Halo 6 - Faith in 343 industries? Lets Discuss. (Story / Multiplayer)

[WillSandler66]

I have been an avid Halo player since Halo 2 and I love all of them. I played in competitive series, LAN parties, and even my beloved Game Battles mainly from Halo 2 to Halo Reach, Halo 3 being my prime. When Halo 4 came out I had a lot going on in life and was kind of late to the party although I got pretty good towards the end of the games life. Halo 5 I feel is my rebirth in the competitive / pub stomping career. .

When it comes to Multiplayer I will keep this brief, I believe all the Halo multiplayers including Halo 4 & 5 are all really good in their own way. I don't think one in inherently bad or better then the other. But if I had to choose in my opinion the best by far is Halo 3 and the worst in my eyes in Halo 4. The ranking system in Halo 3 was amazing and it made me feel that every ranked game I played was Win or nothing lol. Halo 4 just felt weird to me with the custom classes to the overall map design. There is also Armor which is a HUGE part of what makes Halo well Halo. I think Halo 4 and Halo 5 have done the absolute worse with customization to just the actual armor design. Halo Reach needs to be the standard for all Halo games when it comes to armor I also felt the credit system was definitely fair.
ps: HALO 3 ROGUE HELMET WILL ALWAYS BE #1

So when you think of Halo you think of Master Chief and his Story. Halo's single player has always been great. One thing Halo 4 did absolutely brilliant on was the story of Master Chief and his companion and best friend Cortana the ending scene of the campaign still gets me every damn time. Halo 5 definitely had the potential of being one of the all time best campaigns in gaming history I believe. The Hunt the Truth stuff to the suspenseful TV commercials, and then it was a absolute FLOP. Although I do not hate it I think it is way to short and I wanted to see more between Locke and Chief. There just wasn't enough "hunting" with Locke and Chief, I feel like if Hunt the Truth was never a thing I would not of been let down as much. With Halo Wars 2 bringing back the flood I think its basically confirmed we will see them back in Halo 6 and Cortana most likely being under the logic plague. Remember these are my opinions, we never know what could happen.

Basically to conclude this over sized rant, What is it that you want from Halo 6 and Do you still have faith in 343 industries?

 

[Lieutenant Jaku]

I have been an avid Halo player since Halo 2 and I love all of them. I played in competitive series, LAN parties, and even my beloved Game Battles mainly from Halo 2 to Halo Reach, Halo 3 being my prime. When Halo 4 came out I had a lot going on in life and was kind of late to the party although I got pretty good towards the end of the games life. Halo 5 I feel is my rebirth in the competitive / pub stomping career. .

When it comes to Multiplayer I will keep this brief, I believe all the Halo multiplayers including Halo 4 & 5 are all really good in their own way. I don't think one in inherently bad or better then the other. But if I had to choose in my opinion the best by far is Halo 3 and the worst in my eyes in Halo 4. The ranking system in Halo 3 was amazing and it made me feel that every ranked game I played was Win or nothing lol. Halo 4 just felt weird to me with the custom classes to the overall map design. There is also Armor which is a HUGE part of what makes Halo well Halo. I think Halo 4 and Halo 5 have done the absolute worse with customization to just the actual armor design. Halo Reach needs to be the standard for all Halo games when it comes to armor I also felt the credit system was definitely fair.
ps: HALO 3 ROGUE HELMET WILL ALWAYS BE #1

So when you think of Halo you think of Master Chief and his Story. Halo's single player has always been great. One thing Halo 4 did absolutely brilliant on was the story of Master Chief and his companion and best friend Cortana the ending scene of the campaign still gets me every damn time. Halo 5 definitely had the potential of being one of the all time best campaigns in gaming history I believe. The Hunt the Truth stuff to the suspenseful TV commercials, and then it was a absolute FLOP. Although I do not hate it I think it is way to short and I wanted to see more between Locke and Chief. There just wasn't enough "hunting" with Locke and Chief, I feel like if Hunt the Truth was never a thing I would not of been let down as much. With Halo Wars 2 bringing back the flood I think its basically confirmed we will see them back in Halo 6 and Cortana most likely being under the logic plague. Remember these are my opinions, we never know what could happen.

Basically to conclude this over sized rant, What is it that you want from Halo 6 and Do you still have faith in 343 industries?

