Poll: Why do people like Halo so much?
- Thread starter junkmail22
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I used to like halo but I feel like it's taking the piss at this stage. I mean from Halo wars to ODST it's lost the run of itself. Don't get me wrong I loved the original trilogy and the online but I personally feel like I outgrew it really, I mean what I want from my games has changed over the years but halo hasn't really. I mean yeah it's added those suit mods and the new guns but its just padding it's still the same game it always has been just mindless shooting but now I can fly for a few seconds and jump on your back to instakill but i could always melee hit you in the back to instakill.
Either way halo isn't a bad game but it's hard to approach it with the same vigor as I did 8-9 years ago waiting in line for halo 2 when everything was fresh while now it's taking the cod approach, Stick to the core tried and tested and add on little bits here and there and see what sticks.
Either way halo isn't a bad game but it's hard to approach it with the same vigor as I did 8-9 years ago waiting in line for halo 2 when everything was fresh while now it's taking the cod approach, Stick to the core tried and tested and add on little bits here and there and see what sticks.
Well, Half Life was both critically acclaimed and popular among consumers... It still doesn't interest me. People like different things because people have different interests. I enjoyed much of the Halo series for the campaign, particularly co-op playthroughs of it. The scenery, audio, and satisfying weaponry also are points in it's favour.
My thoughts exacly.Able Seacat said:
Did I start it with my "why do People love Valve so much" thread?
If so I am so so sorry.
But to answer the question I never really got into halo so for me its kinda a "meh"
Challenge accepted.Feral said:
Halo is a very good video game and science fiction franchise.
Challenge completed.
That's it. I could go for pages explaining why, and I don't even care for multiplayer, which is a whole different experience that other appreciate for their own reasons.Troublesome Lagomorph said:
Halo CE is the tightest, although I like each iteration for its own reasons.
Most people can't put their finger on why they love it so much, they just do. Its the design, as an amateur game designer, I do take notice of the many things they get right (and the few they get wrong). That's the best kind of design, the one you enjoy without noticing its there.
My top reasons:
* Pacing is spot on, 20 seconds of fun, then calm.
* Weapon balance is near perfect. The Melee-Grenade-Gun triad, all one button away
* Weapon timing. How much damage enemies take vs how often you have to reload, and how long it takes. This game was
explicitly designed for gamepads not mouse/kb so it's not about aiming, but timing.
* Level design. It allowed for a great deal of strategy when facing groups of enemies. Creative thinking lead to great encounters. You can tell each encounter was carefully planned.
* Vehicle sections. Some have expressed their dislike and I don't understand why. They control like a dream. You control the camera, not the vehicle. It was innovative at the time, I found it intuitive and tons of fun. Vehicle sections do not feel tacked on.
* Storytelling, there's a real sense of a larger universe around you. Cortana is a great piece of design. She's a companion, who can talk to you during battle so the story progresses without pausing for a cut-scene, but she's never in danger so its not a perennial escorting mission. Better yet, her role is not contrived. it makes perfect sense.
* The enemy variety and AI. Fun to fight.
* The general presentation. The graphics were awe-inspiring at the time. Music is a classic. Everything sucks you into the universe. You can't mistake Halo for anything else.
* The setting. Halo itself is one of the coolest places to set a game.
* The characters and their relationships.
The things I would criticize:
* Level design can be confusing. Even though they're linear, sometimes you can't tell where to go.
* Some may not appreciate the comedic touches, such as the grunt voices.
I have nothing against Halo. I really liked it back in the day when I first got to play Halo: Combat Evolved on PC. I also remember going over to one of my friend's houses to play the crap out of Halo 2 co-op campaign. After that I began to lose interest rapidly and now it doesn't even register on my radar anymore. I don't hate it, but it doesn't excite me like it used to.
