[Tashi]

No worries, im sure you'll post it on youtube.

Nah, mostly rocket killls

[ElzarTheBam]

[JHall]

Reach is slow, but I've said that about all Halo games. Mandatory sprint makes me happy.

Halo games have always been a medium paced arena shooter. They have always been on the slower side. But, if you give players an accurate, fast killing, and hard to use utility weapon along with supporting weapons that fit in their niche and are viable options to actually pick up and use; the game becomes much faster.

I don't think default sprint inherently makes the game faster, but makes it slower. Now they have said that getting shot while sprint makes you slow down. But, in the E3 and RTX videos I haven't really seen that stopping power effect be very useful. Sprint just seems that in my opinion is a get out of jail free card, because in Halo most weapon battles last more than a second or two. In turn giving someone time to turn and run. Now if the stopping power is akin to Gears 3 stopping power essentially making default walking speed faster than rodie running, I'd be fine with sprint as a default. Mostly because it can only be used as an offensive ability and not as a defensive strategy like Reach.

I just think if 343i buffed the utility weapons instead of constantly nerfing them, and buffing the other weapons accordingly the game would play faster.

Then again, this is just my opinion and I won't know for sure until I actually play the game for myself and see if sprint is bad in Halo 4.

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

I've frigging played CODs and i really don't want to play them again. Don't particularly like their single player. Infinite enemies and all that. Taking cover doesn't help when the AI instagibs you before you can get to cover. Slow movement speed doesn't help. Even worse is the weak strafing speed (fuck inertia in Reach). Too strong is not fun because i'd like to keep moving, not get stuck on the same area for long time. Taking time is not fun, this is not a cover-based shooter. Halo 3 and earlier Halos didn't have this issue because powerful weapons made brutal, fast firefights possible, if risky and fun change to being more careful. In Reach, taking time is pretty much necessity. Sure, trying to kill many enemies quickly is possible but due to many small things, it is frustrating. Bloom, slow plasma pistol charge and weak tracking, slow movement, awfully badly bouncing grenades, accurate enemies... The level desing is not very good. Many encounter areas are weakly desinged lacking cover, lacking viable routes or being just plain uninteresting. Halo 3 had some issues with area desing as well... but the encounters itself were far more interesting.

Without sounding condescending or like a dick. Maybe Legendary just isn't for you. This is ideally how the difficulty should be played. Its not that its too difficult, It just doesn't suit your play-style. You'd be better suited to Normal or Heroic. But there is a vast majority of players who enjoy the challenge, and don't just want to run and gun through the game. Taking it slow and picking off ultra-strong, intelligent enemies one by one is really enjoyable to me. Whereas running and gunning through the game is very boring personally.

Simple difference of opinion i guess.

[Devin Olsen]

Tried asking this yesterday, didn't get much. We need to to a meet-up somewhere, maybe multiple. Devin, I need to get your info again. I think you were the person I saw most frequently in 2010 when I went.

Yeah probably, that's because I am basically anywhere and everywhere at all times.

Hey I just met you, and this is crazy... but here's my number ya rite, pm me if you want it so text me maybe.

lol for real though anyone that feels like meeting up during PAX PM me and i'll give you my info. The only thing I will say is that I can't text _that_ much since I am Canadian and texting while in the states is a costly affair.

[YourExWife]

That means, i'm not averse to hard. Seen many people think Heroic as rather difficult so i assume it does match to people's definition of "hard" difficulty level.

They do? This is news to me. I had the understanding that Heroic is the "how it's supposed to be played" difficulty and Legendary is supposed to be a challenge. Easy and Normal exist so that people who aren't the best at FPSes can play through the campaign too (no offense to anyone, obviously).

[Tashi]

I think Duncan was planning some meet up, not sure though.

[Deadly Cyclone]

Maybe we need a PAX Prime HaloGaf Meet-Up thread in the community area. Duncan, what you think?

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

They do? This is news to me. I had the understanding that Heroic is the "how it's supposed to be played" difficulty and Legendary is supposed to be a challenge. Easy and Normal exist so that people who aren't the best at FPSes can play through the campaign too (no offense to anyone, obviously).

