|
Post by Blade Runner 07 on Apr 30, 2015 22:38:40 GMT -5
Embarrassed. That's the word for this. Embarrassed!
I AM EMBARRASSED! For the last 15 years, I have been putting my rep on the line and bordering on fanboyism for one game. What game you ask? You guessed it! Halo! Throughout the years I would say "Oh yeah Call of Duty is pretty good but Halo is where it's at."
Hold on, I need to slow this down and explain. Ya see, I fought the uphill battle for Halo dominance because I was so taken by the story, and the universe, and the gameplay. I did it so much I fell into a rut, a lifestyle even, of sticking up for this long beloved franchise. Still confused?
Okay. So last week 343 Industries the developers of everything Halo for the last five years, cancels their big Master Chief Collection Tournament due to "new' online connection problems with the party system. These problems have been a constant since launch despite numerous patches! WHAT? Yeah, my love for halo had me sitting in a lobby for 2, 3, 5 minutes between games just to unlock new armor, ranks, etc. through the years, but the time has come to drop any fanboyism and face reality. Halos actual networking has NEVER been as good as Call of Duty's and NOW, it's not even worth considering. IT'S A JOKE! Microsoft backing this franchise with it's money and the franchises own legacy is all that's keeping it afloat at this point.
Why am I so angry? Because it's become personal. I bought an Xbox One with the Master Chief Collection in mind as the first in what I hope will be many great first-person shooters on the console. Yeah, it had problems at launch, but I had faith that with it being such a huge package and Microsofts highest profile game of 2014, it would get patched up right away, but no...
On that faith, I talked to all my friends about how great it would be to co-op these campaign modes for a chance to relive some of the most fun parts of my high school and college life on the Xbox One.
I had a friend that begged me for months to get a PS4 so we could play together, but I insisted that games like State of Decay, Halo, Perfect Dark, etc. would probably have me buying an Xbox One despite my better judgement. What happened? I bought an Xbox One, and he ended up selling his PS4. When I moved across the country in January because I talked up The Master Chief Collection so much, he spent hundreds of dollars to get and Xbox One to play with me...
It's heart breaking guys. It's embarrassing that I pushed it so far that now that we both have the game, we don't play nearly as much as we both anticipated because Halos party system is so broken.
Thats not the worst of it though. Looking back on things today, I feel like a total jerk. I talked not just one but TWO of my friends to lay down their $400 to play this game with me. Both friends didn't have a job at the time and I put the pressure on so I had someone to play with and when we actually got to playing the game, it became apparent that the networking was all sorts of screwy even after several patchs. We either couldn't get into a lobby together or couldn't join a party. It just takes so long to tinker and figure out how to party up just so we can play a few levels by the time we actually partied up, all motivation is gone and we play maybe two levels. We spend more time in the lobby than we do actually playing the game!
I have to tell my friends now, "I swear that Halo was better than this!"
Obviously I'm alittle passionate about all of this. Halo filled that gap that Perfect Dark left when everyone stopped playing the N64. Halo was that one game that had me playing split-screen multiplayer, and recreating that social experience I had with a game like Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark. When I was afraid that my multiplayer shooting games were coming to an end at the age of 14, Halo came along and became the next big thing.
Halo is so crippled, it's embarrassing for me to stick up for it, so it end now. If ten years down the road, I'm anticipating and talking about Halo 12, I'm going to feel dead inside. I'm pretty confident in saying that the franchise isnt coming back. The creative direction behind the Bungie Halo games is gone. Marty O'Donnell has been fired, and I seriously doubt Destiny will go on to be the next proper Halo. I'm sure Destiny 2 will right all the wrongs brought by Destiny and be the Mass Effect 2 or Halo 2 that goes to do all the great things the original promised but better, but I just can't trust myself to anticipate anything great from them either. I've actually been hurt on a personal level now. Half the original Halo team is at 343i and doing a crappy job while the rest have either left or been fired from Bungie. This it truly, the end of an era.
