This was very thorough, litterally a feature length film. I can only imagine the labor of love this project must have been. After all ya gotta really like the game to produce this. Whats crazy is how much longer it could have been. Ensemble really knocked it out of the park with this game. It's not surprising to see the friction with Bungie. They were bombarded for years with people trynna adopt the IP. The privilege and novelty of a halo spinoffs was completely dissolutioned by 343. Back in the day people flamed halo wars the same way we do 343 nowadays but looking back, it was so not warranted. Halo Wars is as close as we will ever have to Halo before it was converted to an FPS.
Amazing video! I honestly went into this thinking it would just be a long drawn out ramble that I could listen to in the background while I was doing something else. I’m glad that I was wrong, and that this truly was a comprehensive retrospective about Halo Wars 1. I liked how you talked about the development of the game, small things in the art style/music that were subtle, and what eventually happened to the staff of Ensemble after they were closed down. It’s too bad they were shut down. Luckily they now have jobs, and are doing other stuff. As for why they were shut down I’ve seen conflicting information on the matter. Some stuff that says it was just Microsoft leadership cutting corners, and others saying that Ensemble was using funds on various projects that were never approved. The real answer is definitely somewhere in the middle. I’ve had various small issues with this game in terms of enemy/allied ai, difficultly, and overall gameplay that I couldn’t quite nail down. Thanks to this video now I know what those problems are. Luckily I can still enjoy the game despite it’s flaws. In fact I love the art style/music, and the various voice lines from the announcer or whatever you call him are burned into my brain. It was interesting how you compared the game to others that released on consoles talking about what the different games did better and worse. It was also cool how you talked about some of the different things that were cut. I heard rumors about the Flood being considered to be a playable faction, but didn’t believe it until I actually saw the design docs in your video. Luckily modders have made them playable, and different people have various interpretations on how their gameplay should work. It’s unfortunate that the gameplay is really bare bones and there isn’t much unit variety. But, on the other hand it works great as an introductory title. Waypoint commands not being in the game is definitely unfortunate. Luckily there’s a guy who has been adding a bunch of stuff like that, Hunters going berserk when their bond brother is dead, and building anywhere (although it’s done with certain units that can act as portable nodes, or free building nearby). There were several cut units/vehicles that would have helped to flesh out the game. It’s also too bad that we never got a Covenant campaign. I remember when first playing it I thought that I’d be able to play as the bad guys. I was pretty disappointed by the lack of one. Luckily they spent that time making the UNSC story more fleshed out. I’m kind of torn on the fact that we can’t build anywhere like in the e3 trailer and how we build using different nodes. On one hand it would definitely be really cool to put stuff anywhere flat, the original building designs looked a lot cooler, and it’s very obvious that the Covenant buildings could have just been scaled up since they have doors and the Summit clearly has air pads. On the other hand it makes gameplay go faster, defenses are easier to set up, and it wouldn’t take a thousand years just to get the bases looking good (I have OCD so that would be especially bad for me, and they’d most likely end up getting destroyed anyways). One thing I’d love to see, but I’m aware will likely never happened is for crossplay between versions for HW1 to be enabled, and HW2 to come to Steam. It would also have been amazing if both versions were given proper modding tools like 343 did for MCC where you can easily import custom assets, and make major changes to the game easily. As well as a map editor so people could make new skirmish maps, and even campaign levels. Sadly this almost certainly won’t happen. Again truly amazing video. I really hope that others see it. Do you think that you’ll do a video on Halo Wars 2? Or probably not?
