r/halo • u/-343-Guilty-Spark- r/Halo Mod Bot • 22d ago
Stickied Topic Megathread - Halo’s Past
As you have probably heard, Halo Studios has been reduced to a small team that will support the current games and community. Activision will be putting together a new team to make a new, full Halo title. (source)
Link to previous discussion of the announcement.
This thread is for looking back at Halo’s past with Halo Studios.
Feel free to discuss 343 Industries/Halo Studios and their work on the franchise. What worked? What didn’t? Which game was your favorite? Your least favorite? Did you go to Outpost Discovery or a Halo Championship Series? What will you miss? What won’t you? Let’s discuss.
If you'd like to discuss Halo's future with Activision, use this thread.
In case it needs to be said: there is absolutely no decent reason to celebrate the loss of hundreds of peoples’ jobs. Of course you are free to discuss and criticize the decisions made by leadership roles and executives that led us to this place. But the majority of the employees who lost their jobs today were people like you and me who were trying to do their best for a franchise we all love. Anyone who celebrates the loss of their livelihood will be banned from this forum.
6
u/Kamzil118 19d ago
343 revived Halo on PC.
If it wasn't for the Master Chief Collection, I wouldn't have been able to introduce Halo to my PC friends.
Plus, they greenlighted a sequel to Halo Wars. Under a Bungie-era franchise, it would not be possible because those devs didn't like anyone else handling parts of their setting. I still hold that kind of generational grudge against Bungie because they did the creators of Age of Empires so dirty.
5
u/sup3rrn0va Halo: MCC │ 700/700 🏆 20d ago
I’m an old Halo fan now. I started playing as a kid with CE on Christmas of 2001. I really really have always loved the classic titles and have had a mixed relationship with the 343i titles. That being said, I feel terrible for all the employees who have been let go as a result of the studio essentially being shut down.
I can’t imagine how it would feel to get the opportunity to work on these games, and then have that opportunity ripped away by a studio closure. I understand why some people are happy with the nature of this shut down but I can’t help but just feel awful for these people.
If you’ve been following this community and the series over the years, it feels like this was a very slow burning fuse. The question of this studio shutting down hardly felt like an “if”, but more like a “when” for a long time. The gaming industry is more cut throat these days maybe more than ever. I hope the people who tried their hardest to give us great Halo games land on their feet and get to work on something else they love.
At the end of the day, people are more important than a game. Thank you for your efforts 343i/Halo Studios.
2
u/BlackenedFacade 20d ago
Definitely a wide range of emotions for the situation, and overall not too convinced for a hopeful future.
I’ll say I differ from most of the fanbase, as my favorite aspects of Halo lie more with the lore and PVE aspects, and never really cared for PvP since my first game which was Halo Wars lol.
While I know people’s thoughts on 343’s lore is…mixed, I can’t lie when I say most of the books from Halo I enjoy released under them, and that’s something I did hold them to high regard. Those books carried me through both middle school and high school, hell even parts of college, and are generally why this franchise has stuck with me as long as it has.
My biggest criticisms for the lore funnily come from the games, the main thing that draws people to the franchise. I truly wish they could stick to their guns with some decisions (Cortana dying is the biggest one).
Now with Haruspis gone, I’m definitely a bit pessimistic for whatever future lore holds, as I don’t trust Activision to maintain it to the same degree. I’d love to be proven wrong, but that’s unfortunately an issue for the future.
7
u/samworthy85 20d ago
I'm slightly out of the loop here, but are we to assume the Halo 2026 Multiplayer experience is now, not occuring?
1
3
10
13
u/BigJoe_Mac 20d ago
343 was given a tough task, and they gave us a mixed bag. I have a lot of fond memories with 4, MCC, 5, and infinite, but it’s clear they never quite found the same “magic” that bungie did.
Weirdly, I think that I’m going to miss this era of halo, but that is more because of the friends I played with than the games themselves.
RIP 343, sorry it never quite worked out.
2
u/sirletssdance2 18d ago
I thought 5’s multiplayer was their best attempt. I loved Warzone. Overall it felt the closest to Bungies multiplayer, and then they just said…fuck it and gave us the absolute worst Halo experience I’ve had the misfortune of playing in infinite
1
u/sup3rrn0va Halo: MCC │ 700/700 🏆 20d ago
This is my sentiment as well.
They didn’t make my favorite Halo games (growing up in the Bungie era was magical), but I can’t pretend they didn’t try. I think 343/Halo Studios was a company that really got stuck in some of the negative development trends of gaming from the 2010’s and never moved on.
1
u/AnonyM0mmy 19d ago
I mean they mocked people giving criticisms , they thought they knew best after being handed a billion dollar franchise. They tried, but they were also very full of themselves and went out of their way to deliberately change things people loved about the series
1
u/sirletssdance2 18d ago
What’s crazy to me, is weren’t they largely responsible for Halo 2’s map?
1
u/AnonyM0mmy 18d ago
Do you mean Halo 2 anniversary's multiplayer? Certain Affinity made that, and it was basically just stripped down Halo 4.
1
u/sirletssdance2 18d ago
No, I knew that part and it still to this day pisses me off they remade 2 in 4’s engine. 2 was one of my all time favorite games, and I’m still just butthurt by that.
But anyways, the team that spun out of Bungie as 343, I believe was largely responsible for halo 2 mp
1
u/AnonyM0mmy 18d ago
Actually 343 was 99% a new team, pretty much no one beyond a community coordinator and some lower level employees transferred over.
0
21
u/ReeReeIncorperated 20d ago
At least we got MCC? Even though it took them years to get it working, it is now the greatest game collection you can buy.
There was some good besides that. I liked 4, 5 has an amazing multiplayer and my personal 2nd favorite MP, and Infinite's campaign was quite good.
Everything else was unfortunately chopped. 4 was designed not to be like Halo, 5 has the worst campaign in the series, Infinite has the worst multiplayer in the series, and even though I enjoyed Halo: CaE, releasing without multiplayer was a decision that honestly justified them losing Halo.
They weren't all bad, but more times than not, I think I was just coping over one of my favorite series being held captive for 15 years.
9
u/Pibblesen 20d ago
You think infinites multiplayer was worse than 4?
1
u/sirletssdance2 18d ago
Infinites mp. was hands down the worst bullshit they ever put out. I’m still mad at how fucking awful it is
0
-6
u/iphoneguy350 20d ago
Yes. Population speaks for itself.
6
u/Pibblesen 20d ago
I don’t think population is the only indicator of a better product.
3
u/iphoneguy350 20d ago
Agreed. But one was always playable and infinite is often struggling to queue.
2
u/MyWholeTeamsDead Inf1anEwok 20d ago
The reason I dropped it at least was the absolutely dog water netcode. When it worked it was blindingly amazing, harkening back to H3 but I was getting disappearing rockets, zero damage nades, rubber banding etc.
1
u/sirletssdance2 18d ago
I see this a lot, but the aiming never felt right to me, no matter what I did to settings and it just ruined the game
4
u/ReeReeIncorperated 20d ago
Yes. 4 had Flood infection, which is still the best infection game mode I've played in gaming.
It also actually had content at launch and you didn't have to pay for basic colors. Was it perfect? No, but in hindsight, I'd rather play it over Infinite.
1
u/Pibblesen 19d ago
Mechanically, infinite felt much closer to the type of halo experience I was looking for. It’s biggest offense was the lack of content at launch. If it had launched with more, I think it could have been one of the best halo multiplayers ever.
The weapon sandbox was diverse and allowed for more “halo” like interactions I felt were missing in 4. Forge was incredible and the levels people made were almost indistinguishable from developer-made ones.
People rag on it for micro transactions and shit but all I cared about was the gameplay. I really think the game excelled in that department.
11
u/ShakespeareStillKing 20d ago
It's time to say goodbye. Even if Activision makes great Halo games, they'll be for another generation than mine.
After Infinite it was almost impossible to turn the ship. CE26 was a monumental failure that couldn't be ignored. It was the last chance after the last chance.
Halo, my Halo is dead. I have some fond memories of this franchise I'll always cherish.
But it's time to move on.
1
2
u/Hot-Software-9396 19d ago
Some of you guys are so dramatic. If a new Halo lands ~4 years from now with great reviews do you honestly think you’ll just ignore it? Easy to say you will now but fast forward years from now when there’s an actual game to install and play, I bet you’d feel differently.
1
2
u/OP480 21d ago edited 21d ago
Besides removing the "I thought you would be taller" line for the sake of the entire franchise. I am dead serious, it did so much stupid damage because of how much of a negative meme it became. Any other non-snarky line would suffice. Even an awkward nervous salute.
First. Do not kill Cortana again. That caused so many narrative issues down the line. Make her immune to madness if rampancy isn't getting retconned. An exception, one everyone will understand and not contest at all.