Most people i play with Run the campaign on Legendary first time. Personally i play Heroic first to take it all in i guess. Then legendary, then legendary with skulls etc.

So to clarify, theres no skulls/game modifiers in Halo 4 campaign??

[YourExWife]

Hmm... This is a decent price. Apparently they aren't planning on LANing :( Just like everyone else around here. Sucks, man.

http://hollomanyardsales.com/item287...temId=28768820

[GrimBrother One]

Looking forward to seeing some of you guys/gals at PAX very soon. I leave a week from tomorrow; crazy that it's here so fast!

(hoping for some awesome H4 goodness for us all there!)

[Louis Wu]

Hey I just met you, and this is crazy... but here's my number ya rite, pm me if you want it so text me maybe.

If your number hasn't changed since last year, I'll catch up with you in Seattle. ;)

lol for real though anyone that feels like meeting up during PAX PM me and i'll give you my info. The only thing I will say is that I can't text _that_ much since I am Canadian and texting while in the states is a costly affair.

::sets up auto-texting script to send notes to Devin every 30 seconds, just for the lulz::

[Tawpgun]

Most people i play with Run the campaign on Legendary first time. Personally i play Heroic first to take it all in i guess. Then legendary, then legendary with skulls etc. So to clarify, theres no skulls/game modifiers in Halo 4 campaign??

There's definitely going to be something. Whether its skulls or something else. I do hope they have skulls or SOME kind of hidden goodies in campaign.

[cocamola]

Reach wasn't difficult on Legendary. Try doing it with all skulls on, bar Iron and Blind obviously. Myself and anyone else whose done the campaign LASO knows what difficult really is...

I did laso I thought it was the easiest mythic run through. The glitches and skips in reach are laughable. Halo 3 Slaso was painful.

[FyreWulff]

Hopefully there's a breakfast of some sort so I can accidentally try to sit in someone else's seat again (shut up, it was early)

I have to figure out the phone situation this time though. My American phone didn't work in Canada so I let it expire, and the phone plans being looked at up here at a reasonable price didn't include American texting at a non-absurd rate, so I basically only have Twitter to communicate with as long as I'm near an open wifi spot.

edit: wait.. I just remembered my Google Voice number should still be working. Time to see if I can use that through my phone easily.

[Deadly Cyclone]

Could do breakfast on Friday at that restaurant in the market again.

[GrimBrother One]

There's definitely going to be something. Whether its skulls or something else. I do hope they have skulls or SOME kind of hidden goodies in campaign.

There are at least Terminals, which personally I'm the most excited about.

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

There's definitely going to be something. Whether its skulls or something else. I do hope they have skulls or SOME kind of hidden goodies in campaign.

They really do make the game more fun in Co-op or add extra difficulty so there really is a place for them.

Once theres no collectibles added in, ala Crysis2/ Gears of war. I HATE when games have collectibles, The Halo 3 Terminals were just right, only 7 and did something.

These 0/30 collectibles in some games make my ocd into hyperdrive and i have to collect them.

[CyReN]

I would think they would be done with that by now..

[Woorloog]

OK, hopefully I don't sound like a jerk here or whatever, but I had to respond to the following: Except on the Normal/Easy difficulties and sometimes multiplayer, hasn't the AR been mostly terrible throughout the series?

Useful in Halo 3 on all difficulties, though most other, non-automatic weapons are considerably more useful. Surprisingly useful in Halo CE against the Elites, if you don't have a plasma pistol or a rocket launcher in hand. That said, other weapons are more useful.
In Reach, it is just plain awful.

As for Bold #2, what model are your nostalgia glasses and where can I get myself a pair? Seriously. H2 Legendary (especially solo) is one of the hardest of the series, particularly compared to Reach, and its difficulty was very much due to some annoying enemy encounters (jackals, brutes, hunters, elite honor guards, etc.). Both H2/3 had the most ridiculous jackal sniper sections. The only part that was really annoying, enemy-wise, in Reach, was the end section on Nightfall. Even then, it came down to devising an approach to the encounter and playing carefully.