Thanks for that ! was kinda worried that most people would tune out moreso because it was more stats based than anything as well as a non super edited interview at the start. But yeah, it's good that at least a lot of the staff have gotten jobs afterwards.. but as for the why. there wasn't really a lot of solid info due to the fact that a lot of the sources for interviews have since closed and some of them weren't even available on the wayback machine website D: That as well as those involved not being able to talk about it (I'm assuming) but yeah, as you mentioned, it could possibly be some where in the middle. Some of the information that I got in terms of gameplay were definitely from other people. I could tell something was off, but the raw stats were things I definitely didn't know. But same, I'm not good at RTS games, but I definitely enjoy them haha. Fairly certain the info I got about the flood all pointed to one or a few articles that weren't able to look through on the way back machine but I could just be using it wrong. Yeah, Halo Wars is definitely an introductory title for newcomers to the RTS Genre, but in terms of mods, i haven't looked too much into it, other than the flood mod that I used for the vid but I definitely should :o and yeah, it sucks not having the covenant campaign, but better to flesh out one campaign than have two bad campaigns Oh yeah I'm definitely the same when it comes to the building parts. It's like part sim city when I get free reign on building placements haha. Yeah, crossplay would be pretty neat, especially with the low player numbers, it could definitely give those who still play, more people to play with. Thanks for the comment! I don't nrmally get ones as detailed as yours :D As for Halo Wars 2.. I'd be down for that, but it's more of a when I have time due to work picking up and uni going on, It's a little hard for me to have time to do anything D:
@qstnmrk Thanks for replying to my comment. Also, sorry for the late response. In terms of mods I unfortunately haven’t played any since I only have the console version. I really should get around to buying the Steam version so I can play all those cool mods. There’s videos showing off the various mods, but they’re unfortunately really outdated because the videos have been years ago. One thing I find hilarious is how because they can’t really import custom assets any new vehicles are always a weird mashup of different in game assets. It ends up looking really silly. Also, all the new units are mostly just reskins with different weapons. It’s pretty funny. I looked up the different companies you’ve mentioned, and sadly they just make cringe. The fact that these were made by ex Ensemble staff is equal parts comedy and tragedy for the exact same reasons. They went from making revolutionary titles like the Age games to bad mobile games. Hopefully they make something good at some point. It makes me really sad and laugh at the same time. I’m sure the stats would probably make others toon out, but luckily I’m the kind of person who prefers to have something to listen to in the background when I’m doing something. It was definitely an interesting video. You definitely did your research! Admittedly I’m not very good at rts games either. I think they’re really fun, but have a hard time micromanaging multiple small armies. I’ve watched a few pro rts players, and they’re definitely in a whole other league. The first rts game that I’ve ever played was this Lego flash game called CrystAlien Conflict. It was pretty fun, and got me into rts games. There’s actually a community that have archived the game so you can download it (when flash was still around you could just play it on your browser), and have a few bug fixes. Sadly, they haven’t actually added anything new like new levels, units, or online multiplayer (admittedly it would be really weird for people to do that). I also really liked this other Lego rts for the ds (not sure why there weren’t more ds rts games because the touch screen works really well for that kind of game). This is kind of off topic, but there’s this Zelda rts called Hyrule Conquest that’s actively being made by a guy called UndyingNephalim. It used to be called Hyrule Total War and was a mod for Medieval 2, but the guy ported it over to 0ad (an open source rts so it’s 100% free) because he wasn’t nearly as limited by the engine. He’s been at it for over a decade, and added in all kinds of crazy stuff into the game. All the factions have a different play style. For the lore he used ideas from the three canon timelines;as well as real world symbolism, mythology, and history. In terms of story it’s a mixed bag. There’s a lot of cool ideas, but also a lot of weird ideas that take the source material into some bizarre directions. Fairly recently he made it so all the factions use a node based building system. I’m kind of torn on this because originally the factions were a mix of free build, bode based, and a few that were a hybrid of the two where you could build anywhere in your territory but the buildings had nodes inside them. It took away some of the uniqueness of the different factions. He’s said that the reason for this is so they can streamline coding the ai, and makes map generation a lot easier. You should really check it out. There’s also another fan made rts called Lambda Wars. You can get the thing on Steam for free. It’s Combine vs Rebels. Unfortunately those are the only two factions (would have liked the HECU, and Xen forces as playable factions along with their own campaign), but it has a bunch of game modes. It’s really cool. halo Wars 2 is probably the better game in terms of depth where it’s just enough that you need to use more than just having more guys combined with Rock Paper Scissors. The different leaders have slightly different play styles due to each one having a gimmick. Leader powers are more useful since now they’re a variety of different powers every leader can use. I really liked how the campaign has some variety where some missions are the classic rts deathmatch, others are a tower defense, and some are pseudo stealth. Unfortunately it mostly just serves as a tutorial for multiplayer, and doesn’t expand upon the Halo story that much. The art style is this weird blend of 343 and Bungie where they utilize designs from the different games. This definitely isn’t perfect, and makes certain things look out of place. The bases have a more temporary design where everything’s been dropped in, rather than the more fortified look of HW1 (I prefer the old base styles). The Banished look really good, and wouldn’t want them changed. The UNSC however just look like toys because their stuff is all shiny and looks like plastic. I prefer the more gritty design in HW1. For a long time something didn’t feel right about the Ark in Halo Wars 2, and it eventually dawned on me. This simply doesn’t look like the Ark. the environments are beautiful, and really detailed. But, the Forerunner architecture looks like something from 4/5. Basically nothing in the game looks like the Ark form 3. I just wish that they would have made the different Forerunner structures look like the ones in 3. Also, none of the levels or maps look like locations from the Ark. I know that the thing is truly massive, and it would just feel like fam service if they were to retread the same locations. I just think that they could have had one or two missions that use a slightly modified version of levels like the Ark and Covenant from 3, as well as a few multiplayer maps that vaguely resemble maps from 3. They could have reimagining the cancelled cut Guardian Forest level from 3, and had the gimmick me that the mission focuses mainly on air combat and needing to transport troops with pelicans from one platform to another. They could have also had a level or multiplayer map set in the cut Forerunner City level and made the gimmick be focused on elevation. I’m basically just spit balling here. I remember back when they were still pumping out leader dlcs there were cool rumors/theories about a Jackal pirate leader that has all three subspecies present. This would have been really good considering the complete lack of Jackals in Halo Wars 2. There would be the 4/5 Jackals as cannon fodder armed with shield gauntlets, and can be upgraded to have needlers and unbreakable shields. Skirmishers would replace the Jump Pack Brutes as shock troops. The normal Jackals would be the designated snipers armed with Beam Rifles. And the Hero would be a Jackal pirate queen/ship mistress. I was so disappointed when this didn’t happen. I apologize for this comment being more ramble, and less structured than the previous one.
