I got the chance to play Halo 4 early, have a couple papers to work on this weekend so I can't play it a whole lot, but so far the MP is awesome. Very different, they definitely weren't exaggerating when they said that they "rebuilt" the game. I'm sure some real hardcore fans will be pissed about a lot of the changes (ordnance drops, hit markers, everyone moves faster, loadouts, armor mods) but I think it's great. I have been playing since Halo 2 and played 2, 3 and Reach extensively so I'm definitely a fan of the old school halo style, but it was starting to feel old and a bit outdated to me. The changes all seem cool, and the gameplay is fast and furious. You also die a bit quicker. Anyways, thought some of you other halo fans out there might want to get some first impressions of it. Maps also seem legit.
Well imo the few I played were cool. Honestly I only played for an hour or hour and a half and saw maybe 5 maps, but they were good. Didn't notice any cool vistas like you saw in some of the other Halo games, but it's possible I just wasn't looking or didn't see the best maps.
Yeah, I'm unapologetically a MP man myself. I'd assume gameplay mechanics carry over to SP though. I aim to check it out sooner or later, but MP is the main source of attraction for me.
I do like the Spartan Ops and the Story and the Multiplayer... I like it all really... Gonna get me some shiny dubstep to listen to while I play Gonna be good times.
Sainsubury's still has mine 'ready to dispatch.' Hoping I get it when I come home on Tuesday. Wont be too bummed though haha, Assassins Creed 3 will keep me company.
I am excited for this game. My xbox croaked long ago, but this does not mean I wont be able to enjoy the game. I plan to go over to a friends house and play some splitscreen.
From what I have seen so far, I have high hopes for this game. It seems like a fresh start.
Though, I am a big Halo fanboy since 3, (read plenty of the books and watched some of the live action stuff) I will stop being a fan boy if this sucks.
Jumpin Jesus wrote: I am excited for this game. My xbox croaked long ago, but this does not mean I wont be able to enjoy the game. I plan to go over to a friends house and play some splitscreen.
From what I have seen so far, I have high hopes for this game. It seems like a fresh start.
Though, I am a big Halo fanboy since 3, (read plenty of the books and watched some of the live action stuff) I will stop being a fan boy if this sucks.
But everyone knows its not gonna suck... Right?
I'm honestly not sure if there will be any s'plitscreen :(
If it's there, it will probably be restricted to multiplayer only, as there is no "co-op campaign" and Spartan Ops will likely only be available via multiplae players through Xbox live
Another thing that I am unsure of:
It appears as though there is no UNSC (human) aircraft in game. 343i stated that there are two new, drivable vehicles in Halo 4; so far they have only shown the mantis.
So, AFAIK our list of drivable vehicles should look something like this: Mongoose, Warthog, Gauss-hog, Rocket-hog, Scorpion, Mantis, Ghost, Banshee, Wraith, Shade Turret and some other new vehicle perhaps the Mammoth, Broadsword or a drivable Pelican (which has been rumored since Halo: CE) ... or we could just see the Falcon get thrown in for no real reason whatsoever...
Jumpin Jesus wrote: I am excited for this game. My xbox croaked long ago, but this does not mean I wont be able to enjoy the game. I plan to go over to a friends house and play some splitscreen.
From what I have seen so far, I have high hopes for this game. It seems like a fresh start.
Though, I am a big Halo fanboy since 3, (read plenty of the books and watched some of the live action stuff) I will stop being a fan boy if this sucks.
But everyone knows its not gonna suck... Right?
I'm honestly not sure if there will be any s'plitscreen :(
If it's there, it will probably be restricted to multiplayer only, as there is no "co-op campaign" and Spartan Ops will likely only be available via multiplae players through Xbox live
I'm fairly sure that it's been confirmed that split screen co-op is in the game, chief clone style. If they dropped the ball on that I don't think I'd ever get around to playing the game.
Jumpin Jesus wrote: I am excited for this game. My xbox croaked long ago, but this does not mean I wont be able to enjoy the game. I plan to go over to a friends house and play some splitscreen.
From what I have seen so far, I have high hopes for this game. It seems like a fresh start.
Though, I am a big Halo fanboy since 3, (read plenty of the books and watched some of the live action stuff) I will stop being a fan boy if this sucks.
But everyone knows its not gonna suck... Right?
I'm honestly not sure if there will be any s'plitscreen :(
If it's there, it will probably be restricted to multiplayer only, as there is no "co-op campaign" and Spartan Ops will likely only be available via multiplae players through Xbox live
I'm fairly sure that it's been confirmed that split screen co-op is in the game, chief clone style. If they dropped the ball on that I don't think I'd ever get around to playing the game.
Agreed. One thing I loved about the Halo series was their split-screen...if they left that off, I'll be super unhappy.
Heroic is meant to be the 'realistic' difficulty option, so ill be playing that first, then go back and do legendary another time.
Im an equal fan of single and multiplayer, even though im by no means a good Halo player (im mediocre at best) I still find enjoyment in multiplayer (as long as its not a massively one-sided fight).
Spartan Ops defiantly looks a whole lot more enjoyable than Reach firefight, although I doubt ill be able to use it for "warmup" like I did with firefight.
Im disappointed to hear co-op campaign is clone chief again, halo 3 was the only one to have a believable co-op experience (unless you count the mysteriously unmentioned "Noble 7" in reach). I really hope the campaign does not focus solely on the chief, I really want to see how the arbiter is getting on and the wider state of the covenant, not just fighting Bionicles all the time.
I am slightly disappointed to see you have to "unlock" POSES and EMBLEMS. Now I have to get to SR50 just to use the same emblem ive used since Halo 2? I can understand load-outs, abilities and armour but not this.
Ive never been sure about how "Infinity Slayer" will work out:
Good Players get more kills/medals = good players getting more power weapons = Bad/improving players will have even less chance to improve because all the good players get instant power weapons. At-least they got rid of weapon spawn camping.
Ive never been sure about how "Infinity Slayer" will work out:
Good Players get more kills/medals = good players getting more power weapons = Bad/improving players will have even less chance to improve because all the good players get instant power weapons. At-least they got rid of weapon spawn camping.
As long as there is decent matchmaking, this is not an issue.
Also visible skill ranking system goes in early next year 1-50 again. I believe its all under the hood for the moment.
vodo40k wrote: Heroic is meant to be the 'realistic' difficulty option, so ill be playing that first, then go back and do legendary another time.
Im an equal fan of single and multiplayer, even though im by no means a good Halo player (im mediocre at best) I still find enjoyment in multiplayer (as long as its not a massively one-sided fight).
Spartan Ops defiantly looks a whole lot more enjoyable than Reach firefight, although I doubt ill be able to use it for "warmup" like I did with firefight.
Im disappointed to hear co-op campaign is clone chief again, halo 3 was the only one to have a believable co-op experience (unless you count the mysteriously unmentioned "Noble 7" in reach). I really hope the campaign does not focus solely on the chief, I really want to see how the arbiter is getting on and the wider state of the covenant, not just fighting Bionicles all the time.
I am slightly disappointed to see you have to "unlock" POSES and EMBLEMS. Now I have to get to SR50 just to use the same emblem ive used since Halo 2? I can understand load-outs, abilities and armour but not this.
Ive never been sure about how "Infinity Slayer" will work out:
Good Players get more kills/medals = good players getting more power weapons = Bad/improving players will have even less chance to improve because all the good players get instant power weapons. At-least they got rid of weapon spawn camping.
I think you mean "NORMAL"
Lol
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh and there are more Spartans than just the Chief.
Me and my friend simply assumed the CO-OP partner in Halo IS Linda. (IE. She never got hit by the elite at the end of Fall of Reach)
Was that Kelly? Either way that actually looks pretty damn cool
Commander Palmer, head of the Spartans aboard the Infinity, because the Spartans are now their own branch of the UNSC and do not operate under the other branches anymore.
Soladrin wrote: halo 3 was the worst for me for a simple fact, it was the most boring.
Brutes are no fun to fight when compared to elites.
Totally in agreement with that; they are a complete joke to fight.
Halo CE elites and Halo 2 elites gak all over them.
Prometheans are MUCH better
I agree, the brutes are probably my least favorite enemy. However, for co-op, I liked having players fill the shoes of a character that made sense rather than MC clone which just seems kinda wonkey when playing for story
Commander Palmer, head of the Spartans aboard the Infinity, because the Spartans are now their own branch of the UNSC and do not operate under the other branches anymore.
Where the hell did that come from?
Im guessing the "Thursday War" I havnt had a chance to buy it yet.
Commander Palmer, head of the Spartans aboard the Infinity, because the Spartans are now their own branch of the UNSC and do not operate under the other branches anymore.
Where the hell did that come from?
Im guessing the "Thursday War" I havnt had a chance to buy it yet.
Commander Palmer, head of the Spartans aboard the Infinity, because the Spartans are now their own branch of the UNSC and do not operate under the other branches anymore.
Where the hell did that come from?
