerous things which isn't always because it's just something new.

[stoic plover]

Reach is still the best story in Halo

[solid canopy]

Agree to disagree

EU stuff not withstanding, 2, ODST, and 4 take the cake for me

[stoic plover]

Best story, not game

as a game it's kinda in the middle. 3 was fun cause you could do kinda whatever

2 was way too brutally difficult to actually be fun

[solid canopy]

Only on legendary

[stoic plover]

1 is a good time overall. But shows its age

[solid canopy]

It is pretty balanced on Easy-Heroic

[stoic plover]

Yeah I prettymuch only come back once or twice a year to beat them on legendary

Reach showed what they seemingly wanted Halo to kinda be like the best. Humanity was losing, and losing badly. And Reach definetly shows that the best.

The great schism in 2 was really neat tho. 3 was great because it had the comeback of humanity

Beyond 3 the story really starts to lose it's edge imo. 4 was okay, though once again suffered from extremely random difficulty spikes

5 was...just bad and Infinite was a story that had it's moments.

[onyx latch]

It isn't.

It's better than 3 but that's damning with faint praise.

Halo reach is a story riven through with poor choices of motivation and poor character direction, leaded down even further by a doomed setting and no real arc that actually operates in a consistent fashion with the story it wants to tell. The best elements are rotten and degraded due to being done out of a misbegotten desire to be taken seriously.

[solid canopy]

Eh I don't hate it

Not my all time favorite, but it is solid

It runs more off of vibes than plot but does enough to not be terrible

Helps that Reach is a pretty polished/uncompromised game

Anyway

I keep trying to let it grow on me but I don't think I can get into the UNSC asthetic of the Reclaimer era

Or well, ig more broadly, "humanity"

There are still designs I like, but as a whole it just doesn't quite do it for me

Not especially helpful that I don't care for the base design style for human structures that they went with

(Think stuff like the bases in Warzone or structures on Meridian)

[left snow]

I quite enjoyed Reach. Story and characters. They did enough to make me care.

I probably enjoyed that small story arc more than Halo 1-3. Which was pleasing - but seemed stretched a bit thin (but still epic for a video game at the time).

Halo 4 and 5 just got confusing. I still probably couldn't tell you what happened in any degree of detail (ten plus years down the track).

Which is probably why, as a huge Halo fan who isn't overly focused on lore, I found Infinite's soft reboot refreshing.

[cyan forum]

Reach is kinda like Star Wars Rogue One, theyre fantastic war documentaries but not at all the deep character driven stories they both set out to be

Tho in the case of Reach, i dont think it needed to be, at least not be as melodramatic as halo 4 and 5, but i wouldve liked a little bit more flavor from noble team's characters like we got from the trilogy and its own cast. Ironically enough, when you stare at them and trigger their idle dialogue, theyre actually pretty funny to listen to

[solid canopy]

Reach has some great lines

I kind of wish Bungie kept their original idea of there being a civilian scientist along side Noble team, to help flesh them out a bit

But at the same time, juggling so many characters is a tricky thing to do (see: Halo 5)

[solid canopy]

I think the one Reclaimer saga redesign that I truly love as a whole is the Covenant in Halo 5

With the exception of the faces of the Elites and Grunt's faces

But other than that, excellent designs

A vast improvement over Halo 4's Covenant designs

The weapons, vehicles, armors, creature designs, ect. all really well done

The Reclaimer-era take on the Jackal is a design I will love till the day I die. Such an approprately gnarly look for them. Also the way the energy shields look in Halo 5 is gorgeous

The pulsating waves on the crisp blue shield 👌

[civic sundial]

The irony here is the faces of the Elites in Halo 4 and 5 are basically just the Halo 3 Elite faces but with a higher poly count and higher quality textures

[solid canopy]

There are some simularites, I still do not care for how small the face of the Elites are nor how the upper mandibles are so high on the face

If I am being totally honest, Halo Infinite has the best Elite face imo

I do like the majority of the Halo 4/5 design for the Elites. The rough skin, sharp dangly fingers, and added sense of scale

I do also like the armors as their own thing, though I'd like it if they added a bit more detail to the abdomen portion of the armor and kept the original or Issac Hannaford armors for the Swords of Sanghelios

[cyan forum]

Oh yeah halo infinites elites are near perfection. Tho they do look a little toyish sometimes but i think thats because of the lighting. Also i still hate the heck out of their current voices, theyre just way too low

[cyan forum]

I remember me and a friend talked about how cool it wouldve been to actually encounter insurrectionists at the beginning of the game like noble team originally thought. But like, actually be forced to work with them when the covenant attack and stuff, really show how their presence forces them to put aside their differences

Also at least half of the game shouldve been dedicated to delivering cortana to the PoA. Similarly to the previously mentioned rogue one, it wouldve been tragic losing team members one by one as they pass on cortana to the next until its just noble 6 left standing as the final delivery guy

[true peak]

The main thing I like about the human art-style is some of the human towers we see (Halo 4 map Vertigo, a Warzone map or two) that seem like predecessors to the Forerunners' beam towers, just playing up the idea that humanity's following their footsteps

[olive rover]

Got myself a Halo 3 profile background for 5c

[timid sphinx]

Do yall think halo 5 will ever come to pc, its one of my favourite games oat but I cant justify buying an Xbox one just to play it

[celest depot]

You can buy it on the Xbox store if you got a Windows PC

also why tf would you play Halo 5 of all games man

[timid sphinx]

Oh wait fr?? I'll see if i can play it (i can barely run halo 2 anniversary)

[olive rover]

Since when I can't find it

[olive rover]

Probably best you don't get the game then if your pc can't even run Halo 2 anniv

[timid sphinx]

Had Catholic helicopter parents growing up who thought guns were the work of the devil, so all i had was an insanely locked down xbox one with animal tycoon and forza, but when halo 5 released my buddy snuck me a disc so it was the first fps I ever played

[celest depot]

Ahh halo 5 forge is

[timid sphinx]

Can't even run it anymore, tried overclocking my vram and ive bricked the mcc 😭

Wait nevermind its working, I can hear the hairdryer trying to escape my laptop

[celest depot]

My bad

[olive rover]

Yeah maybe wait and upgrade your pc parts first

[timid sphinx]

Yeah im trying to get a new motherboard but I cant find one with the gpu i want

Im getting 22fps with my gpu at 99% usage using all its vram, this is purgatory 💔

[timid sphinx]

Managed to get a smooth 60fps if I turn on performance mode and drop my game to 60% res

[valid crown]

I haven’t played MCC in a few years. Came back recently. Just getting absolutely destroyed and I don’t know why. Losing slayer games consistently by 20-30 points. Am I just that bad? I feel like my team should have one decent player. It’s been 90% of games in the last few days.

[civic sundial]

Your skills are rusty from not playing it in a few years

[plucky flicker]

I think Halo TV show elite face takes that place.

[eternal kelp]

I can’t play Halo 2 Anniversary campaign

It crashes when trying to start a new game

Nvm, I fixed it. Have to clear my data cache

[olive rover]

Any advice to getting good at mcc slayer?

I’m mainly play Halo 3 slayer

[inland minnow]

in the future, it's better to post things like this in #1075989764026675210 - that forum is dedicated to community based technical questions; posts like yours are more likely to get seen there

[eternal kelp]

Alright. But I got it all figured out now

[rose gyro]

It’s got Warzone and better gameplay

[rose gyro]

So basically because it’s different. They don’t like it because it’s not like what came before, they only want stuff that works like older games and don’t change anything significantly

[rose gyro]

Except sprint or duel wield weapons last I checked

[plush bridge]

I wish Halo 5 came to pc

[rose gyro]

Imagine the mods

[plush bridge]

tbh i don't use mods for any game

[magic loom]

Id would like to see them attempt to make another Halo that does have dual wield back, playable elites, flood returning and have your spartan be part of the story like how Reach did it

[rose gyro]

I wouldn’t want the Flood to return. Never like it when franchises deal with some threat, only for it to make a return down the line for some convoluted reason or another. Have enough of that with comics

[magic loom]

Maybe try make a halo without sprint for once, id like to see them try stuff like that

[rose gyro]

I tried 4 Halo games without sprint, I’m glad we’re done with that nonsense

[magic loom]

it depends on the level design and hows maps are made really

Halo 1 I never felt the need to rush need to spriint through levels they felt very contained

[rose gyro]

Yeah and even then, always felt like I was moving too slow during the classic trilogy and hated how sprint was relegated to a armor power of all things in Reach

CE just frustrated and annoyed me practically the whole time I played it

[magic loom]

Yeah I never really saw a point to having sprint in reach, would of just increased the players normal speed by at least 110% by default

[rose gyro]

I would’ve made sprint a toggle. Increasing player speed is just a non-solution

[magic loom]

Halo 1 annoyed me with so many copy and pasted levels, Library I normally get bored

And fall damage what moron came up with that ill never know

Aside from those things game is pretty solid

[rose gyro]

Sprint exists as a on and off mechanic for a reason. It controls how fast a player can go in a easy to manage way rather than forcing them to have to constantly measure how far they need to push the joystick

Make the base speed as fast as sprint and you have a problem

[magic loom]

Only issues sprint I noticed is it makes the games campaign too easy in many ways. You can just sprint past most encounters skipping them with little to know difficulty

[rose gyro]

I run past encounters in the original trilogy cause I got tired off fighting the enemies and dealing with the boring gameplay

I felt so drained at the end of each level in CE and half of 2

[magic loom]

I didnt feel like that at all in halo 2 except for one moment

That long underground road part

[rose gyro]

The early part of 2 was just tiring and slow

I just remember dealing with waves of the same enemies coming at me over and over at the start of the second level and nothing interesting was happening

[magic loom]

thats very much every Halo, they do add to the AI but Halo 4 was where it did annoy me the most

[plucky flicker]

Give them spotlight please: https://youtu.be/TbyGKvc9q0A?si=h_sIgzOcvOqQ1FyH

This was made 3 years ago, but I don't think it was ever featured in Halo Spotlight or got any recognition from the fanbase.

[rose gyro]

Halo 4 was boring at the start but it got better over time with better layouts and the need to keep moving

The classic trilogy was just boring to decent to play through

It was just so slow, floaty, and basic

[sleek hatch]

I only want to see it return in the remakes for sure.

[magic loom]

people have complained about not feeling like a super soldiers in halo

halo 1,2 and 3 being real never really felt like one unless I was dual wielding and the punching sound and your height

[rose gyro]

Remakes is fine. It’s literally just the stuff they were already in

The problem is when it’s Halo 7 and suddenly the Flood is back because a little bit of it conveniently survived and allowed them to come back and made everything from Halo 3 pointless

[magic loom]

AI in halo I think does need to do far much more its just not acceptable anymore to me

[rose gyro]

Exactly. I felt like a super soldier in 4 and 5 which the gameplay changes

[magic loom]

Why cant I tear a hunters arm off and use as a weapon? why cant I still not use a jackalshield?

[rose gyro]

Have you played F.E.A.R.?

[magic loom]

legendary games I still gotta play fear one day

[sleek hatch]

I totally agree with you

[magic loom]

I hear alot of good things about fear

[rose gyro]

F.E.A.R. Is famous for its enemy ai design

They actually adapt when fighting you

[sleek hatch]

There are hunter weapons and its in the lore.

[rose gyro]

Change tactics, and do stuff like radio each other during stealth segments and if one doesn’t report in, others are made alert and put up their guard

[rose gyro]

Yeah but you can’t use them in the classic trilogy

[sleek hatch]

Halo has always had awesome AI. Only some games felt like the enemies were just 3D and from the old 90s shooters like doom.

[rose gyro]

You can REQ a Hunters gun in 5 though

[rose gyro]

The ai was just decent. The most impressive thing they do is dodge from time to time and that’s it

[sleek hatch]

It was Halo 5.

[magic loom]

Books are cool but they dont add much the games in my eyes, lore wise awesome but its not in the game

[sleek hatch]

What about before they notice you and the actions they do before you engage them?

[rose gyro]

Yeah, I said that. You can REQ a hunters gun in 5 and even pick it up off the ground if I remember correctly

[rose gyro]

They just patrolled, it’s hardly crazy compared to other games

[sleek hatch]

I've only read 2 books but you can find most of the lore in the game.

[magic loom]

thats true the hunter arm was in halo 5 but would of made more sense if it was something get from a dead hunter or integrated into the game properly

[rose gyro]

That’s the annoying thing. The lore talks about Spartans apparently always having the thruster system we see in 5 but we just conveniently never see it in gameplay or cutscenes until like 4 and 5.