@@shreksnow1918 o fair enough.. if you do get it, you could aways wait for a steam sale. and o yeah some games are like that where they can't import new assets but i bet haha. yeah it is unfortunate that pretty much most, if not all of them are mobile devs. i appreciate that :D same :o and yeah those pros are on a completely different level :o o damn i definintely should check out those games you mentioned. I haven't really been looking for rts games, but want to. that zelda rts does sound like a lot of fun though and i'll definitely check it out. I haven't delved into skirmish or multiplayer for Halo Wars 2 :o but I'm going to :o but true about the campaign. it's been a long while since i've played Halo Wars 2 so my information is a little hazy, but I do remember having the same feeling as you about the Ark D: Damn, that would've been cool :o i was someone who never played at release, or even when they were releasing dlc sadly D: it's all good :D i've been busy with assignments so it's all good :D
@qstnmrk Sorry for the atrociously late response. What happened was due to a combination of real life, getting distracted by other things, and procrastination I haven’t responded until now. Both Hyrule Conquest and Lambda Wars are pretty cool. Although, Lambda Wars hasn’t really gotten any updates. Luckily UndyingNephalim updated Hyrule Conquest a few months ago. Haven’t played the most recent update, but it has some cool stuff. For whatever weird reason the guy changed his username to theicecreamman. Since all of his other accounts have the same name I’m guessing it’s a dumb joke that won’t last very long. Upon rewatching this it made me notice some things I didn’t catch before. Like what you said about how they based some of the designs off the cancelled Halo movie. Based on the weird scripts I’ve seen I’m pretty sure we dodged a bullet, but it definitely would have been better than the “Halo” show we got. It’s so weird how after all those years in development hell we got this dumpster fire. What makes it worse is Paramount renewed the contract and are planning on franchising the thing. It’s amazing just how badly they botched it. My ideal Halo show would have been a mini series that juggles the plots of CE, Fireteam Raven (there’s a few videos talking about the characters and they actually have some interesting lore to them. You just never see any of it in the rail shooter that nobody played), and The Flood book (the book was a mixed bag. The parts adapting CE weren’t very good because the gameplay didn’t really translate well into book form. Chief would swap his weapon, he’d pick up a health pack, and once he reaches x amount of bullets he’d reload. Stuff like that. But, the side stories were truly phenomenal. I really liked the infection of Jenkins and Keyes. The Grunt and Elite hunting Chief was a really good side story. I liked the parts with Alpha Base, but don’t remember much of the ODST side story). Make some minor changes for the sake of adaptation to make the story flow better, make connections where none previously existed, and improve upon the source material. You’d be able to explore the different sides of the conflict. If they wanted to explore the character’s origins they could have flashbacks to Contact Harvest (really need to get around to actually reading that book. I have a physical copy at home, but haven’t opened it for whatever reason), Fall of Reach/the game Reach, and other stuff like that. For tone they could have had a gritty war movie with moments of levity, and when Chief shows up you’d have over the top action to show Spartans can do things that normal humans cannot. They had everything set in stone, and didn’t use it. It’s really too bad that Halo is in such a disastrous state. Luckily mods will be it’s saving grace. It’s so weird how badly 343 botched Infinite. It had pretty much everything going for it. The gameplay is super fun, the art style is great and uses the best aspects of Bungie and 343, the competition was completely inept, the marketing was going super strong, and so many people (myself included) legitimately believed that 343 were in the path of redemption with all the fixes and cool stuff they were adding to MCC (granted most of these were things that should have been there from the start and were long overdue). Warp to however many months later and they still haven’t delivered on numerous things they promised. They seriously should have just ditched the Halo engine and used Unreal because that one doesn’t have insane technical debt, and has a bunch of built in techniques for streamlining development. Hopefully they can get the game fixed at some point. There’s just no content. Something I really wish they’d do going forwards is to make more spinoff games. Halo can lend itself to all kinds of different genres and stories. Luckily there’s a few really cool mods/fan games in development. The first of these is a massive mod for Arma 3 called Operation Trebuchet/First Contact. Unfortunately Arma is very hard to make animations for so they only two Covenant they have in the game now are Elites and Jackals. Both are super janky. Luckily there’s already plenty of Covenant weapons/vehicles. Because of this most of the content is built around UNSC vs Rebels/Insurrectionists (which is something we sadly only see in the books and the “Halo” show). It’s very impressive. Haven’t played it because