Vastaus: Virallinen Halo-ketju
Uskoisin hieman perusteellisemman ja selkeämmän tiivistelmän olevan tarpeen.
It's been a while since Bungie had a chance to reinvent their brand of online play and Player Investment is Bungie's response to the more RPG-influenced level-based multiplayer experiences found in dominating games like Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2. Whereas Modern Warfare 2 and its ilk confine these experiences to multiplayer, Bungie's hoping to rope all of its Halo fans under a single, player-driven umbrella and involve single-player.
Halo: Reachin krediittijärjestelmä tulee siis toimimaan hieman RPG-pelien tapaan, mutta ei suinkaan rajoitu vaikkapa MW2:n tapaan pelkästään monipeliin - hahmonkehitus tapahtuu jokaisella rintamalla. Palkitsevaa!
Mass Effect 2:ssa ainakin allekirjoittaneelle aiheutti erittäin suurta tyydytystä erilaisten N7-Armor-osien osteleminen, joten ominaisuus ei voi olla tällaisella integraatiolla muuta kuin erinomainen.
"Whatever your preferred flavor of Halo is, we're gonna find a way to reward you," said Bungie player investment designer (and former games journalist) Luke Smith in a phone interview with me earlier this week. "Whatever you enjoy doing in multiplayer, we're gonna find a way to reward you. Through the Player Investment system, you're going to be building an identity for the first time in a Halo game."
Pelissä tosiaan rakennetaan alusta asti ihan oma
identiteetti, joka toimii peli jokaisessa osa-alueessa.
Bungie has detached Halo 3 ranking from the Trueskill system that drives matchmaking. Previously, the on-screen ranking users saw reflected how players would be matched up competitively, meaning someone with a high ranking would most likely be a competent Halo 3 player. That's not necessarily true in Halo: Reach. To be clear, Trueskill is still driving matchmaking, but Player Investment is more reflective of the amount of time someone's dedicated to Halo: Reach and not necessarily their skillset. Someone can have a high Player Investment ranking and be a terrible player. But since Trueskill is tracking that data in the background, away from users, it will still match players appropriately. So, don't worry: terrible Halo: Reach players will be matched with other equally-awful Halo: Reach players.
Player Investmentillä ei siis ole välttämättä korrelaatiota pelaajan taidon kanssa; tämä palkitsee vain yhteenlasketusta peliin investoidusta ajasta. Trueskill toimii tästä irrallaan.
Player Investment is driven by credits ("cR" for short). Credits are given to gamers simply for playing Halo: Reach, either through rounds of multiplayer or by working through the single-player campaign, but the amounts of credits vary, based on the actions of the player. Different actions will dole out a different amount of credits, but Bungie is being careful to not encourage player actions that would potentially damage the gameplay experience. It does mean that more challenging tasks (say, five headshots in under a minute) would produce more credits. Bungie's currently balancing how credits are doled out, but credits drive the Player Investment experience, both to increase a player's Military Rank (replacing Halo 3's Ranking system) and to purchase customization items in Halo: Reach's "Armory."
Krediittejä tienataan yksikössä "cR" erilaisten haasteiden ja toimintojen kautta. Pelaajan itsensä suorittamat toimet tuottavat eri määriä krediittejä. Bungie on kuitenkin G4TV:n mukaan varovainen haasteiden suunnittelussa, ettei tämä vaikuta MP-kokemukseen (ihan niin kuin Halo 3:n MP-achit eivät sitten vaikuttaisi?). Hyvä kuitenkin, että oppia ollaan otettu.
Everything that players gain access to via credits in Halo: Reach are used solely to purchase helmets, shoulders, chests and other accessories that allow Halo: Reach players to create a Spartan who is uniquely them. These items are for visual changes only and do not affect the flow of gameplay.
"There are no in-game benefits to Spartan armor," said Smith. "It would definitely make Halo something different than what Halo is."
Krediittien kautta saavutettava kustomointi on kuitenkin vain visuaalista, eikä lähde muiden pelien tapaan muuttamaan gameplayta. Tämä ei ole Smithin mukaan Haloa, ja se pitääkin paikkaansa.
"When the cut-scene comes up in campaign, we want you to see you," said Smith. "For instance, that trailer that we showed with the helmet and soldier picking it up, the Noble 6 trailer, that helmet is going to be your helmet. If you're pink and adorned with unicorns, that's how you're going to look. [...] With Reach, this is your story, this is your identity, this is your version of a story that we want you to be a part of."
Sama hahmo liikkuu tosiaan niin yksin- kuin moninpelissäkin, ja Halo 2:n tapaan muutokset näkyvät myös välifilmeissä defaulttien sijaan.
In speaking with Bungie, Smigh pegged me as someone they are targeting with another new feature called "Challenges." Smith knows me. He understands I'm not the most skilled Halo player and am more likely to finish the single-player, maybe dabble in multiplayer, get frustrated because most players are better than I am and move on. Bungie's hoping Challenges will keep players like myself coming back for more. Challenges come in two forms -- daily and weekly -- and are Bungie-developed obstacles that provide short to medium-length goals to be achieved solo or with groups. As Bungie expects most gamers will tackle Challenges after spending a chunk of time with Halo: Reach, many Challenges will have a notable difficulty curve.
Challenget eli haasteet tulevat päivittäin ja viikottain päivittyvissä muodoissa. Nämä on suunniteltu vastaamaan eri tarpeisiin, joten tietyissä haasteissa vaikeuskäyrä on jyrkempi. Tällä pyritään estämään peliin tympääntymistä.
