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[rofif]

Ok finished it.
Of course I have no idea what is going on... and I played all Halo games except Guardians.
Took me 9 hours and I even did some fob stuff etc. Not too much though because there is absolutely no point to it.
Same with gear. You just use and upgrade grappling hook which is great and kinda destroys the game. I never found any other stuff even remotely useful or needed.
It felt like a mini halo game somehow. You do very little in this. You go here, there, walk this corridors and the game is over...
The structure of this game is baffling. You have small, very weird open world segments that are just a bunch of corridors if you are on the ground... then without a warning you go back to "the halo 1 library" basically for hours. And there are no skill points there that I could find.

Anyway. I liked the halo gunplay and combat puzzle as usual with halo. I enjoyed vehicles handling (but not low tank hp wtf) and sound. Plenty of spongy enemies too.
The graphics were awful for how badly it runs. Open world sections are bunch of bad looking floating islands... It looks unfinished with hexagon pillars from further away which change to just solid flat walls due to LOD calling.
But it's so confusing because the terrain and object viewing distance is HUGE. You can see a small items and crate far away but not enemies.
The characters looked excellent. The new ai lady is super cute and the pilot guy was fun. Their faces animate at 30fps though or something ?

And the game ran terribly. I play 4k on 3700x/3080. Mostly around 45-50 outside and 70 inside. When You fly on 3rd open world section, it can drop to 35...
All the time, no matter what fps you get, the game feels janky, stuttery and badly framepaced. Even in cutscenes. It is never properly smooth. And that's with gsync.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with the game but I don't think it was really that good. It was maybe a 7... or 6 due to technical problems. What are the reviewers smoking.
Felt very small and inconsequential. Do this, destroy that, walk this same looking corridors. BAM. game over.
It lasted 9 hours but it feels like almost nothing happened. Maybe I am too harsh but ... that's it ? all these years of most expensive development ?

edit: I almost forgot. The villain does… not exist. The intro sets something up and villain later is just another angry monke. You get to understand why he is angry but still…. It’s bad

 

[JordoftheDead]

Just finished my Heroic play through on 81% completion at just over 20 hours (did a lot of exploring prior to heading into the last few story levels).

Really enjoyed it and very keen for more campaign content. So good for a Halo game to feel like an actual legacy Halo game again, and I hope that future campaign content brings back classic covenant factions and doesn’t just become the much hinted new enemy faction dominating proceedings.

I must say I didn’t love all the boss fights, the original trilogy had huge difficult encounters which I think is a more elegant sandbox style befitting Halo than 343s obsession with boss encounters but all in all I enjoyed that more than I have enjoyed a Halo title since Halo CE, Halo 3 and Reach and think it deserves to sit along side them.

If it had the environmental and set piece diversity of those games it would be truly great.

 

[Lognor]

I'm only a few hours into but loving it. I hate to admit it but I had to drop the difficulty from legendary for one of the bosses. This mother fucker was surrounded by at least 8 other enemies and I couldn't draw any of them out. So I dropped it to heroic, beat that bastard and then bumped it back up to legendary. I haven't found the game too difficult on legendary otherwise.

 

[BouncyFrag]

I just found out quick resume still works even if you do a full console shutdown and plug it into a different plug.

 

[SEGA_2012]

What weapons are you guys using ? I am using Pulse Carbine and Energy Sword.

 

[adamsapple]

What weapons are you guys using ? I am using Pulse Carbine and Energy Sword.

The Mangler is amazing from start to end.

I just found out quick resume still works even if you do a full console shutdown and plug it into a different plug.

Yep, you can turn your Xbox off, unplug and not use it for a few days and stil works. It´s like Hibernate on Windows machines, writes the data to disk.

 

[BacklashWave534]

Yeah, some spots felt like a horde mode. 343's way of upping difficulty. They did the same in Halo 4.

I really felt that the end missed the mark by going that route and not reintroducing the flood. They make reference that they are locked in the containment facility on the ring. The flood add a sense of urgency to the end game that hasn’t existed in a while. Hopefully they will in a future expansion.

 

[SEGA_2012]

Oh my God the soundtrack in this game is amazing
The song playing in "Forge of Teash" is so good

 

[Gordon Freeman]

I understand the game has one “biome” but the variety and beauty makes every area feel fresh.

From burnt out scarred battlefields…

To mined areas with industrial themes…

Outdoor forerunner technology and the ever beautiful colour changing sky…

Swamp and water filled areas…

Along with beautiful forerunner ruins…

I will be posting even more images soon showing there is plenty of variety to the world and just because there isn’t snow doesn’t mean it’s all the same.

