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  • Subject: Do you think Bungie is an overrated game developer?
Subject: Do you think Bungie is an overrated game developer?

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Posted by: Confederateghad
That post.

Your head.
Knife understood your post just fine. How about everyone reel in the attitude a little.

On the topic at hand, I think Revan hit the nail on the head.

[Edited on 11.30.2011 4:42 PM PST]

  • 11.30.2011 4:41 PM PDT

HELL no.

  • 11.30.2011 4:43 PM PDT

The Risk Is Worth The Reward.
Cry Havoc And Let Slip The Dogs Of War.

I love them most because of that I will admit. The games they have made are also great though. You get the best of both worlds when it comes to Bungie.
Posted by: Pigeon Punter
Only thing I really like bungie for is there support of games after release.

  • 11.30.2011 4:47 PM PDT

yas334229812

I think bungie is not overrated but like others underrated, the names that are well known by many are EA or Activision or Microsoft, or i do not know, its like the publishers are getting credit when they are the ones stealing all the content and making it expensive.

Though i am sorry for calling you a troll, read something on your account saying you were one so i considered you one.

  • 11.30.2011 4:49 PM PDT
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Bungie is not overrated if you consider their complete body of work including Marathon and Myth. I also consider Halo CE to be a ground-breaking, console making, FPS revolutionary game. I believe that the best game developer is Nintendo; however, I think that Bungie makes quality games and is not overrated.

Edited for typo.

[Edited on 11.30.2011 4:51 PM PST]

  • 11.30.2011 4:50 PM PDT

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I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with your 2nd and 3rd major points.

I ligetimately enjoyed ODST and Reach quite a bit. More so than Halo 2 or 3. (I still like their campaigns to an extent)

[Edited on 11.30.2011 4:55 PM PST]

  • 11.30.2011 4:55 PM PDT

Oh hey there

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Posted by: zzthejimzz
People are still complaining about Reach? Wow.
If I ignore the fact that the story in the campaign doesn't match up with TFoR I really liked Reach.

  • 11.30.2011 4:57 PM PDT
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Edit: Whoops.

Huh... now I have to explain myself to make this comment un-off-topic/not spam... incoming opinionated wall-of-text.

I don't think Bungie is an overrated game developer: Bungie has worked hard to get where they are and have long deserved their spot among the top developers. Their games have always had some type of balance that's unbendable and unexplainable, they have always added some of the most innovative and inconceivable ideas to their newest games and the involvement in their games' overall quality is astronomical. What amazes me, most of all, is how little I hear of it. [/opinion]

[Edited on 11.30.2011 5:27 PM PST]

  • 11.30.2011 4:59 PM PDT

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[*Please note that anything in my posts is likely to be filled with sarcasm, and should be taken with a pinch of salt. I tend to help people, usually*]

You really can't dismiss ODST and Reach. They were built under entirely different circumstances to what we were used to previously.

Bungie wanted to stop making Halo after H3, but Microsoft wanted another 2 out of them as part the deal. So Bungie made a sidestory within the original story arc, ODST, so that they stayed true to the idea of not going further than Halo 3, and then they made the prequel to Halo 1 which would in part be a sort of test of some of the things they're planning to do in the future (I remember hearing about this in one of the vidocs or at PAX, if I recall correctly), for example, the space battle.

Microsoft wasn't happy with them because they were "missteps" since they're convinced Halo is all about the Master Chief (didn't stop them from making Halo Wars, but whatever) but Bungie clearly know what they were doing.

Your first point: And you have statistical data to support this? Unfortunately, you only notice cheaters when they're affecting you, but never after the game ends and you part ways with them. They definitely got dealt with.

Your second point: Bungie didn't choose what the price would be. Campaign was developed in the space of a year, maybe a little more. It was fantastic for what it was intended to be.

Your third point: Campaign was the absolute pinnacle of Bungie's development career, hitting all of the key technical marks that makes a game worthwhile playing. I think Bungie wanted to make Reach the best Halo game you could make so that it would be impossible for 343 to top it. I do love that you say it was terrible but then list 3 MAJOR components of what makes Reach so good. You also missed Forge World, so that's silly.

