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Ryuu96 said:
They didn't do Reach but I still agree with you. 343's biggest issues were seemingly being unable to put it all together in one package but they did show signs of greatness for each entry in one specific area. For example, Imo, Halo 4 had a great story but the multiplayer was meh. Halo 5 had a meh story but the multiplayer was great, however it was lacking content with missing Forge on launch and a lack of unique maps. Halo Infinite actually came the closest for me to them putting it all together, a great story, a great multiplayer, the art-style and Chief model is among the best in the series, I'd also say the best Chief in the series, the core gameplay is Halo at its best. Unfortunately they fucked up on content again, a lack of biomes for the campaign, no Forge on launch and they utterly fucked the post-launch support of multiplayer. When Forge finally arrived, it's by far the best Forge mode ever, the multiplayer at its core is awesome due to the gameplay but it's a multiplayer title and they shit the bed on the post launch support and that's where the vast majority of criticism came from, if they didn't fuck that up then we'd be looking back at 343i differently, they may not have been going through this huge revamp even. Unfortunate it is too little too late for Infinite to recover but at least they still support it. Halo Infinite's core gameplay is the best in the series. I really hope they don't change that for the sequel, I also hope they don't change the art-style for the sequel or soft-reboot the story once again, Lol. They need to fix their content pipeline (which Unreal Engine should help with). Also, I really hope they stick with Atriox, he is Imo one of the most interesting Halo villains, I loved him in Halo Wars 2 and Halo Infinite but they didn't have enough of him, his backstory is great and he is more complex of a character than the Prophet of Truth and more badass than Tartarus. He has a lot of potential as a villain. I also loved Didact (he's amazing in the books) but they shit the bed by not keeping him on as a villain and fleshing him out more, Didact should have been the villain in Halo 5 instead and it would have felt more like there was some sort of long-term story plan. |
I mostly agree with this, although I think 4 was weak from both a multiplayer and a single-player perspective. The multiplayer in 5 was a return to form but the campaign was the worst in the entire saga.
Infinite should have been the redemption song for 343. And in some ways it is. It finally returned to the open-ended, improvisational action that made Halo so fun to begin with. But, like you said, they fumbled the distribution of the game.
Anyway, I’m hopeful for the next chapter.
