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Halo Infinite Lead Narrative Designer Aaron Linde Leaving 343

really enjoyed the game so thanks for your work and good luck. looking forward to dlc or an expansion. halo infinite is easily my favourite halo. the story isn't the best but they did a good job of turning it around and basically rebooting the series. 343 made mistakes with Halo 5 but imo they redeemed themselves with Infinite.

you can easily tell who has never played the game or never intends to. the same usual characters who are upset and offended that MS put out a good game and doesn't like to see them have any success. grow up.
 

STARSBarry

Gold Member
Except he was a full time employee, not contractual.
unknown.png


That's funny because


Writing

Writers
Dion Lay
Jane Weddell



Kevin Grace is mentioned to be narrative Lead.

Of course both of these are from a wiki, which is something that can be edited by pretty much anyone so what does the game say?



That seems to be an intresting lack of 343 credited under "writing" for Halo Wars 2.

Which means whoever actually wrote Halo Infinite is sticking around because it's the narrative Lead leaving...

So bassicaly it's the guy who thought up that the com logs as the primary way to tell a story was a good idea leaving, rather than "im going to write a love story soap opera" for Halo guy.

Honestly considering Kevin was responsible for the terminals in both Anniversarys, I don't think they changed much on how they delivered additional story after returning to the FPS genre.
 
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BlackTron

Member
The entire war we missed out on was far more interesting than Halo Infinites "we lost" narrative.

Biggest scam in gaming. BOTW made it an art form.

It's a shame, I'm glad the gameplay is back but Halo in general deserved so much more than what it became. I liked the narrative in the first one and enjoyed early cutscenes in Halo 2...that's the last time I ever gave a shit or paid any attention to Halo's story. It's a bloated, tepid mess with MS trying to force it into being a Star Wars style "media empire".
 

Data Ghost

Member
I played and completed the Campaign over Christmas. As others have said the gameplay is superb, and playing on Heroic gave me some real tasty gunfights to get though. After completing it though it has left me with some questions: After being in dev for so long why does it feel so bare bones? Why are there only 2 locations (the outside world and the inside) with no other variation? Why is the outside world so barren and devoid of things to find? Why are so many of the expected gameplay features missing and still to come? Basically, why is this all they have to show so far? - Maybe in other games it would be enough but this is Halo and if the rumours are true it has a vast budget.

Finally, after seeing Unreal 5 in action it puts 343 in this strange position where they will now be fleshing out Halo using this cross-gen engine for years to come. Overall I am a bit confused and would love to have insight on what really went on over the years.
 
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Mister Wolf

Member
I played and completed the Campaign over Christmas. As others have said the gameplay is superb, and playing on Heroic gave me some real tasty gunfights to get though. After completing it though it has left me with some questions: After being in dev for so long why does it feel so bare bones? Why are there only 2 locations (the outside world and the inside) with no other variation? Why is the outside world so barren and devoid of things to find? Why are so many of the expected gameplay features missing and still to come? Basically, why is this all they have to show so far? - Maybe in other games it would be enough but this is Halo and if the rumours are true it has a vast budget.

Finally, after seeing Unreal 5 in action it puts 343 in this strange position where they will now be fleshing out Halo using this cross-gen engine for years to come. Overall I am a bit confused and would love to have insight on what really went on over the years.

If you look at the previous trailers there is content particularly cutscenes that didn't make it into the game. They Trademarked Halo: The Endless. It will either be an expansion or a whole new campaign.
 

Data Ghost

Member
If you look at the previous trailers there is content particularly cutscenes that didn't make it into the game. They Trademarked Halo: The Endless. It will either be an expansion or a whole new campaign.
That sounds good to me as the gameplay is perfect, both campaign and multiplayer. As of completing the game I don't feel I have much to go back to aside from a few FOBS to discover. I still don't get how there isn't more content and variation in Infinite.
 

fallingdove

Member
No. Let them nag. Most are still butt hurt H.I. even won awards under the 343 banner. The rest are Sony fanboys who still feel ripped that Playstation has NOTHING in the way of, or almost even resembling a 180 -- never mind a full Halo. Let them cry. Let them weep.....

Stuck in 2002 huh? Doc Brown will figure out how to get you back to the future.

