The day I say goodbye to Halo, and Microsoft/343 Industries:

[Cyborg Bill 89]

 

This is a bit of a rant, and probably a boring one at that, so feel free to skip it. Or, at the very least, fix yourself a cup of coffee first! 

 

I want to take you back to the year 2002, right around when I turned thirteen. I hadn't owned a console since the NES, and was in the market for something to occupy my weekend downtime. I'd been saving al my birthday/Christmas money all my life, and decided to drop about 900 Australian dollars on a 51cm analogue television, an X-Box, and a single game. I was told "Halo" was the newest and most popular, which was all an impressionable thirteen-year-old like me needed to hear.

 

As soon as I took my prize home and set it all up, I was blown away. The graphics in Halo were unlike anything I'd ever seen. I honestly thought Captain Keyes in the opening scene boar an uncanny resemblance to Harrison Ford, and could barely tell the difference between this cutscene and live action. Needless to say, these were simpler times.... Once immersed in the Haloverse, I was hooked. I spent every weekend [and many a weeknight] playing through the campaign, over and over again. I learnt new tricks, set myself additional objectives [i.e; save all marines, par times, zero deaths, etc.] and, on rare occasion, invited a friend over for some splitscreen. 

 

In my early teens, I played other games too, such as Fable, Morrowind, and Vice City - but none of these held a candle to Halo. Not in my eyes. For so long, I prayed for a sequel. The phrase "I think we're just getting started" had echoed endlessly inside my head until, one day, the announcement was made: Halo 2. There were, however, delays, but I hung in there. I preordered the deluxe edition, which I continued to do for every other release, and proceeded to wait. About three weeks before the eventual release, one of my friends grabbed his mitts on a leaked copy. It was in French, but I had a few years of classes under my belt and couldn't hold out any longer. We had the most memorable LAN night of my life. Four of us in total, dual-wielding new weapons into the next afternoon. There were, however, some glitches, but my addiction had been satisfied enough to hold me over until the official release date. 

 

I of course went to a midnight launch for Halo 2, picked up my deluxe copy, my bonus disc, and stayed up all night playing through the campaign, in a language I could better-understand. The glitches were still there. Rushed cutscenes, with one vital one missing all together. Thankfully, the bonus disc explained how Johnson went from "brute prisoner" to "scarab owner" in such a short window. It turns out, despite the delays, Halo 2 wasn't ready for release. Regardless, I shrugged it off and continued to play through the most unfairly skewed Legendary campaign in existence, where a super soldier, humanity's last hope, was the weakest being in the galaxy - second only to infection form flood, which were essentially parasitic balloons. I could go on, but the fond memories far outweigh the negatives, so I'll leave it at that. 

 

After ending on a painstaking cliffhanger, the premise had been set for Halo 3; finish the fight! But wait, a new X-Box had been released. So, I bought it. The Halo-skinned version, of course. UNSC green, with a matching controller and a pissy 20GB HDD. Halo 3 is the first game I took online. I'm sure many readers will be familiar with the laughing stock which is Australian Internet, so WiFi [despite being invented by an Australian] wasn't going to cut it. Up in the ceiling I went to lay down some Ethernet! Shortly thereafter, I had to learn all about NAT settings....but it was all worth it. Halo 3 was probably the pinnacle of online multiplayer in the franchise, from maps, to forge, to gametypes and my beloved Infection. 

 

Halo Wars came next, and, for a console-based RTS, it exceeded all my expectations. At first. The balancing updates eventually stopped, until all that remained was a dwindling few players at the mercy of the next OP tank/banshee rush. And so sealed the fate of Halo Wars. Halo Wars also gave me my first taste of DLC. In this case, I feel the new maps and game types were justified as an additional cost, so I downloaded them. I'll be damned if many others did though, so they were barely used. 

 

Halo 3: ODST. Wow. Amazing. I've always had a soft spot in the Haloverse for ODSTs, so off to yet another midnight launch I went. Playing this game, I felt like an ODST; despite my vulnerabilities, no enemy would trump my resolve! The feel of an ODST was perfectly captured. Yes, I was disappointed that the suppressed weapons weren't completely silenced for stealth options, as stealth seemed to be a reliant factor for a stranded ODST rookie, but everything else made up for it. Firefight, VISR, stamina....everything. To this day, I dare say some of the most fun I've had playing Halo is thanks to ODST. 

