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It seems the "original" Halo Infinite was scrapped...

JOEVIAL

Has a voluptuous plastic labia
I know... another Halo Infinite thread. But I'll keep this short (ish) and up for discussion... Halo Infinite was revealed at E3 2018 with a very mysterious trailer that was not only visually stunning, but also a return to form for the franchise. It seemed like 343 at that time had everything in motion for a truly great Halo game.



Pretty much nothing in that trailer was in the latest demo. Yes there were a few assets, like the Stargate rings that made it into the latest build... but everything else looks like it changed completely. The artstyle even looks different, which really points to some serious development and creative vision issues.

And that is before realizing the original creative director left 343 a year ago (amongst other key members of the studio). It doesn't matter what studio or business your in... if a creative director or project manager leaves mid production... the quality will suffer... and original timelines are usually delayed. The only way to recover from something like that is to delay the project... or completely scrap the original vision and let the new creative director lead the project in a new direction.

It really does seem like Halo Infinite has experienced a very tumultuous development. And I would wager that what we saw recently is a 2-3 year build of the game, and the original plans/ideas were scrapped for one reason or another (up for debate). I really bet we'll hear stories about it from devs in the future.

This isn't like an "Ubi-Soft downgrade" like what we saw for Watch Dogs. Watch Dogs held to it's original vision. The art-style, setting, and atmosphere all made it into the final product... it just wasn't as polished as the reveal.

Halo Infinite 2018 to Halo Infinite 2020 looks infinitely different.

What do you think GAF?
 
It's way too much assumption with little evidence to back up the claim.

I'd bet my money on mismanagement and lack of highly skilled talent.
 

JLMC469

Banned
Opinion: an 8 minute presentation (5ish if you exclude cutscenes) is a horrible way to show an open world game. It isn’t enough time to show the game.
 
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JOEVIAL

Has a voluptuous plastic labia
It's way too much assumption with little evidence to back up the claim.

I'd bet my money on mismanagement and lack of highly skilled talent.

Hmm... so would you say the 2018 trailer was just a complete lie then? Or do you think they actually had something back in 2018? Because what they showed back then actually looked like it had some direction.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
the difference is obivious

I think we didnt see any wild animals walking around the world in the demo, as the old trailer makes us assume that would be a thing
There were some, but to call it a downgrade is misleading. It looks like the 2018 trailer was made by a completely different team.
 

Drewpee

Banned
I know... another Halo Infinite thread. But I'll keep this short (ish) and up for discussion... Halo Infinite was revealed at E3 2018 with a very mysterious trailer that was not only visually stunning, but also a return to form for the franchise. It seemed like 343 at that time had everything in motion for a truly great Halo game.



Pretty much nothing in that trailer was in the latest demo. Yes there were a few assets, like the Stargate rings that made it into the latest build... but everything else looks like it changed completely. The artstyle even looks different, which really points to some serious development and creative vision issues.

And that is before realizing the original creative director left 343 a year ago (amongst other key members of the studio). It doesn't matter what studio or business your in... if a creative director or project manager leaves mid production... the quality will suffer... and original timelines are usually delayed. The only way to recover from something like that is to delay the project... or completely scrap the original vision and let the new creative director lead the project in a new direction.

It really does seem like Halo Infinite has experienced a very tumultuous development. And I would wager that what we saw recently is a 2-3 year build of the game, and the original plans/ideas were scrapped for one reason or another (up for debate). I really bet we'll hear stories about it from devs in the future.

This isn't like an "Ubi-Soft downgrade" like what we saw for Watch Dogs. Watch Dogs held to it's original vision. The art-style, setting, and atmosphere all made it into the final product... it just wasn't as polished as the reveal.

Halo Infinite 2018 to Halo Infinite 2020 looks infinitely different.

What do you think GAF?


I don't know about changes but I would agree that it seems like development has been rocky. This situation reminds me a little bit of Destiny when it was about to launch.

I think if this launch fails the Halo franchise needs to be given to another studio. 343 has had more than enough opportunities to do right by Halo but so far their titles just do not match up to the history that Bungie started. My hype is still super high for Halo Infinite but this needs to be the Halo we all love and expect, it absolutely cannot be seen as another ok'ish entry, that is not the standard for Halo.
 

JOEVIAL

Has a voluptuous plastic labia
There were some, but to call it a downgrade is misleading. It looks like the 2018 trailer was made by a completely different team.

Agreed. This isn't a downgrade. For a downgrade, you would have to have something existing (Watch Dogs reveal demo) and show it again with reduced visual quality while it remains fundamentally the same game (Watch Dogs launch).

This is a completely different game than what was presented in 2018.
 

JLMC469

Banned
Absolutely. They needed to flesh out Craig's story more.

giphy.gif
 
I believe that their budget was scrapped, and Gamepass became a priority for Microsoft and thus Infinite had to become something completely different.
 