I don’t have a good computer. There’s this channel called ODST General that has plenty of updates on the game. You should check out his channel if you want to learn more. There’s also several other channels that record different ops. It definitely looks amazing. Having a group of friends playing that would definitely be super fun. No idea why Microsoft hasn’t made anything like this. Another fan project is this game called Branching Sickness. It’s a Flood horror game. You’re in this Forerunner facility and the Flood have infected everyone there and you need to survive. Unfortunately it doesn’t have a demo out, and ODST General said he hasn’t heard much from them recently. I think there was a third thing, but I forgot while typing this. Something I really wish we’d get is an Xcom style Halo where you have a squad of ODSTs and marines. Halo would lend itself really well to this because the enemy variety is all there, there’s plenty of weapons you could arm your troops with, you’d be able to customize your forces, and there would be room for dlc with Flood/Sentinels, and Rebels. Let’s hope that something like this gets made.
@qstnmrk The fact Microsoft closed Ensemble right as the game was completed makes me think of what happens with Fallout Tactics how that company fired everyone and cancelled the sequel. Both games had a really rocky development, and it’s a miracle either one is functional. I discovered this funny exploit on the Super Scarab level where if you put some marines in one of the Jackal sniper nests the Scarab will spot them and start using it’s super beam on them. For whatever reason the beam can’t reach them so it will just keep attacking something it can’t damage. Destroying the nodes makes it stop paying attention to the marines. Every time I play that level I’ll use that to cheese the fight. Upon rewatching the video I noticed you mentioned the game Blinx. It’s been who knows how many years since I played that game. I liked the weird music and how all the monsters were surreal. I will be sure to check that video out. I once watched this video talking about the sequel and the guy said it’s not very good, and this was at the time when everyone was trying to make 3D platformers edgy. I personally really liked Awakening the Nightmare. Since it’s an rts it did a really good job of showing the crazy scale of a Flood outbreak, I really liked how the infected units were grotesque, and it was fun. Although, I will admit I am kind of conflicted about it because it didn’t really add much to the story, and bringing the Flood back kind of cheapens 3’s ending. Still it would have been much better than using the created (I once saw this video showing off concept art where the Prometheans could have been the dlc enemies, and I’m very glad they didn’t go with them). The new Firefight mode was pretty fun. I am disappointed that we didn’t get to play as the Flood though. The multiplayer was pretty fun. For a very long time my favorite leader was Decimus because his leader power allowed you to drop him into combat in addition to whatever the main leader was. I cannot tell you the amount of times me and my team got Shreked by someone spamming Protectir Sentinels at the start of the match. Those things were basically sky Locusts. Unfortunately the maps aren’t nearly as good as the ones in HW1, and don’t have much variety. Halo Canon has a video called “Halo Wars DLC & Sequel-What Never Was” (I would post the link, but CZcams doesn’t like those). Personally I think that the Brute campaign could easily be squeezed into the current canon with very little issues. You’d just need to figure out exactly how the sequence of events would happen, and right before they reach the Spirit of Fire have it be sucked into slipspace. Plus, if they added in the cut Brute tanks it could be a good way to retroactively foreshadow that the Brutes like to modify Covenant technology (referencing the Banished). As for the original Halo Wars 2 I’m kind of glad we didn’t get it because it would have cheapened Forge’s sacrifice, and I like the version we got. Still it would have definitely been it’s resting to see where they’d take the story. I’m sure they would have ironed out a bunch of the issues the first game had, added more units/mechanics for some much needed depth, and maybe even added the Flood as a playable faction. Eckartsladder has a 9 minute video talking about what little we know about the cancelled Halo Wars 3, and had some speculation to go along with it. I’m sad 343 dumped the series. There’s a lot of room for more stuff in the rts genre. Good luck with whatever you make next. And same goes for real life.
how does this not have 100 thousand views lmao. amazing work
This was very thorough, litterally a feature length film. I can only imagine the labor of love this project must have been. After all ya gotta really like the game to produce this. Whats crazy is how much longer it could have been. Ensemble really knocked it out of the park with this game. It's not surprising to see the friction with Bungie. They were bombarded for years with people trynna adopt the IP. The privilege and novelty of a halo spinoffs was completely dissolutioned by 343. Back in the day people flamed halo wars the same way we do 343 nowadays but looking back, it was so not warranted. Halo Wars is as close as we will ever have to Halo before it was converted to an FPS.