I'm not contesting Halo 2 as being the most difficult game on Legendary in the series. But i never found it frustrating the way i find Reach frustrating.
Halo 3 Jackal Snipers aren't particulary frustrating because they tend to miss the first shot so it becomes a matter of hitting them first. Challenging but not frustrating. Do note they're one-shot kill on Heroic so Legendary doesn't actully factor into Halo 3 Jackal snipers.
Overall, i've never found Legendary very fun difficulty in general, preventing me from playing the way i like to play. But never frustrating, outside Reach (where every map has at least one frustrating section) and some sections (the Library, Regret boss fight in Halo 2, shielded drones in ODST, climbing to the Control Room in Halo 3 final level).

Now I know you're trolling. Other than Legendary, Reach campaign is not difficult / frustrating in the slightest. Now, I would definitely agree with criticisms regarding some poorly designed levels and encounters, but I found them more boring than frustrating (Why YES! I would LOVE to fly around sitting in a grenade launcher gunner seat shooting things and killing them while getting hit by tons of shit that normally destroys me, but it's ok because my magic GL turret destroys stuff super quick).

It is frustrating due to combined small annoyances. Its difficulty is fake difficulty via restricting, annoying gameplay. I cannot fathom why they had to change the gameplay so much from earlier Halos. In small ways, as i said. Bloom, slower movement, more inertia, more accurate and stronger enemies (they were strong and accurate enough in earlier Halos).

Without sounding condescending or like a dick. Maybe Legendary just isn't for you. This is ideally how the difficulty should be played. Its not that its too difficult, It just doesn't suit your play-style. You'd be better suited to Normal or Heroic. But there is a vast majority of players who enjoy the challenge, and don't just want to run and gun through the game. Taking it slow and picking off ultra-strong, intelligent enemies one by one is really enjoyable to me. Whereas running and gunning through the game is very boring personally. Simple difference of opinion i guess.

I've never liked Legendary as a difficulty. I prefer Heroic. Normal is far too easy. Extends to other games as well, though outside Halo i rarely like even Hard difficulties (but that is because most games have simply cheating AI that always knows where you're, spawns infinitely or some other shit like that, unlike Halo's AI that tries to be "human" [in theory]).
But in Reach the fundamental gameplay issues are not limited to Legendary. And that makes it unenjoyable on any difficulty, Legendary's quirks only making them even worse.
I don't really care about being slow and methodical because i know that works. I know the AI cannot handle that. But as i said, Reach's issues don't allow me to play as i like.

EDIT Reach is not really enjoyable even in Co-op for me. Again, the fundamental issues.
Also, something we noted with my friend, the AI in Reach prioritizes targeting player 2 in split-screen.

EDIT 2, i did like Reach at first. Now i hate it. It is the only Halo campaign i've played only a few times through. In retrospect i can't think why i did that... Never should've.

[IHaveIce]

I would think they would be done with that by now..

yeah same here, thought polishing, bug fixes and multiplayer tweaking would be the last things to do and that they were already at this point

[The P of Poland]

They really do make the game more fun in Co-op or add extra difficulty so there really is a place for them. Once theres no collectibles added in, ala Crysis2/ Gears of war. I HATE when games have collectibles, The Halo 3 Terminals were just right, only 7 and did something. These 0/30 collectibles in some games make my ocd into hyperdrive and i have to collect them.

I love collectibles for precisely that reason. Gives me another reason to replay the campaign.

[Caja 117]

It looks like someone is REALLY happy about halo 4

[Beckx]

There are at least Terminals, which personally I'm the most excited about.

Neat - I had not seen this information. Loved the Terminals in H3. Less so the datapads in Reach.

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

I love collectibles for precisely that reason. Gives me another reason to replay the campaign.

A campaign should be fun enough to make you want to replay it. Not force you to replay it to find collectibles etc.

