On updating a classic (Off-Topic)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Thursday, April 18, 2019, 07:28 (1834 days ago) @ Cody Miller

I had a similar experience. Most Halo players did. And that’s where subjectivity and relativism start to wash away. Plenty of us have our own personal likes, dislikes, agreements, and disagreements around a game like Halo 4. But there is no questioning the simple fact that it failed to connect and resonate with gamers the way Halo CE did. Maybe that’s impossible. Maybe what Halo “is” (whatever that is) just isn’t as impactful anymore. But I’m not so sure. I’ve had moments playing other games in the past 5-6 years where I feel like something hits me in the head and I realize “holy crap, this is Halo. There is a mission in the Titanfall 2 campaign that feels more “Halo” to me than anything in the Halo 4 or 5 campaigns. There’s something there I think. I don’t exactly have the language or understanding of it to describe it (much less make it!). But I’d bet money that sooner or later, either intentionally or by accident, some developer will make a game that instantly and undeniably jumps out to us as the new “Halo”. And I’ll bet that game will be a huge hit :)

It is like everything a product of its time.

Playing the MCC you realize how Halo now feels off; you glide around surfaces when you run instead of that kinetic feeling in Destiny where your character has weight. But at the time it was the best feeling game out there. Remember: FPS games on consoles were pretty much all terrible (Goldeneye was unplayable even then). But it contrasted with PC FPS games at the time with its slower pace and more intelligent feeling AI.

But if Halo were released today, I doubt it would make a splash.

Nothing is timeless. There will never be a new HALO. Because it'll just be something else. A lesser company would have just made another Marathon game for the XBox. But Bungie left behind what was done and went forward.

I wish they would do that with Destiny right now though…

Some things are pretty darn close to timeless, at least in human terms. Hero mythology has been retelling the same basic story for like 20,000 years, probably much longer. Star Wars, Beowolf, Saint George, The Mesopotamian creation myth, they’re all the same story. That’s a story that LASTS. It keeps getting updated to fit the society of the day, but the core of the story doesn’t change. Because it’s equally power and meaningful now as it was 300, 2000, or 15000 years ago.

Video games are a whole different issue. They’re way too new for us to know if they’re going to last (I suspect they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon). They’re also technologically driven, and technology is changing so fast that games today age way faster than any other medium. Movies made in the 1940s put most movies made in the 20s to shame because the medium was developing super fast, like games are today. You’re right; if Halo CE came out today, it would not have been a hit. But that’s kind of missing the point. Halo was a hit because it tapped into a certain kind of experience that is thrilling and captivating, and it did so to the best degree possible with the technology of its day. Our standards are higher now because we’re accustomed to more powerful technology, but the feelings that developers are trying to evoke using technology are still there, waiting to be tapped into.

It’s easy to get lost in the weeds with this stuff, because who knows how many countless elements go together to create an experience like playing Halo CE in 2001. You can dig down into the art and sound design, the exact feel of the weapons and movement, enemy behaviour... it all matters. And yet I can play Titanfall 2, which shares none of those elements, and have distinctly “Halo” moments. They’re fleeting, because Titanfall 2 is largely a different kind of experience. But when I played the mission where you’re finally back together with your militia and you group up with a squad of friendly titans to drop down in front of an enemy fortress and storm it, I felt like I was playing the opening section of The Silent Cartographer for the first time. It was the exact same emotional experience for me. Obviously, that’s no guarantee that others will have the same experience with it or draw the same connection, but both those moments are among the most exciting and memorable experiences within their respective games, and I suspect that’s because they’re both tapping into something. I know that’s about as vague as possible, but that’s just because I don’t understand it well enough to nail it down. All I know is that there’s a kind of emotional chord that they both struck, and for me it was the exact same chord.