The real reason Halo was/is so popular

[Eldritch Warlord]

What does "OP" stand for anyway?

Original Post

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

The strangest thing I've seen come from Halo is the "Halo-Hater". And this is not directed at anyone here or any specific person, just as a general concept.

I'm a fan of the game, mostly because of the creative community that surrounds it. And I'm proud to be a part of it. But the thing I'll never understand is the people who claim to hate Halo, but just NEVER stop talking about it. The near crusade like way they show up in areas where Halo is discussed just to be a jerk to the people who are there to have a good time with like minded others.

I even seem to remember a video when Halo3 came out of some bloke who went to a midnight release party for Halo just to pre-order SSBB. This is not the behavior of a healthy mind. It's purposely wasting your own time and no one there (other than the guy and his camera operator) gave a crap. He was just holding up the line because the cashier had to break her rhythm to accomodate him.

I don't care for Final Fantasy games. And the last place you'll find me is in Final Fantasy forums telling the games fans about it.

 

[Alex_P]

The strangest thing I've seen come from Halo is the "Halo-Hater". And this is not directed at anyone here or any specific person, just as a general concept.

I don't recall any "Halo-Haters" in the days of the first Halo. I mean, sure, there were some people who didn't like it, but it was in a kinda "meh, not for me" sort of way. I think the "Haters" only emerged afterward, when Halo turned into a franchise.

-- Alex

 

[Alex_P]

- easily-accessable multiplayer out of the box, supporting split-screen and LAN play

Yeah. It was dirt-simple for a bunch of college kids with some extra Ethernet cables to have a 16-player game going every day of the week. This made Halo a great product for social gaming.

-- Alex

 

[KeithA45]

I've heard alot of arguments that Halo didn't do anything "amazing" to make it so popular. I know of a few people who actually HATE the franchise because of it's popularity without doing anything particularly amazing/new to deserve it. For the most part, they're right. Alot of the gameplay and storyline elements have all been done before. I'm sure you can all recall a game before Halo that had regenerative health, wars with aliens, vehicles with turrets, even energy swords (or something like it). I think the futuristic storyline tends to draw people, but even that's not the most important part.

But I think cynics miss the main selling point of Halo: The Spartan. It's not the back-story element of the Spartan, but rather being able to BE the Spartan. Master Chief is a god-among-men in a seemingly helpless war to save the entire human race, and each and every character in the game isn't afraid to tell you so or run for your life when they see you. I didn't care about the Master Chief until I WAS him, and I was told that I could turn the tides of a war almost entirely by myself.

It's the "desire to be great" that Halo fills so well. Think about it: growing up did you dream to be a office clerk? Of course not! Most people (including myself) wanted to be an astronaut or a firefighter or the leader of some sort of team. Everyone wants to be important somehow, and Halo puts you in control of the most important character in the whole game. Games like Call of Duty are great for their intense realism, realistic-ness and immersion, but I don't want to be A soldier I want to be THE soldier that makes a difference.

Atleast that's why my friends and I enjoy Halo.

EDIT: Oh yeah, that and I thought the music was phenomenal.

Might've been said but you should check out Warhammer 40k mate - Space Marines from that universe make SPARTANs look like clumsy children. And when I say check it out - I mean read some of the fantastic novels that have been written; their expansion on the lore and battle craft of the Space Marine Chapters are awe-inspiring. I played HALO and HALO 3, and unfortunately due to War40k's influence I found the storyline weak and the weapons/combat humdrum.

I've played Dawn of War 1 and I'm going to pick up Dawn of War II soon. I've never read the books but I'll be sure to check them out.

But even playing Dawn of War 1, my favorite are the Space Marines =)

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

The strangest thing I've seen come from Halo is the "Halo-Hater". And this is not directed at anyone here or any specific person, just as a general concept.

I don't recall any "Halo-Haters" in the days of the first Halo. I mean, sure, there were some people who didn't like it, but it was in a kinda "meh, not for me" sort of way. I think the "Haters" only emerged afterward, when Halo turned into a franchise.

-- Alex

They've been around since the first game, I promise you. And I suppose it's just a symptom of anything that's wildly popular like Halo.

 

[P1p3s]

its cool to see such differing opionions on this but i have to say i agree with the OP.

All of that being said tho, i much preferred playing as the Arbiter in Halo 3

What does "OP" stand for anyway?