To me its just an uneccessary chore. But seeing a locked achievement or 0/30 list in the pause screen is enough to make me collect them.

[The P of Poland]

A campaign should be fun enough to make you want to replay it. Not force you to replay it to find collectibles etc. To me its just an uneccessary chore. But seeing a locked achievement or 0/30 list in the pause screen is enough to make me collect them.

I generally think that the collectible itself is often worth the effort: in Halo, and in other games like Gears, they usually have interesting facts/tidbits/plot material on them that makes them interesting enough to track down, apart from the challenge in doing so.

[Zeouterlimits]

I would think they would be done with that by now..

Pickups probably.

[VivaciousJazzy]

I would think they would be done with that by now..

I'm sure they had a placeholder voice before. Still it is odd that its this late.

[Mindwipe]

I would think they would be done with that by now..

Possibly some voicework being recorded for Spartan Ops?

[squidhands]

The twitch was at the reminder of how great Firefight Doubles was. And now it's gone. Paper cut, meet lemon juice. My list of worries about Halo 4 is quite long, but the playlist management is near the top, with decisions like that.

Agreed 100%. If I'm to be honest, I actually had >gasp< fun in the Firefight playlist over the weekend. Had a couple of really shitty games, but I got paired up with 3 other people in a party who wanted to play Limited, and it was a blast. Several other games had two people lag out and my third teammate and I proceeded to play two more games together without even searching for other players. Yay for small victories!

Yeah. Very glad I did my Legendary playthrough first & dark, because that level has some epic fights.

I cannot wait to play H4 in the dark with no notifications on release night. That's where Halo gets the most love from me, when it's still got that new campaign smell of wonder.

Never has been... never will be... particularly if done in co-op.

Some of the LASO stuff is pretty infuriating. I'll never forget that exercise in futility with Dax, Ghaleon, and his daughter for the on-rails section. >vomit<

[YourExWife]

A campaign should be fun enough to make you want to replay it. Not force you to replay it to find collectibles etc. To me its just an uneccessary chore. But seeing a locked achievement or 0/30 list in the pause screen is enough to make me collect them.

I love you.

[u4iX]

I'm sure they had a placeholder voice before. Still it is odd that its this late.

Your face is a placeholder! I wanna do voice work for multiplayer, that'd be so much fun.

IMPRESSIVE.

M-M-M-MONSTER KILL.

[Hypertrooper]

About the PAX meet-up: It's pretty hard to discuss it here and personally I think an extra thread is not the best solution. Maybe Duncan can open a protected page at HaloGAF.com with a comment section where we can discuss it.

Looking forward to seeing some of you guys/gals at PAX very soon. I leave a week from tomorrow; crazy that it's here so fast! (hoping for some awesome H4 goodness for us all there!)

Are you going to be staying at Rukari, too? Damn. Sounds like a party house non-stop if so.

Neat - I had not seen this information. Loved the Terminals in H3. Less so the datapads in Reach.

Monkey asked the question at the Comic-Con fiction panel.

Halo 3 Terminals were amazing. I prefer them more than Anniversary's terminals. Don't get me wrong, the Anniversary terminals were great but I love the interactivity of 3's terminal. The story content was amazing at that time and there are some questions open. I hope Halo 4 and Silentium answers some of those question. Maybe I should ask Voc at PAX.

[FyreWulff]

I would think they would be done with that by now..

Voice is usually later on, because it's hard/impossible to change it after the fact if you modify something.

martyhastheoriginalendingtohalo2recordingstill.wav

[ElzarTheBam]

Your face is a placeholder! I wanna do voice work for multiplayer, that'd be so much fun. IMPRESSIVE. M-M-M-MONSTER KILL.

*Watching someone get killed through the sniper scope*

SPECTATOR

(sorry, I know it still hurts you. :P)

[u4iX]

There should be interactive voices that you can purchase for your spartans like how there's battlefield banter while playing Gears MP in Halo 4 and how you could in Firefight in Reach.

"NICE." is probably my favorite things ever after a perfect Active Reload out of Marcus.