My first run through the game I got 99% completion (missing one Skull I am grabbing on my second run) with just under 26 hours on the clock. On my second run I am playing with no HUD only using the light pillar to explore the open world with infinite ammo and cooldowns. The grappleshot with no cooldown is a revelation.

No HUD, light pillar only…

 

[BouncyFrag]

Oh my God the soundtrack in this game is amazing
The song playing in "Forge of Teash" is so good

Between the soundtrack and the enemy/marines banter it feels like the original games and it’s still fresh. I couldn’t be happier after impulse buying a Series S.

 

[Punished Miku]

What weapons are you guys using ? I am using Pulse Carbine and Energy Sword.

BR75 all day. Other weapon just rotates constantly with random pick ups.

 

[rapid32.5]

Holy crap, there is an area in a side mission where you need a Banshee to cross the chasm, I think. There is no way to cross or reach it otherwise.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

As promised here are even more screenshots showing the diversity of the environment. All taken from the open world, none from missions.

 

[DragoonKain]

Finished it. It was probably my 3rd favorite Halo. I still have CE and 2 above it. I liked the open world a lot, but the lack of diversity in environments did bore me after a while. Also I felt like there was no need to ever change weapon types because of the weapon loadouts and freedoms you have, so I basically stuck with my favorites for most of the game. Once I got to the main more linear story missions where you can be forced at times to swap weapons out, I actually liked that. I like when your back is against the wall and you need to use some gun you're less familiar with. It adds tension.

Hopefully in the next one they expand on this and add far more diverse environments. I think 343 set a template for future Halo games after I felt the series had been getting stale. And it feels like they actually really cared about the single player campaign. Which has always been my favorite part about Halo. As much as I've loved the multiplayer.

 

[GymWolf]

Ok i can't be the only one who spam the grapple hook explosion attack all the time and never use the other gadgets at all...

After upgrading hook and armour to the max i have no interest in upgrading the rest of the gadget lol.

 

[DeaDPo0L84]

I just finished the mission

Spoiler

involving the mining drill

. I am enjoying myself for sure but the game feels disjointed, like a mixture of ideas competing against each other. So far the main missions feel like they're just glued on top of this open world layout and then once you're done the game spits you back out into the open world, it doesn't feel like it's all one big cohesive world, I don't know it's odd. But again the game play is great, grappling hook is a ton of fun, I kinda have to force myself to use the other abilities cause the grappling hook is so good once maxed out. Definitely going to beat it cause from what I've heard it's not that long but I don't quite see it leaving a long lasting impression on me personally.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Ok i can't be the only one who spam the grapple hook explosion attack all the time and never use the other gadgets at all...

After upgrading hook and armour to the max i have no interest in upgrading the rest of the gadget lol.

Play on higher difficulty. On legendary every piece of equipment becomes extremely useful.

 

[GymWolf]

Play on higher difficulty. On legendary every piece of equipment becomes extremely useful.

I'm already playing on heroic, i usually save legendary for the coop.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

I'm already playing on heroic, i usually save legendary for the coop.

I think legendary in Infinite is less difficult than in original trilogy. I hope they will bump up difficulty for co-op even more.

 

[mansoor1980]

bonnie ross redeemed

great game and i wonder what people at bungie think of it

 

[BigLee74]

Play on higher difficulty. On legendary every piece of equipment becomes extremely useful.

The only equipment I don’t feel the need to use is thruster. Drop wall on the other hand is extremely useful to thin the herd.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

bonnie ross redeemed

great game and i wonder what people at bungie think of it

She most likely had nothing to do with the success of this game. We should thank the man, the legend, Joseph Staten:

 

[oldergamer]

She most likely had nothing to do with the success of this game. We should thank the man, the legend, Joseph Staten:

Again where do some of you get off with bullshit posts like this?

You have no fucking clue on her involvement, yet before it launched people like you called for her to be fired. Now the game is a success you dont give her any credit and want to throw it a joe staten? Thats total bullshit.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Again where do some of you get off with bullshit posts like this?

You have no fucking clue on her involvement, yet before it launched people like you called for her to be fired. Now the game is a success you dont give her any credit and want to throw it a joe staten? Thats total bullshit.

She called him to ask for help fixing the mess that was Halo Infinite a year ago. Also, what's with the profanity? Watch your mouth. Relax.

 

[rofif]

Ok i can't be the only one who spam the grapple hook explosion attack all the time and never use the other gadgets at all...

After upgrading hook and armour to the max i have no interest in upgrading the rest of the gadget lol.