Halo hasnā€™t had anything to cry over in more than a decade. A parts bin open world game with a mediocre story is not going to change that. Hell, I stopped playing the campaign 3/4 of the way through and went back to multiplayer. I canā€™t remember the last time I did that with a AAA release.
 

tmlDan

Member
really enjoyed the game so thanks for your work and good luck. looking forward to dlc or an expansion. halo infinite is easily my favourite halo. the story isn't the best but they did a good job of turning it around and basically rebooting the series. 343 made mistakes with Halo 5 but imo they redeemed themselves with Infinite.

you can easily tell who has never played the game or never intends to. the same usual characters who are upset and offended that MS put out a good game and doesn't like to see them have any success. grow up.
Hold on, you think the story was good? are your expectations that low? Most indy games have better stories and have more interesting/interactive open worlds - this semi open world was like an old assassins' creed game where you get outposts and kill easily defeatable mini bosses. Good riddance to this guy, hope they can turn the ship around.

If you think I didn't finish the main campaign I can prove it, it was the most disappointing single player campaign I have played from a triple A dev in years - I don't know how something so simple took so long.

Forza is an actual good game they released
 
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Mister Wolf

Member
Hold on, you think the story was good? are your expectations that low? Most indy games have better stories and have more interesting/interactive open worlds - this semi open world was like an old assassins' creed game where you get outposts and kill easily defeatable mini bosses. Good riddance to this guy, hope they can turn the ship around.

If you think I didn't finish the main campaign I can prove it, it was the most disappointing single player campaign I have played from a triple A dev in years - I don't know how something so simple took so long.

Forza is an actual good game they released

Most of us that think the story is good are people invested in the lore and overarching story or Halo.
 

STARSBarry

Gold Member
Most of us that think the story is good are people invested in the lore and overarching story or Halo.

.....

HOW?!? this is one of the cases of knowing more about prior events makes this story worse. Repeating "the endless are a greater threat than the flood" 5 times infront of mirror rings hollow for anyone with any knowledge of what the flood actually is and how it operates... its why they built the galaxy cleansing super weapon in the first place.

I did see someone going on about how the story was supposed to be a mystery with players uncovering the story like a detective during the time they where out of action.

Yeah it's been done a HELL of alot better before.

capsule_616x353.jpg


Same concept, superior execution in terms of how it presents the past events... infinite gets audio logs... and a few exposition dumps about how dangerous a bunch of winged monkeys from the wizard of Oz are to Galactic survival.

The best parts of the story are when Chief stopped talking about the next mcguffen or having a stupid flashback of events that make me physically cringe, and when it focussed on the people who where with him there and now. Which ironically is least intresting part of the story, because all that happened when we where in a coma for 6 months and we get an audio log about how desperate and intense that period was.
 
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oldergamer

Member
Hold on, you think the story was good? are your expectations that low? Most indy games have better stories and have more interesting/interactive open worlds - this semi open world was like an old assassins' creed game where you get outposts and kill easily defeatable mini bosses. Good riddance to this guy, hope they can turn the ship around.

If you think I didn't finish the main campaign I can prove it, it was the most disappointing single player campaign I have played from a triple A dev in years - I don't know how something so simple took so long.

Forza is an actual good game they released
Thats a bs take if you think indy games have a more interactive world then infinite. That doesn't seem like a valid complaint. I honestly can't believe you said that?
 

PSlayer

Member
Isn't that normal at the end of a project cycle? The problem is usually when they leave in the middle of a project.
 

tmlDan

Member
Thats a bs take if you think indy games have a more interactive world then infinite. That doesn't seem like a valid complaint. I honestly can't believe you said that?
you ignored the rest of what i said, i don't mean physics and combat (which is obviously a super strong point) im talking about everything that makes a world feel alive. Quips by grunts are not enough.
 
Meh, this is pretty normal for writers. Lead writers maybe a bit less so, but given Halo Infinite's story is basically being done like a series of arcs (that's how it seems like anyway), and Joseph Staten is still obviously there (as Campaign Project Lead, meaning he's also the one shaping the overall story at least at the high level), this isn't really anything off-kilter.

FWIW Linde also had a short stint on the writing for the latest Destiny 2 content before going to 343i, so it's not like he stays at these positions for super-long periods of time. Again, normal for most writers in the industry.
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
Nobody wants to work here. Gotta wonder why.