Great and interesting video man. I used to play a ton of this game back then. This video is extremely underrated.
Yeah, I had a great time playing the game. I appreciate the kind words.
Underrated
Amazing video! I honestly went into this thinking it would just be a long drawn out ramble that I could listen to in the background while I was doing something else. I’m glad that I was wrong, and that this truly was a comprehensive retrospective about Halo Wars 1. I liked how you talked about the development of the game, small things in the art style/music that were subtle, and what eventually happened to the staff of Ensemble after they were closed down. It’s too bad they were shut down. Luckily they now have jobs, and are doing other stuff. As for why they were shut down I’ve seen conflicting information on the matter. Some stuff that says it was just Microsoft leadership cutting corners, and others saying that Ensemble was using funds on various projects that were never approved. The real answer is definitely somewhere in the middle.
I’ve had various small issues with this game in terms of enemy/allied ai, difficultly, and overall gameplay that I couldn’t quite nail down. Thanks to this video now I know what those problems are. Luckily I can still enjoy the game despite it’s flaws. In fact I love the art style/music, and the various voice lines from the announcer or whatever you call him are burned into my brain.
It was interesting how you compared the game to others that released on consoles talking about what the different games did better and worse. It was also cool how you talked about some of the different things that were cut. I heard rumors about the Flood being considered to be a playable faction, but didn’t believe it until I actually saw the design docs in your video. Luckily modders have made them playable, and different people have various interpretations on how their gameplay should work.
It’s unfortunate that the gameplay is really bare bones and there isn’t much unit variety. But, on the other hand it works great as an introductory title. Waypoint commands not being in the game is definitely unfortunate. Luckily there’s a guy who has been adding a bunch of stuff like that, Hunters going berserk when their bond brother is dead, and building anywhere (although it’s done with certain units that can act as portable nodes, or free building nearby). There were several cut units/vehicles that would have helped to flesh out the game. It’s also too bad that we never got a Covenant campaign. I remember when first playing it I thought that I’d be able to play as the bad guys. I was pretty disappointed by the lack of one. Luckily they spent that time making the UNSC story more fleshed out.
I’m kind of torn on the fact that we can’t build anywhere like in the e3 trailer and how we build using different nodes. On one hand it would definitely be really cool to put stuff anywhere flat, the original building designs looked a lot cooler, and it’s very obvious that the Covenant buildings could have just been scaled up since they have doors and the Summit clearly has air pads. On the other hand it makes gameplay go faster, defenses are easier to set up, and it wouldn’t take a thousand years just to get the bases looking good (I have OCD so that would be especially bad for me, and they’d most likely end up getting destroyed anyways).
One thing I’d love to see, but I’m aware will likely never happened is for crossplay between versions for HW1 to be enabled, and HW2 to come to Steam. It would also have been amazing if both versions were given proper modding tools like 343 did for MCC where you can easily import custom assets, and make major changes to the game easily. As well as a map editor so people could make new skirmish maps, and even campaign levels. Sadly this almost certainly won’t happen.
Again truly amazing video. I really hope that others see it.
Do you think that you’ll do a video on Halo Wars 2? Or probably not?
Thanks for that ! was kinda worried that most people would tune out moreso because it was more stats based than anything as well as a non super edited interview at the start.
But yeah, it's good that at least a lot of the staff have gotten jobs afterwards.. but as for the why. there wasn't really a lot of solid info due to the fact that a lot of the sources for interviews have since closed and some of them weren't even available on the wayback machine website D: That as well as those involved not being able to talk about it (I'm assuming) but yeah, as you mentioned, it could possibly be some where in the middle.
Some of the information that I got in terms of gameplay were definitely from other people. I could tell something was off, but the raw stats were things I definitely didn't know. But same, I'm not good at RTS games, but I definitely enjoy them haha.
Fairly certain the info I got about the flood all pointed to one or a few articles that weren't able to look through on the way back machine but I could just be using it wrong.
Yeah, Halo Wars is definitely an introductory title for newcomers to the RTS Genre, but in terms of mods, i haven't looked too much into it, other than the flood mod that I used for the vid but I definitely should :o and yeah, it sucks not having the covenant campaign, but better to flesh out one campaign than have two bad campaigns
Oh yeah I'm definitely the same when it comes to the building parts. It's like part sim city when I get free reign on building placements haha.
Yeah, crossplay would be pretty neat, especially with the low player numbers, it could definitely give those who still play, more people to play with.