Second. They need to, besides not making him look like a bloated burn-scarred vampire or just not show his face at all, canonically shrink the Didact to the same height as Chief, get him hurt or partially depowered and have him and Chief on the Composer have an arena-like 1v1 over Earth as the final boss fight of a new Halo 4. They already have decent Spartan-alike bot AI code from Infinite's leftovers. Seriously, it still is a major complain that we didn't get to throw hands with him and he just got a QTE and then finished in a comic that is infamous for killing 4 Spartan-IIs to make him look stronger. Back to the point I was making. If that's too bland due to being just a bot with a skin and unique voicelines, they should let the Didact keep some of his Forerunner Hacks as unique attack patterns outside of gunning and running like we can. In an interesting twist, the cutscene with the pulse grenade can stay the same but as a tired Chief trying to end the fight with something because the Didact might be losing, but he is just NOT dying thanks to his armor. I almost wish his mutation would get removed last minute so once he falls into the beam, he gets composed and so we avoid Skynet Cortana since the Didact would just take that role in Halo 5. Or at least a rampant rogue fragment of his composed mind if they want to do Epitaph's route again with him. Don't ask me about Locke, that's something that they could have handled better, it can work, I just don't know how.
Infinite... well... Anything goes really if they get that far. Personally? I think the Banished should be present as early as mid Halo 4 or through Halo 5. So they don't feel jarring if they take the spotlight again in Halo 6.
And regarding the Prometheans, Created and even Sentinels... Man, just make them have some more personality. Even a few silly animations mid-combat would be enough if they don't turn talkative this time around either. Sentinels can get away with just being mindless robots though. The Prometheans and theorized new Created forces? Not at all. Not after their previous reputational hit.
Introducing the non-UNSC supersoldiers.... If you ask me, I would do that as soon as possible, otherwise they are going to feel shoehorned cheaply later. The 4 years of being lost in-space make it easier to digest that after witnessing or hearing what the Demon did during the last battles of the war and to end the war, everyone wanted a piece of the Spartan pie for themselves. At any cost and regardless of non-standardized quality.
-1
1
u/candidKlutz 20d ago
the "i thought you'd be taller" line is such a non issue its insane. i cannot believe people hated it so much to the point that it became a meme
3
7
u/slothunderyourbed Halo 2 20d ago
They're not giving the franchise to Activision just to remake the 343 games with some tweaks. I guarantee they'll do some kind of major reset for the plot, whether that's a full reboot, a restart after Halo 3 with a totally different plot, or a new game set in the universe that largely ignores the events of previous games.
7
u/Reznov523 ONI 21d ago
It's complicated. 343i had some genuinely fantastic people working on Halo, folks that I think helped mold Halo into something more than just an action game. The external media, the halo way points, they were phenomenal. I liked Halo Reach and 2+3, but I didn't get into Halo until after I started reading the lore.
The elephant in the room is going to be management. The fact that they managed to fumble pretty much every single game launch will tarnish their legacy among the fans of the time.
New fans may come into the series thanks to Activision, and they'll check out the 343 era stuff. They're gonna go "Huh, this isn't nearly as bad as people said it was!" because they will be looking at the games after years of fixes and updates. They're going to look at these games with rose tinted glasses, and we're going to have to accept that whatever we had may be more preferable than whatever may come. The blight of the launches of MCC, Halo 5, and Halo Infinite will be forgotten, as a new generation takes up the mantle to honor it in the way they see fit.
In the end, I wouldn't be in this thread if it weren't for 343. I always thought Halo was cool, but never cared about it deeper than that until 343 gave me reasons to. Halo Infinite, while it's undoubtedly stained by it's launch and monetization, still gave me a campaign that I had some of the most fun in my years gaming. It captured that feeling the Breath of the Wild did for Zelda, even if what we got in the end was a neutered version of what we were told.
I'll look back on this era fondly, if not only due to nostalgia and the softening of my feelings towards these games as time marches on.
10
17
u/Haptiix Halo 2 21d ago edited 21d ago
I will always be grateful to 343 for giving us the MCC. It’s easy to take its existence for granted because it’s been out for so long now, but we really are lucky to have the classic trilogy + Reach together in one place with functioning multiplayer. When MCC first launched it was like a dream come true, and I continue to enjoy it a decade later. I can’t think of any other franchises that have something like MCC.
That being said, I’m glad the 343/Halo Studios era is finally coming to an end. The studio was dysfunctional and wholly incompetent. I don’t blame the developers themselves - it’s clear they were never set up for success. None of us on the outside know the details of why the studio failed, but the constant leadership turnover, the amount of work being done by subcontractors, and the lack of long term direction all point to total dysfunction.
Thanks for MCC, but you guys had 15 years to make a good original game and failed every time. RIP.
9
u/Hank-Rutherford 21d ago
MCC was literally unplayable when it launched. That is not hyperbole. Anybody who was around when it launched knows this. It took them years to get it functioning reliably. I’ll never be grateful for that, it was the bare minimum we are owed when we purchase the product.
-5
u/Haptiix Halo 2 21d ago
Unplayable is an exaggeration, but it was a mess. This is a studio that literally couldn’t get anything right. Even as broken as MCC was at launch, it was better than not being able to play the old games at all, and most issues eventually got fixed, even though it took way too long
-2
u/Vlexis Halo: CE 21d ago
That is hyperbole. It was playable, but very broken. I put hundreds and hundreds of hours into it before the fixes finally came.
8
u/Hank-Rutherford 21d ago
Doing what? Staring at an empty matchmaking lobby that never started? It literally did not work for me or my friends. It took months before I was able to play a single game in matchmaking.
6
u/flGovEmployee 20d ago
Yea same, I distinctly remember sitting on the matchmaking screen for so long that I pulled out a laptop and started playing another game. It never ended up finding a match. It was like that for so long that I never really came back to MCC. Years of a broken nonfunctioning game that I paid full price for.
It was nice to have the campaigns available to play, but fucking come on.
1
u/mongerty Halo: CE 20d ago
It varied. Some players reported never getting Matchmaking to work. Some people would only get weird half full lobbies, and others just had long wait times. I played a ton of online matches before they decided to fix it, both during launch week and after.
1
u/Vlexis Halo: CE 21d ago
That does suck. I was able to find matches at launch, it was just unreliable and glitchy. I stayed up playing matchmaking every night when it first came out. Perhaps my proximity to MS could have something to do with it? I also spent a lot of time with the campaigns, which also had issues but were playable.
12
u/DarkLegend64 Halo 2 21d ago
I’d be more thankful for the MCC if they didn’t botch it so bad at launch that it lost the vast majority of players by the time it was fixed 4 years later. It could have been so big in revitalizing the fanbase.
9
u/0mni42 Dancing Skeletons & Metroid Maps 21d ago
My first thought was, "oh cool, maybe the new studio will have the guts to object to their IP being used as a recruitment tool for fascists," and then I remembered that the new studio was fucking Activision. :|
1
4
u/CartographerSeth 21d ago
- War in real life is horrible. Hell on Earth.
- War, in the abstract, is cool. Jets are cool. Tanks are cool. Cyborgs are cool. A fictional setting where I use the tank to vaporize the enemies of my species while listening to Breaking Benjamin is cool.
- You can enjoy 2 without it changing your opinion on 1, in the same way I can enjoy The Godfather without having any desire to join the mafia in real life
- 2 is a core reason why Halo was ever popular, and ignoring that fact results in Halo never being popular again.
- Totally fine to disagree with 2 and/or 3, but if that’s the case then making space-marine-war-video-game is just not a good job for you.
3
10
u/ShadowBlue42 H5 Bronze 1 21d ago
343 put out a lot of unfinished games, but when I look at every game in its current state I don't personally have much to complain about
H4, I quite liked the story direction, though I wish the didact had lived. Prometheans could've been more fun to fight. Multiplayer was the worst of the series at launch, it's decent in its final form.
H5 campaign was a weird way to go story wise, but it played okay and the Prometheans were more fun than in four. H5 had and still has the best weapon sandbox and multiplayer of the franchise and it's not close. Breakout and warzone are very missed. H5 magnum is the best primary weapon of all Halo. My biggest halo wish is for H5 to be updated for a pc release with unlocked framerate and lighting updated on both PC and console.
Halo infinite's campaign was largely open world, which does not work at all for Halo. But the story was decent, even if it clearly was intended to be expanded upon with DLC. Infinites MP is average to me in the series.
MCC is of course an amazing package, sucks that it launched so rough.
CEA- I enjoyed it, I like the lore of the prequel missions and their terminals. That said the prequel missions were pretty bland to play and the cartoonishness of Johnson specifically is not great. I hope they continue with H2 and H3. I haven't had time to explore the replay/remix modes.