 

Because I had purchased ODST, I was granted access to a two week beta of the next Halo instalment, Halo: Reach. I was pumped! I even took a couple of weeks off from work - something I'd never done before [and haven't since]. Anyway, I was prepared to completely emerge myself in the latest title - right up until the night before, when my 360 was struck down by the Red Ring of Death. I'd heard about this before. We all had. But "not my X-Box," I always told myself. "I have one of the newer ones!" Not so lucky, unfortunately. After punching my serial number into a Microsoft support site, I was told mine was out of warranty, and I'd need to buy another, or pay for repairs. Being the industrious character I am, and left with little alternative, I decided to take a stab at fixing it myself. No luck. So, with the two week beta ticking away, I was forced to buy a new one. I later discovered that I had been misinformed, and my 360 was in fact under warranty for the Red Ring of Death. But after taking it apart in a desperate attempt to fix the error the night before the Halo: Reach beta release, my warranty was voided. Fun.

I loved Invasion. Oh, how I loved Invasion. But that was about it. When Halo: Reach was released, I noticed the same flaws in Invasion that were present in the beta. Oh, and those bloody spawn-campers.... No patches or fixes for that, but DLC was available after a month for the "real" multiplayer maps. As soon as I had played through the campaign and was ready to take the fight online, I noticed that every map, except two, were lazy, unoriginal, "forge-themed" maps; the same sterile, bland, an unimaginative constructs riddled each and every one. The two exceptions, being "Sword Base" and another [it seems to have been purged from my memory] were cut straight out of the campaign. I knew this was a precursor for immediate DLC, and, sure enough, a month or so after the release, DLC was made available for some "real" multiplayer maps. I was livid. Ropeable. I honestly felt betrayed.

Having previously read the Halo novels by Eric Nylund, I noticed several plot holes throughout the campaign [i really don't want to be that guy, but I take my Halo pretty damn seriously]. Not only that, but this was the first Halo game where I didn't feel like the character I was playing. At the appropriate difficulty settings throughout the CE, 2, and 3 campaigns, I felt like a Sparta. In Halo 3: ODST, I felt like an ODST. But Halo: Reach failed to capture the essence of a Spartan - even if I was only a Spartan III. So yeah, after playing through an otherwise alright campaign, an influx of completely unnecessary weapons, ridiculously unnecessary armour customisations, stupidly unnecessary Covenant classes [why do the grunts look so stupid now?], buyiing the massive box set with the action figures and all, and then being told I had to pay extra for maps which I'm certain were intentionally left out of the original release, I pretty much just stuck to the flawed, and very laggy, Invasion. 

 

Halo: CE Anniversary came next. Despite having played Halo CE inside and out, I couldn't let a Halo release go by without owning it [2600 excluded - if that even counts]. Playing that campaign into the ground in my youth has unfortunately ruined CE for me - a mistake which I didn't repeat for later releases. As a result, I played this game very little, and bought it mainly as a gesture of love to my favourite franchise. 

 

Halo 4 was okay. New life had been breathed into Cortana, as a forbidden love story unfolded into an ever-daring and unusual chapter. With the extermination of the flood, and the departure of the brutes, a void in the cannon fodder needed to be filled....and the Prometheans failed to fill it. The campaign wasn't very memorable, or interesting, but I appreciate the efforts 343 Industries went to. I understand the same game can't be released over and over again, but the typical "Halo feel" seems to have died with the original trilogy. Spartan Ops was a great edition, and I was saddened not to see something similar in Halo 5. It's also the last Halo FPS I took to multiplayer. That said, I still really enjoyed my time on multiplayer. The weapons were also a big improvement over Halo: Reach. But, to be fair, I've crapped out objects which could share that sentiment. 