Yep. I never used other gadgets. Just grappling hook. It straight up broke the game.
you just just cause everywhere. Even on flat terrain to go faster. And the grapple punch is op af

 

[Mars2003]

I'm about 80% complete on my fist play-through on Heroic. Think I'm at around 25hrs but I've done every FOB and every HVT. Not using thruster but the fully maxed out drop-wall is proving great as it embues every projectile with shock damage. The Hunters in this game are way more difficult than they were in the old games. Upgrading to XSX (from One X) at christmas (present to my boys and me!!), so going to enjoy it all over again.

 

[adamsapple]

As promised here are even more screenshots showing the diversity of the environment. All taken from the open world, none from missions.

It really is an aesthetically pleasing game to look at.

 

[tpieman2029]

I'm about 80% complete on my fist play-through on Heroic. Think I'm at around 25hrs but I've done every FOB and every HVT. Not using thruster but the fully maxed out drop-wall is proving great as it embues every projectile with shock damage. The Hunters in this game are way more difficult than they were in the old games. Upgrading to XSX (from One X) at christmas (present to my boys and me!!), so going to enjoy it all over again.

Those two things are linked lol. The only time I used the thrusters was with the hunters. The double thrust upgrade is Hella useful for getting behind them and shooting them in the back.

 

[Jaybe]

Finished the campaign last night. I enjoyed my time with it. The highlight was Fun gameplay. Movement, shooting, grappling hook all felt great. I liked the weapon as a cheeky character. Grunt lines were great.

My time with the open world was fine. don’t think I’ll bother with cleaning up the FOBs and collectibles.

The linear Levels got rather repetitive especially the one where most enemies were the flying sentinel machines. Other characters were far too uninteresting especially the villains and pilot.

 

[Bernkastel]

he most likely had nothing to do with the success of this game.

If you listened to the IGN interview, she asked him to join the publishing division in 2014 and in 2020 to lead Halo Infinite's development. He would not have rejoined Microsoft without her.


At 36:16

 

[Gordon Freeman]

It really is an aesthetically pleasing game to look at.

It really hits that “Zen” gameplay with the beautiful visuals and art direction, amazing sound design, soothing music and totally open ended exploration (climb anything with the grappleshot).

It’s the most fun I’ve had with this type of open world game since BOTW.

 

[Bar81]

If you listened to the IGN interview, she asked him to join the publishing division in 2014 and in 2020 to lead Halo Infinite's development. He would not have rejoined Microsoft without her.


At 36:16

So I guess congrats for realizing your incompetence and hiring someone to make the game good?

 

[JLB]

Finished the campaign last night. Gameplay wise this is the best Halo. No doubt. Combat is really fun.

The story was ok. Nothing special. I really dislike this trope of killing a beloved character just to bring it back later and the status quo remains the same.

Graphics were ok. There isn't a large variety of environments. It's either the same open world tile or the alien structure one.
Like SkillUp said, it's "Silent Cartographer The Game".

The final stretch is killbox after killbox. It felt rushed. I was wondering when I was going back to the open world but the game kept throwing rooms full of enemies at me. It's a good thing the combat is fun as hell.

I think it's a very good game. And 343 is in the right path.
But for the sequel I'd like to see more variety. More setpieces. And I think multiple huge mission areas in sequence is better than one far cry style open world.

100%. Hopefully 343 releases multiple dlcs with additional areas. Just imagine an underwater area (like the one shown during slipspace demo) fighting the flood.

 

[ManaByte]

So I guess congrats for realizing your incompetence and hiring someone to make the game good?

Since when do studio heads lead development? I don't think many people really understand the hierarchy of AAA studios when screaming for THE EVIL WOMAN to be fired.

Cory Balrog is responsible for God of War 2008, and I don't think anyone who played that game could even name who was the studio head of Sony Santa Monica during its development.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

If you listened to the IGN interview, she asked him to join the publishing division in 2014 and in 2020 to lead Halo Infinite's development. He would not have rejoined Microsoft without her.


At 36:16

If you'd read the entire thread you'd know that I mentioned that in my next post. That's probably her biggest achievement related to anything Halo.

 

[Bernkastel]

So I guess congrats for realizing your incompetence and hiring someone to make the game good?

Thats literally her job as the studio head. Why do people think directing a game is synonymous with studio management? The fact that they have an executive who has worked with Microsoft and the gaming division since 1994 as studio head means that they have more freedom on taking bigger risks.

