Kotaku: The Problem With The Post-Bungie Halo Campaigns (Gaming)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Thursday, November 26, 2015, 21:00 (3288 days ago) @ INSANEdrive

I'm posting this because I feel this is the best reasoning I have yet to see when it comes to how 343 has handled Halo. I'm posting this here because this place is where alot of the old guard HBOers (even myself - though I was more a lurker at the time) are now.

It might not be saying much, but It's the best post I have ever seen out of Kotaku. I feel It is well written, and worth a read.

So without further adue.

I don't think I could summarize it better my self.

In terms of the story development, I think Bungie's Halo and 343's Halo have very different strengths. I think Bungie's Halo games were some of the best examples of "story that serves the gameplay experience". I may be in the minority here, but I never thought the story of Halo 1-3 was particularly good in its own right. But it did a fantastic job of providing context: I always knew where I was, why I was there, what my goals were and why I was trying to achieve them. The story provided motivation in a way many other videogame stories fail to do. But when it comes to the basics like the quality of the dialog, character development, and that kind of thing, I don't think the story of Halo 1-3 was very good at all.

When it comes to 343's Halo games, I think they do a wonderful job with the little moments. The dialog is much better for the most part, and they've clearly invested way more time and money into facial capture and animations to portray more believable and emotional characters. Halo 5 has many of my favorite moments of character interaction in the franchise. Where 343's Halo games fall apart IMO is in the "big picture" stuff. The overall plotlines are a complete mess, and where the player "fits in" to everything is often impossible to decipher. The stories don't serve the gameplay experience anymore, which I believe is the real reason why so many Halo fans feel some sort of friction with the last few Halo games.