 

Halo 5: Guardians. Another new console. By this stage, I had completely stopped playing any game that didn't have "Halo" in the title. In fact, my 360 had gone most of the prior two years just collecting dust. This is probably a consequence of being an adult, and nothing to do with Halo. But, I bought an Xbone solely to play the new release. And it was of course the Halo-themed one which came with an included download of the game. Regardless, there was a shinier version of the game, that came in a big box, with I-can't-even-remember-what-else, so I bought that as well. With it, I bought a copy of The Master Chief Collection, which is what is prompting this very drawn-out recollection of events. By this stage, I felt like I was just going through the motions of buying a new Halo game. However, this is the first campaign that I didn't knock out overnight. I played Halo 5 like a boring adult: A level here and there, after work, if I had it in me. The graphics were amazing. The scenery was beautiful. The storyline was captivating. The Prometheans were balanced. This was also the first game where I felt like I was seeing human presence in the Halo Universe; something which had been overlooked in previous titles. I felt a real sense of exploration, traversing through these new worlds. I felt as though my lavish purchases were justified. As mentioned earlier, I never took this game to multiplayer matchmaking. I never felt the need to. Again, that's probably me just showing my age, but I now only play Halo for the story. 

 

Since about 2010, a friend and I had been dreaming of a new Halo Wars game. We'd discussed stor lines, characters, enemies....the works, until one day, news broke that a sequel was in the making. Despite my new Xbone collecting dust, like my second 360 before it, I was genuinely excited for this release. I was too caught up in life to realise a beta had come and gone before being informed of a second one. The second beta focused on an entirely new gametype, called "Blitz". While addictively fun, I noticed a fatal flaw. 

Each player of this gametype will select a character. That character will have a set of units and abilities - some generic, some unique to the character. The player will compile an army of up to twelve of these units and abilities. The objective is essentially a "King of the Hill" style battle with armies made up of only units pre-selected by the player, but each unit comes at a resource cost to summon, which slowly accumulates throughout the game. The stronger the unit or ability, the higher the cost. The in itself is fine, until I learned the units can be levelled up with experience. This created scenarios where, although I might have outplayed my opponent, I would still lose, due to weaker troops. For casual gamers like myself, I was likely to always be up against stronger units. Anyway, this was a beta, and surely such kinks would be flagged and ironed out. Unlike Reach. Right? Wrong.

As always, I preordered the most expensive option, the one with all the bells and whistles, and I waited. I took note of a "season pass" which came included. Not only did I have to pay for an incomplete game, and a subscription to play it to its full potential, but now I was paying for privilege to have the remainder of the game downloaded to my console for an unspecified period of time. And I quote, "The Halo Wars 2 Season Pass delivers regular content updates that span more than six months, including: new leaders with abilities that change the course of multiplayer battles, new units that add to your multiplayer arsenal, and a new campaign expansion featuring exclusive missions. Available as part of the Halo Wars 2: Ultimate Edition, or available separately for $29.99 USD, the Halo Wars 2 Season Pass will offer incredible value for fans, extending long after launch." How many "updates" would this cover? How long would the season pass last? How much would the next one cost? How much of this content has already been developed, and is intentionally being withheld from the game? Who knows. Anyway, I digress. 

Upon taking the game home, I noticed the issues in "Blitz" were still there, but upgrades for the units could be purchased. It had become very clear to me that this game was nothing but a "pay to win" shell of its predecessor. And, soon enough, the new characters were introduced, leaving the base stock in the dust. They were intentionally overpowered, and players utilising them made short work of the rest. In short, the game was no longer fun to play online unless you were willing to cough up extra cash, to level the playing field. How much extra cash depended on the gametype. After a while, It turns out the sales clerk had given me the wrong copy of Halo Wars 2, and I didn't have the season pass after all, so I witnessed first hand what it was like to only have the starting characters. Anyway, my month of Gold membership had expired by the time I sorted out my season pass issues, and I carried on with my life. 

While I liked the storyline of "The Banished," the campaign hardly captivated me. I think the biggest flaw was trying to do too much; the original was created solely for X-Box, and was brilliant in its simplicity. Sure, it might not have competed with a top PC RTS, but that wasn't the point, nor was it the market. By opening Halo Wars 2 up to the PCs, the game had to work hard to capture the attention of a new market, and, in doing so, I think sold out the console players. The end result was average gameplay across both platforms. But that's just my two cents. 