To me it just sounds like the books making plot holes

[sleek hatch]

What about when you see them doing certain things like talking to enemies, holding marines hostage, they actually do a lot more than patrol. 343 kind of went away from this, but in Reach you can see elites shooting bodies, moving away getting in and out of ghosts, grunts doing the same, elites stop and talk to grunts or other elites, etc...

[rose gyro]

I think you can pick it up from a dead hunter though

[magic loom]

They brought the didact back in the books, that would been a really awesome mission in halo 4

[sleek hatch]

Does it really? What books talk about it?

[rose gyro]

I remember the hostage marine thing but the others just are like, ok. It’s the same sort of patrol stuff you can find in games

[magic loom]

nope you cannot pick hunter arms from dead hunters in halo 5

[sleek hatch]

Yeah it is a random find

[magic loom]

I cant be mad at you wanting sprint in halo, campaign enemy wise? yeah they barely do ever anything or interesting with the enemies

halo infinite brought the brutes back and yet we dont have their basic weapons like the spiker, brute shot, proweler, mauler

[sleek hatch]

I think sprint is fine. The problem is how many times they change it.

[rose gyro]

I don’t read the books, a guy just told me that the thrusters were always a thing when I complained about the back thrusters being removed from the Mjolnir design in Infinite because of how dumb that is. You don’t just make an improvement like adding thrusters to Mjolnir armor, especially when making something like the back pillars actually have a purpose now by acting as back thrusters, only to remove it in the next design. Now it’s just back to these weird pillars that don’t do anything but apparently they’re still thrusters somehow

[magic loom]

I dont HALO think has much of an identity at this point so it can morph into something completely new just like how 5 did

[sleek hatch]

I am ok with infinite sprint.
I would argue clamber is more game breaking unless you add ways to have a jumping skill gap.

[sleek hatch]

I don't remember them in the 2 books I read but now I kind of want to read the books.

[rose gyro]

Well 5 had additional mechanics to sprinting but that’s all gone in infinite and sprint just feels… idk, ok in that game

[magic loom]

Sprint in infinite was just made trivial, barely speeds you up

[sleek hatch]

Yes it did and players weren't a fan of 2 of them.
Sliding and thrust were super loved.

[rose gyro]

That’s it

[sleek hatch]

It allows another mechanic though.

[magic loom]

sliding?

[rose gyro]

It felt like I wasn’t moving any faster. It was like the smallest speed increase

[rose gyro]

The shoulder charge and ground slam could’ve been better done

[sleek hatch]

You can curb slide, ramp slide, slide, sprint strafe etc.
If you ever get bored you should try a parkour map from Halo Infinite.

[rose gyro]

The dodge thrust also needed a better UI design

[rose gyro]

So basically a bunch of slides and a strafe

[magic loom]

When I play infinite I can get they are trying to make it like halo 1, 2 and 3

[rose gyro]

Which is why I didn’t like it

[sleek hatch]

If infinite legit had everything from 5 except for ground pound, spartan charge, the floating in air ADS, and reach's social features... At the beginning, I think the game would have been far more loved and would have a better population.

[sleek hatch]

They tried to make it like 3.
CE, 2, and 3 while they are similar have major differences.

[rose gyro]

Ground pound and Spartan charge have their moments in 5, but they’re just not super viable. Requires too much of a charge time

[magic loom]

A majority of fans wanted halo to go back to its roots again, infinite did that in many ways did it succeeded? I think they failed miserably at it but respect what they tried to do in some ways

[rose gyro]

The artstyle (Infinite) was also just a major disappointment

[sleek hatch]

I think one of the biggest think holding Halo back is social features and bad launches.

[sleek hatch]

I like some of the art but also don't.
What are your thoughts on it?

[rose gyro]

Here’s the thing, I’ve seen Halo’s roots and was disappointed so what does that say when I hear about them returning to those roots

[sleek hatch]

How long did you play the older Halos for and what exactly did you not like?

[magic loom]

That thinking is why we are here today, halo is trying to cater to everybody by trying to be everything

they added skyrim armor to halo 3

[rose gyro]

The armor looks plain. Especially the boots for stuff like the mark 7 and Gen 3. It just looks so plain, boxy/blocky, and cumbersome I question how you can really move in them.

The original 343 style emphasized making armor that was user friendly from putting the armor on and taking it off to how Spartans can move in it

[sleek hatch]

A game made for everyone, is a game made for no one.
The devs should make a Halo game they want to play. Thats what bungie did and look how successful it was.

[magic loom]

Looking at early halo infinite footage and concept design, it was just halo 5 again. they wanted to finish their art piece, their artstyle and story

[sleek hatch]

All the boots look the same. I do like infinites armor a lot, but some parts wetr questionable like the massive chest, and below the waist being so boring.
Halo 3 you could vastly change the legs.

[magic loom]

im annoyed they never added an ability to let us customize, damage detail, both wrist and waist customization

one of the reach chests are missing and emiles is missing his grenade belt

[rose gyro]

I spent a week just playing their campaigns with lots of trial and error. The original trilogy was just slow, the health pack system was thankfully dropped after CE, the lack of a sprint made me annoyed I couldn’t move faster when moving at a speed that comes off as if begging me to use sprint, the Artstyles for the USNC was just really generic military looking as if it was just the 21st century military but in space with Master Chief looking like he wore generic or cheap armor most of the time. “Boss fights” were uninteresting cause of shoddy mechanics

[magic loom]

They did mark V B is sloppy way

[rose gyro]

Wish I got that instead then

[rose gyro]

You can imagine my dissappointment when they added the Halo 4/5 “armors” to the game

They were just attachments and overall looked like downgrades to their 4/5 counterparts

[magic loom]

Oh no....yeah halo 5 armors in infinite dont even compare

They should of made those cores just not pieces XD

[rose gyro]

Locke’s armor design doesn’t mesh with the mark 7 at all

It’s basically like trying to fit a circle into a square

[magic loom]

343 artstyle and bungie I think dont work at all

[sleek hatch]

Some of them looked good. They did Fred dirty.

[rose gyro]

His entire design in 5 is supposed to be sleek and curvy. That’s the entire basis of his design. So imagine just taking parts of that and trying to just stick it on a more blocky armor design

[magic loom]

I always disliked freds armor in 5 he just looked like a beefier chief and blue

[rose gyro]

He did look pretty beefy and cool. Especially liked the helmet

[magic loom]

freds concept art design holy hell levels of awesome and he kept his knives thats important

[wooden briar]

@fringe hedge

[magic loom]

has anyone seen fred concept design? it was so good someone did a 3D model for it

https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/f0fza4/halo_5_concept_art_of_fred104_by_kory_hubbell/#lightbox

[rose gyro]

Someone made art of a better merged artstyle of the 343 and Bungie styles

[fringe hedge]

GAH IM AWAKE I SWEAR

[rose gyro]

Stuff like keeping the more muscular body suit design, keeping the armor sleeker than boxy like 343 while having Bungie armor designs

[fringe hedge]

Okay buddy

[magic loom]

Ive seen tons of those some are really nice

[sleek hatch]

What about multiplayer?
It sounds like you are a new gen fps player.
A lot of kids grew up with sprint so it is wild to play without, to them the game feels slow, but if you play with higher level players... the game moves sooo fast.
I can't find games in infinite anymore, so I switched to Halo 3 on MCC. I have been loving it. The gameplay feels rewarding to me.
I love learning the jumps and I find games pretty fast.
Just wish I could find comp games.

[fringe hedge]

Clearly you don’t understand peak and that’s okay because it’s Christmas Eve and I am feeling forgiving

[magic loom]

Looks like crap to me sorry bud

[fringe hedge]

It’s beta Fred

Oh I love you Fred don’t listen to them they don’t understand you

[rose gyro]

I played CE multiplayer in high school with classmates because someone had a copy of the game on a hard drive that they’d share to classmates in school. During study hall we’d just grab some laptops, boot up the game, and use a private lobby code to have some matches

The gameplay was decent to ok but it’s mainly cause we just tried sniping each other the whole time while screwing with each other

[magic loom]

sounds like alot of fun

[rose gyro]

Even back then, I remembered it feeling weird playing a game so floaty and slow

Especially because the floaty ness was a risk factor in those sniper matches

[magic loom]

halo 1s jumping was awful, was a weird delay or something

[sleek hatch]

Maybe we have different definitions, but I don't remember CE feeling floaty when I played it on a pc at my library.

[rose gyro]

The problem still lies in that movement mechanics are so basic and simple so matches are kind of just us trying to jump around each other and shoot each other

[boreal phoenix]

hi guys

[magic loom]

yo hows it going

[rose gyro]

5 having the dash and other stuff made encounters more pulse pounding because we’d use thrusters to try and dodge around or get close and melee, etc.

[boreal phoenix]

i just foundout this server existed

[magic loom]

noice

[rose gyro]

3 doesn’t feel like that much of an improvement over the previous games

[boreal phoenix]

i get plasma sword halo elite flash backs

[sleek hatch]

Remember the game was out in 2001 and redefined gaming.

[rose gyro]

Definitely cool looking helmet design

[magic loom]

I got bored with 5s campaign just too much of the same promeath enemies I couldnt stand it.

[rose gyro]

Yeah because it was one of the first 3D fps shooters or something

[fringe hedge]

Thank you wizardwolf1020

[rose gyro]

I turned off my brain for 5’s campaign at points

Just paid attention to gameplay and cool action scenes

[rose gyro]

4 at least mixed Covenant and Prometheans at times during encounters

In the campaign

[magic loom]

that was a cool mixup I did like but wish there was more

thats always been the issue ive had with every halo they never feel finished

[rose gyro]

Yeah, though obviously it kind of ended when the Created became a thing. Not like that matters though cause Infinite threw out the Created plot line and Prometheans because we just HAVE to become classic Halo again after all right?

[magic loom]

thats a real shame I wanted to see what the created would of been like

[rose gyro]

Honestly I question if 343 even acknowledges and respects it’s own original ideas and work anymore with how lazy they handled the 4/5 armor in Infinite

[magic loom]

banished got me just as excited but even then they just were not good enough to feel like new faction to me

[rose gyro]

They’re literally just the Covenant in dark armor

[magic loom]

I dislike halo 5 armor but it should be been an armor core you could of unlocked, now players get the full actual armor

the whole core system just didnt do enough. wheres the odst core at? wheres halo 5s core, wheres halo 3s core?

[rose gyro]

Like it’d be one thing if it was just Brutes with maybe Jackals, Grunts, and Drones. Something you don’t see promoted often with the normal Covenant, but no it’s literally just the Covenant enemies under a different banner

[sleek hatch]

I like 3 and CE shooting the most. I like the gap in leading shots.
The equipment is fun and I really enjoy 3s sniper.
10 solid maps
The skill jumps are nice.
I liked some of 2's button combos but wasn't a big fan of some.
Like the 2 burst.
3 was almost perfect in my opinion but everyone values different things.

[rose gyro]

What’s worse is that they added lame cores like a hazmat core

[rose gyro]

3 just didn’t feel that different from the previous 2 other than lacking 2’s duel wield

[magic loom]

I have no problem with the chimera and those other ones but add ones people would genrally want first then add all that chimera stuff later of something

[rose gyro]

I just don’t understand the purpose of adding a core like the hazmat one which clearly came before something like the Mark 4 armor

That time could’ve been spent adding the Gen 2 armor core instead but what we got were like 2-3 cores that look lame

[magic loom]

halo lore wise I dont know how to tackle that at this point I have such low standards for the games I couldnt even care about the universe as much now

[sleek hatch]

Wym lacking 2s dual wield?

[rose gyro]

I just remember not being able to hold two guns at once

[sleek hatch]

Should go play it... cause you can

[magic loom]

I do miss dual though alot, had so many situations in firefight where it would of been helpful

[rose gyro]

I played it and just don’t remember using it. If it was accessible I would’ve used it

Also the scarab “boss” in 3, during I think New Mombasa, is truly awful design

[magic loom]

its been fun talking i gotta work on my stuff see you all later

[sleek hatch]

What is bad about it?

Do you think 2 did it better?

[rose gyro]

You need to get on its back and you’re basically directed to use the cranes to get up high enough to reach it. Well the problem is that it never wants to be close enough for me to make the Jump while also always attacking me when it spots me up there. And the times where I do jump to get on, it moves at the last moment and I end up falling to the ground

2 made sure that if you are going to get on the scarab, you stay at a height above it mostly while it moves along a singular path

[sleek hatch]

A lot players praise the scarabs in H3.

