Games

I loved 1 & 2, then I kind of lost track of the series for a bit, but I heard everything through Halo 4 was pretty decent. But honestly, I don't see any reason for the story to continue. Basically:

• Halo: CE - introduction to the Covenant and the Flood
• Halo 2 - learn about inner workings of the Covenant and history of the Flood
• Halo 3 - Covenant brings the fight to Earth
• Halo: Reach - prequel to Halo CE - adds backstory about human intersteller colonization
• Halo 4 - looks like a kind of side story continuation of Halo 3, with new enemies
• Halo 5 - Cortana turns evil?

I haven't played anything past 2, so maybe it hits different in the games, but the series really looks like it loses its purpose around Halo: Reach and Halo 4 and becomes a cash grab. They really should have wrapped things up around there, at least as far as Master Chief is concerned, and build a new series in the same universe (or a completely new universe).

And that's also why I don't bother with Assassin's Creed games anymore, they've long since lost the plot, and doing the same thing but in a different setting just isn't interesting enough for me.

The fight's never finished.

Does this website have... articles? All I ever get is a headline and a comment section.

I presume it's an anti-adblock thing, but if so, fuck 'em.

I would have cared but they kept not resolving stories in the games or even side games. So I checked out.

Gift link: https://aftermath.site/halo-studios-project-foundry-microsoft-343-industries-bungie?giftLink=f96c1f975fd08c951d870e9d1da32491

I am still somewhat hopeful because 343 Industries did make a couple of good things along the way.

I really have not much to complain about Halo 4 besides unpleasant sound design and story slowly starting to be stretched between games, novels, comics, etc. Media around the game should be complimentary, not mandatory to getting the full picture in my opinion.

Saw an opinion on Halo 5 that I totally agree with — best multiplayer, poor campaign. Even though the REQ Packs are lootboxes, I never felt forced into buying them and could earn Gold ones without much trouble.

Halo Infinite felt like a Halo themed playground. Grappling hook and open world are fun as hell, and I really enjoyed collecting audio logs for the first time since Halo 3: ODST. Loved the post-rock sounding soundtrack wich still has familiar tunes. But in all other directions it's a bit of a letdown, even after they mostly fixed everything after a disastrous launch.

I really want to believe that the situation here can be better than simple "they want to sell everything until it's not profitable". The universe is massive, there are loads of stories to tell, worlds to explore, guns to shoot, vehicles to ride even without further expansion of the universe. Everything is there, just do something good with it.

If the film industry won’t learn that lesson, then the gaming industry certainly won’t.

IP rot will continue until it’s no longer profitable.

Stop pre ordering games and watching every milked franchise sequel.

Just make a good one. 343/halo studios just seems to hate the original Halos. Fire all those people and bring in people that love the originals and you already have a way higher chance of getting something successful.

Or, just like make a good game. You can work on a game until it's good and then release it. Come up with some fun ideas, hire some good writers and graphic designers, spend some time making the controls and UI intuitive and responsive, and then balance gameplay through testing.

Oh, and get the music right. Halo: CE was like 90% about the music. When you hop in the back of the jeep, and the music is like "dun duh duh DUUN da dun duh duh DUUUN" and you start mowing down Grunts, or when you meet the Flood for the first time, those moments made Halo an experience worth sharing.

So many franchises need to be laid to rest.