Thanks for the comment! I don't nrmally get ones as detailed as yours :D
As for Halo Wars 2.. I'd be down for that, but it's more of a when I have time due to work picking up and uni going on, It's a little hard for me to have time to do anything D:
@qstnmrk Thanks for replying to my comment. Also, sorry for the late response.
In terms of mods I unfortunately haven’t played any since I only have the console version. I really should get around to buying the Steam version so I can play all those cool mods. There’s videos showing off the various mods, but they’re unfortunately really outdated because the videos have been years ago. One thing I find hilarious is how because they can’t really import custom assets any new vehicles are always a weird mashup of different in game assets. It ends up looking really silly. Also, all the new units are mostly just reskins with different weapons. It’s pretty funny.
I looked up the different companies you’ve mentioned, and sadly they just make cringe. The fact that these were made by ex Ensemble staff is equal parts comedy and tragedy for the exact same reasons. They went from making revolutionary titles like the Age games to bad mobile games. Hopefully they make something good at some point. It makes me really sad and laugh at the same time.
I’m sure the stats would probably make others toon out, but luckily I’m the kind of person who prefers to have something to listen to in the background when I’m doing something. It was definitely an interesting video. You definitely did your research!
Admittedly I’m not very good at rts games either. I think they’re really fun, but have a hard time micromanaging multiple small armies. I’ve watched a few pro rts players, and they’re definitely in a whole other league. The first rts game that I’ve ever played was this Lego flash game called CrystAlien Conflict. It was pretty fun, and got me into rts games. There’s actually a community that have archived the game so you can download it (when flash was still around you could just play it on your browser), and have a few bug fixes. Sadly, they haven’t actually added anything new like new levels, units, or online multiplayer (admittedly it would be really weird for people to do that). I also really liked this other Lego rts for the ds (not sure why there weren’t more ds rts games because the touch screen works really well for that kind of game).
This is kind of off topic, but there’s this Zelda rts called Hyrule Conquest that’s actively being made by a guy called UndyingNephalim. It used to be called Hyrule Total War and was a mod for Medieval 2, but the guy ported it over to 0ad (an open source rts so it’s 100% free) because he wasn’t nearly as limited by the engine. He’s been at it for over a decade, and added in all kinds of crazy stuff into the game. All the factions have a different play style. For the lore he used ideas from the three canon timelines;as well as real world symbolism, mythology, and history. In terms of story it’s a mixed bag. There’s a lot of cool ideas, but also a lot of weird ideas that take the source material into some bizarre directions. Fairly recently he made it so all the factions use a node based building system. I’m kind of torn on this because originally the factions were a mix of free build, bode based, and a few that were a hybrid of the two where you could build anywhere in your territory but the buildings had nodes inside them. It took away some of the uniqueness of the different factions. He’s said that the reason for this is so they can streamline coding the ai, and makes map generation a lot easier. You should really check it out.
There’s also another fan made rts called Lambda Wars. You can get the thing on Steam for free. It’s Combine vs Rebels. Unfortunately those are the only two factions (would have liked the HECU, and Xen forces as playable factions along with their own campaign), but it has a bunch of game modes. It’s really cool.
halo Wars 2 is probably the better game in terms of depth where it’s just enough that you need to use more than just having more guys combined with Rock Paper Scissors. The different leaders have slightly different play styles due to each one having a gimmick. Leader powers are more useful since now they’re a variety of different powers every leader can use.
I really liked how the campaign has some variety where some missions are the classic rts deathmatch, others are a tower defense, and some are pseudo stealth. Unfortunately it mostly just serves as a tutorial for multiplayer, and doesn’t expand upon the Halo story that much.
The art style is this weird blend of 343 and Bungie where they utilize designs from the different games. This definitely isn’t perfect, and makes certain things look out of place. The bases have a more temporary design where everything’s been dropped in, rather than the more fortified look of HW1 (I prefer the old base styles). The Banished look really good, and wouldn’t want them changed. The UNSC however just look like toys because their stuff is all shiny and looks like plastic. I prefer the more gritty design in HW1.
For a long time something didn’t feel right about the Ark in Halo Wars 2, and it eventually dawned on me. This simply doesn’t look like the Ark. the environments are beautiful, and really detailed. But, the Forerunner architecture looks like something from 4/5. Basically nothing in the game looks like the Ark form 3. I just wish that they would have made the different Forerunner structures look like the ones in 3. Also, none of the levels or maps look like locations from the Ark. I know that the thing is truly massive, and it would just feel like fam service if they were to retread the same locations. I just think that they could have had one or two missions that use a slightly modified version of levels like the Ark and Covenant from 3, as well as a few multiplayer maps that vaguely resemble maps from 3. They could have reimagining the cancelled cut Guardian Forest level from 3, and had the gimmick me that the mission focuses mainly on air combat and needing to transport troops with pelicans from one platform to another. They could have also had a level or multiplayer map set in the cut Forerunner City level and made the gimmick be focused on elevation. I’m basically just spit balling here.