Im guessing the "Thursday War" I havnt had a chance to buy it yet.
Thanks for the heads up.
Erm, Spartans were always seperate from the UNSC. All Spartans are ONI.
Commander Palmer, head of the Spartans aboard the Infinity, because the Spartans are now their own branch of the UNSC and do not operate under the other branches anymore.
Where the hell did that come from?
Im guessing the "Thursday War" I havnt had a chance to buy it yet.
Thanks for the heads up.
Erm, Spartans were always seperate from the UNSC. All Spartans are ONI.
ONI is a division of the UNSC. And Spartans did not serve directly under ONI
It's not. ONI only anwsers to HIGHCOM, They are a seperate entity. UNSC knows nothing of what ONI does and they did directly under ONI.
Yes, they had to take commands from UNSC personnel because they outranked them, but initialy the UNSC didn't even know of their existence.
Hell, the SPARTAN-III project didn't even get any interaction with UNSC at first, only being used as suicide squads to take out high priority targets with extremely low survival chances. (2 out of 500 made it out of that covy factory I think?).
ONI thought them up, ONI made them, ONI commands them. Hell, ONI still has a couple Spartan-II's operating in their ranks.
Hell, when Parangosky dies a SPARTAN-II dropout is going to be the boss of ONI. (look up Serin Osman)
Soladrin wrote: It's not. ONI only anwsers to HIGHCOM, They are a seperate entity. UNSC knows nothing of what ONI does and they did directly under ONI.
Yes, they had to take commands from UNSC personnel because they outranked them, but initialy the UNSC didn't even know of their existence.
Hell, the SPARTAN-III project didn't even get any interaction with UNSC at first, only being used as suicide squads to take out high priority targets with extremely low survival chances. (2 out of 500 made it out of that covy factory I think?).
ONI thought them up, ONI made them, ONI commands them. Hell, ONI still has a couple Spartan-II's operating in their ranks.
Hell, when Parangosky dies a SPARTAN-II dropout is going to be the boss of ONI. (look up Serin Osman)
UNSC is essentially an umbrella under which falls the Navy, Army, Marines, ONI and HIGHCOM (HIGHCOM being at the top of the chain of course)
ONI was responsible for the creation and early operation of the Spartans. HIGHCOM later outsourced the Spartans into the jurisdiction of the other branches. The Spartan IV program (the Spartans in Halo 4) exist in their own, self-sufficient branch, no longer under ONI's direct command. Like everything, I'm sure ONI still has their fingers in the program though.
Soladrin wrote: It's not. ONI only anwsers to HIGHCOM, They are a seperate entity. UNSC knows nothing of what ONI does and they did directly under ONI.
Yes, they had to take commands from UNSC personnel because they outranked them, but initialy the UNSC didn't even know of their existence.
Hell, the SPARTAN-III project didn't even get any interaction with UNSC at first, only being used as suicide squads to take out high priority targets with extremely low survival chances. (2 out of 500 made it out of that covy factory I think?).
ONI thought them up, ONI made them, ONI commands them. Hell, ONI still has a couple Spartan-II's operating in their ranks.
Hell, when Parangosky dies a SPARTAN-II dropout is going to be the boss of ONI. (look up Serin Osman)
UNSC is essentially an umbrella under which falls the Navy, Army, Marines, ONI and HIGHCOM (HIGHCOM being at the top of the chain of course)
ONI was responsible for the creation and early operation of the Spartans. HIGHCOM later outsourced the Spartans into the jurisdiction of the other branches. The Spartan IV program (the Spartans in Halo 4) exist in their own, self-sufficient branch, no longer under ONI's direct command. Like everything, I'm sure ONI still has their fingers in the program though.
Ok, my bad, I was viewing UNSC purely as the Navy (they don't really have an army anymore, since it's a space based military it's all essentialy Navy and I can't remember them ever naming an army branch).
As for the Spartan-4's. There really was no mention of them in the thursday war. It was all about Sanghelios, ONI and the Infiinity.
daedalus-templarius wrote: They talked about S4s a bit in Thursday War, but it was just a one-off statement about them being on board.
They also mentioned the Mantis :p
Yeah but there really was no elaboration or details, just that they existed and were there. That's it, nothing on their command structure or abilities.
http://www.g4tv.com/videos/61417/first-15-halo-4/ Definitely a video worth watching, it features a truly gripping cutscene from the opening of Halo 4 as well as the first few minutes of the campaign.
Apparently Dr. Halsey is alive? I thought that she had died in Castle Base on Reach?
Kanluwen wrote: Nothing suggested that Halsey died in Halo: Reach.
Her and Jun took a different Pelican than Six, Carter, and Emile.
We don't know where Halsey and Jun got to.
A different source, one of the novels I believe, stated that she and a team of Spartan IIs were is Castle Base when it was glassed
Never mind, I read up on the topic just now. Halsey was inside Castle base when it self-destructed to prevent to Covenant from gaining access to the smart AI prototypes and Forerunner artifacts inside. She and Spartan IIs Fred, William, Isaac, Vihn, and Kelly hid in the tunnels under the base until after the fall of Reach when they were rescued. I had assumed that they all died given the planet was glassed. Apparently Castle base is strong. 80 megaton-proof strong.
Kanluwen wrote: Nothing suggested that Halsey died in Halo: Reach.
Her and Jun took a different Pelican than Six, Carter, and Emile.
We don't know where Halsey and Jun got to.
A different source, one of the novels I believe, stated that she and a team of Spartan IIs were is Castle Base when it was glassed
As I just said, the book "First Strike" covers how she escaped Reach along with like 6 other Spartan IIs
And as I stated in the thread about the "canon differences" about the game "Reach" and earlier bits...
There was quite a bit of time between "First Strike" and "Halo: Reach". Bungie outright has said that they were not really happy with how they had done their storyline originally, and doing "Reach" allowed them to revisit that and put things to how they wanted after thinking a bit more.
Heck, the timeframe difference was enough that we actually saw the "Xbox" become "Xbox 360".
The problem is that the EU makes it clear Halsey doesn't know the Spartan III's exist until Ghosts of Onyx, but in Halo Reach she obviously knows they do. This throws her actions in First Strike and Onyx completely out of wack.
See, I got the impression that she only knew Jorge.
She was a smart enough person to be able to put two and two together, and remember that she and Cortana raided Ackerson's files and started to get an inkling that Ackerson was up to something having gathered CPO-Mendez and the interest that Ackerson took into S051 "Kurt".
Kanluwen wrote: See, I got the impression that she only knew Jorge.
I'm not sure what you mean by this, as Jorge was a Spartan II, Halsey was familiar with (and kind of a mother figure to) all Spartan IIs
I think it's pretty obvious what I mean by this.
That she only knew exactly who Jorge was. She might have the callsigns, etc for the rest of Noble...but she actually did know Jorge, as he was one of hers. The S-IIIs came after, and their introduction was kept even from her.
So can we safely say the Halo: Reach's campaign is non-canon or do we have to chalk this one up to tzeentch?
Also, after looking at some stuff on Halo Waypoint, it seems that the Spartan IV program was active during the invasion of Earth as the Orbital armor (which is GEN2 and not compatible with previous armor systems) was tested and in use during the defense of Earth's orbital elevators and space tethers in 2552.
SilverMK2 wrote: I'm playing it on Heroic; I don't think Legendary would make too much difference in how I am enjoying the campaign.
It would actually make things worse for me. I fething HATE playing games on the harder difficulty, I just dont see the point, how the hell is it fun to get your ass kicked constantly.
I play all my games on easy or normal (this is because I care about the story and diving every few mins or min/maxing isnt fun to me)
I probably wont play till after Christmas. Im in a different state as my XBox
Just finished the campaign, gonna play some Ops and MP here shortly.
I freaking loved it, Campaign was a wee bit short for me... but I say that pretty much every game. Music and graphics were great, the visual design was good and I found the new enemies kept everything pretty fresh, and the new realistic look was well executed as was the revamping of the combat and weapons. I am sorry to see the old plasma rifle go but the new storm rifle's pretty slick. Some of the new sound effects are freaking delicious, the Assault Rifle in particular sounds as if god was hitting a speed bag. Epic.
In the non-spoiler giant middle finger department, my favorite pet peeve for this series, equine gak horrible flight controls returns, but sadly I don't think they're going to get away from that any time soon. The campaign was really under weight as I said above, which was a shame because of how well what there was was executed.
Spoilers n' stuff:
Spoiler:
Cortana stole the SHOW this time around, fantastic character and I'm sad to see her go... but I don't think we've seen the last of Cortana. Some of the scenes with her... stuff like that is where I kinda get where the shippers are coming from... but damn I wish Chief would emote just a little bit. It really does make you wonder if he's sociopathic or not... I don't think he is, but you have to wonder.
Which actually leads me to my major gripe story wise... Cortana's death... could have been better done. This is a character who's been with us a long time, they could have done something... more to make us feel the weight of that loss, to give it impact. Even if it's better then even money she's coming back.