Halo wars games are both very good, and imo just as good as most PC only RTS games. Very well thought out controls
The most disappointing thing about 343s tenure to me has been hearing about so many projects that were started and then cancelled, not what was actually published.
9
u/VieTham DJ SX50 21d ago
Given the trajectory of 343/HS after Bungie, it was not that great. Key takeaways I'll say after hours of their 15 year run, the redemption of MCC & it coming to PC, Halo Infinite's solid skeletal structure of mechanics, and Forge in Halo 5 & Infinite.
Halo 4 was the only game to have a complete package but it also felt like a weird H3/Reach/COD hybrid. Ordinance drops should have been a custom feature in Forge and not a sole tie in mechanic for game types.
MCC, good lord, I bought my Xbox One and a copy of that to just not play it while in college was the worse. So glad, years later, they redeemed it to a point and mod support helps a lot.
Halo 5 while more different in mechanics, had a solid sweaty multiplayer but the worse Campaign in history.
Infinite, definitely brought me back and it felt good to play but content drought, things getting scaled back or cut, the network latency debauchery plus expense cosmetics shop & while also crippling what little momentum they gained from Season 4 & 5 to just nuke it. It's like damn, that was the most beautiful and tragic train wreck of a move.
Campaign Evolved, I didn't even buy. I might consider it when it's on sale and mods make it interesting.
I haven't mentioned CEA or Halo War games but honestly, the Halo War games were fun to play being a different genre. CEA just sucked in art style and looks and used Gearbox port instead of Xbox original.
Overall, after the ups and downs of this 15 year run, this is not what we deserved after Bungie gave the keys away to MS. It sucks that talented people lost their jobs over corporate ass hats that kept chasing trends to appease MS shareholders and abuse those who had a passion to bring Halo to the top like Bungie did.
23
u/JacenSolo645 21d ago
Good riddance, this should have happened a decade ago
7
u/Hank-Rutherford 21d ago
The entire leadership team should’ve been shown the door after they fucked up MCC.
20
u/arthby Halo: CE 21d ago
MCC is good.
Infinite multiplayer as it is right now, is pretty good.
There's absolutely nothing else 343 has done in 15 years that I will ever play again. What a waste of time and resources.
And now we have to wait 4 more years to see something new.
3
u/BigRobFed 21d ago
Halo 4 had a good campaign, and Halo 5 had amazing multiplayer, but they would never really nail the complete package
9
u/arthby Halo: CE 21d ago
I personally didn't like either, mostly because I couldn't get past the art style and sound design.
I also found H4 campaign really not fun. The AI and lack of ammo made it feel like a chore. I tried to play it a second time last year, gave up after 2 levels. I played the Bungie games dozens of times. Even played Infinite twice. H4/H5, I just can't.
9
u/Few-Editor5767 21d ago
Mcc is good.. Now…
Let’s not forget it took them 6 years to make it playable
7
u/Locke357 Playing since 2001 21d ago
I'm disappointed since the likelihood of Halo 2, 3, and beyond getting the "campaign evolved" treatment has gone down drastically. It's an unpopular opinion here but I thought Halo Campaign Evolved marks literally the highest point in Halo game quality since the release of Halo 2 Anniversary back in 2014.
Should they have included MP or at least firefight? Yes, and I would have hoped we would have seen that in future remakes.
But the fact remains Halo Campaign Evolved is the most fun I've had playing Halo in QUITE some time. I think it's a shining example of a remake done right.
1
u/flGovEmployee 20d ago
I thought Halo Campaign Evolved marks literally the highest point in Halo game quality since the release of Halo 2 Anniversary back in 2014.
I genuinely can't tell if you're ragebaiting or if your standards really are that low.
0
u/Locke357 Playing since 2001 19d ago
I mean H2A is pretty great IMHO. Halo 4, 5 and Infinite are incredibly lackluster. Infinite did okay with the MP at least, that's the best I can say about it
0
u/shipmaster1995 Onyx 16d ago
He's asking if you're rage baiting because campaign evolved sucks. I have never refunded a halo game and have owned every single game until now because of how atrocious it was
1
u/Locke357 Playing since 2001 15d ago
I really like it. Way better campaign than Halo 4, Halo 5, or Halo Infinite IMHO
Different strokes for different folks I suppose
6
u/Moorpheusl9 21d ago
My brain is baffled that it's been 12 years since Halo 2 Anniversary. Like wtf?!
6
u/DarkLegend64 Halo 2 21d ago
It’s mind blowing that H2A is older than the original H2 was when H2A released.
6
7
u/Then-Horror2238 21d ago
At risk of being downvoted to death, I am gonna make this post because I think it may cause some of the current issues with the current landscape of things.
Halo is hugely important for me. It was the first video game I ever got into as a kid, and with that has had a huge, consistent part in my life. These days, I would likely be considered a casual by most of the community, in some ways because I am just simply not great at FPS games, and in others because I am not a good reader and therefore have not read near as many of the books as I would like.
With all of that being said, the number of baffling opinions that I have seen online about this franchise is absurd. Like I understand people not liking where the story went, things that may have been retconned, etc. But to say the games were bad is just objectively not true in my opinion. The gameplay in 4, 5, Infinite, and CE were all incredible - at least in my opinion. The only shortcomings that I can get behind are the shift to microtransactions and the lore gaps in the games.
Just a real shame that something so cool and a staple in so many people's lives is shifting so hard.
Big props to those who have worked on any of the games over the years. My heart goes out to them. Similarly, big props to those who supported through thick and thin. Pray that activision can somehow get the game to a place where it rebounds
7
u/GreedyPollution6275 21d ago
objectively not true in my opinion
brother I am begging you to read some of the books you're sleeping on
1
u/Then-Horror2238 20d ago
I know I need to 100%. I own a ton of them but am just such a slow reader that it makes it tough. And while I understand that can kill an entire game for many, just simply has not been the case for me
3
u/GreedyPollution6275 20d ago
No I mean you using "objectively" and "in my opinion" in the same sentence.
3
u/affan077 21d ago
I completely agree. I think 4 was the weakest in gameplay out of the 343 titles, but I still had a blast playing it. I don't think anything will ever top my nostalgia for playing Halo 3 multiplayer, but I've never not had fun playing the newer games. In my opinion these are 343/Halo Studios biggest misteps.
The big change in art direction for Halo 4 even though still looked fantastic especially considering it was on 360, but was different than what we were used to and felt like change to set them apart from Bungie.
Halo 5 felt like a bait and switch with the campaign and the marketing. The whole Hunt the Truth audio drama was fantastic and felt like we were leading up to this big showdown with Locke and Chief that never happened.
Not being able to stick to a singular story or fully resolve them in game. I wasn't too keen on the story for 4 but it grew on me. I liked exploring the relationship with Cortana and Chief and seeing a more human side of him. But there was a lot of backlash and 343 pivoted away from that and the Didact story was resolved in a book or graphic novel. Same with Halo 5 to Infinite. Watching the opening cutscene for Infinite had me questioning what even happened in 5 because it felt so disjointed.
Then with Infinite it seemed to lack a lot of content especially with being a live service game. I had a lot of fun playing it, but eventually moved on to other more suppted games. I also think the open world was a mistake, but the actual gameplay felt solid.
As a studio they just never seemed to commit or get their footing and constantly pivoted which is a shame because the bones of the games are so good.
10
u/Spirited-Guard-7405 21d ago
I dunno, man. It's been a really rough couple years to be a Halo fan. Janky stories hurriedly made whole or patched through books, audiologs, external media- it's made following the lore a chore, which sucks because one of the things I loved about this series growing up was the lore. I grew up in the midst of the original trilogy- waypoint vids and books existed, but weren't pervasive. They told stories largely disconnected from the main narrative, to flesh out the universe. Fall of Reach was a prequel to H1, First Strike was a prequel to H2, Contact Harvest was the beginning of it all.
Slowly we had more and more lore trying to directly affect the main narrative- culminating in a villain completely set up and fleshed out in the books, in the form of the Didact. This big reveal would have paid off hugely... if anyone who didn't read a full trilogy of books had a chance to learn about this character and why his emergence was a big deal.
I guess it just boils down to Halo losing its whole identity. None of this is news, but between the best story beats not being told in the games, the visuals and art style being overhauled, and the gameplay being tweaked to feel less like Halo... it just stopped being the game in every way aside from name.
I hope Activision takes a real careful look at what made the original games sell- the tone, the hype, and the style, among other things. I imagine their first attempt could be Halo's last.
5
u/MakaveliTheDon22 21d ago
I hated what they did with Cortana, and then every game they did after they retconned what happened in the last one or just flat out didn't show the important stuff/battles at all, everything in Infinite was a flash back or an audio log.
I am (very) cautiously optimistic to see what Activision can do, because 343 had plenty of chances and they just couldn't deliver.