I remember back when they were still pumping out leader dlcs there were cool rumors/theories about a Jackal pirate leader that has all three subspecies present. This would have been really good considering the complete lack of Jackals in Halo Wars 2. There would be the 4/5 Jackals as cannon fodder armed with shield gauntlets, and can be upgraded to have needlers and unbreakable shields. Skirmishers would replace the Jump Pack Brutes as shock troops. The normal Jackals would be the designated snipers armed with Beam Rifles. And the Hero would be a Jackal pirate queen/ship mistress. I was so disappointed when this didn’t happen.
I apologize for this comment being more ramble, and less structured than the previous one.
@@shreksnow1918 o fair enough.. if you do get it, you could aways wait for a steam sale. and o yeah some games are like that where they can't import new assets but i bet haha.
yeah it is unfortunate that pretty much most, if not all of them are mobile devs.
i appreciate that :D
same :o and yeah those pros are on a completely different level :o o damn i definintely should check out those games you mentioned. I haven't really been looking for rts games, but want to.
that zelda rts does sound like a lot of fun though and i'll definitely check it out.
I haven't delved into skirmish or multiplayer for Halo Wars 2 :o but I'm going to :o but true about the campaign. it's been a long while since i've played Halo Wars 2 so my information is a little hazy, but I do remember having the same feeling as you about the Ark D:
Damn, that would've been cool :o i was someone who never played at release, or even when they were releasing dlc sadly D:
it's all good :D i've been busy with assignments so it's all good :D
@qstnmrk Sorry for the atrociously late response. What happened was due to a combination of real life, getting distracted by other things, and procrastination I haven’t responded until now.
Both Hyrule Conquest and Lambda Wars are pretty cool. Although, Lambda Wars hasn’t really gotten any updates. Luckily UndyingNephalim updated Hyrule Conquest a few months ago. Haven’t played the most recent update, but it has some cool stuff. For whatever weird reason the guy changed his username to theicecreamman. Since all of his other accounts have the same name I’m guessing it’s a dumb joke that won’t last very long.
Upon rewatching this it made me notice some things I didn’t catch before. Like what you said about how they based some of the designs off the cancelled Halo movie. Based on the weird scripts I’ve seen I’m pretty sure we dodged a bullet, but it definitely would have been better than the “Halo” show we got. It’s so weird how after all those years in development hell we got this dumpster fire. What makes it worse is Paramount renewed the contract and are planning on franchising the thing. It’s amazing just how badly they botched it.
My ideal Halo show would have been a mini series that juggles the plots of CE, Fireteam Raven (there’s a few videos talking about the characters and they actually have some interesting lore to them. You just never see any of it in the rail shooter that nobody played), and The Flood book (the book was a mixed bag. The parts adapting CE weren’t very good because the gameplay didn’t really translate well into book form. Chief would swap his weapon, he’d pick up a health pack, and once he reaches x amount of bullets he’d reload. Stuff like that. But, the side stories were truly phenomenal. I really liked the infection of Jenkins and Keyes. The Grunt and Elite hunting Chief was a really good side story. I liked the parts with Alpha Base, but don’t remember much of the ODST side story). Make some minor changes for the sake of adaptation to make the story flow better, make connections where none previously existed, and improve upon the source material. You’d be able to explore the different sides of the conflict. If they wanted to explore the character’s origins they could have flashbacks to Contact Harvest (really need to get around to actually reading that book. I have a physical copy at home, but haven’t opened it for whatever reason), Fall of Reach/the game Reach, and other stuff like that. For tone they could have had a gritty war movie with moments of levity, and when Chief shows up you’d have over the top action to show Spartans can do things that normal humans cannot. They had everything set in stone, and didn’t use it.
It’s really too bad that Halo is in such a disastrous state. Luckily mods will be it’s saving grace. It’s so weird how badly 343 botched Infinite. It had pretty much everything going for it. The gameplay is super fun, the art style is great and uses the best aspects of Bungie and 343, the competition was completely inept, the marketing was going super strong, and so many people (myself included) legitimately believed that 343 were in the path of redemption with all the fixes and cool stuff they were adding to MCC (granted most of these were things that should have been there from the start and were long overdue). Warp to however many months later and they still haven’t delivered on numerous things they promised. They seriously should have just ditched the Halo engine and used Unreal because that one doesn’t have insane technical debt, and has a bunch of built in techniques for streamlining development. Hopefully they can get the game fixed at some point. There’s just no content.
Something I really wish they’d do going forwards is to make more spinoff games. Halo can lend itself to all kinds of different genres and stories. Luckily there’s a few really cool mods/fan games in development.