Shambala

Member
I watched that trailer/gameplay again. Just look at the environment. The damn trees are so static. Everything is, it just looks so dead no breeze or anything. After playing GOT man that doesn’t look next gen at all.
 

JOEVIAL

Has a voluptuous plastic labia
Well, I guess this is what it is. Many Halo fans wanted the game go back to the roots, even graphically. They wanted the clean Halo look & feel.
Well, yesterdays trailer was exactly that.

Yesterday's demo did not look anything like "Halo's roots." The geometric mountains and hills were not in the original games. The geography is completely different.

And here is the point I was trying to make in the OP: the initial trailer in 2018 looked more like Halo's Roots than yesterdays demo. There were no geometric mountains or anything like that in the 2018 trailer. Just classic hills and valleys... reminiscent of Halo Combat Evolved.

Halo Infinite 2020 looks like a strange cross between Halo CE Anniversary and Halo 5.
 
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Opinion: an 8 minute presentation (5ish if you exclude cutscenes) is a horrible way to show an open world game. It isn’t enough time to show the game.

Counterpoint - obviously there is only a certain amount of time allotted to show the game off, so why wouldn't they use the hypest footage they've got instead of this "walk two feet shoot three bad guys, walk ten more feet and shoot two bad guys, walk 8 feet and OOHHH here comes the big finale...shoot 6 bad guys".

This is Halo, one of the few successful Xbox ip's that are still going today. An ip with a massive fan following that spans nearly two decades. Halo infinite has been hyped for years. And they show this? The whole thing is so bizarre.
 

JOEVIAL

Has a voluptuous plastic labia
I watched that trailer/gameplay again. Just look at the environment. The damn trees are so static. Everything is, it just looks so dead no breeze or anything. After playing GOT man that doesn’t look next gen at all.

Yeah, I noticed that immediately too. The grass is completely static and does not react to wind or the warthog at all. Again... look at the 2018 trailer, the grass moves and sways in the wind beautifully just as it should in a next-gen game. GOT does it beautifully... heck even Kameo at the XBOX 360's release did it really well. And there were games that did it in the XBOX, PS2 era. What was shown yesterday is frankly unacceptable.
 

JLMC469

Banned
Counterpoint - obviously there is only a certain amount of time allotted to show the game off, so why wouldn't they use the hypest footage they've got instead of this "walk two feet shoot three bad guys, walk ten more feet and shoot two bad guys, walk 8 feet and OOHHH here comes the big finale...shoot 6 bad guys".

This is Halo, one of the few successful Xbox ip's that are still going today. An ip with a massive fan following that spans nearly two decades. Halo infinite has been hyped for years. And they show this? The whole thing is so bizarre.

It was a horrible decision.
 

DonF

Member
I Think you have a point. That trailers... It's two different games.

Another destiny case? It's the course of halo...
 

JOEVIAL

Has a voluptuous plastic labia
They said after the backlash from Halo 5 is when the changed the idea for Infinite. Not 2/3 years ago lol

That doesn't explain how the 2018 trailer compared to yesterday's demo look infinitely different.

With all the politics in gaming we may never know the "full truth" but I really bet what they showed yesterday is a 2-3 year build. It's obvious comparing the trailers.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
That's what Alanah said, it had a major rework after fan reactions to Halo Guardians.

Which makes me more worried. You can't just jump ship on every plot thread fans don't like, or you end up with an incohesive mess like the Star Wars sequels with no overriding vision.

The Created plot may be eh, but we can't just jump to another group of enemies for the third game in a row...Right?
 
That doesn't explain how the 2018 trailer compared to yesterday's demo look infinitely different.

With all the politics in gaming we may never know the "full truth" but I really bet what they showed yesterday is a 2-3 year build. It's obvious comparing the trailers.
What ever you say
 

Atrus

Gold Member
There’s been a major tonal shift between the Halo we see in CG be it Halo Wars 2 or in Infinite’s prior trailers as compared to what was shown.

In fact, the underlying hardware for Series X should be capable of better than what was shown.

My thoughts are that the game is suffering from issues at 343 plus may have had its focus changed to support Game Pass.

If Halo was a finite game it’s contributive value to Game Pass is limited and would wane over time. However, they’ve also implied that there won’t be an Infinite 2 and that this Halo will be around for a while, which leads me to believe that they’ve done something to the game stimulate continued subscriptions.

Ex. Halo Infinite Season 1 etc.

I’m just not sure what the changes might be. The terrible LOD would be fine if we’re talking about massive co-op and enemies on screen for instance but nothing shown justified it.
 

Romulus

Member
It's crazy because they're basically chasing Halo CE, straight up MC game on a ring with similar, yet larger environment, but they can't nail it.
 
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