View attachment 255903

I think that 343 still has some potential, if their third game ends up bad though I think I may just turn to games like installation 1 since halo and destiny aren't great

 

[WillSandler66]

Yeah to be honest it is a sad time in gaming right now lol.

 

[Lieutenant Jaku]

Yeah to be honest it is a sad time in gaming right now lol.

yeah it's unfortunate, but as long as the owning companies/publishers don't screw the makers over again, we should be getting better games again soon

 

[ReClaimer8015]

Multiplayer is now faster than ever.
The new Art direction is fairly interesting, but I would like to see the old style again too. New Engine should bring it back, enriched with details. Unfortunately H3 Anniversary never came......sigh
Sound effects are awful in my opinion. Especially Covenant weaponry needs more power, sounds painfully weak. Same for vehicles.

But my main problems since halo 5 are simply storytelling and how to get the arc right again. Some of you might already know about it, but I just want to promote this blog entry here:
Halo 5 – A Compendium of Lies

Very well articulated, far better than I ever could. Focus on the Mantle as failed religion /philosophy and bring back guilty spark....(books hint that he is alive and wants to solve problems he has with his past as a human)

Game mechanics and graphics will be great, weapon and level variety too, no doubt.
343 should just write a simpler but better Story instead of promising big questions and a complex Story, which turns out to be contradicting and poorly thought through. Or leave some room for the player too imagine. If you over explain things, it destroys the mystery the halo series always had to a certain degree.

 

[RavenEye]

I can't comment much on Multiplayer, as I haven't really touched it since Halo Reach, but as for the story and campaigns, I have high hopes for Halo 6 personally. Halo 5 was weird, in that unless you were immersed in all the pre reading that built up to it, and came out after it (from wikis to webcomics, etc), the game story in and of itself is rather unimpressive. It acts as an extension of everything else released for the lore, but the problem with that is anyone who isn't as deep into the lore and literature as a hardcore fanboy would be, only get just that: a disjoint extension is all.
But when I think of the gameplay, I think 343 is really trying to find new things to bolster the game play. They try and toss in new elements of gameplay that I enjoy for variety (I think of the Starwars-esque trench run mission in Halo 4).
Hopefully story wise, they can make Halo 6 more complete ...and as a selfish sidenote, split screen campaign play again, removing that from Halo 5 was a bad move

 

[crackhead09]

Honestly, Halo 5's story would have been better if you never played any of chiefs story. The reason I say that is because when you play those first few missions and then go play as Locke, all you end up doing is trying to rush the missions out so you can get back to the plot. The story works a lot better if you actually have no idea whats going on with chief. I recommend giving halo 5 a playthrough only seeing Lockes side of the story. Lockes actions seem less dumb and it makes the story make more sense.

 

[Sean Anwalt]

Don't judge me.

I feel like halo is being used by 343 as a cash grab. It's a terrible shame, but halo 1 was a stand alone, and it was good. Halo 2 kinda opened the door a bit, but if you have to revive characters *cough* Sgt! *cough* the writer taking care of your story line is lazy and unimaginative. Halo 3 wrapped up what halo 2 started, and then halo 3 ODST was cool because it was a side story that ran along the mainstream.

I feel like halo 4 should have started differently, didn't finish it. Halo 5 is a terrible shame story wise, because they have demeaned and diminished that it meant to be a spartan. (Hey, these spec. Ops. guys are bamf, let's make them Spartans!) *cough* Buck! No! Let Buck advance and become an admiral and command a group that has Spartans, but he isn't a spartan. Spartans were raised from a very young age to be warriors. Buck wasn't. He's just a great warrior in and of himself.

I digress.

343 is out to make money. That's totally Understandable. It's a company. I don't blame them. I just wish they would have better writers, more thought in their stories, and less blatantly obvious greed.

You ask how I feel, and there you have it.

 

[Lieutenant Jaku]

Sean Anwalt while most of what you say is correct I would like to step in and point a few things out.
1. there are halo books (First Strike) from before the release of halo 2 where Sgt Johnson is alive and it is explained, while it was after development had started on halo 2 I am sure they knew what they were doing with the story, they even had Halsey dealing with the moral dilemma of whether or not to turn him over to ONI which would probably dissect him.

