Halo: Infinite (Dec. 8th, 2021) - Xbox Series X

[CANUCKS]

Is there anyway to just play team slayer, or rumble pit? So far it seems like its just a mixed bag option

 

[x Tame Impala]

Overshield and Camo need longer respawn times. It's too much of a focus during gameplay.

 

[Beau Knows]

- EXTREMELY disappointed that 343 didn't upgrade the MP playlists when the full game came out yesterday. That is complete rubbish and I just got stuck playing three effing boring stronghold matches in a row where nobody can finish it so I have to effing play entire match until time expires.

- Extremely disappointed that 343 didn't improve the problems that were in the Beta, I thought the Beta was actually improve the damn game yet I am suffering from a lot of the same problems that I had a week ago.

As far as I can tell nothing was changed from the beta, I'm not sure what the point of even calling it a beta was.

 

[Beau Knows]

Is there anyway to just play team slayer, or rumble pit? So far it seems like its just a mixed bag option

It's funny because I wanted to play some CTF tonight and got 4 slayer matches in a row.

 

[CokenoPepsi]

As for the story 343 really sort of had no direction.

They screwed up their one shot with the Promethans robots and just nowhere to go the Banished seem to be a slightly better direction yes they are just more Covenant... But we destroyed them in 3 fourteen years ago and that didn't stop them from coming back in 4 and 5 unfortunately.

I dunno what they could have done with the story besides hard reboot but no way they have the guts for that

 

[CANUCKS]

It's funny because I wanted to play some CTF tonight and got 4 slayer matches in a row.

Im always down for CTF too.

My gamer tag is dhahm1nator if anyone wants to play

 

[CANUCKS]

Btw loving the multiplayer play so far, i think its been great in the 3 matches I've played

 

[x Tame Impala]

343’s story from these games remind me of the new Star Wars trilogy. Bad writing decisions and lack of cohesion between sequels. Personally I’m going to pretend 4 & 5 didn’t happen and not look too far into Infinite’s story.

Some badass Brutes f***ed up the UNSC, the main bad guy almost killed Chief (that opening scene was cool as f*** btw), and now Chief is going to have his “Dark Knight Rises” moment and redeem himself in this open world game. My expectations from 343 were so low I’m just grateful for what little hope they’ve given me

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I’m just having a great time in the world and playing. Story doesn’t matter as much to me in FPS games.

 

[Blitzkrug]

I like how they hype up this high value target grunt like he's committer of atrocities and war crimes and yet he dies with a single shot to the head like the rest lmao.

 

[chicagoskycam]

There are a ton of great skins available in the campaign but you have to find them throughout the different sections. Spartan Skins, Weapon Skins, and Vehicle Skins for use in multiplayer. Many of them are better than anything they are offering in the store or on the BP. I'll probably need a good Youtube for some of these.

Halo Infinite multiplayer skins locations

 

[Hammettf2b]

Anyone else not getting the correct amount of deposits on stockpile mode. Every time it shows the wrong amount of deposits I've done. Unless I'm not doing it properly?

 

[Primary Assist]

I like how they hype up this high value target grunt like he's committer of atrocities and war crimes and yet he dies with a single shot to the head like the rest lmao.

To be fair, that's how most war criminals/atrocity committers in real life died too

 

[Unholy]

I like how they hype up this high value target grunt like he's committer of atrocities and war crimes and yet he dies with a single shot to the head like the rest lmao.

Lol yeah did that one just before stopping last night. I remember clearing out enemies and I saw the life bar for a split second and pretty much got the insta-kill and was confused AF when he died then just started laughing

 

[Unholy]

There are a ton of great skins available in the campaign but you have to find them throughout the different sections. Spartan Skins, Weapon Skins, and Vehicle Skins for use in multiplayer. Many of them are better than anything they are offering in the store or on the BP. I'll probably need a good Youtube for some of these.

Halo Infinite multiplayer skins locations

Yeah a nice feeling whenever coming across one of those crates. I'm trying not to look up locations for stuff as I go through for the first time except for the skulls.

But before getting to the point of no return I will have to and make sure I get what's left before starting the last bit of the campaign.

 

[Blitzkrug]

I found one of those crates. Gave me an obelisk colored skin.

