The day I say goodbye to Halo, and Microsoft/343 Industries:

This is a bit of a rant, and probably a boring one at that, so feel free to skip it. Or, at the very least, fix yourself a cup of coffee first!

I want to take you back to the year 2002, right around when I turned thirteen. I hadn't owned a console since the NES, and was in the market for something to occupy my weekend downtime. I'd been saving al my birthday/Christmas money all my life, and decided
to drop about 900 Australian dollars on a 51cm analogue television, an X-Box, and a single game. I was told "Halo" was the newest and most popular, which was all an impressionable thirteen-year-old like me needed to hear.

As soon as I took my prize home and set it all up, I was blown away. The graphics in Halo were unlike anything I'd ever seen. I honestly thought Captain Keyes in the opening scene boar an uncanny resemblance to Harrison Ford, and
could barely tell the difference between this cutscene and live action. Needless to say, these were simpler times.... Once immersed in the Haloverse, I was hooked. I spent every weekend [and many a weeknight] playing through the campaign, over and over again.
I learnt new tricks, set myself additional objectives [i.e; save all marines, par times, zero deaths, etc.] and, on rare occasion, invited a friend over for some splitscreen.

In my early teens, I played other games too, such as Fable, Morrowind, and Vice City - but none of these held a candle to Halo. Not in my eyes. For so long, I prayed for a sequel. The phrase "I think we're just getting started" had
echoed endlessly inside my head until, one day, the announcement was made: Halo 2. There were, however, delays, but I hung in there. I preordered the deluxe edition, which I continued to do for every other release, and proceeded to wait. About three weeks
before the eventual release, one of my friends grabbed his mitts on a leaked copy. It was in French, but I had a few years of classes under my belt and couldn't hold out any longer. We had the most memorable LAN night of my life. Four of us in total, dual-wielding
new weapons into the next afternoon. There were, however, some glitches, but my addiction had been satisfied enough to hold me over until the official release date.

I of course went to a midnight launch for Halo 2, picked up my deluxe copy, my bonus disc, and stayed up all night playing through the campaign, in a language I could better-understand. The glitches were still there. Rushed cutscenes, with one vital one
missing all together. Thankfully, the bonus disc explained how Johnson went from "brute prisoner" to "scarab owner" in such a short window. It turns out, despite the delays, Halo 2 wasn't ready for release. Regardless, I shrugged it off and continued to play
through the most unfairly skewed Legendary campaign in existence, where a super soldier, humanity's last hope, was the weakest being in the galaxy - second only to infection form flood, which were essentially parasitic balloons. I could go on, but the fond
memories far outweigh the negatives, so I'll leave it at that.

After ending on a painstaking cliffhanger, the premise had been set for Halo 3; finish the fight! But wait, a new X-Box had been released. So, I bought it. The Halo-skinned version, of course. UNSC green, with a matching controller and a pissy 20GB HDD.
Halo 3 is the first game I took online. I'm sure many readers will be familiar with the laughing stock which is Australian Internet, so WiFi [despite being invented by an Australian] wasn't going to cut it. Up in the ceiling I went to lay down some Ethernet!
Shortly thereafter, I had to learn all about NAT settings....but it was all worth it. Halo 3 was probably the pinnacle of online multiplayer in the franchise, from maps, to forge, to gametypes and my beloved Infection.

Halo Wars came next, and, for a console-based RTS, it exceeded all my expectations. At first. The balancing updates eventually stopped, until all that remained was a dwindling few players at the mercy of the next OP tank/banshee rush. And so sealed the fate
of Halo Wars. Halo Wars also gave me my first taste of DLC. In this case, I feel the new maps and game types were justified as an additional cost, so I downloaded them. I'll be damned if many others did though, so they were barely used.

Halo 3: ODST. Wow. Amazing. I've always had a soft spot in the Haloverse for ODSTs, so off to yet another midnight launch I went. Playing this game, I felt like an ODST; despite my vulnerabilities, no enemy would trump my resolve! The feel of an ODST was
perfectly captured. Yes, I was disappointed that the suppressed weapons weren't completely silenced for stealth options, as stealth seemed to be a reliant factor for a stranded ODST rookie, but everything else made up for it. Firefight, VISR, stamina....everything.
To this day, I dare say some of the most fun I've had playing Halo is thanks to ODST.

