Jason Jones, the co-founder of Bungie, recently spoke with IGN in regards to the studio's work on the Halo franchise, highlighting what he believes is the series' greatest flaw.
“I think the great tragedy of Halo is that for years and years it provided wonderful single-player and co-op content, and we provided people with almost no fun incentives or excuses, almost no reason besides their own enjoyment, to go back and replay it," Jones explained. "So Halo 1 built these 10 labor of love missions, and only if you decided to go back and replay them was there any incentive to do so."
Jones then went on to specify what he would have done differently. “If I would have done anything to Halo 1, it would have been to do something to draw people back into those experiences that they enjoyed the first time. Even in the smallest ways, just to give them an excuse to get together and do it again.”
The interviewer then brought up Bungie's addition of Skulls to some of the later games, which were used to tweak the experience for players looking for an additional challenge. When asked whether or not these were added to solve Halo's "greatest tragedy," Jones replied by saying that yes, while it was "a shadow of an attempt to do that," their work with Destiny, will truly amend the issue. "The reason we’re doing [Destiny] is because I feel like, looking back on Halo… I described it over and over again to the team. It’s one of the great tragedies of Halo.”
Do you agree with Jones? Will Destiny be able to surpass the ambitions of Halo? Be sure to sound off in the comments below with your thoughts.