Stinkles does seem like a giant asshole and I wouldnā€™t wanna work for him. I liked Infinite well enough but I doubt Iā€™ll ever finish it either.
 

NinjaBoiX

Gold Member
Yeah, seems like people didn't like the story in Halo Infinite. I've never been a fan of the story in the Halo games. I really have no idea what's going on and that's okay. The gameplay is so good.
Yeah, same.

I actually think 343 have done a far better job creating an engaging narrative than Bungie ever did, I thought the cut scenes in Halo 4 were really quite entertaining compared to the beige shrug of the early games.
 

Andodalf

Banned
I played and completed the Campaign over Christmas. As others have said the gameplay is superb, and playing on Heroic gave me some real tasty gunfights to get though. After completing it though it has left me with some questions: After being in dev for so long why does it feel so bare bones? Why are there only 2 locations (the outside world and the inside) with no other variation? Why is the outside world so barren and devoid of things to find? Why are so many of the expected gameplay features missing and still to come? Basically, why is this all they have to show so far? - Maybe in other games it would be enough but this is Halo and if the rumours are true it has a vast budget.

Finally, after seeing Unreal 5 in action it puts 343 in this strange position where they will now be fleshing out Halo using this cross-gen engine for years to come. Overall I am a bit confused and would love to have insight on what really went on over the years.


Look at what Fortnite looked like at launch. Then a year later. Two years. And now it's the same game but on UE5. Games these days can evolve massively in terms of their visual makeup.
 

Edgelord79

Gold Member
Love reading the "I don't think something is good, therefore you shouldn't either" posts.

Must be lonely on those pedestals.

classy GIF
 
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godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
Maybe it is the fact I am older and value my time more, but I just canā€™t get myself to pick up this game. I finished every other Halo campaign in Legendary, but I have no desire to play this one. I made it up to the open world part and by then I was already too bored.

I donā€™t think the story is bad, it just wasnā€™t intriguing. Atriox being gone after years of Microsoft hyping him up was a huge meh.
 
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Look forward to seeing what he does next. He has done a fantastic job on Halo Infinite. Story, enemy and ally dialogue, the propaganda towers, audio logs, everything, was pretty on point.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
Maybe it is the fact I am older and value my time more, but I just canā€™t get myself to pick up this game. I finished every other Halo campaign in Legendary, but I have no desire to play this one. I made it up to the open world part and by then I was already too bored.

I donā€™t think the story is bad, it just wasnā€™t intriguing. Atriox being gone after years of Microsoft hyping him up was a huge meh.

Itā€™s a shame because the franchise has iconic imagery, and two or three iconic characters. Thereā€™s plenty of space here to achieve something great, if they actually have the balls to chase it.
 

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
That's funny because


Writing

Writers
Dion Lay
Jane Weddell



Kevin Grace is mentioned to be narrative Lead.

Of course both of these are from a wiki, which is something that can be edited by pretty much anyone so what does the game say?



That seems to be an intresting lack of 343 credited under "writing" for Halo Wars 2.

Which means whoever actually wrote Halo Infinite is sticking around because it's the narrative Lead leaving...

So bassicaly it's the guy who thought up that the com logs as the primary way to tell a story was a good idea leaving, rather than "im going to write a love story soap opera" for Halo guy.

Honestly considering Kevin was responsible for the terminals in both Anniversarys, I don't think they changed much on how they delivered additional story after returning to the FPS genre.

The ending credits have a separate section for Creative Assembly, 343i, Microsoft Studios(marketing PR, back when they were still called "Microsoft Studios"), Blur, Testing etc.. Infact the 343i section maybe slightly bigger, although its mostly audio/sound and some art.
1.png

2.png

unknown.png

Both the Credits and Halopedia, call him "Narrative Director".
ā€¢ Lead writer and narrative designer for Halo Wars 2, creating the biggest battlefield experience to date in the Halo universe which has been played by Halo and strategy game fans worldwide.
ā€¢ Designed and coordinated game and DLC campaigns and directed cinematic story creation with external creative partners Creative Assembly and Blur Studio.
ā€¢ Led creative direction, production, and scoping for cinematic development, talent casting, and voiceover recording.
ā€¢ Wrote and developed extended fiction and customer-facing copy for game/marketing/PR purposes, including community blogs, key media Q&As, marketplace copy, and both in-game and expanded universe story additions.
ā€¢ Served as media spokesperson and public-facing community representative.
Makes sense why he is represented as "Writer" for Halo Wars 2 in Wikipedia.
 