I seen there's a really nice blood red looking skin that I'd like to find. Looks way better than the crap in store

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I like how they hype up this high value target grunt like he's committer of atrocities and war crimes and yet he dies with a single shot to the head like the rest lmao.

They vary. These bastards that go invisible and are surrounded by more enemies are tougher. The little grunt guy on the first island was easy.

The skins are nice. I got the one at the tower, Midnight Griffin, and it’s pretty smooth looking. They’re all named after Spartans in the story.

 

[S E P H]

I haven't played the campaign, but if the issues of a lack of story are true then 343 needs to absolve any leadership that has been since the start of the company including O'Connor.

 

[S E P H]

I’m just having a great time in the world and playing. Story doesn’t matter as much to me in FPS games.

This is an excuse mate, Halo has always had one of the best storylines not only in FPS, but in all of gaming. It is unacceptable if the storyline is once again unclear and doesn't make sense.

 

[Unholy]

This is an excuse mate, Halo has always had one of the best storylines not only in FPS, but in all of gaming. It is unacceptable if the storyline is once again unclear and doesn't make sense.

I mean I would say it's been unacceptable since since 2012 and the thought of Halo having a great story hasn't been true since Bungie left.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

This is an excuse mate, Halo has always had one of the best storylines not only in FPS, but in all of gaming. It is unacceptable if the storyline is once again unclear and doesn't make sense.

It’s not an excuse. I just don’t care and never have. Certain games I do, but just not FPS games. I know it does for people with Halo but not for me.

 

[JaegerDice]

This is an excuse mate, Halo has always had one of the best storylines not only in FPS, but in all of gaming. It is unacceptable if the storyline is once again unclear and doesn't make sense.

This is a stretch.

Halo CE had a tightly paced, smart script with a nice balance of lore, stakes, mystery and surprises. It wasn't earth-shattering or brilliant or anything, but it was very good, particularly for the genre at the time.

Halo 2 started off strong, but was completely off the rails by the time the plant from Little Shop of Horrors showed up.

Halo 3 did a decent job of ending all the hanging threads from 2, but basically abandoned all the intelligence and mystery for straight-up Micheal Bay storytelling. Which was fine, cause the actual design of the campaign was excellent, so a simple 'stop the baddies from the firing the ring' story was more than enough.

The best Halo writing has actually been in the side stories. ODST and Reach are better, more nuanced, more gripping stories than any of the main games.

But Halo is still a looooong way from the best storytelling in video games.

 

[Blitzkrug]

After playing the campaign a bit more, it's grown on me. I guess it took a bit for the open world vibes to click for me but now I'm enjoying it. Turned down the difficulty down because it felt like the enemy was way too aggro/attentive so that probably helped.

The story is still dogass but good gameplay can at least make you forget about it.

I've never thought Halo to be some masterclass in storytelling but as someone said it worked so well because of its tight, well paced, cohesive narratives and having juuust enough mystery to keep the player guessing.



That and I also enjoyed, similarly to mass effect is the lore goes as deep as you want it to. You want to just play the 3 campaigns? Sure. Plenty of context there to explain the story enough. You want to read the associated comics, books and shit? You can do that too.

 

[JaegerDice]

After playing the campaign a bit more, it's grown on me. I guess it took a bit for the open world vibes to click for me but now I'm enjoying it. Turned down the difficulty down because it felt like the enemy was way too aggro/attentive so that probably helped.

The story is still dogass but good gameplay can at least make you forget about it.

I've never thought Halo to be some masterclass in storytelling but as someone said it worked so well because of its tight, well paced, cohesive narratives and having juuust enough mystery to keep the player guessing.



That and I also enjoyed, similarly to mass effect is the lore goes as deep as you want it to. You want to just play the 3 campaigns? Sure. Plenty of context there to explain the story enough. You want to read the associated comics, books and shit? You can do that too.

This sums up the biggest problem 343 has as far as storytelling compared to Bungie, IMO.

Bungie includes lore in their games. It does a lot to add short and long-term context to the the world they're bringing the player into. But they make sure everything the player NEEDS to know to get invested is in the game.

Lore and story are two different things. Lore is not a replacement for story.