[solid canopy]

I can't stand the Halo 2 Scarab

It is cool the first time you play it, but it is so highly scripted that it lacks any depth on a replay

Really it is kind of a bigger issue I have with Outskirts and Metropolis being such linear levels

Halo 3 makes the Scarab encounter an actual encounter

There are multiple ways to approch it, all of which are supported by the level design

[celest heron]

wow, you completely missed the points that I was saying. it's alright though cause I doubt they would've influenced your opinion anyway.

[sleek hatch]

One could hope they don't let the tiktok addicts influence them.

[rose gyro]

They’re ok in levels other than new Mombasa because you have stuff like air vehicles and tanks to help

[rose gyro]

That’s basically what you said though

[celest heron]

funny thing is, most of the people who are purists left a long time ago. the ones still playing might not like certain things, but they're still playing the newer games.

[rose gyro]

And yet you got people complaining about the remake changing the auto rifle ammo counter from 60, supposedly reusing assets from Infinite, changing the armor of the marines, having sprint as an option, making the wardhog a four seater, adding Blume effects to guns

[sleek hatch]

The purists still play CE, 2, or 3 only.
There are more players on CE, 2 or 3 alone than Infinite

[rose gyro]

Well Infinite was designed as live service basically. Live service can only live as long as it receives updates

[sleek hatch]

I don't see how that matters lol

[celest heron]

no, your posts implied original people didn't like something only because it's new (different) which is a shallow way to view things if true and a sweeping generalization. What I said was there are valid gameplay reasons for why someone might not like something not just because it's new. But if the new thing complimented the gameplay, most people would likely be open to it.

[rose gyro]

It matters. The MCC has players work to earn points to unlock armor pieces and sets where as Infinite basically has all of its progression tied to seasons you purchase and bundles. Live service requires constant updates to keep investment and once it all stops the game basically just dies

[rose gyro]

Except everything in 4 and 5 (minus the team mechanics) were designed to compliment the core Halo gameplay

[celest heron]

I'd argue it's ce only, lol.

[sleek hatch]

The purists don't play MCC. They play on an OG xbox, 360, or through a PC mod so it feels 1:1.

[rose gyro]

Xbox 360 no longer gets support

Like it’s stores have closed down and everything

[sleek hatch]

Fan made servers.

[rose gyro]

It’s Xbox 360, not PC

[celest heron]

tell me how h4 ordnance drops balance gameplay.

[rose gyro]

Just like how console players have tough luck when it comes to games like Battleborn being shut down except PC players can use mods and private servers to still play the game

[sleek hatch]

It still works mate

I do think more play on the pc port mod.

[rose gyro]

That’s such a small mechanic, no different than finding things in the map

[celest heron]

lmao

[sleek hatch]

Bro doesn't even know what a Halo game is at this point.

[celest heron]

okay, thank you for showing me you have no idea what you're talking about related to mp. have a good day.

[sleek hatch]

Or arena shooter to be exact

[rose gyro]

I know what a Halo game is and I was disappointed. Any additions or changes are improvements

[rose gyro]

Other mps fps shooters have that system

[sleek hatch]

Then why keep playing Halo?

[sleek hatch]

Arena Shooter's do not

[rose gyro]

I play Halo 5. I like the world potential but it’s held down by a outdated artstyle and gameplay

5 was the closest to actually realizing those things with its artstyle and gameplay

[sleek hatch]

I can see gameplay, but I never liked the art style or audio really.

[rose gyro]

UNSC actually looks like a sci-fi faction in that artstyle with Spartans looking like space warriors rather than cheap toys

[sleek hatch]

Thoughts on audio?

[rose gyro]

It’s fine. Really no opinion one way or that other

[celest heron]

sorry, I should've said personal ordnance drops to be more specific, but I suspect it to be a similar outcome. anyway, I thought h5 armors looked too plasticy if that's a word.

[rose gyro]

Bungie’s armor looked cheap while 5’s is fine if some armor could be added in some areas

[sleek hatch]

What game had the best audio and the worst in your opinion?

[rose gyro]

As well as too much armor just being repeats of the same thing but on different rarities

[rose gyro]

If anything. Bungie’s armor looked more plastic and fake because of how toy like it looked

[rose gyro]

CE likely has the worst with it being between Reach and 4 depending on some things

[sleek hatch]

4 has the worst? Or the best?

[rose gyro]

Between Reach and 4 for best

[sleek hatch]

I am talking footsteps, water, guns, melee, everything

[sleek hatch]

Everything I need to know. From that one sentence lol.

[rose gyro]

The Prometheans sounded really good in 4 along with some other things while Reach did good with its SFX for war zones

[celest heron]

I think bungie might have been limited with 1 and 2 at least due to the hardware. I liked reach's armor variants.

[rose gyro]

Reach is what the classic trilogy should’ve looked like

The armor actually looked like armor

It wasn’t so colorful or clean or safe looking

[sleek hatch]

You are 2 for 100 right now.

[civic sundial]

Reach was trying too hard to be gritty, meaning everything looks way too dirty

[rose gyro]

Looked the right amount of dirty to me. Especially compared to how colorful and clean the classic games and Infinite looked

[civic sundial]

Halo being more colourful is a good thing, it helps it stand out next to the other games

Like, especially in the 2000s when lots of games started going for the gritty look, Halo being colourful was a good thing

[onyx latch]

We doing this again

It's funny that Reach directly informed how Halo 4 elites ended up looking

[celest heron]

needs a good balance. like h2 didn't really age well with all that tan and brown color, but I liked how it made the forerunner structures feel ancient.

[onyx latch]

Eh, I prefer the modern interpretation of Forerunner structures being silver and gold

Well, actually, they all exist concurrently, but still

What's funny is, I think my favorite Forerunner structure in Halo is actually the weird green-and-white facility in Spartan Ops

[rose gyro]

It being more colorful makes it look childish. Look at Infinite, Chief translated way too well and seamlessly to Fortnite.

Theses days there’s too many games with color saturation

[onyx latch]

This is such a nothingburger of a complaint.

[civic sundial]

Plenty of other characters were added into Fortnite with minimal changes to their design

[onyx latch]

Kratos, Marcus Fenix, etc

[civic sundial]

Like Hatsune Miku, the Simpsons, the Star Wars characters, Superman, I could go on

[onyx latch]

Buff Peter Griffin

[rose gyro]

Except Chief looks too at home in Fortnite hence why people think he’s from Fortnite

Other characters stand out in that Spider verse sort of way

[onyx latch]

You need to stop talking to only kids about Fortnite, man.

[civic sundial]

You know that's a meme, right? Like the whole "Is that John Halo from Fortnite?" thing is a meme

It's not actually meant to be taken as a serious thing

[rose gyro]

Kids literally think he’s from Fortnite

[onyx latch]

Boo freaking hoo.

[celest heron]

I didn't mind the shiny metallic, but it didn't really give the feeling of abandoned so to speak. I know they probly had anti oxidation tech or whatever, but vibes.

[rose gyro]

I don’t like Fortnite

[onyx latch]

I kinda don't give a damn.

[rose gyro]

And yet you think I talk to kids of all people about Fortnite

[onyx latch]

Well, the alternative is that you make this crap up in your head to whine and cry about, which is basically my experience talking to my parents about literally anything these days.

You have two choices of looking kind of crappy here, and I recommend you go for the one that looks less bad, which is admitting this is a problem you made in your own head.

[rose gyro]

I don’t make it up it’s literally on the internet

[onyx latch]

Yeah, and everything on the internet is real.

[celest heron]

do you think the ce remake is too colorful?

[rose gyro]

No, it helps that it has more reflective environments and dirt in areas

Infinite just looks really colorful and simple

[celest heron]

interesting

[onyx latch]

Alright, so we're just going with problems we make in our own head these days.

[rose gyro]

That’s you

[onyx latch]

Projection doesn't work when you're the one spouting it, man, we all know you're full of it right now.

"Th-They said Chief is from Fortnite on the internet! You gotta believe they were serious guys! This is a big problem!"

[civic sundial]

You know allot of the assets in CEV are Infinite assets, right?

[rose gyro]

No, I’m just literally stating how Infinite looks way too fitting with Fortnite and you take it as me talking to children

[rose gyro]

Yeah I’ve heard that, doesn’t mean they aren’t Re adapted or changed

[onyx latch]

I mean.

As I said, you're finding this out by either blindly believing idiots online, or arguing about it with kids.

[rose gyro]

Because it’s literally all around online

[onyx latch]

Damn, that's crazy.

Anyways, I'm gonna go play those fun Fortnite spinoffs. Crazy that they made a whole set of games for this Master Chief guy.

[rose gyro]

Yeah haha whatever

Enjoy mediocrity then

[onyx latch]

Considering how upset you are acting about this, I doubt you're laughing lmao

[rose gyro]

You done?

[civic sundial]

The changes to the models are minor

[rose gyro]

And? Wasn’t like Infinite was made to look that different from the classic games. It was intentionally designed to look like classic Halo

So they’re making their version of classic Halo using altered/changed assets from a game meant to invoke classic Halo

[civic sundial]

Yes, because those assets are perfectly fine and it means they can save time by not remaking every single asset

[rose gyro]

Exactly

While also putting them in the Unreal Engine

[civic sundial]

So you're ok with the Infinite assets being used in Unreal Engine but not able to notice the game is going to be as colourful as Infinite?

[rose gyro]

Infinite was simple and colorful. All the scenes just looked like simple textured colors

[onyx latch]

Lmao

[civic sundial]

Have you ever stopped and looked at the materials in Infinite up close?

[rose gyro]

I did

[muted beacon]

I loved reading the MREs

They had some cool menu items

[celest depot]

moit

[sleek hatch]

This person is getting all the attention he wants

[celest depot]

Who

[misty sand]

What's happening with MCC matchmaking? I just tried to join 2 Halo 3 matches and they instantly ended before they could start, and now I've copped a temp ban from matchmaking

I know it's not a matter of me being unable to rejoin matches, because the match booted us all out to the lobby

I was just in a match with some other players who said the same thing, this game started but we all got lagged out early on

Now I've copped a 15 minute ban, wtf??

[celest heron]

I think the servers are having issues.

[grave tendon]

Servers across lots of games are having issues. Arc Raiders is down as well at the moment.

[plucky flicker]

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, for you and your loved ones! ♥ 🎄

[solid canopy]

Or more pressingly, the loadout system in 4 being built around a weapons sandbox that is very clearly not designed for loadouts

[solid canopy]

Halo 5's armor looks pretty clean/colorful 95% of the time

[solid canopy]

I mean, look at the pistols for example-
You have a fairly viable Magnum, a utility weapon, and a pocket shotgun. These three would work fine in the traditional Halo sandbox. However, when they are a part of a customizable loadout it becomes a bigger issue

If they wanted to do a loadout system they'd need a massive rethinking of how Halo's sandbox plays

4's weapons sandbox is a bit like putting a square into a round hole

[rose gyro]

5’s armor looks colorful due to color options in multiplayer being very simple

Otherwise, the colors are very muted in the campaign

Like you have the simple color chart with the colors getting darker as you move down the columns

It’s not like Infinite where there’s like a hundred different shaders and combos

[solid canopy]

Take Chief's armor for example- Halo 5 takes away a ton of the grime and grit Halo 4 put on Chief's armor as well as makes the colors far brighter and smoother

[rose gyro]

That’s because 4 is supposed to be Chief still wearing the “same” armor he’s been wearing through a ton of battles while 5 has had him run maintenance and care. It’s even shown with the damage on the chest plate

And 5 Chiefs’ colors are muted. Like they have less saturation while not being as dark

[solid canopy]

That doesn't change the fact that Chief is "cleaner/colorful"

How much of this can be laid at Halo 5's lighting engine and the like idk, I'm not a developer

[rose gyro]

A good bit actually. I have a problem with picking visors because the lighting doesn’t allow me to judge visor color properly in the menus

[rose gyro]

He’s not colorful when he’s wearing a paler green armor

[unborn stirrup]

How do i fix contacting server validating license information please wait on MCC (Steam)?

[still wave]

I can’t join multiplayer because I have a “bad easy anti cheat authorization” yall know a fix. I’ve tried reinstalling but the setup won’t open, I’ve gone into properties and tried to install it through code but won’t work and running it as admin but can’t figure it out. Yall know a fix?

[signal ivy]

steam and other games are having issues right now

[still wave]

I have it through Xbox app

[signal ivy]

yes, it's affecting a lot of EAC games

fortnite etc

[still wave]

Oh okay

[signal ivy]

same thing for this issue

https://x.com/i/status/2004008397155557749

Backers | Fortnite Leaks (@BackersGamesF)

EVERYTHING IS DOWN AGAIN 💀

Fortnite, Epic Games, Steam, PSN, XBOX and many more..