I don't get your argument that says "Oh they're only known for Halo, so they got lucky and they're actually crap." They're a development team. They grow and adapt as time goes on. Halo was popular because Bungie made it really well. It's a staple of achievement for them as a company and drew a line that just kept on going up. Their next game will definitely blow people away because of this, more so because it's something totally brand new. They're no longer constrained by a Universe that they hadn't expected to make a sequel for in the first place...meaning the sky's the limit.

  • 11.30.2011 5:00 PM PDT

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I like everything they've done. I feel perfectly at home here and Halo has been an amazing part of my life.

  • 11.30.2011 5:07 PM PDT
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1. That just isn't true.

2. Regardless of the game's cost, the game was Masterpiece, and, in my opinion, better than it's most recent ancestor.

3. Entirely opinion based. Reach is still one of the top 15 best selling xbox 360 games of all time.

That said, Bungie IS slightly over rated. They're not the godsend everyone thinks they are, and they CAN do wrong. However, I would still rate them in the top 5 game developers out there now. Maybe at 3. Right behind Bethesda (2) and Valve (1).

  • 11.30.2011 5:33 PM PDT


Posted by: x Lord Revan x
I never thought of it that way (or at least that in depth) and I agree with you 100%.

To get into my opinion, ODST's campaign seemed amazing to me. The soundtrack was incredible and the story itself was excellent. As far as Reach goes, I liked it a lot. The expansions on what was already excellent from Halo 3 and ODST created endless hours of play time. Forge was upgraded to a never before seen level, Firefight was more impressive, along with Custom Games, because of the customizable options. With the Campaign, every second of that was great for me. Even though there were collisions with novel, the story seemed to tie the saga together nicely.

The only problem that I did have with Reach was that the Campaign did not include that many ways to unlock armor. I would have liked it if there where more hidden unlockables throughout. Sure, the Data Pads were a nice addition, but they did not reward with any armor or anything. To me, this left the campaign more in the dust because players were focusing on getting armor which is only available through matchmaking. If the campaign included more ways to unlock armor and such, I think the popularity (if that is the right word) would have been better spread out throughout the game.

[Edited on 11.30.2011 6:16 PM PST]

  • 11.30.2011 6:13 PM PDT
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Absalutely not.

  • 11.30.2011 6:20 PM PDT

You seem mad

Did Bungie hurt you?

  • 11.30.2011 6:22 PM PDT
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Thread should be good.

  • 11.30.2011 6:22 PM PDT

Did they make ODST?

If so, then yeah.... they suck.

  • 11.30.2011 6:26 PM PDT

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Posted by: MrBojangles136
You seem mad

  • 11.30.2011 6:33 PM PDT

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Posted by: III Kirby III
Did they make ODST?

If so, then yeah.... they suck.


ODST was one of the best Halos.

  • 11.30.2011 6:34 PM PDT
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Posted by: spartain ken 15
Posted by: III Kirby III
Did they make ODST?

If so, then yeah.... they suck.


ODST was one of the best Halos.


Nope. There was no multiplayer, the only reason I play Halo.

  • 11.30.2011 6:37 PM PDT
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Posted by: III Kirby III
Did they make ODST?

If so, then yeah.... they suck.


Why judge a developer based on only one game?

  • 11.30.2011 6:38 PM PDT

Hi I'm RT and I like to argue!

Halo 1 basically set the standard for console shooter, and most shooters thereafter have used a similar basic control scheme.

Halo 2 introduced online muliplayer and--perhaps more importantly--matchmaking to a huge number of gamers.

Halo 3 continued that trend, and had a party system that was intuitive and easy to use, unlike it's chief competitor wherein when a "party" wanted to back out, each player had to do so indivudially or risk separation. Also, Forge, Theater.

Reach expanded on that even more, and the "active roster" thing is -blam!-ing fantastic. Meanwhile, their main competitor still struggles to compete in this realm, despite it's multiplayer component being it's main appeal.

Not to say those games didn't have flaws, but what doesn't?