 

Towards the end of 2017, I finally roped a friend into playing The Master Chief Collection with me. These days, unless I'm achievement hunting, I only play Halo with friends. And this is where my story nears its end. I bought a few months of Gold from the Microsoft website, and upon entering the code into my Xbone, I noticed the auto-renew option ticked, complete with the credit card details I used from the website purchase. Very sneaky and easy to miss. I can't begin to explain how much that pissed me off. Anyway, when the Master Chief Collection wasn't an option, I decided to call upon another friend for some Halo Wars 2. He'd been raving about some new expansion, so I thought it'd be a good time to finally try out this season pass. No luck. Despite having only just entered it, and the game having only been released earlier in the year, this new expansion and set of characters was not included. The "content updates that span more than six months" didn't cover any of this - even if I had waited until now to activate it, the "new leaders with abilities that change the course of multiplayer battles" were already outdated by the newer wave of OP leaders, and the "new campaign expansion featuring exclusive missions" was a boring two levels that I've already forgotten. I'm sure the new leaders and campaign missions are fun, but I guess I'll never know. 

 

Back to the Master Chief Collection I went, whenever my schedule managed to line up with that of my friend's. I noticed no difference between CE Anniversary and CE in the MCC, but wasn't expecting anything; I had my hopes set on Halo 2. Although we sacrificed a level of enjoyment for the sake of completing the campaign on Legendary, and reverting a previous checkpoint whenever one of us died [usually him, because I'm awesome] I was hoping that after all this time, I could experience a completed campaign. But no luck. The infamously skipped-over scene where Johnson escapes his brute captors and commandeers a scarab remains ever-elusive. I know part of the charm was to keep the in-game glitches [although I seem to have lost the ability to fly through levels while wielding an energy sword] but would it have killed anyone to include that scene? The audio has already been recorded a decade ago; why not use it? But this is still not my biggest gripe. 

Upon reaching Halo 3, my friend and I were shocked to notice a tab for ODST. It was a very welcomed surprise. And, as I started tracking my Halo 3 achievements, I noticed ODST ones too. Thankfully there was nothing for firefight, as I don't think I have the energy for that these days [some of the achievements from the original release involved a lot of hours]. However, after completing Halo 3, we were again shocked to be directed to the Microsoft Marketplace to purchase ODST. The achievements were there, but it was an add-on. Both of us still had the original disc, but apparently, it isn't backwards compatible, so we were told we'd need to purchase it again. And that was the proverbial straw which broke this camel's back. 

 

I own the MCC, I own ODST, but I'm told that if I want to complete the MCC, which I already own, I need to pay for ODST again - which I already own! The 5 USD cost is completely irrelevant! I spoke to support staff on numerous occasions, and despite being initially told I was in the right and the issue would be resolved for me, I was later advised that wasn't the case, and I should write the issue on a forum somewhere. So, here I am. Now, since writing up what has now been roughly a three hour trip down memory lane, I think it's clear to see that I've put up with a lot, but I haven't explained just how much of a Halo fan I am: 

 

• I've preorded every deluxe edition of every new title possible, and have only updated my consoles for the sake of Halo.
• I've read the books and comics. I even suffered through the painfully boring "Forerunner trilogy" by Greg Bear. 
• I lost count of the number of McFarlane action figures I accumulated once I surpassed 100. To this day, it **** me that the ODST line-up was never completed. Wherefore art thou Romeo!? 
• I even built a diorama to pose some of my action figures 
• I constructed my own ODST armour out of cardstock and fibreglass - and it actually looks pretty cool 
• I've drafted my own fanfiction 

 

Despite all this, and despite Halo having been with me for what is now the majority of my life, I think I'm done. Yes, I'm aware of the value of time, and how easy it would've been to just pay the $5.00 [or $6.65 Australian]. I'm paid exceptionally well and have been out-earning my parents' combined income since my mid-twenties. I've done well in the stock exchange and have a property portfolio. My point is, I'm not short of money. But, looking at the true progression of how 343 Industries has been operating, I no longer feel as though I'm valued as a customer. Add-ons, pay to win, immediately available DLC, right after a new release....all of this seems to be a higher priority to 343 Industries than simply pleasing the fanbase with a solid game. Sure, it's only $5.00 for this game. Thankfully I never bothered with Guardians' multiplayer, but the "requisition packs" smell like another "pay to win" scam. Not even the prestige "Season Pass' gave the player access to everything Halo 2 had to offer, so, you know what? At this stage, I'm not even going to bother with Halo 6. 