Merry Christmas 🎄🙌

X · Dec 25, 2025, 1:56 AM

[onyx latch]

Based based based based

[latent acorn]

It has been going on for some time like 5-6 hours.

[coral yarrow]

Merry Christmas for those who celebrate👋🔥🌲

[hidden thistle]

Honestly, good. Celebrate the holiday with the family or people around you

[solid canopy]

flashbacks to 2013

least I think it was 2013

[fallow arch]

Guys just got reach for christmas

Looks abit retro but i did start with halo5

[rose gyro]

Enjoy Warzone

[lost trellis]

You know what line isn't inhearntly scary but really got me as a kid playing CE for the first time? When Cortana says "Humans, Covenant, whatever! We're all equally edible!" as a kid it was the first time I realized that I could be food and that made the flood so much scarier to me that I stopped playing CE for a month until my dad joined me in Co-op.

[proud wharf]

Does anyone have nerdforgedesigns discord? It's urgent

I was told he now works for Halo

[rose gyro]

Saw Happy Tree Friends as a kid in elementary school. Couldn’t look at Cartoons for a while

[solid canopy]

In terms of pure functionality, I don't think a single menu has been able to beat Halo Reach's

Everything you need is easily accesable at all times, super smooth, looks really good, and they give you some great options as well

Seeing how many players are in a playlist is something I really wish they'd bring back

[rose gyro]

One issue I have with 5 is the lighting for the Spartan Hub for customization. It’s hard to get a proper gauge of colors when the lighting doesn’t allow you to truly get a gauge of how your Spartan looks, especially the visor. It also doesn’t help that you just get a close up shot of them, you can’t see the full body

[short flower]

With as much firefight as I do, I’m coming up on Diamond general. The real endgame is grinding through Onyx.

I take it it’s 100k to go from diamond general to onyx cadet?

Let me predict… DGG3 (Diamond general grade 3) would be like… well, a bit over 100k.

[fallow arch]

Dont disrespect halo 5

Just cuz u older gens cant live without the bungie days

[rose gyro]

Still play it. It’s the one that I just keep coming back to with Warzone just being able to keep me engaged for hours on end

[sleek hatch]

You should actually ask this person their thoughts on Halo before saying things like that lol.

[rose gyro]

Trust me, I could live without the Bungie days. Played pretty much all of them save ODST and Halo 5 is still the one I go back to to play over something like Infinite

[celest heron]

https://tenor.com/view/this-is-getting-out-of-hand-now-there-are-two-star-wars-viceroy-jedi-gif-11488909

[charred mauve]

sorry idk if this is the right channel i barely come onto here, but i have a problem with mcc mods

[shadow turret]

It's either 100 or 120k iirc

And Onyx Lance Cpl. 3 ish is halfway to Hero

[short flower]

I can imagine onyx gen g3 to hero lol

[celest heron]

shouldn't take nearly as long with double xp.

[cunning oyster]

Hot take. I’d like Halo 7 to be like Halo 4 in terms of gameplay. Loadouts but you can use any weapon from all of the halo games and they’re all unlocked at the start like insurgency sandstorm. I think it would be really chaotic and fun.

[civic sundial]

Would spawning in with a SPNKr on my loadout in a normal game of Slayer be possible in your hypothetical Halo 7?

[cunning oyster]

Yes.

Play the way you want.

[civic sundial]

Yeah, that sounds like a horrible idea, people will just spawn in with power weapons in every game

[cunning oyster]

I’m spawning in with my brute plasma rifle and gravity hammer.

[civic sundial]

Cool, you're not killing anyone because Little Timmy over there as spawned with a SPNKr and Fuel Rod and is blowing everyone up as they spawn

[latent acorn]

They tried that somewhat in Halo 4 and it wasn’t well received. It created unfair balance problems.

[celest heron]

they kinda did that with warzone turbo.

[sleek hatch]

Gets pro player in lobby. Pro player chooses H2 BR and rockets or h5 sniper.
Community hates loadouts again.

[civic sundial]

At least in Halo 4, you couldn't spawn in with SPNKrs like what Indominus thinks should happen. Like, the loadout system in Halo 4 is flawed and really should have been exclusive to PvE and select PvP modes, but it's not just letting you spawn in on Haven with multiple power weapons with no consequences in a standard Slayer mode

[onyx latch]

Eh, depends on the balancing

But then I feel like a Halo game with a system like that would have way different mechanics more in line wiht battlefield

[rose gyro]

I want Halo 7 to have 5’s thruster/movement system but improved compared to 5

[winged hazel]

just the brute plasma rifle will do nicely.

i know a brutal combo with that thing.

(damn i walked straight into that pun)

[gilded pivot]

[solid canopy]

But where is the challange?

Warzone did a similar thing except it was tied to lootboxes and your individual score within the match

[prisma cipher]

Fun concept but the execution would be terrible

[solid canopy]

Anyway, hearing the murmurings that Halo Studios is being forced to use Gen AI isn't suprising (Microsoft is run by blood sucking leeches) but damn is it beyond frustrating

The extent to which it is used is the question, but it isn't like Microsoft desparately wants to use all the money they've pumped into Gen AI on something. So I fully expect something egregious in years to come

this bubble can't burst soon enough

[coarse dagger]

The world would be a much better place if people stopped listening to clickbait YouTubers

[sleek hatch]

Halo infinite with thrust start and reduced speed to curb slides.

[sleek hatch]

I have seen this a lot and people are saying Rebs said this.
If he did... he said it today.

[stoic plover]

Chances that 343 doesn't completely scrap everything they've done before just to once again try to restart the series?

[left snow]

A lot of players want / demand equal starts as a basic tenant of Halo.

I'm not that fussed with the concept of load outs providing;

1. Nobody has an advantage.
2. Collecting better weapons is still a priority.

Choosing from Pistol, AR, or Bandit could work. So a player could take what they feel suited them for that particular map / mode.

But the BR, in it's current form, is still a bit of a step too far.

[raw elbow]

Hi guys.

[lost junco]

Greetings

[left snow]

I've said it before. I loved H5 thrusters.

I would make them lateral movement only - so you can use them to mix up your strafe.

They become OP when you can thrust forward - to make big jumps and/or Spartan charge.

To take them further I would allow you to fire both to flip your Spartan 180 degrees. Not only would that be cool (turn mid air to shoot enemies behind you Johnny Woo style) but it would also bring the controller a little closer to matching keyboard movement.

[raw elbow]

I've been playing Halo 4 after clearing it's predecessors.

[celest heron]

I'd say pretty high that they don't start over. they don't really need to restart with h7 cause they can finish the infinite story like finding lasky and infinity and then dealing with the endless. after that, they could probly restart depending on how h7 ends.

[left snow]

Yep. You'll sleep better if you stop listening to sensationalist you-tubers.

All developers will be using AI from here on. You would be silly not to. But as always, the trick is to use it to complement the human factor.

Hopefully we will see it seep into things like dynamic map generation, bot tactics and play, and assessment of player skill.

[left snow]

Back at you.

[rose gyro]

I think the thrusters should be able to move forward as well because I’ve used it many times to try to get to cover quicker because sprint just won’t turn on for some reason when I’m taking damage and like my shields are disabled (meaning I press to sprint but nothing happens) which has basically saved me multiple times because of that issue and the ground pound should return but changed to be more viable of an option. As it exists in 5, it’s just way too situational.

Frankly I could go without the Spartan charge. It’s whole charge up thing is too finicky where you need to sprint for a bit THEN press melee but if you do it too soon it just completely messes up the whole thing and you gotta start over. I’d change it to something like when sprinting, the melee becomes a lock on melee of sorts like how Destiny does it where you basically lock on a enemy and basically jump towards them and melee them when you use melee

[solid canopy]

As I said, it is really more or less about how it is used. But overall, I think AI is a net negative technology for how much damage it is causing

[rose gyro]

It’s true. In College out professors are hammering to us as designers to not rely on ai as a crutch but instead another tool in our inventory like effects in video editors and masks in programs like photoshop and illustrator

If we use ai, it has to be stated AND within certain guidelines such as idea generation only basically

Maybe mock up designs as well but that’s as far as we’re allowed to go

[left snow]

Maybe. AI is overhyped for sure. But I think the developers themselves will already have a core understanding of the technology. Where it could work and where it won't.

The biggest negative so far is the how the community is over-reacting to it.

[solid canopy]

I for one, welcome the massive environmental damage being caused by AI datacenters and am so happy that said pollution is popping up in my back yard

[solid canopy]

The issue is that this is Microsoft, a company dead set on cramming AI into as many products as possible, regardless of how it damages it (see: Windows 11)

[rose gyro]

AI is mainly more annoying wherever I see it. Definitely has a long way to go before it’s actually truly viable tool.

Today I had to cancel an appointment and I basically had to deal with a ai assistant to do so and it just went longer than if I was talking with a real person because I basically had to start over when I found I couldn’t get a sooner date

[solid canopy]

People are justified in being cautious about it, as the people who are pushing it out are doing so purely for financial gain rather than any real-world benifit

[left snow]

I like the H5 implementation of sprint - where getting shot knock you back to walking speed. So this isn't a problem.

Thrusting backwards is handy to avoid grenades - and I think Halo 5 had less issues with grenade spam because clever players could thrust away from the blast.

Spartan Charge was a blight on the game. Yuck.

I just think that the combination of sprint -> jump -> thrust was a bit too much. There wasn't really a lot you could do to stop player's hurtling around the maps. It must have been a bugger to design them and maintain sight lines etc.

[rose gyro]

Businesses are just in the ai craze phase because they just want to maximize profits while cutting down on expenses. Always looking for the cheapest way to money much like during the social initiatives where you basically get money for having a certain percentage of your work force be minorities

[rose gyro]

Except sprint just going away like that, especially with how quickly shields go down and how quickly you can die afterwards in something like mythic Warzone, just makes me want to have that forward thrust so that I can escape to safety. Not to mention how awkward it feels to suddenly just lose the ability to sprint because you got hit like once from a random bullet

It’s not like the thrusters were spammable, they often felt like they had really long recharge times, especially in the heat of the moment while in a firefight. You basically use it and go what feels like 20 seconds waiting for it to recharge and your only indication is a tiny triangle next to the health bar that just flashes until it seemingly randomly disappears

Like I said, can do without the Spartan charge because of how bad it’s implementation is. A lock on melee is good enough

Feel like Halo really just needs to do the Destiny thing and give it’s melee’s a lock. Feels like a Bethesda game with how often I gotta aim a melee and hope I’m close enough for it to hit

[left snow]

I think the other factor is thrusters vs grapple hook.

It was likely that the introduction of this equipment was the death knell for both faster sprint and thrusters. It kind of made them redundant.

So if they continue with grappling - we aren't going to get faster sprint or forward thrusters.

But can we still bring back lateral thrusts for strafing and avoiding grenades?

[solid canopy]

I have a decent amount of faith in the Halo Studios team but Microsoft does not give me any confidence. Beyond the fact that they can't even get their flagship opperating system to work and Xbox's decade long humiliation ritual, Microsoft just generally sucks

[rose gyro]

The sprint in Infinite feels so hollow and just whatever. And the fact that the grappling hook is something you can remove just kind of creates a problem because it’s the sort of armor ability thing from Reach again where you kind of have to drop something like sprint in order to do something like use a jump pack.

To be honest I’d just remove the grappling hook because games use that more than thrusters, not to mention I just never found it that great

Another thing to consider is the button layout cause 5 basically had thrusters in place of armor abilities and I have thought about what a control scheme with both would look like. Armor abilities like camouflage were basically made into power ups again that you pick up from REQs in Warzone and that’s about it

[celest heron]

what you're describing is 343's second attempt at trying to balance sprint in mp. it's gone through many changes since the reach days and showed how much of an issue sprint was in halo when trying to create a balanced game.

[rose gyro]

Sprint was fine in 5

[left snow]

I thought the sprint in Infinite felt pretty good. Not as satisfying as H5 - but It was functional.

And I too would be happy to drop the grapple hook - you could still add it to a level here or there as needed.

But coming back - thrusters in the combat dance were a thing of beauty.

[rose gyro]

I remember really intense encounters in MP where it basically became like the ridiculous resident evil cutscene of Chris Vs Wesker for a few moments

[celest heron]

it couldn't have been completely fine if you're saying one aspect of it was awkward. that being said, it was received a lot better in h5's iteration compared to h4.

[rose gyro]

Until I get miss and get killed

[left snow]

It was. Balanced nicely by being cancelled when shot and having to wait for your shields to regenerate.

The thing is that Sprint will never be accepted by "classic" fans. In any iteration. Because that style of play is characterised by "predictable" movement - and being punished for bad positioning. So anything that allows you to escape and/or reverse an engagement breaks that game style.