And as much as I didn't enjoy being the Arbiter, I think it was necessary so the player didn't get sick of the Master Chief.

I've always taken OP to mean ORIGINAL POSTER

 

[Zersy]

I've heard alot of arguments that Halo didn't do anything "amazing" to make it so popular. I know of a few people who actually HATE the franchise because of it's popularity without doing anything particularly amazing/new to deserve it. For the most part, they're right. Alot of the gameplay and storyline elements have all been done before. I'm sure you can all recall a game before Halo that had regenerative health, wars with aliens, vehicles with turrets, even energy swords (or something like it). I think the futuristic storyline tends to draw people, but even that's not the most important part.

But I think cynics miss the main selling point of Halo: The Spartan. It's not the back-story element of the Spartan, but rather being able to BE the Spartan. Master Chief is a god-among-men in a seemingly helpless war to save the entire human race, and each and every character in the game isn't afraid to tell you so or run for your life when they see you. I didn't care about the Master Chief until I WAS him, and I was told that I could turn the tides of a war almost entirely by myself.

It's the "desire to be great" that Halo fills so well. Think about it: growing up did you dream to be a office clerk? Of course not! Most people (including myself) wanted to be an astronaut or a firefighter or the leader of some sort of team. Everyone wants to be important somehow, and Halo puts you in control of the most important character in the whole game. Games like Call of Duty are great for their intense realism, realistic-ness and immersion, but I don't want to be A soldier I want to be THE soldier that makes a difference.

Atleast that's why my friends and I enjoy Halo.

EDIT: Oh yeah, that and I thought the music was phenomenal.

The real Reasons

First game to make a fun FPS experiance on the console (Main Reason)

This is the Most huge Reason the one i'm about to say



it's because Halo got the perfect balnce in games balance of life of guns of damage of Inventory halo did all this in balance

which makes it fun

but i still find it bland

people played halo like made because it was one of the games that started of

Online gaming for consoles

although socom was the original that started that

 

[beddo]

ARGH! Stop all the complaining about Halo!

It WAS a good game, it received critical acclaim.

It had many innovative features that it bought to the FPS genre and it was the subtle blend of them all that made it great. It is one of the best FPS games ever but as it is now 7 years old we can't really judge it by today's standards.

If you didn't like it, fine. If you did like it, fine. Everyone has the right to their opinion.

What's stupid is hating a game because of its popularity, just because lots of people like something doesn't mean it's bad, in fact, it's generally the opposite.

1. Name three things [even one thing] that Halo gave to FPS'es that wasnt there before.

Specific to console FPS:

Background loading, Cubic and Bump mapping, Hot-keyed Grenades, Hot Keyed Melee attack, 16 player combat, seamless vehicle integration, both land and aerial based.


Other:

Two player split screen co-operative gameplay, seamless third to first person camera, regenerating shields with a health bar basis, two weapon limit, range of grenades separate from a weapon launcher, unique physics engine, expansive terrains with seamless indoor bsp/ expansive outdoor terrain integration, light shaft effect, new water shader effects, transparent/refractive camouflage.

2. If "Lots" of people tell you "dont eat at restaurant X" because they put dog in thier food, does that mean that they are wrong?

I fail to see how this is relevant in any way. I can only assume that you are suggesting that if a group of people say something negative that there is a chance it is true. However, whereas you can prove if an ingredient is being served you cannot prove that a game is bad.

This situation could also work the other way, if lots of people say it's good then are they necessarily wrong?

3. the topic is about Halo in general, HALO 1, 2, and 3. We can judge it because we are judging Halo by itself, not by standards that constantly change, if thats the case ,then 007: goldeneye for the N64 was the best game ever and all games made after that is nothing but crap.

I'm only talking about Halo CE because Halo 2 and 3 fell well below my expectations.

however, I would argue that GoldenEye 007 is one of the best games ever because at the time it was amazing.

4. it received critical acclaim? by who? all of the top game magazines? by x-play? do you just listen to whoever tells you "its good" without listening to objective reviews?..... you sheep.

It received critical acclaim from, the clue's in the title, the critics.

[link]http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbx/halo?q=halo[/link]

A weighted average of 97 out of 100 based on review from game critics, that is critical acclaim.

Also, where did you get the idea that reviews are objective? Reviews are not, almost by definition, they are subjective opinions.