On the technical side, the voice acting could have used a little work for everyone BUT Cortana and Chief, and while the story mostly focused on one of the most famous dynamic duos since Batman and Robin a little extra meat on the characters we do run in to would have been nice. Some exposition here and there would have been good too. Chief and Cortana were out of the verse for four years. Enough for the Infinity to be completed and a new crop of Spartans to pop up. Chief blinking an eye at the new Spartan IVs or a line from Cortana like "It's a UNSC beacon... but none I recognize... must be a new ship" would have grounded it a bit more for me.
On a side note, I really appreciated the notes from 343i at the start and end of the campaign, it's good to know THEY know exactly what kind of microscope they're under and the challenge they've taken on. In one of the articles I read, people turned down job offers with 343 because they "didn't want to be the one to kill Halo", 343i has made a good game, and a worthy sequel. Kill Halo? Not even close.
Over all I'll give 343 a numeric rating of 3.5 out of 5 and I'll be back for the next installment of the story they're telling.
SilverMK2 wrote: I'm playing it on Heroic; I don't think Legendary would make too much difference in how I am enjoying the campaign.
It would actually make things worse for me. I fething HATE playing games on the harder difficulty, I just dont see the point, how the hell is it fun to get your ass kicked constantly.
I play all my games on easy or normal (this is because I care about the story and diving every few mins or min/maxing isnt fun to me)
I probably wont play till after Christmas. Im in a different state as my XBox
I'm at mission 8 on Legendary, sadly didn't have the time to finish it yesterday :( Oh well, only 2ish left.
Really enjoying it, story is great and my only complaint would be that the music is nowhere near what previous games offered. Even halo wars had a better soundtrack.
Finding most of the new weapons rather useless though, the only thing I've found that's actually really good is the scatter gun, it's essentialy just the shotgun with a higher fire rate. Oh and offcourse the binary rifle, one shotting elites and 2 shotting prometheans is awesome, too bad it only has like 6-8 shots.
Light rifle just seems worse then every other headshot weapon, mostly because it's ammo is severely limited.
So far it's been a bit challenging but nothing worse then previous titles, the only thing I had any trouble with was really coming to terms with the new movement patterns (and the lack there of in anything that flies, oh hello there stuck banshee).
Best armor thing IMO is the automated defense, it attracts more fire then a hologram even if you are visible yourself AND it kills stuff.
The new grenades are useless except for when you are fighting some static enemy, which really doesn't happen much. Plasma grenades is still where it's at.
Anyway, for the story. I do think anyone who hasn't read the books is missing out big time. It's completely stacked with references and characters from the books. I've only noticed a few small inconsistensies but I won't adress those untill I finish the game. (which will be once I get off work)
Should be able to do at least episode one of spartans ops on legendary on my own too tonight. Achievements ho.
Biggest gripe: the servers are absolute gak. I haven't gotten a single point of experience playing the campaign because of this.
Unfortunately, campaign doesn't offer exp...
Im up to SP17 right now and just about finished with the campaign. I also got one mission of Spartan Ops in.
So far I've really enjoyed everything about the game.
Spoiler:
wish they had made the Librarian different, aesthetically. She seemed kinda weird, not how I had pictured her
Also, no War Games playlists for SWAT, Grif Ball, or Extraction yet... I was pretty sad
Squidmanlolz wrote: Unfortunately, campaign doesn't offer exp...
Im up to SP17 right now and just about finished with the campaign. I also got one mission of Spartan Ops in.
So far I've really enjoyed everything about the game.
Spoiler:
wish they had made the Librarian different, aesthetically. She seemed kinda weird, not how I had pictured her
Also, no War Games playlists for SWAT, Grif Ball, or Extraction yet... I was pretty sad
AFAIK it is supposed to offer exp though, I took a quick look at the 343 forums and there were a number of server issues listed there, hell, yesterday alone had 4 updates.
Spartan Ops was a little... lack luster it seemed. Challenging as a single mission, but I was under the hype impression that there'd be a bit of more of a plot to work with.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Flood mode was a lot of fun as usual though. Not sure how it compares to previous Halos but I had a blast.
KalashnikovMarine wrote: Spartan Ops was a little... lack luster it seemed. Challenging as a single mission, but I was under the hype impression that there'd be a bit of more of a plot to work with.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Flood mode was a lot of fun as usual though. Not sure how it compares to previous Halos but I had a blast.
Well, you still have 9 more episodes!
Also I really like the new rifle, its not really ammo limited... I mean it has the same amount of round as a Battle Rifle total. Also the new grenade is more for area denial in multiplayer, its a bit hard to use in SP. But blocking a path a flagcarrier is running, GREAT!
Soladrin wrote: Oh, quick tip, there is a video after the credits.
Isn't there always
Just beat Heroic myself.
My two cents:
Spoiler:
I don't think Cortana is dead. I actually think we're gonna see her fully rampant and return as an antagonist. But that might just be some wishful thinking . That' would be an intense storyline.
Personally though I feel Halo 4 touched on and threw away a wonderful opportunity to explore the humanity of the Chief's character. They only touched on the idea at the beginning and the end, and I wished they'd have rode that pony a little more throughout the game.
Also personally find Spartan IV's very uncompeling. I was hoping we'd see an advancement of the Spartan III program but instead we just get a tuned up version of Orion. It's just not as cool.
Been playing a bit, very impressed by the graphics. Not sure how i feel about the game.
In the singleplayer Most of the new guns are utter crap, like that Forerunner smg, what the hell is that supposed to be?! Same goes for the new plasma rifle, as usual the assault rifle is fairly useless as well.
Most of these seem to be multiplayer guns, has the same problem as Reach in that regard.
The forerifle or whatever is okay, slightly better against elites than the other Headshot weapons but useless against the bionicle guys. The Pistol thing is okay, though only good for killing those dogs without wasting ammo for your decent guns.
I must say the first prolonged encounter with the Prometheans is rather off putting, as they seem VERY cheap. Though i eventually figured out what i was doing wrong. That being said i think the Bionicle Guys are a tinsy bit too tough to conventional weapons.
The Rail Gun Seems cool but unlike Reach this Campaign seems to have gone back to being Stingy with the ammo Like Halo 3.
In terms of Story, MINOR SPOILERS; I think it was a mistake showing Didact's Face. I was really loving how they were being all Coy, showing he was Alien looking but not showing the actual face. Then a second later BAM! Instead of titilating the audience with a cheeky conceal we get a big reveal...... My my, He looks kinda.......... Dumb. Should have Kept his, and presumably the forerunner's, appearance a secret.
I don't know what they did differently in regards to the story but I wish they had done that from the first game... it was pretty incredible...
Incidentally the cinematics are kinda awesome. I thought it was live action at the start :S
Though that might just be me...
He claimed the Mantle (and by extension, the galaxy) belonged to the Forerunners alone, and yet he declares that 'we' (the Forerunners) have no hope against the reclamation. If so, why did he even bother to attack the UNSC/Humanity in the first place? And with the Didact apparently dead, who is the next opponent? More Forerunners? A resurgent Covenant? The Precursors? The Flood?
Tadashi wrote: Can anyone clarify on the Didact's final speech? He claimed the Mantle (and by extension, the galaxy) belonged to the Forerunners alone, and yet he declares that 'we' (the Forerunners) have no hope against the reclamation. If so, why did he even bother to attack the UNSC/Humanity in the first place? And with the Didact apparently dead, who is the next opponent? More Forerunners? A resurgent Covenant? The Precursors? The Flood? TBH, Halo 4 provides more questions than answers.
Tadashi wrote: Can anyone clarify on the Didact's final speech? He claimed the Mantle (and by extension, the galaxy) belonged to the Forerunners alone, and yet he declares that 'we' (the Forerunners) have no hope against the reclamation. If so, why did he even bother to attack the UNSC/Humanity in the first place? And with the Didact apparently dead, who is the next opponent? More Forerunners? A resurgent Covenant? The Precursors? The Flood? TBH, Halo 4 provides more questions than answers.
My copy only came yesterday afternoon (I think a £60 wine voucher from Amazon is pretty good compensation) so im only on the second to last level of the campaign. Im annoyed by the lack of explanation on the part of the rebel covenant, and very disappointed that the arbiter hasnt made an appearance. Im still waiting for the proper halo theme to play, if 343 havnt put it in ill be very disappointed. The level design is somewhat "better" than in previous games (Ie not doing the same bit of corridor 3 times), the forerunner weapons simply dont seem to have the "punch" I would want to associate with them.
As for the Didact, I think he looks like a cross between a human and a brute (not what I was expecting). Also try to take him seriously when you work out that his voice actor also does Diomedes from DoW, every speech I immediately think "BROTHER I AM PINNED HERE!!!".
vodo40k wrote: My copy only came yesterday afternoon (I think a £60 wine voucher from Amazon is pretty good compensation) so im only on the second to last level of the campaign. Im annoyed by the lack of explanation on the part of the rebel covenant, and very disappointed that the arbiter hasnt made an appearance. Im still waiting for the proper halo theme to play, if 343 havnt put it in ill be very disappointed. The level design is somewhat "better" than in previous games (Ie not doing the same bit of corridor 3 times), the forerunner weapons simply dont seem to have the "punch" I would want to associate with them.