 

To those who stuck through my essay, you have my thanks. In a way, this was very therapeutic for me to write, so, regardless of the outcome, I would not consider it time wasted. 

 

 

The ball's in your court, Microsoft/343. Give us ODST, stop the madness, and start treating us like human beings again. 

 

Sincerely,

An ex-Halo fan.

 

 

 

P.S:
In the time it took me to write that, someone from Microsoft finally replied to one of my e-mails about the issue. It took them nine days and my words were completely ignored. I can't say I'm surprised....

[Guts]

Some valid points throughout. I can agree with you on Halo Wars 2 being a pretty boring and dull game. The "pay to win" with REQ packs is a tired old arguement that has been discredited many times however.

 

The problem here is you are expecting a multi-national company to satisfy the desire of a single fan. Its never going to work that way. The main problem is that you are also a super-fan of ODST and a huge fan of Bungie in general. Unless Bungie make Halo 6 you will never be satisfied. This has happened to so many in the community.

[Cyborg Bill 89]

Some valid points throughout. I can agree with you on Halo Wars 2 being a pretty boring and dull game. The "pay to win" with REQ packs is a tired old arguement that has been discredited many times however.

 

The problem here is you are expecting a multi-national company to satisfy the desire of a single fan. Its never going to work that way. The main problem is that you are also a super-fan of ODST and a huge fan of Bungie in general. Unless Bungie make Halo 6 you will never be satisfied. This has happened to so many in the community.

 

 

I wouldn't say I'm a super fan of Bungie at all; Reach was one of the biggest disappointments in a Halo game so far - and I spent a lot of time expressing that in my post.

 

I'm not big on forums, and haven't seen the arguments for or against "pay to win," but as a casual gamer, I think my points are valid. Multiplayer matchmaking shouldn't need carry-over level up abilities. While I can see the benefits of some perks in an FPS, "Blitz" took it way too far. Stronger units in an RTS would be the FPS equivalent of spawning with the same guns, but with additional health, and armour-piercing bullets. That should never be the case. The OP leaders scenario is practically like spawning with rocket launchers, while your opponent has a shotgun. What ever happened to strategy, and making a dash for certain weapon spawns? Halo 3 multiplayer was perfectly balanced. 

 

I don't think it's fair to say I'm expecting them to satisfy the needs of a single fan. I just think if you're going to create a tab and a set of achievements for a game when you buy a bundle, that game should be included - especially if it's an old game anyway. It's not as if it cost 343 an arm and a leg to make ODST backwards-compatible. My argument is, and this is probably my age talking, I bought the game, so I should be able to play the game. All of it. If you want to add a separate expansion somewhere down the line, perhaps it's justifiable, but that expansion shouldn't come at the expense of those who don't want to buy it, and a six-year-old campaign shouldn't be part of it either.

[Twinreaper]

Bill, I agree with just about everything you have stated, except the Reach part.  I loved Reach.  Fav titles in order are ODST>Reach>Halo 2>Halo 3> Halo CE>Halo 4>Halo 5.  Halo 4 and 5 were failures.  Story sucked, geometry/rendering/texturing was god awful.

 

Now onto a different point which Kakashi touched on......the "super-fan" "Bungie era" thing.  Let's first understand what makes a certain player a fan of either Bungie or 343i.  Bungie created Halo.  For Bungie, it was easy to set out and carve away an established lore process, character design and a full universe to play in to.  Depending on your age at the time of CE's release, and your own definition about what makes a truly great story, you either fell in love with Halo, saw it as a quick fix or hated it.  Xbox was not at as advanced graphically as we would like to look back and believe.  For us older gamers the PC was already worlds above Xbox, but the PC was ellusive for younger teen/pre-teen gamers because of the costs behind them.