Hi there, yet another exception to your supposed rule here. I liked Halo, I liked Doom. I like a lot of stuff. But for a long time Halo was my favorite franchise. So why don't you take your attitude you seem to have and cram it.Doom972 said:So you're the an exception to the rule. Feeling special? Most people who played classic shooters like Half-Life expect more from their shooters, I guess you're not.shrekfan246 said:Doom972 said:
Fun fact: I've played Half-Life, all of the Doom games, classic Wolfenstein, Serious Sam, Duke Nukem, Quake, Deus Ex, Thief, System Shock 2, Halo, etc.
And out of that list, you know how many of those games I've actually completed? Halo. ... and Star Wars: Dark Forces II, but that's because you get to be a Jedi.
It's almost like there are actually people out there who *gasp, shock, horror* might not actually care about whether your character zooms around at eighty miles an hour, flipping between an entire armory strapped to the void on their back or not!
Tis the season, every year we get this, then the 'does anyone else' etc etc.Able Seacat said:
Really it's a shame how predictible our forum is
On topic, stop fishing. If not fishing, clearly it's a really well done game that refined many of the features you see in most modern shooters as well as a very iconic look that makes it really stand out from other titles (though I'd argue this was lost with Halo 4 and it's seeming attempt to replicate Call Of Duty in space). Good story, gameplay, aesthetics, multiplayer. Personally I don't get why people don't like it.
I absolutely love the vehicle physics in the original halo, and I think you get the opportunity to use vehicles a pretty good amount in that game. Hell in my opinion it's one of the best parts. But I guess that was my first halo so it kind of sets the bar for me.Evonisia said:Well you're not missing out on much thenHades said:
The vehicles sections only seem to appear at the beginning of a mission or for a few minutes at a time (excluding the final mission which you would recognise if you played the last mission of Halo 3).
On topic, I loved the first two halos and liked halo 3 a lot as well. Recently I have been less pleased but I still liked the halo games from odst on. I originally fell in love with halo because of split screen multiplayer and LAN capabilities, something us console kids didn't have before. Then I loved halo 2 because of Xbox live something else the console kids weren't used to. I really enjoyed the stories also but they were admittedly a secondary. Halo 3 was pretty much halo 2 on next gen consoles, so I liked that just fine though it was starting to stagnate.
I can see how halo might not seem like a game that warrants the attention it gets if you picked it up post halo 3 but if you played it in its prime (2001-2007 in my opinion) I don't see how you can rationalize calling it bad or mediocre even. Honestly I don't think any qualifications are needed. If someone doesn't like halo, but likes console shooters with multiplayer I'd be curious to hear which franchises you think are better. Shoot I'm curious to see which franchises people think compete.
Personally I don't like Halo much, for me its an okay shooter but not something I go out of my way to play but really the reasons it is so popular are kinda obvious.
For many people it was the first shooter franchise they played. Consider the best console shooter before the Xbox/PS2 generation was Goldeneye on N64 (it was the most commonly believed to be the best) which got dated very fast, Halo on the other hand could hold its head up high with PC counterparts for how advanced its mechanics were from Goldeneye. Halo was also a very accessible game, if you ever played Counterstrike or even Unreal Tournament the bar for entry was set pretty high in terms of skill. You could easily spend your first few days just getting slaughtered. Halo still has an existing skill cap but new players will find they can score a few kills at least unlike the aforementioned games where a pro with the AK would head shot you instantly or a Flak Monkey never stopped moving long enough for you to shoot back.
It was also the clear flagship game not only for the Xbox itself but also for Xbox Live. Online gaming was brand new to consoles and Microsoft needed to have one hell of an impact as soon as possible. The aforementioned reasons lead Halo to be a massive success for the online multplayer front and for many years shaped how console shooters were made until the advent of Modern Warfare which now serves as the industry leader for online shooters.
tl;dr version: The multiplayer portion was easy to get into and was the first such experience for a lot of people.
For many people it was the first shooter franchise they played. Consider the best console shooter before the Xbox/PS2 generation was Goldeneye on N64 (it was the most commonly believed to be the best) which got dated very fast, Halo on the other hand could hold its head up high with PC counterparts for how advanced its mechanics were from Goldeneye. Halo was also a very accessible game, if you ever played Counterstrike or even Unreal Tournament the bar for entry was set pretty high in terms of skill. You could easily spend your first few days just getting slaughtered. Halo still has an existing skill cap but new players will find they can score a few kills at least unlike the aforementioned games where a pro with the AK would head shot you instantly or a Flak Monkey never stopped moving long enough for you to shoot back.
