Halo 3 Forum
This topic has moved here: Subject: Halo 3 - Thoughts from the long silent
  • Subject: Halo 3 - Thoughts from the long silent
Subject: Halo 3 - Thoughts from the long silent
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

This post is a collection of thoughts from myself, and my friends, who play halo religiously (online and off), but rarely, if ever, post or read posts. My purpose is to hopefully reach someone at bungie who has a degree of control over the next game, and see if others agree with my groups opinions...

THOUGHTS ON HALO 3 (bear with me)

What made H.A.L.O. - Combat Evolved such an enormous hit was a combination of things.
-The story was deep, unique, and thoroughly satisfying. You lead a desperate assault against inhuman monsters, bent on slaying the human race, with the odds 1,000,000 to 1, against you.
-The multiplayer was fast paced, diverse, and well balanced. People could fly around in warthogs, pick people off with pistol/sniper rifle weapons, or just generally blow -blam!- up. And most importantly, even if you were God at the game, you'd rarely steam roll through more then 5 opponents before you were whittled down to 0 health.
-The game HAD to be played in low latency situations, where you and your buddy were in your basement, either side by side fighting computer players, or blowing each others brains out. (ask any HALO player about the 'good old days' and they'll tell you they miss having the lan parties and inviting all their friends over)

Then came H.A.L.O. 2...
-The story (campagin mode) was flawed- it was unique, yet too diverse, to the point of being confusing for even the most avid halo novel fan (which is not altogether a bad thing...). However, having you play 2 characters seemed to make the story itself feel very disjointed, and the lack of a satisfying ending was the final straw for most gamers. Every single person i know who finished the game recounted the feeling of 'What the &%$#? That's the end?'. I know this is what bungie was going for, otherwise there would be nothing left for Halo3, but they really left you feeling like you were finally getting into the meat and potatoes of a good story, then ditching you half way.
-Halo2 multiplayer is good, but by no means great. I play it religiously because in my opinion, its the best Multiplayer game around right now for us FPS lovers. However The game, out of the box, is TERRIBLY balanced. Gameplay is slowed down, and weapons are either nerfed or amped, making game momentum a HUGE issue. (ie- I can camp in a corner with the rocket launcher and sniper rifle, which won't respawn for others to use, and wait for the enemy to come to me so i can kill them). Combine this with the removal of character health, and this made for very lopsided games, where one team/player can be put in a position where they are virtually powerless against an organized, camping enemy team.**
** This is the major failing of other First Person Shooters, and what was lost from the transition from H1 to H2 in my opinion
-Finally, Halo2 online. This was a great move and a terrible move. Great- people can play on lan or from miles away, and you can have access to playing other people then your friends, day or night. TERRIBLE- Ranking added incentive for people to become overly competitive and to hack; i feel this could have been implemented better by making online leagues, or perhaps tournaments from time to time.

What to take from these overall principles in making Halo3...

-Halo 3 single player- Bring back the story. Execution on Halo1 and Halo2 campaign mode gameplay was suberb. It had fights that were diverse and kept you on your toes, and i have no doubt you guys at bungie will give us more good fights. But the story needs to be there; Regardless of how you execute it (ie, even bringing back the much disbuted arbiter character) make the player feel like he's the champion and we're fighting to save the human race. And for crying out loud, give us an ending that's worthy of a multi-million person fanbase.
-Halo 3 multiplayer- Bring back the tension and the wholesome experience. Lets face it, you hit it big when you made 'the pistol' for Halo1, and the fast paced gameplay made it about the quick and the dead. Halo 2 lost that, and in my opinion, it lost the interest of the casual players in the process. I used to have 14 person lan parties at my house, and now i'm lucky when i can get 4 people to come over to play live. The reason? A game that was poorly balanced in weapons and in overall strategy. I can't speak for the masses, but i can speak of my own experience: you lost a good 8 people i know when they were playing a faceless internet snob who whored all the 'good' guns and out-camped them, only to rub it in their face on the mic. Don't let that happen in Halo3, give us a game where every gun is lethal, things move fast, and anything is possible. That was what made you're first big hit, and these principles are not beyond your reach at this point. When you rebalanced Halo2 with the patch, you made a few things more lethal, (ie- the melee and grenades, things everyone can use), which brought back the essence of Halo1's 'quick and the dead' philosophy, and saved Halo2 for me, my friends that play, and countless others i'm sure.

2 Side Sections-

1.Good ideas which may or may not have been presented yet
-->Computer players in a multiplayer setting. It tends to take away from the overall feel of the game, considering it tends to show the buggy sides of their programming, but you were really on to something with the halo1 coop. It was the first quality large scale Player/Player VS Computer action i played. My idea, is have a custom multiplayer where you and your friends can engage in sidemissions, with objectives similar to multiplayer. IMAGINE:
= 4 people must assault a covenant stronghold and extract the flag/plant bomb/rescue marines/... The map is large, and the base is at the center, with multiple routes leading in. You can choose to suit up with 3 men in a Gauss Hog, and one covering their rear in a scorpion, and assault the base head on, or to work your way in through a side passage. Or perhaps attack from 2 sides at once to split their forces. The objective is realistically guarded, with grunts patrolling the outside with elites, with brutes / hunters at the central area. Tell me that doesn't sound like a fun, replayable, multiplayer experience bungie....
= Defend an installation Alamo Style against a flood infestation/covenant assault
= Escape enemy territory via stealth or balls out shooting
= Slay every covenant/flood/brute in the area
That couldn't be all too hard to program, even if your game is nearing completion... And the replayability factor / sheer fun in that would be mind boggling. Imagine playing through a mission where you had to assault a covenant stronghold on Legendary difficulty, and plant a bomb to take down the whole place. You and your 3 spartan buddies suit up, grab rockets and sniper ammo out the ass, and blaze into the fight. You lose a man, then another, and finally its down to you with all your friends watching, as you miraculously plant the bomb right before you die, only to watch the whole place go up in flames. That is the culmination of everything good in Halo1coop, Halo2coop, and what the novels were made of. In suggesting this idea, it almost makes me sad because i feel it may never happen, and if there is one single thing i could wish for from bungie, this would be it.

2. My Story.
I've played halo since highschool, and i can say that i've made my best friends there and in college, ironically, from hanging out at halo lan parties. (and for those that would ridicule, i've got plenty of friends and a lovely girlfriend, i'm just saying the BEST of my friends happen to have come from similar halo interests). I feel that what bungie has made is truly a masterpiece, that allows friends to come together, play videogames, and get that commradry feeling, which has affected me, and probably all of those reading. If you guys agree with me on the constructive criticism and ideas i've put forth here, give me some support on this one and lets get these ideas across to bungie...

Thanks for all your time.

-Steve

  • 05.16.2006 1:03 PM PDT

-KOS-

Good read, I disagree on your Halo 2 opinion, but nontheless, good read.

  • 05.16.2006 1:16 PM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

Thanks.
I realize i'm being a little critical of halo2... but its meant constructively

  • 05.16.2006 1:21 PM PDT