 

343i attempted to and fairled, to continue what Halo was and what they wanted it to become.  here is where we see another gap.  Bungie started it, passed it off, and 343i picked it up to continue in their own profound and set group way.  It is natural for there to be a divide in the community based on that.  However, to say that one will never be satisfied by a Halo title unless Bungie makes it again, is just completely absurd.  The difference between the two companies is all about how the story was told.  Graphically, the art design has gotten worse yes, but the way the story unfolds and the narative in general from 343i is boring, cliched, and not as creative and expansive as Bungie's was.  343i kinds forced the whole "Forerunner" saga by using the gap left by Halo 3.  We literally have no idea where Bungie had intended to take the franchise if they had decided to remain as the developers of Halo.  And so when 343i took over, they forced it down our throats.  There was no build-up or mystery around what was taking place.  They simply woke Chief up, and dropped into this already established war on their end.

 

You could say the same thing about CE, as Chief wa woken up and placed into this epic firefight with an enemy we knew nothing about.  But since it was a "new" franchise with nothing beofre it to hinder any type of story telling it worked.  The same cannot be said for Halo 4 and 5.  To say sonmeone is a fan of Bungie or 343i isn't accurate.  No amount of graphics, audio or gameplay can make-up what is "An epic story".  Properly, you should say someone is a "Staten" or "Shlerf-Reed" fan.  Staten knew how to write stories.  He did it for the entire length of the Halo franchise under Bungie.  343i however cannot get one single writer for any length of time to consistently flesh out a good story, one that captivates and truly expands the universe.  this is evident as now the the writing has gone from Shlerf in Halo 4 to Reed in halo 5, and now they have a whole new team of "group writers" as I understand it, going into future development.

 

All along 343i has the most abysmal, concveluded, conceited and self absorbed head staff in the industry.  We put a "content manager" in charge of Halo's development for 343i?!?!  Do you know what a content manager actually is?  A person who is n charge of posting and publishing content that is created by the artists, renderers and game developers for use in marketing, publishing and advertising.  That's it!  He didn't do a damn important thing on any scale in terms of development direction, coding, 3d rendering, audio, etc.... Yet somehow because he worked for Bungie and basically defected......he was given this al mighty and important job?  You gotta be kiding me.  My daughter at the time who was 10 back when Halo 4 dropped, could have written a better story, and I've created better looking Halo 2 maps on the PC than Halo 4 ever had.

 

My point is, 343i is naturaly and quite logically an inferior development team compared to the talent and balls Bungie had.  That doesn't make me a Bungie fan or make me unhappy with anything 343i does.  What makes me unhappy is a game that has been developed and released that appears to do nothing but milk the cow.  If I wa given a game with a proper art style, good quality graphics and a great story that could captivate me...I would gladly praise 343i for a job well done.  But it hasn't happened......yet.

 

Just to add and complete my whole age argument in the previous first part of this post....... Age plays a HUGE factor in Halo.  The new "softer" millenial generation is more focused on graphics, how they can get their "e-*****" quicker with fancy achievements, flair, etc....that the story actually takes a back seat to everything.  Honestly, new generations of players have no idea how a story should be properly told in a video game, because hey...instant gratification and graphics.  They don't know what it was like to play an 8-bit NES or worse, a Colecovision console at the time when it was new....and try to tell an epic story.  games back 20+ years ago had to rely on a good solid story to make the game work.  It needed a narative to move the game becuase graphics were not there to do it for you.

 

In todays game world stories rely too heavily on flashy graphics and explosions and unrealistic movements to tell the story.  Body language and landscaped alone don't do it.  This is evident by Halo as it is now.  The graphics, sounds, and mechanics actually overshadow the story...and when you take those elements away, you have a flat boring, hole filled pile of crap that makes The Eye of Argon look like a literary masterpiece!  <----older folks will understand the reference.

