Games: The Official Halo 2 Topic [OT!]

[Nevan]

True, true. See I've been thinking about my problems with Halo 2 since I played about an hour of Halo 2 and over 2 hours of Halo with my friend today. I've compiled the following list of the cons of both games. With ways they could improve Halo 2.

Halo 2 cons:
-Glitchy Graphics at times
-Can't jump into campaign
-No ending to the campaign
-Dual-Weilding
-The SMG/No AR
-Tracking Rockets
-The new Banshee Controls
-Lunging in mid-air with the sword
-Weakened grenades
-Meaner tank
-The new shield/health system
-Ghost boosting
-Shotgun

Solutions (in order of which they were posted.):
-Well this is more of a problem they had to allow direct cutscenes, but I like the way Halo does it better, since I can wait a second to see a perfect cutscene instead of no wait to see a shotty cutscene.
-Another loading problem, loads the whole campaign as to where Halo you loaded one level at a time.
-It's been said before.
-I think it would have been better without it, which ties in with the SMG. The Pistol should have it's scope removed, the Battle Rifle should be added but be a full automatic or fast semi-automatic, to be a human medium range weapon. Keep the AR the same, the pistol should have it's same power. The plasma weapons should retain their original abilitys, the Needler should track better and shoot slightly fast. But NO DUAL WEILDING. It wasn't original and it isn't Halo.
-Not that much of a problem, but requires less skill, fire and forget system is used, I prefer them to require more skill to use.
-The old Banshee was perfect, I despise the new one. If they would have kept Rockets without tracking it would be fine. But nope, they had to change the whole good system.
-Now that is just unrealistic, and dumb. It doesn't work in real-life, it should work in this game.
-Well, they are fixing this, so I can't bitch too much about it.
-Keep the model of the tank the same, just use the new controls, it isn't that hard Bungie.
-It reduces thinking power. You just rush in and if you don't get killed... you hide. Good job, now you stay hidden and let your shields recharge or get found and die, either way not too much skill is required.
-OMG I'm getting shot!!! Time to run to the other side of the map, okay sheilds are up all is fine time to do it again. Just remove boost all together except on the Wraith, it's dumb.
-Keep it the way it was, it was good then, now it's just lame.

Halo cons:
-No binoculars
-No boarding
-Worse System Link System, along with game option menus.
-No XBox LIVE

Solutions (in order of which they were posted.):
-Just add them like in Halo 2.
-Same thing as above.
-Use Halo 2's menus.
-Just add it like in Halo 2.

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Well if you read all of that, and understand where I am coming from, thanks. Maybe I can find a few good games on XBC.

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EDIT: Don't get me wrong some of the new weapons are cool, like the Carbine, Brute Shot, and Beam Rifle, just make them fit in with the old weapons before screwing things up.

<font color="#345E81" size="1">[ April 16, 2005 06:47 PM: Message edited by: Nevan ]</font>

[Cataferal]

I felt the same. However, when i turned back to the old XBC, i found that nobody in england plays the original anymore. They're all american gamers. You should be able to find a game though.

I agree with everything you said. Personally, I think that they did an extremely good job of implementing all the new features, such as dual-wielding, but the concepts were flawed from the start. Still, while this is clearly a rushed and flawed game (as indicated by the sheer scale of this upcoming update), its all we have. Its so different from the original, its essentially become difficult to compare in my eyes.

Just a thought; i dont think Bungie would have to work particularly hard to implement binoculars, boarding, new menu interface and XBox Live capabilities in a renovated release of the original Halo. I think that'd be a more realistic option than reverting to the original Halo style in (the inevitable) Halo 3. I dont think they can turn away from things like duel-wielding now that they've given gamers a taster; people will complain if these features arent back again in the next game.