Because I had purchased ODST, I was granted access to a two week beta of the next Halo instalment, Halo: Reach. I was pumped! I even took a couple of weeks off from work - something I'd never done before [and haven't since]. Anyway, I was prepared to completely
emerge myself in the latest title - right up until the night before, when my 360 was struck down by the Red Ring of Death. I'd heard about this before. We all had. But "not my X-Box," I always told myself. "I have one of the newer ones!" Not so lucky, unfortunately.
After punching my serial number into a Microsoft support site, I was told mine was out of warranty, and I'd need to buy another, or pay for repairs. Being the industrious character I am, and left with little alternative, I decided to take a stab at fixing
it myself. No luck. So, with the two week beta ticking away, I was forced to buy a new one. I later discovered that I had been misinformed, and my 360 was in fact under warranty for the Red Ring of Death. But after taking it apart in a desperate attempt to
fix the error the night before the Halo: Reach beta release, my warranty was voided. Fun.

I loved Invasion. Oh, how I loved Invasion. But that was about it. When Halo: Reach was released, I noticed the same flaws in Invasion that were present in the beta. Oh, and those bloody spawn-campers.... No patches or fixes for that, but DLC was available
after a month for the "real" multiplayer maps. As soon as I had played through the campaign and was ready to take the fight online, I noticed that every map, except two, were lazy, unoriginal, "forge-themed" maps; the same sterile, bland, an unimaginative
constructs riddled each and every one. The two exceptions, being "Sword Base" and another [it seems to have been purged from my memory] were cut straight out of the campaign. I knew this was a precursor for immediate DLC, and, sure enough, a month or so after
the release, DLC was made available for some "real" multiplayer maps. I was livid. Ropeable. I honestly felt betrayed.

Having previously read the Halo novels by Eric Nylund, I noticed several plot holes throughout the campaign [I really don't want to be
that guy, but I take my Halo pretty damn seriously]. Not only that, but this was the first Halo game where I didn't
feel like the character I was playing. At the appropriate difficulty settings throughout the CE, 2, and 3 campaigns, I felt like a Sparta. In Halo 3: ODST, I felt like an ODST. But Halo: Reach failed to capture the essence of a Spartan - even if I was
only a Spartan III. So yeah, after playing through an otherwise alright campaign, an influx of completely unnecessary weapons, ridiculously unnecessary armour customisations, stupidly unnecessary Covenant classes [why do the grunts look so stupid now?], buyiing
the massive box set with the action figures and all, and then being told I had to pay extra for maps which I'm certain were intentionally left out of the original release, I pretty much just stuck to the flawed, and very laggy, Invasion.

Halo: CE Anniversary came next. Despite having played Halo CE inside and out, I couldn't let a Halo release go by without owning it [2600 excluded - if that even counts]. Playing that campaign into the ground in my youth has unfortunately ruined CE for me
- a mistake which I didn't repeat for later releases. As a result, I played this game very little, and bought it mainly as a gesture of love to my favourite franchise.

Halo 4 was okay. New life had been breathed into Cortana, as a forbidden love story unfolded into an ever-daring and unusual chapter. With the extermination of the flood, and the departure of the brutes, a void in the cannon fodder needed to be filled....and
the Prometheans failed to fill it. The campaign wasn't very memorable, or interesting, but I appreciate the efforts 343 Industries went to. I understand the same game can't be released over and over again, but the typical "Halo feel" seems to have died with
the original trilogy. Spartan Ops was a great edition, and I was saddened not to see something similar in Halo 5. It's also the last Halo FPS I took to multiplayer. That said, I still really enjoyed my time on multiplayer. The weapons were also a big improvement
over Halo: Reach. But, to be fair, I've crapped out objects which could share that sentiment.

Halo 5: Guardians. Another new console. By this stage, I had completely stopped playing any game that didn't have "Halo" in the title. In fact, my 360 had gone most of the prior two years just collecting dust. This is probably a consequence of being an adult,
and nothing to do with Halo. But, I bought an Xbone solely to play the new release. And it was of course the Halo-themed one which came with an included download of the game. Regardless, there was a shinier version of the game, that came in a big box, with
I-can't-even-remember-what-else, so I bought that as well. With it, I bought a copy of The Master Chief Collection, which is what is prompting this very drawn-out recollection of events. By this stage, I felt like I was just going through the motions of buying
a new Halo game. However, this is the first campaign that I didn't knock out overnight. I played Halo 5 like a boring adult: A level here and there, after work, if I had it in me. The graphics were amazing. The scenery was beautiful. The storyline was captivating.
The Prometheans were balanced. This was also the first game where I felt like I was seeing human presence in the Halo Universe; something which had been overlooked in previous titles. I felt a real sense of exploration, traversing through these new worlds.
I felt as though my lavish purchases were justified. As mentioned earlier, I never took this game to multiplayer matchmaking. I never felt the need to. Again, that's probably me just showing my age, but I now only play Halo for the story.

