"Other Games" are not Halo.
"Other Games" are not AAA platform exclusives.
"Other Games" are not supposed to be showcasing a platform in the absolute best possible light to showcase hardware potential.

Thus I can and will hold my expectations for Halo higher than other titles, they initiated the hype, they deserve the criticism when they fall short.

If anything, post-launch content is meh, if the features aren't there on launch then it needs to be critiqued and judged accordingly, either way... If the Xbox Series X isn't going to push the graphics side of the equation, then there is less of a reason to buy one, better off with a Playstation 5 instead if you want the next-gen experience.

Remember Halo 5 released without forge, split screen, co-op, theater and only a few maps, by the time some of that was added into the game... A chunk of the community had already forgotten about the game and moved on, the games review scores were also lower as a result... And deservedly so.

It will be interesting to see if the platforms success takes a hit... Either way, if they aren't interested in demonstrating the console appropriately, maybe not launch the console at all until they feel the inkling to do so?

A single game can make or break a console.

Gears 5 is old news already, don't really care for it being "Series X enhanced". - It's a cool feature, but not the reason I would like to buy a next-gen console if I can already play it on my Xbox One X.

Yes. I get the 2019 trailer is not the 2018 trailer, that much is obvious from just the dating alone.

One trailer was a technology demonstration just like the Unreal 5 engine demo on the Playstation 5, the other was a game trailer.
Both have very similar technical underpinnings being based on the same engine, I have already elaborated on some of the impressive technical demonstrations like the dynamic lighting of the volumetrics and so forth.

Damn that's a good looking trailer and the ''gameplay'' of that vehicle driving through the field does look different than what was shown some days ago.

Entire post: Exactly! The game just needs to have a satisfying gameplay. Nice graphics would be welcomed but they should never be the one and only thing that matters.

Bolded: Right? One the one hand a lot of people say they are happy with the current level of graphics, we even had a thread for this exact topic just recently. On the other hand this very thread (read: a lot of the comments in it) suggest that excellent graphics are necessary for a game to be successful, no matter how good the gameplay feels. There appears to be some sort of disconnect.

I would love to know how much the general audience is aligned in regards to the connection between graphical fidelity and perceived value. In real life I know some people who truly believe that games with bad graphics cannot be good, my own brother being one of them. Of course that's just anecdotal and in no way represantitve, but I am very sure that this mindset applies to a very large number of gamers. I think many gamers want to feel wowed and blown away. I would like to call this the 'surface level enjoyment'. When it looks good, it must be good. When something else looks better, then that must be better. Simple logic. This helps to keep our minds in order and organised. So I believe that these graphics we see here in Halo Infinite, which in comparison look not like people would expect them to be, may leave a bad first impression in many minds and some may believe that this is a sub-par product.

On the contrary, I think The Order 1886 is such a game that excells on the surface level and blew some people away. But when we dig deeper and find out that the gameplay is weak and boring, even the shiniest graphics won't help anymore. That's the 'core level enjoyment' to me. A game needs to be thrilling and exciting, it must feel good to play it. Graphics are nothing but a vehicle to this, instead the core mechanics and level designs are the main driver. As gamers we can only find this however if we look past the surface level. Gamers should be more sophisticated and seek the core level enjoyment rather than shiny graphics. If I look at the trailer here, the core gameplay looks absolutely fine to me. I have never played a Halo game but this actually sparks my interest.

Having said all that, good graphics and good gameplay do not necessarily need to be a trade-off. Yet, I am sure we can all agree that out of the tens of thousands of games that exist only a very tiny selection achieves both. That's the Metroid Prime level of enjoyment. In fact, many many many many examples exist that indeed suggest it's a trade-off, especially in these modern times when developers won't take risks and won't stray away from tried and true formulae. We see so many nice looking games that drop so many jaws but after a while we hear how hollow and dull they actually are. I think developers feel the need to push for graphics rather than gameplay because the customer demands it. It is us gamers who constantly fall for pretty graphics because we think in simple patterns. Good graphics means good game. But unfortunately this will never stop, I guess. That's just how we the customers try to avoid the risk of spending money on a product that won't live up to our own expectations. I would love to the see the day when this trend changes.

