Halo Infinite - PC and X-box exclusive

[Krazychic 3,311]

 

Halo Infinte brings the series back to PC

[ShikuTeshi 1,299]

A few of use talked a bit about this on the Discord chat. We're probably reading too much into it since it's only a game engine demo.

 

But a few notable things is that the game gave off an open world vibe. Probably because of the draw distance that we're not used to seeing in FPS games, and are usually seen on RPG's like The Elder Scrolls.

The game is also named Halo Infinite, and lacks any number in the name. So we can assume it will be like Halo Reach where it has a place on the storyline, but isn't a core story. What I mean is that it takes place after Halo 5 which is confirmed, but doesn't continue the same goal that took place in Halo 5. So I'd personally assume that it has less of a focus about the story surrounding Chief and Cortana, and more about just the Chief with himself. Why they would do this? Probably because they have a new game engine. And doing a game like this as a trial run is probably a good idea to get feedback from the audience.

We've noticed that Chiefs armor (at least the helmet) looks very much like his armor in Halo 3. Something that I think we've agreed we liked.

[Kavawuvi 7,026]

I'm really liking the art style and design of everything that was in the trailer. Also, you play on another ring? That's pretty awesome. I'm sure this could very well be the game that people have been wanting for years.

 

Though I do have some concerns with it going on PC. The problem many people will have with this is that, on PC, it's going to be a Windows 10 Store UWP exclusive. Also, they'll probably lock vSync on and/or have a 60 FPS lock, and even if they don't, it's probably not going to run that well. Either way, Microsoft's track record of porting Halo games to the PC is rather bad, and UWP as a platform isn't much better despite being on the "best version of Windows" as Microsoft calls it. Sorry if I seem like a downer, but I personally find it difficult to be excited for this.

[Anthony 669]

1 hour ago, Kavawuvi said:

I'm really liking the art style and design of everything that was in the trailer. Also, you play on another ring? That's pretty awesome. I'm sure this could very well be the game that people have been wanting for years.

 

Though I do have some concerns with it going on PC. The problem many people will have with this is that, on PC, it's going to be a Windows 10 Store UWP exclusive. Also, they'll probably lock vSync on and/or have a 60 FPS lock, and even if they don't, it's probably not going to run that well. Either way, Microsoft's track record of porting Halo games to the PC is rather bad, and UWP as a platform isn't much better despite being on the "best version of Windows" as Microsoft calls it. Sorry if I seem like a downer, but I personally find it difficult to be excited for this.

actually some of the more recent titles haven't been bad. HW2 was actually really well done on the pc side, and they even managed to get cross platform working without any problems that i could find.

[Kavawuvi 7,026]

21 minutes ago, Anthony said:

actually some of the more recent titles haven't been bad. HW2 was actually really well done on the pc side, and they even managed to get cross platform working without any problems that i could find.

So here is their track record of Halo FPS titles on PC:

• Halo Combat Evolved is a buggy mess that has only one reason for its continued existence: the modding community.
• Halo 2 Vista was an insult to the original Xbox version of the game. Not only that, but it was plagued with DRM - something I would have expected from EA, not Microsoft. I didn't even bother getting this version of the game.
• Halo 5 Forge doesn't seem to have much point in existing. The rather heavy requirements limit its usage to primarily gaming PCs, and it's not even a good PC game. Also, it runs poorly and has a pretty dismal custom games browser.

As for UWP, remember Quantum Broken? Or Cupstutter: Don't Deal With The Microsoft? The Steam versions were alright, but the Windows 10 Store versions were horrible.

 

Maybe they'll get it right this time. Right now I'm pretty doubtful, and the only thing that can alleviate my doubt is a set of reviews of the PC version of this game from reliable sources.

 

[ShikuTeshi 1,299]

Halo CE was their first attempt at doing that with Halo. And that was done by Bungie and Gearbox. Microsoft is just a publisher.

 

Halo 2 Vista was likely enforced by Microsoft to try to promote Windows 7 alpha test OS. Which failed horribly because the Windows 7 alpha was too early for its age.

 

Halo 5 Forge is something I see as an attempt at 343 trying out Microsofts "play anywhere" API which makes porting games from console and PC a lot easier. I didn't see it as a real attempt at bringing a modern Halo game to PC. But more of 343 asking themselves, "Can we figure out and use this new API by Microsoft for future games?" And just gain an understanding of how the system works. And they probably got a good handle on it because the game feels good on a controller and has access to all the custom maps and assets created on the console version.