In Halo 4, 90% of the 'story' was lore. It wasn't about what Master Chief (and by extension, the player) were doing NOW, it was endless exposition dumps about what happened before. Like 10% of that game rested on what you, as the Master Chief, actually controlled. The bulk was shit you had nothing to do with.

That's not interesting.

Halo 5 was a bit better. The storyline spent more time on what you, the player, we're doing. The problem was, the reason to CARE was all buried in lore found in side-stories. We, as both Locke and Master Chief, did interesting things in Halo 5... but it took a damn Halo theologist to understand why they mattered and why what was happening, was happening. Which is a deeply stupid way to tell a story.

I find a lot of people fixate on the enemies in Halo 4 and Halo 5, they say the reason those campaigns weren't enjoyable was the enemies. I disagree. At least by Halo 5, 343i actually did an admirable job in making the Promethean enemies engaging to fight, adding weak points and combinations of enemy abilities and weapons that brought new twists on classic gameplay loops. But they failed to make people give a shit in the same way.

The problem with Halo 5 wasn't the enemies. It was that you were forced into teams with characters that were never introduced to you, it was expected you'd just know who they are and why they mattered. Then they made a campaign that was probably the most poorly designed, mission and combat design-wise of any in the series. They funneled you down hallways and told you it was important, just because. And then they finally, mercifully, reached a point where even people that didn't give a shit about Halo lore were invested, because it was about two characters they cared about.... And then they ended the game, and never brought it up again (thus far) in Infinite.

It's honestly infuriating when you think about it.

 

[Blitzkrug]

This sums up the biggest problem 343 has as far as storytelling compared to Bungie, IMO.

Bungie includes lore in their games. It does a lot to add short and long-term context to the the world they're bringing the player into. But they make sure everything the player NEEDS to know to get invested is in the game.

Lore and story are two different things. Lore is not a replacement for story.

In Halo 4, 90% of the 'story' was lore. It wasn't about what Master Chief (and by extension, the player) were doing NOW, it was endless exposition dumps about what happened before. Like 10% of that game rested on what you, as the Master Chief, actually controlled. The bulk was shit you had nothing to do with.

That's not interesting.

Halo 5 was a bit better. The storyline spent more time on what you, the player, we're doing. The problem was, the reason to CARE was all buried in lore found in side-stories. We, as both Locke and Master Chief, did interesting things in Halo 5... but it took a damn Halo theologist to understand why they mattered and why what was happening, was happening. Which is a deeply stupid way to tell a story.

I find a lot of people fixate on the enemies in Halo 4 and Halo 5, they say the reason those campaigns weren't enjoyable was the enemies. I disagree. At least by Halo 5, 343i actually did an admirable job in making the Promethean enemies engaging to fight, adding weak points and combinations of enemy abilities and weapons that brought new twists on classic gameplay loops. But they failed to make people give a shit in the same way.

The problem with Halo 5 wasn't the enemies. It was that you were forced into teams with characters that were never introduced to you, it was expected you'd just know who they are and why they mattered. Then they made a campaign that was probably the most poorly designed, mission and combat design-wise of any in the series. They funneled you down hallways and told you it was important, just because. And then they finally, mercifully, reached a point where even people that didn't give a shit about Halo lore were invested, because it was about two characters they cared about.... And then they ended the game, and never brought it up again (thus far) in Infinite.

It's honestly infuriating when you think about it.

Yeah those points pretty much hit the nail on the head.

To circle back to Halo 4, your point is no better illustrated by the 5 minute exposition dump the game hits you with to explain a bunch of super important shit (who the didact is, the librarian, the origin of the promethians, the composer, etc) that would have been much more interesting if it was spread out more in the story.

Instead, you get it all in what is essentially an information blitzkrieg which leaves the player disoriented and confused not to mention potentially disinterested since as you said, this is shit chief really had no role in until it's explained.

Like others have said, 4's story makes perfect sense if that cutscene was cut up and spread out amongst the rest of the story instead of explaining what amounts to millenia of forerunner history in 5 minutes.

Edit: oh and of course how could I forget the asspull of "oh it turns out I edited your genes so you're immune to the effects of the composer!" BS