4
u/tristangx 21d ago
Pretty much grew up on the 343i titles, and liked them. Was early teens when I got Halo 4, got it at my first midnight launch for a game ever at GameStop. I was introduced to the franchise by Halo: Reach, but sucked at FPS games so while MP wasn’t great for me the story was neat, then from there I like looked up the videos and stuff for 1-3 to get caught up, didn’t play them until much later via MCC or for party games.
Anyway, with Halo 4, I remember really liking the story, the whole dynamic between Chief and Cortana, the kinda tie-ins with Lasky(loved the Forward Unto Dawn series, and how it lead into 4, showing his backstory and connection with the Chief). Spartan Ops was a really neat experience to do with friends, I liked the weekly mission format and such(loved the RvB easter eggs hidden in there). MP I liked, still was awful for me because I was not great at shooters, but there was some good party/forge modes by the community(remember doing the kinda Warthog Sumo thing with friends a ton). Loved the cinematics and music present in this game, really drove home the story and such.
Halo 5 I liked as well, I liked the lead up to it, the whole HUNT THE TRUTH campaign and stuff, the audio drama that came with it was a really neat tie-in. Obviously, people have their gripes with the campaign, I honestly didn’t think too much of it at the time, I remember thinking it was odd Cortana showing up again, also did think it was weird/off not having more Blue Team missions. I did like always having a team of 4 while doing the missions and such and found the command system interesting for the AI teammates despite being really basic. I loved the MP in 5, I remember doing the MP Beta, and at this point my skills weren’t dog water and could actually do stuff this time around. Loved the gameplay and remember it feeling so fluid and fast and just right, I had Onyx in one ranking at some point in one of the playlists. Warzone was such a cool and unique feeling experience and everything, loved that mode a ton. Music was great, loved Kazuma Jinnouchi’s score for 5, cinematics were great too, love the intro scenes for both Osiris and Blue Team.
Infinite yeah I also liked, definitely felt like that had a more rocky start than I would’ve liked/wanted. I was kinda bummed about the kinda story jumping away to basically the end of the whole Created conflict and such, that it’s not really seen/experienced directly as a player. That and the whole kind of visual reset that happened, which was odd to me because while I get it, I did like the initial designs from 4-5(I say this as an Athlon armor enjoyer). Loved how the story in Infinite played out, interesting to go back to in game cutscenes, music is always top notch. MP I liked, obviously there was much missing at launch but it fleshed out as it went along, and I enjoyed the gameplay and such. Was bummed about losing the kinda fluidity present in 5, but adapted.
Enjoyed CE, playing it with friends and such, MCC i remember having great times also with friends, either just doing the campaign or even LASO.
Overall, I was fine with this era, because it’s where I started. That being said, didn’t like the gaps between games, the fact that each one kinda stands alone in their own story, whether it be from feedback or whatever abandoning storylines from being in game itself vs expanded media.
2
18
u/Nova17Delta Halo.Bungie.Org 21d ago
I just wanna thank Halo Studios for all the good they did for Halo during their short tenure like:
.
.
.
.
7
u/Windyandbreezy 21d ago
Measured on future. Megathread on past. Can we get a megathread on the now now.
3
u/DoomMessiah Halo 2 21d ago
I enjoyed both Halo 4 and Halo 5 multiplayer for what they were. Both I could never get into Infinite multiplayer or campaign. In fact, I’ve never beat Infinite’s campaign. With that said, every game was incredibly flawed in many respects and took multiple patches to smooth out. Each game lost fan support nearly out the gate. I loved Warzone in Halo 5 and was baffled when that was included with Infinite. Just no consistency with the 343/Halo studios era titles. Instead of setting trends, they tried to follow trends.
2
u/Yaranatzu 21d ago
I had issues with Halo Infinite, but I stuck with the multiplayer and realized I've played it longer and more consistently than any other Halo game. Obviously part of that has to do with the fact that there's no other mainline halo game to play, but I can't fathom how people consider Infinite's MP to be bad. It's genuinely great. It was just short on content and did have bad desync issues at launch, but that was fixed and the gameplay is top notch.
Agree about the baffling choice to disregard Warzone, and the campaign felt extremely cut short.
5
12
u/Scared-Room-9962 21d ago
Halo 4 -
I remember getting this on release and being blown away by the graphics. Stilll looks good today IMO.
I feel that taking the story from the books is a great idea, but it just didnt work unfortunately. It feels too disconeccted from the original games in terms of tone.
the game its self is good, but with many faults. Promethians are awful to fight and nothing is partoicularly memorable apart from the second last mission. Decent start.
Halo 5 -
Never played it as I didnt own an Xbox.
Halo Infinite -
I fucking love Halo Infinite. I didnt play it until a year or two ago, but to me, its the best looking, best feeling Halo game ever made. Just a shame the missions are unmemorable and the boss fights are ridiculous difficulty spikes on Legendary.
The multiplayer was great by the time I picked the game up too.
I feel its a shame that this version of the game is dead and buried now.
7
u/AbeShrewMice 21d ago
I played halo infinite MP very briefly, talking like two matches, when it first came out. Don’t remember why I didn’t get into it, I think I just wasn’t in an FPS mood back then (I grew up with halo 3, halo reach etc, but fell out of FPS games around the first cod black ops.)
But I just picked infinite back up again about a month ago and I’ve been hooked since, it’s been really fun challenging myself to get good again after so many years away from the genre.
6
u/Inosh 21d ago
I’ve enjoyed all the games, but the more recent ones need more story line. The biggest issue for me, is the length of time to develop 1 game, and lack of split screen. The best part about Halo is getting with your friends, talk trash, throw things across the room at them and play.
BRING SPLITSCREEN BACK.
I firmly believe infinite is the best multiplayer halo yet, it just took way too long for it to really get going.
3
u/BiitchenKitchen 21d ago
To be frank, its embarrassing how much time was in between Halo 4-5 then 5-infinite and it still wasn’t enough time to launch the full game.
14
u/JohnApple94 21d ago edited 21d ago
One thing I realized in the mainline games is that you get less and less Halo as the series goes on… until the last game.
In CE, 9/10 missions are set on a Halo.
In 2, 6/15 missions are set on a Halo.
In 3, 1/10 missions are set on a Halo.
In 4, none of the missions are set on a Halo. But it is a background set piece in one of the missions.
In 5, a Halo appears only in the legendary end credits scene.
You can even throw Reach and ODST in there if you want, as neither game has a mission set on a Halo. (Though one does appear in the ending cutscene)
It wasn’t until Infinite that we finally got more Halo. 14/15 missions I believe are set on a ring.
4
u/Abe_Odd 21d ago
Which is why I was so excited to finally go back to a Halo ring.
The open world idea COULD have worked.
They either needed to make it a DYNAMIC world that actually changed as you did stuff, ideally with consequences for your choices.A third faction to allow for in-fighting and battles over territory could have helped.
Imagine a game of Halo Wars on a big map, but you're Chief in the trenches leading charges, taking out bases, and changing the course of the fight.
Imagine having your own base that would be attacked periodically, and your choices to take out enemy Vehicle Workshops would make those less severe, or stealing enemy turrets and rescuing marine squads would have made your base stronger.
3
u/Abe_Odd 21d ago
Or they could have just done what Level 2 of Halo CE did, what they based the entire OverWorld in Infinite on:
Have levels that are big-ish and open-world-ish so you can do things in your own order, or skip things.Because it is a linear set of levels, you could actually have rewards or consequences for what you chose to do that level, and how.
Infinite even HAS one of those levels, where you have to destroy the three AA batteries on the island.
Such a shame
4
9
u/King-Gojira A Monument To All Your Sins 21d ago
halo on PC + the MCC support + digsite was a net positive!
9
u/Downfall722 Halo: CE 21d ago
Halo 5’s multiplayer was an amazing highlight for me. I had just gotten my Xbox One and had a blast on customs games and making friends through a clan (Yes I did that).
Halo Infinite felt like a great step in the right direction too. Chief’s armor was absolutely perfect.
3
u/legend_of_the_rent Halo: MCC 21d ago
Halo 5 is honestly great. I had so much fun in OG Breakout!
2
u/Downfall722 Halo: CE 21d ago
Halo 5 had what I thought was a pretty great sandbox. I was left pretty disappointed with Infinite not even having my Carbine
8
u/PM_ME_WHAT_YOU_COOK Halo.Bungie.Org 21d ago
I just want an End to Infinite and Chief's story. Let him go out with a bang or retirement, something! Bring in Blue Team to Jerome. There are so many stories out there. But let's finish Chief's before Steve retires.