This is under the assumption that the API wasn't in the engine to begin with. But now it'll be implemented from the start in their new SlipSpace engine.

Edited June 12, 2018 by ShikuTeshi

[Kavawuvi 7,026]

6 hours ago, ShikuTeshi said:

Halo 2 Vista was likely enforced by Microsoft to try to promote Windows 7 alpha test OS. Which failed horribly because the Windows 7 alpha was too early for its age.

Yeah, it was a rushed port for a rushed OS. But I stand by the fact that I feel DRM and Games for Windows Live really fucked over Halo 2.

 

6 hours ago, ShikuTeshi said:

Halo 5 Forge is something I see as an attempt at 343 trying out Microsofts "play anywhere" API which makes porting games from console and PC a lot easier. I didn't see it as a real attempt at bringing a modern Halo game to PC. 

But more of 343 asking themselves, "Can we figure out and use this new API by Microsoft for future games?" And just gain an understanding of how the system works. And they probably got a good handle on it because the game feels good on a controller and has access to all the custom maps and assets created on the console version.

This is under the assumption that the API wasn't in the engine to begin with. But now it'll be implemented from the start in their new SlipSpace engine.

I didn't see it as an attempt, either. When it came out, it was just Forge but you could play with people on your friends list. I didn't have a problem with that in itself, to be honest. Rather, I didn't see much point in it given the requirements for running it, as I doubt many people with an Xbox One would have a PC with the specifications in the game. After all, it's supposed to be something you use alongside the retail game rather than played as a game itself. Also, Halo 5 Forge was a bit crashy and laggy, the lack of an simple FOV slider was kind of dumb, and 60 FPS locks are gross.

[Sunstriker7 698]

11 hours ago, Anthony said:

actually some of the more recent titles haven't been bad. HW2 was actually really well done on the pc side, and they even managed to get cross platform working without any problems that i could find.

You should hear what @Skeezix the Cat has to say about the train wreck that Halo Wars 2 on the windows store was

[Anthony 669]

6 hours ago, Sunstriker7 said:

You should hear what @Skeezix the Cat has to say about the train wreck that Halo Wars 2 on the windows store was

i've been playing the windows store copy, haven't had any major issues that dont exist on the xbox as well.

[Skeezix the Cat 3,089]

It wasn't necessarily the games themselves, it was just the microsoft store.  Technically speaking a lot of the problems I had initially affected any store apps even though before this point I had never used it.  I believe I've repressed a lot of it because I'm not 100% sure if it was just Halo Wars 2, or if it was both 2 and 1 but I genuinely could not install and play them.  I don't think I've ever been more frustrated with trying to play a game before.  I had downloaded Halo Wars 1 multiple times while I still had a data cap and it would fail at 99% then make me start over.  I ended up paying probably between 50-100 dollars in data overage fees :\ Then HW2 I think I got downloaded but wouldn't start because of some error from the store and of course it wouldn't let me bypass it.  I tried so many things; cache clearing, permission editing, reinstalling, user accounts you name it.  In the end the ONLY way I could play them was by installing windows on another hard drive and dual booting.  And even that took two tries because the first time I did it I got the same errors as I originally did.

 

And what was just the icing on the cake is, many months later after I had already played through both and gotten some hours in, for shits and giggles I tried playing HW2 on my main windows install and it just worked.  No fuss...no errors...it just...worked.  So did HW Definitive Edition.  The store was just fucking with me from the very start because it knew this was one of my most anticipated games of all time, on the platform I wanted ;(

 

 

17 hours ago, Kavawuvi said:

Maybe they'll get it right this time.

 

They won't.  Trust me they won't.  It has almost nothing to do with whether or not the port of the game itself runs well and is relatively bug free.  I mean that's a factor, same as with any game but the fact that it's UWP is an auto loss.  I'm sure it'll work for 60% of people and they'll say "I haven't had any problems.  I'm fine with it tbh".  The shit I dug through and messed with involving the store is vast.  It is a convoluted, awful system with horrible control over what happens and why, errors are cryptic and useless, "fixes" rarely do anything, and so on.  I pray that when I get this game that I'm one of the lucky ones that can pass the UWP test and go on to see if the game itself is well functioning.