You know how 343i is making Halo can't and eventually WON'T make money this way. The franchise is 15 years old now and were starting to feel it. I've tried to tiptoe around peoples feelings when I mention Halo and COD because if you say one or the other is better, your just asking for a flame war. Several times in my life I have been the only person in whatever group I was in standing up for halo and now it's like halo feels like a dinosaur now. It's old and broken. Bring on the new Call of Duty. At least that game delivers on it's promises, even if all it promises is the same crap we've been seeing for the last nine years.
|
|
|
Post by Leppy101 on May 1, 2015 0:38:45 GMT -5
I'm going to say one thing and either you or a lot of people will just rip on it.
Yes the servers are pretty bad, but you need to remember. It's 4 games crammed into one disc. That is something that has never happened before. ALL the old glitches are still in, ALL released maps (PC included) are available, there is TWO graphic engines running at the same time. ALL the different types of halo armor are in, and ALL the emblems (New AND old) are in.
It would be pretty hard to launch that with little to no error. Yes I do agree that the server bugs are annoying as f*ck, but you have to keep all those things in mind. I'm still giving 343i a thumbs up on their part because they really are working hard to get those fixes out to the public. MCC has had more updates than Reach and Halo 4 did...probably not a good thing to be making so many updates (making everyone think the game is broken beyond playable) but it does show everyone that they CARE enough to make MCC better with their updates.
There's alot of things that I agree with you on your rant but I have said it many times to alot of people, and I have said it here, and I'll say it again. It's FOUR games on ONE disc with TWO different engines running at the exact same time. There's bound to be problems.
|
|
|
Post by Leppy101 on May 1, 2015 0:40:51 GMT -5
They also wanted to do ALOT more in Halo 4 but Microsoft made 343i release it when it did. So its not entirely 343i's fault.
|
|
|
Post by Blade Runner 07 on May 1, 2015 1:28:19 GMT -5
That's a good point blackfire343, and thanks for replying so quickly but... ya see... the problem is... IT'S STILL BROKEN !!! SIX MONTHS LATER !!!
It's been almost 6 months and it's still a mess. Yeah, it launched broken but I forgive them for the reason you gave. It IS four games in one after all. Even when they announced it, I had my doubts but knew that pulling it off would mean the best value in a compilation since The Orange Box. The bottom line is that not only was I duped into buying an Xbox One for this, but my friends were duped second-hand because I insisted it would be fixed by the new year. Patch after patch after patch and they STILL can't solidify a unified lobby? Give me a break!
What finally brought this rant about was how theve been quietly acknowledging this HUGE problem in their bug notes since launch but they canceled an entire Halo Tournament because of the issue. They scheduled the damn thing like the game was stable enough to handle it then FINALLY acknowledged this problem in the worst way possible.
Halo 5 is 6 months away and their still trying to fix The Master Chief Collection. We're getting the big "sorry" card in the form of ODST later this month too! You think they will keep patching it after E3? After Halo 5 comes out? I hate to say it because I have alot of Halo still to play with my friends but... I'm not sure this party issue is ever going to meet the standard we've come to expect in playing on the Xbox 360 Halo games and that sickens me for reasons I posted above.
P.S. Microsoft could have dodged this mess with backwards compatibility on the Xbox One. Just saying that if Halo 2 Anniversary was the only thing 343i had to develop, they would have had any problems fixed by January.
|
|
|
Post by Leppy101 on May 13, 2015 20:21:26 GMT -5
Yeah...Idk lol. I do know that SWAT has finally been added as a playlist, and it's here to stay so thats good....right? Oh well. I don't play MCC because none of my friends will, and the only thing they do play is forge which gets really boring fairly quickly. I just hope they don't screw up Halo 5 like they did with MCC.
|
|
|
Post by Greenfire32 on May 14, 2015 12:09:42 GMT -5
I'm not too worried about it. All the stand-alone Halos had multiplayer that worked. The MCC's multiplayer doesn't work all too well mostly because of reasons listed above.