It was also the clear flagship game not only for the Xbox itself but also for Xbox Live. Online gaming was brand new to consoles and Microsoft needed to have one hell of an impact as soon as possible. The aforementioned reasons lead Halo to be a massive success for the online multplayer front and for many years shaped how console shooters were made until the advent of Modern Warfare which now serves as the industry leader for online shooters.
tl;dr version: The multiplayer portion was easy to get into and was the first such experience for a lot of people.
I'm kind of split on Halo. On one hand, I like the lore and setting (the Bungie stuff moreso than the weird "ancient humans vs Forerunners" that 343 are pushing), but on the other the gameplay hasn't really clicked with me as well since I moved to stuff with slightly more "realistic" controls. I know I'm gonna take a lot of flak for this, but I actually would appreciate a more precise form of aim than the basic crosshair used by the Halo games. A control scheme like Halo's is, in my opinion, better suited for an arcade shooter than a game as serious as Halo. I'm not saying I want it to be another generic cover-based shooter, just give me sights mapped to the left trigger (on the human weapons, at least), center the crosshairs properly on the screen, and I'll be quite happy.
Doom972 said:So you're the an exception to the rule. Feeling special? Most people who played classic shooters like Half-Life expect more from their shooters, I guess you're not.shrekfan246 said:Doom972 said:
Fun fact: I've played Half-Life, all of the Doom games, classic Wolfenstein, Serious Sam, Duke Nukem, Quake, Deus Ex, Thief, System Shock 2, Halo, etc.
And out of that list, you know how many of those games I've actually completed? Halo. ... and Star Wars: Dark Forces II, but that's because you get to be a Jedi.
It's almost like there are actually people out there who *gasp, shock, horror* might not actually care about whether your character zooms around at eighty miles an hour, flipping between an entire armory strapped to the void on their back or not!
HA HA HA, Oh man. You're like a parody of an obnoxious PC gamer. Anyway, I'd just like to say that I'm yet another exception to your little "rule". I played Half Life 2, thought it was pretty good. I played Halo 3, liked it a whole lot better.
OT: Yeah, I liked Halo 3. I played with my friends a whole bunch, in co-op, multiplayer, even Forge mode, and I had a lot of fun. I suppose if you don't like multiplayer (which I feel I should point out is every bit as silly as saying "I don't like single player", but let's just slide past that for now) you probably won't get too much out of it. But unlike Our Lord the High Prophet Yahtzee, I actually don't have a problem with that.
I'm going to go ahead and say yes I do like the Halo games (Except CE and I never played ODST, so full disclosure)junkmail22 said:
I think the critical response they got was insane. I think the Halo games are 8 out of 10 good (In the real world where 8 out of 10 means "pretty damn fun" and not "WoRsT GaMe EvAr!"
But that's just what they were. Pretty damn fun.
The enemy AI was good, the shooting was run and gun, the weapons were balanced and distinct (Meaning there was a shotgun which was A shotgun, as apposed to there being like 50 shotguns with 100 differently attachments that altered bugger-all by a negligible amount so you couldn't tell what the fuck you're holding unless you have a degree in weapon-ology from the university of Gray and brown chest high walls!!!! sorry) , Master Chief was tall (You don't even know how important that one is, High field of view = awesome) The level design was above average (Meaning they weren't littered with chest high walls) and the music was great.
and then there were the bad parts of Halo.
Like the writing. Oh god the writing. It's soooo dull. and the Acting was sooooo bad. Steve Downs is the worst actor ever.
But even though I really care about story and acting and all that jazz I had so much fun shooting stuff in Halo that I just dealt with it (And latched on to every line Jennifer Taylor spoke like I was some sub human mutant who could only sustain it's self by appreciating good acting every time it heard a line read with some tangible emotion)
And I agree that Reach was the best both in terms of shooting and writing.