As for the Didact, I think he looks like a cross between a human and a brute (not what I was expecting). Also try to take him seriously when you work out that his voice actor also does Diomedes from DoW, every speech I immediately think "BROTHER I AM PINNED HERE!!!".
He's also Harbinger from Mass Effect, and the way he plans to use the Composer kinda reminds me of the Reapers. And also, "I AM ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL".
vodo40k wrote: My copy only came yesterday afternoon (I think a £60 wine voucher from Amazon is pretty good compensation) so im only on the second to last level of the campaign. Im annoyed by the lack of explanation on the part of the rebel covenant, and very disappointed that the arbiter hasnt made an appearance.
Potential spoiler from the novel Glass Lands:
Spoiler:
AFAIK, the Arbiter was betrayed by the other Elites when he returned to Sanghellios after Halo 3 (I don't think that they even use the rank anymore). The Covenant in Halo 4 are not rebels, but a resurgent Covenant, lead by the Elites, the Prophets have been ousted and there is no more "Great Journey" but they worship the Forerunners more than ever.
I feel that the next game might be about the Covenant working to revive the Didact or some other Forerunner. It will probably give a lot more insight on the new structure of the Covenant. Perhaps we will get to see Sanghellios (fingers crossed)
Did anybody else notice that they changed the Forerunner symbol for Reclaimer? I understand that Bungie still own Marathon and the logo, but am a bit unhappy with the new symbol...
I have to disagree with the earlier poster on the assault rifle, like I said it sounds like god's own speed bag and it chews through creepers for swarm control. Very satisfying to use.
I do love the sound of the human weapons. The only thing I don't like sound wise is the warthog - not really sure why it is revving at 4.7 billion rpm all the time
SilverMK2 wrote: I do love the sound of the human weapons. The only thing I don't like sound wise is the warthog - not really sure why it is revving at 4.7 billion rpm all the time
Totally agree. When i first started driving the warthog I was like 'Right... Thats First gear, shifting into Second........ Staying in second............... Oh wait, youre just gonna stay in second gear then MC?'.......
The assault rifle has felt 'off' since 3. If you go back to Halo CE you'll realise that the assault rifle in that is actually nearly as good as the pistol. EDIT: Not counting the Multiplayer! Assault rifle is a Multiplayer Gun.
The thing i forgot to say is that the covenant are still a joy to fight. Also they haven't managed to ruin Plasma Pistol + Headshot weapon. A minor good thing is that the ghost's cannons actually go where the reticle is pointing now, bungie seemed to enjoy players shooting into hill-sides.
vodo40k wrote: My copy only came yesterday afternoon (I think a £60 wine voucher from Amazon is pretty good compensation) so im only on the second to last level of the campaign. Im annoyed by the lack of explanation on the part of the rebel covenant, and very disappointed that the arbiter hasnt made an appearance.
Potential spoiler from the novel Glass Lands:
Spoiler:
AFAIK, the Arbiter was betrayed by the other Elites when he returned to Sanghellios after Halo 3 (I don't think that they even use the rank anymore). The Covenant in Halo 4 are not rebels, but a resurgent Covenant, lead by the Elites, the Prophets have been ousted and there is no more "Great Journey" but they worship the Forerunners more than ever.
I feel that the next game might be about the Covenant working to revive the Didact or some other Forerunner. It will probably give a lot more insight on the new structure of the Covenant. Perhaps we will get to see Sanghellios (fingers crossed)
I'm fairly sure we don't see the resolution to the incidents in Glasslands...
Spoiler:
There is an obvious split between two major factions in the Elites but we don't see it break into civil war, we also don't see it resolved so AFAIK both factions are still trying to gain an advantage over the other
I have always been a bit of a halo fanboy because the franchise has never let me down. Halo 4 in my mind is the pinnacle of the series, not because its the most recent etc but because they managed to pull away from the side tracked story lines such as ODST and Reach which in my mind kind of ruined it a little bit (my opinion). Dont get me wrong those games were good, but master chief cannot be replaced or substituted with rubbishy fill in games... Morale of the story if you havnt played Halo (what cave have you been in?) now is the best possible time to start!
matzu9 wrote: I have always been a bit of a halo fanboy because the franchise has never let me down. Halo 4 in my mind is the pinnacle of the series, not because its the most recent etc but because they managed to pull away from the side tracked story lines such as ODST and Reach which in my mind kind of ruined it a little bit (my opinion). Dont get me wrong those games were good, but master chief cannot be replaced or substituted with rubbishy fill in games... Morale of the story if you havnt played Halo (what cave have you been in?) now is the best possible time to start!
Remember, Bungie only did ODST and Reach because they were locked in contract with Microsoft. They became "those guys who did Halo". Had Bungie had any real passion for Halo at that point the games would have been awesome, unfortunately they were working on their own project, which in my opinion is set to be their best.
After finishing the campaign, I can rate it at a solid OK. Not bad, but not as good as halo 1, 2 or 3.
On the whole the levels are designed well and the whole thing feels very highly "polished". The story between Chief and Cortana is very much the centrepiece, being told very well and provoking a fair amount of emotion.
That being said the rest of the story just seems to have been made to "fit around" Cortana and Chiefs story. I feel this is simply due to lack of exposition in major areas, it should not HAVE to rely on you reading the books to understand the major points. Without this explanation (my halo background knowledge is solely comprised of info from the wiki) the covenant are attacking for no reason, the didact seems like a cheap, throwaway villain and the librarian is simply a paper thin character. All of this I know is not true, someone who had not done ANY background reading would not know what was going on half the time.
Most of all however I simply cannot forgive 343 for not including the Halo THEME, that I feel is the heart and soul of the games.
Multiplayer however is very good, spartan ops is the definition of "short".
vodo40k wrote: After finishing the campaign, I can rate it at a solid OK. Not bad, but not as good as halo 1, 2 or 3.
On the whole the levels are designed well and the whole thing feels very highly "polished". The story between Chief and Cortana is very much the centrepiece, being told very well and provoking a fair amount of emotion.
That being said the rest of the story just seems to have been made to "fit around" Cortana and Chiefs story. I feel this is simply due to lack of exposition in major areas, it should not HAVE to rely on you reading the books to understand the major points. Without this explanation (my halo background knowledge is solely comprised of info from the wiki) the covenant are attacking for no reason, the didact seems like a cheap, throwaway villain and the librarian is simply a paper thin character. All of this I know is not true, someone who had not done ANY background reading would not know what was going on half the time.
Most of all however I simply cannot forgive 343 for not including the Halo THEME, that I feel is the heart and soul of the games.
Multiplayer however is very good, spartan ops is the definition of "short".
To be fair, they didn't have the original composers anymore. And honestly, it's a new trilogy, it needs a new theme.
Well, all my fears of Halo 4 multiplayer are realized. They kept all the power weapons in the game, but completely removed any need for map control to hold them or to force teams to move around. It's become a camp fest where a team just starts stacking SAW's and dominates the opponents. And some of the maps spawns are just crap.
LordofHats wrote: Well, all my fears of Halo 4 multiplayer are realized. They kept all the power weapons in the game, but completely removed any need for map control to hold them or to force teams to move around. It's become a camp fest where a team just starts stacking SAW's and dominates the opponents. And some of the maps spawns are just crap.
I have to disagree. I've got just under 24 hours logged in and from what I've seen, those issues are pretty minor. Of course there is some camping but it usually only happens when you get stuck with a poor gametype-map combination, like CTF on Ragnarok which is so badly designed that red team usually wins 5-0. Now, Ragnarok on any other game type is just fine, but on CTF it is unbelievable. other than small things like that, Ive found multiplayer to be very enjoyable. It's not terribly challenging to rank up until you hit about SP30 though.
I'm waiting for 343 to put up an extraction playlist. I got a chance to play it in custom games with some friends. It is a purely awesome, objective based gametype. Forge is greatly improved but takes a little getting used to if you are familiar with the previous versions, magnets decrease the amount of time required to make a map by TONS. Me and two friends sat in forge for 15 minutes just magnetizing bits together and it started looking like a real map. Dominion, Big Team Slayer, and Regicide have been my favorites so far, CTF seems a bit broken on some maps *cough*Ragnarok*cough* but other than that, everything is well polished. Going through Forge, there a a good bit more maps that haven't been put into matchmaking. The Impact map-variant, Relay is utterly beautifully done, all forged and perfect for SWAT, which I got to try first hand with some friends.
Can anyone explain why there is so little choice in terms of emblems? I really cant think of a good reason 343 would have done this, it seems to go against the huge selection of armour customisations available. Also im not entirely sure why they changed how the medals look (i dont know what any of them are now), though this is somewhat offset by the text "feed" in the middle of the screen.