 

[Havoc2049]

As a Halo fan, I think Bonnie Ross should have been shyt canned after the disastrous Halo MCC launch. Ultimately she is the one in charge and Halo has been one shyt show after another. MS has been propping her up in the press and promoting her as some great executive in the game division, so she is almost unfirable, as it would be a PR problem. The forgiving fans have been the ones carrying Halo ever since 343 took over and keeping hope alive the game would return to the glory days.

 

[Kev Kev]

Just finished the campaign and it was fucking awesome!!!

I managed to find all the collectibles except for 4 or 5 skulls, which I’m about to go back and start searching for once the credits finish rolling. I’m having a blast searching for those without looking anything up, some of them are super hard to find. Gonna take me a while to pick those last few up, but I’m gonna give it my best shot!

Man what an action packed last few levels! I got a little frustrated bc of the lack of guns and ammo towards the end, and also how the game just seemed to throw everything at you at once, but I made it through and had a lot of fun in the process.

Pretty much everything in this game exceeded my expectations, including the story. I love where they have the Halo universe at after the events of this game. Chief still has plenty left to fight for, he’s obviously still capable, we have new Cortana and we are making friends with human allies, all the different races and factions have options for what direction they can go, we have a new race introduced that may provide a reason for solidarity amongst all the other races, there is so much they can do from here!

This game is fucking solid. I haven’t had this much fun since I played FFXII earlier this year, and I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun with a Halo campaign. This just might be my favorite ever.

There is so much I want to say about it, mostly positive and very, very little negative (hey it’s not perfect), but I don’t care to sit here and type my life away. So I’ll just say the game is incredible and I can’t wait to run through the campaign again and play around in MP some more.

Forge can’t get here soon enough! There is so much I want to build in this game.

 

[WorldHero]

Just finished it last night. Great game, it definitely felt unfinished/rushed in parts but it was a quality/polished experience. The audio was top notch, the graphics were good even though I'd like them to be further upgraded for the XSX. The boss battles were very creative. My main qualms with the game being the lack of biomes and lack of blood splatter.

 

[ManaByte]

MS has been propping her up in the press and promoting her as some great executive in the game division, so she is almost unfirable, as it would be a PR problem.

She's a 25 year MS veteran who worked through the shit times of the gaming division when they were producing forgettable crap in the mid-90s. This isn't a Jade Raymond situation where she got propped up for her looks by UbiSoft while stealing credit for Assassin's Creed.

 

[oldergamer]

I understand the game has one “biome” but the variety and beauty makes every area feel fresh.

From burnt out scarred battlefields…

To mined areas with industrial themes…

Outdoor forerunner technology and the ever beautiful colour changing sky…

Swamp and water filled areas…

Along with beautiful forerunner ruins…

I will be posting even more images soon showing there is plenty of variety to the world and just because there isn’t snow doesn’t mean it’s all the same.

My first run through the game I got 99% completion (missing one Skull I am grabbing on my second run) with just under 26 hours on the clock. On my second run I am playing with no HUD only using the light pillar to explore the open world with infinite ammo and cooldowns. The grappleshot with no cooldown is a revelation.

No HUD, light pillar only…

Yeah you know what I think they do have enough variation in there. People are seeing lots of rocks and thinking its one environment, however the grappling line would be pretty useless %70 of the time, without having large height variations.

The game has some obvious graphical quirks, but its nothing i don't think they can't eventually fix or improve. Still looks good and allows you to see extreme distances with a high framerate.

 

[Kev Kev]

God mother fucking damnit… you can’t go back to mission 1 and 2 to get the skulls. Wtf!?

I spent all that time collecting everything and I can’t go back and get 2 of the 4 skulls I have left, and I literally have everything else. Lol fuuuuuuuck!

Guess I’ll have to wait till they patch in replaying missions, which I’m reading they are planning to do. That’ll give me and excuse to replay the game when it comes out tho, so that’s cool I guess. I’ll just hop onto MP for now.

 

[RAIDEN1]

I was getting my ass handed to me (on normal) by the mini boss who has his camp near the top left corner of the map, the one that the cortana wannabe says to you that you shouldn't turn your back on....you got a sniper on the cliff-top, this mini-boss firing barrages of airborne projectiles at you etc...and you are trying to get in close, pumping him full of all the ammo you got in your current weapon then finding out you run out of ammo, quickly running around trying to find a new weapon all the while your shields are taking a battering! The NPCs don't follow you all the way once you have liberated them..and it would have been handy to have them there.

Also does anyone know if there is a simpler way in controlling the warthog and its related vehicles? I can't work out if the right stick is used to turn the front wheel, or is that for the rear wheels?

Outside of that though all great so far... !