EDIT:#:#:#:#

 

[Fingolfin High-King of the Noldor]

I don't really agree with you but I see why you would think that. I like games where I can be a common foot soldier. Thats why I love games like Star Wars Battlefront. Some games I get kinda upset when I figure out I'm some god like figure who my enemies cower before me. But I still like Halo as a game.

 

[Valiance]

I've heard alot of arguments that Halo didn't do anything "amazing" to make it so popular. I know of a few people who actually HATE the franchise because of it's popularity without doing anything particularly amazing/new to deserve it. For the most part, they're right. Alot of the gameplay and storyline elements have all been done before. I'm sure you can all recall a game before Halo that had regenerative health, wars with aliens, vehicles with turrets, even energy swords (or something like it). I think the futuristic storyline tends to draw people, but even that's not the most important part.

But I think cynics miss the main selling point of Halo: The Spartan. It's not the back-story element of the Spartan, but rather being able to BE the Spartan. Master Chief is a god-among-men in a seemingly helpless war to save the entire human race, and each and every character in the game isn't afraid to tell you so or run for your life when they see you. I didn't care about the Master Chief until I WAS him, and I was told that I could turn the tides of a war almost entirely by myself.

It's the "desire to be great" that Halo fills so well. Think about it: growing up did you dream to be a office clerk? Of course not! Most people (including myself) wanted to be an astronaut or a firefighter or the leader of some sort of team. Everyone wants to be important somehow, and Halo puts you in control of the most important character in the whole game. Games like Call of Duty are great for their intense realism, realistic-ness and immersion, but I don't want to be A soldier I want to be THE soldier that makes a difference.

Atleast that's why my friends and I enjoy Halo.

EDIT: Oh yeah, that and I thought the music was phenomenal.

Yeah.

Yeah, totally.

Because NO OTHER FPS ever let you be the superman making a difference, right?

0/10.

I could list plenty of the games, but probably any FPS put out in the past decade other than the WWII shooters would do it.

 

[Alex_P]

Dressing you up as the badass with all the power armor and guns is certainly better than pretending you're the "common soldier" only to find that all of the other soldiers just stand around doing nothing while waiting for you to do a suicidal rush to the next objective.

-- Alex

 

[Dogstile]

Would you believe it was originally made on a mac?

Yeah. Wasn't really the same game though. It started as an RTS, then moved into more kind of TPS/battlefield territory, and then finally moved to first person.

About the only thing that stayed static throughout the process was the setting on a mini-O.

wouldn't call it a "mini O" considering how massive that thing was

i really want to play halo CE now

 

[Dudemeister]

Gordon Freeman would kick his ass.

While I like Half Life better, I have to admit that Master Chief, an unstoppable super soldier, would totally waste a scientist with a crowbar.

 

[meglathon]

The thing about Halo is that is one of the original Console FPS that got the control to work well and give you enough control and position to make easy to play.
And let be honest, it is made for the consol, most people that hate it are PC games and Halo is a very simplistic game compared to a lot of other PC shooters.

For me the story is always very important, and Halo 1 have a decent story that keep me playing and so did 2,3 but me I? am a serious story buff, I really get into it and the characters their choices and what will happen next, and I do this for all games, movie and books even if they suck.

And I think that there is some appeal in that.

 

[nikomas1]

Well, THAT is why I don't like halo, and will get ODST.

 

[Elurindel]

Master Chief is just another cookie-cutter space marine. He is not special.

Except he's the original mold.

Please go and look up "Space Marine", and find the many, many reasons why you are wrong. Master Chief is nowhere near ebing the original space marine.

 

[Podunk]

I agree with the original poster. Though I shall continue to dislike it for being essentialy everything TimeSplitters Future Perfect is not. That will most likely be my all-time favorite FPS until a sequel comes along.

 

[GloatingSwine]

wouldn't call it a "mini O" considering how massive that thing was

Compared to some of the other Space O's that inspired it (particularly the Culture's Orbitals, Iain M. Banks' Culture books have exerted a strong influence on Halo, the ideosyncratic ship naming and more-than-a-little smug AI drone 343 Guilty Spark are likely down to his influence as well) the Halo installations are tiddly.

(Culture Orbitals themselves are tiddly compared to the grand-daddy of Space O's, Ringworld.)