Also, I've heard that a SWAT playlist is being added next week. Hopefully there will be more new playlists, including one for Extraction and one for Grif Ball
Im really enjoying the challenges, fething awesome idea. Assuming they continue ad infinitum i can see myself playing every day just to get the challenges.
Those challenges were in Reach as well. They were a good idea though.
I quite like the multiplayer, the vehicle maps are as usual an absolute chaotic mess but team slayer is as good as ever. Haven is a superb map as is the one with the Energy beam in the middle. It may be sacriledge but i also really like the ordanance drops.
The Blacklight Retribution-Vision is definitely the best ability. All the others are just gimmicks. Noticing alot of DMRs thought everyone would be straight back to battle rifles.
I REALLY dont like the Assault rifle, it's way too poweful, gives the Noobs way more of a shot than they deserve. It kills you far too quick when you have no shields.
Squidmanlolz wrote: A lot of the old emblems are still there, from what I've seen, you unlock most of them by SR35 or so. Each specialization also has a set of emblems.
Most but not all. The griffon and phoenix that I've alternated between since Halo 2 seem to both be absent from the pics I've seen online. Does anyone know how to get the eagle with the big wings emblem listed second in the other section in the pic below?
Im slightly less annoyed to see that my emblem is in there, better get training to SR28! In the meantime Ill have to use the other "spartan helmet" emblem I got with the pre order.
Im also rather annoyed that I ill never get my favourite armour set (the Venator set) because you have to get to MASTER in ASSASSINATION commendation, something I simply do not do as a matter of common sense and principle.
Well, I hit the XP cap again today.
Also got my first real try at using the sniper rifle. It fires a lot slower than every previous version, but I have to say that this is an improvement. It really feels like a true sniper rifle rather than just a long range power weapon. That said, my first outing with it I got an overkill. I also used the beam rifle for the first time, this is the first time that I have actually found the Covenant sniper rifle tolerable. This thing is a beast for no-scope headshots!
I hit SR40 today, if anyone is wondering...
Yeah, it'll probably be in place for the rest of the month. It helps newer player stay closer to even with people like me who wouldn't have given up until about midnight. Reach did the same thing but iirc the cap was a lot lower and became a nuisance whereas this cap is harder to reach. I've sort of made it my goal, the only day I didn't max out was day one.
Vitruvian XVII wrote: Ah fair enough, do we know what the exact figure is? Id be interested to know how close ive come to reaching it
To be honest, I don't have a clue. It's almost exactly the amount of XP between SR35 and SR40 if someone wants to do the math.
EDIT: I just went to the xbox forums on a search for the answer... They are ablaze with people calling BS and crying that this is a crime against them and that it is ruining the game. I swear, people take this way too seriously.
Just in case some of you wanted to see for yourselves: http://forums.xbox.com/xbox_forums/xbox_360_games/e_k/halo_4/f/2481/p/376592/1940578.aspx
SilverMK2 wrote: Having not read any of the halo EU I am playing Halo 4 thinking "WTF is going on?"
Could they not have bothered explaining things a little better for people who have not kept up with the EU?
They definitely could have. For me, the game actually cleared up alot of confusing stuff from the forerunner novels that I couldn't get through despite trying. If anything, try reading the halo wiki pages on the forerunner books (which are very dense with new terminology and overly complicated names for characters) to see if it helps.
I appreciate the solution; I just don't want to have to wade through the wiki to tell me WTF is going on in the game I have aid for so I can actually enjoy it
SilverMK2 wrote: I appreciate the solution; I just don't want to have to wade through the wiki to tell me WTF is going on in the game I have aid for so I can actually enjoy it
343I is a subdivision of Microsoft. This is their idea of marketing, just think of how many people will read the novels now.
Having mantises on Ragnarok is just stupid, they are camp machines.
SilverMK2 wrote: I appreciate the solution; I just don't want to have to wade through the wiki to tell me WTF is going on in the game I have aid for so I can actually enjoy it
343I is a subdivision of Microsoft. This is their idea of marketing, just think of how many people will read the novels now.
Having mantises on Ragnarok is just stupid, they are camp machines.
You'd have to read six of them to get the full story as both the forerunner trilogy (two out currently) and the current timeline trilogy (glasslands and thursday war out so far) relate to the game's events.
SilverMK2 wrote: I appreciate the solution; I just don't want to have to wade through the wiki to tell me WTF is going on in the game I have aid for so I can actually enjoy it
343I is a subdivision of Microsoft. This is their idea of marketing, just think of how many people will read the novels now.
Having mantises on Ragnarok is just stupid, they are camp machines.
You'd have to read six of them to get the full story as both the forerunner trilogy (two out currently) and the current timeline trilogy (glasslands and thursday war out so far) relate to the game's events.
SilverMK2 wrote: Having not read any of the halo EU I am playing Halo 4 thinking "WTF is going on?"
Could they not have bothered explaining things a little better for people who have not kept up with the EU?
LOL totally Agree, really thought the story was weak in this game. The bit about humanity being some kind of ancient civilisation was particularly poorly done. It should be a revelation, not something you have to infer from some weird looking fish lady and a crummy looking animation. In fact that whole cutscene with the fish lady was like something From Metal gear solid.
Also the Didact wasnt setup enough to be threatening or possesing any Pathos, also his script was garbled nonsense, when he is revealed i literally dont remember what he said in his introductory speech. I was quite pissed when at the end of the game after the credits you here his speech he made when he was presumably put on trial, which was well written and injected a certain pathos to the character, this should have been in the early stages of the game. Also why do they call cortana a sea snail?
Another thing was the opening cutscene, it didn't have enough to do with the story. I would have even preferred having some scene foreshadowing chief's new 'Chosen One' status. At least with a bit of foreshadowing it wouldn't have come off soo goofy as it did. The ending could have given more hints for a sequel as well, when chief was taking off his armour after having some man-time looking at earth it very much gave off the 'enough fighting it's time to live!' vibe much like the rather touching ending of GOW3, unfortunately this was completely at odds with the didact speech, at least give us a hint as to why humanity is such a threat.
I was quite pissed when at the end of the game after the credits you here his speech he made when he was presumably put on trial...
Pretty sure he's dead, or reduced to an AI - he fell into the Composer's beam, remember? And I'm more confused about the contradictory nature of his speech: he mentioned that the Humans are the greatest threat to the galaxy and that the Mantle belongs to the Forerunners alone (ironically, even a hundred thousand years ago the Humans were doing a better job of containing the Flood than the Forerunners were) yet he declares the Forerunners helpless against reclamation. Since Humans are the ones reclaiming the galaxy and that the Forerunners intended for them to do so, why did he attack the UNSC in the first place?
Soladrin wrote: Because the forerunners were never of a single mind. The didact always opposed humanity.
Yeah...and in the end the Librarian chose to help the Humans over her husband, first by stopping the ruling council from simply wiping out the prehistoric Humans, and then by giving Master Chief something to prevent the Composer from working on him. Would be very ironic (and somewhat funny) if the Didact became Chief's new AI (he did fall into the Composer's beam).
Even if he was digitised, his data was never stored and the composer was blown up. Anything around that place is probably a goner.
And for all of you unsattisfied with the campaign. Go readz thems bookses.
And I do agree, having no explenation at all is annoying, but if you do read the books you're actually glad they didn't waste time on stuff you already knew.
Soladrin wrote: Even if he was digitised, his data was never stored and the composer was blown up. Anything around that place is probably a goner.
Fair enough...and the next question is: what was the Librarian (or her AI) preparing the Humans for?
Spoiler:
She mentioned manipulating Human evolution since the Halo Event to bring about the rise of the UNSC, the development of AIs, the launching of the SPARTAN Program, and the creation of MJOLNIR powered armor...all to prepare the Humans for, something, only to be interrupted by the other Forerunners before she could say what that was.
No, they're still alive. Some of them at least. Most perished with the Didact when the Master Chief blew up the Composer along with the Promethean flagship. And they've apparently aligned themselves with the Covenant Remnant. While the Forerunner AIs (probably under the direction of the Librarian) have aligned themselves with the Humans/Reclaimers.
Soladrin wrote: You are aware that prometheans aren't forerunners right.
The didact was only alive because of his imprisonment.
Actually they are. Prometheans refer to the Forerunner warrior-caste. However, there are no organic Prometheans left apart from the Didact, and now he's dead as well. The mechanical Prometheans are former organic Prometheans and Humans turned into AIs bound to the Didact's will. The Didact may be dead, but the Prometheans seem to be loyal to his last command - do not allow Humans to replace the Forerunners. However, the Librarian apparently programmed the other, non-Promethean AIs to accept Humanity as the Reclaimers, so this new conflict is as much a Forerunner civil war as it is a Human-Covenant Remnant/Promethean conflict.
Soladrin wrote: Even if he was digitised, his data was never stored and the composer was blown up. Anything around that place is probably a goner.