But then Halo 4 came out...
And this is where it gets interesting.
Halo 4 sort of sucked.
The combat was less Run and Gun, the level design was crappier, the weapon system was unbalanced and full of redundancies, the multyplayer portion forgot that it was supposed to be fun. the music was shit. Steve Downs is still alive (And the god of ears hasn't seen fit to give him debilitating throat and tongue cancer)
But the story was actually written well, Cortana was still amazingly acted, but the random grunts they threw into the mix actually had personalities and emotions. I understood what was going on and why. (Until the fuckin' Librarian showed up, but it's still a Halo game so what are you gonna do?)
And the best thing of all, 343 freed Jenifer Taylor from having to act opposite soulless manikin head on a robot body by killing her character off! (Or at least I think they did. If they pull some "Oh, she was backed up somewhere" bullshit I... I'll be mad at them, but still glad Cortana is there.)
If Halo 4 is any indicator of where 343's skills lay Halo won't be nearly as fun as it used to be, but it might become worth playing for the story.
So I like Halo, But within reason.
Halo:CE was the 2nd game I ever really played, so the series has been a part of my gaming career for quite a while. I've played every game except for anniversary and I would definitely say reach is not considered the best by most fans (not the worst ether, that's generally seen as halo 2) and halo 3 or halo:CE is the best depending on who you ask. I personally see 3 as the definitive halo game since its the one I have spent the most time playing.
I like the series because of a lot of things. It was the first series where I really got into the story and the world (there is a surprising amount of depth to it outside just the games, and im not only taking about the novels ether), and it also got me into looking into other games lore. (namely mass effect and the elder scrolls, the later of which I really recommend looking into if your even slightly a lore buff) The fact that unlike its number 1 competition, (well, back when halo was still able to compete with it) it wasn't a twitch shooter. In COD it takes about 5 shots to kill something, where as in halo you have to unload a clip into someone to kill them. For a lot of people this is a bad thing but for me it gives me time to actually think and strategist during each encounter. Getting the perfect mix of shooting, melee, grenades, and movement is an art that is incredibly hard to master and something to work towards. forge was a big thing for console gamers. It was the first big name console shooter with a decent level and game mode editor in it. A similar thing with theater mode. I remember the influx of great machinima series that came after halo 3 came out, (arby and the chief being a favorite of mine) and not just from halo 3 ether, it had made machinima seam like something that the average person could do.
Recently however ive started to abandon the halo series. I probably played halo 4 for less then 15 hours, as apposed to the over 100 ive probably spent in 3 and reach. It might be because I stopped being friends with the group I played halo with. It might be because the story, while now much more mature and sci-fi like, doesn't feel as halo as it should to me. It might be because now that I can safely call my self a PC gamer and have been playing more games less instead of fewer games more like I used to.
I like the series because of a lot of things. It was the first series where I really got into the story and the world (there is a surprising amount of depth to it outside just the games, and im not only taking about the novels ether), and it also got me into looking into other games lore. (namely mass effect and the elder scrolls, the later of which I really recommend looking into if your even slightly a lore buff) The fact that unlike its number 1 competition, (well, back when halo was still able to compete with it) it wasn't a twitch shooter. In COD it takes about 5 shots to kill something, where as in halo you have to unload a clip into someone to kill them. For a lot of people this is a bad thing but for me it gives me time to actually think and strategist during each encounter. Getting the perfect mix of shooting, melee, grenades, and movement is an art that is incredibly hard to master and something to work towards. forge was a big thing for console gamers. It was the first big name console shooter with a decent level and game mode editor in it. A similar thing with theater mode. I remember the influx of great machinima series that came after halo 3 came out, (arby and the chief being a favorite of mine) and not just from halo 3 ether, it had made machinima seam like something that the average person could do.
Recently however ive started to abandon the halo series. I probably played halo 4 for less then 15 hours, as apposed to the over 100 ive probably spent in 3 and reach. It might be because I stopped being friends with the group I played halo with. It might be because the story, while now much more mature and sci-fi like, doesn't feel as halo as it should to me. It might be because now that I can safely call my self a PC gamer and have been playing more games less instead of fewer games more like I used to.