2. the thing about playing halo 5 and not 4 (at least story wise) is that you don't get the part about chief and the spartan 2s (as most died in reach) being replaced with spartan 4s, which now thanks to the chief had publicity and so, they couldn't kidnap and flashclone kids like the spartan 2s (and some 3s I think)

3. yes 343 is definitely out to make money, but they did at least fix some multiplayer in halo 5, removing custom loadouts and powers (which is probably just me, but I did not like the multiplayer of reach for this, halo 4 was slightly better but still not as good.)

OK thats my input

 

[Sean Anwalt]

Lieutenant Jaku

I read the books. Those are what got me into halo this deep, actually. Read through first strike almost in one night! LOVED it!

I have not played halo 5, I have read about it, and watched videos about it, and have a friend who plays it competitively online on some national competition something or other. (Apparently that's a thing? ), so, as with all things said on the internet, take that with a grain of salt.

And it's true, I was pretty hard in my comment. I just hate seeing things like this used thoughtlessly to make someone a dime. (You should hear what I have to say about my true love, Star Wars, which I have not seen since Disney took over. t's terrible!)

Anyway, I do not want to come across as rude or arrogant or anything, I'm just saying what's on my mind. Been in my mind for a looking time, actually... I'm very glad to have gotten it off my chest!

 

[CollinMcCaf]

Having briefly played the newer games, there are several things I hope to see changed. I've broken it down into sections.

Player mobility:
I would like to see armor abilities, spartan charge, and sprint removed from the standard game. instead being included as a custom setting.
Rather, bump up the base player speed. Halo 3 with 125% speed feels "current gen" enough, but still plays like the old Halo.
Vaulting meanwhile, should be included but require the platform to be at/ below your waist.

Maps:
343's maps can be described in one word, confusing. Whether it was hardware limitations or intentional design, Bungie relied on "line of sight" think Valhalla for example. The man cannons allow you to see pretty much the entire map, the vehicle locations, and the "secret" routes you could take to get to the enemy base. New players are able to see where things are and veterans are able to see where the rest of the players are.

Respawning:
Halo historically used a principle of "fair start", loadouts and ordinances go against that. Having such a thing in custom settings would be great, but being included as standard gameplay would go against what I believe the core of Halo multiplayer is meant to be.

Equipment:
One time use equipment from Halo 3 was great and I feel, a better use of the X button. Giving the player a potential advantage over another in a fight rather than the battle ensured variety in firefights without giving players a continuous advantage.

Overall, what I hope to see is:
Armor color wheel & custom key binding
Halo 3 style equipment (one time use)
Optional loadouts, spartan charge, sprint, armor abilities (a custom setting, taking the place of equipment "action button")
Increased base player speed
"line of sight" maps, similar to valhalla, avalanche, etc.

Legacy weapon balancing, I would expect a BR in H6 to do similar damage at a similar range as a BR in H2 or H3 (just one example). Weapons from previous games should be balanced first, then base the new weapons off of that. There's nothing I hate more than to lose to a bolt shot all day everyday no matter what I come around the corner with.

 

[mumgoot]

Multiplayer is now faster than ever.
The new Art direction is fairly interesting, but I would like to see the old style again too. New Engine should bring it back, enriched with details. Unfortunately H3 Anniversary never came......sigh
Sound effects are awful in my opinion. Especially Covenant weaponry needs more power, sounds painfully weak. Same for vehicles.

But my main problems since halo 5 are simply storytelling and how to get the arc right again. Some of you might already know about it, but I just want to promote this blog entry here:
Halo 5 – A Compendium of Lies

Very well articulated, far better than I ever could. Focus on the Mantle as failed religion /philosophy and bring back guilty spark....(books hint that he is alive and wants to solve problems he has with his past as a human)

Game mechanics and graphics will be great, weapon and level variety too, no doubt.
343 should just write a simpler but better Story instead of promising big questions and a complex Story, which turns out to be contradicting and poorly thought through. Or leave some room for the player too imagine. If you over explain things, it destroys the mystery the halo series always had to a certain degree.

I agree with you on the art style. I liked the "military" feel of the older Halos. The new spartan suits kind of remind me of something you would see in a Gillette ad.

Sound effects too. I like the magnum, but everything else is too "quiet", and you can hardly hear the motor running when driving a warthog or mongoose.