Edited January 28, 2018 by Twinreaper

[Cyborg Bill 89]

Bill, I agree with just about everything you have stated, except the Reach part.  I loved Reach.  Fav titles in order are ODST>Reach>Halo 2>Halo 3> Halo CE>Halo 4>Halo 5.  Halo 4 and 5 were failures.  Story sucked, geometry/rendering/texturing was god awful.

 

Now onto a different point which Kakashi touched on......the "super-fan" "Bungie era" thing.  Let's first understand what makes a certain player a fan of either Bungie or 343i.  Bungie created Halo.  For Bungie, it was easy to set out and carve away an established lore process, character design and a full universe to play in to.  Depending on your age at the time of CE's release, and your own definition about what makes a truly great story, you either fell in love with Halo, saw it as a quick fix or hated it.  Xbox was not at as advanced graphically as we would like to look back and believe.  For us older gamers the PC was already worlds above Xbox, but the PC was ellusive for younger teen/pre-teen gamers because of the costs behind them.

 

343i attempted to and fairled, to continue what Halo was and what they wanted it to become.  here is where we see another gap.  Bungie started it, passed it off, and 343i picked it up to continue in their own profound and set group way.  It is natural for there to be a divide in the community based on that.  However, to say that one will never be satisfied by a Halo title unless Bungie makes it again, is just completely absurd.  The difference between the two companies is all about how the story was told.  Graphically, the art design has gotten worse yes, but the way the story unfolds and the narative in general from 343i is boring, cliched, and not as creative and expansive as Bungie's was.  343i kinds forced the whole "Forerunner" saga by using the gap left by Halo 3.  We literally have no idea where Bungie had intended to take the franchise if they had decided to remain as the developers of Halo.  And so when 343i took over, they forced it down our throats.  There was no build-up or mystery around what was taking place.  They simply woke Chief up, and dropped into this already established war on their end.

 

You could say the same thing about CE, as Chief wa woken up and placed into this epic firefight with an enemy we knew nothing about.  But since it was a "new" franchise with nothing beofre it to hinder any type of story telling it worked.  The same cannot be said for Halo 4 and 5.  To say sonmeone is a fan of Bungie or 343i isn't accurate.  No amount of graphics, audio or gameplay can make-up what is "An epic story".  Properly, you should say someone is a "Staten" or "Shlerf-Reed" fan.  Staten knew how to write stories.  He did it for the entire length of the Halo franchise under Bungie.  343i however cannot get one single writer for any length of time to consistently flesh out a good story, one that captivates and truly expands the universe.  this is evident as now the the writing has gone from Shlerf in Halo 4 to Reed in halo 5, and now they have a whole new team of "group writers" as I understand it, going into future development.

 

All along 343i has the most abysmal, concveluded, conceited and self absorbed head staff in the industry.  We put a "content manager" in charge of Halo's development for 343i?!?!  Do you know what a content manager actually is?  A person who is n charge of posting and publishing content that is created by the artists, renderers and game developers for use in marketing, publishing and advertising.  That's it!  He didn't do a damn important thing on any scale in terms of development direction, coding, 3d rendering, audio, etc.... Yet somehow because he worked for Bungie and basically defected......he was given this al mighty and important job?  You gotta be kiding me.  My daughter at the time who was 10 back when Halo 4 dropped, could have written a better story, and I've created better looking Halo 2 maps on the PC than Halo 4 ever had.

 

My point is, 343i is naturaly and quite logically an inferior development team compared to the talent and balls Bungie had.  That doesn't make me a Bungie fan or make me unhappy with anything 343i does.  What makes me unhappy is a game that has been developed and released that appears to do nothing but milk the cow.  If I wa given a game with a proper art style, good quality graphics and a great story that could captivate me...I would gladly praise 343i for a job well done.  But it hasn't happened......yet.

 

Just to add and complete my whole age argument in the previous first part of this post....... Age plays a HUGE factor in Halo.  The new "softer" millenial generation is more focused on graphics, how they can get their "e-*****" quicker with fancy achievements, flair, etc....that the story actually takes a back seat to everything.  Honestly, new generations of players have no idea how a story should be properly told in a video game, because hey...instant gratification and graphics.  They don't know what it was like to play an 8-bit NES or worse, a Colecovision console at the time when it was new....and try to tell an epic story.  games back 20+ years ago had to rely on a good solid story to make the game work.  It needed a narative to move the game becuase graphics were not there to do it for you.