I'd say neither over- nor under-rated.

  • 11.30.2011 6:38 PM PDT
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Posted by: x Lord Revan x


Couldnt have said it better

  • 11.30.2011 7:05 PM PDT

"That's about all that can be said for plots, which anyway are just one thing after another, a what and a what and a what.

Now try how and why."

I have a problem with the concept of overrated and underrated.

Both of the concepts assume two things:

1. That there is somehow a ubiquitous consensus.
2. That there is and objective qualitative level which something has attained that said consensus is above.

Of course, I'd normally just dismiss such accusation and not comment at all, but while I can't say that bungie is either underrated or overrated, the fact that I'm commenting at all on the matter speaks volumes towards how I do think of bungie.

Aside from this, though I dismiss the concepts of under or over rated, I would say that the gaming community, especially those that like to provide less than affectionate criticism of them, as a whole, is next to entirely ignorant of what bungie is, and what bungie stands for.

Name any other gaming developer. They're almost either defined by their games, a single personality, or ludic paradigm. People who like video games flock in to start showing their love for what ever has been created.

Bungie stands out because of two factors:
First, they started out with a few post-collage age males with a very small community surrounding them. As such, they developed rituals, jokes, and other oddities. This isn't all that unusual, as any medium to small video game developer worth their skin is going to have a sense of humor, but it's when this is combined with another facet of bungie that it becomes meaningful.
To be specific, bungie was unique in that they had fairly latent set of ideas and motifs that unified their games. This meant that when people talked about marathon, myth, or pathways into darkness, they had more to talk about then "here is what should be in the sequel", or "look at this solitary easter egg."

When this was combined with the aforementioned humor and in jokes, the discussions started to get mixed and blended to the point that the humor and the speculation couldn't quite be separated.

Id est, bungie isn't defined by the games that they create, bungie games are defined by bungie. Thus, unlike any number of studios, there is a distinctly "bungie" finger print with every game that they make. Of course, this goes beyond culture and into game design.

I may be hard to see this, given that bungie has spent half of it's existence on one series, but where most studios have a fairly "take an existing idea and see what sticks" approach to game design, Bungie differentiated itself by being able to examine what makes things great at their basest level and focusing on those elements.

All of this "culture" and ideas carried over to Bungie during the Halo years. Whats more, the culture went through a huge trial by fire during the Microsoft acquisition. It pissed a lot of people off, but those that were able to get over it found out that there was more to bungie than just "mac loyalty." No doubt bungie is a very different developer than they were ten years ago, but they still carry the same culture that they do. It isn't appreciated by most halo players, but it can definitely be found. It's the secret sauce that has made so many bungie fan rabid to the point of not just wanting to work in the games industry, but specifically wanting to work at bungie. Hell, I'd want to work at bungie if I thought that I could somehow help them make better games.

Again, halo years aside, Bungie has been pretty good about not being an overly pampering parent. They made a strategy game when their base was shooter fans, they made games for windows when their base was Mac fanboys during a high point of MacRage. They could have just made another Pathways into Darkness game. They didn't continue to just make Marathon games, even thought they had an audience. They didn't just make more myth games, in spite of their base's wishes. They made a fighting game that wasn't 2D. They wanted out of making halo games, despite how incredibly safe it is and how incredibly uncertain their future is now. They tried a ton of stuff out. They frequently hold community events and they have employees who are active in the community. Contrary to popular belief, they change quite a bit from sequel to sequel.


Of course, some people will agree with this, but say that they're work is lackluster. Sure, they haven't alway done everything perfectly, but they have taken risks, and Bungie put a ton of effort into the two last entry's when they could have just phoned them in and expected people to buy them because of the Halo name.

I guess you could just call this the rant of a bungie fanboy. I don't dislike other game developers, I just really love bungie. I don't know what lies ahead for bungie, but I've followed them for the majority of my life, and I'm waiting to see what they will do now.

  • 11.30.2011 7:14 PM PDT

It's a surprise that your getting away with this thread OP O:

  • 11.30.2011 7:34 PM PDT