I can't say much about the story (I have only played through Reach, ODST, and 5, so I am only superficially acquainted with details regarding Halo 1-4) But I'm sure I would agree with you there as well. So in a nutshell, "Hear Hear!!"

 

[heckman15s]

I have really tapered off on the game play, life just doesn't allow much xbox time anymore. Maybe by the time this does come out I may be able to smash in a few hours a week to play some more. I was underwhelmed by %'s story line. Too much of games and movies rush things. The idea of Cortana being off the reservation leading a revolution kind went in a weird direction, but they had to try to manufacture a new threat to the universe as a whole. The new game has the chance to clean up some things and slow down the pace of the story. The halo universe gives the chance for so much depth of story but a lot got left on the way side. An AI revolution backed by forerunner tech does present a new threat but along with that you will have continual threats from Cov/Human insurrection groups which is kind of where I thought 5 was going to be based of some of the promo stuff.

I will hold out and pass judgement on new content when it comes out. I will always love Halo it has been an awesome franchise and lore that has the potential to be huge especially if the concept of intergalactic travel is introduce and an intergalactic threat emerges.

 

[mumgoot]

I have really tapered off on the game play, life just doesn't allow much xbox time anymore. Maybe by the time this does come out I may be able to smash in a few hours a week to play some more. I was underwhelmed by %'s story line. Too much of games and movies rush things. The idea of Cortana being off the reservation leading a revolution kind went in a weird direction, but they had to try to manufacture a new threat to the universe as a whole. The new game has the chance to clean up some things and slow down the pace of the story. The halo universe gives the chance for so much depth of story but a lot got left on the way side. An AI revolution backed by forerunner tech does present a new threat but along with that you will have continual threats from Cov/Human insurrection groups which is kind of where I thought 5 was going to be based of some of the promo stuff.

I will hold out and pass judgement on new content when it comes out. I will always love Halo it has been an awesome franchise and lore that has the potential to be huge especially if the concept of intergalactic travel is introduce and an intergalactic threat emerges.

In some ways, it would be nice if they would just wrap up the story with the Master Chief and Cortana, I know the forerunner stuff is weaved through the story, but it would have been nice if they could just defeat the covenant and then end it there. Then they can have at it making more games like ODST and Reach all taking place within the context of the classic human-covenant war. But that's just my opinion, because I'm not big on the forerunner/promethean stuff. If it just ended with the defeat of the covenant (and not a truce, because why would we make a truce with another species that was completely obsessed with exterminating us) and then we could all enjoy the finality of a victory. It wouldn't have to mean the end of the games or the franchise.

 

[foxleader]

what do I want from halo 6... that's a good question, well for one here a six tab list.

1.) co op land play, they had it in every halo up to 5 and it back fired hard, because I'd like to play with someone on the same system and be like see its more fun with more players.

2.) fire fight, yeah I know warzone is fire fight with team slayer but come on its something they could use to fill maps some people wouldn't play.

3.) choices that make the game out come either be harder or easier down the road example, you have three choices, save a group of marines, or defended a outpost, or secure a landing zone for a pelican, but you can only pick two of those three. so you can let the marines die and save both the outpost and get the landing zone, but lose what ever the marines had, lose the outpost and save both marines and the landing zone, ETC... which could make the game so much better it would cause the campaign to turn into some great.

4.) forge AI let us use the covenant AI to make our own custom maps that could turn into mini campaigns.

5.) tie in with 343 guilty spark, yes he's alive and he has a ship so I'd like to see him come back and let him turn into a full blown good guy.

6.) new combat on a grand scale, I'm talking large space battles I liked halo reach's fighter fight, but I think it would be nice to have a fight with more then just two ships fighting I'd like to be in a fight you heard on the radio in halo 3 coming from the crashed pelican where a fleet was fighting and you are a fighter helping in the fight or even better on of infinity's frigates moving around the battle zone, vehicle battles like that from tip of the spear, which could tie into point 3 like if your fighting over a choke point and you have the option to take out anti air guns or stop an armor column.

 

[Lieutenant Jaku]

what do I want from halo 6... that's a good question, well for one here a six tab list.

1.) co op land play, they had it in every halo up to 5 and it back fired hard, because I'd like to play with someone on the same system and be like see its more fun with more players.

2.) fire fight, yeah I know warzone is fire fight with team slayer but come on its something they could use to fill maps some people wouldn't play.