That and the XBOX ONE doesn't seem to work as intended (no voice messages, cant easily send party invites, you all know exactly what I'm talking about), so I think it's less the game's fault and more the system's.
Halo 5's multiplayer will probably run just fine. At least...it better. If it doesn't, you can count the franchise dead. Or at least MIA.
Cuz...you know...Spartans nev-
whatever.
|
|
|
Post by Blade Runner 07 on May 14, 2015 13:44:04 GMT -5
There is two kinds of Halo. The Bungie Halo, and the 343i Halo.
I consider Bungie Halo the same way 343i considers Bungie Halo. Loose Canon.
The "Spartans Never Die" line might as well not even exist unless Microsoft and 343i can make money off of it somehow.
Sorry, just so much has changed. The way I see and think about Halo as it exists today is so different than how I did even in 2010 with Reach. The Bungie Halos are still so solid and my opinion hasnt changed on them. There is just a spirit that's gone from the franchise now, and I doubt it will ever return.
|
|
|
Post by Greenfire32 on May 14, 2015 14:15:40 GMT -5
I guess I'm in the camp that doesn't really see a difference between the Bungie and the 343 Halos. They both feel, play and look the same to me.
In fact, besides the launch issues of the MCC, I really don't know where all the hate 343 gets originated from. Especially since in the beginning, 343 was mostly comprised of ex-Bungie employees (they're not so much mostly Bungie anymore though).
It all just looks like a classic case of "Back in MY day, Bungie made Halo. Not this newfangled 343 crap all the kids have now."
/2centsgrainsofsaltomgit'sonlyanopinion
|
|
Xargen
Metal Gear
Kickin' names, taking ass.
Posts: 1,651
Now Playing: I PLAY THA VIDJA GAMES!
|
Post by Xargen on May 14, 2015 15:46:51 GMT -5
The differences in feel and style between Halo 3 and Halo 4 is pretty evident imo, and it INSANELY evident in the multiplayer...
|
|
|
Post by Greenfire32 on May 14, 2015 16:00:09 GMT -5
"Style?" Maybe. But there's also a huge difference in style between Halos 1 and 2. And Halos 2 and 3. So...not exactly a new concept for Halo As for "feel," though? Idk, they all feel like halo to me.
|
|
Xargen
Metal Gear
Kickin' names, taking ass.
Posts: 1,651
Now Playing: I PLAY THA VIDJA GAMES!
|
Post by Xargen on May 14, 2015 16:06:31 GMT -5
By style I mean the story and how the Chief acts etc... He's all stoic hero in 1 through 3, then in 4 he's all worried for his friend, he almost sounds desperate at times to get her to safety
|
|
|
Post by Leppy101 on May 14, 2015 16:26:33 GMT -5
I actually liked how they gave the chief more of a personality in Halo 4 then the other halos. Think about it, the chief and Cortana have been "partners in crime" for 8 years. A.I. deteriorate after 7.
Now let me ask you this, how would you feel if your bestfriend is dying after being together for so many years? I mean, I'll admit, I cried like a b*tch at the end of Halo 4. In Halo 4 you see the chief acting more human than you do as no-talking-covenant-ass-kicking-SOB, which imo, was great to see.
|
|
|
Post by Greenfire32 on May 14, 2015 22:50:07 GMT -5
By style I mean the story and how the Chief acts etc... He's all stoic hero in 1 through 3, then in 4 he's all worried for his friend, he almost sounds desperate at times to get her to safety I call that "character development."
|
|
|
Post by Blade Runner 07 on May 14, 2015 22:57:16 GMT -5
I really didn't have any problems with the Chief in Halo 4, well, accept for his armor is different for no explained reason, which leads me into this argument.