 

In todays game world stories rely too heavily on flashy graphics and explosions and unrealistic movements to tell the story.  Body language and landscaped alone don't do it.  This is evident by Halo as it is now.  The graphics, sounds, and mechanics actually overshadow the story...and when you take those elements away, you have a flat boring, hole filled pile of crap that makes The Eye of Argon look like a literary masterpiece!  <----older folks will understand the reference.

 

I was nodding along and agreeing with most of what you wrote, but I think I can offer a fresh perspective on the Halo 4 story. Again, I don't want to sound like an elitist, but I've kept up to date with the novels, so I knew exactly what Halo 4 was about, ahead of time. In saying that, I took a lot of my frustration out on the Greg Bear trilogy instead of Halo 4.

[i just went on a massive rant about the whole Forerunner saga and storyline, but decided to spare you all and delete it.]

Anyway, my point is that that I was able to play the game in a similar way as to how I first played CE; I was aboard a sinking ship, I had enough intel on the immediate threat, and I could focus on my primary objective. However, throughout the entire campaign, I knew that I was in a fairly rare position, and couldn't help but think of how confusing [and stupid] the unfolding story would be to the average gamer. The novels had completely prepared me for what would've otherwise been a terrible campaign, and had copped all my abuse. The Halo 4 plot was off my radar.

 

All that said, players shouldn't have to read numerous books before starting the next game in a saga. Any relevant backstory should be explained pretty much immediately. Waiting for the Libraian to come along with a very, very brief overview of why the Forerunners hate humanity was poor. And the Didact was knocked off without any real explanation as to who he was, or what he was doing. Suddenly mentioning he was married to the Librarian would've come as a shock too. In all, the storytelling of 343 throughout the game was weak, but thankfully, it didn't impact my enjoyment too much. 

 

I guess it goes to show the direction 343 is headed as a company. The story is out there, if you're willing to look for it, but you won't find it in the games. Instead, you'll spend your time mindlessly shooting unimaginative enemies that honestly aren't that fun to fight. Congratulations, they're a lot tougher than elites and brutes - but without the level of creativity that Bungie brought, it's all a bit of a yawn for the older generation. Maybe 343 is too scared to take the level of detail you'll find in a Halo novel and insert it into a game. Or maybe they're just too stingy to develop a plot that's completely removed from the books. Either way, I doubt the attention span of the younger generation will hold forever, and they'll have wound up selling out the original fans for a string of mediocre titles, milked to the lowest common denominator. But at least they'll never go broke.... 

 

I should also reiterate that I still found Halos 4 and 5 visually stunning - but all I have to compare them to are previous Halo titles, as I haven't played a game from another franchise in many years.

[Twinreaper]

I completely agree. Anytime an entertainment media releases a product, it should not expect or require you to read books or search additional content outlets in order for a person to understand or expect something.

 

It's similar to movies, especially movies based on novels or comics. I used to get mad when I would watch an X-Men or Batman movie, or any sci fi movie in general, because it wasn't what was already published in the comic or book. But I soon came to realize that without the rewriting or tweaking of the story in which it was being taken from, to the average movie goer the movie would not make sense, and it would give you certain things you needed to know, in order to enjoy it or emmerse yourself in it.

 

The same is relevant for video games. A story in the video game should not be written with novel readers or expanded Universe nuts in mind. It should flow and work with the perspective of a "new" franchise player. Players should be able to pick it up and go. The only time this should not be the case, or cannot be...is when you are first starting out the IP...like CE.

 

I mean seriously.....how many people do you think are going to actually go oit and read the entire Infinity Saga from the 90's? I knew going into Avengers that nothing would be like the comic, and as such, I also saw from the Infinity trailer, that the entire story has been changed. But again, who expects millions of movie watchers to go and read the comics, just so they can produce a true comic based chapter?

Edited January 29, 2018 by Twinreaper