- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
I thought I'd add a couple more thoughts to the mix:
1) Now... I'm somewhat playing devil's advocate here (for those of you who flame first and process vocabulary later that means I DONT NECESSARILY BELIEVE THIS...), but...
Has anyone considered that Halo 2 might be TOO balanced? Now, don't flame me, but think about it. If a game is perfectly balanced, then it's going to be just as easy for a noob and a pro to kill one another, right? That is the definition of balance- the playing field is equaled out to get everyone a fair shot, right? So the playing field is leveled so that a noob and a pro stand almost an equal chance. That's why the difference between a good team and a great team might not really show up. Also, that would make sense as to why the team with the power weapons wins.
Does that make sense? If two dudes are equally matched, and are in a fist fight- the dude that suddenly puts on the brass knuckles is going to win. The only way for it to be fair would be to give them BOTH brass knuckles- but where's the fun in that? Half the fun is being the first one to grab them.
Now, I understand why this method would make some angry, and sometimes frustrated me, too. However, what if we're all using the wrong word choice here, and what we really need to say is that Halo 2 is TOO balanced? Catch my drift? Hopefully that makes sense.
2) Balance does not always equal fun. Fun games are sometimes balanced. But sometimes, they are not. Juggernaught= not a balanced gametype. One dude overpowers everybody else. He has the advantage. Fun at times? You bet.
3) Balanced or unbalanced, whatever- does anybody else agree that CTF almost plays perfectly on Halo 2. In Slayer, I get so frustrated with the smg spawn (for some gametypes), but for the most part, I know that killing doesn't matter in CTF, and Rockets or Sniper rifles won't always beat excellent strategy and teamwork. In Halo, one man could take out the whole team and then get the Flag- in Halo 2, I LIKE that that's not possible for CTF games.
I feel like CTF in this game is almost perfect. There, I said it :)
I wish there was a way to alter the values of weapons or spawns or whatever for Slayer to help it out, but keep CTF the way that it is.
4) I don't care about "balance" in competitive, fun LAN games- but for some reason I "care" when I play on LIVE, which is why I stopped playing LIVE- it was just no fun anymore.
Hopefully those will provide some interesting talking points.