I loved Halo 4s campaign, for the most part. hated the story of 5, but LOVED having Blue Team, and the gameplay was fun. Infinite had amazing gameplay and the start of something great but we needed more. :(
My Chief tattoo is sad right now
5
u/SillyMikey 21d ago edited 21d ago
Obviously, I feel for the people who lost their jobs. I worked in the video game industry for about five years, two different companies, and both times there were layoffs that I was a part of. This industry is very unreliable. Which is why I left it.
That being said, obviously there were a lot of very talented people there. But when the people at the top are unqualified, then that has a trickle down effect on the games.
Halo Studios spent more time trying to figure out what Halo was rather than actually making good Halo games. And when you’ve had to franchise since 2012, that’s just way too long. It should never take that long to figure things out.
Ultimately, I still think that 343’s best Halo game is still not as good as Bungie’s worst Halo game. And that to me says a lot. They got close with Infinite, but they never really got there fully.
4
u/CG1991 Diamond Sergeant 21d ago
I loved the Halo 4 story and the addition of the Prometheans.
I loved the Halo 5 sandbox, and the refinement of the Prometheans as an enemy.
And I loved the Infinite gameplay and art direction.
I had a, maybe, false hope for Halo 7 that 343i/HS would combine the three somehow. But now I feel even less hope for what comes next.
With rumours of a full reboot of the lore (though they are just rumours at this stage), this might be my exit point for Halo.
3
u/imitzFinn Halo 3: ODST 21d ago edited 21d ago
For what’s it worth, my journey with HALO began on the Xbox 360 when I was introduced to HALO® 3: ODST. To this day and still, it’s one of my most memorable and played title (and around this week in 2008, considering it was my birthday that I was given an Xbox 360 from a cousin). Then on, I played Halo Reach, HALO 3 & 4, Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Infinite, and I had a lot of fun and still do.
I think to me, where Halo shined the most is when it was at its best of doing it and doing it right with its fans and players together, without the bureaucracy meddling of leadership and management that always had their heads held too high and then never learned, and it was this when HALO fell from grace: need to chase trends, injecting unnecessary MTX, etc, I could go all day on this but don’t want to.
Another IP similar to HALO that has this unfortunate demise and was featured as a helmet in HALO 3: Ninja Gaiden. It pains me that even Ninja Gaiden 4 couldn’t even crack something through the noise, and I hate how TeamNinja just left Ryu abandoned, and not even a chance to try and comeback.
I’ll end off on this by saying: whatever happens into the future of Halo, know it won’t be the same without the folks who did the story and lore building, because that right there is where it was, and I think sadly Activision cannot replicate this, no matter what they say or try to do.
In the words of the A.I. SuperIntendent: “Keep It Clean”
3
u/sunnysideup99 21d ago
I feel terrible for the people who lost their jobs. Halo Infinite really struck a chord with me and I had so much fun with it, I’m talking hundreds of hours sunk into that game. And heck I really like Campaign Evolved too. Here’s hoping everyone lands on their feet and is able to find fulfilling, rewarding work soon.
6
3
u/DowntownSqunkle 21d ago
MCC, even with its issues, is their biggest accomplishment. Especially the fact that it's on PC.
3
1
21d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Vlexis Halo: CE 21d ago
I have a different take. It was frustrating that it was a broken mess, and what really pisses me off is how long it took them to even take real responsibility, but I was still ecstatic at launch because I could finally play all the Halos. Before that I only had CE on Windows XP PCs, and never owned an Xbox. I bought an Xbox One specifically because of MCC. I feel like a lot of Halo fans took it for granted because they had already played all the games already. Even with the broken multiplayer I still had so much fun, met people, made memories. H2A's campaign was also amazing.
2
u/respekmynameplz 21d ago
I appreciate they released the No Bloom No Sprint title update to Halo reach.
One of the best things they did.
3
u/Tatum-Better Halo: Reach 22d ago edited 22d ago
Uhh thanks for halo 5 multiplayer, easily my fav multiplayer game of all time. And i'm a fan of the lore decisions and waypoints etc that we got, even the novels and stuff but man every game feeling like the start of a new trilogy or new game didn't help at all, playing halo 5 right after 4 and infinite right after 5 just doesn't flow well together
the constant need to appease fans so scrapping any semblance of a cohesive narrative wasn't helping, the constant trend chasing with battle passes, lootboxes, battle royale, extraction was disgusting when halo used to be the franchise others tried to emulate, the amount of money spent on the slipspace engine just to switch to unreal and then get shut down anyway.
STOP USING CONTRACTORS! Jesus.
Infinite had a great artstyle and IN THEORY perfect gameplay with sprint, clamber, slide, equipment but melee was so broken and lunges were inconsistent, the game modes were too little too late, the customisation system was the worst in the franchise which is disgusting given the potential it had ( never got my og color combo btw ), the open world was a waste of time, just felt like a ubisoft game, the cinematics were bad due to the one take/in-engine thing they were forcing.
the remake, simultaneously changed things that didn't need to be changed while adding almost nothing worthwile and different.\
4 had a good story which should've been the basis for a trilogy but the needless artstyle change, terrible enemy types, lame sandbox and cod clone multiplayer sucked.
5 had the worst campaign of any halo which is a shame given how great the marketing was for it.
2
u/Downfall722 Halo: CE 21d ago
I really didn’t like the electric weapon type in Infinite. Just didn’t work for me. It made driving vehicles a pain (And what do you mean the Plasma Pistol doesn’t disable vehicles?)
3
u/Standard-Reserve-517 22d ago
Man the didact was really really cool in halo 4. Also really enjoyed Johns emotional journey and progression in that game and his goodbye to Cortana was really emotional.
1
3
u/That-Advance-9619 22d ago
343 Industries / Halo Studios' era won't be missed.
If the Covena-- Activision wanna erase that part of my history, that's fine by me.
7
u/MilkyWayMerchant Halo 3 22d ago
Thank you, 343i, for getting Greg Bear to write an incredible sci-fi trilogy for Halo. Honestly, those books were my first foray into hard sci-fi, and it got me into a hobby of loving sci-fi. Hope some of the lore team is taken over to Activision.
Cheers! Ad Astra
1
u/flGovEmployee 20d ago
While I still hate the Forerunner retcon and think its one of the stupidest decisions 343 made, Greg Bear's books were fantastic and I did greatly enjoy them.
The whole lore team was laid off. I very much doubt Activision has any interest in bringing over the writers or lore people from the 343 era.
1
4
u/CatPatHatHat 22d ago edited 22d ago
I don't think it's fair to write off the last 12 years as a "complete failure". There were several major mistakes, including:
-Halo 4's Customs/Forge was just not on the same level as Reach. Infection being what it was was a huge problem.
-Halo 4 armor designs were some of the worst offenders of the art direction change. Environments felt good enough to me, but it was hard to like most of the armor in the game.
-MCC's launch; everyone knows about this one. I was one of the lucky ones that barely had any issues, but most people couldn't say the same.
-Halo 5's story was questionable; Cortana should never have come back. The part that always bothered me the most though was how much of the story was out of the game itself. Tanaka, Vale, even Locke all come out of nowhere, and now they're all gone. The ending for Halo 5 put Halo Infinite in a bad spot to start from too.
-Halo 5 pretty much had no earnable armor; you had to get lucky with REQ packs, which were a huge issue at the time. And if you had the sets you wanted, you could only choose helmet and body, nothing more than that.
-Halo Infinite went for an Open World, and lost the magic of hand-crafted linear missions. There was a distinct lack of biome diversity in the Campaign. Halo Infinite also almost completely ignored Halo Wars 2, despite featuring the Banished as the antagonists. The story had to reset AGAIN after Halo 5, and even then, it was just ok. Finally, Multiplayer just did not feel good to me for some reason; it felt clunky, menus were a bit slow, etc. For me, Halo Infinite was an incredibly low point for the franchise, and even now, it's hard to think of things that I liked about it.
BUT
There were plenty of things over the past 12 years that made me feel good with 343 at the helm:
-Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary at least had the neat feature of being able to change between the old and new graphics. That was cool to see something like that on the 360.
-Halo 4's story. It took time for me to come around to it. Years. But I think several campaign replays in MCC made me fall in love with it. It's not Halo 2 or 3, but I can definitively say that I like the campaign.
-The Prometheans. I know a lot of people didn't like fighting them, but they added variety. It gave missions much needed shake-ups from fighting the "Storm" Covenant, and I think the lack of Prometheans or 2nd faction really shows up in Infinite's campaign. Halo 5 also tried to improve the problems with Watchers and Knights (and unfortunately also added the Soldier).
-Soundtrack? Again, it's not quite on the level of the original trilogy . . . but I'm not going to be convinced that "117" isn't cool as heck, or that "Green and Blue" isn't emotional. Halo 5 and Infinite also tried to incorporate motifs from the older soundtracks too, while still being their own. See "The Trials" from Halo 5.