Don't be afraid to argue a little on this greeny. At the end of the day we still love ya. I'm as passionate about Halo as you are if you haven't noticed.
With that said, you might need some better glasses and a hearing aid...
Yeah, the style change between Halo 1 and Halo 2 are immediately noticeable. Halo 2 and Halo 3, not so much. Halo Reach saw Bungie realizing a style they probably had intended for Halo 1 in the first place. I think that's why I appreciate the use of Reach assets in Halo:CEA.
The 343I hate comes, for me, from the fact that 343i has to put their signature on everything they touch. LOTS of Halo 4 assets made it into Halo 2 Anniversary, some of which is completely out of place considering Halo 4 takes place around half a decade later and Halo 3 looks so much more in touch with Halo:CEA, and Halo 2 Classic.
Halo 4 could almost be called a basterdization of a game when you consider it features a completely different art style, musical theme, and tons of Reach gameplay elements when it's supposedly a sequel to Halo 3.
When I play Destiny, I can kinda see where they would have taken Halo had they made another game for the franchise, and it probably would have been another side story akin to ODST. Destiny is very, shall I say, "Reachy". In a good way. Halo 4 should have felt like a sequel to Halo 3. It failed on every level to live up to what it was proposed to be. Not MY expectations, but it's name.
Edit: Not trying to be so argumentative. If you want to buy Halo 5 and love Halo 4 then more power to you. You're not wrong for doing so. Heck, buy Halo 5 and give us a review. Halo 4 was a good game even. I'll leave it at that.
It's just if you say you love the series but you can't tell the difference 343i has made for the better AND worse, than I don't know what to tell you. It's clear as day that 343i formation and the continuation of the Halo franchise beyond Bungie has an underlying feeling of cash cow milking.
I also want to point out that not everything Bungie did was gold either. I see recognize that. Reachs map recycling and just the length of ODST made the former feel shallow in places despite all it's depth, and the later, feel like standard setting DLC that Microsoft just couldn't let go for less than $59.99. The series hasn't been sin-free since Halo 3 imo. I guess I'm just hating on fanboyism here. We still cool???
|
|
|
Post by Greenfire32 on May 15, 2015 16:58:37 GMT -5
I really didn't have any problems with the Chief in Halo 4, well, accept for his armor is different for no explained reason, which leads me into this argument. I also had that issue. Cortana rewriting his firmware is acceptable, but the whole "nanobot retool" theory is a bit extreme to me. But let's not forget, Bungie did the exact same thing in Halo 3 (though to a lesser degree). In my opinion, ANYTHING that requires an explanation via the Extended Universe isn't game-worthy. Either you explain it in the parent medium or it doesn't exist in the parent medium. (Example: the invisibility missions for the child-spartans is acceptable in the EU because it never came back in the games. If you have no idea what I'm on about here, my point is perfectly illustrated.) Yeah, the style change between Halo 1 and Halo 2 are immediately noticeable. Halo 2 and Halo 3, not so much. Halo Reach saw Bungie realizing a style they probably had intended for Halo 1 in the first place. I think that's why I appreciate the use of Reach assets in Halo:CEA. The style change between Halos 2 and 3 is pretty jarring actually. Not sure how one would blur the two. Regarding Reach, I don't think that's ultimately what Bungie wanted as a style-standard for Halo. Reach is very much a swan song and you can definitely feel, see & hear it. Not only that, but Bungie committed the highest of crimes. They took the EU that they themselves said was canon, and retconned pretty much EVERY single thing that happened on Reach. Yet there is no hate for Bungie on that one.... Now I know I just said above that the parent medium takes precedence over the EU, but again, you have to remember that Bungie ACTIVELY endorsed Eric Nylund's "Fall of Reach" as the officially supported canon for YEARS. This is exactly like Disney retconning ALL of Star Wars' EU books. Yes, they have that ability, but to do so is considered creative suicide. Stargate is currently experiencing this very same thing as well. Dean