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
Atriox being gone after years of Microsoft hyping him up was a huge meh.
??? He was at the post credits scene. When did he go? The Banished thought that he was gone.


Repeating "the endless are a greater threat than the flood" 5 times infront of mirror rings hollow for anyone with any knowledge of what the flood actually is and how it operates... its why they built the galaxy cleansing super weapon in the first place.
They are a threat because they are immune to Halo effect. Halo array destroys anything with a nervous system even the Floods down to the infection forms but not individual Flood spores. If the Flood managed to infect Xanalyn, they will be immune to Halo, thats why they were imprisoned.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Look at what Fortnite looked like at launch. Then a year later. Two years. And now it's the same game but on UE5. Games these days can evolve massively in terms of their visual makeup.

The only problem with this is that Epic makes engines, Fortnites assets are relatively simple, and Fortnite brought in billions right away.

343 has a muuuuuch tougher road to climb.
 

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
??? He was at the post credits scene. When did he go? The Banished thought that he was gone.



They are a threat because they are immune to Halo effect. Halo array destroys anything with a nervous system even the Floods down to the infection forms but not individual Flood spores. If the Flood managed to infect Xanalyn, they will be immune to Halo, thats why they were imprisoned.

Oh, so I get to beat Atriox in the sequel? Is that the answer? By then I'll probably be raising kids or something.

I think I'll keep my Halo 3 college memories as the end of Halo. Thank you.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
Don't care. Not finishing the campaign until Co-op comes in May. I played the first two missions and the open world begs for multiplayer IMO. Not ruining my experience because Microsoft can't get a prime feature in the game before launch. I'll stick with ranked multiplayer til then.

Hope he does well at Riot.
 

Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
Stuck in 2002 huh? Doc Brown will figure out how to get you back to the future.

Halo hasnā€™t had anything to cry over in more than a decade. A parts bin open world game with a mediocre story is not going to change that. Hell, I stopped playing the campaign 3/4 of the way through and went back to multiplayer. I canā€™t remember the last time I did that with a AAA release.
And still, it changes nothing. Halo infinite was/is a major hit this year with an overwhelming amount of game of the year awards.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
Linkedin Gaf is on top of Xbox employment. I wonder if they know that Linkedin is first party.
 
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Most of us that think the story is good are people invested in the lore and overarching story or Halo.

As a lore fan, no, the story was mediocre again. You can see the executive checklist for updating what they want out of Halo -
  • Remove blue titty woman? Check.
  • Remove everyone that was introduced previously and start fresh with a refocus on Chief. Check.
  • Wait, we need to make this a personal story, here's a male and female sidekick with just as much airtime as Chief to balance things out. Check.
  • Make something mysterious without delivering anything, that's endless. Check.
  • Must have a Halo ring. Check.
  • We copped it for the Forerunner enemies in previous releases, need to stick with Covies and Banished. Check.
It's like the game story was made by committee vote. I hope they just brainstorm ideas and deliver them to Joe then leave him at the helm to make all the creative/lore decisions. There's this huge gap of not understanding why players love a Halo campaign -
  • A rich and deep lore that isn't handwaved through exposition but inspires player imagination of what could be or might have happened not simple explanation.
  • Variety of Halo environments and playstyles/sandboxes.
  • Chief being a badass doing impossible things.
  • Action cutscenes that are cool, not speeches. Infinite feels like you're at a university lecture because it's required credits.
  • Mystery with progression, not a reset every game. The original trilogy was a story you wanted to continue and find an start, middle and end. 343 cleared the deck with Halo 4 terminals and the games from 343 might as well just be separate entities/stories. They have very little to do with each other.
  • Multiplayer doesn't need a story, Infinite should have launched with coop and a clear content run monthly/quarter for campaign/coop that could be done solo or with a fireteam. How this wasn't a priority from 343 in the earliest planning phases is beyond me. All that lore, sandbox, budget, Azure cloud infrastructure and just wasted on SP campaign and very piss poor region/server support for PvP. Fucking biggest mistake 343 have made since they opened.
 
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