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This topic has moved here: Subject: Weapon 'Evolution' in Halo Games
  • Subject: Weapon 'Evolution' in Halo Games
Subject: Weapon 'Evolution' in Halo Games

I made a similar thread about this concerning the assault rifle, and basically what I've noticed throughout the Halo series with all of the weapons, frankly, is that they've gotten worse. Some would disagree and say they've just changed, but I sure liked the way the weapons were in Halo: CE, and wished they stayed that way, or didn't change so much.

For the pistol, shotgun, and even the rocket launcher, I've noticed a similar trend: In Halo: CE they were awesome, lots of ammo/mag for pistol and shotgun (12), very powerful, longest range, and relatively quick as well. Rocket launcher had a fast-moving, deadly, high splash damage rocket that was slow to reload, because, well, it was a rocket launcher. No lock-on either.. Halo 2- these 3 were made faster, but much, much weaker. Same amount of ammo, but like half as powerful and half the range..wth? And the RL had lock-on, a slow-moving rocket, but it was faster to reload. Everything was basically made the same. Halo 3- Pistol and shotgun were more powerful, had more range, but not as powerful as in Halo CE, and were slower than my grandma, oh yeah, and 12 rounds/mag to 8 and 6. Again..wth? The rocket launcher was about the same as Halo 2 (improved in some areas) but just had no lock-on.

The assault rifle went from having 60 rounds and being a beast in close-quarters and fun as hell to usein Halo CE to cutting the amount of ammo per mag nearly in half, being slower, and alot more frustrating to use. I get that it was made to be more like a rifle, and was slightly more powerful and had longer range, and I liked that, but the ammo ran out so quickly and was just frustrating to use, and someone skilled with a BR could kill someone with an AR in just about every situation. In Reach, it was much more user-friendly and had its own defining role instead of being overshadowed completely by the BR (DMR in this case, which helped), and the ROF was reduced even more to conserve the ammo better, and it was slightly weaker, but that's all ok, because Reach was a bit slower-paced as well.


As you can see, the weapons in Halo have A) gotten weaker, B) slower, and C) contain less ammunition per magazine
So why would this happen? Game mechanics? I can understand that, but they made that aspect worse imo. Halo CE was fun as hell, the weapons were more balanced, every weapon was fun to use and could kick alot of @$$, and the fights between you and your friends were alot more fun than what we have now. It was like, if you get caught lookin' and youre gettin shot up, there aint no runnin and hidin and turnin a corner, and throwing (excuse me, spamming) a fireball at the enemey to cheaply cover yourself, which I see waaay too much of in Halo now, and it's annoying. In Halo CE, it was intense, and way more fun. Now, the weapons are downgraded. What's the deal? Okay, I'll buy it, it's game mechanics, and they did it their own way, and I'm wrong for liking what I like.

But how do they explain this in the Halo-verse? Example: The assault rifle. Oh let's just say we cut the mag capacity in half because the MA5B in Halo CE had weak springs on it and couldn't handle all that ammo being spat through it. That's feasible to an extent, and 60 rounds is alot per mag, but damn UNSC, all the way down to 32? That was not necessary. Try 40-50, but not 32, that's like combat today. I was kind of mad when I saw the AR in Halo 3. But lets just say they had budget cuts as well with the weak springs when an alien juggernaut is on the brink of exterminating humanity for good, and the only important thing now is money. Times were desperate, money wasn't important, come on, in WWII we didn't worry about spending too much, we were pumping out Shermans like no tomorrow, and in producing and spending so much, we drug ourselves out of one of the worst economic meltdowns in American history. But forget the logic, let's go with that.

But. What about the pistol and shotgun? 12 and 12 down to 6 and 8? Hmm, are we seeing a trend here? Is it the UNSC making 'better' weapons or game mechanics (and I know the answer)? That's basically my issue here. And why they had to butcher the weapons as much as they did, and then have to come up with ridiculously illogical excuses within the verse to back it up is beyond me.

Tell me what ya'll think.

[Edited on 07.15.2011 8:44 PM PDT]

  • 07.15.2011 8:37 PM PDT

More like degeneration.

  • 07.15.2011 8:59 PM PDT

Or the evolution to balancing

  • 07.15.2011 9:06 PM PDT

Or Combat DEvolved, I just hope the weapons are more like they were in Halo: CE. They change them up every game, so who knows.

  • 07.16.2011 12:11 PM PDT

It does not make sense when you think about it as the evolution of weapons in the halo universe, but only in the evolution of the popularity and need for balance in the FPS. Low ammo shotguns and pistols is not exclusive to halo, and is necessary to balance multiplayer gameplay. The only real way to fix the stupid evolution, as far as lore is concerned, is to pull a "Call of Duty" and make the guns different in campaign than they are in multiplayer. However if you have a completely CoOp campaign like Halo does this doesn't make much sense.

  • 07.16.2011 1:04 PM PDT


Posted by: mercenary335
It does not make sense when you think about it as the evolution of weapons in the halo universe, but only in the evolution of the popularity and need for balance in the FPS. Low ammo shotguns and pistols is not exclusive to halo, and is necessary to balance multiplayer gameplay. The only real way to fix the stupid evolution, as far as lore is concerned, is to pull a "Call of Duty" and make the guns different in campaign than they are in multiplayer. However if you have a completely CoOp campaign like Halo does this doesn't make much sense.


Agreed, and I've thought that they should try what CoD does with weapons, but it wouldn't seem right because CoD has so many of the same kind of weapon, so it's harder to notice. The weapons are much more iconic with Halo.

But as for balance in MP, I believe they did what they did for what they thought balance was, and that was to depower the main weapons. However, when you do this, weapons like the sniper rifle and rocket launcher can't be changed that much and begin to dominate the game. Notice how when you begin a match everyone just sprints toward the rocket launcher and sniper, and when you get it, you get betrayed. Ridiculous.

[Edited on 07.16.2011 5:06 PM PDT]

  • 07.16.2011 5:03 PM PDT

Life's a game. How do you play?

Petarded2 pointed this out as well. Everything in Halo has continually gotten crappier and crappier, to the point where I moan every time I fire an AR. One of these days, I'm just going to mod in another game's armory so I no longer have to put with this BS.
The bane of the gaming industry for the past few years has been "balancing". To cater to idiots who haven't figured out that sniping is only effective when they can see you and that backstabbing is a wonderful strategy, not only Bungie but almost all developers have overbalanced the game to such a high degree that skill no longer comes into the equation; it becomes luck. Whereas you were once valued as a player who could rip through an entire Infection match no sweat or cause absolute hell with a sniper rifle from across the map, you are now vulnerable to idiots who run charging blindly at you from across the map with nothing but a pistol.
It's sad, to be honest. So very, very sad. Honest arena fighting, I miss you.

  • 07.16.2011 5:12 PM PDT