Since about 2010, a friend and I had been dreaming of a new Halo Wars game. We'd discussed stor lines, characters, enemies....the works, until one day, news broke that a sequel was in the making. Despite my new Xbone collecting dust, like my second 360 before
it, I was genuinely excited for this release. I was too caught up in life to realise a beta had come and gone before being informed of a second one. The second beta focused on an entirely new gametype, called "Blitz". While addictively fun, I noticed a fatal
flaw.

Each player of this gametype will select a character. That character will have a set of units and abilities - some generic, some unique to the character. The player will compile an army of up to twelve of these units and abilities. The objective is essentially
a "King of the Hill" style battle with armies made up of only units pre-selected by the player, but each unit comes at a resource cost to summon, which slowly accumulates throughout the game. The stronger the unit or ability, the higher the cost. The in itself
is fine, until I learned the units can be levelled up with experience. This created scenarios where, although I might have outplayed my opponent, I would still lose, due to weaker troops. For casual gamers like myself, I was likely to always be up against
stronger units. Anyway, this was a beta, and surely such kinks would be flagged and ironed out. Unlike Reach. Right? Wrong.

As always, I preordered the most expensive option, the one with all the bells and whistles, and I waited. I took note of a "season pass" which came included. Not only did I have to pay for an incomplete game, and a subscription to play it to its full potential,
but now I was paying for privilege to have the remainder of the game downloaded to my console for an unspecified period of time. And I quote, "The Halo Wars 2 Season Pass delivers regular content updates that span more than six months, including: new leaders
with abilities that change the course of multiplayer battles, new units that add to your multiplayer arsenal, and a new campaign expansion featuring exclusive missions. Available as part of the Halo Wars 2: Ultimate Edition, or available separately for $29.99
USD, the Halo Wars 2 Season Pass will offer incredible value for fans, extending long after launch." How many "updates" would this cover? How long would the season pass last? How much would the next one cost? How much of this content has already been
developed, and is intentionally being withheld from the game? Who knows. Anyway, I digress.

Upon taking the game home, I noticed the issues in "Blitz" were still there, but upgrades for the units could be purchased. It had become very clear to me that this game was nothing but a "pay to win" shell of its predecessor. And, soon enough, the new characters
were introduced, leaving the base stock in the dust. They were intentionally overpowered, and players utilising them made short work of the rest. In short, the game was no longer fun to play online unless you were willing to cough up extra cash, to level the
playing field. How much extra cash depended on the gametype. After a while, It turns out the sales clerk had given me the wrong copy of Halo Wars 2, and I didn't have the season pass after all, so I witnessed first hand what it was like to only have the starting
characters. Anyway, my month of Gold membership had expired by the time I sorted out my season pass issues, and I carried on with my life.

While I liked the storyline of "The Banished," the campaign hardly captivated me. I think the biggest flaw was trying to do too much; the original was created solely for X-Box, and was brilliant in its simplicity. Sure, it might not have competed with a
top PC RTS, but that wasn't the point, nor was it the market. By opening Halo Wars 2 up to the PCs, the game had to work hard to capture the attention of a new market, and, in doing so, I think sold out the console players. The end result was average gameplay
across both platforms. But that's just my two cents.

Towards the end of 2017, I finally roped a friend into playing The Master Chief Collection with me. These days, unless I'm achievement hunting, I only play Halo with friends. And this is where my story nears its end. I bought a few months of Gold from the
Microsoft website, and upon entering the code into my Xbone, I noticed the auto-renew option ticked, complete with the credit card details I used from the website purchase. Very sneaky and easy to miss. I can't begin to explain how much that pissed me off.
Anyway, when the Master Chief Collection wasn't an option, I decided to call upon another friend for some Halo Wars 2. He'd been raving about some new expansion, so I thought it'd be a good time to finally try out this season pass. No luck. Despite having
only just entered it, and the game having only been released earlier in the year, this new expansion and set of characters was not included. The "content updates that span more than six months" didn't cover any of this - even if I had waited until
now to activate it, the "new leaders with abilities that change the course of multiplayer battles" were already outdated by the
newer wave of OP leaders, and the "new campaign expansion featuring exclusive missions" was a boring two levels that I've already forgotten. I'm sure the new leaders and campaign missions are fun, but I guess I'll never know.

