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Posted by: Sliding Ghost
Posted by: SPARTAAA 117
How did the Halo series go from so good to so dry. Reasons:
-focus on difficulty. It's everywhere: the damage sponge, semi-omniscient enemy AI, the piss poor friendly AI, the lack of cps, the -blam!- pointless scenery items, enemy damage, AI focusing on player, and the skulls
-focus on aesthetics
-linear gameplay results in superficial gameplay. As a result, all the flaws are well hidden from those who just play through the campaign and are done with it. People who try to make something out of the campaigns will encounter difficulties and unnecessary challenges... furthermore, campaign becomes a gimmick itself. Mp becomes the main thing
-inconsistencies
-lack of realism/immersion. Too much of this is bad but it shouldn't be so blatantly obvious
-excessive scripting. I tried out Battlefield 3 and although it was somewhat interesting, I was appalled by how the first level was characterized by button prompts. Also, I downloaded several Custom Edition mods and 1 of them was nearly identical to the H2 E3 demo... but guess what? Heck lot of scripting. Later on the same level, I encountered a sword Elite with absurd shield recharge rate. This scripting problem is also the case for the CoD games...
I would have liked H2 and H3 to not have been rushed and for them to be worked on for at least 4 years before release. 1-2 years is just going to result in a slightly different Halo and that's going to get boring fast.
I find myself playing Custom Edition mods nowadays because how dissatisfied I am with H2 and H3. This would have been great if it wasn't a 99.9% imitation of Halo 3. The weak plasma pistol and nerfed plasma rifle are made up for with ammo abundance but still, Halo 3 wasn't perfect and it shouldn't be just copied and pasted. It requires serious review. Same thing with Halo 2.
Halo 3 turned out to be a watered down Halo 2 and doing the same thing as it's predecessor: adding stuff while neglecting important stuff (identified here).
TLDR: Bungie tried to enhance gameplay, not improve it. Gimmicks, gimmicks, gimmicks. Halo 1 works because it's simple and balanced. Just a little improving would have given it a significant increase.
When Halo 4 comes out, I'll have a decent template to determine if it qualifies as a worthy successor of CE:
-cp system: cps should be awarded for hard work
-scripting: these should only introduce the player to encounters and should not have too much of a big role in gameplay, other than AI driving.
-AI: need to be challenging and intimidating but not cheap. Also need to be appealing to fight. H3 Grunts are ugly. H2 Brutes are damage sponges. H1 Flood are boring. Reach Jackals are abomination. None of them are fun to fight.
-weapon sandbox: balanced and all of them usable.
-combat: needs to be engaging and rousing and needs to appeal to all kinds of play styles. Stealth, cqc, marksmen, etc. Shouldn't take too long but also shouldn't take like 1 minute to finish off a group of enemies. It also shouldn't be interrupted.
-encounters: need to be varied, organized, and increasing in number
I could not agree more with what SG posted. Unfortunately, he and I are adults, not kids. Most of the game developers are designing and writing to a very broad audience, that includes alot of kids. Games that are challenging and worthy of adults only are not going to sell enough to make them viable, hence they are made to the least common denominator, and are disappointing to players like he, I and Grumpy. Those two have the capability to "enhance" their experience through using the PC version, and create ways to make the game dance to their tune. That is what adults will do, until they decide to not waste their time anymore, and are lost forever...........