This thread is inspired by another: view original post
With the last two Halo games Bungie made, ODST and Reach, it was apparent to me that they [Edit: Bungie] were ready to try very new and different things than what they were doing with Halos 1-3. People who call Halo 3 the "last Halo" are exactly right. The issue is that many seem to assume "If it doesn't fit the established Halo formula, it's bad." Taken on their own merits, ODST and Reach were very creative. A departure from the "Formula."
One essential part of what made Halo great was the sense of ownership of the character. Not seeing Master Chiefs/Noble 6/The Rookie's faces; then of course armor permutations going from solid color options in Halo CE to full armor customization in Reach. Seeing as their expansion of these themes was more or less linear, and given the extremely fast evolution of the Halo universe (H3>ODST>Reach are drastically different), Destiny is likely going to be something of an exponential increase in many areas. As for my topic, in terms of customization. I expect there will be a whole lot. This is pretty obvious, but it's the easiest to type about at 12am.
If anyone feels like sounding brainy on the internet, I'd love to hear any other themes or trends you have noticed throughout Bungie games, or even just the Halo series. I'm pointing out just one - the theme of personalization and ownership of the player character. Many other possibilities include weapon balance trends, UI trends, HUD trends, anything!
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Well, building off what you were saying, Armor Abillities themselves are a form of player personalizations. While some of the Armor Abillities in Reach were pretty poorly implemented, the idea itself is pretty sound: it gives all players a way of specializing their role on the battlefield a little bit. Some people saw armor abillities as a violation of Halo's cherished "Everyone starts on a level and even playing field" thing, but in a way it doesn't really, no more so than choosing to run to the rockets at the beginning of a match rather than snipers. Another trend I definitely think we're going to see more of is an evolution upon user created content. In every interview about Forge, Theatre, and the like, Bungie Employees say over and over again how they are amazed and sometimes horrified at what the community is able to do given very limited tools. Giving us better tools so that our creativity can blossom is in their best interests. I feel Destiny is going to break a lot of ground, but those are two areas in particular I think they might invest some of their focus into.