Fair enough...and the next question is: what was the Librarian (or her AI) preparing the Humans for?
Spoiler:
She mentioned manipulating Human evolution since the Halo Event to bring about the rise of the UNSC, the development of AIs, the launching of the SPARTAN Program, and the creation of MJOLNIR powered armor...all to prepare the Humans for, something, only to be interrupted by the other Forerunners before she could say what that was.
Now what what could that something be?
As to my earlier post i meant Didact being put on trial in space year 1,000,000 BC (or whatever) not after the events of Halo 4, he was addressing his peers before his Imprisonment.
As to the above post, i got the distinct impression she meant the Actual Chief, as in John 117, he is 'the chosen one'. Which was a little goofy but i can go with it.
SilverMK2 wrote: Having not read any of the halo EU I am playing Halo 4 thinking "WTF is going on?"
Could they not have bothered explaining things a little better for people who have not kept up with the EU?
I have read the EU books and Ive enjoyed the hell out of most of them. (Except "Contact Harvest" but my problem with that was that it doesnt make sense with anything else in continuty wise. The BR-55 was a protype weapon for 27 years? Jenkins is an Expert shot with 27 years of combat experience under his belt? The Brutes were the first Covenant to ever be encounter? So like Halo Wars, I went through it once and never went back and kind of pretend it didnt existed)
Im refering to the actual full novels. I am in the middle of "The Thursday War" and I am loving this Kilo 5 trilogy
I have to agree with you though. A lot of of this stuff I feel needs to be explained to people who havnt read the books, a fan should not HAVE TO read a book to get the story. (Ive been complaing about that sense Halo 2, how would fans know how Sgt Johnson survived) I also feel for them sense I dont want to read the Forerunner trilogy and let me tell you, I am CONFUSED AS HELL about Forerunners. The first time I played Halo3 I was still under the impression (especially after the final conversation with the Monitor) that Humans WERE Forerunners (I litterally missed every god damn terminal in that game but the first one which I simply didnt understand)
To try and fill this in I tried to wiki it and im still confused on who the librarian and the Diadect dude is and the traitor AI that turned on them.
Litterally, the game needs a TL;DR cutscene or something
(Havnt played Halo 4 yet, waiting till after I finish college in December
[quoteThe BR-55 was a protype weapon for 27 years? Jenkins is an Expert shot with 27 years of combat experience under his belt? The Brutes were the first Covenant to ever be encounter? So like Halo Wars, I went through it once and never went back and kind of pretend it didnt existed)
to be fair there are plenty of weapon systems that have been prototypes for longer than that
sierra 1247 wrote: [quoteThe BR-55 was a protype weapon for 27 years? Jenkins is an Expert shot with 27 years of combat experience under his belt? The Brutes were the first Covenant to ever be encounter? So like Halo Wars, I went through it once and never went back and kind of pretend it didnt existed)
to be fair there are plenty of weapon systems that have been prototypes for longer than that
Ive never heard of a weapon that has been a prototype for that long. (I mean rifle, not something like a jet)
Its not like the M16 where there are changes, its the same exact weapon that simply never was changed. Its still the BR-55. This is even more unsual considering there is a war going on.
Its just weird, like it just doesnt seem like it fits with the rest of the story. I enjoyed the read myself
Soladrin wrote: I very much doubt the whole chosen one thing. There's never been any hint of that before.
John has been repeatedly noted as having been "lucky"
343 may have turned that luck into his destiny. When he apparently succeeded due to luck, he really succeeded because it was his destiny.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Soladrin wrote: I don't think prometheans are really alive in any way anymore.
In theory, they could be brought back, the Forerunners were just never successful in doing so. At least that's what I got from the Librarian's speech...
Finally completed the game last night on heroic, and I've got to say it was very dissapointing.
- Vehicles got nerfed, were death traps, and hardly saw much use outside of when you had to use them for a level segments (so basically they made it into 6th edition 40k)
- Plot holes everywhere. No I don't want to read the novels to understand what's going on. That's stupid.
- Removal of the small things that I liked, like the glow of the plasma grenades or the post mortem siezure spasms of the ghosts.
- Forerunner weapons came across as lazy to me. Just UNSC weapons reskinned. It also irks me that that some people I know who railed on homefront because the main character knew how to use guns when he realistically shouldn't have, but they didn't say a thing when master chief knew how to operate and reload the forerunner weapons.
- No dual wielding. Balance be damned, it was a fun mechanic that felt action hero-ish.
- Objectives where hit this switch, activate that lever, again and again and again.
- This is really a big thing of personal taste, but fighting bionicles was boring. The covenant were leagues more enjoyable to face. On that note there weren't enough hunters.
- Going back to vehicles, banshees were always death traps. Whenever there was one available you can bet there were enemy mounted turrets everywhere ready to shoot you down.
- Not enough sniper rifle love, ditto for rocket launchers.
- Suit abilities generally sucked. Once you found a turret there was little reason to get anything else.
Again, this is with 0 multiplayer experience. I played through the game with a friend on heroic.
Master Chief may not have needed to know how to operate the forerunner weapons, he is a Reclaimer, Forerunner tech just works for them.
I too felt that the objectives were painfully repetitive
I really liked fighting the prometheans, they were something new and seemed pretty well done with a good deal of tricks up their sleeves, some of that feeling comes from my experience in Spartan Ops.
I like the suit abilities, most are gimmicky but have their moments while Promethean Vision is kind of "take all comers" while not extremely powerful.
One thought that came up while talking to a friend, John has been a Master Chief Petty officer since at least 2525. This means that in Halo 4, he has gone 32 years without a promotion. I understand wanting to keep him the Master Chief, but really he should be an officer by now. Does he insist on remaining an enlisted-man or what? He could easily have reached the rank of commander or captain by now.
I think Spartans were kept to a lesser rank for the purpose of being able to control them easier...
Incidentally i never thought of any vehicle as a deathtrap in the campaign...
I usually used a vehicle until it was about to explode then i jumped out and carried on fighting...
which means even if they were brought back the Didact still doesn't have much of a faction...
Partially incorrect - the composed Humans (both prehistoric Humans and UNSC-era Humans) expanded the Didact's depleted mechanical Prometheans. The older ones (assuming they're part of the Didact's current forces) are probably composed Forerunners.
My favourite suit mods right now are jet pack or thruster pack. Thruster has saved my ass so many times in mp. Took me ages to figure out you could still melee with it as well Everybody better watch the feth out when i get a grav hammer with thruster pack, crazy fun.
Welp, only got MP achievement left now, just need to get 20 wins and 25 challenges, then it's all just spartan ops, and I've gotten all the available ones in that too.
And after doing the entire campaign again on legendary I have to say, I LOVE fighting prometheans. Taking down a knight feels far more rewarding then any covenant. Hunters in this game we're probably the easiest since halo 1 because of the situations you encounter them in. IE you get a full fuel rod, 2 full stickylaunchers or you can just make them fall off a platform as soon as you see them.
I love spartan ops and I think I've done some of the levels over 20 times now. Hell, I hit the exp cap yesterday just doing spartan ops. getting me those enemy awards. Think I'm at 13% or something now for covenant and vehicle.
The new episode seemed to rely heavily on a note from the limited edition of the game.
Spoiler:
There is a note from Hoya to Gabriel containing a censored description about how the Infinity's engines came to be (or something to that effect, I may transcribe it here later) But, it seems implied by the note that Halsey is the person responsible for developing and mounting the Infinity's engines which were derived from Forerunner systems. Gabriel and Hoya seem to be on some sort of quest for answers about the engines, but it is unclear.
Squidmanlolz wrote: The new episode seemed to rely heavily on a note from the limited edition of the game.
Spoiler:
There is a note from Hoya to Gabriel containing a censored description about how the Infinity's engines came to be (or something to that effect, I may transcribe it here later) But, it seems implied by the note that Halsey is the person responsible for developing and mounting the Infinity's engines which were derived from Forerunner systems. Gabriel and Hoya seem to be on some sort of quest for answers about the engines, but it is unclear.
Squidmanlolz wrote: The new episode seemed to rely heavily on a note from the limited edition of the game.
Spoiler:
There is a note from Hoya to Gabriel containing a censored description about how the Infinity's engines came to be (or something to that effect, I may transcribe it here later) But, it seems implied by the note that Halsey is the person responsible for developing and mounting the Infinity's engines which were derived from Forerunner systems. Gabriel and Hoya seem to be on some sort of quest for answers about the engines, but it is unclear.
Squidmanlolz wrote: The new episode seemed to rely heavily on a note from the limited edition of the game.
Spoiler:
There is a note from Hoya to Gabriel containing a censored description about how the Infinity's engines came to be (or something to that effect, I may transcribe it here later) But, it seems implied by the note that Halsey is the person responsible for developing and mounting the Infinity's engines which were derived from Forerunner systems. Gabriel and Hoya seem to be on some sort of quest for answers about the engines, but it is unclear.