There could even be a "Pro" inspired voice like the Sniper in MNC who screams things like "My X!" and "Get owned." after dying or getting a kill.

*Watching someone get killed through the sniper scope* SPECTATOR (sorry, I know it still hurts you. :P)

I'm actually healed for the time being. I watched the last day of the BOPS2 stream and didn't even post in here about it!

[VivaciousJazzy]

*Watching someone get killed through the sniper scope* SPECTATOR (sorry, I know it still hurts you. :P)

[Woorloog]

Wonder if i'm going to play Halo 4 on Legendary or not at first.
Probably not because i like to waste time appreciation the envinronments (if they're worthy of that) during first playthroughs, even in the middle of a firefight.

Wonder if i get to play it alone without anyone bothering me... Most likely not.

[VivaciousJazzy]

Wonder if i'm going to play Halo 4 on Legendary or not at first. Probably not because i like to waste time appreciation the envinronments (if they're worthy of that) during first playthroughs, even in the middle of a firefight. Wonder if i get to play it alone without anyone bothering me... Most likely not.

Play normal. Its your first time, you need to be gentle.

[u4iX]

Play normal. Its your first time, you need to be gentle.

The more I think about it, the more I feel like I'm just gonna jump into multiplayer.

Gonna pull a H2 and not play the campaign until like 8 months later since the MP is so good... *fingers crossed*

[Homeboyd]

Heroic, solo. Per usual. Definitely like to explore my first play-through and don't want to hold anyone up nor do I want to be "teleported" forward by guys moving quicker than I am. 2nd time through will likely be legendary w/ friends.

[Woorloog]

Play normal. Its your first time, you need to be gentle.

Did that with Halo 3, ODST and Reach. Too easy :/
Maybe this time i'll try Heroic first.

Then Solo Legendary. Hope there's an achievement for that. That was something Reach did right.

[Deadly Cyclone]

About the PAX meet-up: It's pretty hard to discuss it here and personally I think an extra thread is not the best solution. Maybe Duncan can open a protected page at HaloGAF.com with a comment section where we can discuss it.

Like this one? I've used it, but only Duncan and Biggy have posted.

halogaf.com/PAX

[Wahrer]

Sounds kinda weird hearing Chief's voice actor say fabulous.

[VivaciousJazzy]

Did that with Halo 3, ODST and Reach. Too easy :/ Maybe this time i'll try Heroic first. Then Solo Legendary. Hope there's an achievement for that. That was something Reach did right.

Better to be on an easier setting than to get stuck on an unexpected encounter and get frustrated, though I doubt heroic would be bad. I play normal first, and then do my legendary run right after depending on how much energy is left in me.

[Overdoziz]

There should be interactive voices that you can purchase for your spartans like how there's battlefield banter while playing Gears MP in Halo 4 and how you could in Firefight in Reach. "NICE." is probably my favorite things ever after a perfect Active Reload out of Marcus. There could even be a "Pro" inspired voice like the Sniper in MNC who screams things like "My X!" and "Get owned." after dying or getting a kill.

I hate how in Battlefield enemies can hear you because of something that your character says. What's even worse is the fact that you don't hear it yourself so you don't even know when it happens.

[lybertyboy]

Sounds kinda weird hearing Chief's voice actor say fabulous.

What?

[FyreWulff]

Heroic, solo. Per usual. Definitely like to explore my first play-through and don't want to hold anyone up nor do I want to be "teleported" forward by guys moving quicker than I am. 2nd time through will likely be legendary w/ friends.

Heroic, Solo, popups off.

[u4iX]

I hate how in Battlefield enemies can hear you because of something that your character says. What's even worse is the fact that you don't hear it yourself so you don't even know when it happens.

I think you should just hear your own team's chatter if this were in Halo 4 since you're wearing big helmets, etc. All voice communication would probably take play through its mic system or whatever canon fits your fancy.

Obviously you could hear the enemy sprinting, reloading, etc, unless he's using some sort of stealthy armor mod.

[Trey]

Legendary. There is no other option for the first time playthrough.