This week, we welcome back Zach who wasn’t able to make it to last week’s podcast. He has a special segment in this week’s podcast where he discusses pro Halo players swithcing to Call of Duty for money. I’m splitting the podcast into two parts. There is a specific reason for this.
While the first part is our usual ‘Week in Halo’ portion and includes as well Zach’s topic of discussion being Halo pro players switching to Call of Duty for money, it’s the second part that is much more ‘controversial’.
In the second part of the podcast I go off on tangents regarding my displeasure with 343’s handling of the Halo franchise. It starts with me finding out theater HAS been encoded into Halo 4 all along and that 343 basically lied to us about it not being in the game (they just hid it from us). Thankfully a Halo 4 modder found this though. From there though, I go into detail about what I feel 343 did WRONG in Halo 4. Specifically things like unnecessary aesthetic/visual changes, audio changes, long established storylines, etc.
BE FOREWARNED, there is some ‘colorful’ language in the second portion. It’s one of the reasons I split the podcast into two sections. More importantly though, I wanted to give 343 the opportunity to listen to that portion I feel which expresses what MANY Halo fans, certainly those of us who had been with the franchise for a LONG time, feel about Halo 4 and how it’s deviated so far off course from what made Halo, HALO. BS ANgel tweeted that she wanted to know what we though 343 did right and wrong, so Jessica (BS Angel) here is my reply to that. (Next week, we’ll discuss what 343 did right.
I know that I’m likely not going to be on 343s ‘Christmas’ list per say after this recording, but that doesn’t concern me at all. If I wanted to be a yes man to 343, I could easily say all the ‘good’ things or the things they WANT to hear, versus what they NEED to hear. And yeah, I might have benefitted from that by being invited to events and such, but again, those of you who have followed me for some time know, I’m NOT that guy.
Like all of you am a consumer. We bought into this game thinking 343 understood what Halo was. What we got at launch proved very differently and it’s taken the full length of time since launch for 343 to catch up to where the game should have been on release date. In fact, I think they still have a way to go.
Okay, I could go on and on in written format. However, instead just repeating everything that was said in the podcast, I may as well just let you all listen in, right?
So here’s the first part. Again this is the tame news portion that has the week in Halo, and then the important pro player discussion of some of them switching to Call of Duty from Halo for money reasons.
Click the arrow to play below:
SoF 9-29-13 Week in Halo-Pro Players portion
Or right click the following to download. SoF 9-29-13 Week in Halo-Pro Players portion
The following is the second part. Again, I will warn you that it contains language I would not allow in replies on the site here. So if you’re under 18, PLEASE either do NOT listen to it or get permission first.
Click the arrow to play below:
SoF 9-29-13 Cover Band portion
Or right click the following to download. SoF 9-29-13 Cover Band portion
And PLEASE, give me some feedback on this. Whether or not you agree with me on what I said, I want to hear what you all are thinking as well.
On the second part, I do want to add that I want 343 to understand what I meant by saying they are a cover band or stewards of Halo. We all know Bungie isn’t coming back to Halo. So it’s not like 343 is holding something in place until Bungie returns. However that also does not mean 343 should ‘change the kingdom’. Halo has long been established and many of the changes 343 made, especially those aesthetic ones were done to make Halo their one and to separate it from Bungie’s Halo. As you’ll hear in that portion of the podcast, I’m VERY much against that. I went through this sort of discontinuity with Star Wars, a franchise I supported for 35 years. I absolutely hated having to explain to other not-so-hard core fans about the issues with continuity. I do NOT want to go through that again and with Halo.
It most definitely should not be on the fans to get the Halo universe straight or explain away things that seem out of place. 343 you have a DUTY to ADHERE to what came before. While some SLIGHT visual changes can be made to what has been established to show better computer power or that you as well can design good aesthetics, to completely change aspects of the game that have been long established is a disservice to the community that you hope will remain with you as it had also supported Bungie for it’s 10 year run on Halo.
You had the perfect opportunity to steer the boat back into the right direction. However you chose to go FURTHER off course and took Halo in even different directions that take away from the core of what Halo is. If you need for me or others to spell that out in words specifically detailing what we mean, then that is a testament that shows we the community that you in fact do NOT understand what Halo is and what it means to we fans (and CONSUMERS).
You have had your one and only pass. Halo 5 (or whatever you decide the next Halo game will be call in the series) MUST be a success that far surpasses anything done previously.
To do this you MUST consider other successes. You MUST consider giving yourselves enough time to FULLY develop the game and NOT take shortcuts. We WILL wait. Providing the game we get at launch is something well worth waiting for. Just take a look at what RockStar did with GTA V as an example of it’s fans being patient and rewarding the developer. There is NO way you can compete with a Billion dollar selling game, even if on multi-platforms. SO please do not try to spin words to say otherwise.
Core gameplay MUST return. Social and Ranked playlist MUST return. Theater MUST return. Core playlists and game types MUST return, whether you or Bungie created them. By trying to cut out much of what Bungie established in Halo, you ARE shooting yourselves in the foot as well as SHI….ing on the Halo community. If you think we fans feel entitled, well YES WE DO. If it were NOT for we fans buying into this game for MANY games prior to what you inherited, Halo would not have continued to exist.
You MUST do better to do right by the Halo community. We by word of mouth, via the net, social media, face to face and otherwise will take care of the rest. Put out a HIGH quality game that adheres to established core mechanics, while providing new things (in separate playlists) will put you squarely in the right mindset of Halo fans. Refuse to acknowledge that for the next game and continue with your ignorance of such or your rock star attitudes and “we know better than you” thinking and you will kill this franchise.
Okay, I had to get some of that off my chest folks….
-Sal