Devlin is rebooting Stargate and completely throwing out ALL of SG-1, SGA, and SGU. Fans are not sitting well with that and there might not even BE a fanbase after the reboot happens because of that. J.J. Abrams was smart enough to NOT retcon Star Trek, but rather write the new movies into the existing universe as an alternate timeline. Something that Sci-Fi stories are no strangers to. The 343I hate comes, for me, from the fact that 343i has to put their signature on everything they touch. LOTS of Halo 4 assets made it into Halo 2 Anniversary, some of which is completely out of place considering Halo 4 takes place around half a decade later and Halo 3 looks so much more in touch with Halo:CEA, and Halo 2 Classic. Putting your own touch on something isn't a bad thing. Hell, I think every last one of us scratched our names into the desk we sat in while waiting for that 3pm bell to ring. 343 was not only assigned to work on the Halo universe, they were CREATED specifically for that one purpose and that purpose alone. I don't know about you, but a game studio who's ONLY thoughts are about it's ONLY responsibility seems like a pretty good deal to me. Don't get me wrong, Dev studios that have more than 1 IP are just fine. But let's say game A is having launch issues. Now game B is delayed because the devs are too busy mopping up their own messes. The problem I think you're experiencing here is them rose-tinted glasses you've got on. Time's have changed, and while graphics don't even come CLOSE to making a great game for me, the fact that Halo 2 looks GORGEOUS now is fucking amazing. Halo 4 could almost be called a basterdization of a game when you consider it features a completely different art style, musical theme, and tons of Reach gameplay elements when it's supposedly a sequel to Halo 3. You COULD, yes, but why would you? 343 is a different company with different goals and different resources. I found the change in hands EXTREMELY refreshing. The score (while it does lack Marty's chant in the forefront) is still pretty damn good. The foley is god damned beautiful, and the effects are top notch. Hell, even though I missed the witty Grunt quips, I found the "alien speak" much more fitting. Bungie should have done that from the start. *shots fired* When I play Destiny, I can kinda see where they would have taken Halo had they made another game for the franchise, and it probably would have been another side story akin to ODST. Destiny is very, shall I say, "Reachy". In a good way. Halo 4 should have felt like a sequel to Halo 3. It failed on every level to live up to what it was proposed to be. Not MY expectations, but it's name. And this is the very common misconception that just about all dissenters have. Halo 4 is not a sequel to Halo 3 in exactly the same way that Star Wars Ep: 4 is NOT a sequel to Star Wars Ep: 3. Halo 4 is the beginning of a new trilogy. It CONTINUES the time-line. It doesn't tie up loose ends like a traditional sequel does. And don't kid yourself, Destiny is an absolute failure of a game. Yet Bungie is still praised up and down for it. This just leads me further and further down the path that people hate 343 for no other reason that they aren't Bungie. It's clear as day that 343i formation and the continuation of the Halo franchise beyond Bungie has an underlying feeling of cash cow milking. How is that 343's fault? Microsoft is the one doing the milking. 343 is merely their tool. Again, this is misplaced hate for a company that doesn't deserve it. The people working at 343 are living their dream. They probably grew up playing Halo and now Halo is their job. How do you think they feel when they read that Bungie is still regarded as the messiah of Halo after the complete flop that Destiny is and continues to be. It is VERY clear that Bungie is a 1-trick horse. They're good at Halo because that's all they know. I also want to point out that not everything Bungie did was gold either. I see recognize that. Reachs map recycling and just the length of ODST made the former feel shallow in places despite all it's depth, and the later, feel like standard setting DLC that Microsoft just couldn't let go for less than $59.99. The series hasn't been sin-free since Halo 3 imo. I guess I'm just hating on fanboyism here. We still cool??? Pretty much agree with this one. ------------ We're always cool. Everyone's got different opinions.
|
|