So if we are going to have sprint - you might as well go all in.

[celest heron]

that's not correct. I know many people who like classic, but don't mind the current sprint. purists would be more against it than anyone.

[rose gyro]

I do like the balance that shields don’t regenerate until you stop sprinting, I just think that the disabling of sprint when shot or losing your shield is just a bit too much.

I like sprint because the thing that just matters most to me with these games is living the fantasy it provides. It’s like playing a Spider-Man game, the main focus is feeling like Spider-Man whether that’s the Insomniac games well animated web swinging, or Web of Shadows superb combat system that gets the acrobatics of Spider-Man and makes a combat system around that.

The point is that I want to feel like a Spartan super soldier and 5 basically gave that with its enhanced movement system and stuff like the ground pound. If they can find other ways to basically give the gameplay that feeling then more power to them

[left snow]

I guess I was referring more to those purists.

[raw elbow]

I'm on my next level of Halo 4 RECLAIMER.

[celest heron]

you get to see the mammoth

[rose gyro]

Basically That YouTube channel where the guys profile pic is the Halo helmet with the scribbled face on it. Forget the name but he’s basically a total purist, acted super annoyed that sprint was even an option for what is essentially going to be PlayStation players first Halo game. A game that’s over 20 years old now with old fashioned game design compared to other shooters today

[raw elbow]

Mammoth?

[left snow]

I'm definitely on the other side of the fence. Reward the aggressor for hitting a fast moving target.

[celest heron]

you'll see

[raw elbow]

Okay is it alright if I give a play by play of my gameplay?

[celest heron]

if you want I guess

[raw elbow]

Cause the people on the Xbox server were annoyed and sent me here thinking it's more fitting for Halo fans.

[rose gyro]

Maybe have something like that in MP arena as a modifier but it’s a bit much in something like mythic Warzone where it’s only enemy NPC and one of the modifiers is that you need to melee in order to regen your shield which is a really tall order when considering enhanced enemy aggression and damage

[left snow]

I think the addition of Sprint to the new CE is a good play by Halo Studios. I think they need a consistency of play across all the new projects.

I've been happy to jump into some of the throwback playlists on Halo Infinite - and while I had fun it was incredibly frustrating to tap the sprint button (muscle memory) and have nothing happen.

With a new generation of fans hopefully coming on board - best not to confuse them.

[rose gyro]

Like more than once I go in to melee to get a regen only for whatever shield recovery I get to be made null and void because the enemy just shoots me afterwards and kills me

[raw elbow]

So the mammoth is a very large space version of a monster truck. I like it.

[celest heron]

I think the one issue is pacing. I think someone in the demo sprinted to a section and it messed up the music that was supposed to play.

[rose gyro]

The last thing you want is to make a difficult barrier of entry for a different console group who are likely an entirely new generation of players. Like I said, Halo CE is easily over 20 years old now and making a game that operates just like it did back then might not be the best way to get the interest of people who’ve been playing other shooters with much more refined gameplay

[left snow]

Lucky they have over a year to playtest and fix things like that.

[rose gyro]

Tbh, that’s not a Halo specific issue. Many games often have pacing issues if a player is fast enough

[raw elbow]

Woah a giant eye in Halo that shoots a laser beam. You aint gonna see me in the sky.

[rose gyro]

Like I’ve seen playthroughs where because a player didn’t go as far as to slow down to a walk, dialogue was cut off

[rose gyro]

I love seeing new forerunner structures like that. Especially with how animated they are

Makes them feel alive which kind of should be the point considering what the main new enemy faction is

[celest heron]

yeah, now that it's a feature in this version, it should be expected that people will arrive somewhere faster.

[rose gyro]

One solution is to enforce walking speed during sections. They’ve already altered cutscenes to add a more cinematic feel to them, the same can be done for certain gameplay segments

[left snow]

Nostalgia is a weird thing.

Modern players aren't going to cope with the original CE. It's 25 years old. They don't have the emotional investment. And things that we hold so dear just don't translate across the passage of time.

My kids (young adults) laugh at games like that.

But they both said that the new game looks very good (trailer).

[left snow]

Or just fade out the current music - and start the fanfare as players arrive in the relevant section.

I always find it funny that purists complain that people will sprint past important parts - yet we also applaud speed runners who use glitches to miss almost entire levels.

[celest heron]

that's disappointing. I guess it's like when dad's listen to

[rose gyro]

The artstyle of the CE Remake definitely feels a bit better than Infinite. It just feels more real and altering the CE artstyle to frankly not look so goofy on modern graphics.

The YouTuber I mentioned earlier complained about the marines having designs different from the original CE game which were very basic armor designs that were like a vest and shoulder pads. Designs like that though would feel really retro and goofy today much like how live action TMNT from the 80’s and 90’s just don’t look as good as the cgi looking TMNT from newer stuff

[celest heron]

'old music'

[left snow]

Luckily I had a bit better luck when it came to music. All three of my kids like Queen.

[rose gyro]

Not to mention they’re overlooking that players can just MAKE THEMSELVES slow down

If a player REALLY wants to be invested in the story, they’ll make themselves stop and listen

[left snow]

We are going to be subjected to a barrage of (what I feel are) trivial complaints. Like the 60 round AR.

[left snow]

There is a literal toggle to turn sprint off. 😄

[rose gyro]

I’m a young adult and I feel old missing some of the aesthetics of the early 2000’s compared to today’s over abundance of stuff with clean, neon, and color saturated Artstyles. Like a lot of games in the past couple years had a weird obsession with the glowing purple

[rose gyro]

There’ve been complaints about the tire treads

[sleek hatch]

A lot of people need to learn what an arena shooter is.

Players are mostly mad at how sprint has affected the maps

[rose gyro]

Maps just need to be designed with sprint and any enhanced movement mechanics in mind

Games like Titanfall 2 and COD Black Ops 3 intentionally designed maps to let you wall run however they can. Whether it be vehicles and trains lined up in a certain way, or build boards being placed just right

[left snow]

Which was only really a problem when people tried playing on old maps. Which has a relatively easy fix.

[sleek hatch]

They were and weren't.

[sleek hatch]

Some of the OG maps from reach were terrible. Some were good but mostly terrible.

[left snow]

Didn't Reach use campaign areas as maps? Bungie had pretty much thrown in the towel by then.

[sleek hatch]

Yes lol

[left snow]

Although Sword Base remains a personal fave. Don't ask me why. It just worked for me.

[rose gyro]

If Halo 7 is gonna have armor abilities then having a map with jump packs should be designed as sort of layered and multi leveled while also spacious.

I kind of find the idea of a Halo game with the thruster system AND a armor ability like the jump pack a really cool possibility for movement vids

Like those Titanfall 2 clips of how they launch themselves around with the grappling hook mixed with the sliding

[sleek hatch]

Sword, boardwalk, and countdown are the best maps imo

[sleek hatch]

What abilities would you see and how would it work if we have thrust like h5?

[celest heron]

the mp maps were made first and then they integrated them into the campaign.

[sleek hatch]

Infinite grapphook has a lot of tech

[left snow]

If we were to get thrusters back as a default ability (and I don't think we will) - they should be replaced by picking up new equipment. So if you pick up a jet pack then you can't use thrusters.

That would also help with buttons on the controller - which I feel we have already run out of.

[left snow]

Ok. That sounds way less lazy. But they still weren't that great.

[rose gyro]

Shield bubble, camo, attack drone, jump pack, hologram, maybe new armor abilities like electric gauntlets buff

[rose gyro]

It was pretty meh when I used it

[celest heron]

well several of them were tarnished by armor abilities.

[rose gyro]

Doesn’t Infinite have that except you know, making the thrusters weaker

I feel like the thrusters should be a default thing but like I do know it’s a bit tough with button layouts though I feel like the D-pad is a bit underutilized save for swapping between grenades

[celest heron]

the thruster in infinite feels stronger, but obviously limited.

[sleek hatch]

Sounds like you didn't even try, so therefore your criticism is invalid to me.

[left snow]

I'd give up my left thruster to get Bubble Shield back. Best pick up. Ever.

[rose gyro]

I’ve used them and they feel less snappy and look more floaty in 3D person

[sleek hatch]

The nerf to thruster hurt it a lot.

[celest heron]

hmm maybe I don't use it enough. felt like it went farther though.

[rose gyro]

I tried and it just wasn’t clicking. I’d go to use it and couldn’t tell if I was close enough for it to work and when it worked it just pulled me forward. It’s not like Titanfall 2 where you can almost swing around

[celest heron]

I hate it in mp at least.

[rose gyro]

In 5, thrusters felt and looked like a burst of speed that ended just as quickly as it began. In Infinite, it felt and looked like I just flew forward or to the side

[left snow]

The trick is to fire and then change the direction you moving just before you take off.

I'm still not very good at it... but it can be very satisfying.

[sleek hatch]

It has a thing on the reticle for that it tells you if you are in range. Like Apex and Titan fall lol

[rose gyro]

LOVED bubble shield in reach. Felt like an actual armor POWER over something like armor lock or sprint

[left snow]

It created so many to and fro situations. I loved it.

[rose gyro]

Maybe it’s the maps I played in cause I just can’t spot it when I use it.

[rose gyro]

Really?

[sleek hatch]

You can do soo much with it. Honestly probably more than TF and Apex

[rose gyro]

That’s a stretch. I’ve seen the Titanfall clips, players are basically Spider-Man at times

[celest heron]

to me, it's like another armor lock where it stalls gameplay.

[rose gyro]

I’ve tried armor lock and it’s frankly really bad

[short flower]

Unnecessary sword elite trio on refuge firefight… what’s the point of them?

[celest heron]

to annoy you

[rose gyro]

I’ve just had enemies stand around me while in armor lock and the moment it ended they just fired on me

[raw elbow]

I got a cutscene involving the Librarian but I'm not gonna say what it was about because I don't wanna spoil anything for anyone who has not played Halo 4.

[short flower]

To take my perfection away without warning. Sick of them. Sick of that map.

[rose gyro]

That’s very considerate

[celest heron]

you know the funny part? It's completely random whether you'll get them or not.

[raw elbow]

That and I probably won't remember anyways.

[short flower]

I don’t wanna see them ever again.

[rose gyro]

I dread getting any ship bosses in Warzone, especially when I’m ranking high on the leaderboard

[celest heron]

nice that you didn't get the glitch. would've soured your first play through

[rose gyro]

The No voice lines glitch?

[sleek hatch]

Watch infinite parkour clips

[celest heron]

no, when the map disappears during the mammoth section.

[rose gyro]

Oh

[onyx latch]

I think peak mobility in shooters has capped out around the "Titanfall 2 Stim or Grapple" levels.

[sleek hatch]

You can do a lot with the grapple.

https://youtu.be/NF50ItByQoQ?si=XfLN77lj1AWvHm3P

[sleek hatch]

There is more movement tech in Halo Infinite than any shooter. Even Halo 5.
The problem is it can be very niche and very hard to learn and master.

[onyx latch]

No.

For example, Titanfall 2 grapple pilots already have one tool Infinite movement doesn't have.

Which is to say, a double jump. They have a slide, and a grapple, and a jump, but there is no ability to double jump.

Another obvious missing factor, wallrunning. Infinite lacks it.

Infinite also lacks any ability for players to slide hop a'la Titanfall, which is pretty much a necessary movement tech knowledge in Titanfall 2.

I'm sure there's some tech from like, Tribes or something that is close. But who the hell even talks about Tribes in 2025?

[sleek hatch]

Just because it doesn't have double jump doesn't mean it has less movement mechanics.

You think there is because it lacks a basic/ fundamental mechanic. However, off of a regular jump Halo has more mechanics in jumps alone than any other shooter.

[onyx latch]

It literally, definitionally, has less movement mechanics.

Like, unless you're somehow physically incapable of understanding that 2 is less than 4.

[sleek hatch]

So many fps games have that now. I hope Halo never gets it

[sleek hatch]

I promise it doesn't. You just can't do them.
Watch the video. He does a lot of hidden movement mechanics he doesn't explain. And if you want to learn them all I have a list I use to coach people with.

[raw elbow]

My next mission in Halo 4 is SHUTDOWN.

[onyx latch]

I ain't watching some jackwagon using an AI voice.

[sleek hatch]

Its not about less basics. It is what you can do with what you are given.
You can do more with infinite grapple hook than you can in titanfall.

[celest heron]

they tested double jumping, but decided against implementing it.

[sleek hatch]

He is German and doesn't speak very good English. Chill dude.

[onyx latch]

No, learn English or ask if someone can voice it for you.

[sleek hatch]

Source?