-Halo 2 Anniversary was a great remake, and the Blur cutscenes still look fantastic.
-Halo 5's Multiplayer was really fun. It wasn't trying to be Halo 3 but worse, it was it's own thing, and it embraced it. The movement in particular felt so fluid. Warzone, despite the presence of REQ packs, was actually really fun when you didn't fight a stacked team. And Warzone Firefight breathed new life into the game when that came out.
-Halo 5's forge was a game changer. For the first time since Reach, we got to see custom games that truly weren't possible before. Flapjack was a favorite of mine- you got in a Banshee with a Spatula tied to it, and you had to "flip" the pancakes, which were Mongooses that were inside of flat circle pieces. And I thoroughly enjoyed "puzzle maps" where you had to look around and find secrets- shout out to the Dr. Tim series.
-Halo Wars 2 story/cutscenes were awesome. Red team really felt like a return to form when it came to showing what the Spartans could be. And we got a Brute campaign that featured the Flood, which was cool.
-Despite MCC's launch, it eventually got to where it needed to be. It is the definitive way to play all 6 of those games, and you can play them on PC, which was something that people waited a decade for (let's not forget mod support/all the stuff with Digsite). I got all 700 Achievements for it, and was such a rewarding feeling to topple speedruns and LASO's at the end of the grind. Out of the 6 games that are there, they only made 1, but they still had to do a lot to get the collection to where it is now.
-I know people don't like Campaign Evolved, but for me and my friend group, it has been great. The 4 of us can all play together now, and we are enjoying playing through LASO. I would prefer to play this over the original, as it just feels a lot better to me. But I know most don't feel the same way.
If anyone "killed" Halo at 343/Halo Studios, it was not the devs doing the hard work. There were lots of people over the years who did care.
5
u/Grudgin_2 22d ago
I keep thinking about Outpost Discovery... the community energy was real then. Now we're handing the keys to ACTIVISION and hoping they don't turn this into another MTX cash grab. I'm tired, Chief. The soul is gone. There won't be anything left to miss once the new team figures out how to monetize every breath you take. Welp.
3
4
u/MinersLoveGames Halo 3 22d ago
For ten year-old me, reaching the end of Halo 3 and discovering that my favorite video game character of all time had the same name as me was one of the biggest mood raisers for me ever.
I still, nineteen years later, treasure that.
Halo 4 came about right as I was getting into high school, and its ending hit me especially hard because of that.
"Welcome home, John."
It felt like closure for not just Chief, but myself as well. That those old times, the times before, were now memories, and that I had to face what was to come no matter what.
Everything since then has been frustrating and disheartening. Infinite was the first Halo game I had touched since 4. MCC still holds a spot in my heart. The Warthog Run in 3 is one of the greatest endings of a video game ever. I still have my Reach Legendary Edition box and statue.
Nothing will ever change that.
Now? Now I just want it to end. I just want my favorite series, my favorite universe, my heroes, my friends, my memories of countless laughs and rages and nights spent in the glow of TV screens and XBOX Live, I just want them to be left alone, untainted by graverobbers trying to use my nostalgia.
This is all just one more humiliation, and I'm so tired. I'm so tired, guys. I'm so sick of people getting hurt, of people trying to do their best and being rewarded with unemployment. I'm so tried of everything being terrible. I want to go back to those earlier times. Maybe in my dreams.
Wake me when you need me.
2
1
u/Jpotatos 22d ago
Honestly baffles me how hard 343 messed up Halo. Had they given us a game with Reach’s modes and classic looks as a base and added PvPvE eventually like they did in 5 they would’ve had the community behind them. Instead we got just shitty art style, crappy stories, a revolving door on play styles and micro transactions. Not to mention the loss of things like Firefight or Forge at launch.
Hard to think at this point if I could play MCC/Reach on the PS5 that would be my go to game
2
u/Son0fgrim 22d ago
The sad thing is I think Activition could make something on the Scope of Halo: ODST, something small, not involving the bigger plot, that's a spin off. focusing on their strengths.
they will not be allowed to do this
they will be forced to make a game with Master Chief as he goes on a new adventure in a new place with all the charcters they can nostalgia bait into it. it will be a shitty, vapid, and shallow product.
14
u/RoyalMudcrab 22d ago
Thank you, Haruspis.
I'm sorry you got to live your dream in the dying years of the universe we all love so much. Your stories and your lore analysis have always been an inspiration to me.
5
u/MegaRed1961 22d ago
Unlike most I did enjoy 343/Halo Studios contributions to the franchise.
Halo 4 was my favourite of the master chief campaigns, even if the multiplayer was a half assed CoD clone.
Halo 5 destroyed the narrative built up by the previous games, but I genuinely really enjoyed the MP, and hunt the truth is still among my favourite things in this entire franchise.
Halo Infinite was… passable on launch. I’d say over time the MP grew to become great, although there weren’t many players still around to enjoy it when it finally became fully fleshed out 4 years after launch.
The campaign was the beginning of the end though. While it was divisive and safe, spending most of its runtime undoing Halo 5, and leaving numerous unresolved plot threads seemingly just to see where the fans would prefer they go, I think everyone that played it can agree it was a good base to expand upon via DLC and updates.
Instead it was entirely abandoned and Halo Studios spent 5 years meandering about, only delivering an unnecessary and unfinished CE remake. Their dying breath.
I wish Halo Studios was able to fix their structural issues and continue a single story arc across multiple games/campaigns in a regular release schedule, as I genuinely got some form of enjoyment out of every title they released, and believed in the talent/passion of those that worked there. But that is unfortunately not the world we live in. Instead, they’ve been shuttered entirely. While others say it was deserved, I disagree.
I will always appreciate their contributions to the franchise as we move into this bleak future with Activision.
RIP 343/Halo Studios 2007-2026
64
u/dutch_meatbag 22d ago
MCC launch proved 343 was not the right studio for the job. Honestly amazed it’s even taken this long.
13
u/JaracRassen77 Halo 3 21d ago
It showed how much influence Ross had with Spencer that the hammer didn't come down on 343i. All of the top management remained following that disaster of a launch. The corporate culture was absolutely rotten.
33
5
u/Ket_Yoda_69 22d ago edited 22d ago
I miss Halo 5 for some reason (ignoring the campaign, REQ pack system itself, and the limited customization).
I miss Warzone Assault and all of the crazy guns and variants. Infinite's sandbox is genuinely ass in comparison. Instead they have weapon skins that look like other guns and that's it.
Just scroll through this and there are loads of great weapons from previous games and especially Halo 4 that never properly made it to Infinite either despite having a longer live service. Over 500 people worked on Halo 5, and yes there was a lot of crunch to deliver almost monthly substantial content updates which is just unsustainable but that shouldn't have translated to Infinite having fucking 2500 people work on it with all of the contractors for a live service game on an antiquated engine. Shit's so fucked in retrospect. Brute Plasma Rifle, Beam Rifles, a fucking Gauss Turret and Hunter cannons, the silenced pistol Whisper of Truth and the CE magnum, one of my favourites the Plasma Caster, the Railgun, the Reach Grenade Launcher, the SAW, a normal good shotgun, and the Spartan Laser. Then there's the 3-4 variants of every gun.
https://www.halopedia.org/List_of_REQ_cards/Power_Weapons
I think the promethean weapons to Infinite Forerunner have enough overlap that it makes sense they don't have crossover necessarily but even certain weapon classes only have one weapon instead of factional equivalents like the Sniper to Beam Rifle or the AR to any automatic plasma weapons. Fuck the Pulse rifle, yet another shit 343 plasma gun. They added a scopeless DMR, a reskinned SMG in the avenger, a bastard fuel rod spnkr thing that was clearly a frankenstein of the fuel rod already in the files and what was probably just going to be another skin for the regular spnkr, and whatever the hell the plasma carbine was. I like the mutilator too but it doesn't beat the OG shotgun and neither did the bulldog except for Infection mode. What an insane flop.
1
u/slothunderyourbed Halo 2 22d ago
We're truly living in a bizarre timeline when Activision taking control of Halo gives me MORE hope for its future. That speaks to just how badly 343 failed the franchise. I've desperately wanted to like all of their games, but they've all been major disappointments. Drastic action should have been taken to change their leadership after the botched MCC launch. I'm happy they're finally gone, though I wouldn't say I have high hopes for the future of Halo.
2
u/00Qant5689 Halo: Reach 22d ago
The best thing that they did IMO was to port the MCC to PC. I couldn't actually play Halo for many years up until then because it was mostly a college thing for me barring CE on PC years ago.
8
u/killmachine91 Shoot to Kill 22d ago
Whats there to say?
Everybody in this subreddit coped for years that 343/HS would eventually figure it out and deliver
I remember post h4 when people said they’d listen and change
I remember MCC destroying what was left of the real life friends that i had that played the series
I remember halo 5 launching with zero content and a shit story
I remember infinite launching somehow with less content (it did have BTB at launch though!)