The first of these is a massive mod for Arma 3 called Operation Trebuchet/First Contact. Unfortunately Arma is very hard to make animations for so they only two Covenant they have in the game now are Elites and Jackals. Both are super janky. Luckily there’s already plenty of Covenant weapons/vehicles. Because of this most of the content is built around UNSC vs Rebels/Insurrectionists (which is something we sadly only see in the books and the “Halo” show). It’s very impressive. Haven’t played it because I don’t have a good computer. There’s this channel called ODST General that has plenty of updates on the game. You should check out his channel if you want to learn more. There’s also several other channels that record different ops. It definitely looks amazing. Having a group of friends playing that would definitely be super fun. No idea why Microsoft hasn’t made anything like this.
Another fan project is this game called Branching Sickness. It’s a Flood horror game. You’re in this Forerunner facility and the Flood have infected everyone there and you need to survive. Unfortunately it doesn’t have a demo out, and ODST General said he hasn’t heard much from them recently.
I think there was a third thing, but I forgot while typing this.
Something I really wish we’d get is an Xcom style Halo where you have a squad of ODSTs and marines. Halo would lend itself really well to this because the enemy variety is all there, there’s plenty of weapons you could arm your troops with, you’d be able to customize your forces, and there would be room for dlc with Flood/Sentinels, and Rebels. Let’s hope that something like this gets made.
@qstnmrk The fact Microsoft closed Ensemble right as the game was completed makes me think of what happens with Fallout Tactics how that company fired everyone and cancelled the sequel. Both games had a really rocky development, and it’s a miracle either one is functional.
I discovered this funny exploit on the Super Scarab level where if you put some marines in one of the Jackal sniper nests the Scarab will spot them and start using it’s super beam on them. For whatever reason the beam can’t reach them so it will just keep attacking something it can’t damage. Destroying the nodes makes it stop paying attention to the marines. Every time I play that level I’ll use that to cheese the fight.
Upon rewatching the video I noticed you mentioned the game Blinx. It’s been who knows how many years since I played that game. I liked the weird music and how all the monsters were surreal. I will be sure to check that video out. I once watched this video talking about the sequel and the guy said it’s not very good, and this was at the time when everyone was trying to make 3D platformers edgy.
I personally really liked Awakening the Nightmare. Since it’s an rts it did a really good job of showing the crazy scale of a Flood outbreak, I really liked how the infected units were grotesque, and it was fun. Although, I will admit I am kind of conflicted about it because it didn’t really add much to the story, and bringing the Flood back kind of cheapens 3’s ending. Still it would have been much better than using the created (I once saw this video showing off concept art where the Prometheans could have been the dlc enemies, and I’m very glad they didn’t go with them). The new Firefight mode was pretty fun. I am disappointed that we didn’t get to play as the Flood though.
The multiplayer was pretty fun. For a very long time my favorite leader was Decimus because his leader power allowed you to drop him into combat in addition to whatever the main leader was. I cannot tell you the amount of times me and my team got Shreked by someone spamming Protectir Sentinels at the start of the match. Those things were basically sky Locusts. Unfortunately the maps aren’t nearly as good as the ones in HW1, and don’t have much variety.
Halo Canon has a video called “Halo Wars DLC & Sequel-What Never Was” (I would post the link, but CZcams doesn’t like those). Personally I think that the Brute campaign could easily be squeezed into the current canon with very little issues. You’d just need to figure out exactly how the sequence of events would happen, and right before they reach the Spirit of Fire have it be sucked into slipspace. Plus, if they added in the cut Brute tanks it could be a good way to retroactively foreshadow that the Brutes like to modify Covenant technology (referencing the Banished). As for the original Halo Wars 2 I’m kind of glad we didn’t get it because it would have cheapened Forge’s sacrifice, and I like the version we got. Still it would have definitely been it’s resting to see where they’d take the story. I’m sure they would have ironed out a bunch of the issues the first game had, added more units/mechanics for some much needed depth, and maybe even added the Flood as a playable faction.
Eckartsladder has a 9 minute video talking about what little we know about the cancelled Halo Wars 3, and had some speculation to go along with it. I’m sad 343 dumped the series. There’s a lot of room for more stuff in the rts genre.
Good luck with whatever you make next. And same goes for real life.
GREAT VIDEO BRO! Love Halo Wars so much. I honestly prefer it over the sequel quite a bit!
Commenting for the algorithm
Sweet!
Great video bro, anyone remember during the slow parts taking in the ambience of the campaign maps
o ty :D and o yeah definitely me
why does this have 1k views, should have a mil
lmao u should of seen the comp scene for the game back in the day
i definitely should :o i wanna get good at rts's so it would be a good way to learn