[sleek hatch]

Credibility out the window.

[onyx latch]

You're right, using AI at all throws all of your credibility directly into the dumpster.

[celest heron]

it was in one of those conference vidocs. forget which one.

[sleek hatch]

Oooh send it. I love watching those. The h3 one is my favorite.

[celest heron]

I don't have a link since it was years ago and don't remember.

[sleek hatch]

https://youtu.be/MlvE1t1F29U?si=MJdTX-7cVbs0hh-P

[solid canopy]

Halo 4 had a jump boost mechnic in the prototyping stages

[onyx latch]

Anyways, I don't know why I'm bothering to argue about how Halo Infinite objectively has less movement functionality than Titanfall 2. Like, it's glaringly obvious, and if your first resort is to act like it's a skill issue thing, you clearly have taken leave of reality.

That's not a counterargument-that's just an insult.

[solid canopy]

I think Halo Infinite's equipment system hits a really good balance

[onyx latch]

It does! It's not like it doesn't have movement tech that exists!

[sleek hatch]

I legit agreed with you and said it is not about the lack of double jump, but how you can do more with what it gives you.
There are 3 different things you can do with a simple jump in titanfall, but 7 in infinite.

[onyx latch]

But it's like saying Team Fortress 2 has more movement techs than Titanfall 2, which like, no, it clearly doesn't.

[solid canopy]

Though I do think some of the pick-ups are a little one-sided

[onyx latch]

It has more abuses of physics but that's not more mechanics.

[sleek hatch]

Is curb slide a mechanic?

[onyx latch]

It's like counting super bouncing as anything but a glitch, that you can happen to use. Or like saying Halo 2's button combos are intentionally meant for displaying skill.

[solid canopy]

They did lessen that issue with the addition of regeneration fields and shroud shields. Still, I'd like for them to hit a better balance in Halo 7

[onyx latch]

Like, no, you are mistaking unintentional quirks of movement for intentional movement ability.

[sleek hatch]

Since this mechanic wasn't intended but the devs didn't take it out... it doesn't count?

[sleek hatch]

Button combos were trash. Should have gotten rid of them.

[rose gyro]

Halo’s movement mechanics are very basic compared to other shooters before 5 and Infinite. 5 and Infinite is when Halo really got it’s movement beyond a very basic system

Even then, Titanfall 2’s movement system has more tech going on

The sliding, grappling, double jump, wall running, etc. all come together with different maps to create a pretty intricate movement system depending on the map for those aiming to speed run or parkour

Warframes movement tech and possibilities are greater than Infinite because you got bullet jumping, double jump, wall ejecting, void slinging, sliding, aim gliding, flying with some Warframes, speed boosting, dashes, hover boards with a air trick system, motorcycles, and recently the addition of grapple launches.

Hopefully they’ll finally add proper wall running though cause they had it in the Old Peace demo but it wasn’t added with the update for some reason

[sleek hatch]

Again its not the lack of basics it what you can do with what you are given.
You can do more with thrust in infinite than you could in Halo 5.

[celest heron]

I found it. It's talked about at 15:25. boost jump
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023190/Making-Moves-Designing-Spartan-Abilities

[rose gyro]

Thrust in Infinite is just one move and it’s not as quick or snappy as 5.
5 had it in multiple directions, employable in the air without loss of altitude, could use to stay in the air while aiming which can make for a good way to stop fall speed

Players in Warframe are able to combo all the things I mentioned to basically fly through maps without actually having to fly. Not the most fancy or cinematic looking movement tech but it’s effective

[sleek hatch]

Lack of knowledge. You cam so crazy stuff with it. Watch the video link
https://youtu.be/MlvE1t1F29U?si=MJdTX-7cVbs0hh-P

[solid canopy]

On my most recent playthrough of Infinite's campaign, I did find switching between equipment in the middle of a fight really fun but I still kind of think a more traditional equipment structure would be nice

I would love it if Halo 7 ditched the single open world of Infinite and instead go for something more akin to Sonic Froniter's "open zone" design with a handful of larger environments, each with their own main mission but also with a bunch of bonus stuff

Or what Gears 5 did where the game is divided up between linear levels/chapters and self-containef open envrionments

Infinite kind of did that, but the open world acted more like a hub than a dedicated level/mission

[solid canopy]

It is wild how Halo 4 introduced one of the funnest weapons in the series with the Sticky Detonator and then it just.... didn't show up again

Sometimes I ask myself if I think Composer is that good of a level or if the Sticky Detonator is just that fun of a weapon. I always conclude that the answer is "yes"

The Sticky Detonator would've felt right at home in Halo Infinite imo

The weapon is probably at the top of my shortlist for "weapons I want back" next to the Railgun, Splinter or Incendiary Grenade, Halo 5 Binary Rifle, and Plasma Castor.

Now that I write it all out, it is a bit crazy how they are all Reclaimer era weapons except for the Incendiary Grenade

Well ig the Halo CE Plasma Rifle would also be up top as well. That gun rocks and I hate how every version of it since was either compromised or overshadowed

[left snow]

Halo has a crazy number of weapons over the series.

And while it is easy to say bring back weapon 'x' - you have to be careful not to overwhelm new or casual players.

Niche weapons create a frustrating skill gap.

And also - that particular weapon may not be as well loved as you think. HS would have detailed stats on who actually used what for how long per game.

---

I have friends who still get frustrated with the heat wave or hydra and their alternate fitting modes.

And my son - who is a very good Halo player - didn't know about chaining damage with the shock rifle until last week!

[hollow kestrel]

Wth is halo studios doing 😭

[coarse dagger]

Enjoying the holidays?

I imagine you're talking about the AI thing, to which: don't believe "trust me bro" rumors from clickbait YouTubers

[lost trellis]

To be fair Reb was the same guy that had leaked the CE remake for like 2 years ago. So there's something more then nothing.

[coarse dagger]

Everyone guessed based on the Dawn announcement, his "leak" was nothing

[civic sundial]

Given the amount of remakes we've seen in the industry in general over the past 10 years, it wouldn't take much to come up with the idea of a Combat Evolved remake and claim it's a leak

Like yeah, there is one coming now, but 2 years ago, nobody had any evidence of one coming, it was just rumour

[left snow]

There is probably a little bit of truth in most rumours.

The problem is that YouTubers get 2nd or 3rd hand info - that has been diluted and distorted - and then try and spice things up to generate views. Often with a decidely negative prism.

And Halo fans are currently starved of any info (personally I'm absolutely famished). 😄

Fingers crossed we get some more info soon. Maybe at the January MS Developer's Direct? (on the assumption that one is actually going to happen).

[celest heron]

someone can be right once and then wrong numerous times.

why we shouldn't take things as facts until confirmation.

[lost trellis]

He was the person saying that stuff was releasing as well as Halo moving to unreal and 343i becoming Halo studios. I get your point but he has cred. Hence why this is even being talked about at all.

[coarse dagger]

He has zero cred

His sources are nothing but "yeah this employee told me, trust me bro"

[lost trellis]

Not liking their cred and saying it doesn’t exist are two different things. He’s leaked loads of other stuff before too for years now.

[winged hazel]

i would point it out in his comments. as far as i remember he can't do much about those other than turning them off entirely.

[dense ice]

Halo: Edge of Dawn was such a good book

[vale swallow]

The only halo infinite maps that give me joy:
[Live Fire, Recharge, Aquarius, Bazaar, Breaker, Catalyst, Chasm, Launch site, Streets, Solitude]

I wish there was a way to avoid playing in the other maps.

[winged hazel]

damn that sounds like half the map pool.

[lost trellis]

That’s fair, not every map can be Midship you know? Atleast you’re not the kind of guy to only like midship.

[winged hazel]

they can if you're brave enough.

[lost trellis]

No no please no! The clan I was in 20 years ago only liked Midship. It was torture.

[winged hazel]

i don't know how moddable infinite is compared to mcc but i'm confident you could turn every map into midship one way or another

[lost trellis]

What is this the Midshippening?

[winged hazel]

yes.

[lost trellis]

Ngl I was scared Halo 5 was doing this because didn’t 343i release 2 Midship based maps named Truth and Regret?

[raw elbow]

Last night I think I was on the final level of Halo 4. Today I aim to finish it.

[sleek hatch]

What's that called again?
Hearsay?
Which is never credible

[vale swallow]

It's called being a fraud

[raw elbow]

It's done. I finished Halo 4.

I completed the stories of all 6 games in the Master Chief collection.

Only one's I need to play now are 5 and Infinite

I've got time so I'm gonna have fun and play some Firefight maps.

[craggy wharf]

On one hand I get it to play it constantly for competitive reasons, but on the other hand it can risk leading to burnout and not enjoy other aspects of the game.

[craggy wharf]

Loose lips sinks ships.

[obsidian spruce]

Hello

[raw elbow]

I still have my Halo 5 disc for my Xbox One. Will that work on series X or no?

Love and behold it works. Have to wait though due to updates and all that.

[celest heron]

What was your favorite and least favorite?

[raw elbow]

I loved them all so I don't have an answer.

[civic sundial]

It will work

[raw elbow]

I'm not playing Infinite yet but I did research and had to ask is Halo Infinite open world?

Cause I find that hard to believe even though Bungie sorta did Open World in ODST.

[civic sundial]

Kinda, there's multiple missions within a larger space but plenty of the missions are in linear environments

[raw elbow]

So semi open world.

[shadow turret]

The missions and environment themselves span an open world, but specific missions are generally contained to an area of it

[raw elbow]

Would be interesting to see Halo mix FPS with Open World.

[rose gyro]

5’s story is a bit of a mess. However, it’s Warzone multiplayer is great and something you should take the time to try

Would join a game with you but currently out celebrating

[raw elbow]

I don't mind 5's story. It's a bit interesting.

[rose gyro]

Oh it had potential. It’s just the execution that messes things up. I remember hearing the promotions for it being the best Halo ever had

[raw elbow]

Only problem I know fans had is that they made Cortana go from hero to villain which ruins the point of her sacrifice in Halo 4.

[rose gyro]

Cortana going villain was actually pretty planned even during the Bungie days

From the Gravemind messing with her to the overwhelming data she got when first interfacing with the Halo

They actually had it planned but changed it. My issue though is again the execution of it here

She’s just apparently fixed of her rampancy issues and is the real her. It’s just so happens that she’s gone full dictator now

[raw elbow]

Still I don't thinks fans liked it. She was a major hero in the Halo franchise so I'm sure fans were upset Bungie decided to flip a switch there.

[rose gyro]

It was 343 that actually did it but Bungie still did have it planned at one point and had the pieces for it

[onyx latch]

Came from people fundamentally not understanding a character.

And not understanding her motivation for being 'evil', because from her perspective she's doing the exact same thing Halsey did to make Chief, which is a narrative 4 and 5 beat you over the head with mercilessly.

Halo 5's honestly one of the best examples of a fandom straight up completely imploding due to a complete base level failiure to understand a character I can think of.

Like-I'm gonna do a quick and dirty explanation.

Halo 4's intro shows Halsey's personal thoughts on the Spartan program, wherein she acknowledges her belief that she did it to bring humanity closer to salvation and dominance, something also touched on in marketing material as a particularly vicious part of Chief's life-the perspective of the creator (Halsey) doing it for humanity's benefit, and the perspective of the survivor (John) as being harmed and self-isolating due to the trauma. (Even the more sociable Spartan IIs (Fred) do actually struggle with trauma, it just doesn't get brought up often. You can explain a lot of their quirks as coping mechanisms.)

Halo 4 shows Cortana's thoughts on Halsey in a very one-sided way; She views Halsey as a grand manipulator, mostly negatively due to how she treated John-itself a likely consequence of Cortana being cloned after Halsey had already made the Spartans, and likely harboring guilt over that, guilt that Halsey tries to manifest more due to her constant savior complex. She acknowledges Halsey as a 'mother' but also resents her for it, and that anger comes out as her rampancy manifests. But Cortana also showcases her similarities to Halsey; A willingness to do the unthinkable to stave off annihilation for humanity, in this case, John, who himself has sacrificed his own humanity.

Halo 4 Spartan Ops flays bare the depths of Halsey's ego; She resents the UNSC for effectively using her skills for what they want, connives and schemes around the crew of the Infinity, and ultimately betrays them in order to get ahead with her true goal; That betrayal stemming from a mix of spite and her own personal drive to 'perfect' humanity. She did not ally with Jul because she agreed with his goals, she allied with Jul because he was a desperate and easy mark, and she knew getting the Janus Key would give humanity a severe edge in the years to come.

