It's less for me about implicit best, better, good comparisons and more about how everything comes together and has it's own flavor. The Bungie flavor and how well the parts come together at the end is much more influential to me in terms of enjoyment.

Sure, Armor Lock was not done well, and Halo 2 had glaring holes in it, and the Halo 1 pistol is completely ridiculous, but the sum of the parts makes a very enjoyable experience and a unique flavor that only Bungie can really pull off.

Hope that makes sense.

I'm fine with it personally. I think that the only problem is that people that get jumped on for expressing their opinion about Bungie games forget a couple of things:

1. It's your opinion, state it like an opinion not a fact
2. When making conjecture based on statements by Bungie don't assume it'll be the best/worst thing you can think of based on a single statement. (assuming X=Y when Bungie only stated X)

Just my 2 cents, no offense to anyone intended.

Some Bungie games are less perfect than others. ;)

Fair criticisms are welcome, I think. Pompous pronouncements that belittle the opinion of others probably aren't.

What Xenos said.

Say what you want and say what you mean the best you can. Don't be a dick. If you're a dick, we'll let you know, and if you don't mean to be, then have a good laugh about it, move on, and be less dickish.

Life's too short to take much seriously (much less yourself, or Bungie).

Bungie is my favorite video game company.

In general, I try to point out positives rather than focus on negatives. A big reason I like reading DBO is because of this; I feel a lot of the members are the same way.

That being said, being critical is always fair, as long as it is fair. Criticism & critique are important in all creative arts, and possibly in all human endeavors.

Bungie is my favorite video game company and has been since I discovered Marathon in the mid 90's. That being said, I am not what the gaming community would call a "fan boy". I do realize that Bungie is not perfect, and everything that they do is not incredible, amazing or the best simply by virtue of them having done it.

My question however is how do other (presumably hardcore, since they're here) fans feel about this? Are you able to acknowledge that Bungie can slip up at times without it threatening Bungie's standing in your mind?

Obviously Bungie can slip up. No multiplayer for Oni, no patch for M2, bad AI in Myth 1.0, all of ODST, weak set of launch maps for Reach, Weekend Warrior etc etc.

But, there is a difference between slipping up, and making poor fundamental decisions. One of these things I can forgive. The other I can't.

I used to love Blizzard to death, but guess what they have been doing lately? And that's precisely why I don't care about them anymore.

The more I see, the more I am convinced that Destiny's design is not a slip, but a poor fundamental decision.

Bungie USED to be my favorite game company, but now that is Platinum Games.

What everyone else said, except for Cody, because ODST is awesome.

Critical discussion can be great for the audience, as it allows you to discover what elements and aspects you may love out of a piece so as to guide you to other books, games, movies, etc.

It can be especially helpful for creators, obviously. :)

Sadly though, I find the internet does not have much of this kind of helpful discussion. Instead, it's overflowing with cynicism, masked as critiques. A lot of people like to impress their opinions on others, they want to feel validated in their beliefs by trouncing those that differ from them, or they just want to vent frustration.

Because of this sheer mountain of negativity that grows everyday, I find I have to be more positive just to spite it. In an age of cynicism, the contrarian has to be a optimistic asshole.

Being able to accept and parse criticism is the sign of any good being, organisation, boss, enemy and friend.
We all make mistakes, big and small, we all do things that appeal to some and not others, often unintentionally or unknowingly so.

So yes, criticising your favourite anything is cool in my book. It's that line of being ignorant and insensitive I.. feel unsure about.
Even earlier today I posted on GAF about how I pondered if 343 should abandon the attempt to replicate traditional Halo and merge new mechanics into it, in favour of going for something wildly different, only carrying forward the Universe, thereby avoiding the media criticism of being too similar and the "can't do it right" sentiment of my crew. [Of course it would open a whole new Pandora's box, but that's an armchair development post for another day]
But I quickly erased it, for the manner in which I said it was too blasé and selfish for me to be ultimately be comfortable with.