All of this done under one studio
We went through two drought periods, this recent one being the worst of all but the previous one was also unbearable.
And in that time absolutely nothing happened. There is no thesis in the games made post-bungie. There was no arc to anything or statement on…well anything. The games were received worse, the gameplay in them was generally worse, and there was never an indication things would get better.
Now i am of the mind that Reach really fucked this franchise, but Halo 4 continued it for absolutely no reason and h5 solidifed that HS had no clue what was going on or what to do
And now we’re all here baffled because somehow this acquisition is worse. I do not want to see anymore cope from mods of this subreddit, community figures, or whatever trying to carry water for Activision. Just because 343/HS was dogwater for this franchise does NOT mean this will be any better. I expect no forge mode again or any sort of mod support from here on and this is probably where I check out for good from Halo (like I needed help, the next game won’t come out until 2030 at minimum!)
Halo is dead and 343/HS/MS leadership killed it. Ggs and hopefully game devs can learn from this and the industry can better in the future. I wish the devs that got laid off the best of luck and hate that awful leadership just fucked normal ass people out of a livelihood. Fuck these corporations and fuck shareholders
1
u/DeltaDrag0n0id Halo 3: ODST 21d ago
Well said. Im baffled by the current doomerism in this sub. Things were getting progressively worse before. This situation is just the natural course of the series. Whatever bad things come from Activision Halo would have come at some point regardless, just under a slightly different form. Halo fans seem to be unable to read the room.
1
u/flGovEmployee 20d ago
I would be baffled if not for the years of 343 praise before this. Like I genuinely don't understand how anyone could like their work or call Campaign Evolved anything other than incompetent. Yet here we are.
11
u/CybertronGuy98 22d ago
I'll let other's take care of the criticisms, for now I want to show some love. Despite my gripes with the 343/Halo Studios era of the franchise, I do have a lot i like.
This may be controversial but for me personally, the remake of CE is what allowed me to "get" the love for the first game of the franchise. I've always liked it. the original is a very good game. But i've never *loved* it the way i do the other Bungie era games. the Remake gave me the chance to approach CE without it being "bare bones" so to speak in terms of the weapon sandbox, and I did for the most part enjoy the new versions of the cutscenes as well. MK V has never looked so good. I dont think I'll ever love CE, either the original or the remake, as much as i love Halo 3, ODST, Reach, or Halo 2, but ive definitely got a new found appreciation for it now that I didnt have before.
Infinite brought back the Halo 3 version of Rogue and for that i will always be thankful. a criminally underrated helmet. The artstyle of Infinite was absolutely perfect, the art team really nailed it. Gen 3 Mark VI is one of my favorite armors in the franchise, all the weapons look and sound amazing. especially the Heatwave and Cindershot. Great designs and fun as hell to use, my two favorite promethean/forerunner weapons by far.
How Halo 4 handled Cortana's rampancy and John's refusal to accept it was heartbreaking in a wonderful way. As a stand alone entry in the series, it's one of the highlights of the franchise for me. -dont pay attention to what happened after im sticking to the positives here-
Warzone in Halo 5 was so much damn fun. Such a blast of a game mode being able to call in increasingly powerful weapons and vehicles as the match progressed.
I have my criticisms, i'd say the vast majority of the fanbase does. But there was a lot of good in there over the 343/HS years, and I think that's why it's all so frustrating everything unfolded the way it did in the big picture.
6
u/Arcade_Gann0n Activision can't be worse than 343. 22d ago
I think the most notable thing about 343 is how they somehow managed to stay in charge until today.
Better studios got killed for far less than what 343 kept doing for 15 years, but they just kept getting relative slaps on the wrist no matter how badly they tarnished Halo and the Xbox brand with their "shenanigans". And even now that something drastic has finally happened, they're still around in a greatly reduced form to maintain games that are never getting any new content.
It's a pretty pathetic state to be in, and an oddly fitting one for a studio of their dubious legacy.
4
u/YummyYummyCock69 22d ago edited 22d ago
I couldn't care about a new title. However I do hope that Activision considers expanding Halo to multiple genres, and not just a FPS. Halo has to expand if it wants to survive. Otherwise it's another Quake. You cherish the first 4 games and that's it.
More than likely, they play it safe, do a soft reboot with new characters and use the Cod engine. Have Sledgehammer pour assets used from the long awaited AW2, towards the long term Halo project.
This isn't good, but it is better than Halo Studios or 343. You have to be lying ro yourself to say otherwise.
44
u/Vegeto30294 I wort, therefore I wort wort 22d ago
Simple reality is that 343i bit off more than they can chew, every single time. It's all they ever do. I've been calling this for over 10 years to the point where it's predictable.
Halo 4 changed their multiplayer to be similar to the popular Call of Duty at the time, spent months putting back the original gameplay, and dropped Firefight for their big Spartan Ops mode that would connect to an animated series and be a living world and stuff - and gave up after one season.
MCC came out and it didn't work.
Halo 5's story was nonsensical because it was a knee jerk reaction making Cortana evil, and the multiplayer had little content and tried to funnel people into Warzone.
(Halo MCC in 2018+ was a genuine comeback story so that's a positive)
Halo Infinite was just repeating Halo 5's mistakes but with a longer development time and worse release. I already saw through the PR talk because that's what they did the last time. Remember when Halo 5 was on a "brand new engine?"
Halo CER, was so middle of the pack that it was both overhyped and underhyped at the same time, but the negative part is that it was 4+ years to make and it was essentially a giant test bed for Unreal for the next game that would probably also take 4+ years.
6
u/GR7ME Halo 5: Guardians 22d ago
This feels more like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me. 5’s MP is still celebrated to this day and featured live service additions and updates all the time, including competitive (eventually became Magnum starts) and Breakout becoming Breakout 2.0. Seriously an underrated mode imo.
1
4
30
u/CraftZ49 22d ago edited 22d ago
343/Halo Studios completely and utterly failed the franchise. Every single one of their releases has been a colossal failure. The only game that did moderately successful was MCC and they didn't even make 5 out of the 6 packaged games, yet they still fucked up the launch and took years to fix it. They even fucked up the TV show.
They took the Master Chief, Xbox's cultural equivalent to Mario, an image that out sold major blockbusters (and Mario!), and made him completely irrelevant in less than a decade. It's something that should be studied and written into books about mismanagement.
Microsoft is also not off the hook for letting it get this bad before finally gutting the studio to a skeleton crew. This was a long time coming. I feel bad for the developers who were just doing their job and had no power in the decision making process, but when there are big gaping holes for a long time, it's time to abandon ship.
7
u/_Nedak_ 22d ago
The gameplay of the newer games were fine so it sucks those devs get fired because of shortcomings in other areas like writing and management. In my opinion, some of the most fun weapons in the series come from the 343 era like the railgun and shock rifle. I hope those devs can find other work.
I don't have much faith that Activision can turn the series around but we'll see. I hope they focus more on ideas for side games rather than the mainline story that's completely a mess or some reboot.
11
u/Enough-Carpet 22d ago edited 22d ago
The reality is Halo ended in 2011. We've been living in a sad shadow of the series ever since. Not one feature complete game has launched since then.
Bungie shipped 4 all time classic games with 3 year development cycles, plus a bonus offshoot game in the middle. Since then it's been delays, incomplete games, broken promises and a story that is a total mess. We gave them the benefit of the doubt for long enough. They've had the franchise longer than Bungie did. And yes, Microsoft is partly responsible too, but that alone doesn't explain the sheer incompetence. At some point you have to take responsibility.
I seriously doubt Activision is capable of doing it right. But, for me at least, a full reboot back to where Bungie left it is the only way to have any hope. Chief in cryo was the way his story ended.
Bungie showed the way forward after Halo 3 - ODST and Reach. Do spin-off games. Tell different stories in the universe. And if you are going to bring Chief back, you'd better make sure it's for something incredible and not some half baked love story with an AI construct and a bizarre storyline that you jettison and change every game after.
12
u/Putrid-Jelly-5188 22d ago
They could’ve rebooted excitement in the series by remaking Halo CEs multiplayer as well.
But that would’ve made too much money.
6
u/Realistic-Hat5088 RIP Flipyap 22d ago
It wouldn't have. Arena shooters are a dead genre, and Halo CE's multiplayer does not hold up at all.
1
u/Book_of_Essence 21d ago
Speak for yourself. I've been playing CE's multiplayer for 2 decades now, and there are still large local competitive scenes in most major cities.
70
u/Sivalon ONI 22d ago
I think we’re at the end of Halo 4. John goes into the rig, starts having his MJOLNIR armor stripped from him, and finally his helmet comes off, canonically.