In Halo 4-5's interquel comics, Escalation in particular, Halsey's personal animus with the UNSC continues, and she is so hellbent on getting what she wants her way she literally cheats in a contest she was going to win anyways to ensure she gets her way the way she wants-earning the trust of a Forerunner superintelligence. And said Forerunner superintelligence outright tells her that they are removing what Halsey wanted to achieve explicitly because her nature makes her unreliable-the means are not justified by ends, and Halsey believes that all means are justified by her ends.

When Halo 5 rolls around, people didn't understand that Cortana was very much like Halsey, despite nearly 15 years of media showing the similarities, with the most recent 4 years at the time showing and telling the similarities. And when Cortana took the Domain, she interpreted the Mantle as only Halsey could; As an Imperialist doing it for the good of all, in her mind. Her 'evil' acts are justified because her end goal is a utopian paradise where people like John or Blue Team didn't have to be made, and where people like Locke or Thorne don't exist at all; Putting down the dogs of war while sending out her own in order to ensure dominance, a role not too dissimilar to the role Spartans were meant to play.

Cortana, like Halsey, is a hyperintelligent control freak with all the ego and drive that implies, and people failing to notice that is entirely on them for failing to notice the obvious signs-and it mostly benefitted you until 4 and 5, where it stopped being in the background as a character detail. 4 and 5 were the first times where that quality of Cortana's was actively turned against the player, and people don't tend to catch on to things like that even when it's being chokeslammed into them.

Wow, that sure was 'quick'.

[glacial tartan]

The alternative framing of this is that 343 at the time failed in their responsibility to make the storyline simple enough for the majority. We can call it dumbing it down if we want, but yeah, turns out what they did clearly didnt resonate with as many as they wanted. We can make the most exquisite meal in the world, but turns out a ton of people just want McDonalds 😄

And its an interesting writeup, reminds me how much I forgot between H4/H5 and how much I missed from skipping that campaign. Oh well

[onyx latch]

I view it with active contempt towards the fanbase for much the same reason I loathe the take of "Kratos is soft" for new God of War games.

Yes, some things should be more consumeable, but the message is to be a better person, and that not all acts done in the name of being good are truly good, and it's a pretty simple message if you bother to pay attention.

Hell, they even have a similar message-The nature of what Cortana did was horrible, and the form-her framing-was irrelevant compared to the results.

[raw elbow]

Alright Halo 5 is up and running gonna try it starting with the mission OSIRIS where Fireteam Osiris is dispatched to recover the UNSC's most wanted criminal Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey.

I didn't know there were collectibles this time. I have to find them. I love finding collectibles. I need help finding them though.

[onyx latch]

And like, yeah, maybe I should be nicer about it, but nearly a decade on and people are still failing to understand the most basic level of this chain, in favor of performative declarations of dislike. I'm tired, boss.

[raw elbow]

So Team Osiris is led by Jameson Locke, a former assassin and tracker of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). The other members of Fireteam Osiris are Holly Tanaka, a combat technician, engineer, and survivor of a Covenant attack on her planet; Olympia Vale, a political liaison and signals intelligence agent who can speak many alien dialects; and Edward Buck, a veteran trooper who was a main character in Halo 3: ODST.

Wasn't expecting to see Buck again.

[muted beacon]

What's the Domain?

[onyx latch]

Basically the Precursor super internet.

Which the Forerunners also used, and Cortana was given/took control of it, which basically made it so she inhereted most Forerunner tech on a broad level.

The thing about the Domain is that it's also functionally also an afterlife, a storage archive, and a great deal of other things.

[muted beacon]

So uhh

When was this included as a major plot point that most people would know about in the halo games?

[onyx latch]

Halo 4 introduces it via lore exposition dump, as does Halo CEA's side content (Albiet barely). Halo 5 also has extra content and a barebones explanation in the campaign. I can't remember if Halo 2A also has anything on the subject, mostly because I don't remember the side content of 2A.

Considering it's a stupid simple concept, there's a reason saying "Forerunner super internet" suffices.

Failing to understand that is kinda like failing to understand the point of a gun while you're shooting aliens with it, it's kinda self explanatory if you're familiar with the most basic function of it.

[muted beacon]

So essentially, cortana dies, but doesn't actually and now she's back for... Reasons. She then enters magic McGuffin, believes she's a god now, and then does a bunch of evil stuff because she wants to fix the galaxy.

Is that basically the gist of halo 5 story?

[onyx latch]

It's worth noting that Halo Escalation was actually intended to be seasons of Spartan Ops, but Microsoft basically told 343i to stop making more stuff for Halo 4 and get working on Halo 5. Hence the trunicated timeline in comics.

[onyx latch]

Not really.

Oh, yeah, I forgot, the Domain is also directly mentioned in Halo 3 and it's what Cortana looked through in CE.

[muted beacon]

I'm talking at the highest level possible of what happened in the story. I actually forgot so I spent the last 40 minutes watching a video of the H5 cutscenes

[onyx latch]

Cortana survived because she replicated herself and the ship she was in was connected to the domain.

She then met some big dude who liked the cut of her jib, so she became the new 'archon' or whatever. Or she hacked him. There's two versions of this story and neither is very clear.

She is functionally a god, I guess, by comparison.

And the last part... Yeah, basically. Same logic as Halsey, after a certain point she thinks ruining enough lives is justified by fixing and saving even more.

Okay, taking myself out of angry skeptic mode, you were mostly right, yeah. That's the most barebones version of 5.

[muted beacon]

So I completely understand cortana's motivations being tied to Halsey's personality, but the execution of the story is god awful. Too many things are introduced that are supposed to have significance but don't because no one knows what they are and the game doesn't explain it, or if they do, it's an exposition dump and not through action or showing why things are a big deal

[onyx latch]

Thinking about it in terms of black and white "Cortana is evil now" is pretty much the worst way to interpret 5, because it robs her of character agency.

[onyx latch]

Eh, exposition dump issues are actually more of a thing in 4. 5 never really did that.

[muted beacon]

How else are people supposed to interpret it? The game didn't help us understand the context behind her radical change to lose her self and become the most rational part of Halsey

[onyx latch]

Because she didn't really have a radical change, which, again, is something the game and the game before it yelled at you.

The radical 'change' is her actually having agency as a character, but her actual personality didn't change.

Or at least a noteworthy amount of agency, at any rate. Not like she was starved of it entirely in CE and 2.

3, well, 3's 3.

[muted beacon]

If you think about it, in H1-H3 she didn't really have an opportunity to show that 'ends justify the means' part of Halsey's personality

[onyx latch]

But Reach and 4 did.

[muted beacon]

Sorry, I meant in Cortana

[raw elbow]

So far in OSIRIS I found the skull and 3/7 mission intel

[muted beacon]

We all know halsey is a POS

[onyx latch]

Eh, Cortana's savior complex comes up a few times. Halsey definetly has it too.

It's mostly in the background or considered narratively appropriate because of how Bungie wrote their stories. There's no actual critique of the mindset.

[muted beacon]

The games and story in the game have given me no evidence that H3 Cortana would do the same thing that H5 Cortana would do

So at some point the logical step for people to make is "Oh cortana evil now, ok. True."

[onyx latch]

Bungie had been working with that concept since CE, so I'm not sure what your thought process is there.

The 'at all costs' parts of the OT are themselves a component of "Ends justify Means" mindset, which also happened to be the best course of action in CE.

Like I can see CE-3 Cortana doing that, because she does display the precursors of what she would do later-but they're minute and working backwards, not forwards. The ambiguity of certain character motivations in the OT is largely a consequence of Bungie era storytelling, not incompetence or malfeasance on 343i's part.

You work with the tools you are given, and unfortunately, the OT of Halo was not a very good tool, so to speak.

[muted beacon]

I think that it's entirely 343's incompetence

[onyx latch]

You're also extremely biased, so.

[muted beacon]

They didn't need to go in this direction at all

[onyx latch]

That's your opinion.

[muted beacon]

It's not an opinion They had other options for the story but they chose this one and then attempted to make it work. The humans and forerunners were the same race then they decided to change it to fit their narrative to solve issues with the story they wanted to make

[onyx latch]

It's a fact to say they didn't need to, it's also your opinion that they should've done something else. If you don't like the answers you are getting from me on the subject go ask Grok to generate you some feel-good made-up crap about how you want Halo to go or something.

But I'm not going to entertain the idiocy of "Forerunners were HUMAN" crap, again. Block button, work your magic.

[lost trellis]

really that's deemed "idiocy" and blockable to you? You don't think that's childish?

[onyx latch]

Frankly, I'm tired of entertaining that guy's questions only for him to start throwing a tantrum about the Human Forerunner thing every time. This is like, the third or fourth time.

[muted beacon]

The H4 and H5 story isn't bad, it's just executed terribly. It's like peak Star Wars Prequel trilogy where you see the ideas but the execution is awful

A tantrum is 1 line aparently LOOL

[onyx latch]

And that "Humans were Forerunners" argument is literally old enough to get a beer in the US at this point.

After a certain point it just stops being worth engaging in.

[lost trellis]

I agree and yeah this dude seems to have alot of tantrums. Literally my first time on this discord was them ranting at me because I was asking about lore details. I say avoid, topics with them typically end with them just getting upset.

[onyx latch]

🙄

[muted beacon]

Fair

[onyx latch]

I don't get people, man.

[lost trellis]

clearly

[muted beacon]

I think that's pretty clear

[onyx latch]

Y'all ask for lore stuff, then get mad when you get it. Then you get mad when your biases are pointed out. If you just wanted something to blithely agree with everything you said while explaining things the way you specifically want in a way that supports your specific worldview, just use a damn LLM.

[raw elbow]

I got all the intel and the only Skull from OSIRIS. Now to finish the mission.

[onyx latch]

Being a knowledgeless sycophant's what that crap's good for anyways, and it appears to be what people want.

[lost trellis]

That's not my problem with you, my problem with you is that you throw tantrums often. When I first came here you did the same too me and when everyone was telling you to calm down you were telling them all off. You're just not fun to interact with is all.

[muted beacon]

I do appreciate your lore knowledge. I wouldn't ask if I didn't want to know about it

[lost trellis]

But that's fine you don't have to be fun to interact with, the tantrums are just unneeded.

[muted beacon]

If I didn't want to know i'd start my entire interaction with "You're wrong and anything you tell me is wrong"

[raw elbow]

Mission is over with Halsey back in UNSC custody and Jul Mdama dead.

I'm now on the mission BLUE TEAM which is led by Master Chief.

[onyx latch]

WHy do you narrate like this anyways?

[lost trellis]

yeah I was about to ask that. Nothing wrong with it, it's just odd to see.

[onyx latch]

Not that there's an issue with it, I just don't know if you want engagement or not.

[lost trellis]

I just assumed it was for some type of catalog.

[raw elbow]

Just giving updates but if you're asking about the full caps that's just how it was shown to me on the game.

Trying to get used to the controls they've changed since the last few Halo games.

[celest heron]

I think the issue is HS shouldn't expect for the majority of people where a lot of them are just playing casually to do an in-depth analysis of a character when it isn't straight forward. Like I guarantee that not that many people would put two and two together that cortana's flaws are because of halsey and they've always subtly been there.
So when cortana 'dies' and then comes back as 'evil', that's going to be confusing for a lot of people.

I think most people just want a straight forward good and bad guy story with some side friends or enemies and then terminals for people that might want some background lore.

[raw elbow]

I made it to my next mission called Glassed. What is Jameson Lockes connection to Master Chief?

[civic sundial]

He wrote a target dossier which Chief accessed in 2552 about assassinating Thel 'Vadam (Halo 2 Anniversary's Terminals on the early levels at Earth). Outside of that, there's not much of a connection between Locke and Chief before the events of Halo 5

[rose gyro]

Well the issue is that lore details like that need to be clearly explained and at some point, expected to be retained by players.

Halo 5 had a lot of stuff require extra info in comparison to before

[rose gyro]

You can have more complex stories. The issue comes with bad handling of that stuff or doing what PlayStation does and reuse the same revenge story plot line

Id be pretty interested in a rogue Spartan story where you fight the UNSC. Like a spin off of sorts cause I’ve heard about insurrectionists working to get their own Spartans

[worldly sorrel]

I've played Halo Reach and i'm playing Halo 3 ODST again, damn, Halo had much potential to go with stories and gameplay beyond Master Cheif, i mean, they have characters that aren't our green budy, but still, they're interesting

Also, playing as one of the Elites or Arbiter in Halo 2 gave Halo a chance to tell stories

I mean, Halo 4 told a solid story and it had a lot of potential
The problem is that with the release of Halo 5, and i don't want to be the guy who criticize every Halo product, but the thing is that the main problem is that the game isn't avaiable for PC, and i don't understood why did 343 did that

And also the problem with Halo 5 was that the story had much plot problems and didn't explain many things and it depends on other media like comics and novels, which is a big mistake,, even for videogames a story has to be told there and also has to be explained, not to mucho, but enough to be understood

And same with Halo Infinite, same thoughts with Halo 5

Just i hope Halo Studios can make better and can fix many thing with the remake

[onyx latch]

Ngl, not being on PC was actually horrible for 5. It's a game that's practically screaming for that.