Weren't the engines of Huragok design?
Do you mind if I ask where you found that?
Halo: Glasslands and Halo: The Thursday War. The engines of the UNSC Infinity were originally Human designs based from reverse-engineered Covenant technology, but the Huragok assigned to the ship tuned/modified/improved them. However, seeing as the Huragok were responsible for the Covenant's technology, even the untuned version of the UNSC Infinity's SFTE would be of indirect Huragok design.
Was surprised how good/emotional the campaign ended up being. Didact was also a far more diabolical and threatening villain then Truth, who came off more as a stupid screaming old man who just so happened to be at the helm of a powerful war machine.
He would make a great nemesis for Chief, I hope he returns.
Harriticus wrote: Was surprised how good/emotional the campaign ended up being. Didact was also a far more diabolical and threatening villain then Truth, who came off more as a stupid screaming old man who just so happened to be at the helm of a powerful war machine.
He would make a great nemesis for Chief, I hope he returns.
The problem is how will he return. The Chief blew his armor apart and sent hin falling into the Composer's beam.
Harriticus wrote: Was surprised how good/emotional the campaign ended up being. Didact was also a far more diabolical and threatening villain then Truth, who came off more as a stupid screaming old man who just so happened to be at the helm of a powerful war machine.
He would make a great nemesis for Chief, I hope he returns.
The problem is how will he return. The Chief blew his armor apart and sent hin falling into the Composer's beam.
Spoiler:
He fell into a beam that recomposites biological into technological, I can see him returning as a machine intelligence
Harriticus wrote: Was surprised how good/emotional the campaign ended up being. Didact was also a far more diabolical and threatening villain then Truth, who came off more as a stupid screaming old man who just so happened to be at the helm of a powerful war machine.
He would make a great nemesis for Chief, I hope he returns.
The problem is how will he return. The Chief blew his armor apart and sent hin falling into the Composer's beam.
Spoiler:
He fell into a beam that recomposites biological into technological, I can see him returning as a machine intelligence
Except both the Composer and his flagship were destroyed.
Harriticus wrote: Was surprised how good/emotional the campaign ended up being. Didact was also a far more diabolical and threatening villain then Truth, who came off more as a stupid screaming old man who just so happened to be at the helm of a powerful war machine.
He would make a great nemesis for Chief, I hope he returns.
The problem is how will he return. The Chief blew his armor apart and sent hin falling into the Composer's beam.
Spoiler:
He fell into a beam that recomposites biological into technological, I can see him returning as a machine intelligence
Except both the Composer and his flagship were destroyed.
True, but you know as good as I do that with all the technical pseudo sci-fi forerunner mumbo jumbo in the Halo franchise, 343 could easily bring him back and keep it within the suspension of disbelief.
Squidmanlolz wrote: The new episode seemed to rely heavily on a note from the limited edition of the game.
Spoiler:
There is a note from Hoya to Gabriel containing a censored description about how the Infinity's engines came to be (or something to that effect, I may transcribe it here later) But, it seems implied by the note that Halsey is the person responsible for developing and mounting the Infinity's engines which were derived from Forerunner systems. Gabriel and Hoya seem to be on some sort of quest for answers about the engines, but it is unclear.
Weren't the engines of Huragok design?
Do you mind if I ask where you found that?
Halo: Glasslands and Halo: The Thursday War. The engines of the UNSC Infinity were originally Human designs based from reverse-engineered Covenant technology, but the Huragok assigned to the ship tuned/modified/improved them. However, seeing as the Huragok were responsible for the Covenant's technology, even the untuned version of the UNSC Infinity's SFTE would be of indirect Huragok design.
Erm, the engines, and most everything on infinity is based on Forerunner design, not covenant.
They're called the engineers for a reason... That's their thing. They can make or fix anything... Covenant tech is based on Forerunner stuff. Human is largely original but now they have adapted pieces of forerunner stuff to improve their own things. Thing is Humanity understand their tech. The Covenant never had a particularly in-depth knowledge of their own technology which is why they enslaved the Engineers to make/repair their technology.
purplefood wrote: They're called the engineers for a reason...
That's their thing. They can make or fix anything...
Covenant tech is based on Forerunner stuff.
Human is largely original but now they have adapted pieces of forerunner stuff to improve their own things.
Thing is Humanity understand their tech. The Covenant never had a particularly in-depth knowledge of their own technology which is why they enslaved the Engineers to make/repair their technology.
THIS. The Covenant didn't actually reverse-engineer Forerunner technology, rather just used it and left the Huragok to build/maintain/repair the technology. Whereas the UNSC actually knows how the technology works after studying how the Huragok tuned/modified/improved their existing technologies.
I have to say I have really been enjoying multiplayer, im glad my reservations about infinity slayer were proven wrong. The lack of maps at the moment does make gameplay repetitive after a while but this will obviously change when forged maps make it onto the playlist.
I cant say I like the map "complex" that much, having ghosts in regular infinity slayer rather than big team seems to detract from the teamwork PvP aspect. Quite allot of games on complex have ended up with both teams being too cautious and never getting into any serious firefights, meaning most of the game is just running around doing nothing (or avoiding being run over by the ghost).
Im not sure if its just my more supportive play style but has anybody noticed a large drop in the amount of times you get into melee confrontations? I suppose it fits with everybody having access to long range weapons from the start. I also seem to notice "killing each-other" at the same time (specifically with head shots) is allot more common.
The melee thing is probably you I regularly 2 punch people to death without firing a shot. I guess on the larger more open maps its less common, but not noticeably so imo.
Just watched the complete collection of terminal videos on youtube (only unlocked half in my playthrough personally) and they absolutely do help with the backstory behind this particular halo game which you can't get from other game releases. Unfortunately, they should have put those videos in some sort of optional intro instead of making them an unlockable that you have to view through waypoint (or youtube).
Didact fell into a slipspace event, as referred to by Cortana when they come into the room, you can bet he will be back... with an army of newly composed human prometheans at his disposal (taken from Earth when he fired the composer)
Didact fell into a slipspace event, as referred to by Cortana when they come into the room, you can bet he will be back... with an army of newly composed human prometheans at his disposal (taken from Earth when he fired the composer)
Didact fell into a slipspace event, as referred to by Cortana when they come into the room, you can bet he will be back... with an army of newly composed human prometheans at his disposal (taken from Earth when he fired the composer)
In reference to the end battle.
Spoiler:
Wasn't that the Composer's beam?
Spoiler:
Yes, the composer beam was digitizing the inhabitants of New Phoenix (as stated in Spartan Ops) and pulling them back through a slipspace portal, likely to Requiem or some other location the Didact could build his power from.
Obviously this is just speculation, but I highly doubt we've seen the last of the Didact.
Didact fell into a slipspace event, as referred to by Cortana when they come into the room, you can bet he will be back... with an army of newly composed human prometheans at his disposal (taken from Earth when he fired the composer)
In reference to the end battle.
Spoiler:
Wasn't that the Composer's beam?
Spoiler:
Yes, the composer beam was digitizing the inhabitants of New Phoenix (as stated in Spartan Ops) and pulling them back through a slipspace portal, likely to Requiem or some other location the Didact could build his power from.
Obviously this is just speculation, but I highly doubt we've seen the last of the Didact.
Spoiler:
Yeah, the didact is too big a player to be killed of this easily.
The trailer for the next episode of Spartan Ops shows that Halsey will be present on the Infinity. It suggests that this is her first time out of captivity since being convicted as a war criminal. I'd imagine that MC would like to have a word with her, assuming he is still aboard the Infinity, but where else would he be at this point?
Convicted as a war criminal? I'm not sure that happened... she was publicly declared dead though... so there's that. She isn't in captivity either she was working on the Infinity. Not really sure what MC would even say to her. He doesn't seem to hold any real hatred for her though he may disagree with what she's done.
purplefood wrote: Convicted as a war criminal?
I'm not sure that happened... she was publicly declared dead though... so there's that.
She isn't in captivity either she was working on the Infinity.
Not really sure what MC would even say to her. He doesn't seem to hold any real hatred for her though he may disagree with what she's done.
Most of the Spartan 2's view her as a mother/ultimate authority figure, at least that's what I got from the books. MC would want to talk to her just for the chance to talk to her.
Yeah, it seems like the populace would harbor more resentment for her kidnapping the children (for science!) than they actually do ala Stockholm syndrome maybe. We haven't seen 117 on the infinity in sparton ops yet but obviously that may change in future episodes. It would be nice to have them interact "on screen" at least once.
On a similar spartan ops note, is anyone else starting to get worried about the spartan ops episodes? The cutscenes are amazing but I'm starting to wonder if they'll just reuse the same 5 maps for the episodes over and over. I guess we'll see on monday when the new episode drops. I don't mind repeating them once or maybe twice but that is the limit of believeability for me personally. There is only so many times my Spartan IV can retake the same icy fortress/desert valley/etc before wondering why the hell the Infinity brass doesn't just station some marines there semi-permanently while the site is useful!