[Nevan]

That's what scares me, what else can they do to Halo to make it a cliche shooter? Veering further off course of their original disign... Halo 3 scares me as an idea because I am afraid after seeing what they did to Halo 2 that they may just kill the series and have a crappy story, that ends in a wretched, lame way. The way things are going and from what I've seen from the DVD is simple, Bungie are slackers until someone starts bitching. Look at Halo, they had 9 month to make it because Microsoft made them, yet they have been working on it for around 3 years before that. Look at Halo 2 on the LE DVD, they only had a year and a half to work on it, yet they had just been slacking off for the previous year and a half, they found this out when they got back from E3 2003. Now they are fixing cheating, glitches and balance because some one is making them, most likely if it were up to them and MS wasn't behind them they would still slack off. They would wait over a year and begin work on Halo 3 without another thought of Halo 2 updates. But MS is pushing these slackers to work harder to make more money. But they want to take shortcuts, all the while MS is saying "no" and it almost appears they are trying to undermine the company. It took them 9 months to do Halo because they had to, and I might add they did it damn well. It took them 1.5 years to do Halo 2 and it is a major let down, probably the biggest hyped game of all time. What will become of Halo 3? Will it reclaim Halo's throne as a FPS king or will is be a prettier, yet less fun Halo 2?

Time shall tell.

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EDIT: I also thought of another problem... no campaign medals. Which is extremely lame. They could have added those, most likely easily.

<font color="#345E81" size="1">[ April 17, 2005 06:54 PM: Message edited by: Nevan ]</font>

[Cataferal]

For me, the AutoUpdate has improved the Halo 2 experience by 5%. Im very happy with the new balance, and im especially looking forward to those new maps coming next monday.

The only glitch i can still find is the ability to get out of Coagulation using an elite (on the spectre). Other than this, the whole game is looking spotless so far, and hopefully Bungie's plans to prevent cheaters will have some success.

[Nevan]

I agree, however I now see it as being about 55% as good as Halo.

[Cataferal]

Well, if they keep modifying Halo 2 through updates, and remaking the old Halo maps, that percentage of greatness should rise. They have a lot of updating to do though, and it wont ever truly get back to the Halo standard.

Still, it makes the experience that much more enjoyable.

<font color="#345E81" size="1">[ April 19, 2005 07:32 PM: Message edited by: Cataferal ]</font>

[Nevan]

True, but I have a feeling these nine maps will be the last we see, since if they were smart they would be working on Halo 3.

[Cataferal]

I think theres a lot of truth in that, although they do have time to kill while they're working on Stubbs the Zombie. Unless that has online play, im thinking their Xbox Live resources will still be running full-time on Halo 2, which gives them another 5 months or so. We may see more, but personally i think they should just get to work on Halo 3; after all these new maps wont change the core gameplay that we're currently criticizing Halo 2 for.

On a side note, have you seen the trailer for Stubbs the Zombie yet?

<font color="#345E81" size="1">[ April 20, 2005 10:50 AM: Message edited by: Cataferal ]</font>

[Nevan]

You have to keep in mind that Stubbs is being developed by Wideload, not Bungie. I've seen the trailer and I can't wait. I always wanted to bite skulls more realistically than in Alien Hominid. Since Bungie is not doing Stubbs I think they will most likely be working on Halo 3 as we speak so they don't upset everyone with constant delays. Of course that is me hoping.

[Cataferal]

Wideload? I didnt know that. Well at the very least, i knew that the writers and composers of Halo had gone to work on that project. The fact it uses the Halo engine certainly makes it all the more appealing.

I remember Bungie claiming that their next game wouldnt be Halo 3, and that they'd want to work on another project for now. This could well be Bungie's way of keeping peoples attention (and not to mention money) on Halo 2, otherwise some people may consider holding out until a superior installment.

However, i dont think they would follow Halo 2 up so soon; they're going to want to milk it dry with expansions before they invest in the development of a new game. Also, i imagine Bungie are sick to death of fans complaining and bugging them all the time (not that its ended yet by any means - i hope Frankie gets paid well).

Then again, Microsoft know that if they want the Xbox 360 to be a success, a Halo game must appear pretty soon after its release this year. I know Microsoft have announced their intentions to bring a new Halo game to the console, but its just a matter of timing it in with the life cycle of the current title in the series.

In conclusion, I'd guess Microsoft will try milk Halo 2 for all its worth, and then by christmas this year they will announce a follow-up for Xbox 360. At least, thats what i'd do if i wanted to make the most money from the situation, and since Microsoft is notoriously devious within the realms of marketing, i dont think my assumption is far off.

<font color="#345E81" size="1">[ April 20, 2005 09:47 PM: Message edited by: Cataferal ]</font>