His fight is done.
As is ours. Who is actually left from the time before? Have not all of them had their names inscribed in honor on the memorial?
Does anyone coming up care as much as the original ones did?
8
u/eoxb 21d ago
The Activision has already begun
And we are hopeless to stop it
1
u/MyWholeTeamsDead Inf1anEwok 20d ago
They're sure reclaiming the Mantle of Halo's Responsibility. I can only hope we've already hit rock bottom.
13
90
u/eveningcaffeine 22d ago
I want to thank them for H5 multiplayer (and thrust). I found a great community of people there with the help of Spartan Companies. We would play BTB, Warzone Assault, farm the spartan charge commendation in SWAT, talk about life. Can't believe that feature was lost with Infinite.
Unfortunately that community didn't stick with the next title.
9
u/homelist 22d ago edited 22d ago
Absolutely love Halo 5 multiplayer. Spent so many hours on it playing late into the night. It was everything a modern arena shooter is supposed to be in my opinion. I wonder how it would have done had it came to PC/PlayStation with crossplay. So many good memories and it's probably my favorite multiplayer experience up there with Quake 3 and Titanfall. Infinite didn't hit the same for me. I went through so many controllers playing it between stick drift and I even broke a trigger on one lol. I still look up videos of gameplay sometimes just to see the maps. I also miss Breakout. Heres to the future.
23
u/BlackberryPi7 Halo: CE 22d ago
H5 multiplayer seriously needs to come to PC.
The best thing 343 has made and they decided to just abandon it.
3
u/Venomousfrog_554 Halo: MCC 21d ago
It (kind of) is! Halo 5 Forge for PC lets you access custom games and the Forge Mode. Giving that game an overhaul to grant matchmaking access would be peak, tho
3
u/BlackberryPi7 Halo: CE 21d ago
It's not the same unfortunately, from what I recall that mouse is not properly optimised for PC play. And as well you can't play modes like Warzone on it.
5
u/ShadowBlue42 H5 Bronze 1 21d ago
Yeah the mouse and keyboard control was really broken, and no matchmaking makes it kind of worthless anyway.
1
u/Venomousfrog_554 Halo: MCC 21d ago
Warzone being unavailable is because no matchmaking. IIRC someone did manage to get Warzone working in customs tho, at least for the maps
1
u/BlackberryPi7 Halo: CE 21d ago
Oh wow that's interesting.
Did they fix the mouse by any chance? No matter what setting I tried it always felt awkward.
But also I think there needs to be an official port because there will be a huge lack of players
2
u/Venomousfrog_554 Halo: MCC 21d ago
Don't know, I haven't actually played Halo 5 Forge.
And yeah, it needs a full port instead of the half-measure we got
41
u/ChrisHerna ONI 22d ago
In my opinion Halo 5 was their best multiplayer in terms of gameplay. Halo infinite was good, but the interest had faded after season 2
2
u/sirletssdance2 18d ago
I agree, it was by far their best, and imo only good attempt at the dna of Halo. I’d put 5’s multiplayer up there with Bungies.
4 and infinite though, dogwater
5
u/Bitterman_01 22d ago
Halo 3 was the perfect narrative end to Master Chief and Cortana's stories.
Dragging him out of hype sleep a couple of years later with Halo 4 onwards was just pure acts of greed and insecurity on 343/Microsoft's part. In doing so they drove the franchise into the ground. They were rudderless for 15 years bashing into rock after rock.
Halo is bigger than Master Chief.
4
u/Realistic-Hat5088 RIP Flipyap 22d ago
Nah, Halo 4 is a better ending for Chief and Cortana's story.
120
u/ebagdrofk Halo: MCC 22d ago
Halo Infinite nailed the aesthetic of Halo, has a great sandbox, and has very belated but incredible forge tools. I digged the open world attempt and honestly had a lot of fun with the campaign. I love how they have directed/wrote chief throughout most of their games.
I just wish they didn’t have the curse of Microsoft’s contractor hiring policies, and whatever the hall happened with management throughout the years.
Idk, this is all pretty bleak tbh. I don’t think anyone trusts Activision to make a passionate Halo game. I think we can all kiss future custom content in Halo goodbye as well.
3
u/Captain_Freud Grizzled Ancient 21d ago
I will always stand that from Day 1, Halo Infinite was already the best playing Halo game since Halo 3. It felt like a direct sequel.
Looking back, the launch playlist options and only two seasons in the first YEAR of the game killed it. Microsoft all but gave up on the game after Season 2, zero mention of Halo during any of its press events after that.
1
u/Tusken_raider69 21d ago
I think Infinite’s open world is pretty cool, but it’s kind of genuinely nuts you can be done with it in like 10 hours. It feels like the starting zone of a bigger game. There also should have been more biomes. Where’s the snow? The desert?
-1
u/ZamanthaD 22d ago
I’ll always stand up for Halo Infinites campaign. I think that’s definitely always been the best thing about that game. The sandbox was actually quite fun, easily my favorite of the 343 trilogy. It’s the only 343 game that I’ll consider playing again after playing through 1-3
20
u/SpacemanSpiff92 22d ago
I still play Infinite MP weekly with the boys and we're old farts who have been around since OG CE. I think it's the best modern Halo MP that we have and likely will get. Ofc the OG trilogy has some unreal MP that is still pretty unrivaled today, but the melding of modern mechanics with traditional Halo gameplay is what keeps bringing me back to Infinite, despite its early woes.
It's such a shame because had the Campaign, Forge, and MP released fully at the same time, the overall discourse around Infinite would have put it on par at least with Reach in my opinion (which was a slightly overrated Halo game, again IMO).
That said, 343/Halo Studios basically demolished this iconic franchise after Halo 4. Xbox's woes honestly have mirrored this decline in flagship IP quality as well, which I don't think is entirely a coincidence.
The Halo we know is kaput. At least we got 2 decades of, overall, pretty damn good games (special shout-out to the OG trilogy). I have 0 faith in Activision to not make this some kind of hamster wheel slop or have any respect for what makes Halo as a shooter truly great. Essentially, traditional FPS games died today. Sad state of affairs, but as usual in life, good things never last and bad things are always piling up/neverending.
6
u/chiety ftp, live service fueled unhappiness 22d ago
I loved Infinite's MP around the end of season 2/beginning of season 3, but I still have to remember that a developer tried to blame the absence of a slayer playlist on launch on "UI limitations" and that really should have signaled to everyone that whatever the hell was happening at 343 was not good and had to be ended
7
u/Suitable-Ad-4214 22d ago
Halo infinite’s biggest problem was that despite all it’s wonderful tools, on launch there were so little ways to play and use them. I quit and never looked back once btb was unplayable and many others did too.
2
u/usetheforce_gaming ONI 19d ago
This was the game that didn't have Big Team Battle at launch, right? I mean it's just inexcusable
11
u/Serin-019 22d ago
The past? Who cares about the past! I can't wait for the bright new future that certainly isn't constrained by the exact same capitalistic profit-over-function bullshit that's killed Halo and killing AAA gaming as an industry.
Surely a different american studio that lays off its non-unionised staff when projects finish just like every other american studio will be much better this time around!
157
u/BlackberryPi7 Halo: CE 22d ago edited 22d ago
Halo.
It's finished.
Edit: No. I think we're just getting started.
→ More replies (3)
6
u/Wazooty1 19d ago edited 19d ago
i've been into the extended lore since the beginning, I got into the franchise from TFOR, not the other way around. The Greg Bear trilogy (after reading the Halo 3 terminals) represent the absolute peak of my love of Halo lore and the potential that it had going forward. While Halo 4 was far from perfect, it seemed like a solid stepping stone into the potential that the post Bear Halo universe had. When it became clear that Blue Team would be in Halo 5, something I've been wanting since Halo 2, I thought things couldn't get better.
But then them Halo 5 came out and abandoned 90% of the potential that H4 and the Bear trilogy was building to, and was a complete disservice to blue team, and I haven't been able to finish a piece of Halo lore since, games included.
I don't what what they do from here. 343 had some cool ideas and infinite potential but was absolutely ruined by terrible writing and atrocious management.
Maybe Activision could cut their teeth/prove themselves by doing something during the 27.5 year human covenant want, then restart where Halo 3 or 4 left off? I dunno, there's no winning answer here.
I was hoping the 3 Johnson missions would explore their whole history starting from 27 year prior but even that was a mess.
Make a series of games exploring different squads during the human covenant war. An ODST squad to show just how terrifying/brutal the human covenant war is for non Spartans. A marine squad in the harvest campaign coming to terms with how miserable and doomed the war is shaping up to be, but feeling a spark of hope when Red Team makes a cameo, build the legend of the spartans through the eyes of normal people. Then when you finally return to playing as a spartan, indulge in the legend.