Just finished it last night on Heroic, so here's my £0.02:
Pros + Good storyline development between Chief and Cortana, specifically getting more into the characters' personalities. + Spectacular new graphics, especially in the cutscenes when compared to H3 for example. + Prometheans look just awesome and are certainly a challenge.
Cons - Campaign seemed wayyy too short. I would have liked a few more missions. I suppose that's what Spartan Ops is for but still, Campaign was just too short for my liking. - Prometheans just seem too much like Flood Pure Forms. - Speaking of Flood, it would have been nice for some mention of them, even if you don't actually fight them. - Not a fan at all of the MP. I preferred weapons spawning on the maps rather than you having to get heavier armaments through getting kills. I've had many examples where players have taken a Banshee or a Mantis and have just dominated the game because the other players can't get kills to get a weapon good enough to take out the vehicle. - The Mantis: Honestly it just doesn't seem to fit the Halo asthetic. - The Campaign settings were too similar: every mission bar a couple you're in a morphing Forerunner environment full of pillars and walkways and light bridges that defy the laws of physics. Granted you're in the Infinity for one mission but after a while it's just too boring. "Oh look, another light bridge... *yawn*" For most of the time you were just following waypoints and pressing buttons when you got there, then going somewhere else and doing it all over again. - The armour customisations are a bit odd compared to the Reach armoury. And you have to unlock emblems? So the emblem I've been using for *every* single Halo game is now locked? - 343, would it have killed you to allow dropped weapons to stay on the ground for more than a few seconds. One thing that's annoyed me many times playing the game is when I need ammo for my Light Rifle, for example, and I remember "That Promethean I just killed had one, I'll take his ammo", only to find it's already disappeared.
In short, I'd give it 7.5/10. A good start by 343, but it could definitely be improved.
Valkyrie wrote: And you have to unlock emblems? So the emblem I've been using for *every* single Halo game is now locked?
- 343, would it have killed you to allow dropped weapons to stay on the ground for more than a few seconds. One thing that's annoyed me many times playing the game is when I need ammo for my Light Rifle, for example, and I remember "That Promethean I just killed had one, I'll take his ammo", only to find it's already disappeared.
At least your emblem is in the game. The phoenix and griffon that I'd alternate between since Halo 2 are simply gone. :(
As for the weapons, I suspect it has to do with memory limitations. After playing ME3 for months and reading the occasional developer post about current gen console memory limitations (no holstering your weapons due to RAM limitations in ME3 with kinect.. even if you down own the accessory!) and how they get around them, I suspect the disappearing weapons are due to keeping the poly and texture count lower. The graphics are much improved but at the expense of free roaming to save on memory associated with models and textures. Previous halo games let you pretty much go through large swathes of a mission map as you pleased, backtracking at will. With halo 4, doors frequently slam shut permanently behind you as you cross them (as I found out will sniping at some covies in the distance and not being able to return to my cover after popping out to take a shot).
purplefood wrote: Convicted as a war criminal?
I'm not sure that happened... she was publicly declared dead though... so there's that.
She isn't in captivity either she was working on the Infinity.
Not really sure what MC would even say to her. He doesn't seem to hold any real hatred for her though he may disagree with what she's done.
The trailer, in conjunction with the previous episode make it pretty clear that she was convicted and put into captivity, perhaps after the Infinity's completion. MC would probably be on a hunt to find a way to get Cortana back, Halsey's knowledge of Forerunner tech would prove useful to knowing whether or not it could be done. Besides, she is like his mother, a reunion would probably be nice especially after what Halsey says about Chief in the opening cutscene.
On a similar spartan ops note, is anyone else starting to get worried about the spartan ops episodes? The cutscenes are amazing but I'm starting to wonder if they'll just reuse the same 5 maps for the episodes over and over. I guess we'll see on monday when the new episode drops. I don't mind repeating them once or maybe twice but that is the limit of believeability for me personally. There is only so many times my Spartan IV can retake the same icy fortress/desert valley/etc before wondering why the hell the Infinity brass doesn't just station some marines there semi-permanently while the site is useful!
Remember, making new maps isn't easy and takes time, so it makes sense to make a map you can reuse multiple times. I will agree though, hopefully they'll spread them out to avoid repetition.
On a similar spartan ops note, is anyone else starting to get worried about the spartan ops episodes? The cutscenes are amazing but I'm starting to wonder if they'll just reuse the same 5 maps for the episodes over and over. I guess we'll see on monday when the new episode drops. I don't mind repeating them once or maybe twice but that is the limit of believeability for me personally. There is only so many times my Spartan IV can retake the same icy fortress/desert valley/etc before wondering why the hell the Infinity brass doesn't just station some marines there semi-permanently while the site is useful!
Remember, making new maps isn't easy and takes time, so it makes sense to make a map you can reuse multiple times. I will agree though, hopefully they'll spread them out to avoid repetition.
Yeah, it does take time. If only they had some sort of level editor that was quick and easy enough for even the fanbase community to use in their spare time to inject some variety into the same maps... Even just adding an elevated walkway over a valley instead of fighting through the valley floor or changing a base from stairs on each side to a double stair in front would be enough variety to satisfy most people and would take one person an afternoon max to do per level. Co op levels are easier to design than multiplayer ones as you don't generally have to worry as much about fairness and symmetry. Also, the effort that goes into the cutscenes likely dwarfs the effort put into the maps. Like I said... I won't make any judgements till tomorrow when the third week comes out but 3x on the same map sets is pretty much my limit personally.
And do not forget that if you played by November 20th to check the email associated with your Xbox Gamertag and redeem the code sent to you to unlock ALL of the specializations in-game.
I'm curious (and dreading) when they'll make the map packs mandatory for matchmaking. Spartan Ops has been a disappointment overall (except for the CG scenes) so a couple hours of matchmaking per week is the only utility I'm getting out of the game with the Spartan Ops on break until almost February. Once they require the map packs (which I have no interest in), Halo 4 goes into the gamestop pile for me personally.
I've really been loving Spartan Ops, and the new maps are definitely worth getting so far everything about them seems well-rounded. What they did with the new maps makes them feel a bit alien and unexplored as well as kind-of giving the maps more narrative than we've seen before.
I’ll try that but I was playing this morning and I got assassinated 5 times on the map exile but every time I tried to assassinate someone I beat them down instead.
andyroo9000 wrote: I’ll try that but I was playing this morning and I got assassinated 5 times on the map exile but every time I tried to assassinate someone I beat them down instead.
It sounds like you weren't holding the button down long enough.
Is anybody else registered in the Infinity Challenge?
I dont assassinate people as an act of principle. You can just beat them down in less than half the time and you dont set yourself up for show stoppers or yoinks.
vodo40k wrote: I dont assassinate people as an act of principle. You can just beat them down in less than half the time and you dont set yourself up for show stoppers or yoinks.
This. I find it's waaaay more effective and safer to get the standard melee kill.
.....unless it's against a friend. Then you have to assassinate them
On Topic - I love fighting the Promi's in the campaign! It's so refreshing that killing the same Elites and Grunts over and over.
Once you get the "Stealth" Tactical Package from completing the Wetworks specialization, Assassination becomes far far more useful since the Assassination speeds are increased.
First, if I want to play online with other people, is there a way to change the difficulty or does it have to be legendary?
Second, when I go to play the Spartan Ops, I only have the option of selecting the first episode for online play. If I want to see the other episodes I need to co-op with a friend or play single player. Am I just on the wrong screen or something?
Second, when I go to play the Spartan Ops, I only have the option of selecting the first episode for online play. If I want to see the other episodes I need to co-op with a friend or play single player. Am I just on the wrong screen or something?
The missions available for online play change on a weekly basis, just to pool players together as it would be a lot harder to find matches between all of the episodes
First, if I want to play online with other people, is there a way to change the difficulty or does it have to be legendary?
Second, when I go to play the Spartan Ops, I only have the option of selecting the first episode for online play. If I want to see the other episodes I need to co-op with a friend or play single player. Am I just on the wrong screen or something?
If you're setting up the equivalent of a private game, you can choose any combo of episode/chapter/difficulty. For the automated matchmaking, 343 chooses 5 chapters (all at heroic difficulty) that you have no option of changing. When a new episode premieres in a week, the 5 are all part of the new one whereas now they seem to be alternating (last week was a mix of all episodes and had only chapters with achievements included in them).
As for the Infinity Challenge, I am no longer trying to win.
However, I am specifically not playing until I drop back into tier 2, where I will maintain one of the top spots (thanks to the leaderboard, I can get a quota for how many points I need to earn each day, etc.). So, It looks like I won't be getting a new Raptor, but perhaps a surround sound headset or the 10 year RvB boxed set, both of which would be really cool.
I haven't even looked into the Infinity Challange...I nornally only get to play on the weekends with my work schedule. Hell, I just finished the campaign on Sunday, and I bought it week after release!
