Halo question that ive never had answered

[coffeemug]

Ive been playing Halo since i was about 11 (im 23 now). I started with Reach, then 3, and then bounced around. Point is ive played every Halo game you can think of. Then something happened, I got older and I was in the Army. Now a days I find it really hard to enjoy games that dont have realistic combat, specifically in terms of damage from guns (and damage from things in general). So I really enjoy games like Metro, Stalker, Ready or not, etc. So my concern is:
Why do all the weapons suck? Is it for balancing? The assault rifle (all models) shoot a 7.62 equivalent to what an AK shoots. For those who dont know, that is a BIG cartridge. Not only that, but the assault rifle shoots it incredibly fast (you can tell because of how fast the tracer rounds go, MUCH faster than normal rounds of that caliber). How can an elite or even a grunt take ONE to the face? In the comics theres a page where palmer shoots an elite (with a magnum, prolly around a .44) in the face (with his shields on) 2-3 times and he dies. In heroic difficulty (the "intended" diff) it takes about the entire mag to the face to kill an elite. Is there some lore reason for this or is it simply game balancing? It really irks me because I dont enjoy Halo like i used to anymore because of these requirements and barriers i placed on myself lol. Appreciate any answers.

[Watermelons]

I think they took a step from the pulse rifle from the Alien series with the AR. The concept of, big rifle go brrrr to mow aliens down. Of course, video game balance demands that such a weapon needs to do low damage per shot. That idea is pretty consistent across a lot of video games, it's not really an issue specific to Halo.
And of course, rule of cool and such always takes priority in games like this. If that stuff bothers you after growing up and becoming experienced with firearms, I dunno, stick to Arma, Squad, Ready or Not, Insurgency, etc? Those shooters that either aim for mil-sim or light mil-sim with high bullet damage and realistic weapon balancing. Halo is almost arcadey to its core, and balances its weapons with the idea that each gun serve different purposes, both in campaign and multiplayer, and has to be balanced for that.

Bonus mention, the AR in Halo Infinite is I think the most lethal it's ever been. Mid range, decent accuracy provided you fire in bursts. Headshot damage exists for every weapon, not just designated precision weapons, so focusing your fire on someone's face actually makes the AR pretty deadly in MP.

[angstlicht]

the guns suck because the Halo array in fiction is the engineering perfectionist endpoint of firearms design, so only freaks and hipsters design guns for UNSC/Covenants in 2552. The plasma rifle isn't even a rifle. The needler was probably medical equipment on Planet Grunt. A lot of shooters treat guns less like guns and more like ranged magic spells or arrows.

Halo for quite a while was actually extremely 'realistic' with respect to the grenades and detonations cutting through basically any enemy in around 1 attack. For the longest time, I'd play Halo campaigns as a self imposed grenadier just because it's the most fun item to use in the mechanics.

But the real reason the guns suck is because Captain Keyes stole all the Halo 1 magnums in the universe and master chief blew them all up. Lord Hood had to make the orbital defense grid out of MAC stations instead of Halo 1 pistols and it nearly cost humanity the war.

[GamerXT]

The AR has always been sort of weak, the other guns are quite good though, even if sort of bland design wise....except the Needler.

[Snark]

Originally posted by coffeemug:

Ive been playing Halo since i was about 11 (im 23 now). I started with Reach, then 3, and then bounced around. Point is ive played every Halo game you can think of. Then something happened, I got older and I was in the Army. Now a days I find it really hard to enjoy games that dont have realistic combat, specifically in terms of damage from guns (and damage from things in general). So I really enjoy games like Metro, Stalker, Ready or not, etc. So my concern is:
Why do all the weapons suck? Is it for balancing? The assault rifle (all models) shoot a 7.62 equivalent to what an AK shoots. For those who dont know, that is a BIG cartridge. Not only that, but the assault rifle shoots it incredibly fast (you can tell because of how fast the tracer rounds go, MUCH faster than normal rounds of that caliber). How can an elite or even a grunt take ONE to the face? In the comics theres a page where palmer shoots an elite (with a magnum, prolly around a .44) in the face (with his shields on) 2-3 times and he dies. In heroic difficulty (the "intended" diff) it takes about the entire mag to the face to kill an elite. Is there some lore reason for this or is it simply game balancing? It really irks me because I dont enjoy Halo like i used to anymore because of these requirements and barriers i placed on myself lol. Appreciate any answers.

It's so that the AI has enough time to react and change behaviour to your actions. If you could aim at an elite, shoot twice and kill it, yes it would be more "realistic" but it would get boring pretty fast as the gameplay would devolve into "I shot you first lmao". Don't forget that if the weapons do the same amount of damage in the hands of the AI then you won't have big encounters with 20 dudes swarming you because 1 grunt alone would mess you up as soon as you peek around a corner.

This type of design would also be incredibly annoying to have in multiplayer as you would spawn and instantly die from someone one tapping you with any weapon.

The fast fire rate is just for spectacle, so you can see the muzzle flash of the gun constantly, the recoil, the sparks and blood decals popping off. It's just flare.

The high inaccuracy of the guns is to force close combat encounters as they are more interesting and it's easier to aim with a controller (what Halo was designed for). If you notice a lot of the weapons have a crosshair that isn't pin point accurate exactly for that reason, the game gives you leeway and compensates rather than requiring pin point accuracy.

Basically rule of cool and playability over realism. Having a rifle that is pin point accurate and can one tap someone from the other side of the room is realistic. But having a rifle that shoots incredibly fast, sends sparks flying everywhere while the enemies do over exaggerated movements is more satisfying.

Games like STALKER are incredibly niche. (I like STALKER btw).

[Garalt Xabushii]

its for balance it bugs me to and i beleave the guns are a bit more effective in the lore