I really don't care about Half Life or Halo at all, but I wanted to chime in on the sentiment. You sir are the type of person that stifles productive discussion about video games, and you undermine your gaming platform of choice. You should be ashamed of this post, or at the very least have a little self-awareness at how ridiculous it sounds..Doom972 said:So you're the an exception to the rule. Feeling special? Most people who played classic shooters like Half-Life expect more from their shooters, I guess you're not.shrekfan246 said:Doom972 said:
Fun fact: I've played Half-Life, all of the Doom games, classic Wolfenstein, Serious Sam, Duke Nukem, Quake, Deus Ex, Thief, System Shock 2, Halo, etc.
And out of that list, you know how many of those games I've actually completed? Halo. ... and Star Wars: Dark Forces II, but that's because you get to be a Jedi.
It's almost like there are actually people out there who *gasp, shock, horror* might not actually care about whether your character zooms around at eighty miles an hour, flipping between an entire armory strapped to the void on their back or not!
I liked bits of the series.
As repetitive as it was at times, I genuinely loved CE. Had many a fun time at LANs and tourneys.
Two was an incredible disappointment. I loathed the campaign.
Three was a tad better than Two, but still disappointing.
Reach just felt like a massive departure from the series; in so many ways.
ODST, while short, was at least an interesting take on the series. The story felt like an actual expansion to the narrative instead of just a rehashing of "Master Chief kills some Covenant".
Wars was much maligned by the "diehard fans", but honestly? I liked it. A lot. It certainly wasn't the most complex RTS out there but it was at least fun and (mostly) balanced. Besides, like ODST, it felt like a fresh narrative that expanded on the Halo-verse lore instead of just "going through the motions" like most of the core titles.
Seriously, I'd wager a vast majority of these type of threads are started by the same collective of people, even over a period of years, all of whom just love to be deceptively insulting and condescending.
But hey, as dumb, pointless, and insulting as these threads are, at least we're seeing games other than Half-Life/Half-Life 2 being the topic of the OP.
I mean, Jesus, even if someone's not a fan of the series they have to be getting sick of hearing people complain about how much they hate it.
As repetitive as it was at times, I genuinely loved CE. Had many a fun time at LANs and tourneys.
Two was an incredible disappointment. I loathed the campaign.
Three was a tad better than Two, but still disappointing.
Reach just felt like a massive departure from the series; in so many ways.
ODST, while short, was at least an interesting take on the series. The story felt like an actual expansion to the narrative instead of just a rehashing of "Master Chief kills some Covenant".
Wars was much maligned by the "diehard fans", but honestly? I liked it. A lot. It certainly wasn't the most complex RTS out there but it was at least fun and (mostly) balanced. Besides, like ODST, it felt like a fresh narrative that expanded on the Halo-verse lore instead of just "going through the motions" like most of the core titles.
More like the same people.anthony87 said:
Seriously, I'd wager a vast majority of these type of threads are started by the same collective of people, even over a period of years, all of whom just love to be deceptively insulting and condescending.
But hey, as dumb, pointless, and insulting as these threads are, at least we're seeing games other than Half-Life/Half-Life 2 being the topic of the OP.
I mean, Jesus, even if someone's not a fan of the series they have to be getting sick of hearing people complain about how much they hate it.
I am 100% a PC only gamer since my last console, the PS2, but I like Halo pretty well. I like the scifi story it tells, I think it is a well designed game with challenging play, well designed levels, for the most part, and I wish more of them came to PC. I played CE on PC, I played Halo 2 on PC, and played through most of Halo 3 on a friend's xbox.
Just a well made series of games.
Just a well made series of games.
I remember a time when Halo was as hated as CoD, which is funny nowadays when seemingly all there is in the AAA shooter market are monochrome military shooters. We didn't realize how nice we had it with Halo back then, a bright, vibrant space shooter with excellent music and a decent story.