Back to the Master Chief Collection I went, whenever my schedule managed to line up with that of my friend's. I noticed no difference between CE Anniversary and CE in the MCC, but wasn't expecting anything; I had my hopes set on Halo 2. Although we sacrificed
a level of enjoyment for the sake of completing the campaign on Legendary, and reverting a previous checkpoint whenever one of us died [usually him, because I'm awesome] I was hoping that after all this time, I could experience a completed campaign. But no
luck. The infamously skipped-over scene where Johnson escapes his brute captors and commandeers a scarab remains ever-elusive. I know part of the charm was to keep the in-game glitches [although I seem to have lost the ability to fly through levels while wielding
an energy sword] but would it have killed anyone to include that scene? The audio has already been recorded a decade ago; why not use it? But this is still not my biggest gripe.

Upon reaching Halo 3, my friend and I were shocked to notice a tab for ODST. It was a very welcomed surprise. And, as I started tracking my Halo 3 achievements, I noticed ODST ones too. Thankfully there was nothing for firefight, as I don't think I have
the energy for that these days [some of the achievements from the original release involved a lot of hours]. However, after completing Halo 3, we were again shocked to be directed to the Microsoft Marketplace to purchase ODST. The achievements were there,
but it was an add-on. Both of us still had the original disc, but apparently, it isn't backwards compatible, so we were told we'd need to purchase it again. And that was the proverbial straw which broke this camel's back.

I own the MCC, I own ODST, but I'm told that if I want to complete the MCC, which I already own, I need to pay for ODST again - which I already own! The 5 USD cost is completely irrelevant! I spoke to support staff on numerous occasions, and despite being
initially told I was in the right and the issue would be resolved for me, I was later advised that wasn't the case, and I should write the issue on a forum somewhere. So, here I am. Now, since writing up what has now been roughly a three hour trip down memory
lane, I think it's clear to see that I've put up with a lot, but I haven't explained just how much of a Halo fan I am:

• I've preorded every deluxe edition of every new title possible, and have only updated my consoles for the sake of Halo.
  
• I've read the books and comics. I even suffered through the painfully boring "Forerunner trilogy" by Greg Bear.
• I lost count of the number of McFarlane action figures I accumulated once I surpassed 100. To this day, it **** me that the ODST line-up was never completed. Wherefore art thou Romeo!?
• I even built a diorama to pose some of my action figures
• I constructed my own ODST armour out of cardstock and fibreglass - and it actually looks pretty cool
• I've drafted my own fanfiction

Despite all this, and despite Halo having been with me for what is now the majority of my life, I think I'm done. Yes, I'm aware of the value of time, and how easy it would've been to just pay the $5.00 [or $6.65 Australian]. I'm paid exceptionally well
and have been out-earning my parents' combined income since my mid-twenties. I've done well in the stock exchange and have a property portfolio. My point is, I'm not short of money. But, looking at the true progression of how 343 Industries has been operating,
I no longer feel as though I'm valued as a customer. Add-ons, pay to win, immediately available DLC, right after a new release....all of this seems to be a higher priority to 343 Industries than simply pleasing the fanbase with a solid game. Sure, it's only
$5.00 for this game. Thankfully I never bothered with Guardians' multiplayer, but the "requisition packs" smell like another "pay to win" scam. Not even the prestige "Season Pass' gave the player access to everything Halo 2 had to offer, so, you know
what? At this stage, I'm not even going to bother with Halo 6.

To those who stuck through my essay, you have my thanks. In a way, this was very therapeutic for me to write, so, regardless of the outcome, I would not consider it time wasted.

The ball's in your court, Microsoft/343. Give us ODST, stop the madness, and start treating us like human beings again.

Sincerely,

An ex-Halo fan.

:)

 

Halo 4: What's Up

Concerning Halo 4, my excitement is their but I'm in the "let's wait and see" with 343 Industries before I purchase the game. The men and woman at 343 Industries are very talented based on the recent videos I've seen concerning Halo 4. But, Bungie has been
the long time developer of the Halo series so when they said goodbye many including I stopped playing Halo Reach. 343 Industries is a new developer so it is natural for one to be cautious of what they can do, I'm sure the men and woman are very passionate
and I hope they do succeed.

 

Please take your time creating Halo 5: Guardians

The Halo MCC cover says made by Bungie,343 Industries,Microsoft Studios.

 

Oh, and in the time it took me to write that, someone from Microsoft finally replied to one of my e-mails about the issue. It took them nine days and my words were completely ignored. I can't say I'm surprised....

 

Not sure that I`ve missed something while reading through your little story, but what point were you actually trying to make?

 

You must’ve missed this part: “I spoke to support staff on numerous occasions, and despite being initially told I was in the right and the issue would be resolved for me, I was later advised that wasn't the case, and I should write the issue on a forum somewhere.
So, here I am.“

And this: “....this was very therapeutic for me to write....”

But I’ll forgive your oversights.

;o