 

[oldergamer]

So I guess congrats for realizing your incompetence and hiring someone to make the game good?

That's an extremely stupid take. What "incompetence" are you talking about if she hired him in 2014? It sounds purely like you think she is incompetent for being a woman. Is that what you are saying?

Staten only moved over from working on multiplayer to single player after the development director was pushed out. He clearly missed the mark in thinking the game would be ready last year, and wasn't taking the measures necessary to fix the problems they were having internally. The development issues were preventing the game from coming together as quickly as it needed, however I'm sure there were decisions on what to cut and "when", that came down to Staten making a call on. Note, they had the full game playable months before the original release date and the past year was used for polish.

 

[oldergamer]

I was getting my ass handed to me (on normal) by the mini boss who has his camp near the top left corner of the map, the one that the cortana wannabe says to you that you shouldn't turn your back on....you got a sniper on the cliff-top, this mini-boss firing barrages of airborne projectiles at you etc...and you are trying to get in close, pumping him full of all the ammo you got in your current weapon then finding out you run out of ammo, quickly running around trying to find a new weapon all the while your shields are taking a battering! The NPCs don't follow you all the way once you have liberated them..and it would have been handy to have them there.

Also does anyone know if there is a simpler ways in controlling the warthog and its related vehicles? I can't work out if the right stick is used to turn the front wheel, or is that for the rear wheels?

Outside of that though all great so far... !

I think I know which encounter you are talking about. I agree on the NPC's I would like them to follow more, or be able to find ways to upgrade them to at least being capable of using grappling lines to follow you. warthog will drive in the direction you point the camera, you just need to let it catch up.


Here are things I would like to see.

- I really want to go into battle with a max of 8 to 16 NPC's following the chief.
- Higher ranked NPC's follow you into buildings or dungeons and try to help where lower ranked wait outside
- trees should catch on fire in fire fights and occasionally fall over when fully damaged ( currently indestructible )
- tropical environments ( still keeping the height variations with rock structures)
- couch/online co-op would be really fun ( i know it's coming and saw the way you can make it kinda work now )
- Herds of grazing animals that can be scared into causing interference or distract the enemies.
- more caves and places to explore/find. I actually loved looking for hidden stuff, but think there might not be enough.
- places that can only be opened with certain weapons, like cave passages blocked with stones you need to use a high yield explosive on
- More weapons you can only find in hidden places. I really like the weapons you get when taking out important targets.

 

[RAIDEN1]

I think I know which encounter you are talking about. I agree on the NPC's I would like them to follow more, or be able to find ways to upgrade them to at least being capable of using grappling lines to follow you. warthog will drive in the direction you point the camera, you just need to let it catch up.


Here are things I would like to see.

- I really want to go into battle with a max of 8 to 16 NPC's following the chief.
- Higher ranked NPC's follow you into buildings or dungeons and try to help where lower ranked wait outside
- trees should catch on fire in fire fights and occasionally fall over when fully damaged ( currently indestructible )
- tropical environments ( still keeping the height variations with rock structures)
- couch/online co-op would be really fun ( i know it's coming and saw the way you can make it kinda work now )
- Herds of grazing animals that can be scared into causing interference or distract the enemies.
- more caves and places to explore/find. I actually loved looking for hidden stuff, but think there might not be enough.
- places that can only be opened with certain weapons, like cave passages blocked with stones you need to use a high yield explosive on
- More weapons you can only find in hidden places. I really like the weapons you get when taking out important targets.

That would be awesome you take down a tree and it knocks out a brute or such like, unsuspecting to him, timmmberrr!

 

[MidGenRefresh]

God mother fucking damnit… you can’t go back to mission 1 and 2 to get the skulls. Wtf!?

I spent all that time collecting everything and I can’t go back and get 2 of the 4 skulls I have left, and I literally have everything else. Lol fuuuuuuuck!

Guess I’ll have to wait till they patch in replaying missions, which I’m reading they are planning to do. That’ll give me and excuse to replay the game when it comes out tho, so that’s cool I guess. I’ll just hop onto MP for now.

Skulls collected are cross save. Just start a new game on easy and complete the first 2 missions. 10-15 minutes and you’re done.

 

[Kev Kev]

Skulls collected are cross save. Just start a new game on easy and complete the first 2 missions. 10-15 minutes and you’re done.

oh for real!? nice! thanks for the heads up

 

[93xfan]

Almost halfway through and loving the campaign so far. Took some time to warm up to, but it’s truly a great campaign so far

 

[M1chl]

Switching gadgets, that ui is some galaxy brain shit. Who the fuck greenlight it