3.) choices that make the game out come either be harder or easier down the road example, you have three choices, save a group of marines, or defended a outpost, or secure a landing zone for a pelican, but you can only pick two of those three. so you can let the marines die and save both the outpost and get the landing zone, but lose what ever the marines had, lose the outpost and save both marines and the landing zone, ETC... which could make the game so much better it would cause the campaign to turn into some great.

4.) forge AI let us use the covenant AI to make our own custom maps that could turn into mini campaigns.

5.) tie in with 343 guilty spark, yes he's alive and he has a ship so I'd like to see him come back and let him turn into a full blown good guy.

6.) new combat on a grand scale, I'm talking large space battles I liked halo reach's fighter fight, but I think it would be nice to have a fight with more then just two ships fighting I'd like to be in a fight you heard on the radio in halo 3 coming from the crashed pelican where a fleet was fighting and you are a fighter helping in the fight or even better on of infinity's frigates moving around the battle zone, vehicle battles like that from tip of the spear, which could tie into point 3 like if your fighting over a choke point and you have the option to take out anti air guns or stop an armor column.

i have a few things to add to your points
on number 4) also ai of every other type
on number five) doesnt matter bad or good as long as he isnt wishywashy about it again
on 6) flying giantships in space battle ourselves would be a fun inclusion (not sure if this is what you meant) but also another step away from the original games
(also i have some bias because they might do it better than the game I am developing and that would make less of an audience for our game)
also a new point) not as much glowy stuff, 4 and 5 had way too much with the prometheans.

 

[AceTriad]

Hmm ... perhaps adding legacy pieces alongside the Reclaimer era GEN2 designs would be very helpful to both sides of the armor fans, just like the Jan.2017 helmet update in Guardians. Let's add chest pieces and what not too.

I do think that in terms of controls, having a Fishstick control scheme in there is an excellent idea - because aiming down sights with the left trigger feels so intuitive.

As for the story, I hope there is actual payoff between Chief and Cortana - seeing how there is none between him and Locke. I want it to be executed in a way that makes sense and not because some random plot element was suddenly introduced just to make the scenario work. And yes, I want it to drive me to tears.

I might have more, but these are just some of the things I can list off the top of my head.

 

[mumgoot]

Somembody may have mentioned this already, but there was/is talk about Halo Infinite having microtransactions and/or being a live service. If they go that road with Halo, 343 may very well be committing suicide. We all know Halo is going to sell well, why bother with the risk of further ruining 343i's reputation with further commercialization? I'm not sure if micro-transactions are really as unfair as people say (I mean, the players are buying them, and the publishers want to make money) but it just seems like it would be a poor choice considering how things are a bit fragile with 343 anyway. But when push comes to shove... money will probably talk, not the fans. I'm sure there is people at 343 that care, it probably only takes a few business tycoons to give a bad impression.

 

[AceTriad]

Wait … I have an idea regarding the fair start vs. killstreak rewards debacle that came from Halo 4. What if, Ordinance rewards were applied, but they take a long time to come on the map and every person on the radar knows where the ordinance rewards would drop? Certainly it will allow a level of strategy as people can then find ways to grab the ordinance or bait out more enemies this way.

It will be more of like a Care Package from Call of Duty as opposed to the Halo 4 iteration where the ordinance drops instantaneously. This method will act as a compromise because it rewards players with their accomplishments and it uses elements of "fair start spawning system" that were in the older games.

What do you think?

 

[ReClaimer8015]

You may be already long aware of Anthem at this point, a game by EA (uuuughhh) which will release soon.
For me it is overall visually pleasant, Aesthetics are great. Especially the U.I. in the menus, i love it!
The gameplay and story - we`ll see.....

Stumbled over a stream where they showcased the Customization for the Javelins, i want to know from you guys if you think it could be applicable in Halo Infinite to an extent? I know there`s nostalgia for Reach, but i found there could have been more Color Schemes and other options.

You could decide for your own if you want a black undersuit or not.
Would be cool to choose the color for armor plates ( each individual piece), 2ndary armor, visor and undersuit. Create patterns for yourself and just map it onto the mjolnir.
I would rather see the community making their own creations with a variety of Customization options than REQ-Packs paid for by microtransactions...

I know it`s a long video