Many other games are cross gen, so is Halo Infinite.  Halo Infinite isn't a Series X exclusive. Halo isn't going to really showcase what Series X is really capable of. I think criticism is fine, but its kinda like people are pretending they have great expectations when the writing was already on the wall. Either way, hope it's good.

PS5 might feel next gen sooner. That wouldn't surprise me unless multiplats really impress early.

Halo Infinite will certainly be affected negatively for being slim in content at launch. But we now see users may come post updates in this era.

Xbox is not dependent on a single game or IP. They don't even care to give it true exclusives and every MS game is on PC. I don't know if this is a great strategy but I like it.

A Series S console could also help them thrive. Same 9th gen games on cheaper hardware could do well.

Next gen consoles aren't launching with a ton of notable content. So I guarantee last gen enhanced games will be getting attention as well. Cyberpunk is launching on 8th gen only I believe, but I imagine its still best on 9th gen.

We haven't had a cross-generation Halo game release before. - But that's just an excuse, game engines and effects are scalable, Battlefield 3 used an engine that did just that where it scaled from 24 players on Xbox 360 in multiplayer to 64 players on PC.

Levels sizes, effects and more were all reduced.. In that instance the PC was the lead platform and it looked and played like an early 8th gen title, but scaled downwards to 7th gen devices.

I do have to disagree that Halo wasn't a technical showpiece, it most certainly was, the Pixel Shader 2.0 effects on PC in combination with the Parrallax mapping was impressive stuff back in the day, plus the open environments with vehicles was new and novel.

On Xbox, obviously the console didn't have hardware support for Pixel Shader 2.0 effects, but it did have support for 1.0 - 1.4 shader effects and it leveraged them extensively for material assets like metal surfaces, it looked great... And that game was doing things that just wasn't possible or being showcased on Gamecube or Playstation 2, it was leading the industry.

Halo: Combat Evolved was also a title that was frequently used in benchmarking on the PC due to how intensive and impressive it's technicals were back in the day.
For example: https://www.anandtech.com/show/1174/18

I agree, art design is extremely important, but great art design does NOT need to come at the cost of "graphical bells and whistles". - You can actually have both, many games do have both.

A game with good Art direction though can punch above it's technical underpinnings, case in point: Breath of the Wild... But that is more out of need on Nintendo's behalf due to their low-end hardware choices for their devices. It is what it is.

Infinites Art isn't the issue in this instance though, the assets are actually of good quality for the most part, it's the lighting and some of the material shader work that is letting it down... Plus missing some alpha effects that we have grown accustomed to on various assets from the Halo franchise in order to conserve bandwidth.

So whilst yes, it looks like a good game, it's overall presentation still leaves more to be desired... It's constructive criticism and 343i seems to be taking note and making moves to improve and rectify that... Basically we are going to get a better game due to constructive criticism.
Case in point: https://www.vgchartz.com/article/444668/halo-infinite-dev-your-voice-matters-and-is-heard-following-criticism/

The issue I have is people taking an "apologetic" perspective on this and giving it a free pass for whatever reason, that doesn't result in a net benefit for the consumer, if we hold developers to a higher standard and demand higher quality products, then us consumers end up winning in the long run and the developer keeps evolving and improving as a result.

Those other games aren't Halo.
And I never said that Halo was a Series X exclusive either... It's a Platform exclusive. I.E. Microsoft Platforms.
But in saying that, it really should be Series X exclusive.

Cyberpunk 2077 is launching on Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X in 2021.

If a game launches without a ton of notable content, then they deserve criticism, just like Halo Infinite, not point defending THAT practice as that comes at the detriment of the consumer.

I'm curious on how at the same time can be said the beta was cancelled because of the burden of covid and also that the game will be majorly improved by the time of release in a few months.

Also no point in complaing of expectations and that is obviously a current gen game, Phil Spencer were adamant that Xbox One isn't holding it back, 343 said the game was built ground up to take advantage of Series X, etc. And people have swore they were right, and now they are changing the stance on it?

Look at all these fake enthusiasm live reaction videos... people expected great graphics so they performed their canned reactions. There is and endless glut of these.

The videogame equivalent of those kids in the funny youtube videos, being all excited about potatos for christmas.

Reaction videos are watched by sad people.

Why?

You can learn to see things from a different perspective in seeing people react and give their opinion,and we see eachother react on many things on this forum too.