[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Komet [b]This post will probably echo most of what has been posted. Additionally, it's going to be a long, slightly ramblisistic post. I'm quite in the mood to write about my opinion of Halo 2, so please forgive me - I hope you guys will at least find it interesting.[/b] It is quite ironic how Bungie's view of Halo 2 differs from that of its player base, and those who have played it. However, I can totally understand their view... It's a bleak picture dotted by the obscene amount of unfixable glitches in multiplayer (super jumping, killed by the guardian glitches, ability to exit maps, etc.), further obscured by the matchmaking cheating epidemics (for lack of a better word), and to top it all off, the impossibility of completing Halo 2 as they had originally envisioned it. Unfortunately, in a FUBARed catch 22, Bungie's inability to create Halo 2 as they wished was what ultimately led to the previously mentioned problems haunting the game from its release to the Original Xbox Live closure in April 2010. Starkly contrasting the dim retrospective taken by Bungie is my view of the whole situation - [b]one that I feel is shared by many other Halo 2 players to some extent[/b]. While there was a terrible cliffhanger, hundreds of (sometimes game breaking) glitches, and, at times, a group of players up to no good, causing trouble in the Halo 2 neighborhood - I could look past these deterrents because of the ridiculous amount of fun the game was. Sure the single player was shoved into a blender, grinded to a pulp and welded into a barely editable mass at times, but it was damned fun. In between getting to mess around with the physics-bending skulls and viewing the story from two different perspectives, I could easily over look the fact that it ended rather abruptly. Regardless of its contrivances, the single player was fun, clever, and plenty entertaining due to its story design, hidden secrets, incredible soundtrack, and lack of restriction. For example: no time limited death barriers, massive open levels, and pounds of hidden easter eggs. Oh, and the multiplayer! Who could forget that? In my opinion, we have Halo 2 to thank for things like party chat, voice messages, and detailed game invites. Dare I say Halo 2's multiplayer was revolutionary? Perhaps I am on a nostalgia high, but no other game available on the Xbox at that time and for years after had such a well designed and thought out multiplayer experience. Was the matchmaking perfect? Of course not. Most of the time the teams were stacked further than Mount Olympus. There were cheaters of many different types, etc, etc. But who gave a damn when you could team up with 8 of your friends and play big team battle!? A good game of BTB on Coagulation or Waterworks always overshadowed such complaints. Speaking of cheating, let's talk about Modding. I know Bungie absolutely despised cheaters, and that's putting it lightly. "Modders" especially. Oh how they ruined matchmaking at times. An interesting perspective to consider is the modding community. There is no doubt in my mind there were people who just wanted to cheat and cause hell for other players. This was a proven fact as well established as the presence of gravity. However, this was just one group which unfortunately soured the greater part. There were people who spent hours - days - months - who knows how long - reverse engineering this game as well as Halo CE. There were strong and thriving communities completely inspired by Halo 2 (let alone its predecesor) to push the games' engines to their surprisingly unfounded limits. I'm not entirely sure what Bungie thought (or thinks) of these communities. Unlike the general perception painted upon them by the Halo 2 player base, these were great people who were completely opposite in character to those who caused trouble in matchmaking. Maybe Bungie acknowledged this by only banning Modders from matchmaking, thus allowing access to custom games. Perhaps it was a technical limitation of the player control system? Who knows? One thing I do know, however, is that there were people from these communities who found their professions by dabbling around in Bungie's work, which was spawned by the "deal with the devil". It's quite odd to comprehend this angle, especially considering how a game viewed by its creators as a failure resulted in talented people finding a way to practice their growing skills. From what I have heard, a few of these people have even gone on to work at Bungie. Custom Games were another multiplayer feature Bungie nailed. Maybe they weren't the most customizable, but if you were imaginative it was an absolute blast to play with friends. Back then it wasn't hard to get 16 people together to play either. Usually everyone was looking to have fun, and that meant Tower of Power, Warthog Wars, Hide and Seek, Zombies, and whatever else you could whip up. It's a shame that this is not how things work these days. For whatever reason, Halo 3 and Reach never felt as easy to get people together in. Also modding in Custom Games was always fun... It was always great to hear other players laugh when they accidentally unveiled your latest creation in the form of a hundred wraith shots falling from the sky at the pull of a plasma pistol trigger. Then there were the multiplayer maps. I don't think there was a single one I didn't enjoy. You could tell the developers spent a lot of time making sure the maps were not only balanced, but also interesting and atmospheric. They had their quirks in other words. The downloadable content maps continued on this path. Backwash, for example, someone spent a ton of time getting the fog just right. I could go on forever about how fun this game was (if I haven't already, lol). Bungie, Halo 2 might represent to you the worst game development disaster in your company's history - but let it be known that the cramming, the stressing, the hair tearing, and the sleepless nights were not in vain. Halo 2 was and, in my opinion, still is Bungie's best work to date. It's obvious that you guys gave it your all, even with the odds stacked against you ten times over. You guys took Halo to another level, and in doing so provided many players, tinkerers, and fans alike with thousands of hours of fun, challenges, and laughs - emotions which no "failure" could ever inspire. For that, Bungie will always have my respect.[/quote]Epic post, almost had me in tears. Still and all...H2 was the best.