[worldly sorrel]

Thankfully Fire TV allows for Xbox games to be played

But, it was a mistake, and this year was the chance to put Halo 5 in PC

[strange jewel]

I just realized something when buck said that Chief and Blue team didn’t fight the Prometheans on meridian and that also means slone didn’t even talk to them did Cortana ordered the Prometheans to stand down to let them enter the Guardian?

Cuz if they did Fight the Prometheans then Osiris wouldn’t be fighting them by now while they were chasing blue team

[onyx latch]

Sloan likely lied about contacting them, or they never contacted Sloan for him to talk with them.

Sloan was lying to Osiris the entire time Osiris was on Meridian until the last lines, however.

[strange jewel]

Right you would’ve thought Sloan would’ve likely warned them about the Prometheans

Cortana must made a deal with him and telling the Prometheans to stand down to give them access to enter the guardian

[onyx latch]

Sloan directly confirms he was in contact with Cortana the entire time, something Locke figures out on his own.

[strange jewel]

Something doesn’t make sense if Warden is against Chief then why was he okay letting him and blue team on board

[onyx latch]

He wasn't okay with it. He was just doing his job.

[strange jewel]

Well by the time they entered Genesis he’s been attacking them

[onyx latch]

Cortana told him to escort Chief and Blue Team, he escorted them. He eventually turns to fight them because he views Chief's actions as a threat to Cortana.

Because of the conversations that occur on the way between Chief, Blue Team, and Cortana does not proceed in a way he likes.

[raw elbow]

I'm on Meridian Station now.

I'm now on Unconfirmed where Osiris is tracking Blue Team underneath Meridian.

Now I feel like I should stop updating on here.

Been a long time since I fought a Warden. How do I beat him?

About to watch a fight between Locke and Master Chief.

I'm on EVACUATION now.

[cunning oyster]

I have abandoned strafing as a gun fighting technique and now I’m finally going positive on the MCC. Only thing for me is backwards and forwards.

[raw elbow]

I'm on Reunion now.

Swords of Sanghelios is my next mission.

[raw elbow]

Whenever Halo grants me a chance to pilot a Scorpion tank or a Mantis I feel like a god.

I am now on ALLIANCE.

[celest heron]

what difficulty are you playing on?

[sleek hatch]

In multiplayer?

[celest heron]

I agree, but make sure things aren't super nuanced.

[cunning oyster]

Not anymore.

[sleek hatch]

Lol why

[celest heron]

were you missing shots because you were trying to strafe too much?

[left snow]

Isn't that like the perfect way to die?

---

I play regularly with a bunch of much better (younger) players.

The only way I have remotely stayed competitive is work on my strafe.

It's worth taking the time to get it under control.

[celest heron]

ironically, I've won many 1v1 fights by just standing still during the final shots of a gun fight instead of strafing. I guess they thought I was gonna go a certain direction and they missed

[sleek hatch]

Git jiggle with it

[raw elbow]

My next level is Halo 5 is GENESIS

And I'm playing on easy mode but lately it feels like I'm on hard mode due to struggling with the Warden a few times.

Dude my heartbeat is racing after going through all of this I'm taking a break right now.

[celest heron]

oh boy

[lost trellis]

I think the only thing that could make me really like the CE Remake is if 343i added as much external lore of the events around the first ring into the game as possible. Stuff like adding Thel, Fireteam Raven, details from the novels and stuff like that. Otherwise it would feel like another remake for the sake. CE has neem remastered, rereleased several times and now remade. This is too much, it really needs something incredibly special.

[left snow]

It doesn't need to be "special";

1. This is a "safe" project to transfer Halo across to UE5.
2. You aren't the target market they are aiming for.

[lost trellis]

What do you mean target market? It's a Halo game, I'm a Halo fan. It'd be stupid not to create a product that wouldn't attract it's fans.

[left snow]

It's to get a new generation of fans across. Particularly the Playstation market.

Sure, there will be a proportion of classic fans who come along for the ride. At least those that don't boycott the project because of sprint, the 36 shot AR, or needle counters.

I'll be there. But not with bells on. I'm far more interested in the next iteration of multiplayer - and if this project brings in a new population then I'm all for it.

[lost trellis]

Those things being there is pretty dumb. Imagine if coke classic came back with an whole new taste. Literally no point lol. But the desire to capture a different crowd still seems very dumb. Why would they want two different groups of fans? I'd be smart to either consolidate them or cut one out entirely.

[left snow]

You would think there is a pretty sizeable potential market there. And a lucrative one I'm sure in terms of a population that embraces live service / micro-transactions. Now they are free of Xbox exclusivity - it would be silly not to expand the market.

I think Halo fans just have to accept that this project isn't 100% for them. Sure it will be a different take. Some extra and enhanced missions.

But it will still boil down to another version of CE.

But that's OK. There are other projects in the pipeline. Whatever form Halo 7 takes. And some iteration of multiplayer.

[left snow]

Not entirely sure how that analogy works - but if Coke could somehow get their product out to every Pepsi fan in the World to try they would bend over backwards to do it.

$$$.

[lost trellis]

I just think it's inherntly dumb to create a product that isn't made for it's fans. When I was getting gifts for my family this Christmas I was wondering what other people would think of them you know? I just made/bought gifts for them. You can make something for your fans but also intended to draw in new people but actively avoiding your own fanbase for a new crowd sounds like self sabotage.

[left snow]

Again. Multiple projects.

And they are fleshing out the project to make it interesting to current fans.

But I'm sure they aren't that fussed about the rusted on classic stalwarts that are flipping their wigs over 24 shots in the AR.

[celest heron]

it's a smart business move. more eyeballs on it means potentially more profit, but generally it also means more potential fans and people playing their games.

[lost trellis]

That doesn't change anything I said.

[lost trellis]

How is making a game for the sole purpose to not engage with your fans a smart business move? We're not talking about expanding to playstation, we're talking about a product not being made for it's fanbase. Moving to play station is appreciated, making a game not for your fans isn't.

[celest heron]

what isn't for the fanbase? aside from sprint which is a toggle.

[lost trellis]

IDK the other guy just said this game wasn't for the fans. I don't know what they mean but they seem to be using it as their example. I say ask them.

[left snow]

A quick google tells me there are 120 million+ active PS users.

Sure, some of them will have access to Halo through xboxes or PC.

But it is a huge market. And if Halo can get a foot hold there - it helps guarantee Halo as an ongoing project. Bring it on.

[lost trellis]

Again, the move to play station isn't a concern. TO ME! Felt I had to add that part lol

[left snow]

Plus the market for players who have sidestepped Halo becuase they are too young - and the old time look of the original trilogy just doesn't fit.

In my weekly Halo group there are 3-4 players who haven't played any form of Halo campaign. This could be their jumping on point.

[lost trellis]

Kin what're you talking about? I feel like you're speaking on a different matter then my orignal point. You seem to keep bringing up Halo being on playstation. That has nothing to do with my original comment.

[left snow]

Sorry. You detailed why Halo CE wasn't going to work for you (as a Halo fan).

I was just trying to explain why it doesn't have to.

[celest heron]

the three new missions with Johnson might contain something, but overall it's most likely just a ue5 test to get the waters wet and at the same time take it to a new audience for possible new fans.

[lost trellis]

Yeah I'd want CE2 to be alot more then just a remake. I'd want it to include more of the events around the first Halo Ring rather then just follow the same story plan of base CE. Akin to what Fireteam Raven did. Adding stuff like Thel which was present during the events but not in the game would be a vast improvement to me and something I think people coming into the franchise would need to see.

[left snow]

Yep. And by already having an established plot etc - they can concentrate resources on building the engine and tools etc.

[left snow]

We're already getting the Johnson missions - which is a start.

And with a bit of luck they set it up so they can add more lore building extra missions later.

But people coming in brand new won't need a lot of exposition that early. Wouldn't it be better to let Halo 1-3 unfold as usual and then look at filling some extra stuff?

[lost trellis]

I'm aware but I'd much rather not have those if we could get better events of the 1st ring told. A play station player isn't as connected to Johnson as we are. He's just a dude to them. Going to explain why he's even important makes more sense then having missions that, as far as I know are seperate from the overall story of CE. Like imagine if instead the Johnson missions were about him on the ring trying to fight Thel, going into the "weapons cashe" with Keyes and surviving the flood rather then it being a prequel story.

[rose gyro]

@left snow Halo’s basically going through a very less extreme target audience conundrum situation similar to Ubisoft with Assassins Creed. AC basically has fans of the older stealth games, fans of the rpg games, and fans of both with it basically being a identity crisis at times with projects being made to appease both groups

Halo obviously isn’t in such an extreme position because we don’t have the franchise suddenly changing its genre on us to a RPG or Fighter game, but you got fans that come from different era’s of the IP and it’s basically Halo Studio’s job to make something that can appease these audiences and take them into account

[hollow kestrel]

I really hope you’re telling the truth man…

[rose gyro]

Hence you at times had stuff like the RPG games adding settings to try and lessen the RPG aspects

[hollow kestrel]

I’ve personally been in love with the remake up until the AI rumor

[onyx latch]

It's generally bad form to form parasocial relationships with random leakers

[rose gyro]

Halo studios has plenty of time left and COD Black Ops 7 is certainly… setting an example for the industry

[onyx latch]

NGL, I find it funny how that of all things seems to have sunk CoD.

[hollow kestrel]

I really figured that they have absolutely no reason to use ai. Because realistically, they have the story already set up besides what I’m assuming are minor tweaks. Even if they did use AI for the new missions, I personally don’t think they’d make or break the game

[onyx latch]

Halo Studios already has experienced significant backlash for accidentally featuring AI in fan art contests before, and for posting one (1) AI Art image once like a year and a half ago.

[rose gyro]

You’d think it’d have come sooner with the bs from previous games like the awful sponsorship skins and whatnot but no, it’s AI usage that finally broke the camels back

[rose gyro]

At best, AI could be used for auto generated maps and arenas to fight NPC’s in but that’s a huge stretch cause this is primarily a campaign remake

[onyx latch]

And considering the INCIDENT THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED and the backlash due to that as well, I doubt HS has any particular interest in trying to continue to utilize it in any capacity, especially in the midst of Microsoft pulling back on the throttle for its AI initiatives as well.

As leakers are wont to do, it is likely an exaggeration of the company-wide policies of Microsoft when they were trying their hardest to push Copilot.

[wooden briar]

CoD will be fine: it's a giant enterprise, gamers are fickle and forgetful, and money talks. BF6 RedSec is already dying and BO7 continues to pick up because the majority of the world just likes what it likes and that includes genAI.

[onyx latch]

Complacency will likely rule the day for CoD, yeah.

[hollow kestrel]

I think black ops 7 being the sequel to black ops 2 was the perfect foundation for them to make a crazy comeback, but the focused so heavily on graphics and physics then actually story.

[onyx latch]

Well, yeah, the story sucks.

It's a CoD game, they aren't exactly shakespearean over there.

[rose gyro]

Microsoft just cares about what’ll be profitable to them. Still remember when the height of the DEI initiatives got Microsoft forcing its studios to have DEI stuff written into their coding for their games with all these guidelines that must be met and upheld

[wooden briar]

I'm halfway through the story and cannot stand it. But friends I'm playing with love it because specifically it is so different than "the same ol boring military storylines".

[rose gyro]

Not anymore

[onyx latch]

Jesse, what the frick are you talking about.

[onyx latch]

Oh lord.

[wooden briar]

yeah, I just swallowed my fond memories of CoD4 and affirmed their enjoyment

[hollow kestrel]

But my thing with that is it is the “military story line” and overall military vibe that has people buying the game

[hollow kestrel]

I agree with this HEAVY, games like BO2 have amazing original stories

[rose gyro]

Cause people are miss the gritty war aesthetics from the earlier 2000’s before clean, colorful, and flashy took over?

[wooden briar]

Smaller slice of the pie than you think: the vocal ones may want the faux-milsim vibe but most people who pay for a video game just want fun in whatever form. I personally enjoy the more modern settings but many love the near-future stuff.

[rose gyro]

I found the future stuff fun. Don’t think COD should just be that but it’s nice “spin-off” type stuff to broaden the genres